592: Chapter 592 You must take me with you!

After listening, Luo Feng froze, his hand holding the wine jar suspended in mid-air.

He stared blankly at Su Ming for a long while, his gaze filled with an indescribable, complex emotion.

After a long while, he set down the wine jar, sighed with a touch of nostalgia, and said with deep emotion: "Back then, you were just a little Menial Worker, head bowed while keeping accounts, at the beck and call of everyone. The first time I went to the Repair Hall to stir up trouble, you even had to carefully try to fool me with something called 'total life cycle cost.' In the blink of an eye..."

Luo Feng shook his head, his eyes full of amazement: "In the blink of an eye, not only have you formed your Golden Core, but you even have the direct subordinate organization of Formation Peak in your grasp. Revered Master is clearly determined to groom you as the next Peak Revered Master."

Su Ming's expression remained calm; he felt no pride at this praise, merely taking a sip of wine in return: "It is all due to Revered Master's favor, and the hard work of my fellow disciples. Senior Brother's talent in the Dao of Formations is the true pillar of this Cloud Hidden Sect."

Luo Feng was flattered, feeling a bit giddy, and waved his hand: "Bah, what's the use of good talent? I'm still stuck here breaking rocks."

After three rounds of drinks, the atmosphere became increasingly harmonious.

Luo Feng wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, his gaze landing on Su Ming as he keenly sensed a slight stagnation in Su Ming's aura.

"Your aura is a bit off today, kid." Luo Feng frowned slightly.

He deliberately sighed long and hard, set down the wine jar, and allowed an appropriately weary and troubled expression to appear on his face.

"Nothing can escape Senior Brother's eyes." Su Ming admitted with a bitter smile, "I have indeed encountered a Bottleneck recently. I've been stuck at the seven hundred and fifty basic Array Patterns mark for two whole months, unable to make any progress."

After listening, Luo Feng did not reply immediately.

Luo Feng extended a finger stained with black ash and began to draw rapidly on the bluestone slab.

"Seven hundred and fifty Array Patterns... You primarily cultivate the Water element, with a hidden Wood Spiritual Root. Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire; upon reaching the seven hundred and fiftieth node, you will inevitably encounter the critical limit where the Five Elements clash."

Luo Feng's fingertip carved several deep white marks into the stone, and several complex diagrams of Qi flow formed instantly.

"Look here." Luo Feng pointed to one of the intersection points, speaking rapidly, "Are you trying to forcibly use a Suppression Character here to suppress the volatility of Wood generating Fire?"

Su Ming glanced at it, his heart jolting violently; even his breathing faltered for a beat.

He had really only mentioned the Bottleneck in passing, without even describing the specific sticking point he had deduced, yet Luo Feng had been able to draw the exact deadlock he had failed at tens of thousands of times out of thin air!

"Although this kid isn't very bright and is always blowing things up, his eye for the Dao of Formations is truly sharp."

Inside the xuantian ring, Lin Yu's voice echoed faintly in Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness. This time, there was no mockery in Lin Yu's tone, but rather a rare hint of amazement, and the luster of his soul body brightened slightly, "He saw through the essence of the rule conflict at a single glance."

Su Ming took a deep breath, composed himself, and looked at the lines Luo Feng had drawn on the ground, nodding solemnly: "Senior Brother's Wisdom Eye is like a torch. I am indeed stuck here; no matter how I adjust it, it causes a Qi explosion at this node."

Luo Feng clapped the dust off his hands and pondered for a moment.

"Working behind closed doors is a great taboo for us Formation Cultivators." Luo Feng looked at Su Ming, his tone rare in its seriousness, "Your problem now is not that you aren't working hard enough, but that your thinking is too rigid. You are learning the standardized Formations passed down by the Cloud Hidden Sect over these past few millennia. This system is very stable, but once you reach a high level, it becomes a shackle. The principles of ancient Formations are completely different from today's standardization; they focused more on momentum rather than absolute form."

Luo Feng slapped his thigh and suggested: "You need to jump out of this circle. Perhaps go to some ancient Secret Realms, look at those primitive Array Patterns that haven't been modified by later generations, and you might find the inspiration to break the deadlock."

Upon hearing this, Su Ming cheered inwardly.

The prey had already followed the path he laid out and walked right into the trap.

Seeing that the topic had been led exactly in the direction he anticipated, Su Ming went with the flow, deliberately lowering his voice, his gaze revealing a hint of hesitation and inquiry.

"Ancient Secret Realms..." Su Ming seemed to be talking to himself, then he looked up at Luo Feng, "Senior Brother, how much do you know about the history of the Great Yan Dynasty?"

"The Great Yan Dynasty?" Luo Feng was taken aback, "That mad, mortal Dynasty that was wiped out by our Ancestral Master a thousand years ago?"

Su Ming nodded, his voice becoming even softer, as if afraid of disturbing something: "I was browsing through ancient texts and found a ruin of the Great Yan Dynasty. Rumor has it that it was the final national destiny Formation treasury of Great Yan, sealing away all the essence of the Dao of Formations from the previous Dynasty."

Su Ming paused, precisely casting out his bait.

"That place is called the Lantai Secret Garden."

Upon hearing the four words "Lantai Secret Garden," Luo Feng's ears instantly perked up, like a hound smelling blood.

"National destiny Formation treasury? This name sounds exciting!" Luo Feng's eyes lit up, and he grabbed Su Ming by the arm.

Su Ming knew the timing was just right and began to vividly describe the mysteries of the ruins to him. But he was smart; he only spoke about what Luo Feng was interested in, and as for the dangerous parts, he threw them out with a "highly challenging" packaging.

"According to ancient records, deep within the ruins, there is a ten-zhang-high gray-blue stone door, covered in ancient seal characters that the current Cultivation World simply cannot decipher." As Su Ming spoke, he casually traced a few incomplete runes in the air that he had seen in the ancient chapter of 'three thousand questions on the dao of formations', "What's even more terrifying is that its core area is set with a Nine-Lock Interlocking Self-Destruct Formation."

Su Ming looked at Luo Feng, his tone filled with a hint of reverence: "That Nine-Lock Interlocking, it is said that if you misinterpret even one Array Pattern, it will instantly detonate the entire ley line. For a thousand years, no one has dared to touch it easily."

Every word, every rise and fall of tone in these sentences, had been precisely calculated by Su Ming in his Sea of Consciousness. He knew Luo Feng's weakness too well.

To a Formation fanatic, "ancient seal characters that cannot be deciphered" and a "Nine-Lock Interlocking that even the Nascent Soul Stage is helpless against" were even more tempting than a peerless beauty standing naked in front of him!

As expected, Luo Feng's eyes shone as he listened, and his breathing became rapid. The somewhat listless demeanor he had previously displayed due to being grounded was swept away, and he seemed as if he had been injected with a shot of adrenaline.

"Nine-Lock Interlocking? Detonate ley lines? Ancient seal characters!"

Luo Feng clutched Su Ming's sleeve tightly, so excited that his spittle was almost flying onto Su Ming's face. He shouted loudly: "Junior Martial Brother! How could you hide such a good place from me! This kind of high-difficulty high-level Formation is practically tailor-made for me! Take me with you! You must take me! I love studying these deadly things the most!"