At this time, many other cultivators had also discovered the existence of the mountain gate and instinctively cast their Divine Sense towards it. But with one sweep, their expressions all changed drastically.
Some of the lower-cultivation individuals, just by having their Divine Sense sweep past the three large characters above the mountain gate, felt a stuffiness in their chests, their Qi surging, and their Sea of Consciousness throbbing with intense pain.
They couldn't help but let out muffled groans. Many people on the saber's surface instantly became dazed, their faces as pale as paper. It was clear they had suffered a considerable hidden loss.
Then, many cultivators glanced at Hua Siwang in front, and seeing that he seemed completely unaware, they could only let a trace of hatred flash in the depths of their eyes.
Hua Siwang was flying here as if he knew the way well. He must be very familiar with this place, yet he had not given any warning. It was obviously intentional. Although it wasn't enough to severely injure their Sea of Consciousness, they would at least need to take medicinal pills and recuperate for several days to fully recover.
They were right. Hua Siwang in front, without turning his head, had already taken in the expressions of everyone behind him.
He sneered in his heart, "If I don't show you a bit of what I'm capable of, you'll think this is a sightseeing trip, still harboring some ulterior motives along the way, hmph!"
Li Yan saw it clearly from his corner of the blade. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Hua Siwang's actions. He had been following along the way, and although he had also been forcibly conscripted, he had also seen through the minds of the surrounding cultivators.
Many of them were originally the outstanding figures of their own sects, the so-called prodigies. Coupled with the fact that their conscription was unwilling, they were inevitably resentful.
With anger in their hearts, they naturally did not dare to show any dissatisfaction towards Hua Siwang, but when they looked at others, they mostly had a condescending and scrutinizing attitude.
Many even treated the small sects and rogue cultivators like Li Yan with cold indifference, and occasionally even spoke harshly.
So, although under Hua Siwang's heavy-handed methods, these prodigies had not immediately tried to deal with Li Yan and the others, their minds were the most active and the most difficult to manage in the entire team.
They were always thinking of ways to show off their superiority. Thus, the moment they sensed the existence of the mountain gate, they had recklessly released their Divine Sense to probe, and naturally, it was this type of person who suffered the most.
However, with the keenness of Li Yan's Divine Sense, he still noticed that Hua Siwang had actually sent a voice transmission to more than a dozen Foundation Establishment cultivators just now.
If Li Yan remembered correctly, when Hua Siwang had come out of these people's sects, his expression had been very relaxed. He had naturally received great benefits from their sects.
So it was only right to be asked to take care of the sect's disciples. Therefore, those dozen or so cultivators had not released their Divine Sense at all. Many even looked like they were enjoying the show. And when many had their Sea of Consciousness injured, the mockery on their faces was unconcealed.
All of this, of course, happened in a very short period of time.
Soon, the giant blade flew before the mountain gate.
And in front of and behind Li Yan and the others, there were several other groups of cultivators, with the same thing happening.
In front of the mountain gate was a silver light shield, which concealed everything behind it. Li Yan and the others couldn't see anything inside the mountain gate at all.
At this time, no one dared to release their Divine Sense to probe again. As they approached the mountain gate, Li Yan and the others could still feel the fluctuations as a group of dozens of people in front entered the silver light shield. The moment a human body touched the silver light shield, streaks of sharp, bone-chilling coldness would emanate from it.
This coldness was like spears and swords, like sharp blades suspended above the mountain gate.
"This is a Sword Formation!"
Before Li Yan could think carefully, a rogue cultivator standing next to him said with a solemn expression.
This person had also become acquainted with Li Yan during this period. He had no sect and had already cultivated to the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. His water-elemental divine arts were also quite formidable.
He was also a man of few words, which was somewhat similar to Li Yan. He called himself "Deng Lingtian," and he was also one of the few who, without Hua Siwang's reminder, had sensed that something was wrong with the three characters on the mountain gate and had withdrawn his Divine Sense just as it approached.
Li Yan also felt that this person was very cautious, like a vigilant hound, so he was also secretly on guard against him at all times.
Although Deng Lingtian's voice was low, it was still heard by some people around them. Most of them showed looks of surprise in their eyes after hearing it.
There were many categories of formation arts. The Sword Formation was a unique array refining method of sword cultivators, and one had to have Sword Intent before they could comprehend it.
So Sword Formations were very strong. Not just strong, but really strong.
Sword Formations were primarily for slaughter. This point already showed their difference from other formations. Whether it was for warning, attacking, or defending, formations basically had both offensive and defensive functions, just with different priorities.
But Sword Formations gave up almost all defense, usually only having warning and attack functions. Upon receiving a warning, the Sword Formation would immediately launch an attack.
When it was said "almost," of course, some sword formation masters were still willing to add some defensive functions, but such sword formations were quite rare. The sword formations refined by more sword cultivators all carried this arrogant character of pressing forward and facing the enemy head-on.
Therefore, once a cultivator entered a Sword Formation, they either had to use overwhelming power to forcibly destroy the entire formation, or use a powerful treasure to escape as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the usual outcome was either being ground into a bloody mist or being pierced by ten thousand swords. It was precisely because Sword Formations were so powerful that they were often the type of formation that cultivators were most unwilling to face.
