The Pastoral Life of a Cultivation Master

Chapter 3064 Reasonable Triggering of the Mechanism
Many martial artists were also very curious about the building on the lakeshore.

Although it was still early, it couldn't stop everyone's curiosity. They all walked up to the building, commenting on it and making some self-righteous remarks.

Naturally, some people use their mouths, while others use their hands. For example, some martial artists saw the button in the recess and wanted to press it.

But before she could even touch the button, her wrist was grabbed. She immediately tried to break free and hurl insults back. However, to her surprise, when she turned to speak, she saw it was Zhou Zixing who had grabbed her wrist, and she immediately felt embarrassed.

"You can't press this button yet. It's for summoning a monster. If you're not prepared, the monster might threaten your safety once it comes ashore," Zhou Zixing said seriously, releasing his hand.

He had just seen martial artists gather around the building and rushed forward, worried that someone might press the button. Although the unicorn beast had been subdued, it might still be a threat to the other martial artists. If it were summoned ashore and saw so many people, what if it bit and killed a few of them? Wouldn't that be an unjust death?
The two of them seemed to be dealing with the unicorn beast relatively easily, but the beast actually possessed the strength of a first-tier innate cultivator. How could these acquired martial artists possibly defeat it? It would be very easy for the beast to come ashore and attack these acquired martial artists; it might even be able to take them down one by one with ease.

After hearing Zhou Zixing's words, the martial artists retreated with embarrassed expressions.

At this moment, Qian Ying also stepped forward, but did not say anything to the crowd. Instead, she simply nodded and whispered to Qian Wantong, who was following behind her, "Have everyone prepare themselves and take everything, including defensive equipment, and retreat three hundred meters together."

"Yes, I'll make arrangements right away."

"Yes, there's a marker 300 meters away, it's very conspicuous. Just have everyone stand behind the marker and wait."

"Yes," Qian Wantong replied and immediately turned to get to work.

Although Qian Ying had many opinions about Qian Wantong, she hadn't removed him. She even planned to suggest it back to the family, giving him more responsibility. This was because Qian Wantong was obedient, had good execution skills, and didn't have much of his own opinion.

This is very important. Sometimes, as a subordinate, you really don't need to have too many opinions, otherwise you might make more mistakes by doing too much.

Qian Wantong was naturally unaware of the high regard Qian Ying held for him, but he did know that his performance during his time in the valley had been poor, especially regarding Chen Mo's matter, which he had failed to handle properly.

Therefore, in order to keep his position, he could only try his best to perform in front of Qian Ying, and do things in a very proper manner according to his instructions, without daring to relax for a moment.

All the martial artists had finished packing and, under the guidance of their respective family leaders, crawled into the defensive structure and began pushing their way towards the marked location 300 meters away.

Chen Mo was among them, but he didn't approach Qian Ying to see how the unicorn beast was summoned and how it obtained its horn. Lan Caijie had recounted the entire process, but it wasn't as clear as what she had witnessed firsthand.

However, Chen Mo didn't care. As long as he could cross the lake, everything would be fine. As long as the threat that he felt didn't appear, everything would be okay. If it did appear, there were two innate elders in front to protect him. He could just follow behind, observe carefully, and protect his Ruoxi.

Seeing that all the other martial artists had retreated to a place 300 meters away from the lake as required, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing nodded to each other, and Qian Ying pressed the raised button.

"Ow!"

A long, clear roar emanated from the building. Instantly, the roar echoed throughout the entire valley, and the surface of the lake rippled from the shore, the sound carrying far into the distance.

The roar shocked the many martial artists who were hearing it for the first time. They hadn't expected the sound to be so loud and travel so far, echoing throughout the entire valley. How could they not be astonished?

Every time Chen Mo heard this roar, he felt a chill run down his spine, as if the roar contained a trace of oppressive power. He wondered what kind of creature the sound imitated to produce such a roar.

As the water rippled, a huge figure emerged from the bottom of the lake, leaped out of the water, and crashed back down, causing water to splash everywhere and carrying the waves far up to the shore.

As the strange beast leaped out of the lake and roared, the many martial artists who witnessed its enormous size were all shocked.

These martial artists had only a general impression of the strange beasts in the lake after hearing Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing describe how enormous they were. As for their strength, they felt that the beasts were just so-so, since the two elders had only mentioned them briefly.

I never imagined that seeing a real beast like this would make me realize just how strong one's mindset would be to face such a colossal creature. Especially since this beast wasn't just enormous in size, but also incredibly powerful.

