Chapter 10, Mirage.

Do not panic, do not panic. Li Chengzhu comforted himself in his heart, thinking that since he had inadvertently entered this illusionary formation, as long as he could find the core of the formation, he would be able to break it. Moreover, having been in it for so long without encountering any attacks, it suggested that either the formation had no master or that the master had no malicious intent

I am lost. This was Li Chengzhu's first thought, and he was going in circles

As the cold light of the ritual rose, Li Chengzhu soared into the sky. Looking around, he saw an endless expanse of forest, with no end in sight. Li Chengzhu felt a surge of anxiety in his heart.

Li Chengzhu calculated the days; he had been in this forest for almost over a month. He estimated that Master Stingy’s anger should have subsided by now, so he tidied up his belongings and prepared to head back home

This Celestial Stone is a type of spiritual stone commonly circulated among the inhabitants of the Celestial Realm, beneficial for cultivation. It contains a rich essence of celestial energy, which plays a significant role in both cultivation and replenishing depleted celestial power. Naturally, it can also be exchanged for other items. In the Celestial Realm, there is no currency; the commonly used medium for trade is this type of Celestial Stone

The only plan now is to find a way to get out of this forest. Resolutely, Li Chengzhu took to the skies with his cold light, determined to fly forward in a specific direction. In his mind, no matter how vast this forest may be, there must be an end to it; I will fly through it.

The desolate expression vanished in an instant as Li Chengzhu performed a swift technique, moving rapidly through the forest, hoping to find the treasure or the core hidden within the illusionary array.

Li Chengzhu felt a chill in his heart. He was certain that he was going in circles, and within a very small range, otherwise it would be impossible to coincidentally encounter this pile of bonfires.

Two days later, Li Chengzhu lay dejectedly on the ground. No matter which direction he walked, this illusionary maze always led him back to this campfire.

After an indeterminate duration of flight, Li Chengzhu casually turned his head and once again beheld the familiar scene: the extinguished bonfire and the chewed bird bones

However, at this moment, Li Chengzhu only wishes to quickly restore the spiritual energy within himself and continue searching for a way out, which is why he has utilized these few precious pieces of the Heavenly Machine Stone, which are scarce and not easily obtained.

In the entire celestial realm, there is probably no one else who would use fire to roast birds for consumption besides Li Chengzhu.

He retracted the cold light, listened carefully to the surroundings, and seemed to find no celestial beasts nearby. Thus, he felt at ease and sat in the small gathering spirit formation, frantically absorbing the spiritual energy. Moreover, he had already set up an alarm formation around him; as long as something happened and intruded into the formation, it would awaken him.

But who would place an illusionary array here for no reason? Is it to protect something?

The celestial guide also mentioned that the Yunjian Lake, with a radius of one thousand miles, is covered by a grand formation that spans heaven and earth, prohibiting any celestial beings below the Great Luo Golden Immortal from entering. It is unlikely that any Great Luo Golden Immortal would be bored enough to tease a nascent soul cultivator like me. Therefore, Li Chengzhu believes that this illusionary formation must have been abandoned by someone.

The Heavenly Secret Stones are divided into three grades: upper, middle, and lower. Additionally, there are two types of Heavenly Secret Stones: the Heavenly Secret Spirit Stone and the Heavenly Secret Divine Stone, which are also categorized into upper, middle, and lower grades. The exchange ratio between each grade and the next is 1:100

Feeling the spiritual energy around the body surging wildly and entering one's body like a stream, flowing through the spiritual meridians, and then converging at the location of the primordial infant in the dantian, being absorbed by the body bit by bit. Li Chengzhu felt as if he were having an intimate encounter with several beautiful women, shedding their clothes in a group. Even the small primordial infant within the dantian slightly opened its mouth, continuously exhaling.

Illusionary formations! Only illusionary formations can confuse the mind, allowing one to endlessly circle in a small area

However, while there is admiration, the connection to the guiding immortal's understanding of the illusionary formation is merely superficial, not to mention Li Chengzhu, this incompetent disciple

Gazing at the familiar campfire, the fallen bird feathers beside it, and the chewed bird bones, Li Chengzhu felt a cold sweat trickling down his back

However, the reality was not as simple as he had imagined. After following the compass directions on his watch for three days, Li Chengzhu stopped beside a pile of long-extinguished campfires

Li Chengzhu initially thought the same way; even if the spiritual energy within him was completely depleted, he could easily restore it to full capacity by meditating for just half a day. There was no need for these Heavenly Mystery Stones.

However, the facts once again dealt a heavy slap to Li Chengzhu.

The renowned figure among the Ten Immortal Lords, Li Huancheng, is known for his mastery of illusion formations, which has earned him a place among the Immortal Lords. His proficiency in illusion techniques and formations is unmatched throughout the entire Immortal Realm, to the extent that even the Immortal Emperors feel inferior in his presence. His signature skill, the Annihilation of Immortal Traces Formation, poses such a challenge that even Immortal Emperors would not fare well if they were to venture into it.

Li Chengzhu had only a few pieces of Heavenly Mystery Stones in his possession, totaling just over a dozen, and all of them were of inferior quality. He had obtained these through persistent requests from the guiding celestial envoy. That stingy master adamantly refused to give Li Chengzhu any medium or high-quality Heavenly Mystery Stones, claiming that with his abnormal recovery speed, there was simply no opportunity for him to make use of the Heavenly Mystery Stones.

Li Chengzhu let out a sigh and got up from the ground. He casually set up an alarm formation nearby, then took out four low-grade Heavenly Mechanism Stones from his ring and arranged them in the order of Qian, Zhen, Gen, and Kan to form a small gathering spirit array of the Eight Trigrams.

Damn it! Li Chengzhu cursed under his breath, realizing that the compass might have been damaged in some battle he was unaware of. If he had known earlier, he would have put it in the storage ring, Li Chengzhu silently regretted.

All of the spiritual energy had been completely depleted during the process of running, and even though I continuously absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy to replenish it, I could not make up for the rate of consumption

Treasure! The moment these two words crossed his mind, Li Chengzhu's eyes widened, and he could not help but salivate.

Li Chengzhu has made excellent plans. If the master is still angry at that time, it would not be a problem for him to offer the spoils of this month to the master to offset the losses of those refining materials. I believe the master wouldn't really want to sever ties. After all, I am his first disciple.

Raising my hand to check the watch on my wrist, the compass sways with the movement of my wrist, sometimes pointing left and sometimes pointing right, yet it has lost its fixed direction.

Li Chengzhu felt a cold sweat on his forehead. When he was learning formations from the Guiding Immortal, he had witnessed the Guiding Immortal's admiration for illusion formations. The offensive formation is for killing the main target, and the defensive formation is for protection, but neither is as effective as the illusion formation in confusing the enemy's mind.

Although Li Chengzhu tends to favor the second option, upon careful consideration, the likelihood of the first scenario is somewhat greater

In this forest, there is no sun, no moon, and no stars; the sky is a vast expanse of white, filled with towering trees. At this moment, Li Chengzhu is also unaware of which direction he is in relative to Yunxian Lake.