Chapter 1082: Zhang Xuan Confesses

Having been beaten so badly, Jiang Yuan knew who the culprit was. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he rushed at Feng Xun without hesitation.

Although everyone was in danger, if he were to swallow his pride, a dignified combat master would lose his spirit, and how could he fight then?

"Teacher Zhang, Teacher Wu... help me..."

Jiang Yuan's strength had broken through to the Primordial Spirit realm, so Feng Xun was naturally no match for him. After a furious beating, Feng Xun could no longer bear it and desperately cried for help.

Teacher Wu, Zhang Xuan, and the others turned their backs, pretending not to hear.

"This formation is indeed very difficult to solve!" "Yes, if only there was a way..." "The weather is quite nice today too!" "The sky is clear and bright, and the gentle breeze is pleasant..."

Help you? What a joke. You were so happy when you were hitting someone earlier; people need a chance to vent too, right? Otherwise, wouldn't it be too unfair to Jiang Yuan?

After beating him for a while, Jiang Yuan finally calmed down.

By this point, Feng Xun's head was swollen like he'd had a terrible perm, an utterly miserable sight.

Seeing his appearance, Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered something: "Oh, why didn't I think of that... We can't break the formation, but we can have King Redleaf help us break it..."

"Help us break it?" Everyone was stunned.

"Exactly..." Zhang Xuan smiled faintly, flipping his wrist to reveal a pile of formation flags in his palm. The Level 7 formation flags that President Han and the others had taken out last time still hadn't been used up.

"Go!" A formation diagram appeared in his mind. With a low shout, the formation flags flew straight out.

He now possessed the abilities of a peak 7-star formation master. Although his cultivation wasn't strong enough to set up a peak 7-star formation, creating a regular 7-star formation was effortless. The formation flags landed, circled once, and then he stomped his foot. The formation activated, and immediately a dense white mist enveloped everyone.

"Teacher Zhang means... we hide within the formation and lure King Redleaf here?" President Han's eyes brightened.

Previously, they were trapped inside the formation, with the enemy hidden and themselves exposed, making them vulnerable to attack. But now, enveloped within a 7-star illusion formation, their opponents couldn't see them, allowing them to hide successfully. Even if King Redleaf wanted to do something, it wouldn't be so easy. They had successfully turned an unfavorable situation into an advantageous one.

However, while this seemed simple and devoid of technical complexity, as a peak 7-star formation master, he understood the difficulty involved. Setting up a formation within another formation required knowing the surrounding formation inside and out, including all its potential variations. Otherwise, if the enemy's grand formation changed, altering the surrounding energy field, his own formation would collapse on its own, revealing their position. For anyone else, even thinking of it would be impossible to execute; only a prodigy like Teacher Zhang could accomplish it.

"Precisely..." Zhang Xuan nodded. Hearing his confirmation, everyone understood and their eyes lit up. Only Feng Xun stood to the side, utterly confused: "He saw me get beaten so badly, and this is what he thought of... What does this formation have to do with me getting beaten? How did he come up with that? What kind of thought process is that?"

"With this formation isolating us, everyone no longer needs to worry about being attacked. First, adjust yourselves and recover your strength..." Zhang Xuan instructed.

Since entering this Heavenly Palace, everyone had been under constant attack, leaving them mentally and physically exhausted. "Yes..." The others nodded, each taking out restorative pills and spirit stones, then sat cross-legged on the ground to cultivate.

Seeing that there was no immediate danger, Zhang Xuan also breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to verify an idea, he caught a whiff of fragrant air. Luo Ruoxi came over, her eyes complex as she looked at him. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome!" Knowing she was thanking him for what had just happened, Zhang Xuan smiled. She wasn't King Tianye to begin with; she was just being objective about the situation.

"Thank you for trusting me..." Shaking her head, the girl seemed to recall something, a hint of sadness on her face. However, it quickly vanished as she extended her hand: "If you truly want to break this formation, I might be able to help you!"

"Oh? You know what this formation is?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

"I don't know, but this formation is layered, with one small formation after another, endlessly. If you try to force your way through, you'll fall into an infinite loop and never escape... unless you 'jump out' of the formation!" Luo Ruoxi explained.

"Jump out of the formation? How do we jump out?" Zhang Xuan forced a smile. He understood the principle; if it were possible to simply jump out, they would have found a way long ago. Unfortunately, his Library of Heaven's Path could only analyze the flaws of individual small formations, not the entire grand formation's overall structure and trends.

"We've already passed through several courtyards in a row. Each courtyard is hundreds of meters in diameter... By calculating our position, even if we can't escape the Heavenly Palace entirely, we should definitely be at the edge by now... But in fact, even if we went through dozens more courtyards, we still wouldn't be able to get out. Don't you find that strange?" Luo Ruoxi asked.

"This... Are you saying that this formation very likely contains the secrets of space?" Zhang Xuan's pupils contracted. Based on the distance they had covered, they should have been able to exit, yet they couldn't leave. There was only one possibility... a spatial formation!

