Chapter 29: The Formation is Activated

  After a series of tedious rituals, the grand opening ceremony came to an end. At this moment, Wang Xiantang, the patriarch of the Ning King's Mansion, stood up and announced to the crowd that the 14th son of the Ning King, Wang Guanlan, had entered into a lifelong engagement with Qingling, the successor of Jingling Lake. Both Wang Guanlan and Qingling were dressed in bright red ceremonial robes, standing behind Wang Xiantang and Zhu Zhihua.

  Everyone in the field had a cheerful expression on their face, but their eyes were full of expectation, looking forward to the start of a big show.

  As expected, Wang Xiandang's words had just reached halfway when several angry shouts were heard from the valley.

  "Hold on!"

  "Wait!"

  "Wait!"

  ……………

  …………

  Several cries of "Wait!" echoed through the valley, and for a moment, the scene was quiet. Seven young warriors with different attire stood out from the crowd, but it was clear that these seven young warriors were not on the same path. As soon as they stood up, they glared at each other in anger, each one trying to get ahead of the others, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.

  "What kind of people are you?!" Leng Han stepped out from the stage, his aura as a 7th layer cultivator bursting forth, his face icy cold. "You dare to cause trouble at this time, do you not want to live?" As he spoke, several Huā Líng guards rushed over and surrounded the seven people in the middle.

  "What's going on? Is the Ning Wang Fu planning to use sheer numbers to bully us?" one of the seven young men shouted.

  "The Ning Wang Fu had publicly declared that today, Wang Guanlan would accept the challenge. Does the Ning Wang Fu want to go back on their word?!"

  "Yes, yes! Does the Ning Wang Fu want to go back on their word?!"

  Wang Guanlan should accept the challenge!!

  Suddenly, a hubbub of voices rose from the crowd. The once peaceful valley was now in an uproar.

  Luo Han's expression sank, and he was about to say something else, but then he saw Wang Guanlan in a red robe flash before him and land right in front of him.

  "Luo Han, you can withdraw first. What they said is right. Since our Ning Wang Fu has already given them the opportunity to challenge us, we naturally cannot go back on our word!"

  "Yes, young master!" Kuo Han saw the playful expression on Wang Guanlan's face and didn't say much more, leading a group of flower fox guards to retreat.

  Wang Guanlan raised his head, glanced at the young people who were about to speak up, and waved his hand. "Don't report any numbers to me. I don't want to hear your numbers either. Since you're challenging me, make a move! After I've dealt with you, I have some words to say to others!"

  "Preposterous!!"

  Such blatant disregard was unbearable for anyone, let alone a group of young warriors full of confidence in themselves. Since these few people were the first to stand out, it showed that they were impatient among the younger generation of warriors. As soon as they heard Wang Guanlan's words, they couldn't bear it anymore and three people simultaneously took action, holding knives, swords, and spears to attack Wang Guanlan together, without even considering the most basic rules of the Jianghu.

  Although Wang Guanlan didn't think much of them, the lowest level of martial arts cultivation among these young people was at least at the fifth layer of Qi Refining. Faced with Wang Guanlan, this small fry who was only at the third layer of Qi Refining, the three of them joined forces. It really gave off a feeling of bullying the weak.

  But in this situation now, no one will stop either.

  Seeing the three men attacking him, Wang Guanlan's mouth curled up with a hint of cold smile, "You're overestimating your abilities!!"

  A thin fog rose from his body, and a strange thing happened in front of everyone.

  The rising thin fog was like a light gauze, looking as if it would break with one touch. However, when the three people's blades, swords, and spears approached, the gauze suddenly changed, rolling up fiercely before dispersing abruptly, enveloping all three in the fog.

  In the hazy fog, the movements of the three people slowed down and gradually disappeared. After two breaths, the thin fog dispersed, but the three people were already gone.

  Such a scene, let alone ordinary people present, even powerful warriors couldn't help but take in a breath of cold air.

  "There are some things I don't want to say, but it seems like today's situation has left me no choice!" Having settled the three of them, Wang Guanlan didn't even bat an eyelid as he flashed back up onto the high platform, standing beside Wang Xiantang and gazing out at the crowd below. He began to speak.

  "I know, because of my marriage, everyone is a bit anxious and not calm, but even if it's a challenge, they can't be like those three, making a big fuss without any rules. And you four, are you going to just stand there? I also can't just stand here and endlessly accept your challenges, right? Look at them, seven people challenging me at the same time, three of them rushing up together, and these four standing there not moving. Tell me, should I take action or not?"

  The four of them suddenly became awkward. If they were impulsive when Wang Xiantang was about to announce the engagement, now they were in a dilemma.

  The scene just now was really too strange, as a warrior, although I knew that the means of the Taoist were changing, but clearly and openly in front of them, they changed people, it was the first time they saw it, so when Wang Guanlan asked them again, not one person dared to answer his words.

