Right Under Its Nose?

If it couldn't see the target, it naturally had no way to strike at it. Presumably, that was the Heavenly Palace's intention as well. Hiding the formation eye was the best way to protect it. He Lingchuan pondered for a moment. "If you could see it, could you make a move against it?" "It only lit up twice. The first time lasted the longest, about two incense sticks of time. The second time, it merely flashed a few times." He Lingchuan let out a soft exclamation. "The first time was only two incense sticks? Are you sure?" "Yes, but that was enough for me to gauge its position at the time." After all, Juju was the mountain spirit of Mount Xu; nothing that occurred within its territory or airspace could escape its watch. "Back then, it was east of Tianji Peak, hovering at an altitude of about a hundred and fifty zhang off the ground." "The second time was the shortest, but I could tell it was at the exact same altitude—no change at all." Juju gave a raspy chuckle. "It most likely moves along this horizontal level." "Only twice isn't enough to prove a pattern," He Lingchuan said, then fell into deep thought. Juju's words conflicted with the facts. The first time the Tianluo Star flashed abnormally was when the hidden illusion appeared over the ruins of Thousand Stars City. That illusion of Thousand Stars City Under the Moon had lasted for roughly two shichen, not fading until just before dawn. Consequently, the Tianluo Star had also remained brightly lit until the faint light of dawn broke in the east—something he and Fu Shanyue had witnessed with their own eyes. Yet Juju claimed that the formation eye of the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation corresponding to the Tianluo Star had manifested for only two incense sticks of time—barely half an hour. Why was it so brief? Of course, He Lingchuan was not about to discuss this fact with Juju. In the whole world, the only ones who likely knew the truth of that day were the Heavenly Palace and himself. "If this formation eye stays so far off the ground, how does the Heavenly Palace maintain it?" Use brings wear and tear, and wear and tear demands maintenance; otherwise, things break down. In this regard, no matter how wondrous an array might be, it was no different from buildings, furniture, or any other durable good. What was more, with an array as crucial as the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation, would it make any sense not to inspect and service it several times a year? Juju fell silent again. He Lingchuan understood that this meant it didn't know. The Heavenly Palace had guarded against countless threats, but above all against this insider thief. How could they possibly let it in on the core secrets of the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation? "In all these years, you haven't managed to coax any useful intel out of the Ke family either, have you?" "The Ke family is nothing more than a dog kept by the Heavenly Palace. How many secrets of the celestial gods could they possibly know?" Speaking of this made Juju sick. The celestial gods had appointed the Ke family to make offerings to it, and only members of the Ke family could openly make contact with it, yet the Ke family was kept perpetually outside the inner sanctum of secrets in both the Heavenly Palace and the Imperial Palace. This was naturally an intentional arrangement from above, ensuring that no matter how much effort it expended, all its labor came to naught. At the thought of this, rage flared within Juju. Yet He Lingchuan was not underground and could not see the terrifying spectacle of surging magma. He merely asked, "Over the past ten years, have you maintained contact with any other outsiders?" "Why ask about that?" "So there are?" This earthfire monster was cunning and refused to remain under control. Since it couldn't obtain intelligence from the Ke family, it might well have started afresh and sought out other informants. Since He Lingchuan could get in touch with it, who was to say others couldn't? There were so many strange and bizarre divine abilities in this world; even the Heavenly Palace couldn't anticipate and defend against every single one. "I need more intelligence too," He Lingchuan smiled. "Why don't you act as the middleman?" Juju let out a low chuckle, noncommittal. This brat had hooked up with it on day one and already wanted to share in other people's intelligence? How could things be so convenient? "I'll share a piece of intelligence first to show good faith." He Lingchuan was always generous when generosity was called for. "Over a decade ago, just before the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation was nearing completion, the final step was to install the formation eye. Back then, the Ke family brought substantial offerings to feed you until you fell into a deep slumber, correct?" That was Juju's most unpleasant memory. It gave a sullen "Mm." "Yet you woke early and flew into a violent rage, bringing the entire array within an inch of collapse." Juju said stiffly, "Just one step away! What a pity!" Had it ruined the array back then, would it have had to endure over a decade of this foul degradation? "Still, your outburst severely disrupted the final installation work. They didn't even have time for debugging and calibration." How terrifying this rockfire monster was when it threw a temper tantrum was something all of Lingxu City remembered vividly. "Only after wrapping up the work did the supervising officials discover a problem." He Lingchuan spoke word for word, "Every year during autumn and winter, the Tianluo Star enters its prolonged illumination phase. For safety's sake, the formation eye was supposed to remain hidden in the void. With the Heavenly Palace's capabilities, they were already able to calibrate it to that point. But due to your interference, this function never took effect. "Yet by then, the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation was already in operation, turning this into a fundamental, low-level error that could no longer be fixed. Unless they rebuilt the formation eye from scratch, their only choice was to patch it up by other means." Anyone familiar with the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation knew that with Juju around, there would never be an opportunity to shut the array down. Would it just sit by and watch the Heavenly Palace rebuild the formation eye, reboot the grand array, and suppress it all over again? Juju was instantly intrigued. "What do you mean? Explain it clearly!" "Put simply, the formation