Please call me Huanxian

Chapter 379: Some people have experienced hardships and finally achieved happiness
After taking a breath, Xu Yuanchang took out his staff, removed all the Life Wood Stone, Brilliant Wood Crystal and Wood Green Stone inlaid on it, took out three Brilliant Thunder Stones, and after adjusting them appropriately, used his magic power to inlay the Thunder Stones on top.

He didn't have any high-level thunder stones on hand, so he asked the crow for them.

Spend some time to refine the staff until it is usable again.

Xu Yuanchang has already discovered the benefits of this three thousand year old six-path wooden staff. He can replace several gems on the staff at any time according to the needs of breaking the formation, and use the method of mutual restraint or guidance to enhance the means of breaking the formation.

He walked into the small study room he had set up in the altar space, sat cross-legged on the cushion, and read books at the desk.

There were pens, ink, paper and inkstone on the jade table. Sometimes he would write and draw on the white paper, trying to figure out how to solve the difficult formations he encountered.

After being busy for several days and nights, Xu Yuanchang looked a little tired. He floated to the corner of the study, lay flat on the simple wooden bed, and adjusted his breathing and practiced qigong to recover.

This small space is transformed by a magic glass mirror.

The crow never sets foot here and cannot be invited in, so it can be considered his independent residence.

Two hours later, Xu Yuanchang walked out of the study. He did not take action to break the formation immediately. Instead, he walked to a chair near the bronze tablet of the Heavenly Book and sat down. He took out a wine pot and a wine cup, poured himself a drink, and chatted with the crow, who had disappeared without a trace.

He still has a lot of doubts that need to be sorted out slowly, so he might as well just sit there doing nothing.

"Fellow Daoist Chu, you are suppressed in the space of the Divine Platform at the bottom of the lake. How can you go out at will? Do you have the ability to drag even a sixth-floor cultivator like me into the space?"

"This confused altar was originally my life treasure. All the waters of Hu Lake are my territory."

The crow's voice was faintly heard, "You have been searching around Hu Lake for almost a year, but I was too lazy to pay attention to you. Later, you discovered the secret of the snow mud bird and broke the agreement between me and Lao Li, so I invited you to come down as a guest."

Xu Yuanchang followed up the conversation and asked, "What kind of deal do you have with Lao Li? Can you tell me about it?"

The crow was almost telling everything he knew, and seemed to be extremely bored, looking for someone to talk to pass the lonely and boring days. He said, "Lao Li once owed me a favor. He found Hu Lake and said he could find a friend to help me out of trouble and repay the favor. We also made a bet. If you can discover the secret of Hu Lake, I will meet you."

Xu Yuanchang drank the wine in his cup in one gulp. Some troubles were self-inflicted. He admitted that he had made a mistake in making friends. He then asked, "Are the formation books and a large amount of resource materials in your hand all left to you by Lao Li?"

There weren't many high-end array books in his collection of space, so the crow gave him almost a room full of books and jade slips.

Many of them are written in insect script and cloud seal script, which are obscure and difficult to understand, but concise and to the point. They are extremely early ancient books.

He spent a lot of time studying books, otherwise it would have been impossible for him to make such rapid progress in his ability to break formations in just five years and reach the point where he could try to break a fifth-level formation.

"He said he would leave it to you and asked me to pass it on."

Crow said with some reservation, and then said: "Your nephew is here again, and he brought two sixth-level monks and a blind man to look for you. Why don't you say hello to them?"

"Forget it, don't pay attention to them. I will get out after I break the suppression formation."

Xu Yuanchang rejected the crow's ill intentions. The incarnation puppet and two bean soldiers he left outside had been taken to the bottom of the lake by the crow. He continued to ask, "Fellow Daoist Chu, you have been here for more than five thousand years, and the Confusion Altar is your life treasure. Have you not tried to break the formation bit by bit?"

In his opinion, after being trapped here for thousands of years, even a pig would learn how to break the formation.

The powerful crow would never sit still and wait for death.

