But she wouldn’t back down. She was Su Lanqian, the undisputed genius of formations in the Northern Region. Even if you looked beyond, few could match her skills.

Taking a deep breath, she strode confidently toward the formation.

As she passed by Bai Feng, she glanced up at him, a smirk playing on her lips.

“If you’re feeling scared, just back out now. Otherwise, losing your hair and clothes to the flames later will be quite the sight.”

---

**Chapter 40: If He Can Break the Formation, I’ll Eat My Hat!**

“Thanks for the reminder, Senior Sister. I still have a few spare outfits in my storage bag. If your clothes get burned, feel free to come to me for a free replacement,” Bai Feng replied, his tone flat as he regarded the arrogant Su Lanqian.

“Ha, you should take advantage of your chance to talk while you can,” Su Lanqian scoffed, quickening her pace toward the formation.

“Brother, what did she say to you?” Bai Yumo asked curiously from the side.

“She told me to be careful, and I told her the same,” Bai Feng replied.

Bai Yumo pondered for a moment. Su Lanqian didn’t seem like she was offering a kind reminder; rather, she looked down on him, which felt more like a provocation.

“Brother, do you want me to teach her a lesson?”

Bai Feng turned to look at his eager sister, wondering how his sweet little sister had turned into this.

“...No need. You’re making me look like an unreasonable villain.”

Though he did have a villain system, after all.

“Oh…”

Bai Yumo nodded weakly, but she had already marked Su Lanqian in her mind.

Just because Bai Feng didn’t care didn’t mean she wouldn’t. She was quite vengeful.

If Su Lanqian dared to insult Bai Feng again, she wouldn’t hold back.

Meanwhile, Su Lanqian had already entered the Fire Dragon Formation.

Raging flames surged toward her from all directions, but Su Lanqian remained calm. A barrier of spiritual energy formed around her, blocking the flames, while her eyes glowed with a faint blue light.

In her gaze, the sea of fire transformed. She could feel the spiritual energy converging toward several key areas.

“This is it!”

Su Lanqian quickly locked onto a node. She picked up a brush, and a torrent of spiritual energy coalesced in her hand.

In the next moment, the brush expanded, growing to nearly her height before stopping.

With a swift motion, she swept the brush, shattering the incoming flames, and seized the opportunity to dash toward one of the nodes.

The brush acted like an eraser, swiftly dismantling the node, causing part of the flames attacking her to dissipate.

---

“Now’s the time to regret if you want to,” Liu Meng said with a smile, explaining—or perhaps boasting—to Chu Ningyan, “Su Lanqian is a disciple I searched long and hard for. Not only does she have exceptional talent in formations, but she also possesses spiritual eyes that can observe fluctuations in spiritual energy. There are very few formations in this world that can trap her.”

“No need, I trust my disciple,” Chu Ningyan replied, shaking her head. Although Su Lanqian’s performance surprised her, she had equal confidence in Bai Feng.

After all, Bai Feng had reconstructed the Hundred Sword Formation just days after first encountering formations. His talent was on par with Su Lanqian’s, who had spiritual eyes.

Meanwhile, Bai Feng was intently watching Su Lanqian.

‘Spiritual eyes, from the description, seem somewhat similar to Yin-Yang Patterns, but they only have the function of observing spiritual energy.’

There are indeed many strange abilities in this world; one must not underestimate them!

‘Hmm? Looks like it’s about to end.’

Bai Feng stopped his thoughts and focused entirely on Su Lanqian.

At this moment, multiple nodes of the Fire Dragon Formation had been dismantled, and the fierce assault of the fire dragon had weakened significantly.

Though Su Lanqian had expended quite a bit of spiritual energy, achieving this much was already impressive.

She tightened her grip on the brush, her legs tensed, and then she leaped forward, heading straight for the fire dragon.

“Roar!!”

The fire dragon let out a furious roar, its body engulfed in flames as it charged at her.

But the brush in her hand grew larger once more, appearing like a series of metal whips, and it shattered a significant portion of the fire dragon’s body.

Taking advantage of the fire dragon’s moment of reformation, Su Lanqian dismantled another node, creating a gap in the once-impenetrable formation.

Su Lanqian turned to face the now-reformed fire dragon, which was roaring angrily. She stuck out her tongue and made a face at it.

