Born as an ant, I was summoned to ascend to immortality.

Chapter 55: First introduction to formation

Zhou Li and Fang Yu were trapped in the Great Five Elements Maze. Although there was no real killing intent, no matter how Zhou Li tried, he could no longer easily pinpoint the flaw. The loss of direction and the mental pressure caused both of them to suffer considerable losses.

Just as the two were at their wits' end, a clear, surprised female voice rang out from outside the formation, like heavenly music:

"Huh? Why has the formation changed?" It's Qingqing back!

She clearly sensed a dramatic change in the formation she had set up; the immense and exquisite power of the Five Elements filled her with astonishment.

"Water flows back to its source, fire gathers its light... Wind guides, green wood breaks through barriers! Open!" Her urgent chanting and spiritual energy fluctuations came from outside the formation.

The raging illusion of a sea of ​​fire suddenly vanished, the surging water subsided, and the Great Five Elements Illusion Array, which had been operating, seemed to have lost its vitality, quickly dissipating and shattering, returning to the familiar green stone forest of the Purple Bamboo Grove.

The sunlight shone down again, and Qingqing stood prettily outside the formation, looking at the two people inside who were covered in dust and dirt, her little face full of lingering fear.

"Junior brothers, what are you doing in there? How did this formation turn into the Great Five Elements Maze Formation?" Qingqing asked, puzzled. "Could I have remembered wrong? No, I don't know how to use the Great Five Elements Maze Formation!"

Zhou Li and Fang Yu stumbled out of the formation, looking disheveled. Fang Yu didn't even bother to say hello, plopping down on the ground and panting heavily, saying, "We'll have to ask your good junior brother about that!"

Zhou Li was also a little embarrassed, and touched his nose: "I just got carried away and fiddled with it a few times, but I never expected... that I would make a mess of things."

However, just as Zhou Li stepped out of the area shrouded in this maze, his steps paused almost imperceptibly for a moment.

He turned his head slightly, his gaze falling once again on the bamboo grove that seemed to have returned to normal, bathed in bright sunlight, the grass and trees looking fresh and clean.

However, in his keen senses, a very familiar aura flashed by.

It was so fast it felt like an illusion, yet it struck Zhou Li's heart hard. The aura was clearly that of his ant colony from the Purple Bamboo Forest a year ago.

On the day Yuwen Zhao took him away, he had already noticed that his ant colony was showing signs of evolution, but he was trapped in the mustard seed space and could not get out. He didn't know how they were doing and had been worried about them for a year.

Just a moment ago, Zhou Li clearly sensed an ant with two wings flying by, one of the soldier ants he had been paying attention to.

It seemed that the ant colony had left the small courtyard and come to the large bamboo forest outside. Some of the ants had even grown wings. Thinking of this, Zhou Li felt quite comforted.

Regardless of Zhou Li's feelings at this moment, Qingqing was extremely surprised. She quickly walked to the array flags and array bases that Zhou Li had modified and carefully examined the remaining traces of spiritual energy.

"This...how is this possible? You've never studied array formations!" Those few changes seemed minor, but they directly addressed the core issue of the poor flow of spiritual energy in the Lesser Five Elements Bewildering Array.

When Qingqing saw the change in the array's core, she was even more dumbfounded: "You don't know that my array-setting hand seals can actually change the array?"

With the excitement of discovering a rare treasure, she exclaimed, "Junior Brother, could you be the one-in-a-million genius in array formations that Senior Uncle Wen spoke of?"

She rushed forward, her slender hand gripping Zhou Li's sleeve tightly, her voice suddenly rising: "No, no, you have to learn formations from your senior sister! Learn them now! With such talent, not learning formations would be a complete waste!"

Zhou Li was caught off guard by Qingqing's sudden enthusiasm and said helplessly, "Senior Sister, this maze has trapped Fang Yu and me for a whole day. At least let us catch up first."

Qingqing looked up at the sky; the setting sun had already dyed most of the bamboo forest red.

"Oh dear! It's already so late!" She slapped her forehead in annoyance, then looked at Zhou Li excitedly. "Alright, you two chat for a while, I'll wait. Don't go anywhere tonight, I'll teach you some basic array techniques first!"

