Chapter 33: The Most Speechless Way to Break a Formation in History

After seeing Zheng Tuo off.

Shen Xian'er hugged the food box tightly with both hands and jogged back to her quarters.

She closed the door and bolted the lock.

Placing the food box on the table, she propped her chin in her hands and stared intently at it.

It was as if she possessed X-ray vision.

"What kind of delicious food will Senior Brother put inside!"

Shen Xian'er poked her little nose out and sniffed, attempting to catch a scent of what was inside.

However, because Zheng Tuo's food box was reinforced with a formation, its seal was incredibly tight; she couldn't smell a thing.

"Maybe... I should open it and take a look."

Succumbing to temptation, Shen Xian'er pressed her small hands against the box.

"No, no, no."

She shook her head vigorously.

"Senior Brother said I can only open it tomorrow. I must listen to him."

Reluctantly, she moved her hands away from the box.

Yet, her small face was written with the desperate urge to see what was inside.

"Xiao Bai, do you think I should open the food box?"

Shen Xian'er picked up the little white cat, massaging its head with her chin as she sought its opinion.

"Meow!"

Xiao Bai let out a cry.

"Xiao Bai, how can you say Senior Brother is a bad person? Bad people couldn't make such... delicious food. Only those who pour their heart into their cooking can make food that tastes that good," Shen Xian'er declared with absolute conviction.

Despite her words, she continued to stare longingly at the box, licking her lips.

"Meow meow!"

"Xiao Bai, how can you scold Senior Brother? It's wrong to insult people. Senior Brother is a very good person."

"Meow meow meow!"

"Alright, alright, you're the best. Our Xiao Bai is the best."

Shen Xian'er affectionately stroked Xiao Bai's smooth fur, causing the cat to wear an expression of pure enjoyment.

"Xiao Bai, are you hungry?"

Shen Xian'er's eyes remained fixed on the food box.

Xiao Bai shook its head, indicating it was not hungry.

"You're not hungry? Then help me feel the food box. See if the food inside has gone cold. If it's cold, it won't taste good anymore."

Shen Xian'er grabbed Xiao Bai's paw.

Under the cat's reluctant gaze, she guided the paw toward the food box.

Xiao Bai rolled its eyes.

There was no helping it.

It knew Shen Xian'er better than anyone.

The cat took the initiative, exerting force and extending its claw.

*Clatter!*

The food box was knocked over.

"Oh no... Xiao Bai, how could you... Oh! It's roast duck!"

Shen Xian'er immediately rushed forward to put the roast duck back into the box.

"What should I do? What should I do? The formation on the food box has been broken, so the freshness will drop. It might go bad by tomorrow," Shen Xian'er muttered to herself, tapping her chin with her finger.

"Senior Brother, it's really not because I'm greedy. It's all Xiao Bai's fault for knocking the box over. If I don't eat it, the roast duck will definitely spoil. That would be wasting all the care you put into it. You're the best to me; how could Xian'er bear to waste your kindness?"

Shen Xian'er finally found a way to convince herself.

"Mm!"

She nodded vigorously with her small mouth pursed, looking as if she had made a monumental decision.

"To ensure I don't let your hard work go to waste, I will definitely eat all of this roast duck."

When a person can conquer their own inner struggle, everything becomes perfectly logical.

Shen Xian'er swiftly produced her two great treasures: her rice bowl and chopsticks.

Like a whirlwind sweeping away fallen leaves, she swept the roast duck into her bowl and began to enjoy it blissily.

***

"What a gluttonous little girl."

Zheng Tuo was walking on the path back to Falling Immortal Mountain.

He held a bronze treasure mirror in his hand.

Within the mirror, the sight of Shen Xian'er blissfully devouring the roast duck was enough to make anyone chuckle.

Of course, the reason he could see her was because the food box was engraved with bronze spiritual runes.

These runes could communicate with the bronze treasure mirror.

With his current strength, he could see everything within a ten-meter radius of the runes.

He had no choice; for the sake of caution, he needed to have a comprehensive understanding of Shen Xian'er.

He pulled out a small notebook and marked a heavy emphasis next to the note regarding her gluttony.

He put the notebook away and headed home.

Upon returning to Falling Immortal Mountain, he did not rest. Instead, he inspected the Immortal Trapping Formation, striving to ensure no errors occurred during the test.

***

The next day.

Shen Xian'er woke up from a deep, heavy sleep.

It had been three years since she had slept so sweetly.

Perhaps it was because she had eaten her fill yesterday.

After getting up, she didn't even wash her face; she just sat dazed on the bed, counting on her fingers to calculate the time.

She was calculating how much longer it would be until she could go play with her Senior Brother.

Time flew by.

As the sun began to set, Shen Xian'er lay on her bed, preparing to sleep.

