"Open the door!" Ye Haochuan grew anxious and instinctively reached out to push it.

"Don’t—!" the soul beast’s anxious voice rang out.

But it was obviously too late. The instant Ye Haochuan’s hand touched the gate, ripples suddenly spread across its surface, and then Ye Haochuan was forcibly dragged inside.

"Ye Haochuan!" Xu Linglan watched helplessly as Ye Haochuan was pulled into the door, and cried out in panic.

But when she tried to rush over, she was blocked by the soul beast.

"There’s an Entrapment Formation inside that door. If you get dragged in too, you can forget about ever coming out!" the soul beast warned.

Thinking back to the scene of Ye Haochuan being pulled into the door just now, Xu Linglan instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

"You... why are you warning me? If we all die in there, wouldn’t you be freed?" Xu Linglan looked at the soul beast in puzzlement.

She had clearly seen Ye Haochuan threatening the soul beast earlier, so she naturally didn’t believe the soul beast would so magnanimously keep their wellbeing in mind.

The soul beast’s expression turned bitter as it said, "My duty is to guard the outermost barrier. The moment I opened the gate, I committed a grave offense. Now I’ve even taken the initiative to bring you in—do you know that’s a capital crime?"

"So..." Xu Linglan instantly understood the soul beast’s helplessness.

"So all I can do is pin my hopes on you taking me away from this place!"

The soul beast let out a bitter sigh and said, "That guy’s already fallen into dire straits; there’s no chance for him to keep living. Why don’t we just stop here and go back?"

"How can that be?" Xu Linglan grew anxious at once. "What we should be thinking about right now is how to get him out of there, alright?"

"Save him? How?" The soul beast looked utterly depressed. "That formation is a Second-Rank Peak Array. Even a True Immortal Realm Peak expert couldn’t break free from it. Your little boyfriend, you think he’s stronger than a True Immortal Peak expert?"

"What? Second-Rank Peak?" Xu Linglan couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

She clearly had not expected the formation before her to be so formidable. If that was really the case, then wouldn’t Ye Haochuan truly be doomed?

"No, until it’s finally confirmed that he’s dead, I can’t give up on him!" Xu Linglan suddenly said with firm resolve.

The soul beast said a bit irritably, "Big sis, stop dreaming, will you? This is a Second-Rank Peak Array. How are you going to save him?"

"No matter what, I have to save him! If you want to leave, then go by yourself!" Xu Linglan bit her lip and huffed softly.

For some reason, the moment she thought Ye Haochuan might die, she felt extremely agitated.

"If I could leave, would I need you to say it?" the soul beast muttered. But seeing Xu Linglan’s determined look, it didn’t bother with any more pointless arguing.

After all, the ending was already set in stone. It didn’t believe Xu Linglan would really wait out here for a whole lifetime.

Xu Linglan clearly didn’t have as many thoughts as the soul beast. At this moment she was desperately trying to recall the scant formation knowledge in her mind, hoping to find some clue.

At this time, Ye Haochuan had already fallen into a state of chaos.

He only felt as if he were wrapped in mire; whatever movement he tried to make was incomparably difficult.

Suspended around his body were three scattered sets of human bones. One could still vaguely see the agonized struggle they had suffered in life.

Ye Haochuan’s first thought was that this was a Phantom Realm, but when he opened his Heavenly Eye, he realized that wasn’t the case.

"An Entrapment Formation, huh?" Relying on the knowledge he’d gained from the Hundred Arrays Collection, Ye Haochuan quickly determined the type of formation.

With the help of the Heavenly Eye, he quickly saw the Array Patterns of this formation clearly.

However, those patterns looked extremely complex and bizarre. After only a few glances, he actually felt a bout of dizziness.

"What a powerful formation. At the very least it’s at the mid-to-late Second Rank level!" After judging the rank of the array, Ye Haochuan’s heart sank heavily.

All along, he’d wanted to raise his formation level, but he’d been constantly entangled by trivial matters and truly hadn’t had much time. So his formation level was still hovering around First Rank.

If a Pill Master can refine First-Rank Mysterious Pills, they are called a Mysterious Pill Master. If they can refine Second-Rank, they’re a Mysterious Pill Grandmaster; Third-Rank, a Mysterious Pill Grandmaster.

It’s the same for Array Masters: those who can set up First-Rank Arrays are Formation Masters; Second-Rank, Formation Masters; Third-Rank, Formation Great Masters.

Right now, Ye Haochuan still hadn’t fully comprehended even First-Rank Arrays; among Formation Masters, he could only be considered middling.

As for brute-forcing his way out—that was even more hopeless. Even if he risked his life, he only had the level of a True Immortal Early Stage. This array could trap True Immortal Late Stage, even True Immortal Peak experts—what did he amount to?

"Looks like I can only put in work on my formation level!" Ye Haochuan had no intention of giving up. He quickly made up his mind, took out the Hundred Arrays Collection, and began carefully studying it.

Although he was extremely worried about Liu Xianglan’s safety, being anxious was useless right now, so he could only force himself to calm down.

Once he settled his heart, Ye Haochuan quickly pushed all vexing matters aside and immersed himself wholly in the Hundred Arrays Collection.

No one knew how much time had passed before he swiftly set the Hundred Arrays Collection down, took out some materials, and rapidly began refining a Formation Foundation and arranging a formation.

This formation was called the Gathering Brilliance Formation, a beginner Second-Rank formation and Ye Haochuan’s first step toward breaking into Second Rank.

The refinement of a Second-Rank Formation Foundation was several times more complex than that of a First-Rank Array; the method of arranging it also had far more constraints.

In just the time it takes an incense stick to burn, with a "boom," the Formation Foundation in his hands suddenly exploded. Caught off guard, he was blasted into a disheveled mess, looking utterly miserable.

He didn’t have time to tidy himself up; he hurriedly grabbed the Hundred Arrays Collection again and gnawed at it, trying to find where his refinement had gone wrong just now.

After a long while, he seemed to gain some insight and once again attempted to refine the Formation Foundation.

However, the result this time was still the same as before, blowing his clothes into tattered rags.

Ye Haochuan’s stubborn nature was instantly roused. He resolved to fight it out with this array "to the death."

Over the next two days, Ye Haochuan didn’t even know how many times he failed. His clothes had long since turned into who knew how many scraps of cloth, and his bronze-colored skin was covered with a great many additional wounds.

Yet he seemed completely unaware, still fully immersed in the knowledge of formations.

Ying~

A metallic buzzing rang out. Ye Haochuan’s expression lit up with joy, and he shouted, "Done! Finally done!"

The first Formation Foundation for the Gathering Brilliance Formation finally appeared complete in his hand.

Only after a long while did he suppress the joy in his heart and swallow an Infant Energy Condensation Pill.

This Second-Rank formation really wasn’t something an ordinary person could refine. Because Ye Haochuan cultivated the Long Family Technique, his meridians were several times wider than a normal person’s, and his Flower Energy was also greater than cultivators of the same level. Yet just refining this one Formation Foundation had nearly exhausted all his Flower Energy.

After spending several minutes recovering his Flower Energy, Ye Haochuan prepared to take out materials and refine a second Formation Foundation. But in the next instant he was dumbfounded—the small stash of materials in his ring that could be used to refine Second-Rank Arrays had actually been used up!