Mortal: My name is Ma Liang, and I also possess a magic brush.

Xiang Zhili had already made up his mind, so he stopped asking questions and simply stood with his hands behind his back, looking at Ma Liang with great interest, wanting to see what tricks this kid had up his sleeve.

Ma Liang gestured to the Howling Wind Wolf, signaling it to step forward and test the restriction.

The wolf was quite obedient and immediately took a step forward. But after only two steps, its head hit the invisible barrier hard and it was bounced back several steps.

"return."

Ma Liang quickly stopped the wolf's actions, stepped forward, touched its head, and checked it, finding no injury.

It seems that this restriction only has the effect of blocking, and has no killing move to harm the enemy.

A thought flashed through his mind, and he remembered the skeletons beside the pagoda in the story. He figured the harmful restrictions must be on the pagoda itself, not this barrier.

With this thought in mind, Ma Liang had an idea. He took a deep breath, walked to the barrier, and pressed his hand against the invisible wall.

Seeing this, Xiang Zhili thought to himself: This kid is quite bold and brave!

The moment Ma Liang's palm touched the invisible barrier, a tremendous force surged through him, sending his arm flying high into the air. He staggered back two steps before regaining his balance and dissipating the impact.

But that's exactly the moment he wanted—that light touch.

The next instant, the magic pen in his mind suddenly trembled, and a massive amount of information surged in, causing him excruciating pain in his head.

Ma Liang groaned, instinctively clutching his head and squatting down on the ground, his face instantly turning pale.

Seeing this, Xiang Zhili quickly stepped forward and asked, "Kid, what's wrong?"

Despite the excruciating pain tearing through his mind, Ma Liang trembled as he pulled three Soul Nourishing Pills from his storage bag, stuffed them into his mouth, chewed them haphazardly a couple of times, and swallowed them.

A moment later, the medicine took effect, and a gentle medicinal power soothed the restlessness in my mind, and the pain was finally reduced by more than half.

He finally breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Xiang Zhili, and forced a smile: "Thank you for your concern, senior. It's an old ailment, nothing serious."

Xiang Zhili's lips twitched as he watched Ma Liang's series of actions.

He had noticed before that the kid always carried Soul Nourishing Pills and would take one from time to time, but he never expected that today he could take three at once and still be as good as new.

Upon realizing this, Xiang Zhili understood immediately. It was highly likely that this kid's soul had suffered severe trauma, otherwise why would he be so dependent on the Soul Nourishing Pill? He probably cultivated the Great Evolution Technique for the sake of his soul.

Thinking of this, Xiang Zhili became even more certain that the Great Evolution Technique was the key to this kid's weakness!

We have to extract as many secrets as possible from him before we can decide whether or not to give him the technique.

He composed himself, his expression returning to calm. "It's good that you're alright. Did you feel anything unusual when you touched that barrier just now?"

Ma Liang composed himself. "Senior, this restriction is not an ordinary spiritual energy barrier, but a Three-Element Locking Array with a pagoda as its core and three layers of earth veins as its foundation!"

He pointed to the four corners of the pagoda in the distance, then gestured to the mountain range beneath his feet: "You see, the pagoda faces south, perfectly suppressing the central energy of this area's earth veins. And the array patterns of this restriction spread out along the four mountain peaks surrounding the three layers. Those four mountains are the nodes of the earth veins, corresponding to the sources of the earth veins in the east, west, south, and north directions, respectively."

"The first layer of the earth vein draws upon the metallic energy from the mountain's interior, which is why it bounces off when you bump into it. The second layer is the power of the Yin water from the earth's depths, which can dissipate the intruder's spiritual power. The third layer is the shallowest layer of Earth Qi, used to stabilize the foundation of the entire formation."

"This formation doesn't rely on deadly attacks to harm people; it only uses the power of the earth's veins to lock down the passageways. Therefore, touching it only has an obstructive effect, not the ability to injure the enemy. To break it, you can't force your way in; you must first find the earth vein points on those four mountain peaks and dissipate the power of the formation's patterns!"

