Zhenxing was overwhelmed: "We have never met, why would you help me, benefactor?"
Ming Zhi Tian sighed, "Perhaps out of filial piety. While your family is still alive, cherish everyone. You should come to places like this less often in the future."
Zhenxing knelt again to express his gratitude!
Ming Zhi Tian said, "Zhenxing, do you know who the supreme authority in this demon spirit city is?"
Zhenxing was horrified, "Does benefactor have a conflict with that person?"
Ming Zhi Tian shook his head, "No. I need to see him. You just need to tell me everything about him."
Zhenxing uttered two words, "Su Sheng."
...
Ming Zhi Tian arrived at the place containing information about that person. Before him lay a vast expanse of azure lake and sea, yet it was subtly concealed, its secrets impenetrable even to Ming Zhi Tian's divine sense.
It wasn't until Ming Zhi Tian activated his Celestial Eye that he realized this was a super grand formation, known as the Eighty Palaces, Ninety-Two Formations!
Besides answering corresponding couplets and riddles in each level, one had to step on the correct locations to avoid triggering mechanisms.
For a formation of this magnitude, Ming Zhi Tian could simply find its core and destroy it with a single hand. However, such a grand formation was hard-won, and by its style, it seemed to have been left by the ancient demon Pu Teng. He decided to preserve their legacy for them.
Stepping onto the lake's surface, it was composed of invisible planks. Suddenly, the Five Elements shifted to the Nine Paths, and a couplet appeared out of thin air:
"Wind and rain, warmth and cold, searching everywhere..."
Ming Zhi Tian looked up and replied, "Orioles and swallows, flowers and leaves, tenderly, day and night."
The great path opened, and Ming Zhi Tian entered the second level. As he took a step, another invisible couplet emerged:
"Right and wrong, wrong and right, unable to distinguish..."
Ming Zhi Tian stood with his hands behind his back, "Right and wrong, wrong and right, it's all the same in the end."
The third level...
Couplet: "Up and down, left and right, from now on, front and back cannot be considered together..."
Ming Zhi Tian stepped forward, "Father and son, king and subject, loyalty and filial piety have always been difficult to balance."
"Ceng ceng ceng..."
Invisible pathways opened one after another. Ming Zhi Tian passed through several with ease.
He continued to ascend, a couplet appearing: "Red and green everywhere, orioles and swallows..."
Ming Zhi Tian: "Flowers and grass, year after year, day and night."
"Ceng..."
"The sky is near the mountaintop, walking to the mountainside, the sky is farther..."
Ming Zhi Tian pondered for a moment, "The moon floats on the water's surface, reaching for the bottom, the moon still sinks."
Nine turns, eight palaces. Ninety-two gives birth to eighty. Eighty palaces evolve into ninety-two. The two revolve and invert, unpredictable, their essence elusive.
"Kacha..."
A staircase opened...
Followed by the words "Nine birds," suspended in the air.
Ming Zhi Tian pointed, "Jiu."
The second staircase opened: "A black dog."
Ming Zhi Tian pointed again, "Mo."
The third staircase: "What kind of oil cannot be lit?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "Soy sauce."
The fourth staircase: "What book cannot be bought?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "A will."
The fifth staircase: "Who goes to see a doctor every day?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "A doctor."
The sixth staircase: "Stealing what is not against the law?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "To steal a smile."
The seventh staircase: "The ninth marriage, a city name?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "Paris."
The eighth staircase: "What is the cleanest way to wipe the floor?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "With all your might."
He carried the encyclopedia of Zhuge Shen Hou, the god of wisdom, in his mind. These questions were far too simple.
"Kacha..."
The ninth staircase: "What is the son of a wolf and a dog called?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "Wolfdog."
The tenth staircase: "What word do people say is useless when they see it?"
Ming Zhi Tian: "Useless."