After the disappearance of their sect master Sun En, the Divine Firmament Sect had fallen into disunity. Wang Youjun was an elder of the sect, as well as the leader of the Wang clan. He was the one who had the highest hopes of succeeding the position.

However, the Divine Firmament Sect had a few other elders who were also influential. Their factions weren’t inferior to the Wang clan by much. There was no way they would accept Wang Youjun. Thus, they had grouped together and opposed his succession of the position. Together with the fact that the three records used by generations of sect masters had disappeared along with Sun En, without the records, even if someone did become the sect master, their title would be illegitimate.

Wang Youjun had searched for traces of Sun En’s whereabouts everywhere. Sure enough, the heavens wouldn’t abandon the diligent. With the Wang clan’s wealth and the help of the special yellow talisman, he had finally managed to discover Sun En’s whereabouts recently.

Judging from the information he had found while investigating, Sun En had been so powerful that he was just a step away from immortality. As such, he had sought out a secluded island to go through tribulation. In order to prevent himself from being disturbed, or perhaps to defend against the schemes of his enemies, he hadn’t told anyone. He had established all kinds of formations nearby.

Unfortunately, he had still failed the tribulation in the end, and was blasted to death by the lightning on that island. From then on, the world of warriors no longer had a Divine Firmament Sect Master. The three records kept by the successive generations of sect masters had also followed him to that island.

For one thing, the island was hard to find to begin with, as Sun En had established too many restrictions around it. That was why no one had found out a thing about it after so many years. Thus, Wang Youjun had spent several decades gathering information from all sources. He had researched Sun En’s way of doing things, as well as any clues and trails from before he disappeared. Together with the testimonies of the last people Sun En had conversed with before his disappearance, he had then finally managed to piece together a general outlook.

Previously, he had tried to gather all his capable personnel. Unfortunately, all those who were proficient in formations in the Divine Firmament Sect were related to his sworn enemies. He had been worried that news would get out, so he had never made his move. That was, until he met Xie Daoyun. 

He couldn't help but give his son a look. He had always scolded his son for his playboy behavior, but who would have thought that it would be his lust that ended up bringing them fortune?! 

He didn’t let down all of my doting after all.

…

Soon, the large ship entered the mist. The crew could vaguely make out some reefs that were above the water surface. Only when they got closer did they see that other places were all covered in the hazy mist.

“So, there should be no problem if we just follow this reef!” Wang Neishi said excitedly.

“It’s not so simple. This reef seems disordered and messy, but it’s actually arranged in the pattern of a constellation. It’s an extremely profound formation. The slightest carelessness could result in endless regret,” Xie Daoyun said.

Wang Youjun nodded and said, “I must ask Miss Xie to examine it carefully.”

Xie Daoyun carefully observed the layout of the reef in the distance, then asked Wang Youjun some questions about some constellations of this world. After all, different worlds had different star positions. The formation would thus be entirely different as a result. Of course, once she had that information, her knowledge would shine. As long as she knew this world’s astral arrangement, she could naturally slowly figure out a way to get past the formation.

Sure enough, after Wang Youjun replied to some questions, Xie Daoyun was able to come up with a plan. She pointed at the distant reef and said, “Head that way!”

“That is the farthest path, and it seems to be sometimes bright and sometimes dark. I can even see some shipwreck shadows. It looks like a path of death!” Wang Neishi couldn't help but say doubtfully.

“Trust me,” Xie Daoyun said calmly.

Wang Youjun gave her a look. Suddenly, he said with a smile, “We will proceed as Miss Xie says.” In truth, it wasn’t that he really trusted Xie Daoyun, but rather that he trusted her skill in formations. He believed she wouldn’t gamble with her own life.

Sure enough, when the large ship approached the reef, they saw the whirlpools and sunken ships disappear. They were all clearly a smokescreen.

“Miss Xie is skilled as expected,” Wang Youjun said, finally starting to relax.

Wang Neishi pointed to the right and said, “There is the outline of a sunken ship over there. We should move in that direction next, right?”

Xie Daoyun shook her head and replied, “Those aren’t illusions. If we go there, we’ll die. The one who created this formation was full of tricks; it truly is quite an incredible formation.”

Wang Neishi was speechless. He wanted to look cool in front of a beauty, and yet he only had his own face slapped. As such, he didn’t speak anymore for fear that he would only look more stupid.

…

Soon after, under Xie Daoyun’s lead, the ship sometimes moved three steps forward and five steps back. They passed through the reef at all sorts of tricky angles. As time went on, the mist became fainter and fainter.

