"Forcing the formation open will bring disaster and threaten our lives?"
Hearing the little tiger's description, Qi Ping's brow furrowed tightly.
To be able to threaten Little Stone Essence in the underground world to such a severe degree, it had to be at least a Golden Core Late Stage existence, possibly even at the Perfection stage, or perhaps even something beyond the Golden Core realm.
He looked at the Rank 3 formation trapping the Earth-Vein Ants. His frown deepened.
Through his perception, he realized that this formation was not designed to seal the ants, but rather to extract the power of the earth veins!
'A Rank 3 formation extracting earth-vein power...'
Discovering this, Qi Ping's face turned grim.
Wasn't this digging up the roots of the Qingtian Domain? No wonder the world was becoming weaker; someone was quite literally sucking the marrow from its bones!
No wonder the cultivation world had fallen from the ancient heights of dragon-like spirit veins and numerous powerhouses to its current state. It seemed someone was constantly 'moving forward' at the expense of others!
How could Qi Ping, who now viewed the Qingtian Domain as his home, accept this? Normal survival of the fittest was a rule he wouldn't interfere with, but he absolutely would not permit the destruction of the foundation.
On a large scale, this affected the survival of every living being in the world. On a small scale, the strength of the world was tied to his combat power, cultivation, breakthroughs, and various other critical matters. The power of heaven and earth and the power of nature were the foundations of his pursuit of longevity. For the sake of his long life, he would not allow this.
"Damn it!" A strong killing intent surged within him!
His Slaughter Dao-Heart and his Home Territory field vibrated wildly!
If Qi Ping were to sense carefully right now, he would realize that the opportunity to break through his Dao-Heart realm was likely arriving. Even a new Druidic profession or ability might awaken from this.
However, his mind was not on that, but on the consequences of this formation and the terror of the formation itself.
He had Little Stone Essence carry him along the perimeter of the array. When he couldn't find its edge, his face grew even darker!
As he explored, he gradually realized that this formation was so vast it was frightening. In some places, he couldn't even perceive the array's existence.
He could only judge the presence of the formation by the faint, slow disappearance of the earth-vein power.
There was only one possibility for this: the array-master's skill was far superior to his own!
'What level of array-master laid this?'
With his current level, he wouldn't be able to destroy this formation even in ten years!
Moreover, the formation's concealment was incredible. If not for the stone essence searching the underground for over a decade and the Earth-Vein Ants constantly attacking the array, no one would have likely ever discovered these hidden formations!
Returning to the spot where the ants were trapped, Qi Ping's expression was grim.
"Truly a bunch of lunatics, willing to do anything for their own breakthroughs!"
He realized more and more that for many cultivators, only their own progress mattered; they didn't care about slaughtering life or plundering the world.
First, there was the Immortal Alliance refining blood-food to plunder the world's fortune, then the Starfall City incident that abandoned humanity, and now someone plundering the earth-vein power of the Qingtian Domain.
Each was more ruthless than the last. With these madmen around, the cultivation world would eventually be destroyed!
"This is truly troublesome..."
Currently, he couldn't even handle the trouble behind the formation, let alone the formation itself.
Furthermore, even if he could break it, the consequences of alerting the enemy might be even more problematic!
"I can't count on the Qingyuan Sect for this..."
Although Wang He had comprehended the Third Stage Heavenly Heart Sword Intent, he couldn't handle the person who laid this array. Besides, the Universal Justice sword couldn't be used for this.
Even if they could solve it, without the nuclear deterrent of the sword, the situation for him, Wang He, and friends like Han Li and Zhang Da-niu in the sect would become extremely dire.
As for that Nascent Soul Grand Elder, no one seemed to know his true nature. Qi Ping even wondered if this formation had anything to do with him.
"So I must find a way to solve it myself..."
"But fortunately, this formation seems to have existed for a long time. The extraction of power appears to be measured in decades or centuries. I still have time."
With that thought, Qi Ping's frustration eased slightly.
"My Golden Core breakthrough is imminent, and the Bee Queen is about to reach the peak of Rank 2. Soon, she can devour the Demonic Insect King's bloodline to mutate!"
"And Little Stone Essence has the support of such a massive mineral vein, so its speed of growth is very fast."
Over the last ten-plus years, Little Stone Essence had digested the demonic blade and a large number of minerals, reaching the Middle Stage of Rank 3. Its subterranean combat power could now rival a Golden Core Late Stage expert. The Sin-Burner Sword, with its special spirit, had also been gradually nurtured back.
Little Stone Essence was currently Qi Ping's greatest trump card, but without absolute certainty, it could never be exposed. If it were, every witness would have to be silenced!
"Furthermore, if I rescue this colony of Earth-Vein Ants, with their help, sabotaging or even counter-attacking this formation will be much easier."
Earth-Vein Ants manipulated leylines and organized the earth's network; they were a beneficial species for the growth of the world's foundations. If they assisted him, whether in dealing with the current problem, subterranean combat, or adjusting leylines to nurture stronger spirit veins in the future, they would be immensely useful.
Earth-Vein Ants were extremely hard to find, so Qi Ping would do whatever it took to rescue them.
As Qi Ping looked again at the shriveled ants inside, a plea for help came from their eyes.
"Squeak... (Can you save us?)"
As the Earth-Vein Ant Queen looked at Qi Ping, hope somehow rose in her eyes.
Logically, she should have loathed the human race, as it was a human formation that had trapped them while they were hiding in the earth veins.
But upon seeing Qi Ping, her intuition told her that the person before her was trustworthy!
At this moment, a glimmer of hope rose in her heart. She truly didn't want her colony to go extinct under her lead...
"Let me think of a way. How long can you hold on?" Qi Ping responded.
"Squeak... (If we preserve our strength fully, we should be able to last a month...)"
"Squeak... (Thank you!)"
The Queen gave a specific time after some thought.
"Good, wait for me. Let me study this and see if I can find a way to break it!"
With that, Qi Ping immediately began his research. The formation before him was too profound, and he wasn't sure if he could rescue them within a month.
Regardless, he had to try his best, even if it meant forcing a breakthrough.