eye ought to remain hidden in the void throughout autumn and winter. In reality, once the Tianluo Star's prolonged illumination period arrives, it most likely hovers right above Mount Xu." When Zaifu Kua discussed the supervision process back then with his colleagues in the dream, he had spoken entirely in technical terms and parameters. It had taken He Lingchuan a tremendous amount of effort to extract this key takeaway. Juju couldn't help raising its voice. "What? You're saying the formation eye isn't in the void?" "Right now, it is still in the void," He Lingchuan corrected it. "I know, I know! You mean that once the Tianluo Star begins its prolonged illumination, it emerges from the void and hovers in the sky above Mount Xu, right?" Right under its nose for ten years, and it had never noticed?! "Correct. So your struggle back then wasn't entirely in vain." It had left behind an unfixable bug, without which He Lingchuan would probably have had nowhere to strike. "It's just that I don't know what method the Heavenly Palace used to make it invisible and keep even birds from colliding with it." "That's not an issue. The Heavenly Palace has plenty of tricks." Juju quickly calmed down, though excitement still lingered in its voice. "Heh, heheh... And here I thought that because the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation could run continuously for so long, there was nothing wrong with it." In short, it had placed too much faith in the celestial gods' methods, never imagining that an issue could exist within the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation itself. "Large-scale foundational arrays like this have high fault tolerance. Normally, they won't grind to a halt over a few flaws," He Lingchuan gave an example. "Just like those supervising officials said: which major construction project isn't riddled with defects during construction? You patch what you can, fix what you can, and resolve most problems until it ultimately passes inspection, reaches completion, and is put into service." Take any random building project: during construction, you can uncover defects everywhere you look—hair-raising, appalling flaws. But once it's finished, and especially after it passes inspection, how many buildings actually collapse two years down the line? "Just like this error here—didn't they find a way to gloss over it? Even you never noticed. Let's see if we can capitalize on this." Even though Juju was a knowledgeable ancient greater demon, it had never undertaken the massive engineering projects humans excelled at, and was unfamiliar with their inner workings. He Lingchuan stood up and poured himself a cup of warm water. "What allows the formation eye to levitate in the first place?" For that thing to drift about over Mount Xu while maintaining a consistent altitude, there had to be a power source. "What else could it be? The Xuandou stone, of course." "Ah?" He Lingchuan pondered for quite a while before recalling what a Xuandou stone was. "You mean the reason it levitates is the same as the seven Floating Isles?" The Floating Isles could hover motionless in midair entirely because their bases utilized Xuandou stone. When he first arrived in Lingxu City, Bai Ziqi had told him that Xuandou stone was not native to this realm and had an alternative recharging method. "Of course," Juju grunted. "You want to make it drop out of the sky? Keep dreaming. As long as Lingxu City continuously replenishes its floating stones, it can hover with complete stability. And as long as the Grass Sea opens periodically, the supply of floating stones won't be an issue." He Lingchuan stroked his chin. "As the most critical formation eye of the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation, the Heavenly Palace's protection over it must be airtight." "Among the intel you gathered, wasn't there anything about its defensive works?" "Even if there was, it's useless now," He Lingchuan shook his head. "The supervising official dealt with it over a decade ago. Who knows whether the Heavenly Palace reinforced it afterward? My guess is they almost certainly did." "I can't make a move, and taking it down on your own is impossible." For once, Juju let out a sigh. "Leaving aside however many defensive divine abilities are set upon it, the formation eye is bound to be protected by origin power as well." The formation eye was the core of cores of the entire Spirit Gathering Grand Formation; the Heavenly Palace's care for it would surely be meticulous to the utmost. How potent the origin power of Beijia was! Even if Juju struck with all its might, the efficacy of its divine abilities would be heavily blunted. After all, the very existence of origin power was meant to counter powerful demons like it. "There's always a way." Having acquired more intelligence, He Lingchuan felt considerably more at ease. "First, we must confirm the formation eye's position. By the way, during the previous two abnormal flashes of the Tianluo Star, did you make a move?" "You saw it when we met this afternoon, didn't you... I have a restriction on me. I cannot attack any structures or arrays built by Lingxu City within the bounds of Mount Xu." He Lingchuan recalled the conspicuous runic collar around its body. Just as he had anticipated, so long as the Spirit Gathering Grand Formation functioned normally, Juju had no way of turning its claws against the formation eye. "Even so, I still hurled a few avatars at it." Giving up without even trying was not its style. "Did it do anything?" Even though the formation eye was over a hundred zhang—more than five hundred meters—off the ground, a volcanic eruption could easily exceed that height; hurling magma at it was no effort for Juju. "Er, no, they bounced right off," Juju said resentfully. "I only used very little force. Otherwise, it would have been judged as attacking the array, which would have ended badly for me." As He Lingchuan understood it, violating the restriction meant suffering harsh penalties. "However, the avatars I threw up there still got a clear look at the formation eye." With the formation eye over a hundred zhang above ground, Juju had to lob avatars upward to observe it at close range from multiple angles. The creature truly was crafty. He Lingchuan's spirits rose. "What did you find?" The information on the formation eye had all come from Zaifu Kua; truth be told, it was somewhat dated. Firsthand, up-to-date data was always the freshest and most valuable. An assault on Mount Xu was fraught with peril; he needed to gather as much intelligence as humanly possible.