Chapter 695: Sun Lingtong's Dangerous Exploration of Shuyuzhai
The teleportation room in Shuyuzhai is not big either.
The ground, walls and ceiling are all engraved with a large number of complex array patterns.
Sun Lingtong walked out of the magic circle and came to the only door.
He did not push the door open immediately, but cautiously used his stealing skills to detect the world behind the door.
After using five different detection methods in succession, he was sure that the door was safe.
He took a deep breath and sent a telepathic message to Ning Zhuo: "Xiao Zhuo, I'm going to push the door open."
Sun Lingtong and Ning Zhuo have always been connected by a thread of life and death.
Ning Zhuo nodded in his heart and responded: "I'm ready."
The big-headed boy was in the cave on the cliff with vines, concentrating his attention.
Shuyuzhai was his mother's cave abode before her death, so Ning Zhuo naturally wished to explore it himself. However, reason led him to make a more reasonable arrangement.
Sun Lingtong's cultivation is higher than his, and he masters many stealing techniques. These factors make Sun Lingtong a more suitable candidate for adventure.
During the battle at Wangchuan Hell, Sun Lingtong even penetrated deep behind enemy lines into the capital of a nation, wreaking havoc before escaping. His achievement had a huge impact on the battlefield of the altar.
Although he relied on Zeng Jide, a senior fellow student, if Ning Zhuo were placed in Sun Lingtong's position at the time, he would definitely not be able to achieve Sun Lingtong's performance.
Sun Lingtong is suitable for exploring in the front, while Ning Zhuo is more suitable for providing a backup.
There is no one more suitable than him!
Ning Zhuo's mastery of supernatural powers, coupled with his spiritual realm, made rescuing Sun Lingtong a matter of a moment. Back then, in Baizhi Immortal City, not even the Taoist temple could stop Ning Zhuo from rescuing Sun Lingtong.
Of course, in Shuyuzhai, there are magic circles and magic restrictions between Sun Lingtong and Ning Zhuo, so whether this off-site rescue method can still be effective is a question.
But such an arrangement is already the biggest insurance measure.
Exploring Shuyuzhai is risky.
In the message on the jade slip, Buddhist doctor Meng Yaoyin didn't reveal any further details. Her condition had reached its limit, so she could only choose to entrust Ning Zhuo with more important matters.
She only told Ning Zhuo that there were many defensive measures in Shuyuzhai, but no means of bloodline identification, so Ning Zhuo should be careful.
After all, when she left Wanxiang Sect, she did not expect that she would give birth to a son.
Sun Lingtong pushed open the door and entered a secret room.
In the center of the secret room, there is a millstone-like array plate, sitting on the ground, slowly rotating.
The plate is carved from a whole piece of sunken lake chalcedony and is inlaid with 360 water-patterned steel beads. The tracks of water flowing through the beads are faintly visible.
Hundreds of array patterns extend from the bottom of the plate, some thick and some thin, like crystal water veins, or like the roots of living things penetrating into the walls.
Sun Lingtong's eyes flashed with brilliance: "This is the core room that controls the entire Shuyuzhai Cave!"
Ning Zhuo was delighted: "In this way, as long as we control this place, we can deal with all the defenses in Shuyu Zhai. No wonder mother didn't explain it in detail in the jade slip."
Sun Lingtong didn't answer. He felt something was wrong deep down in his heart.
He has always attached great importance to this feeling that something is wrong.
Sun Lingtong has extensive experience in theft. Whenever he feels something is wrong during the theft, it means that he has learned some bad information but has not fully understood it.
Sun Lingtong did not act in a hurry, but observed carefully.
He immediately activated his innate spiritual eyes, gained insight for a moment, and broke out in a cold sweat.
"These water-patterned steel balls are actually formed by the condensation of water-based Yin Thunder. Once triggered, the array pattern will lock the entire room, forbidding the space."
"By then, anyone who breaks through the formation will be killed without a burial place. No, the entire Shuyuzhai will be destroyed in an instant."
Ning Zhuo was shocked.
Sun Lingtong wiped the sweat from his head and sighed, "Auntie placed the teleportation array in the center of the array. How could she not take precautions?"
“That’s what feels wrong to me!”
"If it were me, I would set up a secret passage to connect to the outside world, and I would also be on guard against the enemy teleporting to Shuyuzhai through the secret passage."
"This array disc is used for identity recognition. You must not touch it until I have cracked this layer and achieved disguise!"
Sun Lingtong made a judgment.
He glanced around and said, "Next, I should choose one from these six doors."
The formation center was where the entire cave's formation plates were arranged. A small room, clearly an extra addition, contained only the teleportation formation.
In addition, there are six doors distributed on the four walls.
Sun Lingtong maintained the detection spell at all times and began to walk carefully in the core of the formation.
