Gazing at the large characters above his head, Zhang Ergou fell into deep thought.
"Cultivation should be to follow one's true intentions, to become stronger."
After a long time, Zhang Ergou spoke a sentence. Su Dan Novel Network
Yet the scene before him remained unchanged.
"Am I wrong?" Zhang Ergou wondered.
He had always followed his inner thoughts, cultivating with all his might to become stronger.
His experiences in Xinshan Village for over a decade had taught him that only by becoming powerful could he better protect himself and those he cared about.
When Chunyang Sanren first took him in.
He had also taught him that cultivators must first cultivate their hearts, and that cultivating the heart was the most important.
Zhang Ergou had always understood cultivating the heart as following his own inner desires.
And the desire to become stronger within him had never ceased.
Since entering the Piaomiao Sect, Zhang Ergou had believed he would escape a life of being bullied.
However, the days that followed completely negated his naive thoughts.
His subsequent experiences only solidified Zhang Ergou's conviction to become stronger.
Over these past few years, Zhang Ergou had been able to break through so quickly.
Apart from his extraordinary talent, the desire to become stronger had constantly spurred him on.
But today, after voicing his thoughts.
The scene before his eyes remained unchanged.
This threw Zhang Ergou into a state of confusion.
Had his thoughts for the past few years been wrong? For a moment, Zhang Ergou fell into a daze.
Zhang Ergou stared intently at the few glaring characters in the void.
The frustration in his heart grew deeper.
"Master, you think very highly of this person?"
In the City Lord's mansion, in a luxuriously decorated room, two people were seated.
The one speaking was a young woman in a red dress. Her bright, intelligent eyes were fixed on a large illusionary water screen before her.
On it were scenes of everyone participating in the selection process breaking through the formations.
And the person the young woman was referring to was none other than Zhang Ergou, who had broken through the most formations so far.
Beside the young woman, an elder with white hair and beard sat on a chair.
At this moment, the elder's eyes were closed, as if he were asleep.
"Xian'er, you are still too young. You must know that the world is vast, and there are many extraordinary individuals. Keep watching, and you will see."
The elder did not answer the young woman's question directly, nor did he open his eyes.
"Hmph, being so mysterious."
The young woman let out a cold snort, stuck out her tongue at the elder, and continued to watch the illusionary water screen.
The entire illusionary water screen not only showed all the formations clearly.
But it also clearly depicted how the participants broke through them.
If the sect elders sitting in the void outside knew about such a place, one could only imagine their thoughts.
Seeing that there was no response from the void, Zhang Ergou called out a few more times.
But his calls still elicited no change.
"Is this formation not broken this way?"
When the characters first appeared, Zhang Ergou had naturally assumed that he just needed to speak the answer.
Now, it seemed he had been too simplistic.
However, he could not think of any other way to break the formation.
Currently, before him, there was nothing but four bare stone walls and the void above his head reflecting a few large characters.
Besides that, there was nothing else.
Even if Zhang Ergou wanted to resort to brute force, it would be useless.
Initially, Zhang Ergou had indeed tried attacking the four bare stone walls.
However, there was no feedback, as if his attacks were being absorbed.
Knowing that impatience was useless.
Zhang Ergou decided not to rush. After all, he was only approaching this selection with a "try it out" attitude.
Zhang Ergou directly sat down against the stone wall.
"Master, look at him."
The young woman became increasingly perplexed by Zhang Ergou's behavior. She couldn't understand why her master thought so highly of him.
As for Zhang Ergou's ability to break through formations rapidly and consecutively before.
She attributed it to his high cultivation and strong willpower.
Little did she know that at Zhang Ergou's age, his willpower already surpassed many of his peers.
The young woman naturally overlooked this trait of Zhang Ergou.
Seeing Zhang Ergou give up and sit on the ground, the young woman suddenly seemed to have discovered something novel.
She hurriedly ran to the elder, urging him to look at Zhang Ergou's actions.
"Xian'er, how many times have I told you, do not just look at the surface of things. Moreover, your temper needs to be tempered."
The elder slowly opened his eyes, and a fleeting glint flashed in their cloudy depths.
He looked at the young woman before him with paternal affection.
"So impatient, how will you get along with your husband after you marry?"
"Master, you're bullying me, I'm ignoring you."
The young woman blushed at the elder's words and turned away, pretending to ignore him.
However, after only a few breaths, the young woman couldn't help but run back to the elder.
"Master, look. You said that person is sitting on the ground and is almost asleep. How could he possibly have broken your Divine Soul Formation?"
The young woman pointed at Zhang Ergou, who was sitting with his eyes closed, unconvinced.
It seemed the elder's constant praise for Zhang Ergou made the young woman a bit defiant.
"If the Divine Soul Formation I laid down were so easily broken, then my reputation as a Formation Grandmaster would be undeserved."
In his words, the elder expressed immense confidence in the formations he had created.
"Then why did you set up such a difficult formation? Isn't that just making things difficult for people?"
The young woman held the elder's shoulders with her hands, her face showing a look of confusion.
"It's all because your father and Pavilion Master Hua insisted on setting up the later stages."
The elder's words seemed laced with helplessness.
"Naturally, I cannot let my Array Dao school be weaker. If we relied solely on the formations you set up, we probably wouldn't be able to select truly outstanding talents."
From the elder's words, it was evident that he had set up this Divine Soul Formation partly to compete with Hua Xu and Mu Chen.
"But if no one can break your Divine Soul Formation, won't it have been set up in vain?"
The young woman continued to hold the elder's shoulders, but her eyes never left the illusionary water screen.
"There are so many cultivators in the world. You never know when a monstrous genius might appear. Nothing is absolute."
The elder stroked his beard leisurely.
His cloudy eyes casually scanned the illusionary water screen.
Just as the elder and the young woman were discussing.
Zhang Ergou, who was sitting on the ground, vaguely seemed to recall something.
All the previous formations had either possessed extremely strong offensive capabilities or were designed to confuse the mind.
They all reflected the aggressiveness of the formation setter.
However, the current scene seemed to have changed style.
Zhang Ergou could neither feel any attack nor escape. He seemed to be trapped here.