"That's right, why didn't I think of it? Ancient Sage Qiuwu himself was skilled in space, which is why he could set up such a powerful seal... Furthermore, we encountered a spatial formation as soon as we arrived... I should have easily thought of this..." Without waiting for an answer, Zhang Xuan slapped his forehead in realization. They had fallen into a spatial formation as soon as they arrived. Under normal circumstances, after entering this formation, he should have quickly considered the spatial aspect... How could he have overlooked it?

"A single word has awakened me from my dream! Thank you so much, Ruoxi, I absolutely adore you..." Filled with excitement, Zhang Xuan jumped up, leaned in and kissed the girl's cheek, then burst out laughing.

"You..." Luo Ruoxi hadn't expected him to do that. It happened so suddenly that she didn't have time to dodge. Her beautiful eyes widened, and her pretty face flushed pink. "This guy seems so honest, how could... how could he..."

"I'm not talking to you anymore..." Turning around, she walked into the formation, found a spot, and sat down cross-legged. Only then did she feel her face burning hot, as if with a fever.

"I..." Overcome with excitement just now, he had acted impulsively and done something inappropriate. Seeing the girl turn and leave, Zhang Xuan finally realized his mistake and felt a bit ashamed. However, he touched his lips... so fragrant. "She won't ignore me forever, will she?" Whether in his past life or this one, he had always been a single man who had never been in love. Experiencing something like this so suddenly made him flustered, a stark contrast to his usual commanding demeanor.

Yet, he knew this was not the time to dwell on such matters. He circulated his mental cultivation for a while to regain his composure, then with a flip of his wrist, the Mother of a Thousand Ants appeared before him.

He knew nothing about spatial formations, but the Mother of a Thousand Ants naturally possessed such abilities. Perhaps it could find a way out and lead them to escape. He explained the current situation to the Mother Ant.

The Mother Ant nodded, then knelt on the ground and began to sniff around. The Mother of a Thousand Ants only naturally possessed the ability to manipulate space; it was an instinct, but it didn't understand what were called 'spatial laws.' This was similar to how bees built hives: perfect hexagonal structures that even architects couldn't replicate... One couldn't say that bees were masters of civil engineering and architectural mechanics, could they?

After sniffing the ground for a while, the Mother of a Thousand Ants stood up. "Master, this is a folded space. I can lead you to find a way out..."

"Excellent..." Seeing that it could indeed find a way, Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed. He quickly turned around and informed Teacher Wu and the others. This time, he used sound transmission.

Soon, everyone gathered. Although their rest period wasn't long, they were all seasoned veterans and had already recovered most of their strength.

"Everyone follow the Mother Ant closely; don't fall behind..." After giving the instruction, Zhang Xuan finally came over to Luo Ruoxi. Seeing that she didn't appear angry, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's go too!" he said, gently taking her hand.

"You..." She struggled for a moment, but finding his grip tightening, the girl couldn't help but frown. *Giving an inch and taking a mile, aren't you getting a bit too carried away?* Just as she was about to pull her hand back and perhaps give him a lecture, she heard the young man's voice slowly begin to speak.

"In the Phantasm Feather Mountain Range, the first time I saw you, quiet and serene, standing before the waterfall, merged with your surroundings like an ink painting, I knew my life had found its purpose!"

"Seeing you besieged by numerous spirit beasts, I couldn't help but intervene. Later, in the cave, when my soul suffered backlash, it was you who saved me. By the time I woke up, you had already left... I didn't know your name or who you were, and I thought I would never see you again in this life. I felt a profound sense of loss, as if I had lost the most important treasure in my life."

"Then, at the Master Teacher Academy, I saw you again. I was so excited I nearly burst, feeling I absolutely had to ask your name and know who you were..."

Recalling his past with this girl, Zhang Xuan's face broke into a sweet smile. Having met so many women since his transmigration—some graceful, some gentle, some dominant, some sweetly dependent, and some with special feelings for him—yet for some reason, only the one before him stirred such feelings of excitement and longing in his heart. So, he didn't want to miss this chance!

"We went to the Conferral of Sage Platform together. Although I saw Master Kong's spiritual will there and obtained books he personally left behind... what made me happiest was being able to be with you the entire way. Every day after cultivation, I would see you sitting not far from me, so quiet, so still and picturesque, talking with me, and discussing the flaws and merits of cultivation techniques together... Honestly, I truly wished that time could stop forever then, just like that, always right before my eyes..."

"You told me you wanted to come to this ruin with me. Do you know how happy that made me? Everyone said this place was extremely dangerous, a one-way trip, but I felt that being with you, no matter how dangerous, was worth it..."

"It was then that I truly understood my own heart: I genuinely want to be with you, forever, and I wouldn't regret it, even if it meant death!"

Looking at the girl, Zhang Xuan's eyes showed a determined glint. "Ruoxi, please allow me to keep holding your hand like this, and walk forward together, slowly, okay?"