“That moldy scaled-dragon is as sanctimonious as ever!” Beigong Yu ground his teeth at the giant image of Gonggong.

The palace was encircled by three thousand layers of defensive formations, but the Monster God was a mere golden immortal who’d been on Levitating Island for only a year. With the limited foundations she’d laid down, she couldn’t have set up three thousand immortal-grade formations. They were enough to withstand a shot from a weapon of war!

The scaled-dragon was simply looking for an excuse to attack the palace, as the Monster God was a marquis appointed by the North Sea emperor himself.

……

The enormous Gonggong image sprang to action and whipped ahead of the army. Imbued with endless water energy, it slammed ruthlessly into the defensive formations.

Bam!

Water and light exploded, and the fabric of the air trembled. A dozen formations that Lu Yun had set up with the Formation Orb instantly evaporated. Meanwhile, the great formations the monster spirits had laid down outside the palace activated, shaking its architecture.

“Dammit!” The little fox jumped up, her face twisted with dismay. “Lu Yun’s formations are anchored to the air. Someone set up a Great Formation of Isolation to seal off the palace from the outside world. Without anchors, the three thousand formations will quickly shatter!

“If only I can improve my illusions to the point of becoming reality. Then I’d be able to kill people with them....”

“Don’t worry.” Aoxue remained unfazed. “The moment all the formations break is the moment they die.”

Beigong Yu nodded as well. “The scaled-dragon is doomed this time.”

The little fox looked at them dumbly, wondering where their confidence came from. She cast a glance back at the depths of the palace. There, Lu Yun sat cross-legged, protecting the hundred and eight concealing formations, which not only concealed the energy of Qing Han and the Embittered Bamboo, but also guarded them from outside turbulence.

He wouldn’t allow himself to repeat the mistakes of yesteryear and let the battle outside affect Qing Han.

The Scaled-Dragon King struck a pose on top of the manifested Gonggong with his hands behind his back. The Great Formation of Isolation had cut off the palace from the outside world, creating a domino effect of three thousand formations popping like multi-colored bubbles.

“Formations without foundation...” murmured the scaled-dragon. “Although it’s the peak technique of formation dao, there’s a fatal flaw to formations set up with such technique. Once the space around them is isolated, they become as fragile as eggshells.”

Formations needed the support of heavenly energy to function, and ones etched in the air would weaken and break, once cut off from the outside world.

Formations set up with formation stones were different, as every stone was birthed by nature and contained tremendous heavenly energy. Being cut off from the world wouldn’t affect those formations at all, since premier anchoring stones could actively draw on the power of heaven and earth.

Therefore, strongholds and fortresses always opted for formations set up in the traditional method. To many, it was suicide for a fortress to be guarded by formations without foundations.

“Is Lu Yun really that gullible? Or is he just faking it?” Confusion flicked through the scaled-dragon’s face. “Strange, it’s said that he’s one of the greatest formation masters in the world. He shouldn’t have made such an amateur mistake....” Realization suddenly dawned on him.

“Wait, stop! Stop at once!!” he roared in panic, but it was too late.

Bam!

The destruction of the last formation suddenly triggered a tremendous explosion, shifting the environment around them. The palace was gone, replaced by an enormous, dark green swamp with rising mist and dark green arms shooting out to grab the soldiers.

With strangled cries that quickly cut off, they were hauled into the swamp and drowned without leaving even a finger behind. In no time at all, half of the soldiers forming the Gonggong battle formation had been claimed by the unearthly swamp.

“These... are all Poison Fiends!!” Horrified, the scaled-dragon soared into the air and screeched, “You despicable bastard, Lu Yun!! How dare you use poison?!”

Arm after arm shot out of the swamp and bore down on him. With a backhanded blow, the scaled-dragon shattered the arms. He held his breath and closed off all of his pores before searching for a way out.

……

“Aren’t the formations broken? Where are the Scaled-Dragon King and his soldiers?” The immortals watching from a distance gaped at the empty clearing; it didn’t make any sense. “The last of the three thousand formations is broken… did he charge into the palace already?”

“But nothing’s happened to it. According to his style, he would’ve destroyed the palace already.”

Likewise, the Donglin dao immortal goggled at the palace. He’d witnessed the disappearance of the monster king and the monster spirits himself, or he would’ve rushed into the palace for the cosmic constitution. As it was, he quietly retreated with a heavy heart, alerting no one to his presence.

……

“Aren’t those... corpsefish hair?” The little fox widened her round, baby-blue eyes at the swamp, mouth agape in disbelief. Those outside couldn’t see what was really going on, but she could clearly see the poison swamp from within the palace and easily identified the arms reaching out of it.

“Formations without foundation?” Lu Yun opened his eyes and sighed faintly. “I’m skilled in formations, true, but my real expertise lies in tomb raiding, and feng shui is my most fatal weapon.

“The three thousand formations were set up to be broken. Otherwise, how else was I going to create the Ghost Yanking Feet layout? How was I supposed to lure all of you in?”

The formations were merely a front. His real killing ace was the feng shui layout he’d set up with the Poison Fiend!

Every time a formation was broken, its shards melded with the void and changed the environment, until finally, the Ghost Yanking Feet layout could be established. And throughout this process, the monster spirits would be further lured inside.

Once all of the formations were broken and the layout was formed, the scaled-dragon and his monster spirits would’ve also reached the heart of the killing layout.

Originally, Ghost Yanking Feet was only a layout meant to restraint and trap, but after incorporating Lü Guhong’s Poison Fiend and turning it into a terrifying killing layout, Lu Yun had made it even more deadly with the addition of the ten thousand poisons it’d consumed from Qing Han’s body!

Hum.

Countless dark green tentacles merged into a giant arm, shooting through the air and seizing the Scaled-Dragon King by the ankle. With an awful screech, his inner energy was restrained before he could use any combat arts. Dragged into the swamp, he died just like that, without even bone shards to mark his passing!