The Records of the Human Emperor

Chapter 1391: Hidden Faction!

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Senior Zhou's sense can't be wrong. Could there really be some third faction at work here? But what sort of person would be able to control such an immense formation, given how badly understanding of formations has declined?

Wang Chong's brow was deeply creased, a pensive look in his eyes.

Bzzz! A thought suddenly occurred to Wang Chong. He thought back to those corpses he had seen here that might have been from decades ago, perhaps even more than one hundred years, that had belonged to people who had entered this place, and then he thought about the many legends of the Origin Immortal Art. The ten great arts of the Central Plains had almost all appeared before; even the Myriad Spirit Sea Art cultivated by his master had been tracked down.

Only the number one Origin Immortal Art had never appeared, not even during the apocalyptic era and the collapse of the Central Plains. This would have been fine if the Origin Immortal Art had been lost to history, but it was clear from the remains in this formation that this 'Origin Immortal Mountain' would open up at set intervals.

He had not thought too much about this previously, but the Formation Elder's words had made him realize how strange it all was. At that moment, Wang Chong suddenly had an idea.

The Formation Elder had no idea what Wang Chong was thinking. As he had sensed Wang Chong's incredible talent, he was naturally doing his utmost to teach Wang Chong all he knew, wanting nothing more than to stuff all he had learned into Wang Chong's brain. And with the lecturing of this sort of master and Wang Chong's own comprehension abilities, Wang Chong rapidly ascended in his grasp of formations.

As Wang Chong continued to learn about formations with the Formation Elder, few people knew that elsewhere, a pair of eyes was silently watching everything. As they watched one martial artist after another enter the formation and be ground to powder by the millstone of the formation, they remained cold and emotionless.

"Humans will die for riches as birds die for food! They only have themselves to blame!"

As this person continued to watch the formation shift, they coldly said, "How many people are left in the formation?"

A voice soon came out from the quiet surroundings, reverent and respectful. "There are still five hundred and seventy-six people inside the formation. Around one hundred and fifty have been killed."

"What?! So few people have died?"

The first person placed their hands behind their back and fiercely turned around, their brows deeply furrowed.

"More people came than last time, and they are also much more cautious. That newly-established Righteous Alliance left more than three hundred people outside, and within the formation, there are three mighty experts of the age: the Myriad Ghost Ancestor, the Black Yin Ancestor, and Song Yuanyi.

"These three people have gathered many martial artists around them. With them here, our formation is much less lethal than we projected, and the formation itself has even been somewhat affected."

The subordinate bowed and paused a few moments before continuing.

"In addition, there's also the Demonic Emperor in the formation, who passed by here before. This is a great demon of the martial arts world who is rumored to kill without blinking. He has always been paranoid and willful, solitary and unsociable, but this time, he seems to have brought a formation expert with him. The Demonic Emperor received his guidance and actually decided to stay in the Rest Gate. We are unable to use many of our techniques against him."

"Hmph, what formation expert? In this declining era where knowledge of the ancient formations has been lost, these are just clowns. Or do you think that there's someone who can contend against the ancient formation left by the Immortal Lord?" the leader coldly said.

"Your subordinate understands!"

The subordinate hastily lowered their head and did not dare to say any more.

"They can't be allowed to pass so safely within the formation. Since they desire the Immortal Lord's treasure, they have to be ready to all be killed here. Pass on my order! Activate the formation energy in the core! Whether it's Song Yuanyi, the Black Yin Ancestor, or that Demonic Emperor, I want them all killed!"

"Yes!"

……

At the Rest Gate position toward the southwest, Wang Chong's knowledge of formations was advancing by leaps and bounds, causing even the Formation Elder to sigh in praise. He was finding himself liking Wang Chong more and more. At first, he had only been teaching Wang Chong in the passing, as the urgent task was still to break out of this formation, but as time went on, he had completely forgotten about leaving and had secretly begun to treat this like a secret meeting where he was instructing his disciple.

"Let me ask you, how many times will the View Gate change every fifteen minutes?"

"Two hundred and fifty-six!" Wang Chong replied without even thinking.

"And the Stop Gate?"

"Five hundred and twelve!" Wang Chong immediately replied, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Then let me ask you, if a person ends up in the Alarm Gate, how long will it take until the formation's power pushes them to the Pain Gate? And to the Death Gate?!" the Formation Elder asked, his expression extremely grave.

"There will be a shift every hour. If he doesn't respond appropriately, it will take around twelve shifts, twelve hours, for him to be pushed to the Pain Gate, but it will only take four hours to be pushed from the Pain Gate to the Death Gate, where he will have to take the full power of the formation and basically be doomed!" Wang Chong sternly said, his mind running faster and faster. Within Wang Chong's mind, countless dots had coalesced into a vast formation, each dot constantly colliding and orbiting.