"'A doctor who doesn't heal himself is trapped in a city of sorrow', is there anything strange about that?"

The crow raised his voice by two degrees and said, "The immortal who set up the formation said, 'Unless the water in Yunli Lake dries up, the confusion will not be broken.' What can I do? I can only slowly endure it. The water in the lake was 1,500 miles long, and I slowly endured it to 800 miles long."

The Yunli Lake he mentioned is the ancient name of Hu Lake.

Xu Yuanchang fell into deep thought. Perhaps boiling the lake dry would be a solution?
But the crow's attitude always made him feel that it had nothing to do with him and he was not in a hurry.
The sunset over Hu Lake makes the autumn scenery picturesque.

Xu Shengtian flew over one of the lake islands. White birds flew over the water, the wind blew, and the reeds swayed in the waves like frost. Five years later, his third uncle strangely disappeared without a trace, and there was no news of him since.

Meng Shanhe and Mu Qingshan from Laizhou were invited to accompany them in searching between Qingying Lake, Qiuyue Lake and Hu Lake for nearly two months, but to no avail.

The three of them looked at Mei Yuanjian who had stopped at the same time.

Mei Yuanjian, his eyes covered with a green cloth, held in his hand a talisman drawn by Xu Yuanchang. At this moment, the talisman paper silently turned into ashes and drifted into the lake below with the wind.

"There's good news, and there's bad news."

Mei Yuanjian clapped his hands, the setting sun shining on his face, a sense of relief was on his face, and his tone sounded like a joke.

Xu Shengtian hurriedly took out a jar of good wine and stuffed it into the blind fortune teller's hand, urging him, "Elder Mei, please tell us the good news first."

"Your third uncle is safe and sound. His life is not in danger."

Mei Yuanjian first calmed the other party's anxious mood, and then added the bad news: "Unless he breaks out of the trap, we won't be able to find him, no matter how many people we have."

The sound of crows was heard in the altar space under the lake.

"That blind man's fortune-telling skills are amazing. With only a fifth-level cultivation, he already has the ability to communicate with the gods. That's amazing."

"But 'it's hard to get what you want, the law of nature is high and the consequences are heavy', so his road will not be easy."

Xu Yuanchang put away the wine jug and cup and walked out of the altar door. He would continue to try to break the Five Thunder Formation. For them, time was not important. He still wanted to break out of the trap as soon as possible.

He doesn't like dark places.

Isn’t it wonderful to enjoy the sunshine, breeze, and walk freely in the world?
……

When Dong Xing walked into the Xiyuan Desert, he found that there were many monks flying above the endless sand dunes. He, a mortal who measured his walking on the ground with his footsteps, had attracted the attention of the immortals.

The bamboo basket he carried was filled with books, dry food, oilcloth and other items, and covered with a piece of green cloth to block out the dust.

With a gourd hanging around his waist, he trudged along step by step with ease, leaning on a wooden stick.

The desert was extremely hot and the sand was soft and difficult to walk on. He considered concentrating and calming his mind as a test of his practice.

"That Taoist priest was a bit strange. There was no aura on his body. He was carrying a basket of books, which weighed about 50 to 60 kilograms, and he walked on the sand dunes as if they were flat ground. But he didn't bring much water or dry food. How did he get out of the deserted desert?"

"Brother Guo, please don't use your spiritual sense to spy on him. If he turns out to be a master who has transformed into a mortal, and you bump into him and ruin his good deeds, you will be punished."

"Hiss... It's very likely. Go, go."

The two people whispered a few words in the air and disappeared without a trace in a moment.

Dong Xing took in all the conversations in the distance. He didn't know what "transformation into a mortal" meant, but guessed that he was a very powerful master who had returned to nature. His steps became faster and lighter. He had reached a certain stage in his practice. Although he couldn't walk on the snow without leaving any footprints, there were only faint footprints left on the sand behind him.

His master once told him a story about how to turn a sand pit in the desert into water by covering it with oilcloth at night.