On average, he would stop every two or three steps, use a round of stealing skills to detect the array patterns around him, and then take out various talismans and release them one after another.
His technique made Ning Zhuo feel dazzled.
Ning Zhuo couldn't help but hold his breath, his body and mind were in a state of tension.
He was naturally quite familiar with Sun Lingtong. He knew that Sun Lingtong had already given it his all. In the more than ten years they had been together, he hadn't seen her go all out more than five times.
Sun Lingtong tried her best, walking and stopping, sometimes even going back and taking detours. It took her half a cup of tea to finally reach a door.
The distance from where he started to move to where he stopped now was only more than twenty steps in a straight line.
Sun Lingtong informed Ning Zhuo, and after receiving a response, she pushed open the door.
The light from outside the door poured in, causing Sun Lingtong's pupils to shrink.
Before him lay a winding corridor, supported by twelve ice crystal jade pillars, their invisible force holding back the lake water outside.
The fish and water plants in the Jade Lake outside the corridor are clearly visible. A school of fish shuttles past above, and the waves stirred up by their tails seem to be rushing into the corridor.
Sun Lingtong and Ning Zhuo were both stunned by this unexpected scene.
Sun Lingtong's heart was greatly shocked, and his consciousness transmitted a thought: "This is the formation of the void!"
Ning Zhuo was also shocked when he was reminded: "Okay, it seems so."
Constructing a space formation is a superb formation skill. A cultivator with little attainment in formation will never be able to do this.
Ning Zhuo had already experienced a formation technique of similar difficulty, which was the invisible hub.
In the Black Cloud Battlefield, although Ning Zhuo found the core of the magic circle, he was unable to destroy it. This was the skill of the invisible core!
Sun Lingtong, whose mastery of formations was even greater than Ning Zhuo's, was the first to recognize it. Staring at the corridor before him, his eyes gleaming, he exclaimed with genuine emotion, "This is the first time I've witnessed this formation technique in person."
"It's already difficult for a magic array to construct an internal space. But the formation space construction can dismantle, shape, and reconstruct the magic array's internal space."
"From the outside, the Shuyuzhai cave is just a palace at the bottom of the lake."
"But from the inside, this palace is recombined and constructed with the cave formation, forming a wonderful state of close fusion of architecture and formation!"
"Xiao Zhuo, what level has your mother's attainment in the art of formations reached?"
Ning Zhuo's mouth was dry. "I don't know either. You know my situation, Boss. You've read all the books my mother left behind."
"Wait, Boss, why are you sure this was arranged by my mother, and not by the Shuyuzhai cave itself?"
Sun Lingtong shook his head, very sure: "The status of Shuyuzhai is similar to that of Panshi Cave Mansion. They are both top caves in their respective mountains."
"But you've already been to the Rock Cave. What's its magic formation like?"
"Even the Nine Palace Formation set up by Xie Tang, in terms of grade and difficulty alone, is definitely weaker than the large formation here."
"This must be the work of my aunt!"
Ning Zhuo blinked, his eyes reddened. He sighed, "Alas, if mother had left me some formation books, perhaps my attainments in formation would be almost as good as Shen Xi's."
Sun Lingtong shook her head. "Your mother had good intentions. If she had left behind profound classics, it would have brought disaster upon you. After all, you were only two years old at the time. Your mother wouldn't have completely trusted an outsider like me."
Sun Lingtong stood still.
I dare not move.
A corridor like this is definitely not for viewing. Beneath the beautiful scenery at the bottom of the lake lies a trap and murderous intent.
Obviously, this is another means of preventing theft.
Sun Lingtong observed for a full incense stick of time before he began to try with a frown.
He stood on tiptoe and took a small, cautious step forward. As soon as his first foot touched the floor tiles, ripples of water began to ripple across the surface.
Sun Lingtong took a few steps, his trajectory crooked, and the ripples created on the floor tiles became more and more, forming a qualitative change.
Several water arrows appeared out of thin air and shot towards Sun Lingtong.
Sun Lingtong could only dodge and retreat quickly.
The result was that it triggered more defensive measures. A stream of water attacked him from behind, wrapped around his waist, and tied him up tightly.
Sun Lingtong wanted to take action, but the water current around him had a restrictive power that prevented him from responding in time.
Life hangs by a thread!
Psychic mirror!
At the critical moment, Ning Zhuo immediately took action to rescue, pulled Sun Lingtong away from the spot, and dropped him into the cave in Baoteng Cliff.
Sun Lingtong was still terrified: "This formation is so powerful! Xiaozhuo, if you hadn't intervened in time, I would have been seriously injured."
Ning Zhuo: "Boss, you took the blame for me."
Sun Lingtong waved her hand and said, "No, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to steal and explore. It's really exciting, hahahaha."