Without a word, she made the decision for Zhou Li, her eyes sparkling.

Fang Yu laughed from the side, "Senior brothers and sisters are truly kind-hearted. I have no important business here. On the fifteenth of next month, the patrol boat will pass by our sect, so I came to invite you to come along. I can also buy some food for your three Fire Feather Crimson Kites."

Looking at his enthusiastic senior sister, Zhou Li said helplessly, "I'm sorry to have made you laugh, junior brother. Let's meet again on the fifteenth of next month on our boat."

"Alright, I won't disturb your cultivation any longer, senior brother. I'll take my leave now."

After seeing Fang Yu off, Zhou Li's gaze inadvertently swept over the purple bamboo forest again, but that familiar aura did not reappear.

He withdrew his gaze, thinking to himself, "There are many spiritual creatures in this purple bamboo forest. I wonder how far you will grow. Perhaps one day you will dominate a corner of this bamboo forest."

With his green robes fluttering, he walked calmly, following his senior sister's figure towards the cave.

Back in the cave, Qingqing saw that Zhou Li remained silent, so she smiled and approached him, saying, "Junior Brother, are you angry with Senior Sister? Qingqing won't dare to run around like that again!"

Zhou Li snapped out of his reverie upon hearing the voice: "Why would I be angry with Senior Sister? I was just wondering what the reasoning behind this formation is so profound."

Speaking of formations, Qingqing perked up: "Absolutely! At first, I also thought formations were fun and kept pestering Uncle Wen to teach me, but later I found that this subject was really tedious."

Suddenly remembering something, she explained to Zhou Li, "Oh, you haven't met Master Wen since you entered the sect. He is the best person in the sect, but Master said that Master Wen will be staying in Mirage Continent for a long time..." As she spoke, her voice lowered, as if she was missing him.

Zhou Li couldn't bear to see her so upset, so he gently changed the subject, asking, "What did Senior Sister Wen teach her?"

When it came to her favorite things, Qingqing immediately became very talkative: "My senior master said that the Dao of Arrays encompasses everything and contains the ultimate principles of heaven and earth."

"Ancient cultivators either observed the innate supernatural abilities of ancient demons or examined the natural wonders of remote and desolate places, from which they gleaned many runes containing the rules of heaven and earth. They then inscribed these runes onto spiritual materials that could bear their power, which became the earliest prototypes of array formations."

She cleared her throat and continued, "Later, array flags that carried the runes, array bases that activated the runes, array eyes that connected the runes, and array plates that governed the runes gradually emerged. All of these are the crystallization of the art of arrays being passed down from generation to generation and gradually perfected."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Li suddenly understood. If magic was something cultivators could use their own magical power to perform, then this formation was a mysterious mechanism constructed by borrowing the great power of heaven and earth.

The array has stretched to this day, having endured countless hardships and dangers, and embodies the wisdom and effort of many sages. He exclaimed sincerely, "Truly divine skill!"

A thought flashed through his mind, and Zhou Li asked curiously, "How does that formation distinguish between friend and foe?"

"Formations do not distinguish between friend and foe," Qingqing said without hesitation. "However, the person who sets up the formation can control the formation's core with hand gestures. As long as they know the hand gestures, they can rotate the formation's pivot point so that the formation will not harm them."

Zhou Li nodded after hearing this: "I see. Just now, when Senior Sister made a hand seal, the illusion array collapsed on its own. This hand seal is like a key to open a door..."

After pondering for a moment, Zhou Li was puzzled again: "Then how could I, who do not know the hand seals for setting up the array, have changed the array's core?"

Qingqing frowned and pondered for a moment, then guessed, "Although you didn't know my hand seals before, you knew the location of the array flags and array bases I set up like the back of your hand. You must have used your spiritual power to rebuild a new array eye on top of my array eye."

Her eyes lit up: "These two small array eyes, when combined, form a large Five Elements array eye, just like... just like..."

Zhou Li understood: "It's like adding another lock on top of your existing lock, right?"

"Exactly, exactly!" Qingqing clapped her hands excitedly. "Junior Brother's analogy is truly brilliant!"