And now Li Yan had produced what Hong Yin called a top-tier Sect-Protecting Grand Formation. This was truly unheard-of. However, the Great Elder and the others were also thinking.
'If this formation's power is similar to our clan's grand formation, it still won't be able to seal a fifth-rank Wind Beast for too long.'
But since Li Yan, a Nascent Soul cultivator, had brought this item out, he must have considered this point, so the others remained silent.
"Fellow Daoist Hong Yin has great insight. Indeed, it is so. I will now place the 'Vajra Suppressing the Sacred Mountain Formation' within it. Then we will enter the grand formation together to see its power."
As Li Yan spoke, his fingers moved rapidly, forming seals. Runes flew from his fingertips, shimmering with a faint cyan light like fluttering butterflies, and landed on the prayer beads.
In just a few breaths, they had wrapped around the prayer beads in the air. Then, with a flash, they dragged the prayer beads down toward the formation below, disappearing into its cyan glow.
Subsequently, Li Yan stepped into the cyan light. The others no longer hesitated and followed him in.
Inside, the grand formation appeared to be only about a hundred zhang across. Seeing that everyone had entered, Li Yan turned to the Great Elder.
"Great Elder, you should test the 'Vajra Suppressing the Sacred Mountain Formation' again, to see their power within this grand formation."
The Great Elder didn't waste words and walked away from the group to an open space in front. Li Yan swiped his palm toward the sky.
In the previously empty, cyan-misted sky, four and a half Dharma Manifestations suddenly appeared above the Great Elder's head.
At this moment, although the four and a half Dharma Manifestations still shimmered with golden light, they were seated inside five cyan bubbles.
Seeing the Dharma Manifestations appear, Li Yan's hand seal changed. The cyan light around one of the Dharma Manifestations flared, and, wrapped in its bubble, it instantly floated to the Great Elder's head.
Simultaneously, the other three and a half Dharma Manifestations, though motionless, erupted in brilliant golden light. This light shot out of their bubbles and directly into the body of the Dharma Manifestation above the Great Elder.
This time, the Vajra Hand Bodhisattva Dharma Manifestation did not attack with its fists. Instead, while seated cross-legged, it descended upon the Great Elder's head with a suppressive force, carrying with it ten thousand rays of golden light...
Two breaths later, the four and a half Dharma Manifestations within the formation disappeared. The Great Elder still stood in his original spot. Although no new pit appeared in the ground beneath his feet, cracks had formed, like deep abysses.
Sweat had already beaded on the Great Elder's forehead. Before anyone could ask, he wiped the sweat from his brow and spoke.
"This formation has amplified the power by at least twenty percent. Perhaps... perhaps even more!"
The Great Elder dispersed the power in his body. The attack this time, though using only one Dharma Manifestation, had been a suppressive one, making him feel as if the surrounding space had been completely sealed.
The terrifying force of a hundred thousand mountains crashing down seemed poised to suppress him for a thousand, ten thousand years.
"Adding the seal of my transformed Sarira, if this formation's trapping power is activated and it also has absolute defensive capabilities, it can keep these Dharma Manifestations indestructible, achieving the possibility of a permanent seal!"
A look of surprise appeared in Hong Yin's eyes. The formation set Li Yan had produced seemed much stronger than the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation of the "Red Whisk Temple" back in the day.
Now, the other key point was whether this formation could defend against the fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast's" continuous attacks from the inside.
"Then please, Great Elder, test it yourself. See if you can break this formation!"
Li Yan was extremely confident about this. Ever since learning the origins of the First Sir and the others, he knew that this formation had protected them for endless ages in the Chaotic Flow Space.
Although this formation set had been damaged and repaired before, it had ultimately been preserved, which showed just how formidable it was.
"How much power?" the Great Elder looked at Li Yan.
"Your full power is fine!"
The Great Elder pondered for a moment. Even with Li Yan's guarantee, he felt he should use only sixty percent of his power. This way, he could also estimate the formation's defensive strength.
If sixty percent of a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator's power were to crash down from the sky without the protection of a formation, the entire Tianli Clan would cease to exist.
Thus, the Great Elder chose a northern direction for his attack. North of this valley, no clan members had established villages.
