To comprehend all laws and attain immortality

When Gu Fan saw Yang Mengyun appear, he hesitated to speak.

It's clear that the Yang family hasn't given up.

Yang Mengyun seemed to have expected this, and quickly explained, "This junior is only responsible for leading you to the Huanglong Stone Mine. I am in charge of managing the mine's output on a daily basis and will not disturb you."

After speaking, Yang Mengyun looked at Gu Fan with a weak expression, her eyes full of pleading.

"Okay." Gu Fan nodded.

As long as he doesn't disturb his refining of essence, the Yang family can do whatever they want.

Upon hearing Gu Fan's agreement, Yang Mengyun immediately beamed with joy.

......

To Gu Fan's surprise, the Huanglong Stone Mine was not located in the Stone Forest, but on a barren mountain two hundred miles away.

The barren mountain was devoid of vegetation, covered with scattered yellowish-brown rocks, and showed no signs of spiritual energy.

If Gu Fan hadn't sensed the presence of more than twenty cultivators near the desolate mountain, he would have found it hard to believe that this place was actually a spiritual material mine.

Yang Mengyun said softly, "Senior, this is Huanglong Mountain."

"Don't be fooled by the fact that this place doesn't seem to have any spiritual light; it actually holds a hidden secret. When our ancestors established the family, they used the Bagua secret technique to observe this place, and it resembled a yellow dragon ascending to the heavens. The stone forest was the dragon's head, and this place was the dragon's tail."

"The dragon head built Stone Forest City as a place for the family members to cultivate and live, while the dragon tail mined mineral veins to provide resources for cultivation. However, the dragon tail is hidden deep underground, and its spiritual energy is obscured, so it does not show itself to the outside world."

Gu Fan immediately became quite curious about the Bagua secret technique that Yang Mengyun had mentioned.

Recalling the mountain ranges he had seen along the way, and combining the two points of Shilin City and Huanglong Mountain, a strange and winding map quickly appeared in his mind.

Mountains and ravines intertwine to form the patterns on the map.

The All-Seeing Eye quietly activated, and the diagram rapidly simplified, forming a spiraling, ascending path, with spiritual energy flowing from the tail to the top.

This is actually a natural spirit-gathering array!

No wonder the earth elemental energy in Stone Forest City is so abundant.

A look of understanding flashed in Gu Fan's eyes.

He had previously thought it was simply due to the abundant spiritual veins beneath Stone Forest City, only noticing the protective formations of Stone Forest City while ignoring the natural formations formed by heaven and earth before him.

The saying "a leaf before the eyes obscures Mount Tai" perfectly illustrates this point.

Looking back, all he had seen were arrays set up by cultivators, covering only a valley or a city. Only fourth-order arrays could cover hundreds of miles.

This was the first time he had ever seen a naturally formed formation. Although the formation was not of a high grade, it spanned more than two hundred miles, far exceeding the limit of a third-order formation.

If Yang Mengyun hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't even have been aware of the formation's existence.

"Legend has it that the Dao of Arrays originated from ancient cultivators' understanding of the forces of heaven and earth; perhaps that's the case."

"No, what the ancients saw was certainly far more vast and expansive than this place!"

In an instant, a series of insights into the Dao of Formations flooded into his mind.

Gu Fan stood there, his eyes hazy, completely absorbed in enlightenment. The principles of array formations he had comprehended in the past surfaced one by one, like a familiar person putting on a brand new set of clothes and applying new makeup.

It's clearly the same person, but the mood is completely different.

"Senior, you..."

Yang Mengyun had just spoken when she suddenly noticed that Gu Fan showed no reaction.

Just as he was about to speak again, a golden light shot out from Gu Fan's wrist and suddenly wrapped around his neck. Upon closer inspection, he instantly froze and broke out in a cold sweat.

A snake's head was just a foot away, its dark golden eyes staring coldly at her. Its forked tongue seemed to be probing her cheek, and the slippery, cold texture of Chang Yuan's body made her want to scream.

But she held back!

Although she couldn't sense Chang Yuan's cultivation level, Yang Mengyun was keenly aware that he was someone she couldn't afford to provoke. If she were to actually scream, she would likely regret it for the rest of her life.

A quarter of an hour, then a quarter of an hour.

The sun moves slowly, and time flows by slowly.

An hour later, Gu Fan suddenly roused himself, as if waking from a deep dream. His consciousness felt tired, but his eyes were full of surprise.

Because he clearly felt that his array cultivation had taken a significant step forward at this moment!

Before this, Gu Fan had seen some fourth-order formations, such as the Zhou Tian Yun Forbidden Formation of the Lingxiao Sect. Although he could see the core of the formation through the Myriad Manifestations Dharma Eye, he could not understand the true meaning of the Dao contained within it, as if looking at flowers through fog.

He knew that this was the bottleneck between being a third-tier and fourth-tier array master.

But after the epiphany, he anticipated that once he had fully digested the insights, he might take that step!

This means a great deal to him!