*Gurgle... gurgle...*

Her little stomach complained of its dissatisfaction, demanding energy.

Shen Xian'er fished a wild fruit from her bosom and held it to her lips, hesitating whether to eat it.

"But I'll see Senior Brother tomorrow. I'll just endure a little longer."

In a rare moment of restraint, Shen Xian'er did not give in to her hunger.

She hugged Xiao Bai tighter, attempting to lull herself to sleep.

Xiao Bai opened its bleary eyes, which were filled with helplessness.

In a trance, a golden character for "King" (王) appeared on its forehead.

The character emitted a faint golden light, enveloping both the cat and Shen Xian'er.

Simultaneously, its body grew to about 1.5 meters in size.

Feeling the warmth emanating from Xiao Bai, Shen Xian'er hugged it even tighter.

A few breaths later, she drifted into dreamland.

***

The sun rose in the east.

As if triggered by an alarm clock, Shen Xian'er woke up early.

She swallowed a Cleansing Pill, specifically put on her most beautiful floral clothes, and picked out some of the better wild fruits from her basket.

Carrying a basket of wild fruit, she set off for Falling Immortal Mountain.

She arrived at the foot of the mountain quite smoothly.

As Shen Xian'er approached the vicinity of Falling Immortal Mountain, Zheng Tuo was already waiting for her.

"The little glutton arrived quite early," Zheng Tuo said with a smile.

Watching the adorable, Little Red Riding Hood-like Shen Xian'er, he began to manipulate the Immortal Trapping Formation.

The formation consisted of one hundred and eight small sub-formations, roughly categorized into three types

Illusionary, Hallucinatory, and Offensive.

For Shen Xian'er, he naturally chose the Hallucinatory type for testing.

The moment Shen Xian'er stepped into the range of Falling Immortal Mountain, she fell into an illusion.

"Wow... such a beautiful Falling Immortal Mountain!"

Shen Xian'er's eyes widened.

She gazed at the kaleidoscopic world before her, becoming lost in it.

Green mountains and clear waters surrounded her, accompanied by the songs of birds and the fragrance of flowers.

A faint mist drifted through the air, coating everything in a layer of hazy beauty.

An atmosphere of tranquility and peace permeated the surroundings.

Everything seemed so perfect and harmonious.

Shen Xian'er was completely lost within it.

"Giggle, giggle..."

Joyful laughter echoed through this peaceful world.

Like a forest sprite, Shen Xian'er danced with the breeze and played among the flowers, looking incredibly happy.

***

At the summit of Falling Immortal Mountain, under a parasol tree.

Zheng Tuo watched Shen Xian'er's image in the bronze mirror and nodded to himself.

There were many types of illusionary formations.

Some were terrifying and frightening.

Some reflected one's inner heart.

Some caused one to forget time and die of old age.

Some were specifically designed to empower inner demons to toy with you.

And so on... they were all bizarre and varied.

Currently, the one Shen Xian'er had fallen into was the illusion that caused one to forget time and die of old age.

Inside the formation, Shen Xian'er had completely let go of herself.

She ran tirelessly through that heaven-like world.

She had entirely forgotten the existence of time.

Furthermore, it was clearly visible that the spiritual energy within Shen Xian'er's body was slowly leaking away.

This leakage would intensify the longer one remained in the formation.

Once all the spiritual energy was depleted, the formation would begin to drain her life force.

As long as the formation showed no fluctuations, Shen Xian'er would sink deeper and deeper.

Ultimately, she would die of old age within the formation due to the total loss of life force.

Zheng Tuo took out his notebook.

He carefully recorded the acceleration of Shen Xian'er's spiritual energy loss, the stability of the formation... and so on.

***

Inside the illusion, Shen Xian'er ran happily, completely lost.

She loved this feeling far too much.

Being enveloped in warmth made her feel lazy, as if she wanted to play here forever.

Suddenly!

*Gurgle... gurgle...*

A strange sound echoed.

Shen Xian'er immediately stopped running.

She looked down at her little stomach.

Clearly, she was hungry.

Shen Xian'er rubbed her stomach and whispered, "Even though it's fun here, I should go find Senior Brother quickly so he doesn't worry."

Having regained her senses, she skipped away from the first illusionary formation.

At the summit of Falling Immortal Mountain.

Zheng Tuo held his notebook and pencil with stiff hands.

"Uh..."

Just because she was hungry, she had broken my meticulously prepared illusion.

Zheng Tuo was speechless.

He felt a sense of surrealism that was hard to describe.

He had thought of countless ways to break a formation, but he had never imagined it would be broken this way.

He immediately noted it in his book: *Illusionary formations must include an anti-hunger mechanism to prevent the subject from breaking the formation due to hunger.*

Having broken the first illusion, Shen Xian'er soon fell into the second one.

The moment she entered, she froze in place, completely bewildered.