"Puppet Venerable, your formation is completely useless."
The Stone Hammer Monster Clan's patriarch let out a roar, for he understood exactly what price his clansmen were paying to fuel this formation.
Yet despite the formation's terrifying might that could shake heaven and earth and make ghosts weep— When it struck the defensive grand formation covering the Ancestral Martial Heavenly River, it still could not break through.
"What's the rush? Everything is under control."
The Puppet Venerable's hand seals shifted, and the colossal pillar of formation light blasting outward from within the great formation began to change.
While the formation's power remained constant, countless barrier runes surged forth.
Those barrier runes were densely packed, like a swarm of locusts. Once they rode the barrier beam down onto the defensive formation, they began crawling across its surface.
And their crawling speed was extraordinary—far beyond what any cultivator could match, far exceeding even the speed of ancient teleportation formations.
Under that terrifying speed, the barrier runes soon blanketed the entire defensive formation.
"Activate."
At the Puppet Venerable's soft command, those barrier runes began emitting an eerie glow.
The eerie glow pierced through the defensive grand formation, projecting onto every world within the Ancestral Martial Heavenly River.
Every world that had been radiating its own light began to shift under the eerie glow's influence.
Soon, the radiance of every celestial body had dimmed.
But one world remained completely unaffected by the formation, still blazing brilliantly.
"There, you see? It's been revealed."
The Puppet Venerable let out a smug laugh.
He then turned to the six clan patriarchs.
"That is the Ancestral Martial Heavenly River's defensive grand formation's primary formation eye."
"And that primary formation eye can only be activated by juniors."
"My formation can open a channel to teleport the juniors inside."
"Is there any risk?" the Pavilion Master of the Seven Realms Celestial Pavilion asked.
"Some risk, but nothing major. Take my specially crafted resistance potion and you'll be fine."
As he spoke, the Puppet Venerable swept his sleeve, and countless vials flew into the hands of the six ancient clan patriarchs.
Each patriarch casually opened a vial to inspect it.
But in the end, they all looked to the Pavilion Master of the Seven Realms Celestial Pavilion.
He was the only Heavenly Dragon Spirit World Master among those present.
"It does indeed have a very strong protective effect," the Pavilion Master said.
"My lords, you can't catch a wolf without putting the child at risk."
"Besides, do you have so little faith in your juniors?" the Puppet Venerable urged.
Hearing this, the Pavilion Master swept his sleeve, and the vial in his hand flew to the young generation of the Seven Realms Celestial Pavilion.
The Pavilion's juniors each took a vial and drained it in one gulp, then stepped into the eighth formation eye that the great formation had left open.
Among them was the Pavilion Master's own grandson, Zhao Gongyi.
Seeing this, the other five ancient clan patriarchs similarly had their juniors drink the potion before stepping into the eighth formation eye.
Once all the juniors had entered— The Puppet Venerable produced a second banner. His hand seals shifted, the banner swelled in size, and he planted it at his feet.
Then his hand seals shifted once more.
Hummm— In the starry void, a second barrier gate opened.
This gate was far, far smaller than the first.
Standing beside the first great barrier gate, it appeared minuscule in comparison.
Yet from this gate shot a beam of black light.
Compared to the resplendent golden barrier pillar, this beam of black light also seemed incredibly small.
If the barrier pillar from the first gate was comparable to the leg of a fully grown elephant, then the beam from the second gate was no thicker than a single thread.
But this black beam of light, no matter how you looked at it, was far inferior to the first barrier pillar— And yet it pierced straight through the defensive grand formation, finally landing upon that single world whose radiance had not changed.
"Not good."
At that moment, the Crouching Dragon Martial Sect Master, who had been pouring all his strength into powering the formation, turned deathly pale.