After getting the answers he needed, Zhang Yang dismissed her. When she truly stepped out of the villa, the apprehension that had filled Huang Jing was gone, replaced only by a profound sense of loss.
As she left, she couldn't help but grumble inwardly, wondering if Zhang Yang truly appreciated beauty; to summon such a stunning woman only to ask a few questions.
Yet, this thought was fleeting, immediately supplanted by the crisis facing her family.
From the seriousness with which Zhang Yang treated the matter, she understood that her family was in extreme peril this time.
She sensed that the secret history her family possessed held immense sway over Zhang Yang, and that was without even considering others, or the master of the Demonic Path, Chu Yuntian. All she could do now was pray—pray that Zhang Yang would defeat and kill Chu Yuntian.
But that wasn't enough; she also needed to make it unequivocally clear to Zhang Yang that her entire family knew nothing of the secret history’s contents.
Zhang Yang was a good man, lacking the usual condescending air of other cultivators, but Huang Jing was keenly aware that when the allure of something reached a certain threshold, even someone like Zhang Yang might resort to drastic measures to ensure secrecy.
An innocent man possessing a treasure is a crime; this was the exact plight of the Huang family now.
Seeing Huang Jing out, Zhang Yang returned to his room.
He retrieved a Four-Tiered Blood Essence Pill, hesitated for a moment, and then swallowed it whole.
A major battle was imminent; he needed to be fully prepared, his condition brought to its absolute peak.
The night passed without incident. The next day, Zhang Yang rose early. He hadn't been the only one to take a Blood Essence Pill; Long Feng had taken one too. Long Feng rose later, not going out to cultivate that morning.
Only after Zhang Yang had his breakfast did Long Feng emerge.
Long Feng felt incredibly well that day. The energy contained in the Four-Tiered Blood Essence Pill far surpassed that of the spiritual medicines he had taken before. He felt a vast power surging within him, demanding release, and his own cultivation had taken a significant leap forward.
This, in turn, bolstered his confidence for the approaching fight.
Lightning, Chasing Wind, and Shadowless, the three little ones, were still playing about, showing not a trace of tension.
Spirit beasts were intelligent, but they lacked the complex emotional baggage of humans; they didn't succumb to sentimentality. Even knowing a powerful enemy was approaching, they felt no fear; an enemy meant a fight, and fighting was instinct for many spirit beasts.
Once Long Feng finished breakfast, Zhang Yang accompanied him to the location they had scouted the previous day.
It was a construction site that had only recently broken ground. Apart from a few temporary structures, there were only excavated foundations dotting the land.
Due to Long Feng’s instructions, the workers were gone; only one outer disciple of the Long family remained waiting, who immediately rushed to greet Zhang Yang and his companion upon their arrival.
On the way there, Zhang Yang had been calculating, analyzing every aspect of the location.
Upon reaching the site, Zhang Yang nodded with satisfaction. This resort was being built into the mountain, completely isolated, with the nearest sign of human habitation being a small, sparsely populated town several miles distant.
The Long family outer disciple chose this location based on their foresight.
Hangcheng was a city known for tourism and was currently undergoing rapid development; it wouldn't take long for expansion to reach this area. Building such a resort within the city proper was impractical. The best location was the outskirts.
In a few years of development, this spot would become suburban, and once the resort was finished, it would surely become a prime tourist destination for Hangcheng.
Looking at it from a future perspective, purely from a commercial standpoint, the Long family outer disciple had done an excellent job; even Zhang Yang had to offer praise.
The Long family's foundation truly was supreme; in both the internal energy cultivation world and the secular sphere, they commanded their own pool of talented individuals.
“Long Feng, tell him to leave!”
After a brief inspection, Zhang Yang gave his instruction. This location was excellent; it would serve perfectly for setting up the traps.
Long Feng relayed the order directly to the outer disciple. This disciple’s status was similar to Long Cheng’s—an important figure overseeing matters in the secular world—yet he offered no resistance to Long Feng’s command.
They all understood their place; their true purpose was to serve the seniors of the Inner Sect.
The man quickly departed, leaving only Zhang Yang and Long Feng, along with the three little ones.
Chasing Wind darted curiously across the grass. Since this was intended as a resort, there were extensive green areas, some of which hadn't yet been developed and remained grassy fields.
Lightning and Shadowless also raced about, preferring the freedom of the wild.
Zhang Yang unloaded a large bag from the car, containing many items he had purchased the day before.
Among them were numerous small flags of various colors. As Zhang Yang pulled these flags out, Long Feng’s eyes widened instantly.
“Qimen Dunjia—Zhang Yang, you actually understand the arts of Qimen Dunjia?”
Qimen Dunjia was an incredibly profound discipline. It did not demand extremely high internal energy, but its requirements for innate talent and wisdom were exceptionally stringent.
Simply put, Qimen Dunjia was a method of harnessing the power of nature for one's own use.
This shared a similarity with comprehending the Way of Nature, which is why Qimen Dunjia was so difficult to master. Those who succeeded invariably achieved high renown.