Sun Lingtong laughed out loud, his eyes sparkling, his face full of interest.
"You know what? The more difficult the obstacles ahead, the more it piques my desire for challenge. Xiaozhuo, let's comprehend the magic circle in the corridor together."
Ning Zhuo nodded heavily.
The two brothers first summarized the information they had collected so far, and then discussed the magic circle in the corridor.
During this period, Ning Zhuo also took out the classics left by his mother and asked himself and Sun Lingtong to study them together.
Although the contents of these classics are relatively basic and involve more mechanical techniques, some clues can still be seen from them.
After all, this is the work of Ning Zhuo's mother. From it, one can understand the author's temperament and thinking habits.
"It's difficult, too difficult." Sun Lingtong sighed.
Although I gained something, it was not much.
Ning Zhuo: "We need to try a few more times before we can figure out the layout of the corridor's magic array."
Sun Lingtong's face was solemn. "I feel like this is just one too many attempts. Auntie wouldn't arrange it this way. Judging from the existing array patterns, it's very likely that if it's triggered a few more times, the entire corridor will be blocked."
"At least that's the way it is."
"What I'm more worried about is that it will trigger the central array disk and cause the entire Shuyuzhai to self-destruct!"
Ning Zhuo thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, I'm afraid we need to improve our attainments in formation."
Sun Lingtong shook her head: "That's unreliable. Cultivating the Hundred Arts of Taoism is not something that can be achieved overnight. A chance encounter like the one you experienced before at the Five Elements Realm is quite rare."
Ning Zhuo sighed: "Well, let's give it a try first and see."
His foundation in formations was solid, and Sun Lingtong's was even stronger, but when the two brothers joined forces, they both felt their own weakness in front of the formation set up by Meng Yaoyin.
Sun Lingtong clearly had a powerful weapon like the Shuttle that could travel through the gaps in the formation, but he just couldn't find an opportunity to use it - he couldn't find any flaws or gaps in the formation.
Using the Earth Escape Technique, he entered the mountain, passed through the Thousand Vine Drinking Cloud Formation through the gaps in the formation, and entered the teleportation stone chamber.
Through the teleportation array, he entered Shuyuzhai again.
After passing through the formation center, he still chose the same door as before.
Pushing the door and entering the corridor, he and Ning Zhuo were faced with the same dilemma again.
The corridor hadn't completely returned to calm; ripples still echoed across the brick surface. This was a phenomenon not seen before, and it also confirmed Sun Lingtong's previous ominous suspicion—they hadn't tried many times!
However, just as Sun Lingtong was about to continue testing the formation, a thunderous explosion suddenly occurred.
"What's going on?!" Sun Lingtong looked up at the sky in surprise and confusion.
He was now at the bottom of the lake, and he saw the water shaking, forming a turbulent current. Not only the Jade Lake, but even the entire Yunmo Peak was shaking.
Ning Zhuoyi was so nervous that he almost used his magical powers again to pull Sun Lingtong back.
He was surprised to find that the cliff where he was standing was also shaking!
"What happened?" Sun Lingtong was the first to calm down. He was sure that it was not his fault.
Ning Zhuo immediately sent the chef to investigate the situation.
The chef was also new and not good at gathering information.
Ning Zhuo also knew this, so after sending the chef out, he sent another letter to contact Yu Heye.
Not long after, Yu Heye's FeiXin message arrived in front of Ning Zhuo first.
Yu Heye said that he was also shocked, and then told Ning Zhuo that there was a young cultivator named Niu Cheng who was trying to find Xie Tang's formation magic weapon, and thus triggered the Nine Palace Formation.
The Nine Palaces here refer to the nine peaks including Baoteng Cliff and Yunmoding. Therefore, all nine peaks shook simultaneously.
At the end of the letter, Yu Heye expressed his speculation: Niu Cheng was gifted and could have such a huge impact, so he was likely to succeed. If Ning Zhuo wanted this magic weapon, Yu Heye said he would do his best to help him, in return for Ning Zhuo's life-saving grace!
Ning Zhuo wrote a letter to appease Yu Heye and told him not to worry about it.
The chef hasn't come back yet.
Ning Zhuo had no guards around him, and for a moment he was a little afraid to concentrate on exploring Shuyu Zhai.
Meng Yehu and Yuan Dasheng have not repaired it yet, and it is still very troublesome to maintain it.
Originally we were relying on the chef, but he was sent out to gather information.
As for Qing Chi, Ning Zhuo would not count on a girl with amnesia.
Ning Zhuo, cautious by nature, immediately sent a message to recall the chef. He also contacted Sun Lingtong.
Sun Lingtong sat cross-legged on the floor, his eyes gleaming with brilliance. "Don't worry, Xiaozhu! I've figured out the details of the corridor's magic circle."
(End of this chapter)
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