114: Chapter 114 Breaking the Restriction

Li Changqing raised his eyes and looked around, feeling secretly shocked. The great hall was extremely vast, spanning over a hundred zhang in circumference, with a vaulted ceiling reaching twenty or thirty zhang high; it was as if the entire heart of the mountain had been hollowed out to create it.

The Spiritual Qi here was dense and concentrated, surging ceaselessly. Its purity and density far exceeded that of an ordinary second-tier Spiritual Vein.

On the stone wall in the very center of the great hall, four ancient stone doors stood in a neat row, identical in shape, size, and markings. One of the doors was wide open, clearly having been explored by predecessors long ago.

On the surface of the remaining three closed stone doors, faint spiritual light flowed from time to time, layered and overlapping. It was obvious that a complete and formidable Formation Restriction had been placed upon the stone doors.

Li Changqing focused his gaze on the Restriction lingering on the stone doors, carefully sensing the majestic pressure emanating from it, and could not help but marvel inwardly.

A third-tier Restriction personally set up by a Golden Core Cultivator was profound and subtle, with a majestic Aura, incomparable to any second-tier Formation that a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could carve. The two were as different as clouds and mud, not even on the same level.

This Formation should have had heaven-shaking power, but after hundreds of years of the exhaustion of the earth's veins and the loss of spiritual power, it no longer possessed its Peak might. Most of the Formation patterns were already dead and collapsed, and the few remaining main Formation patterns that still retained killing intent had also been destroyed by several Foundation Establishment Cultivators who broke in a few years ago.

Yet, even with only the residual killing intent, it had killed four of the five Foundation Establishment Cultivators who had broken into the Immortal Cave for the first time, leaving only one to escape severely injured.

Now, the killing Formation within the Immortal Cave had been removed, leaving only the final defensive Restriction.

With a thought, Li Changqing unleashed spiritual power from his fingertips, condensing a scorching fireball that shot precisely towards the central stone door. A light sound of "peng" echoed through the great hall.

The moment the scorching fireball touched the stone door, it only sparked a tiny speck of fire the size of a grain of rice before being instantly swallowed and dissolved by a layer of azure spiritual light that suddenly appeared on the stone door.

Following that, silver light flowed across the entire stone wall, and intricate spiritual light patterns rapidly traced along the veins of the stone wall for a circle before instantly falling silent and returning to normal.

Witnessing this magical scene, Li Changqing was deeply shaken.

One must know that the stone wall in front of him was dozens of zhang wide. To be able to set up a complete Restriction on such a huge stone wall, the massive amount of spiritual power consumed during the setup alone was immeasurable. Moreover, this Restriction had endured for who knows how many years, yet its spiritual light had not faded, and its power still remained.

To be able to forge such an eternal and formidable Formation Restriction was enough to prove that the former owner of this Immortal Cave had extremely profound attainments in Formations, and was definitely a top-tier third-tier Formation Master far exceeding ordinary third-tier Formation Masters.

Having witnessed the terrifying power of the Restriction, Li Changqing was certain that behind these three stone doors, protected by such an effort-intensive and deep-foundation defensive Restriction, there must be rare treasures of extremely high value hidden.

With this thought settled, Li Changqing did not hesitate any longer. He waved his hand to summon the Flowing Cloud Sword, its blade shining with spiritual light, and charged it straight at the Restriction on the leftmost stone door.

Every time the sharp spiritual sword struck the Restriction light screen, a dull boom would ring out, and a thick layer of azure light wall would immediately condense on the surface of the stone door, steadily repelling the Flowing Cloud Sword.

The entire light wall remained intact, with only layers of fluorescent ripples spreading outwards, calming down completely after a moment.

Facing this scene, Li Changqing's expression was calm, and he was not at all surprised.

A third-tier Restriction was inherently extremely sturdy with astonishing defensive power; this performance was already within his expectations.

