The main dragon vein was hard to find, and even the smaller ones were not easy to locate. Take this mountain that Leo was currently on for example, according to his simple geomancy analysis, there was no dragon vein here at all.
This situation was quite frustrating. He can’t just go around searching for dragon veins.
He feared that before he found one, the Droughtwalker will already be in front of him.
What should he do?
Leo encountered such a difficult problem for the first time, and it involved life and death, causing him to feel anxious.
After thinking for a long time, a sudden inspiration flashed in Leo’s mind, and he muttered to himself, “Damn it, it seems that there is only one way now, no matter what, I’ll give it my all!”
With a plan in mind, Leo didn’t hesitate and climbed straight up to the mountaintop.
In order to conserve his strength, Leo didn’t use his Spiritual Power to employ any teleportation technique. It took him nearly two hours and great effort to reach the mountaintop.
Like standing at the peak, overlooking all the other mountains.
The view from the mountaintop was indeed beautiful. Since it was morning, he could see a thin layer of mist rising in the distance.
Although the scenery was beautiful, Leo’s heart was heavy. The feeling that Droughtwalker was approaching grew stronger.
After finding a relatively flat spot on the mountaintop, Leo activated his Spiritual Power and condensed it into physical form. An altar, incense burner, tall incense, a yellow divination board, mirror, cinnabar, and rootless water, along with other basic ritual props, appeared one after another.
First, he lit the tall incense and paid respects to the four directions. Then he inserted the tall incense into the incense burner. Leo unfolded the yellow divination board and began drawing talismans with a wolf hair brush dipped in cinnabar.
He continuously drew ten talismans before finally stopping.
Next, he began arranging the formation.
Arranging a formation was not easy, and the procedures were quite complex, especially when setting up larger formations, which required some rare and special items.
Leo’s method of arranging formations was quite unique. After becoming a Cultivator, he inherited a secret method of quickly arranging formations in his mind-directly using talismans to set up the formation!
Everything had its pros and cons. Although using talismans for a quick formation setup was possible, the effectiveness of talisman-based formations was not long-lasting compared to conventional methods. Moreover, since Leo used condensed Spiritual Power to draw the talismans, their effectiveness was even shorter.
The objects formed by condensed Spiritual Power had a fundamental difference from real objects. Once the effectiveness of the objects formed by condensed Spiritual Power expired, they would completely disappear.
Given Leo’s current cultivation level, the objects formed by condensed Spiritual Power could exist for a maximum of three hours.
So what Leo was doing now was gambling. He was betting that Droughtwalker would arrive at the mountaintop within three hours.
If the Droughtwalker didn’t appear within three hours, then everything would be in vain.
Leo pasted the talismans on the ground, one by one, forming a large circle using eight talismans.
These eight talismans had a special meaning. Each talisman represented one of the eight trigrams, and together, the eight talismans formed the eight trigrams.
Standing outside the circle, Leo held one talisman between his fingers like a sword and chanted an incantation. He then thrust the talisman into the left side of the circle.
The talisman stuck to the ground and instantly burned away.
Next, Leo held the last talisman in the same manner as before and thrust it into the right side of the circle.
Again, the talisman stuck to the ground and burned away.
Leo formed a peculiar hand seal with both hands, and a black character appeared. He pushed the black character into the left side of the circle.
The color of the ground on the left side of the circle began to change, eventually turning completely black, forming the shape of a negative fish in the Taichi symbol, but without a white dot.
Then, he formed another hand seal and pushed a white character into the right side of the circle, creating a positive fish.
Similarly, the positive fish had no black dot.
Leo simultaneously formed different hand seals with his left and right hands, touching the negative fish and positive fish.
This time, a white dot appeared in the negative fish, and a black dot appeared in the positive fish.
As Leo stomped his right foot on the ground, the eight talismans on the ground simultaneously ignited. After the flames disappeared, they transformed into real trigram symbols.
At this point, the complete Taiji Bagua Diagram formed.
Immediately, the Taiji Bagua Diagram flashed with golden light and disappeared into the ground.
The formation that Leo set up was called the “Draw the Earth as a Prison, Taiji Bagua Formation.” Once the Droughtwalker entered it, there was no way for it to escape for the time being.
With the formation successfully arranged, Leo breathed a sigh of relief.
Now came the crucial moment. Damn you, Droughtwalker, you better show up.
Temporarily trapping the Droughtwalker within the Draw the Earth as a Prison, Taiji Bagua Formation was a necessary condition. Only then could Leo execute the final sealing technique.
The sense of danger grew stronger. Leo didn’t expect the Droughtwalker to arrive so quickly, but his anxious heart also calmed down.
Approaching the altar, Leo began his preparations.
Once again condensing his Spiritual Power, a red wooden bowl appeared on the altar.
Leo used a peach wood sword to cut his left little finger, allowing the fresh blood to drip into the wooden bowl.
He dripped nearly half a bowl of blood before stopping the bleeding.
Then, holding the wooden bowl in one hand and three tall incense sticks in the other, Leo knelt down at the highest point of the mountaintop.
Placing the tall incense sticks down, Leo held the bowl at chest level, looked up at the sky, and slowly poured the blood from the wooden bowl.
This action symbolized offering blood to the heavens.
Leo lit the tall incense sticks at his side, making a fist with his fingers except the thumbs, and used his thumbs to hold the incense sticks. With the left hand on top and the right hand below, he raised the incense sticks over his head and knelt, bowing to the sky three times. He solemnly spoke.
“Heaven and Earth possess the Dao, and the Three Pure Ones reside above. With the Droughtwalker’s emergence, all beings suffer. I, disciple Leo, act on behalf of the heavens, intending to seal the Droughtwalker. I inform Heaven and Earth, report to the Three Pure Ones. I hereby swear! I request that Heaven bestow upon me the power to seal the Droughtwalker and save the people of Atraria! If successful, I am willing to offer three years of my life. This oath shall be witnessed by the Three Pure Ones, seen by Heaven and Earth, and heard by immortals, demons, ghosts, and gods!”
With the oath completed, Leo planted the tall incense sticks into the ground and stood up.
Just as Leo stood up, a miraculous scene unfolded.
The blood that had seeped into the ground unexpectedly emerged, and numerous blood droplets floated in the air, gradually condensing and forming a blood pearl radiating golden light. In a flash, it shot into Leo’s brow like lightning.
Leo knew that this change meant that Heaven had accepted his oath.
Returning to the altar, Leo took a wolf hair brush and dipped it in rootless water, writing and painting in mid-air.
The rootless water was originally colorless, but under the movement of the wolf hair brush in his hand, golden characters appeared one after another.
A total of nine golden characters were drawn. With a sweep of Leo’s wolf hair brush, all nine golden characters shattered, transforming into scattered golden light that fell upon the mountaintop.
These were auspicious golden inscriptions, praying for the success of the matter.
“White candles to guard the four directions!”
Leo took four white candles from the table and placed one in each of the four cardinal directions-east, south, west, and north-before lighting them.
At this point, the Heavenly Oath was complete!
By harnessing the power of the Heavenly Way, Leo aimed to achieve a predetermined goal.