"Whew..." Xiao Yan swept a glance around the surrounding environment, then retrieved an object resembling a compass from his storage artifact. A faint white glow shimmered on its surface. As Xiao Yan infused spiritual energy into it, a gentle beam of light emerged from the compass and shot in a certain direction. Without hesitation, Xiao Yan took to the skies, swiftly heading that way.
Before entering the Ancient Saint Abyss, Xiao Yan had already gathered extensive intelligence about the Heavenly Sovereigns who had perished there. Naturally, he had also planned out his main objective for this journey. Though he was certainly interested in contending for the peerless divine abilities left behind in the abyss, he knew he had to act within his means. His priority was to locate something specific first.
The compass in his hand was something he had spent a hefty price to obtain from a reliable source. It was a detection-type sacred artifact. Though it was only a low-grade sacred artifact, it supposedly had the ability to track the remnants left behind by the Heavenly Formation Elder. Of course, this was just what the seller claimed—Xiao Yan wasn't entirely certain of its authenticity. Still, it was a case of 'better to believe than to dismiss.'
The Heavenly Formation Elder had been a Heavenly Sovereign who perished in the Ancient Saint Abyss. Though his strength had only reached the level of a Spiritual-grade Heavenly Sovereign, his attainments in formation arts were frighteningly deep, said to be on par with even Sacred-grade Heavenly Sovereigns. The spiritual formation outside Saint Abyss City had been laid down by this very person—Xiao Yan had sensed its might when he entered the city.
If he could acquire the inheritance of this Heavenly Formation Elder, he'd never need to worry about formation diagrams again. A legacy from a Sacred-grade Grandmaster would bring him immeasurable benefits. This was also one of the reasons he chose not to form a team for this expedition. After all, a formation master's inheritance was only useful to formation masters—others would gain nothing from it.
In cooperative teams, any rewards had to be divided. Cunning individuals wouldn't go to such lengths for a ruin where they couldn't even scrape a share. But this also meant that if Xiao Yan reached the ruins first, there wouldn't be much competition.
Following the compass's guidance, Xiao Yan continued alone through the harsh Saint Abyss. Along the way, he encountered several strange weather phenomena. Fortunately, he had studied intelligence reports before coming and didn't act rashly. Instead, he found safe places to wait out the dangers.
These bizarre weather events were the manifestation of spiritual energy released by fallen Heavenly Sovereigns—extremely dangerous. Even a Perfected Earth Sovereign caught in one might not survive. However, the destructive power of these phenomena gave Xiao Yan a different idea. He managed to collect samples of them, intending to later see if they could be refined into spiritual energy.
During his journey, he also came across several other treasure-seeking teams. One of them, which seemed rather powerful, attempted to kill and rob him upon seeing he was traveling alone. Unfortunately for them, they had picked the wrong target—a monstrous opponent. Not only did they fail, but they were all slain by Xiao Yan, and their treasures were claimed by him.
Other teams were more cautious. Though they harbored similar intentions, they suppressed those thoughts with reason. They understood that anyone bold enough to enter the Ancient Saint Abyss alone was either a fool or someone supremely confident in their strength. And how many Earth Sovereigns could truly be fools?
Thus, those groups left Xiao Yan alone, and he had no interest in dealing with them either. Each went their separate ways. After a few days of searching, guided by the compass, Xiao Yan finally arrived at a vast desert. As he gazed at the endless yellow sand ahead, he suddenly had the urge to smash the glowing compass in his hand...
'This damned place doesn't look anything like a ruin. Was I duped?'
Just as he was about to hurl the compass, he suddenly realized something wasn't right. Taking a deep breath, he immediately activated the Demon Heart Scripture and entered his Heart Demon State. Thanks to the restoration by the Spirit of the Ancestral Stone, the Demon Heart Scripture had been fully repaired, and Xiao Yan could now unleash its power to the fullest extent.
Though he had not yet mastered the newly restored scripture, he had already reached its second level—what was known as the Greater Heart Demon State. In this state, not only was his mental clarity greatly enhanced, but his sensory perception also multiplied severalfold.
If his soul perception previously rivaled that of a Heavenly Sovereign, then in this Greater Heart Demon State, his soul sensitivity even surpassed some true Spiritual-grade Heavenly Sovereigns. Xiao Yan had already sensed something odd about the surroundings; otherwise, his temperament wouldn't have flared up so easily, nearly causing him to act on impulse. Now, with his enhanced perception, he immediately spotted the abnormality around him.
The Ancient Saint Abyss was filled with terrifying natural disasters like Spirit-Eroding Wind, Soul-Freezing Snow, and Shattered Steel Thunder. These calamities were essentially elemental evolutions of spiritual energy left behind by fallen Heavenly Sovereigns. The different types of energy gave rise to different disasters.
But the desert before him was different.
Although it appeared like another such disaster, Xiao Yan could sense there was none of the unique spiritual pressure typically associated with a fallen Heavenly Sovereign. Instead, there was a peculiar rhythm—one that hinted at the presence of a formation. His bold guess: this desert might be part of a massive formation, and not a low-grade one either. Otherwise, it wouldn't have affected his emotions so powerfully.
Even though he had recognized it as a formation, Xiao Yan was helpless. While he could now arrange High-grade Master-level formations, he was still someone who had learned formation arts halfway through his cultivation path. Many aspects of formation theory remained unclear to him. In fact, the formations he set up didn't align with the mainstream system of the Great Thousand World at all.
This meant that while he could use existing diagrams to set up formations, when it came to breaking formations—especially powerful or ancient ones—he was nearly useless. Against low-level spiritual formations, he might still manage. But something this complex? No chance. So Xiao Yan decisively gave up trying to dismantle it through conventional means.
(End of Chapter)
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