Chapter 691: Reverse Life and Death Formation

The elixir’s medicinal power was slowly being absorbed, and Huangfu Song’s complexion gradually returned to normal.

He surveyed the densely packed frozen coffins around him, pondered for a moment, and replied, "Although these ice crystals are arranged chaotically, simply stacked, and seem to have no discernible pattern, based on my many years of experience dealing with formations, this place might..."

As he spoke, he took out a set of formation-breaking jade disks and projected a light screen in front of everyone, beginning his calculations on the spot.

On the light screen, the countless ice coffins they had seen earlier transformed into individual black dots, which were then located and recorded. The perspective of the image then continuously ascended, and the number and speed of the black dots appearing rapidly increased.

It could be vaguely discerned from the light screen that these ice coffins were not all crammed together in one spot, but were indeed bound by some force and arranged according to an unknown pattern.

"We still haven't seen the full picture. Perhaps only after exploring this entire area can we discern what kind of formation truly envelops this mysterious domain." Huangfu Song studied the light screen for a long time, then shook his head with a touch of regret.

"Then don't just stand there, let's go. If we stay here too long, who knows what strange things we might encounter." Dongfang Yao urged, and the three continued to explore the remaining unknown areas.

After an unknown period of time.

"Stop!" Dongfang Yao suddenly raised his hand, blocking their path forward.

"Brother Dongfang, what did you find?" Li Fan looked around but didn't notice anything amiss.

Dongfang Yao's face showed confusion; he seemed to be listening intently, trying to discern something.

A moment later, his gaze fixed on the depths of the black, desolate sea.

"There seems to be something alive in this sea. Like..."

"Some kind of demonic beast?" Dongfang Yao said, sounding uncertain.

Huangfu Song was immediately startled upon hearing this: "That's impossible! This seawater is entirely composed of death energy. Let alone ordinary demonic beasts, even we cultivators wouldn't last long if we accidentally fell in and were tainted by the death energy."

Li Fan, meanwhile, also gazed at the utterly calm black sea surface, lost in thought: "Extreme death, leading to rebirth..."

"I trust Brother Dongfang's judgment," he said, suggesting, "If there truly is a strange beast of the dead sea that has lived here for years, perhaps our hope of escape rests with it. Brother Dongfang, since you understand the language of demonic beasts, why not try to communicate with it?"

Dongfang Yao hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded. A strange, undulating sound emerged from his throat, as if an ancient demonic beast was genuinely roaring.

Before long, ripples suddenly spread across the seemingly unchanging surface of the sea.

"There's actually something alive?!" Huangfu Song exclaimed, his face showing surprise.

Dongfang Yao, however, cursed under his breath: "Damn it, this creature didn't understand me; it just got scared away!"

"No matter, we'll just follow it. Brother Dongfang, lead the way!" Li Fan instructed in a deep voice.

Dongfang Yao immediately reacted, swiftly discerning the movements of the strange beast beneath the black sea and flying off in pursuit.

Li Fan and Huangfu Song followed closely behind.

The unknown strange beast's speed wasn't particularly fast; the three followed steadily.

During the pursuit, Li Fan could sense, almost with his naked eye alone, that the number of ice coffins around them seemed to be gradually decreasing.

"It suddenly vanished right here!" Dongfang Yao suddenly stopped and looked back at Li Fan and Huangfu Song.

Li Fan flew upwards for a distance, then gazed out at the surroundings.

Countless ice coffins, appearing as tiny dots, formed lines, like black dragons, stretching continuously from the horizon.

From all directions, they converged here.

These lines were like ley lines, directing all the death energy of this mysterious domain to circulate and gather here.

It was extremely dense, subtly undergoing a qualitative change.

Huangfu Song also flew to Li Fan's side, and after careful observation, he discovered some clues.

"This place seems to be the core of the grand formation that envelops this mysterious domain." His face was filled with solemnity.

"The core? Doesn't that mean we can get out from here?" Dongfang Yao asked, overjoyed.

Huangfu Song, however, shook his head: "We don't yet understand the full scope of the grand formation, so we can't draw a conclusion. It's possible we could escape from here, but it's also possible..."

"...activate the grand formation's counterattack," Li Fan finished Huangfu Song's sentence. "The scale of this formation is truly rare in the world. Moreover, it's subtly linked to the Dao of life and death, making it incredibly strange. I'm afraid even a Hedao realm expert might not survive an attack from this grand formation."

Huangfu Song looked at Li Fan, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes: "So, Brother Li is also familiar with formations?"

"Just a little," Li Fan nodded slightly, acknowledging it.

"So what do we do now? Just waste time here? I feel like I'm also being affected by the death energy; my life force is constantly draining away. I'm even feeling aches and pains in my back." Dongfang Yao grumbled, hesitated for a moment, then took out and swallowed an elixir of longevity.

"Damn it, that's much better," He absorbed the medicinal power much faster than Huangfu Song, instantly becoming lively again.

"We still need to understand the full scope of the formation." Li Fan and Huangfu Song exchanged glances, reaching the same conclusion.

"We need to speed up," Huangfu Song said, then gave a light cough. His face was grim, and he reluctantly took another elixir of longevity to slow the loss of his life force.

For a long time, they hadn't encountered any dangers in the mysterious domain other than the draining of their life force, and their supply of elixirs of longevity was running low. Therefore, the three decided to cast aside their inhibitions and exert themselves to fly as fast as possible.

After Huangfu Song swallowed his last elixir, they finally completed the full mapping of the grand formation.

"A stroke of genius, a stroke of genius."

Huangfu Song stared at the image projected on the light screen from the formation-breaking jade disks, murmuring to himself in involuntary awe.

Even Li Fan couldn't help but be captivated by the exquisite intricacy of this unknown grand formation.

Normally, with Huangfu Song's profound understanding of formations, he wouldn't need to see the entire formation to deduce its basic purpose or even extrapolate its remaining parts.

But...

In the face of this unparalleled grand formation, constructed using tens of billions of frozen cultivators as its components, all their accumulated knowledge and experience proved useless.

Before they saw the complete formation diagram, this grand formation was like a divine dragon hidden deep within the mountains, obscured by swirling mist. Only glimpses of its scales or claws were visible, and without prior knowledge of the "dragon's" existence, it would have been impossible to discern what they were truly seeing.

It wasn't until the final part of the formation appeared before their eyes.

The ultimate sequence of the formation instantly connected everything they had seen before. It was like dotting the eyes on a painted dragon, bringing the grand formation to life and making it complete.

This formation was incredibly brilliant, truly beyond description.

It seemed to encompass the wonders of heaven and earth, capable of reversing the principles of life and death.

Li Fan and Huangfu Song stood entranced for a long time before the sketched diagram of the formation, unable to speak.

Could they escape from the formation's core?

They didn't know.