In the Spiritual Mirror Space, Ling Tian stayed in his study. On the large desk lay a piece of paper. Ling Tian held a brush and, relying on his memory, drew out the shapes of the ditches within Hidden Dragon Valley that Hai Dongqing had seen from the sky.
Soon, a vast and complex formation appeared before Ling Tian.
Ling Tian fell into silence, his mind operating at high speed, like a high-speed computer performing calculations.
Before long, Ling Tian understood what this massive and intricate formation was for! It was a colossal spirit gathering formation.
Based on the formation's arrangement, scale, and materials used, Ling Tian deduced that this spirit gathering formation's power was considerable. Once operational, it would concentrate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius of several hundred kilometers to this location.
Ling Tian calculated that after its construction and activation, the spiritual energy concentration within the formation would reach ten times that of the outside world!
This meant that once the spirit gathering formation was built, its effect in accumulating spiritual energy would even surpass that of the spirit gathering formation in Ling Tian's own home!
However, this also presented a problem. With such a large amount of spiritual energy gathering here, even if all hundreds of members of the Long family practiced cultivation, they would only be able to absorb and utilize a tiny fraction of it.
The convergence of such a quantity of spiritual energy would create strong winds of level six or higher within the formation, which could even develop into tornadoes!
Fortunately, the designer of this spirit gathering formation was a genius. They devised a clever solution: dozens of spiral arms were designed around the perimeter of the spirit gathering formation.
The spiritual energy drawn here would be dispersed into these spiral arms, thus preventing the formation of intense convection and strong winds.
Furthermore, within the spirit gathering formation, over a thousand large spirit storage formations were designed. Excess spiritual energy would be stored in these jade blocks, to be used for cultivation or artifact forging.
Ling Tian could sense that the designer of this spirit gathering formation possessed attainments in formations that were not inferior to his own when he first descended the mountain! It seemed the Long family truly had hidden talents.
Looking at the formation before him, Ling Tian suddenly chuckled, a flash of inspiration striking his mind.
He quickly took out his pen and began sketching and writing on the formation drawn on the paper.
After a full day of research, Ling Tian put away a piece of paper, tucked it into his怀, and then exited the Spiritual Mirror Space.
Ling Tian released Hai Dongqing. The bird circled in the sky for a while before flying off in a certain direction. A few minutes later, Ling Tian landed on the ground and found his three masters.
At that moment, the three masters were digging a hole, with two corpses beside them. Ling Tian's sudden appearance startled all three of them.
"Masters, what happened?"
"Uh... Amitabha, these individuals were not cooperative, so this humble monk could only help them transcend..."
Ling Tian's mind was filled with black lines. This was purely physical transcendence. Upon inquiry, he learned that his three masters had been ambushing disciples of the Long family emerging from Hidden Dragon Valley.
However, their first attempt had gone awry. The Long family disciples they ambushed resisted fiercely, resulting in them being killed by a palm strike from his second master, Monk Jie Nu.
Initially, they had only intended to cripple these people's martial arts. But now, having taken their lives, it was a blood feud.
In the following days, over a dozen Long family disciples had been killed by these three. Some were out gathering herbs, some were preparing to go on errands, and there was even a pair of illicit lovers caught in the act.
After being killed, these individuals were naturally buried in holes to destroy the evidence. Today, Ling Tian had stumbled upon them in the act.
"Ling Tian, why are you here?" asked the third master, Gong Hemin.
"Masters, I am here because I have made a significant discovery!"
Ling Tian then took out several sheets of paper and presented his research findings from the past few days to his masters.
Upon seeing them, the elders immediately frowned. If, as Ling Tian claimed, this spirit gathering formation could increase the spiritual energy concentration in the area tenfold, then the Long family might very well have a large number of experts break through in a short period, leading to a surge in their strength.
As time passed, the Long family's power would continue to grow, and the difficulty of seeking revenge would increase exponentially.
"Ling Tian, what do you plan to do?" asked Master Dao Yuan.
"Heh heh, Masters, you should know that the Long family invested an astronomical amount of resources to create such a massive formation!"
"Indeed. To achieve the design's intended effect, they require a large quantity of large jade stones, and of very high purity and quality!
It's likely that China's entire annual jade output wouldn't be enough to meet the formation's needs. They probably accumulated resources for over ten or even decades to construct this formation!" said Master Dao Yuan.
Master Dao Yuan was also a master of formations. Ling Tian knew that his master's research in formations was definitely at a grandmaster level. He had taught Ling Tian many formations when he was younger.
He immediately identified the formation's weak point and pointed it out.
"Master is right. What do you think, if I were to destroy this formation that the Long family has invested so much effort into over the years..."
Master Dao Yuan's eyes lit up. What Ling Tian was suggesting was incredibly appealing.
"Ling Tian, your idea is good, but the security in Hidden Dragon Valley is extremely tight. Even if you destroy a localized part of the formation, they will likely be able to repair it quickly."
Ling Tian chuckled, "Masters, since I am going to destroy this formation, I must do so thoroughly and completely!
Besides, who says we have to enter Hidden Dragon Valley to destroy this formation? Look, we can do this..."
As he spoke, Ling Tian took out another piece of paper and added some lines to the original formation.
Master Dao Yuan stepped forward to examine it and fell into thought. After a while, he gasped in astonishment.
Ling Tian's idea was incredibly ingenious, but also quite malicious. If his plan were executed, the entire spirit gathering formation would be reduced to dust, and the Long family's efforts over the years would likely be in vain!
"Ling Tian, your idea is excellent, but implementing it will require a large quantity of materials. Preparing and transporting these materials here stealthily will not be an easy task..."
Master Dao Yuan's concerns were valid. This place was remote and inconvenient for transportation. To achieve the effect Ling Tian described, at least a hundred jade pendants, each the size of a football, would be needed. Transporting these items would be no small undertaking!