"Then let me ask you, if a person falls into the Pain Gate, which formation gates and how many steps will they need to take to get back to the View Gate, and how many steps will it take to get to the Rest Gate and away from danger?" the Formation Elder grimly said, his questions coming faster and with greater difficulty.

This time, Wang Chong finally fell silent as his mind rapidly calculated. Upon seeing this, the Formation Elder stroked his beard and chuckled. Wang Chong's comprehension abilities were far too high, so much so that he was almost embarrassing his teacher.

I have to give him a little taste of difficulty so that he doesn't think that formations are too easy and become reckless!

As the Formation Elder watched Wang Chong strenuously think, he inwardly gloated.

But a moment later, Wang Chong's answer completely upset the Formation Elder's mood.

"If one wants to get back to the View Gate from the Pain Gate, one has to go through the Alarm Gate, Stop Gate, Open Gate, Stop Gate, Alarm Gate, and only then can one return to the View Gate. Accounting for the shifts in the Nine Palaces1, a total of 1364 steps will be needed.

"And if one wishes to reach the Rest Gate, one will need an additional 3351 steps!" Wang Chong simply added.

"!!!"

The Formation Elder's eyes went wide and his jaw dropped.

"This… how could this be?"

The Formation Elder could not possibly believe that Wang Chong could so quickly digest his teachings of only a few hours and apply them to this formation. This completely overthrew the Formation Elder's understanding of the art of formations.

The Demonic Emperor Old Man stood to the side, inwardly chuckling at this sight. He could naturally tell that the Formation Elder was treating Wang Chong as his inheriting disciple. He had simply chosen not to expose it.

Wang Chong had needed only two years to become the Great Tang's King of Foreign Lands, at the same time cultivating the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art to its peak. Such comprehension abilities were far beyond those of normal people, and the formations of the Formation Elder could not possibly pose him any difficulty.

"Heh, Senior, in truth, I just have impressive calculation abilities. For these problems of yours, I just need to throw my entire mind into calculating the result."

Wang Chong faintly smiled.

"You bastard kid!"

The Formation Elder was fuming, his chest rising up and down. The art of formations was extremely profound, and for Wang Chong to just describe formations as a matter of simple calculation made him almost explode in rage.

Just as the two were speaking, rumble! The ground began to quake once more.

"Ah!" Those unaffiliated martial artists that were in the same place as Wang Chong's group called out in alarm, their faces stricken with fear.

"It-it's starting again!" these people stammered in unease. They were martial artists of significant power, but they were like ants when compared to the power of this vast formation.

"There's something different!"

Wang Chong looked solemnly up at the gray sky. For some reason, this formation shift seemed different from the rest.

"Kid, Zhang Wenfu, be careful!" the Formation Elder suddenly yelled, his eyes looking nervously up at the sky. "There's something strange going on here! The formation's energy seems to have been given a big boost!"

Kaclack!

He had barely finished speaking when a massive rip filled everyone's ears, like some terrifying energy was tearing apart the world. Before anyone could react, dark green fog surged in like the tide, far fiercer than it had been at any other time.

At the same time, the entire space seemed to become like an out-of-control kite, tossed here and there by some dreadful energy as the formation began to shift.

"Ah!"

Cries of alarm could be heard as the martial artists panicked.

"Save me! Young Master, save me!"

Like drowning people, they turned to Wang Chong in supplication. This formation was far more terrifying than they had imagined. If Wang Chong did not save them, they would be killed.

Buzz!

As these people were speaking, an immense absorption force pulled on them. At the same time, Wang Chong's Stellar Energy expanded to completely enclose these martial artists.

Barely moments after Wang Chong had finished doing these things, that corrosive mist swept past. There was a hiss as if even space itself was being eaten away at.

Although the poison gas this time was different, Wang Chong quickly quieted down. Wang Chong had some experience in dealing with poison traps, and such traps would find it very hard to threaten him now.

"Chong-er, careful!" the Demonic Emperor Old Man suddenly called out, his tone grim.

Wang Chong was just starting to wonder what was going on, then suddenly he felt something vast and unprecedented pulling on him, like the entirety of the earth was trying to absorb his energy. And Wang Chong realized something that shocked and bewildered him.

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1.The Nine Palaces simply refer to the eight directions as referenced by the eight trigrams of Qian, Kun, Kan, etc., but with the addition of the center to serve as the ninth palace.↩