"What on earth is Daoist He doing?"
"Could it be that forming a Three-Law Golden Core isn't enough for him?"
"He wants to add yet another law?"
Standing guard to the side the entire time, Li Fan could not help harboring doubts as he watched this unfold.
"If he succeeds, it will naturally be cause for celebration."
"I just worry his greed will ruin everything instead."
However, they had already reached the most critical juncture of Core Formation; Li Fan could not possibly interrupt He Zhenghao's progress by force.
He had no choice but to rein in his patience and wait quietly.
*I wonder what Daoist He's fourth law for Core Formation is?*
*When I came here with him earlier, I didn't hear him mention it. He wouldn't have gone so far as to hide something like this from me.*
*In that case, did he make a new breakthrough in the middle of Core Formation?*
Li Fan pondered to himself.
He did not have to wait long.
Soon, he had his answer.
Half a day later, the Three Undersea Faults below suddenly shook violently, as if struck by an undersea earthquake.
This was not the reappearance of the power of earth meridians or mountains and rivers.
Rather...
Li Fan's expression tightened into solemnity.
Raising his guard, he fixed his gaze downward.
As the tremors grew increasingly fierce, fractures rapidly opened across the seabed and mountain ranges, stretching and expanding without pause.
In just a few moments, the hundred-li stretch of the Three Undersea Faults was covered in cracks, seemingly on the verge of splintering apart at any second.
The shaking intensified further.
It was as though...
something beneath was about to burst forth from the earth!
Dull rupturing sounds echoed from the depths of the seabed, rumbling incessantly.
Li Fan turned to look at He Zhenghao, whose expression had not changed in the slightest.
It was as if what he had been waiting for all along was precisely whatever lay buried beneath the abyssal trench.
Li Fan pondered for a moment and made no unnecessary moves.
Merely to be safe, he activated a Trace-Extinguishing Talisman and retreated to a distance, quietly observing how events would unfold.
The earth roared, and the seabed caved in.
The Three Undersea Faults began to collapse with thunderous crashes.
Just as this natural wonder was nearly destroyed from the inside out, the thing deeply buried within finally revealed its form.
A majestic, tiered palace complex spanning dozens of li abruptly appeared before Li Fan's eyes.
Every building exuded an ancient, weathered aura.
Upon the structure at the very apex, three grand characters could be faintly discerned: Taiyuan Hall.
*What is this? A sect ruin emerging into the world?*
Li Fan was somewhat astonished, for across his previous lifetimes, he had never once heard of a ruin on such an immense scale.
*Could it be that the fluctuations of heavenly law triggered by He Zhenghao's Core Formation broke the ruin's seal?*
Amid Li Fan's speculation, the earth continued to roar, accompanied by the groaning and grinding of colossal collisions.
*Boom!*
As if something snapped with a resounding crash, the seabed collapsed completely.
And before Li Fan's stunned gaze, the palace complex headed by Taiyuan Hall was actually rising slowly through the water.
*Not good!*
Li Fan's expression shifted slightly.
Seeing that this massive architectural complex was about to crash upward into them, he could not afford to hesitate and moved to grab He Zhenghao to flee beyond its reach.
"Daoist friend, do not worry about me! I have my own way to avoid danger!"
Just then, He Zhenghao's voice transmission sounded in his ear.
Li Fan didn't insist. His figure flickered repeatedly, and in an instant, he had escaped the danger zone.
Looking back, he could not help but break into a cold sweat for He Zhenghao.
He Zhenghao sat upright and solemn, right in the path of the rising palace complex.
As the colossal structures bore down with matchless might, on the verge of smashing directly into him, he neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, with a face full of delight, he called out resoundingly, "Heaven itself aids me!"
An ethereal projection of his array chart manifested above his head. Facing the soaring architectural complex, He Zhenghao swiftly formed a sequence of hand seals.
Yellow and blue hues densely filled the space in an instant, weaving into an enormous net that blocked the path above the ascending palaces.
Yet only a breath later, the massive net was torn to shreds.
Before an architectural complex of such scale, it was truly like paper, unable to halt the ascent for even a fleeting moment.
Yet with the giant net acting as a cushion, He Zhenghao avoided the fate of being pulverized on impact.
Amid the scattering yellow and blue energies, He Zhenghao spat out a mouthful of blood and fell back rapidly.
As he retreated, he reached out his hands and made a slight grasping motion, as if seizing something from the rising buildings.
Seeing He Zhenghao out of danger, Li Fan rushed forward to check on his injuries.
He Zhenghao, however, paid them no heed at all. Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, he stared at the ascending structures, his eyes burning brighter and brighter.
"Can mountains and rivers fly as well?"
"They can!"
Wild ecstasy then broke out across his face.
"The Law of Soaring—this is the Law of Soaring for mountains and rivers..."
"Earth Meridians, Mountains and Rivers, Hidden Abyss, and Soaring!"
"With all four laws complete, my core is formed!"
He Zhenghao erupted into wild laughter.
Before his voice had even faded, a violent surge of energy erupted from his body, forcing Li Fan to retreat far into the distance.
Yellow, representing the Law of Earth Meridians;
Cyan-blue, representing the Law of Mountains and Rivers;
Deep black, representing the Law of the Hidden Abyss;
And violet-white, representing the Law of Soaring;
All emerged simultaneously around He Zhenghao.
They formed a multicolored vortex of energy, blending and interweaving with one another, continuously converging around the Mountains and Rivers Hundred Meridians Array Chart at its center.
...
Watching this magnificent spectacle from the side, Li Fan could not help feeling a surge of emotion.
*I never expected Daoist He would actually pull it off.*
*A Four-Law Golden Core cultivator is likely extraordinarily rare throughout the entire Congyun Sea.*
*From now on, his standing will be vastly different.*
*This Law of Soaring, just like the Law of the Hidden Abyss, aligns subtly with his Mountain River Hidden Dragon Technique...*
*Who would have guessed that the breakthrough location he chose concealed such an ancient ruin.*
*This truly is He Zhenghao's serendipity.*
Within his divine sense, the sprawling palace complex was ascending faster and faster, on the verge of breaking through the surface of the sea.
However...
Li Fan blinked in surprise.
For the scale of the complex also seemed to be steadily shrinking.
*It's not an illusion...*
*In that case...*
Li Fan recalled something in an instant.
Back in his twelfth lifetime, Li Fan had heard that in Anchored Year 22, an immortal abode had risen from the seabed in the northwestern waters of the Congyun Sea and flown straight toward Jiushan Province.
Many curious cultivators had followed it to investigate, only to never return, their fates unknown.
*So it was that immortal abode?*
Li Fan had a sudden realization.
*I wonder which sect left this ruin behind, that it can shrink and expand at will and soar through the air like a magic treasure.*
*Hmm... Perhaps I can spread word of this and let other cultivators scout the path for me.*
*Preserved in such pristine condition, and with such a wondrous sect headquarters, it will surely draw plenty of cultivators to investigate.*
Li Fan instinctively began scheming.
Before long, an extraordinary fluctuation interrupted his thoughts.
In He Zhenghao's lower abdomen, a Golden Core was about to take shape.
Upon the surface of the Golden Core, the faint likeness of an array chart emerged.
His aura soared in an instant.
He Zhenghao had successfully formed his core.
At the same time, a massive influx of feedback cultivation materialized synchronously within Li Fan's dantian.
Chapter 258