The more Ma Liang spoke, the wider Xiang Zhili's eyes widened, and the composure on his face vanished completely.

Xiang Zhili only came to his senses after Ma Liang finished speaking.

"You just touched it once, and you've already figured out the ins and outs of this formation? Are all the people in the spirit world this abnormal?"

Ma Liang then kept everyone in suspense: "If you, senior, can ascend to the Spirit Realm, you will naturally know these things."

Seeing that he was unwilling to say more, Xiang Zhili did not press further. "Now that you have figured out the formation layout and how to break it, do you know where the four earth vein nodes are?"

Ma Liang hesitated for a moment before replying, "Senior, I can point out the approximate locations of the four nodes. However, this formation draws upon three layers of earth veins as its foundation, making it quite large in scale. We can only exert the strength of the late-stage Qi Refining realm at present, so it may not be so easy to completely dissipate the power of the formation."

Xiang Zhili sneered, "Boy, do you think my Nascent Soul stage strength is just for show? The restriction only suppresses my surface cultivation; I have my own methods to manipulate the earth's veins. First, point out the locations of those four nodes to me!"

Seeing Xiang Zhili's confident demeanor, Ma Liang's mind began to stir.

Behind this restriction lies the Six Ding Heavenly Armor Talisman! Even if he can't enter the pagoda, just getting his hands on this treasure will be enough to make him a fortune.

He composed himself and readily agreed, "Okay!"

After speaking, he didn't rush to point out the location, but instead unleashed a burst of spiritual energy, sweeping the ground in front of him clean.

He then bent down, broke off a twig from the ground, squatted down, and began to draw on the ground.

First, he drew a large, perfectly round circle, and then outlined the shape of a pagoda in the very center of the circle.

Then, with the pagoda as the center, three nested rings were drawn outwards, corresponding to the three areas of the Crimson Forbidden Land.

Finally, dense, mysterious, and obscure runes were added to the gaps between each ring.

Xiang Zhili, who was standing to the side, became more and more alarmed and couldn't help but think to himself: This kid is not pointing out directions, he is clearly drawing a formation diagram!

The array diagram grew larger and larger, its intricate patterns becoming increasingly complex. Ma Liang kept waving the branch in his hand, and runes covered the ground.

Using the central pagoda outline as the core, he drew five lines from the outermost large circle, extending to nodes in five directions, and then inscribed corresponding array runes on each node.

It took Ma Liang two full hours to write and draw like this before he finally put down the branch, looked at the complete array diagram on the ground, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiang Zhili, standing to the side, had already composed himself, scanning the patterns on the ground and memorizing the layout of the Three Elements Locking Array perfectly, afraid of missing even the slightest detail.

Xiang Zhili memorized the array patterns on the ground, then breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Ma Liang.

"Alright, where are the four leyline nodes?"

Ma Liang picked up a branch from the ground, first marked a spot on the north side of the first floor, then marked a spot on the south side of the second floor. He then walked to the outermost circle, pointed to a spot along a line leading out from it, and the last spot actually landed right next to the first node.

Xiang Zhili stared at these scattered, haphazardly arranged points.

"What does this mean? This formation is a complete mess, totally asymmetrical!"

"This is precisely the key to the Three Elements Locking Array." Ma Liang put away the branch. "It's deliberately arranged in a chaotic and confusing way, leaving people completely bewildered."

"Moreover, the four locations I just pointed out must be destroyed in sequence."

"First break through the first layer to the north, then the second layer to the south, then the outer nodes, and finally the acupoint next to the first point."

"If the order is wrong, the earth's ley line power of this formation will instantly backfire, and we simply won't be able to withstand it!"

"And there's the hardest part," Ma Liang changed the subject, "After destroying the first node, the remaining three must be completely destroyed within half a quarter of an hour."

Xiang Zhili frowned even more: "Half a quarter of an hour?"

"That's right."

"The earth vein power of this Three Elements Locking Array is interconnected. If the time limit is exceeded, the power of the remaining three nodes will flow back to the first damaged node, directly repairing it to its original state. At that time, we will not only waste our efforts, but also alert the protective power of the array."