One incense stick's worth of time passed.
Chu Feng immediately shifted his hand seals, and then a colossal surge of formation power poured from his palm, coalescing into an enormous spherical formation that enveloped every last person within.
The formation was like a painting — beautiful beyond compare — spinning gracefully around the group.
But it was no painting. It was composed of intricate barrier runes woven together into a masterwork.
"This formation!!!"
The moment they laid eyes on that formation sphere, every one of the nine Totem Daoists — including Dragon One, Dragon Two, Dragon Three, and Dragon Four — had their eyes blown wide open.
They could tell at a glance: it was a formation blueprint.
The blueprint was mind-bogglingly complex, yet exquisitely refined — refined to a degree that surpassed even their wildest imagination. No wonder they were so astounded.
In their eyes, this formation blueprint was nothing short of a work of art.
A work of art capable of humbling Spirit World Masters of their caliber.
"Young Hero Chu Feng, who — who exactly are you?"
Dragon Four Daoist, who had been questioning Chu Feng only moments ago, now looked at him with completely transformed eyes — filled with a thick mixture of wariness and reverence.
He had been utterly conquered by Chu Feng's formation blueprint.
This had been crafted by Chu Feng for their benefit.
More precisely, it had been designed for Dragon One and Dragon Two, the two peak True Dragon Daoists.
But this was not something a divine-robed Spirit World Master should be able to accomplish. Even he himself couldn't do it.
And yet Chu Feng had pulled it off.
This was the first time he had gained such a direct, visceral sense of Chu Feng's true abilities.
It was power that transcended imagination and defied the normal laws of reality — and yet it was happening right before his eyes.
"Senior, I'm just a nobody," Chu Feng said with a faint smile toward Dragon Four Daoist, then turned to face Dragon One and Dragon Two. "I'd trouble the two seniors to follow my formation blueprint. It should be enough to deal with this tribulation."
"Very well." Dragon One and Dragon Two didn't harbor a shred of doubt and agreed in unison.
Chu Feng's formation blueprint, though immensely complex, was explained with crystalline clarity. Spirit World Masters of their level could read it without difficulty.
And precisely because they could read it so clearly, they had no reservations.
This was not a single, simple formation. It was a composite formation — multiple arrays woven together as one.
The core component was designed to counter the great sealing formation. But it also incorporated a concealment array, an ambush array, a disguise array, and even a teleportation array.
This formation would allow them to stand against the great sealing formation while simultaneously hiding the nine Daoists away — hiding them so deeply that no one could detect them.
The formation would be laid and powered by their hands, yet outsiders would be utterly unable to perceive them.
Furthermore, if anyone drew close, they could launch an ambush. Ambush whom? Naturally, the people from the Seven Worlds Sacred Palace.
And even if they found themselves outmatched, they could escape — because there was a teleportation array built in as well.
Every single one of these sub-formations was extraordinary in its own right. The difficulty of fusing them all together was beyond imagination.
This was something even they could not achieve — something they wouldn't even dare to conceive of.
If, before this moment, someone had told them that he could deploy such a masterful formation, they would have slapped that person across the face and sent them flying.
Deploying a formation of this caliber? Impossible!
But now that impossibility stood right in front of them, and they could see at a single glance that it was viable — completely and utterly viable.
Because this formation was just that refined. So refined that even they could only stand in awe.
"Young Hero Chu Feng, was this formation passed down to you by your master? I wonder — what formation is this? How can it be so extraordinary?"
"Of course, I'm merely admiring the brilliance of it. Young Hero Chu Feng need not answer if he'd rather not," Dragon One Daoist said with a smile, his tone almost deferential. He too sensed that behind Chu Feng, there must be some formidable figure lending support.
"There's nothing I can't tell you, Senior. I just obtained this in the Ancestral Martial Realm Sect. What I obtained was the Heavenly Dao Secret Canon. This formation is the Introductory Canon within that secret text," Chu Feng replied honestly.