The vegetation in Thunderclap Mountain was sparse, with huge, bluish-black rocks everywhere. The ground underfoot was also composed of rock fragments, making it a true stone mountain.
The sky was even more gloomy, like a dark shadow.
Led by several Core Formation elders, the group headed north. After a quarter of an hour, they arrived at a valley.
This valley was surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only a narrow mountain crevice leading inside. Passing through the crevice, one could see some tall stone pillars, either collapsed or standing upright.
These stone pillars appeared to be naturally formed and were extremely numerous. Rumbles of thunder echoed constantly in the sky above, sometimes accompanied by flashes of lightning.
Every time lightning streaked across the sky, some of it plunged into the stone pillars on the ground, causing them to light up with a faint blue spiritual light, making them look very eerie.
The stones here had been struck by lightning for many years, resulting in bluish thunder patterns on their surfaces. The material was also much harder than ordinary rocks.
Some of the rocks, condensed with thunderous light, seemed to have transformed into special spiritual objects. If taken outside, they would be sufficient to refine some low-grade thunder-attribute magical artifacts.
On one side of the valley, there was a cliff area piled with black rocks. Only one isolated spot caught the eye immediately.
It was a huge, dark-blue stone pillar, slanting into the ground, with an overall length of nearly a thousand feet. It resembled an independent cliff, with the top of the pillar being a bluish color.
Most of the lightning strikes from the sky were drawn to this pillar. Each time the electric light passed, the entire pillar lit up, looking very magical.
The destination for the group was there, and under the direction of the Core Formation elders, they began to set up the formation.
Each team was separated by hundreds of feet, with the six teams forming a circle around the isolated cliff.
Zhang Ling and his team happened to be directly south. All six of them raised their right hands, each holding a formation flag. Spiritual power was injected into them, and the flags immediately flickered with lightning, transforming into giant banners five or six feet in size, which they planted into the ground.
The six of them sat cross-legged in the center of the formation flags, forming a circle. The interim captain of the team, the old man surnamed Sun, sat in the very center.
This person activated the formation plate in his hand, and a magic seal struck it. The formation plate spun around and floated above the group.
Following that, each person took out an identical thunder pearl. They formed special hand seals and waited quietly.
Zhang Ling secretly released a wisp of divine sense towards the giant isolated stone pillar in front of him.
The top of the stone pillar had only about twenty feet of space, but it was covered in a layer of blue thunderous light, which seemed to be a formation. Through the light, he could see a middle-aged cultivator sitting cross-legged inside.
This person had a square face and a dark-red complexion, looking like an ordinary cultivator. However, the spiritual power on his body was extremely violent, yet relatively peaceful.
This person was Lei Yue, the Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator from the Azure Thunder Sect, whose spiritual power had reached the peak of the Core Formation stage. Under his feet was a circular jade stone of several feet in size.
This was a piece of Azure Light Jade, a rare thunder-attribute jade. At the moment, the jade stone was lit with spiritual patterns, like a small altar.
On the ground, bluish-white thunderous light also flashed from time to time, forming hair-thin lightning that constantly gathered towards the jade stone.
This stone pillar, slanting into the ground, was the Thunder Essence Spiritual Vein of this place.
Lei Yue's expression was calm at the moment, and he was meditating while circulating his cultivation technique, seemingly unaware of the arrival of the group.
Zhang Ling briefly checked with his divine sense and immediately discovered strands of thunder-attribute spiritual power dancing on this person's body. Unusually, the thunderous light on his body was not the usual bluish-white lightning, but a scarlet electric light.
It was mixed with strong fire-attribute spiritual power and thunder-attribute spiritual power. It seemed that this was the divine ability he cultivated.
Zhang Ling glanced over slightly and withdrew his divine sense to prevent being discovered by the Core Formation cultivators.
Including this person, there were already four late-stage Core Formation experts gathered here. Of course, Ding Ruozhao was an unknown variable.
Fortunately, it seemed that this woman's plan was going smoothly, and the Nascent Soul monster from the Azure Thunder Sect had not arrived. This made him feel slightly more at ease.
At this moment, several elders from the Azure Thunder Sect had also gathered at the top of the stone pillar, but none of them approached Lei Yue, who was meditating.
Zhao Yunshan and the other six elders each took out a thunder pearl, which was different from the thunder pearls in their hands. These thunder pearls were of different colors.
Under their control, the six thunder pearls transformed into six clusters of spiritual light.
This scene lasted for a dozen breaths before Zhang Ling heard an order in his ear.
"Activate the formation!"
Not only did he hear this order, but all thirty-six Foundation Establishment disciples heard it as well.
They dared not be negligent and activated the thunder pearls in their hands. Immediately, the thirty-six thunder pearls began to spin rapidly.
On Zhang Ling's side, the six thunder pearls spun rapidly, lighting up with blue light. Then, they flew and formed a ring of spiritual light.
Soon after, the ring of light landed on the formation plate above their heads. The few people quickly changed their hand seals, and six thunderous lights shot out from their hands, injecting into the formation plate.
With a whoosh, the formation plate was dyed blue and quickly spun, hovering above the crowd.
Subsequently, each person took out an identical thunder pearl. They formed special hand seals and waited quietly.
This step lasted for another half a cup of tea. The formation plate stabilized and transformed into a disc with a diameter of three feet. Then, it flew to a height of a hundred feet above their heads.
The other directions echoed each other, and five other identical formation plates flew out.
The six formation plates lit up with dazzling thunderous light, and then six different-colored light spheres flew out from the top of the stone pillar, merging into the six formation plates.
The six formation plates gradually became transparent, each turning into a pillar of light. One end rushed towards the clouds in the sky, and the other landed on the ground.
At this time, the thirty-six disciples below had retreated a distance. Zhang Ling and his team retreated fifty or sixty feet away from their previous location.
After a rumble of thunder, the formation plate that had been sacrificed by the crowd smashed onto the ground like a huge rock. It transformed into a black-blue disc embedded in the ground.
Thunderous light flashed above, transforming into dense thunder patterns. Coiling around to form a pillar of light.
The heavy dark clouds also began to roll after the six pillars of spiritual light formed. For a time, electric light and thunder rumbled across the entire sky.
This scene lasted for a while, and the dark clouds in the sky became much thinner. Finally, the six pillars of light began to lengthen, turning into light curtains connected together, forming a huge formation covering an area of more than a hundred feet.
