The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

The Secret Service's command center is located here. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary military complex, but its internal scale is far beyond imagination.

Han Songyue personally greeted them at the door.

"Mr. Chen, this way please."

The group passed through layers of security checks and entered the core area.

In the enormous command center, dozens of screens hung on the walls, displaying real-time monitoring data from the thirty-six islands of Penglai: satellite images, ocean currents, spiritual energy concentration fluctuation charts…

The hall was full of people. There were researchers in white lab coats, military officers in uniforms, and other people with diverse attire and unique personalities—

Those are representatives of various sects.

Han Songyue led Chen Hao inside, introducing him as he went: "Mr. Chen, this is our chief consultant, Jiang Lu, the head of the Longmen Sect and the head of Baiyun Temple."

An elderly Taoist priest approached, his face thin, with three long wisps of beard, and his robe spotless. The moment he saw Chen Hao, his pupils contracted slightly.

Cultivators have an instinctive ability to sense the strength of others.

The young man before Jiang Lu possessed an unfathomable aura, like a calm sea with no bottom in sight.

"Jiang Lu greets Mr. Chen." He bowed respectfully.

Chen Hao nodded in response.

Han Songyue continued to lead the way, introducing everything one by one.

"This is Abbot Huijue of Shaolin Temple."

An old monk wearing a kasaya clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha, Benefactor Chen."

"Zhang Xuanzhen, the leader of Wudang Sect."

An old Taoist priest with an air of otherworldly wisdom waved his whisk and said, "I've long admired you."

"Master Jingci, the head of the Emei Sect."

"Mr. Chen should know Xu Yunda of the Qingcheng School."

Xu Yunda stood up and bowed deeply to Chen Hao: "Mr. Chen, since we parted ways in Jincheng last time, I have always wanted to thank you and your disciple in person. Miss Yang's guidance has benefited me greatly." His tone was sincere, without the slightest hint of resentment.

He had fought Yang Wanqing before, and Yang Wanqing, who had not yet experienced actual combat, was able to defeat him. He had to admit defeat.

Besides the Qingcheng Sect, there is also the Qingwei Sect, which is known to everyone as Xiao Yuanfeng.

"And there's Zhang Tianyuan, the Celestial Master of the Zhengyi Daoist Temple, and Li Daoxuan, the Sect Leader of the Maoshan School..."

Han Songyue introduced them one by one.

These names are all renowned figures in the ancient martial arts world. The gathering of leaders from various sects is a scene that might only occur once every few decades.

When they saw Chen Hao, all of them instinctively lowered their guard and became more humble.

Yang Wanqing followed behind, her mouth agape, wide enough to fit an egg.

After the introductions were finished, Han Songyue's deputy, Qin Zheng, took over and began to report on the latest situation of the thirty-six islands of Penglai.

A 3D holographic map appeared on the large screen, clearly showing the distribution of the thirty-six islands.

"The current situation is like this—" Qin Zheng pointed to the first island marked in red on the map, "The outer formation of the first island has been broken by 70%, but the breaking of the core formation has encountered a bottleneck."

He glanced at Jiang Lu.

Jiang Lu stepped forward, his expression grave: "Mr. Chen, the core formation of this island is an extremely ancient composite formation, integrating at least three different systems of formation theory. We have gathered everyone's strength, but we still cannot find the key to breaking the formation."

"Where exactly is it stuck?" Chen Hao asked.

Jiang Lu brought up a diagram of the array structure, with densely packed runes and lines intertwined.

"Here," he pointed to a node in the diagram, "the runes at this location are unrecognizable and do not belong to any known array system. Without information about this node, the entire array's operational logic cannot be fully deduced."

Chen Hao glanced at the rune.

It's just the same.

His lips twitched slightly.

Everyone present stared at him, waiting for his reaction.

Jiang Lu's palms were sweaty. He had spent a whole month working on this formation, utilizing every available resource and consulting everyone he could. If even Chen Hao couldn't recognize it—

"A variant of the ancient Tianyuan Formation."

Chen Hao spoke, his tone as calm as if he were saying that the weather was nice today.

"It combines the frameworks of the Three Talents Formation and the Nine Palaces Formation, but its core uses the logic of the Heavenly Origin Formation. This rune—" He pointed to the node on the screen that had left everyone stumped, "is the seventh pivot of the Heavenly Origin Formation, which was called 'Tianxuan' in ancient times."

The entire command hall fell silent for a moment.

Jiang Lu's eyes widened, and her lips trembled slightly.

One month. What they couldn't figure out in a month, Chen Hao figured out at a glance?

Not only did they recognize it, but they also directly stated its name, origin, and functional role within the entire formation?

The prayer beads in Master Huijue's hand stopped spinning.

Zhang Xuanzhen almost dropped his whisk.

Xiao Yuanfeng took a deep breath, his face showing no surprise—he had long known that Chen Hao was unfathomable, but witnessing it firsthand still left him with an overwhelming sense of shock.

Qin Xiaoyu stood behind, her hands unconsciously clenching. She had chosen the path of formations, and now, watching her master effortlessly solve the problem that had troubled everyone for a month, her inner shock and admiration were almost overflowing.

This is her master.

Han Songyue breathed a sigh of relief, his nerves, which had been tense for a month, finally relaxed.

Sure enough, as long as Chen Hao was there, no problem was a problem.

Chen Hao shifted his gaze from the screen to Jiang Lu.

"Please bring up the complete formation diagram, and I'll label all the nodes for you."

Jiang Lu snapped out of his daze and quickly nodded, "Okay! Right away!"

He turned and strode quickly toward the control panel, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

On the holographic screen, the complete array structure diagram of the first island slowly unfolded—

Chen Hao raised his hand, his index finger hovering in mid-air, aiming at the first unknown node on the screen.

"This is the auxiliary star position of Tianxuan, named 'Kaiyang'—"

His finger moved to the next node.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes glued to the screen.

Jiang Lu's hands hovered above the keyboard, waiting to be recorded, his fingertips trembling slightly. He now realized that it wasn't the "Eight Directions Demon Subduing Formation" at all.

Jiang Lu slowly exhaled and cupped his hands, saying, "I see. It's not the Eight Directions Demon Subduing Formation; it's just that the outer framework is similar, so we've been using the wrong approach to deduce it."

Master Huijue put his hands together in prayer, chanted a Buddhist mantra, and said no more.

Han Songyue looked at Chen Hao, the tension in his eyes easing slightly. Inviting this person was definitely the right decision.

Now that the formation's identity has been confirmed, the next step is to devise a plan to break it.

Chen Hao didn't rush to make arrangements. He took two steps back, put his hands behind his back, and glanced at the entire island on the screen.

The Three Powers form the skeleton, the Nine Palaces form the framework, and the Heavenly Element forms the core.

This array formation technique is so exquisite it's almost abnormal; the person who set it up must be an inner disciple.