His only concern was how much time this kind of grinding, forceful attack would require to completely exhaust the Restriction's Origin of spiritual power and break it.

For the sake of caution, Li Changqing raised his hand and tapped his Spirit Beast bag at his waist. A three-foot-long Black Armor Turtle soared out, its body instantly stretching and expanding. Its thick, layered tortoise shell steadily blocked in front of him, protecting his entire body airtight.

In mid-air, the Flying Purple Nether Scorpion circled and roamed, its Divine Sense fully spread out, staring closely at all sides of the great hall, constantly guarding against sudden danger.

Before stepping into this hidden Immortal Cave, he had thought it over repeatedly, but ultimately did not inform his Family members about this matter.

He knew that if he asked Eighth Uncle Clan Leader Li Huaming, who was a second-tier Formation Master, to help with an array-breaking bead, the path to breaking the Formation would surely be twice the result with half the effort, saving time and energy.

But he was afraid that if there were overly rare treasures here.

The Cultivation World was the most cold and cruel. Before the struggle for the Dao, familial bonds were fragile. For the sake of Opportunity and treasures, or the path of cultivation, examples of siblings turning against each other and close relatives killing one another were everywhere.

He would rather spend his own time and toil to break the Formation than risk testing human nature.

One should not have the intention to harm others, but one must have the heart to guard against them. In traversing the path of cultivation, the only person one could fully trust and entrust one's life to was always oneself.

Li Changqing sat cross-legged on the bluestone floor of the great hall, his back against the heavy defense of the Black Armor Turtle. He focused his mind and calmed his Qi, fully activating the Flowing Cloud Sword to continuously and fiercely attack the stone door's Restriction.

In the deep, dark, giant cavern hall, only the dull, incessant "peng-peng" booms of the spiritual sword striking the Restriction remained, with streaks of azure spiritual light flickering and dimming repeatedly.

After a full six hours, Li Changqing temporarily withdrew his sword and stopped. He took out a few Spirit Stones to hold in his palms, closed his eyes to absorb Spiritual Qi, and slowly replenished the spiritual power he had consumed.

At this moment, he still had more than half of his spiritual power remaining, but in cultivation and treasure hunting adventures, caution was paramount. He would never wait until his spiritual power was exhausted before hastily adjusting his breath to recover.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Day after day of continuous assault finally caused the Restriction on the leftmost stone door to show clear signs of loosening.

The originally lively and ethereal fluorescent ripples, after every strike of the spiritual sword, had turned into thick and solid bands of light, layer upon layer covering the light screen.

Such an anomaly was the perfect sign that the Restriction's spiritual power was depleted and the barrier was on the verge of shattering.

Seeing this scene, a flash of joy crossed Li Changqing's eyes. His mind became more focused, and his attacks became increasingly fierce, leaving no strength behind.

Another day passed quietly...

Accompanied by three majestic and heavy explosions that shook the cavern, the ancient Restriction that had perched on the stone door for hundreds of years suddenly burst with intense azure light. The brilliant spiritual light shot into the sky, dazzling and blinding, making it impossible to look directly at.

The instant the strange noise sounded, Li Changqing made a decisive move, his body rapidly retreating backward while commanding the Black Armor Turtle to block in front of him. His whole body was protected by spiritual light, and he tightly gripped a second-tier defensive Talisman in his palm, ready to deploy it to defend against enemies at any moment.

On the Restriction light screen, countless intricate spiritual light patterns crazily darted and exploded, and the entire light wall continuously emitted the crisp, shattering sound of "pipa".

Within a few short breaths, the sturdy azure Restriction light screen collapsed with a bang and completely dissipated, and the stone wall returned to its original, simple stone color.

Seeing this, Li Changqing was overjoyed. After several days of hard work, he had finally successfully broken the Restriction of the first stone door.

Subsequently, following the same grinding method, he spent nearly ten days, proceeding step by step, and successively broke the Formation Restrictions of the remaining two stone doors.