Even if he really did break the formation, judging from its previous performance and Li Yan's confidence, it should be able to dissipate the vast majority of his attack's power.
After taking his position, a layer of yellow light instantly appeared on the Great Elder's body, as if he had transformed into a god of war clad in golden armor.
Li Yan and the others instantly retreated to a corner of the formation, their bodies simultaneously erupting with protective light shields.
When Gong Shanhe subconsciously wanted to protect Gong Chenying, he found that his daughter was already standing within Li Yan's protective light shield. He could only sigh softly in his heart; his daughter no longer needed his protection.
The Great Elder in front raised his hand and slashed diagonally at the formation's barrier. His movement seemed very casual. With this slash, a thin ray of light flashed and vanished.
The space in front blurred for a moment, as if a canvas had been suddenly crumpled, but it immediately returned to normal.
The cyan formation barrier only dimmed slightly before its light returned to normal, continuing to glow faintly as if nothing had happened.
"Hmm?"
The Great Elder, who had just withdrawn his hand, had a stunned expression. In the direction he had attacked, the space had only distorted for a moment, and the formation had barely changed at all.
This was completely different from what he had imagined. He couldn't help but be astonished. He turned back to look at Li Yan and the others. They all had strange expressions, except for Li Yan, who was perfectly calm.
"Is it really that powerful?" the Third Elder asked softly.
"Great Elder, how much magical power did you use?" Gong Shanhe couldn't help but ask.
"Sixty percent. It seems I underestimated the power of this formation."
The Great Elder awkwardly twisted his neck, and a series of cracking sounds came from his bones. The golden light on his body suddenly retracted, instantly being absorbed into him.
In an instant, the Great Elder seemed to become an extremely ordinary old man, but Li Yan, from behind, sensed something different.
A heart-palpitatingly terrifying aura began to emanate from the old man's body. Li Yan felt as if an ancient, bloodthirsty beast had appeared before him.
The Great Elder's shoulder suddenly twitched. In Li Yan's Divine Sense, it seemed as if the other had raised his hand, yet it also seemed as if he hadn't moved at all.
"Tsk!"
This time, the cyan light of the barrier dozens of zhang away clearly flashed with a piercing glow. A fingertip-sized indentation appeared there, but before a single breath had passed, everything returned to normal again.
"Nine-tenths of my power. No more tests. I can't break it even with my full strength!"
The Great Elder's face first showed shock, then he shook his head and turned to the others.
"Strong!"
Hong Yin could feel just how terrifying the power contained in the Great Elder's last strike was. Her single word, it was unclear if she was referring to the Great Elder's strength among Nascent Soul cultivators, or the strength of the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation."
"Fellow Daoist Hong Yin, with this formation's enhancement, can the sealing time be extended even further?"
This question was asked directly by Gong Shanhe. It was the answer everyone wanted to know most. All eyes turned to Hong Yin.
"If he were still in his peak state, there might be a chance of him breaking through. But he is still sealed and sleeping."
"His strength has not recovered at all. This time, after reinforcing the seal with these two formations, his recovery speed will become even slower. He will have no hope of breaking out for at least a hundred years."
"As long as this is successful, if we check on the situation every sixty years or century and reinforce the points he is impacting, while keeping this formation running, we can achieve a relatively long-term sealing result."
"The key is to keep the suppressive Buddhist magical treasure's power intact; that is the key to preventing him from awakening."
"Otherwise, once the seal is gone, even if this formation is strong, it will likely be broken under the frenzied attack of a Spirit Transformation cultivator!"
Hong Yin gave her judgment.
After hearing this, Li Yan's eyes flickered. Hong Yin was right. The key was not to let the fifth-rank Wind Beast awaken and break the seal. Sealing was the best solution.
And the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation" was meant to protect the sub-formation within it, which was the string of prayer beads, by continuously providing it with activation power.
At the same time, this formation set was also the final line of defense. Li Yan would later hand over the control art for the grand formation to the Great Elder and Gong Shanhe. They would naturally have to consider the high-grade spirit stones needed to maintain its operation.