Gu Fanzhi needed to rely on a fourth-order interdimensional teleportation array to leave the Qionghua Realm.

At this moment, all he wanted was to quickly find a quiet place to carefully sort out the insights in his mind.

Just then, Gu Fan finally noticed Yang Mengyun and Chang Yuan, who was wrapped around her.

Seeing that Gu Fan had realized what was happening, Chang Yuan darted back into his sleeve and coiled it around his forearm.

Yang Mengyun felt as if she had been granted a pardon, and began to breathe heavily, raising her sleeve to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead.

Seeing this, Gu Fan realized what had just happened and awkwardly laughed, "Sorry, I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I startled you."

Yang Mengyun forced a smile: "Not at all, it is I who should congratulate you, senior. Although I have heard of people who can achieve enlightenment in a single day, I have never witnessed it. Seeing you attain enlightenment today, I realize that the ancients were right."

Gu Fan laughed twice.

His progress in array formations brought him great joy.

"I have some profound insights and need to go into seclusion for a while. Please arrange a place for me to stay."

Yang Mengyun replied, "I was just about to discuss this matter with you, senior. Please come with me."

After saying that, Yang Mengyun led Gu Fan into Huanglong Mountain.

The Yang family had long ago carved out many stone chambers in Huanglong Mountain for their descendants to cultivate, but the concentration of spiritual energy there was obviously incomparable to that of Shilin City.

At the foot of Huanglong Mountain, many wide caves can be seen, their darkness extending all the way underground.

As the two arrived at the foot of the mountain, a middle-aged man dressed in plain robes soon came to greet them.

Gu Fan's eyebrows twitched slightly as he realized that the man in the white robe was actually at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, but he had not seen him at the Yang family yesterday.

"Fourth Uncle, this is Senior Meng Wei, a newly hired guest elder of the family, who will be responsible for guarding Huanglong Mountain in the future."

Yang Mengyun stepped forward, bowed, and addressed the man in the plain robe.

The man in the plain robe was slightly surprised.

As the one who guarded Huanglong Mountain, he naturally had some understanding of the core economic lifeline of his family. With a quick probe of his divine sense, he learned that Gu Fan's cultivation was above his own, and his mind immediately began to race with thoughts.

"So, our Yang family can afford to hire a guest retainer of this level of cultivation?"

Although he thought this to himself, the man in the plain robe did not say it aloud. He smiled and cupped his hands, saying, "My name is Yang Yi. I greet you, senior."

"You're too kind, fellow Daoist," Gu Fan replied with a cupped-hand salute.

Just then, Yang family disciples emerged from many stone chambers on Huanglong Mountain, all of them at the Qi Refining stage.

At the same time, many Yang family disciples emerged from the cave at the foot of the mountain, their bodies covered in dust.

Like a shift change, the disciples who came out of the stone chamber all went into the underground cave, but they couldn't help but look at Gu Fan with curiosity as they went.

Yang Yi coughed lightly and explained, "The Huanglong mine is located deep underground and is extremely hard. Only cultivators can mine it. I apologize for making a fool of myself in front of you, senior."

"Not at all. With the Yang family united as one, prosperity is to be expected."

Gu Fan gave a compliment.

He saw himself in those dusty Yang family cultivators when he first entered the outer sect of the Lingxiao Sect.

Yang Yi chuckled upon hearing this.

"Fourth Uncle, Senior Meng needs a quiet place to go into seclusion," Yang Mengyun reminded him from the side.

Yang Yi was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.

"This way, please, senior."

Soon, Yang Yi arranged a spacious stone room for Gu Fan. Although the furnishings were extremely simple, there were no other stone rooms around, making it exceptionally quiet.

"I live halfway up the mountain. If you need anything, please come and call me."

Yang Mengyun gave a brief explanation, then bid farewell to Yang Yi and left.

Gu Fan surveyed the area, then waved his hand and scattered a handful of array flags.

A pale yellow light suddenly rose from outside the stone chamber, sealing the entrance to the cave.

Yang Mengyun and Yang Yi, who had not gone far, were astonished when they saw this scene.

"This Senior Meng actually knows about formations? Third Brother, did you really put in half your luck to be able to invite someone like him as a guest elder?" Yang Yi exclaimed in surprise.

After bidding farewell to Gu Fan, Yang Mengyun briefly told Yang Yi about Meng Wei's background.

He was well aware of the cost of hiring a formation master.

Yang Mengyun was also full of surprise.

But soon, as if she had thought of something, she tentatively asked, "Fourth Uncle, do you think I could ask Senior Meng for guidance on formations?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Yi frowned and narrowed his eyes.

After a long silence, he shook his head and said, "This is not something we can decide. Let's go back and ask the old man."

Yang Mengyun nodded: "Fourth Uncle, then I'll head back now."

Yang Yi waved his hand, letting Yang Mengyun leave, and looked in the direction Yang Mengyun left with a meaningful look in his eyes.

He could easily guess the family's intentions in sending Yang Mengyun.