As if he had not seen the other party vanish, Ji Hongdao continued speaking to himself: "What the Young Lord ought to worry about is nothing more than losing a bit of freedom while inside the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation."
"As for safety, there is no need to worry."
"Just as the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals has always publicized, Dao Integration cultivators are already beyond the reach of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation's power."
"With your strength, Young Lord, you surely wouldn't fear a mere formation, would you?"
"If a modest sacrifice of freedom can be traded for substantial benefits, I believe you will be more than willing, Young Lord."
"Aren't you genuinely curious about what lies beneath the abyss and beyond the mist?"
After Ji Hongdao finished speaking, the Young Lord's warped figure reappeared upon the Dust-Crossing Boat.
Without uttering a sound, he merely stared coldly at Ji Hongdao, waiting for what he had to say next.
Ji Hongdao showed no surprise at his return. "Once the construction of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation is fully completed, the Heavenly Profound Mirror will also achieve another sublimation."
"When that time comes, the unfinished business from two hundred years ago may stand a tremendous chance of succeeding."
"Furthermore, if the sublimated Heavenly Profound Mirror wishes to take another step forward, beyond encroaching on the territory of the Five Elders Association, its only option is to explore beyond the boundary of this realm."
"With the Essence-Devouring White Mist serving as a breakthrough point, it naturally won't give up easily."
"Once it frees up its attention, the Essence-Devouring White Mist certainly won't be able to hold it back. It is merely a question of how much time it takes."
"All the Young Lord needs to do is wait patiently."
"You have already waited through all these years; why fuss over this little while?"
He did not appear swayed by Ji Hongdao's words. His voice carried a faint sneer: "Ji Hongdao, you truly haven't changed a bit."
Without waiting for a reply, his form vanished once more.
Ji Hongdao slowly turned his head back toward the cultivators bustling inside the immortal bastion in the distance, a faint smile surfacing at the corner of his mouth.
***
The next day, Li Fan's arduous labor at the Chizha Abyss officially began.
Besides Xue Mu, the formation masters tasked with coordinating the construction of the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation included five cultivators from Tianyu Province's Formation Planning Hall.
Unlike in ordinary provinces, where one only had to consider the construction of the formation without having to worry about safety, constructing the Spirit-Locking Formation outside the Chizha Abyss was fraught with difficulties, demanding the combined efforts of multiple departments.
First, the garrison stationed at the Eternal Immortal Bastion, named Qingxuan, braved the white mist under layers of protective barriers to painstakingly open a clear corridor where formations could be laid.
Next, cultivators from the Heavenly Secret Hall stepped forward to select suitable locations along the corridor.
Then cultivators from the Martial Practice Hall cooperated with the Qingxuan garrison to rapidly establish dozens of footholds before the white mist could reclaim lost ground.
These footholds served as resting points for Li Fan and the others after each session of formation layout.
To improve construction efficiency, on the recommendation of Dou Xingsi, an experienced formation master, the Spirit-Locking Formation encompassing the Chizha Abyss adopted a strategy of blossoming from multiple points and simultaneous construction.
The seven formation masters each began expanding outward from different directions. Once the perimeter formation converged, they would build inward toward the central core formation.
Finally, when everything was ready, the core array hub would be installed for final calibration.
There was nothing wrong with the plan in theory, but the actual execution proved unimaginably arduous.
Even someone as resilient as Li Fan was pushed to utter exhaustion by the process.
For instance, to set up a formation node in the white mist, the Essence-Devouring White Mist first had to be expelled.
The vacuum zone opened by the Qingxuan troops could not last long.
Before the white mist returned, Li Fan had to race against the clock to complete a small formation node so it could later link with other formation structures.
If an error or accident left him with only a half-finished node when time ran out, Li Fan had no choice but to temporarily retreat before the fiercely surging return of the Essence-Devouring White Mist.
This meant all prior effort was wasted, and he would have to start over from scratch next time.
Moreover, nodes already completed were submerged beneath the dense white mist.
Should any problem arise that required maintenance, Li Fan would have to risk his life, accompanied by several cultivators, venturing deep into the white mist to inspect it.
Not to mention that throughout the entire process, one had to remain constantly vigilant against the assault of the abyssal demonic sound.
In most cases, outbreaks of the demonic sound followed a tidal pattern with regular cycles.
The Qingxuan troops would provide the projected arrival times of each sonic tide so Li Fan and the others could take cover.
Yet sudden emergencies still occurred when a massive surge of demonic sound struck without warning.
Although Li Fan's work site was located outside the Chizha Abyss and most of the demonic sound's power was absorbed as it passed the Eternal Immortal Bastion, when directly confronting the raging sonic tide, Li Fan truly felt like a flame on the verge of being snuffed out in a tempest.
Those resentful, shrill, horrifying shrieks circled around him, bringing his very consciousness to the brink of collapse.
On one occasion, the danger was so severe that even the protective charge of True Reversion plummeted by several percentage points.
Fortunately, the Qingxuan troops were professionals when it came to dealing with the abyssal demonic sound.
At these critical moments, while alarmed, they never panicked.
Shielding Li Fan in their midst, they would each take out strange treasures capable of devouring sound:
a peculiar black stone riddled with holes;
a faceless visage bearing only two pairs of ears;
green grass that danced along with sound;
and many other diverse varieties.
Li Fan even spotted the red-furred beasts from Wanlai Island several times.
Their effects were remarkably pronounced.
Once unleashed, the demonic sound that had just been roaring like a tsunami instantly vanished.
However, Li Fan keenly noticed that after devouring a certain amount of demonic sound, these strange beasts and odd treasures seemed to undergo some kind of transformation.
The beasts grew more violent and uncontrollable, while the odd treasures would occasionally begin emitting eerie noises on their own.
Thus, the Qingxuan troops routinely rotated and replaced the treasures.
Once their carried supplies were depleted, they had to return to the Eternal Immortal Bastion for replenishment.
Apart from sound-absorbing treasures, the Black Death Talismans that sustained the footholds and allowed cultivators to survive within the Essence-Devouring White Mist were also consumables.
If supply distribution was delayed for any reason, construction was forced to halt.
In short, constructing the Heavenly Profound Spirit-Locking Formation in the boundless white mist was easily several times harder than doing so in an ordinary province.
Perhaps for this reason, despite the slow progress, Li Fan's ranking on the grand competition's golden roster did not lag far behind.
He remained fairly stable around the top one hundred.
The score gap had not widened much yet, and the top ten names were constantly shifting.
Yet far more conspicuous than the frontrunners was the one at the very bottom of the 783 participants:
the Golden Core cultivator Guo Yezhong.
Nearly a year had passed since the grand competition officially began, yet his score remained stubbornly at zero, completely motionless.
He was the only one on the entire roster in such a state, making him far more noticeable than even the person in first place.
Cultivators speculated endlessly, wondering whether this Guo Yezhong had gone missing, was trapped somewhere, or had defected outright.
Chapter 352