  "Trouble is indeed coming, but since you have the guts to accept everyone's challenge, you should also be mentally prepared to take on all comers. Do you really think we'll come at you one by one?"

  A lazy voice came from the crowd, and when I looked around, it was Fengjiu lying under a big tree.

  "What are you looking at? What's so good to look at? Am I wrong?!"" Fengjiu said, rolling her eyes and falling asleep again, completely ignoring the strange looks from others.

  "Fengjiu brother is right, since I accepted everyone's challenge, of course, I have the mindset to take on all comers. Moreover, I originally planned to do it this way!" Wang Guanlan smiled calmly, "Personally, I think coming one by one is too troublesome, so I set up an array in the valley beforehand to solve everything at once. Therefore, I hope everyone who wants to challenge me can enter the valley as soon as possible. After a stick of incense, I will activate the array and seal off Fengming Valley. If you haven't entered by then, I won't entertain you. Of course, if anyone has the ability to break through my array after I activate it, I will also accept your challenge!"

  "What?!"

  "Everyone get on!"

  "The Formation's range has enveloped the entire Phoenix Cry Valley!"

  "Has this kid gone crazy?!"

  "Too arrogant!!"

  …………

  …………

  As soon as the words were spoken, they instantly detonated in the valley, amidst a burst of noise. Two cold and severe sword lights flashed and shot straight at Wang Guanlan on the stage.

  "I've said it before, one must understand the rules!!" Wang Guanlan's gaze turned cold, and two balls of fog suddenly appeared, enveloping the two sword paths, along with the sword lights and the people. Everything was rolled up together. Just like the three people from earlier, the person emitting the sword light disappeared without a trace in the fog.

  "As for those who have come to watch the ceremony in the valley, I don't bear any malice towards friends who don't have ill intentions towards me. As long as you don't attack me, this formation won't affect you. Of course, when the formation is activated, friends with deep cultivation may feel some discomfort, which is the effect of the formation. Once I release the formation, everything will return to normal, so please don't worry!!"

  After he finished speaking, he didn't say another word and just stood there quietly. In his hand, a small black flag had appeared at some point, as if waiting for something. Everyone knew that he was waiting for the time it took for an incense stick to burn out.

  The valley fell silent once again. With a precedent set before them, no one dared to make a move on Wang Guanlan within this short period of time.

  After a stick of incense time had passed, Wang Guanlan's face flashed with a strange smile, and the black small flag in his hand swung violently. Suddenly, a layer of faint mist floated up in the valley, which was like a thin gauze at first, but within two or three breaths, the mist became so thick that it was impossible to see five fingers when stretching out one's hand. After the people in the valley were shocked again, the mist actually thinned out once more, and after a while, it completely dispersed without a trace. The valley returned to normal, with the only change being that a tall stone pillar suddenly appeared in front of the high platform. This stone pillar was similar to the one on the west training ground of Nanhuacity, but this pillar was taller, thicker, and more majestic than that one.

  "What's going on, how can this be, why can't I gather my strength!" Suddenly, a panicked voice came from the crowd, it was as if there was an infectious disease, quickly, cries of surprise rose and fell, all the martial artists discovered that the surrounding heavenly energy had transformed into a solid energy lock chain, locking up all the surrounding heavenly energy, even their own internal energy couldn't exert half its usual effect.

  It's not a person being suppressed, but the small world they live in that is being suppressed.

  The more powerful they were, the deeper their feelings became. As they discovered one anomaly after another, even more astonishing things happened to them.

  A faint, oppressive aura appeared around them, slowly pressing in on them. This pressure wasn't the kind that forced its way in, nor did it seem to have any threatening intent, yet it caused their spiritual energy to become stagnant. Of course, this feeling of stagnation only existed among martial artists whose cultivation was above the seventh layer of Qi Refining. Ordinary martial artists could only sense the power of their spiritual energy and manipulate it after reaching the seventh layer. Now, all the martial artists in the formation who were above the seventh layer discovered that their spiritual energy seemed to be stuck in a quagmire, requiring ten times more effort than usual to use.

  "This is too much!!! Suddenly, someone became dissatisfied, "Didn't you say you would openly and fairly accept the challenge? What kind of trickery is this!!"

  BOOM!!!

  No sooner had the words fallen than the person who opened his mouth to stir up trouble suddenly found a fierce flame bursting forth from under his feet, and before he even had time to let out a miserable cry, this flame exploded, blasting him into charcoal.

  "I am a Formation Master, of course I will defend against the enemy in the formation. Who is not satisfied can come out!!" The cold and gloomy voice from above the stone pillar made people shiver involuntarily.

  ……………………

  ……………

  I was so anxious, after updating a chapter last night, I couldn't update the second chapter no matter what, and even reinstalled the system, but my computer crashed, so I had to come to work early this morning to send it out!! (....)