He had tried it when he was walking in the Gobi Desert, and it was truly magical.

There are gerbils, scorpions and other animals in the desert at night, which can be used as food supplements.

Dong Xing walked during the day and slept at night. After more than a month of walking, under the attention of the monks coming and going, he finally walked out of the desert that blocked the footsteps of mortals.

After walking for more than 3,000 miles and more than 20 days, in early winter, Dong Xing, ragged and barefoot, held a wooden stick and asked for directions like a beggar to find the Monster-Catching Mountain.

The Holy Land of Xiyuan is different from the secular dynasties. He did not see any towns along the way and could not buy new clothes and shoes.

"Fellow Daoist, please. I, the disciple Dong Xing, have come out of the mountain to seek an audience with Master Xu Yuanchang."

Dong Xingchao saluted the monks at the mountain gate.

He already knew that practitioners addressed each other as "Daoyou". Several demon-catching monks on duty at the mountain gate carefully looked at the Taoist priest who was half-dressed and had unkempt hair and beard. One of them politely returned the greeting and asked, "Daoyou Dong, are you Master Xu's disciple?"

"Not yet. Master Xu promised me that if I could get out of the mountain, he would consider taking me in as his apprentice."

Dong Xing's face was tanned, and he answered with a smile showing his white teeth.

Master Xu’s status is indeed extraordinary. He is the ancestor of the fairyland on Monster Catching Mountain.

He felt a kind of joy that came after suffering.

Several monks on duty exchanged glances, and the one who had been on duty said, "Fellow Daoist Dong, it is unfortunate that Grandmaster Xu has not returned to the mountain for many years."

"what?!"

Dong Xing's excitement was extinguished by a bucket of cold water. He was a little dumbfounded and asked hesitantly, "Is Mr. Mu at the Monster Hunting Mountain?"

Several monks on duty were already looking at him with admiration, and the beggar in front of them even knew the mysterious Mr. Mu.

"Mr. Mu ascended to the upper realm more than ten years ago."

"How about Brother Dong stay at the Monster Hunting Mountain Guest House first and wait for Master Xu to come back."

"Yes, the journey is hard, and we are guests from afar."

Dong Xing clasped his fists in thanks and asked, "Excuse me, Zeng Shanlang and Xu Shengtian, are you two Taoist friends on the mountain?"

The first person to find Xishui Temple that year was Master Xu's apprentice Zeng Shanlang, who was particularly impressed.

Being a customer is only a temporary solution. He wants to find someone who has a blind date with Master Xu and ask for advice on the way of cultivation. But right now he is completely in the dark and is really afraid of going astray again. He is worried that he won't be able to make it.

"Who is looking for me?"

Someone answered the call from the distance in the air outside the mountain gate.

In a flash, Xu Shengtian, who had returned from overseas after searching for his uncle for months, landed in front of the beggar, raised his hands to the demon hunters on duty, and said, "You're welcome."

Dong Xing recognized Master Xu's nephew at a glance. After so many years, he was still as young as before. He clasped his fists and saluted: "Dong Xing from Xishui Temple, nice to meet Brother Shengtian."

Xu Shengtian uttered "eh", laughed and patted the unshaven guest whom he almost didn't recognize, and said: "Good boy, you really walked out of the deep mountains and old forests of Xishui Temple. Come on, I'll take you to Qingyan Mountain, you take a bath and change into new clothes, and then we can talk over a drink."

Dong Xing felt relieved as if he had found his relatives. He extended his hand to greet them and thanked the monks on duty.

He was in rags, but his demeanor was elegant.

……

The snowflakes far away in Wangxian Island were not as lucky as Dong Xing.

It was being hunted down by numerous demon cultivators until it was in tears. It flew to the sky and into the ground, and finally escaped into the boundless water. In its heart, it kept greeting the eighteen generations of its ancestor Mu Chi who brought it into the world of martial arts.