Eventually, all the mist was behind them. When they saw the outline of an island suddenly appear in the distance, everyone present on the ship cheered. The way they looked at Xie Daoyun was now entirely different. Previously, they had thought of her as nothing more than another woman the second young master  picked up. They hadn’t expected her to actually have such skill.

Xie Daoyun couldn't help but ask Wang Youjun, “Senior Wang, even though that formation is tricky, since you have the special talisman that can search for someone, why didn’t you use it to help you locate him?”

Wang Youjun replied, “I tried it before, but this mist seems to have been designed specially to counteract the talisman. My yellow talisman was never able to reach past it.”

“Huh? Why would this formation be designed to counter talismans?” Xie Daoyun asked in confusion. Could it be that they had anticipated that someone would have a similar talisman?

Wang Youjun chuckled and said, “That was only to be expected. The lady doesn’t need to worry yourself over it.”

Xie Daoyun noticed that he seemed to be hiding something, but she could only put away her curiosity for the time being. She exchanged a look with Yun Jianyue, both of them warning each other to be more careful.

…

The large ship moved toward the shore, and their group descended onto the island. They saw that there were all sorts of strange, craggy stones on the shore, but almost no trees. Strange stone pillars had been erected everywhere. They looked messy, but they actually formed some pattern. The group had no idea whether the arrangement was artificial or not. Arcs of electricity ran across the pillars from time to time. At the very center, a streak of lightning as thick as a tree’s trunk struck. It was practically an apocalyptic scene.

Those present gulped. Was this even a place humans could survive in?

“Clan master, did we come to the wrong place?” someone couldn't help but ask. This really didn’t seem like a place they had any chance of passing through…

“No, this is the place! This is definitely the place!” Wang Youjun replied, his eyes filled with excitement. In the past, Sect Master Sun En had died precisely due to a failed tribulation. All of the lightning was probably left over from back then.

When they saw how certain he was, the others couldn't really say anything either. They could only start thinking of a way to pass through the terrifying lightning.

Wang Youjun looked at Xie Daoyun and asked, “Miss Xie, could it be that this lightning is controlled by some kind of formation? Is there a way to deal with it?”

Xie Daoyun’s gaze shifted toward the forest. She said, “My intuition is telling me that this stone forest and the lightning are deeply connected. But, as for what kind of formation this really is, I can’t figure that out immediately. If these really are a formation created by someone, their skills were clearly far above mine.”

“A stone forest?” Wang Youjun said with a pensive expression. Then, he assigned one of his subordinates to blast apart one of the stone pillars to see if they could destroy the formation’s operation.

That person nodded. With a roar, his entire body surged with power and he unleashed a punch. A massive bear projection appeared around his fist and flew toward the stone pillar.

His powerful fist would normally have been enough to smash the pillars to pieces, but who would have thought that the projection actually wouldn’t do anything?! The others were stunned. This shouldn’t have been possible!

Suddenly, electricity flickered around the pillar. Xie Daoyun quickly cried, “Be careful!”

Unfortunately, at almost the same time, a chain of lightning rushed forth from the pillar and instantly wrapped around that person’s body. A miserable scream tore through the air. That person was naturally strong, since he had been chosen by Wang Youjun to come with them. He wore precious armor as well. And yet, in an instant, all of his armor turned to ashes, and he erupted into flames before collapsing.

The others snapped out of their daze. There was only a charred black object left on the ground, and smoke still emanated from it. The strange smell of scorched flesh wafted through the air. They were all speechless.

Wang Youjun’s eye twitched. In the end, he assigned his other subordinates to investigate around the area to see if they could avoid the lightning. After two hours, however, they returned, having failed to find any paths they could take.

Xie Daoyun had also looked everywhere, but there were many pillars surrounded by lightning. She couldn't figure out the stone forest’s layout, so there was no way to deal with the formation either.

“Since there is no solution, we can just go back and take our time thinking about what to do,” Wang Neishi couldn't help but say. For some reason, he had had a bad feeling the entire day, vaguely sensing something ominous.

“We’ve already come all this way; how can we just leave?!” Wang Youjun replied, looking into the depths of the lightning. He thought to himself that this was definitely one of the three records the Sect Master had, the Record of High Firmament. It was an object that could control lightning.

Those three records were here after all!

When he realized that, he didn’t hesitate anymore. He suddenly reached out, and Wang Neishi’s eight pretty and delicate servants were wrapped within an invisible power and tossed into the lightning ahead.

“Ahhh!” Miserable screams filled the air. Those beauties’ flesh melted away one after another until only scorched skeletons remained.

After that, the nearby lightning was no longer as fierce as before.