Demon Immortal

Chapter 256 Three Prisons Sacrificial Formation

The assembled Nascent Soul cultivators exchanged looks. They didn't think that Huang Muyang would be this ignorant of the problem. They could only conclude that Huang Muyang was establishing his authority in a roundabout way.

"Reporting to Your Eminence," a Golden Core cultivator who escaped earlier from the forest spoke first. "The entire forest before us is covered in a formation that even Nascent Soul experts couldn't break. There are several talented cultivators from various sects trapped inside. Some of their soul lamps had already broken. We request your help in breaking the formation and opening up the forest again, so we can go inside and take a look."

"Hmmm, I see," Huang Muyang fondled his long beard and looked ahead at the forest. "Was this formation present in this forest before this? I have never heard of such a powerful formation covering a relatively unknown place like this before."

"No, Your Eminence," the Golden Core cultivator hastened to reply. "The forest was just a barren land without any resources before a few months. But recently, several valuable herbs were found and this caused a struggle between cultivators to ensue. There were even treasures that could help people break into the Nascent Soul realm found."

"Truly! How fascinating!?"

"The Grand Elder of the Little Heaven Sect has obtained the treasure and is currently breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm using that. After that, all the Golden Core experts vacated from the region allowing those of lower cultivation to vie for other treasures. But, soon their soul lamps started breaking. When we came to check, we were stymied by this formation."

"I see, how intriguing that a wasteland suddenly produces rare treasures! Heh, let's see what kind of formation is it first," Huang Muyang spoke nonchalantly and began waving his hands like a showman.

Spreading out his divine sense, Huang Muyang engulfed the entire forest within it. His divine sense could extend up to several thousand miles. Engulfing a small forest like the Greenwood Forest was nothing to him.

After a few moments, Huang Muyang's nonchalant expression became serious. His eyes narrowed and he concentrated further. Even his demeanor changed entirely and it could be seen that he was really serious in this endeavor now.

After probing the forest with his divine sense for fifteen minutes, Huang Muyang retracted his divine sense with a frown on his face. He was no longer complacent. He looked ahead at the forest with an intense expression.

"From when did these valuable herbs start appearing here?" Huang Muyang demanded suddenly causing everyone to gulp.

At this moment, Huang Muyang's cultivation was blaring out from his body. The coercion and pressure he exuded made everyone sweat. Even the Nascent Soul elders from various first-rate sects were not doing well.

"Reporting to your eminence," the Golden Core cultivator spoke with difficulty. "Two months ago, low-level cultivators of the Little Heaven sect came upon a mysterious treasure being birthed in the interior regions of the forest. The Little Heaven Sect immediately blockaded the area and controlled entry into it. However, the news got leaked leading to the current situation."

"As time passed, more and more valuable herbs started appearing in the surrounding regions. This caused the cultivators inside the region to engage in competition for these herbs. Initially, no deaths were reported. However, ever since the mysterious treasure was taken away, there have been multiple deaths inside the forest. No one knows the current situation inside either."

"Fools, did none of you wonder why there wasn't even a single wild beast or a demonic beast present in the region while you roamed in there? How could there be such a treasure without necessary nourishment?" Huang Muyang snorted angrily.

"How can there be treasures growing up randomly? There must be nourishment for them to mature. Did you all wonder where the nourishment was coming from? I guess, you all saw treasures and forgot about questioning their origin, huh?"

The assembled cultivators looked troubled hearing Huang Muyang's question. They looked at each other in dismay and shook their heads.

"One of my sect envoys reported some peculiarity in the region. He was one of the first to enter the forest after the Little Heaven sect blockaded the region. He came out earlier than everyone hunting down a disciple from Heavenly Demon Sect. He noticed that there was something wrong about the forest and reported to us that his senses and mind were being influenced inside there," the Nascent Soul elder from Iron Mountain Sect reported in a hurry.

"Moreover, while vying for the treasure, there was also a guardian beast near the treasure. We battled with it before the First Grand Elder of the Little Heaven Sect obtained the treasure," the Golden Core cultivator replied in haste as well.

"Hmmph," Huang Muyang snorted. "Where is that envoy of yours?"

