After Linghu Yueyue, the Liangqiu sisters also entered the grand formation one after another.
The three of them had entered in quick succession, with only small gaps between them, while those who followed took a bit longer.
But in the end, everyone managed to enter the grand formation successfully.
Of the twelve zodiac entrances, only the Rat entrance remained unopened from the inside.
The Rat trial was the easiest of them all, yet after every harder trial had been unlocked, the Rat entrance was still sealed shut — and that left many people scratching their heads.
"Master, what's going on?"
At this point, even Wuming Xingyun and Fairy Fox had grown puzzled, and they all turned their gazes toward Master Liangqiu.
Unlike their confusion, Master Liangqiu was the picture of composure, not a ripple of emotion on his face. They figured he likely knew something about the reason.
"Don't worry about it." Faced with their questioning looks, however, Master Liangqiu said only those four words and nothing more.
That left Liangqiu Chengfeng and the others even more bewildered, but they had no choice but to speculate among themselves.
By now, the ascent had already begun. Everyone was using their own methods to break through the rows of formation barriers blocking the path up the mountain.
Among them, the fastest at breaking formations were Linghu Yueyue and the Liangqiu sisters.
But even the Liangqiu sisters fell a notch below Linghu Yueyue.
Linghu Yueyue not only surpassed the Liangqiu sisters in her mastery of Spirit World techniques — her cultivation was also on an entirely different level from theirs.
If passing the entrance trials relied on Spirit World techniques alone, then once inside the grand formation, it became a dual test of both Spirit World techniques and martial cultivation.
The Liangqiu sisters' weak point was their martial strength.
But for Linghu Yueyue, whether it was a barrier challenge or a combat challenge, neither posed any problem at all.
"That girl Linghu Yueyue really is something else, Master… Why on earth did you never take her as a disciple all those years ago? If you had trained her, she might well be a Snake-patterned Exalted Robe Spirit World Master by now," Fairy Fox remarked.
Back in the day, Master Liangqiu had actually intended to accept Linghu Yueyue as his disciple.
But for reasons that had never been made public, he ultimately did not.
"In the end, it simply wasn't destined," Master Liangqiu said with a faint smile, his expression still perfectly calm. It was clear that he harbored no regret over having missed such a promising talent.
No one noticed, however, that after saying those words, Master Liangqiu had involuntarily glanced toward the Rat entrance.
And after that glance, the corner of his mouth actually curved upward ever so slightly.
By now, the crowd had broken through quite a number of formations, and many of them had already gained certain rewards inside the grand formation.
Because of their weaker cultivation, even though their Spirit World techniques were formidable, the Liangqiu sisters' formation-breaking speed had slowed considerably. Quite a few people had caught up to them.
Since every formation could potentially contain a Barrier Sword, many people had teamed up in order to increase their speed.
Naturally, quite a few also wanted to join forces with the Liangqiu sisters.
But both of the Liangqiu sisters turned them down.
Their refusal left everyone puzzled.
Only the Liangqiu sisters themselves knew the reason — they were waiting for someone, and that person was the one they wanted to team up with above all else.
Rumble—
Suddenly, a deep rumble echoed from the direction of the Rat entrance.
The moment that sound rang out, Tang Zhenghao and the others outside the grand formation, who were powering the palace formation, all turned their attention toward it.