"Hahaha, I appreciate your auspicious words, Fellow Daoist." He Zhenghao laughed heartily, then eagerly led them toward their destination.
"We've arrived! This is the place!"
Half a day later, He Zhenghao's figure suddenly paused before plunging headfirst into the sea.
Li Fan followed him, and they both descended to the sea's deepest depths.
His divine sense swept across the area, revealing three massive fault lines formed by countless rugged mountain ranges below.
Truly extraordinary. Li Fan thought to himself. They possess a unique majesty compared to terrestrial mountains.
He Zhenghao hovered above the undersea mountain range, closing his eyes and concentrating as if searching for something.
Above him, the Mountain River Hundred Veins Array Diagram suddenly materialized.
In that instant, the mountain range below inexplicably began to emit fluctuations that faintly resonated with the array diagram.
He Zhenghao adjusted his position time and again, determining the optimal location.
Li Fan quietly observed from nearby.
After a long while, He Zhenghao's eyes snapped open, gleaming with sharp light.
The Mountain River Hundred Veins Array Diagram above him expanded according to his will, instantly spanning a full hundred li.
Li Fan keenly noticed the constant shifting of the mountains and rivers depicted in the diagram, which gradually grew more and more similar to the undersea mountain range below.
The resonant fluctuations continued to grow stronger.
When the diagram's scenery perfectly matched the actual landscape, He Zhenghao let out a great shout.
The array diagram emitted a brilliant white light before merging completely with the mountains below and disappearing.
He Zhenghao formed hand seals and made various gestures, causing subtle yet marvelous changes in the Mountain River Array around him.
The great array appeared to protect He Zhenghao, who was positioned in the center.
All mountains and rivers can become arrays... Impressive technique. Li Fan mused.
Having previously studied He Zhenghao's Detailed Explanations of the Hundred Veins Array Diagram , he wasn't unfamiliar with this method of transforming natural landscapes into arrays through mere gestures.
"Please guard me, Fellow Daoist!" He Zhenghao solemnly requested of Li Fan.
Then, he focused his mind and officially began his core formation.
Although this location was quite remote and rarely visited by cultivators, Li Fan didn't relax his vigilance.
He flew to a position above He Zhenghao, simultaneously observing his core formation process while monitoring their surroundings.
Unlike the magnificent scene when Zhang Haobo formed his core, with the Laws of Sword, Water, and Wind filling heaven and earth, this process began with absolute quiet.
No extraordinary phenomena occurred. He Zhenghao sat cross-legged above the Three Undersea Faults, completely still.
If not for Li Fan's faint perception that something was brewing beneath the fractured seabed, he might have thought He Zhenghao was in secluded cultivation.
Li Fan waited patiently.
The process of accumulating power took longer than expected. Only after more than ten days did changes finally appear.
In the silent underwater world, a sound like a heartbeat suddenly echoed.
Thump!
Li Fan narrowed his eyes.
The moment he heard the sound, he experienced a momentary illusion.
The hundred-li expanse of the Three Undersea Faults seemed to have suddenly come alive, like a deep-sea leviathan awakening after countless years of slumber.
It gave him an inexplicable sense of danger.
Thump!
The heartbeat sounded again.
The earth trembled slightly.
The feeling in Li Fan's heart grew stronger.
Switching to the perspective of heaven and earth and examining the mountains below once more, Li Fan faintly saw that with each reverberation of the heartbeat-like sound, earthen-yellow energies deep within the earth surged like blood through veins.
Each pulse flooded the land with power.
Earth Vein's Law...
Li Fan felt a glimmer of comprehension.
The edges of the Mountain River Hundred Veins Array Diagram, which had expanded for a hundred li and fused with the seabed below, suddenly erupted with brilliant light.
This silver line separated the array diagram from the original undersea mountains.
With each heartbeat, vast, innumerable streams of earthen-yellow Earth Vein power surged from the boundless distant continental shelf.
Like a hundred rivers flowing east to the sea, they were all absorbed by the array diagram.
Such grandeur, from just Earth Vein's Law? Extraordinary, truly extraordinary! Worthy of a man I've set my sights on!
Li Fan marveled, his anticipation for the remaining two laws growing.
Earth Vein’s power continued to surge, gradually stabilizing.
He Zhenghao began to peer into Mountain River's Law.
Li Fan noticed that the surrounding seawater, which should have been still, was now slowly flowing.
From the highest point of the seabed, it traveled downward.
Each time it plunged over a fault line thousands of meters deep, it formed a unique underwater waterfall, and its momentum and speed transformed qualitatively.
After passing through the three major faults, the gentle undercurrent had become a roaring, rushing undersea river. It swept through the undersea mountain range, howling as it passed.
Compared to the earth vein's heartbeat, it sounded like heavy, labored breathing.
As the river surged, winding through the layered mountains, wisps of azure-blue energy were drawn in and absorbed by the array diagram.
Mountain River's Law... A sharp glint flashed in Li Fan's eyes.
Earth Vein and Mountain River complemented each other.
The sounds of heartbeat and breathing echoed in his ears.
The sense of "liveliness" emanating from the Three Undersea Faults below grew increasingly pronounced.
As azure-blue and earthen-yellow lights emerged one after another across this part of the seabed, some cultivators came to investigate.
Most recognized that a cultivator was undergoing a Golden Core breakthrough.
Li Fan quickly announced his identity as a Myriad Immortals Alliance array maintenance technician.
Seeing that there was someone standing guard, and that he was a member of the Alliance's official system, these cultivators dismissed their thoughts and chose to make a detour.
Some with ill intent continued to lurk around stubbornly. But they were mostly no-name rogue cultivators, all below the Golden Core realm.
Li Fan showed no mercy, activating his Insect Binding divine ability to capture them and fling them far away.
Thus, three days passed.
The spectacular commotion slowly began to recede.
The heartbeat grew softer. The breathing grew lighter. Earth Veins’ power and Mountain River’s power gradually turned inward.
The sense of liveliness also slowly faded, returning the area to the appearance of a normal seabed.
Yet, Li Fan could clearly sense that this was concealment, not disappearance.
An obscure, indescribable energy veiled all the strange phenomena, making them difficult to detect.
If Li Fan hadn't witnessed the entire process from beginning to end, and observed it meticulously from the perspective of heaven and earth, he likely wouldn't have been able to perceive this change.
Li Fan gazed upon the abyss below.
It was like staring directly at an ancient, ferocious beast poised to devour its prey at any moment. An ineffable stirring of fear rose within him at irregular intervals.
Hidden Abyss's Law... Marvelous! The three laws are complete. It seems Fellow Daoist He is not far from condensing his core! Li Fan thought to himself.
The seabed returned to its former silence.
Another seven days passed, yet He Zhenghao still had not succeeded in forming his core.
The fluctuations of the Laws of Earth Vein, Mountain River, and Hidden Abyss had all ceased.
By all reasoning, core formation should be possible now, but He Zhenghao remained unmoving.
It did not seem like the attempt had failed. Rather, it felt like he was waiting for something.