"He is still hunting that disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect. If I am right, then he must have headed to the vicinity of the Dark Star City. That disciple of the Heavenly Demon Sect had recently resurfaced in that area," the Iron Mountain Sect Elder spoke up seeing Huang Muyang's attention was on him.

"Hmmph, recall him back now. I need to talk to him about what he felt differently," Huang Muyang said with a frown before turning to look at the Golden Core cultivator. "Did you come across any other beasts inside the forest while you were inside it?"

"No, Your Eminence!"

Huang Muyang didn't seem pleased by that information. He looked ahead at the forest and started muttering to himself. This caused a disturbance in the hearts of everyone present.

Meanwhile, the Iron Mountain Sect elder immediately sent a message to Envoy Ming ordering him to come back. However, Envoy Ming didn't reply immediately. The reply came after some minutes with the news about Duncan and his deeds.

Hearing this, the Iron Mountain Sect elder's face became ugly. The only solace he could find in that news was that there weren't any Iron Mountain Sect young talents who had participated in the hunt.

Looking around, he shot a pitying look at the other Nascent Soul elders in the vicinity. Seeing his look, the hearts of the Nascent Soul elders began to beat faster. They didn't know what happened yet, but the look on their compatriot's face was part gloating and part pitying. This made their hearts beat wildly.

Just then, Huang Muyang came out of his contemplation and looked at the Iron Mountain Sect elder.

"What happened? Why is your face looking like that?"

The Iron Mountain Sect elder didn't dare to hide anything. He reported the information he had obtained from Envoy Ming about the hunt and Duncan's response to the hunt. He even spoke about the vision that Envoy Ming saw while Duncan broke through, causing commotion to spread amongst the assembled people.

Never have they heard about anything like that. Even Huang Muyang's eyebrows rose. When the Iron Mountain Sect elder narrated Envoy Ming's defeat at the hands of Duncan, everyone present was both surprised and startled.

"Should I order him to come back, Your Eminence? He is currently waiting along with some cultivators from the Wei Kingdom for the representatives of other sects to join them. They plan on hunting this criminal down so that he can't cause any more chaos in the world," the Iron Mountain Sect elder asked respectfully.

"No need," Huang Muyang waved his hands disdainfully. "Let him put that little demon to death first. The events here are far above his cultivation level. He would not be of much help here."

Huang Muyang turned to look at the forest in front of him.

"The formation that encompasses this forest is called the Three Prisons Sacrificial Formation. It is a very ancient formation that even I do not understand much. This formation was used in the early days by demonic sects to choose disciples and conduct sect competitions. But, after the incredible amount of death rate that resulted from it, the demonic sects discontinued it."

"As you can all guess from the name, this formation is both an entrapment formation and sacrificial formation. The formation has three stages called prisons. Each stage of the formation is activated using the accumulated sacrifice in the previous stage."

"With each sacrifice, the strength of the formation is boosted. As the sacrifices accumulate, the upper stages of the entrapment formation will be unleashed opening the next level of the prison. This red mist that is enveloping the forest right now is an indication of the formation having entered its final stage."

"In every stage, a cultivator who is trapped in it will have his will eroded and judgment compromised constantly. The degree of the erosion their mind faces will increase in respect to the stages."

"They will be easier to provoke and fights are bound to happen without much reason as time passes. You said earlier that there were more treasures popping up as time went on. If I have to take a guess, then I think that those treasures were nurtured into maturity using the deaths that occurred in the formation."

"If I am not wrong, the Envoy who escaped earlier would have only felt the effects of the second stage of the prison. Because, as far as I know, unless the controller of the formation allows, no one can escape from the formation after it reaches the third stage…"

"My, my, my! I didn't expect someone to still have so much knowledge regarding the Three Prisons Sacrificial Formation in this day and age. Your knowledge of this ancient formation impresses me very much," a rude voice suddenly sounded interrupting Huang Muyang's impromptu lecture on the formation.

As everyone looked over, a lone figure emerged from the forest that was covered in the formation with a broad smile on his face. Looking at the person who emerged from the formation, everyone's face turned grim.

"Liang Tianye! Is this your handiwork!!!?"

*****

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