Before long, Mei Yanbai and his companions reached the valley.

“Everyone, please stop for a moment.” 

When they were still one thousand feet from the lotus pond, Mei Yanbai stopped in his tracks. He took a bronze, octagonal formation disk out of his sleeves. It was covered in runes, with a crouching toad carved at its center. 

Mei Yanbai’s fingers tapped the toad’s head.

Ksssh!

The toad’s mouth suddenly opened, and it breathed out misty blue light, illuminating the entire stretch of heaven and earth.

The scenery before them immediately changed. They now saw a curtain of light—a formation—floating a hundred feet away. It blotted out the sun and enveloped the lotus pond on all sides.

Runes circulated on its surface, and it glittered with radiant light.

“This…” The others were stunned.

Earlier, they’d used their divine senses to sense the area, but they didn’t discover that there was a formation covering the entire area.

“This formation has four functions: hiding one’s presence, invisibility, killing, and trapping. It’s comprised of sixty-four pieces spread across this area. Even someone like me would be caught off guard if I carelessly barged in,” said Mei Yanbai, the words just flowing out of him. “This...