Then, as the fire dragon charged, she took a step forward and vanished from the formation.

“Wow… so fast! Is this really something a cultivator in the early Golden Core stage can do?”

“Compared to her, I feel like a total loser!”

“Next up is Bai Feng. Can he do it?”

“Honestly, I think Bai Feng should just admit defeat early to save us the embarrassment.”

“Hey, why are you always siding with outsiders?”

“Am I wrong? A guy who isn’t even in the Golden Core stage, what can he do even if he has some talent in formations? Besides, who knows what tricks Bai Feng used to get in here.”

“Pfft, you dare to call Bai Feng a fraud based on mere baseless rumors? I hope you can still talk like that after he breaks the formation.”

“Ha! If he can break the formation, I’ll eat my hat!”

As the crowd debated, Su Lanqian had already exited the formation, leaving the fire dragon raging helplessly inside.

“Humph, that was a decent warm-up.”

She stretched her body and, as she passed by Bai Feng, a playful smile appeared on her face. “Junior Brother, good luck~ Don’t lose too quickly~”

“…”

What an arrogant little brat, but she certainly had the talent to back it up.

Though it seemed Su Lanqian had only dismantled a few nodes and dealt a blow to the fire dragon, the formation itself hadn’t sustained significant damage.

However, the Fire Dragon Formation was a fourth-grade formation, and breaking it from the inside was quite challenging, especially for a formation master, as combat wasn’t their strong suit.

In a way, the competition between formation masters was akin to hackers in Bai Feng’s past life; attackers had to find or even create vulnerabilities, and breaking the formation naturally meant victory for the attacker.

Moreover, she had quickly dismantled the key nodes of the Fire Dragon Formation with her early Golden Core cultivation and successfully escaped. Even a Nascent Soul stage formation master would find it hard to achieve such speed.

With Liu Meng’s assistance, the Fire Dragon Formation was soon repaired. She injected spiritual energy back into the formation and asked Bai Feng, “Are you sure you want to proceed?”

“Yeah, let’s start,” Bai Feng nodded and quickly walked to the formation.

“Brother, good luck!” Bai Yumo cheered, raising her fist.

Seeing Bai Feng was determined not to give up, Liu Meng dropped her intention to persuade him further. “Then, please enter! If you feel unwell, let me know right away, and I will stop.”

---

As soon as Bai Feng entered the Fire Dragon Formation, he was hit by an unbearable wave of heat. The space around him felt distorted by the intense temperature.

No wonder this formation could trap Golden Core cultivators and forcefully hinder Nascent Soul ones for a moment; for him, a perfected Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was indeed a bit overwhelming.

Given that, he couldn’t afford to be as leisurely as he had been in the Hundred Sword Formation.

Yin-Yang Patterns, activate!

Black and white flashed in Bai Feng’s eyes, and the pattern of the black-and-white fish appeared before him.

Even though he already knew the function of the Yin-Yang Patterns, he couldn’t help but marvel internally: it’s so clear!

Every channel of spiritual energy flow within the formation was laid out before his “eyes.” In an instant, he locked onto several of the most critical nodes.

---

**Chapter 41: She’s Like a Clown**

In the next moment, Bai Feng sprang into action.

He raised his right hand, several talismans appearing in his grasp.

Like he had activated x-ray vision, the talismans he threw accurately struck every important node of the Fire Dragon Formation. The once ferocious fire dragon was doused, its flames reduced by more than half.

With that, the formation had gaping holes, and Bai Feng could leave at any moment, but he had no intention of ending it so simply.

“Just one more, where is it…”

Bai Feng held the last talisman, his dual-colored eyes scanning the surroundings.

Until his gaze landed on the fire dragon.

“So it’s here.”

A smile crept onto Bai Feng’s lips. What a clever design! The most crucial node was placed on the fire dragon itself. The person who set up this formation must have had a deep understanding of the Fire Dragon Formation.

He drew his bamboo sword and pointed it at the weakened fire dragon.

But even with the critical node compromised and its flames diminished, the dragon’s might could not be underestimated!

With a furious roar, the fire dragon forced flames to erupt from its body, charging straight at Bai Feng.

“Bring it on!”

Bai Feng exhaled, the image of Bai Yumo practicing her swordplay flashing in his mind.