"You damn liar, you cheated me out of the 100 crystal stones I worked so hard to earn, and you also reported me, causing me to be wanted by the five major forces of Guiying Snake Valley, Qingpi Peak, and Xingze Lake. Mu Chi, just wait for me. I will hide and tide over the difficulties, and one day I will tear you into pieces."

It was betrayed and stabbed in the back by its most trusted partner, and its heart was filled with anger and hatred.

There is almost no place for it to stand in the damn demon territory.

It was unwilling to flee back to Dingzhou in disgrace. The young master had said, "Get up from where you fell." It could not admit defeat. The eldest senior brother had told it in a message long ago that it would be a test for sixty years.

Even if it is surrounded by enemies, it has to endure no matter how cowardly it is.

Fortunately, it still has the transformation talisman given by the young master, so it can pretend to be an ice crystal beast and fool people at critical moments.

All for survival.

……

Time flies, and ten years have passed.

Xu Yuanchang walked through the forbidden passage outside the altar, his hands waving freely, his steps in perfect harmony with the chaotic fluctuations in the darkness. Rays of light shot out from the gems on the floating staff, dissolving the outbreaks of various ancient forbidden formations.

After ten years of hard work, he is finally able to completely crack the fifth-level formation that suppresses the outer layer of the altar.

Countless failures have honed his skills to be as skilled as a butcher butchering an ox.

His eyes are blessed with phantom fire, which can see through the insidious traps between various tiny arrays.

The figure was erratic, moving back and forth, left and right, and every time he attacked, only an afterimage was left.

Crow hung in the doorway, watching the Taoist's performance, muttering, "In just over a decade, he was able to decompose the five layers of the three ancient formations of 'Tian Gang, Ju Shui, and Xing Dou'. He really has the talent to be a formation breaker. If he continues like this, he will be able to break the seal in at most thirty years."

A formation breaker needs unique talent, as well as guidance from a famous teacher and time to accumulate experience.

The little fellow in front of him, with no one to teach him how to break the high-level formation, relied on what he had learned before and read books to ponder and speculate, and managed to learn how to break the complex formation.

It is also prepared to give some guidance when the little one is frustrated and hopeless.

It seems that there is no need for it, and it doesn't want to teach the Taoist any skills.

The staff emitted a colorful light, dispelling the darkness at the bottom of the lake. Then Xu Yuanchang shouted, "Break!"

The area of ​​the broken formation that was several miles long began to shake slightly, a gray light rose, and the virtual chains broke into pieces and dissipated in the air, sweeping away the depression and stagnation.

A smile appeared on Xu Yuanchang's face. He had finally become a fifth-rank formation breaker based on what he had learned.

The dark giant mouth in front of him, like the one ready to devour someone, gave him a very dangerous and creepy feeling.

Slowly retreating back to the altar space, the crow had already disappeared.

Xu Yuanchang was used to it. He walked into the small study, relaxed and read books. Over the years, he studied the blueprints of the three ancient formations: Tiangang, Jushui and Xingdou. He used his strong arithmetic to deduce every change in the numbers. The accumulated papers were piled up as high as a person.

He then went back to sort out the draft of the calculation and gave it to Zhao Jun, to repay the favor.

Breaking an array is also a form of practice, which greatly tests one's character and patience.

He also took out some spare time to hide it from the crow, wipe out the consciousness of the old turtle's soul, and refine it into a sixth-level incarnation puppet.

At present, the incarnation puppet is being kept in the magic glass mirror for emergency use.

All the flesh left by the old turtle was fed to the Phantom Fire Spirit.

The giant tortoise shell, which was a hundred feet in size, was thrown onto the Creation Altar and continuously tempered. After more than ten years, the tortoise shell had been refined to be about ten feet in size, as crystal clear as jade.

He asked the crow for a huge amount of materials to continue feeding the Altar of Creation, and the excess energy was used to improve the Phantom Fire Essence bit by bit with great difficulty.

He had no idea when the Phantom Fire Spirit or the God of Creation would be able to be promoted.

He eats too much. Without a huge fortune, I really can't afford to feed him.

……

(End of this chapter)