Long ago, Qimen Dunjia formed a distinct school of thought, producing many brilliant figures. The most famous were Jiang Shang during the Shang-Zhou period and Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms era, both renowned inheritors of the Qimen Dunjia lineage.
Their formation arts had proven immensely effective.
With the passage of time and the harsh demands of Qimen Dunjia, the number of disciples dwindled until the school eventually vanished. In modern society, genuine Qimen Dunjia practitioners were virtually nonexistent—a tragedy that this vital discipline faded due to the lack of suitable successors.
“I do not know Qimen Dunjia!”
Zhang Yang gently shook his head. He would have liked to learn it, but he lacked any relevant texts and wasn't sure if he possessed the necessary aptitude.
“Then what is this?” Long Feng gestured at the small flags, asking in astonishment.
Zhang Yang explained, “Within the Tang Family Forging Methods, there is a secret manual specifically detailing formations. The one I am setting up is called the Heaven’s Gate Array—a combination of illusion and lethal intent, possessing formidable offensive power. This type of formation originated from Qimen Dunjia, but it is not strictly Qimen Dunjia; it falls far short of true Qimen formation techniques!”
The Tang Family Forging Methods were famous because their divine weapons and sharp implements were inscribed with auxiliary formations; formations were a critical aspect of Tang family cultivation.
Zhang Yang had spent time recently studying the Tang Family Forging Methods, finding the formation arts within them most captivating.
The formation he intended to deploy today came from the Tang family—a large-scale formation.
The Tang family’s forging expertise was not limited to handheld weapons; mechanical traps and formations were also part of their repertoire. A well-utilized formation could certainly serve to kill an enemy.
Unfortunately, the Heaven’s Gate Array was primarily an illusionary formation, with a relatively low component of lethal intent. Otherwise, relying solely on the formation might have been enough to deal with Chu Yuntian.
“I understand now!”
Long Feng nodded. As a Third-Tier master, he possessed broad knowledge, and Zhang Yang’s brief explanation clarified everything.
Legend held that formations created using true Qimen Dunjia techniques possessed immense power, capable of summoning wind and rain, controlling all things, and even trapping and killing Fourth-Tier experts.
If the Qimen Dunjia lineage lacked this capability, they would not have been so highly valued and feared by other cultivators.
Long ago, both internal energy aristocratic families and sects strictly mandated that their disciples avoid provoking members of the Qimen school lightly; offending them meant suffering hidden retribution that could cause endless trouble.
“Wait for me here!”
Zhang Yang found a clear patch of ground and, following the layout from memory, began carefully inserting the small flagpoles into the earth.
The flags themselves were made of ordinary cloth, but the poles were carved from jadeite. Purchasing the jadeite alone had cost Zhang Yang considerable effort. Fortunately, the poles did not require intricate carving; their shape was sufficient. He bought large blocks of jadeite and simply cut them into poles.
As Zhang Yang finished planting all the small flags, Long Feng stared in shock as the previously visible flags on the ground vanished—they disappeared without a trace.
If he hadn't witnessed it firsthand, he would never have believed that the patch of grass held anything more than simple vegetation.
Seeing the flags disappear, Zhang Yang let out a breath of relief.
The formation was set up, but for it to truly function, he needed to infuse his internal energy into the jadeite flagpoles.
Only when infused with internal energy could the jadeite poles resonate with each other, generating greater power. Otherwise, the Heaven’s Gate Array, without infused energy, could only trap ordinary people and low-level cultivators.
It could not hold cultivators who had reached the Second Tier or slightly higher.
To trap those individuals, someone needed to actively command the formation, continuously channeling internal energy into the poles to allow the Heaven’s Gate Array to unleash its maximum power and thus imprison a Fourth-Tier expert.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yang couldn't help but shake his head.
The Heaven’s Gate Array was indeed not a true Qimen formation. Legend stated that true Qimen formations only required control over the formation's core; after that, they could exert tremendous power, capable of trapping and killing Third or even Fourth-Tier masters, even if controlled by someone with lower cultivation.
Alas, true Qimen Dunjia was lost to history. Though this current formation was more cumbersome, the fact that it could be effective against a Fourth-Tier expert was enough for Zhang Yang.
Of course, the most critical factor in making the formation effective against a Fourth-Tier expert was that Zhang Yang himself was Fourth-Tier; his formidable internal energy was the source sustaining the array. Without his powerful energy, it would be useless.
After setting up the formation, Zhang Yang perfected the layout and then placed several other supplementary traps.
These were highly sophisticated and ingenious traps designed to combine with the formation to attack Chu Yuntian. Zhang Yang didn't expect the formation alone to kill Chu Yuntian; his goal was merely to severely injure or wound him.
Among the traps laid were numerous highly venomous substances, in addition to Lightning. If he could make Chu Yuntian suffer from Lightning’s poison, the man’s strength would be drastically diminished, giving Zhang Yang a chance to secure the kill.