Just by activating the "Vajra Suppressing the Sacred Mountain Formation" and taking one hit from the Great Elder, the twenty high-grade spirit stones Li Yan had previously embedded had already been consumed by nearly ten percent.
And this was after the First Sir's master had continuously improved it due to the scarcity of spirit stones and "Heaven's End Stones" in the Chaotic Flow Space. Of course, if it was just for normal maintenance, the consumption would be even lower.
As for the "Heaven's End Stones" that originally came with the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation," Li Yan would not be taking them out. The grand formation could be activated with spirit stones anyway.
"Heaven's End Stones" were also rare treasures. He would naturally keep them for himself, as they might have other uses in the future.
"This means that our main plan going forward is to see how to implement the sealing!"
The Great Elder nodded, but then his deep-set eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"Fellow Daoist Li, don't tell me you plan to use this formation for protection to approach the eye of the 'Heaven's Eye Wind'?"
When it came to the next step of implementing the seal, everyone thought of another problem. The Second Elder, who had been silent all this time, spoke up.
This was a question Li Yan had not answered before, only saying that he had a way.
But now, after everyone had seen the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation," they had their own speculations. But if Li Yan were to truly use this method, another major problem would arise.
That is, he would first have to set up this formation on his own flying magical treasure, moving with it and resisting the terrifying, extremely cold yin winds along the way. This point, at present, seemed to be no problem.
But upon reaching the eye of the wind, he would need to redeploy the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation" to reinforce the outside of Hong Yin's seal.
At that time, Li Yan would have to first dismantle the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation" and then redeploy the grand formation according to the surrounding environment. No matter how fast he was, there would always be a brief gap.
But that was the eye of the "Heaven's Eye Wind," where a large amount of extremely cold yin wind blew relentlessly from every direction, every moment.
Even for a short time, Li Yan, without the protection of the grand formation, would have defenses as thin as paper, which would be destroyed in an instant.
Moreover, Li Yan still had to return. How would he defend himself on the return journey? Li Yan was not a member of the Tianli Clan; he certainly couldn't use his body as the formation, making it a one-way trip.
"Of course I have a way to set up the formation, but please forgive me for not being able to disclose it. I will fulfill my promise as we agreed before."
Li Yan's attitude was very clear. He still had trump cards, but he was unwilling to reveal them.
If the seal couldn't be completed, those conditions would naturally not count. It wasn't as if Li Yan was getting the cultivation method in advance. In this case, the Second Elder and the others really couldn't ask any more questions.
This made the others both suspicious and feel that this Nascent Soul expert from a foreign continent was even more mysterious.
After Li Yan's reply, the Second Elder couldn't press further. Doing so would be equivalent to prying into another expert's privacy.
At this time, the Great Elder's expression as he looked at Li Yan was already filled with excitement. Regardless of whether the final result could truly be achieved, even just completing the first step would buy the Tianli Clan at least ten more years.
This point alone already gave them some breathing room, taking away that "butt on fire" feeling.
"By the way, Fellow Daoist Li, if you can't persuade Yan San in the end, then the condition related to the ninth layer of the cultivation method still cannot be considered fulfilled!"
The Second Elder's stern face didn't change much as his eyes moved slightly, and he spoke again.
When it came to the final matter related to the seal, it wasn't just him. Previously, everyone here except for Gong Shanhe's group of three had felt a sense of absurdity when they heard Li Yan propose reaching an agreement with the three clans of Wind Beasts for peaceful coexistence.
But as Li Yan explained his plan, they were shocked to find that they felt there was a slight possibility.
If it truly came to that step, Li Yan would undoubtedly be a pioneer on the Wind God Continent.
Ever since records began on the Wind God Continent, there was only one outcome between other living beings and Wind Beasts: one side killed the other, a battle to the death.
This continued until one side occupied the other's territory, or a new, powerful Wind Beast charged out from underground, starting another round of slaughter.
"That's natural. Second Elder need not repeat it. Li has not lost his memory!"
Li Yan felt a wave of helplessness at the Second Elder's nitpicking.
Now that the initial stages of his plan had been cleared, they would, of course, confirm it again.
"Now, we need to ask Yan San out for a talk. We can't have him causing trouble at this time!"