Chapter 188 A Century-Old Conspiracy (2/2)

Setting aside this heavy topic for the moment, her gaze returned to the animal hide map.

This time, she looked at the outermost layer, the interception formation belonging to Han Zhishan and his group.

As she looked at it, the seriousness in her eyes faded, replaced by a keen interest, like discovering a new and intriguing toy.

"Interesting, really interesting..." she muttered to herself.

She pointed to the red circles representing the black stones on the outside with her finger, and looked up at Yan Yu to explain:

“Brother, look at this formation. Although it’s very crude, the idea is very bold.”

"This is an array that intercepts, contracts, and stores energy. Judging from the traces, it appeared much later, at most eighty years ago. Moreover, it wasn't built all at once; it was constantly being reinforced and adjusted. Each adjustment reduced the amount of earth energy that was being transferred away by a little bit."

Yan Yu raised an eyebrow, signaling her to continue with his eyes.

“To give you an example,” Ruan Tang’s little mind worked quickly, her eyes sparkling, “the main formation inside is like a giant water pipe that draws a thousand units of earth energy from the mountains every year. Our black soil has enough earth energy; it could last for another hundred years.”

"And this outer barrier is like a thief secretly drilling holes in the water pipe!"

"It doesn't block it completely, for fear of being discovered. It just drills a few more small holes every year to slow the flow down by a tiny bit, so slow that it's almost imperceptible."

"In the first year, it stole one out of a thousand. In the second year, it stole another one. Over the years, the amount of energy stolen is staggering!"

At this point, Ruan Tang clapped her hands suddenly, her face full of excitement and sudden enlightenment.

"I understand! Brother, I understand why that black stone contained such pure energy! I also understand why Xiaobai broke through immediately after absorbing just one piece!"

The little white dog, which had been drooping and listless on Ruan Tang's shoulder because of the sinister aura, suddenly perked up its silver-tipped ears like antennas as soon as it heard the words "energy" and "breakthrough"!

Its pair of dark purple beady eyes widened instantly, its little nose sniffed the air powerfully, as if it could smell the unparalleled delicacy that haunted the mouse's dreams again, and it even uncontrollably blew out a crystal-clear saliva bubble from the corner of its mouth, which popped with a "pop".

It's delicious! Yes, yes, yes! That's it! The best one!

Little White jumped excitedly on Ruan Tang's shoulder, pointing its two mithril paws at the red circle on the map, squeaking incessantly, urging its owner to hurry up and find it some more treats.

Ruan Tang was amused by it and patted its fluffy little head reassuringly.

"It turns out that the intercepted earth energy didn't escape; it was all poured into those black stones by this interception array! Those black stones are like cans of energy!"

"Han Zhishan and his group are not the ones who set up the formation."

"They're just... maintenance workers for this interception array!"

This deduction instantly connects all the clues into a clear line.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

One group is undermining the nation's destiny, while another group is secretly carrying out sabotage and interception using a "stealing within a stealth" method.

Yan Yu looked at the area Ruan Tang had traced with her finger and asked in a deep voice, "Does this interception array require regular maintenance?"

Ruan Tang carefully examined the map and, combining it with her previous discoveries on the mountain, nodded affirmatively: "Judging from the traces, it should be a major maintenance every ten years. Judging by the timeline, their 'maintenance workers' should arrive sometime between this year and next. I just don't know whether the people coming this time are friend or foe."

"Maintenance," Yan Yu's gaze fell on the red circles, and he got to the point, "Do we need anything special?"

Ruan Tang thought for a moment, then nodded and shook her head: "In the cultivation world, the operation of formations requires carriers like spirit stones. According to the principles of this world, energy is conserved. To maintain this interception formation, simply relying on stolen earth energy is definitely not enough; it must have... well, something like an energy carrier, acting as an energy medium, in order to periodically activate and reinforce it." (This chapter has been read. Please click the next chapter to continue reading!)