But Sword Formations were very rare. They were very difficult to refine in themselves, and the requirements for the refiner were too high. Sword Intent was something that not even one in a hundred sword cultivators could cultivate.
At the same time, sword cultivators were usually very pure. They devoted their entire lives to the sword, and many were unwilling to be distracted by other things, such as cultivating formations, which would delay their pure Sword Dao. Therefore, Sword Formations rarely appeared in the cultivation world.
So when Deng Lingtian said this, some of the people who knew or had heard of Sword Formations were surprised to encounter an extremely rare one here. They couldn't help but re-examine the great formation in front of the mountain gate.
Li Yan, of course, also sensed the dense Sword Intent emanating from the silver light shield in front. At the same time, he also felt that this Deng Lingtian was extraordinary.
It wasn't just by seeing the three words "Sword-Washing Pavilion" that one could immediately identify the formation. Moreover, they had only just approached and had not yet entered. There were as many types of sharp formations with killing intent and slaughter as there were stars in the sky.
The group in front entered very quickly. Hua Siwang and the others had long since dismounted from the giant saber magical treasure and were waiting in line a hundred zhang in front of the mountain gate, keeping a certain distance from the group in front.
Just as the last figure in front disappeared into the silver light shield, Hua Siwang shouted in a low voice, "Go!"
He took the lead and flew up swiftly. Li Yan and the others quickly followed. In front of the light shield, Hua Siwang landed, then turned his head and shouted, "From here on, flying is not allowed. After I open the great formation, you will enter as quickly as possible."
After a simple sentence, he ignored Li Yan and the others. He slapped his waist, and after a flash of blood-red light, the "Jingtu Sect Conscription" token that he had taken out before appeared in Hua Siwang's hand.
Then, he turned to the side. With a flash of his golden token at the mountain gate, three streaks of crimson light shot out from the blood-red token, like agile, blood-refined small snakes.
After circling once, the three streaks of light drilled into the silver light shield. However, the tails of the three small snakes remained outside, trailing behind and connected to the other end, which was the golden token in Hua Siwang's hand.
The moment the three streaks of crimson light drilled in, the surface of the silver light shield, like a calm lake, immediately produced ripples that undulated and spread. Immediately, the silver light that had been flashing on the light shield began to slowly rotate.
Slowly, the blurred gate that had just disappeared reappeared before everyone's eyes amidst the twisting and deforming.
Hua Siwang turned to the side and shouted urgently, "Hurry up and enter."
As he spoke, the Spirit Power in his hand surged. This Spirit Power was so thick that it was oppressive. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator were to accidentally touch it at this moment, they would be instantly crushed into dust.
It was clear that to open this Sword Formation, a token was not enough; it also required a very high cultivation to control. Even with Hua Siwang's mid-stage Golden Core cultivation, with the Golden Core in his Dantian's Purple Mansion rotating at high speed to maintain the output of magical power, from his words, one could still feel that his control was not so easy, and he might not even be able to maintain it for too long.
Hearing this, everyone hurriedly flew towards the silver light shield. Li Yan stood at the back. He looked at the slightly bulging veins on Hua Siwang's forehead.
Li Yan thought to himself, 'The defenses here are so tight. It will be difficult to get out again. First, I don't have the token to open the formation. Second, opening this Sword Formation requires so much Spirit Power to control. Even with Hua Siwang's cultivation, he looks like he's struggling, and it might even require other incantations to assist.'
For a moment, Li Yan couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He didn't know if this was just an assembly point for the Jingtu Sect. If his judgment was wrong, the next step would be a lot of trouble.
But it was impossible to leave now. There were cultivators on all sides of him; there was no chance.
However, Li Yan quickly dismissed this thought, because the cultivators in front, under Hua Siwang's impatient gaze, were shooting forward like arrows. It was now Li Yan's turn.
Li Yan only felt that the light in front of him changed extremely quickly, and then when his vision cleared again, he had already experienced many teleportations. With his experience, he immediately judged that this Sword Formation was not large, so the teleportation distance of the life gate was very short.
Li Yan found that his group had already arrived in a plaza at the foot of a mountain. The plaza was very wide. At this time, no less than a thousand people had gathered in the plaza.
The group of them who had just entered were all standing at the edge of the plaza.
Li Yan looked around. He quickly discovered a phenomenon. The cultivators who entered the center of the plaza would eventually be divided into four teams, because at the other end of the plaza, directly opposite where they had appeared, which was the real foot of the mountain, there were four mountain paths leading to four different peaks behind.
In fact, Li Yan saw that there were other small paths on both sides leading to other peaks. The plaza was surrounded by mountains, but only four mountain paths had been opened in the plaza.
The cultivators who came here, after entering the plaza, would line up in four long queues and eventually walk towards the foot of the mountain, as if they were registering for something there.
Li Yan's heart stirred. Although his eyesight was excellent, there were many cultivators here, and he couldn't see too clearly. After sensing his surroundings, Li Yan was about to release his Divine Sense to carefully observe the situation.
And at this moment, a cold voice sounded behind Li Yan and the others, "Line up in order and follow me."