With a roar, the unicorn leaped up to the lake shore, facing the two old men.

The unicorn beast had already spotted the martial artists three hundred meters away. However, as long as they didn't get close, they wouldn't attract its attention. After two days, the beast's injuries had healed considerably; otherwise, it wouldn't have leaped out of the lake when it reappeared. However, it was still somewhat afraid of the two old men before it. These two old men had really hurt it terribly, especially by cutting its own flesh with their small short swords—truly unforgivable creatures.

However, the unicorn had no choice but to submit, because it was simply too much for them to handle.

The unicorn repeated its previous actions, lowering its head, its scales wriggling, and detaching its horn. Then it lay down on the lakeshore, seemingly waiting for its horn to be returned.

Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing naturally didn't know how to return the unicorn after using it, but they understood that they should continue as agreed and deal with other matters later, taking it one step at a time.

The two men, one on the side and the other holding the unicorn horn, plunged directly into the recess of the building. As for the unicorn beast, there was no need to guard it anymore; since it had already submitted, it could be ignored.

There was a noise inside the building, and the small dent reappeared at the back.

Qian Ying turned her head and transmitted her voice to Qian Wantong, who was standing 300 meters away: "Manager Qian, call the leaders of each family over. Oh, and call Ouyang Nan and that Li Mo over too."

The leaders of each family are still martial artists at the tenth level of the Acquired Realm. They were called over to verify this.

Qian Wantong immediately relayed the message and then led everyone to run quickly toward the building.

Ouyang Nan and Chen Mo exchanged glances before following suit. As for Ouyang Ruoxi and Ouyang Nana, there was no need to worry, as they were still 300 meters from the lakeshore and should be safe for the time being.

After the group of people arrived, Chen Mo looked up and saw the small indentation and the etched patterns inside it.

Although his face remained expressionless, he was deep in thought. He hadn't expected to find etched energy patterns here. The small indentation and the etched patterns within it indicated that a spirit stone was needed to activate the entire formation.

This also indicates that there should be engraved patterns and formations throughout the entire building. However, it is unknown what the purpose of these formations is.

The entire etching pattern is only partially revealed in those small recesses; the rest of the pattern is not visible.

Zhou Zixing explained the small indentations and etching patterns, and then demonstrated them.

Reaching out, he touched the etched patterns with his fingers, channeling his innate power to illuminate the entire design. The building then began to move, emitting a clattering sound. Everyone also saw the iron chains being pulled continuously, as if tugging at something in the lake water.

The chains were pulled slowly, making a clicking sound as they were pulled once, resulting in a very slow overall movement of the building.

In fact, Chen Mo, standing behind the crowd, understood that Zhou Zixing's slow speed was due to the insufficient amount of innate energy he was outputting. If a low-level spirit stone were placed in the small hollow, the speed would be several times faster.

But he wouldn't say that. Anyway, this energy circuit wouldn't pose any danger; it would just operate slowly like this.

As for why Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing had summoned these martial artists at the tenth level of the Acquired Realm, they had figured out the reason. They wanted these martial artists at the tenth level of the Acquired Realm to, like Zhou Zixing, input their internal energy to activate the entire formation.

The purpose of this was to conserve their innate energy. With everyone working together, they wouldn't need to expend too much of their innate energy.

Unfortunately, Qian Ying and Zhou Zixing's idea will not come true, because a martial artist's internal strength and innate power are different. Internal strength is a kind of internal energy generated in the body after a martial artist has cultivated it, and it is stored in the dantian. Innate power, although it is also stored in the dantian, is a kind of qi absorbed from heaven and earth, which can be considered a kind of spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Therefore, inputting innate power into the etched patterns can naturally activate the formation. However, because the energy of innate power is so low, the formation can only barely move the massive millstone, much like a donkey pulling a huge millstone – it would exhaust the donkey to death before it could even begin to move the millstone.

Fortunately, the entire building appears to be a complex array, with a spirit-gathering array inside. After thousands of years, the entire energy circuit contains a certain amount of spiritual power. Otherwise, there would have been no fluorescent glow in those patterns. That fluorescent glow is the spiritual energy left in the patterns.

That's why the formation was activated only after Zhou Zixing inputted his innate power. Otherwise, that little bit of innate power wouldn't have been enough to power the formation. The recessed area was actually prepared for placing spirit stones.

Furthermore, one should not use low-level spirit stones; at least mid-level spirit stones should be used.