The moment the fortune teller's feet touched solid ground, it was so shocked that it almost didn't dare step down.
It even lightly tapped the ground with its stone shoes, producing dull thump, thump sounds as stone struck stone. Looking amazed, it said, "So... this is the outside world?"
"Mm," Saint of Formation gazed at the endless flood before him with a weathered expression.
"The seas turn to fields, and the world never stays the same."
"Who would've thought that once I left, it would be hundreds of years?"
"I wonder how... she is now."
"My lord, I'm sure you'll find Madam soon," the fortune teller said with a cupped-fist salute.
Just then, the flood reached its feet, covering its toes.
"Ah! What's this cold thing?"
"This is water," Saint of Formation said calmly, "I've told you before about the water in the story of Poseidon the Great controlling the flood. And today, what I promised that kid... no, my disciple, is to help him control this flood."
"My lord is the equal of Poseidon the Great," the fortune teller continued to flatter him.
As it spoke, it gently poked at the water's surface with its toes.
Watching the ripples spread across the water, a childlike smile appeared on its old face.
It seemed... to be having a great time playing with the water.
"Master, you know this water is pouring out from the spatial rift, right?", Ethan reminded him, "Shouldn't we go inside and shut off the main valve?"
"What's a valve?", Saint of Formation looked at Ethan in confusion, then quickly waved his hand, "Forget it. We've been separated by hundreds of years. It's only natural that this world has all kinds of new things now."
"As for what you said, that the flood is coming from the spatial rift, then we just need to close the spatial rift."
"Why bother looking for the source of the flood? Isn't that putting the cart before the horse?"
"Close it?"
Ethan looked at the enormous waterfall pouring out of the Gray Mine like the Yellow River bursting its banks.
He simply couldn't imagine how anyone was supposed to... close such a massive rift.
"Since I've accepted you as my disciple, I'll teach you your first lesson today."
As he spoke, Saint of Formation pointed his bronze sword toward the Gray Mine.
The next moment... wherever the sword pointed, a white dot appeared and remained there.
Not only that, the white dots kept flashing.
But Saint of Formation didn't stop.
He continued using the bronze sword...
Point! Point! Point!
Only after pointing a total of one hundred and eight times did he finally stop.
As Saint of Formation lowered his sword, countless white lines suddenly lit up across the sky above the Gray Mine. The lines formed a gigantic spiderweb, completely covering the entire mining area.
"This..."
Ethan was stunned by what Saint of Formation had done.
The Gray Mine stretched for dozens of kilometers, perhaps even over a hundred.
Ethan had never explored all the way to its depths, so he didn't know its exact size. He only knew that even without counting the underground goblin labyrinth, the Gray Ore Mine itself was already unbelievably vast.
Yet Saint of Formation had wrapped the entire area with ease.
That level of power was terrifying.
He wasn't sure whether Nostradamus could do the same, but when it came to setting up large formations, Saint of Formation clearly had the upper hand for now.
Then again, that was only natural.
After all, he was called the Saint of Formation.
"These are spatial connection points, also called minor formation cores," Saint of Formation explained, "Anything that exists within heaven and earth can be understood as a formation."
"Humans are no exception. The acupoints on the human body are actually minor formation cores. As for the places where a single strike can kill you, those are your major formation cores, the most important ones."
"To break a formation is to destroy its formation core."
"For example, if I press your death point right now..."
"You'll die immediately."
"If I press your laughing point instead and don't stop, you'll laugh yourself to death."
As he spoke, Saint of Formation casually pointed at Ethan.
The next instant, Ethan suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to laugh well up inside him.
"Heh..."
At first, he tried to hold it back, but he quickly realized he couldn't.
"Pfft! Hahahahaha!"
"That's the effect of a minor formation core, or, in other words, an acupoint."
As he explained, Saint of Formation released the acupoint technique on Ethan.
Only then did Ethan finally stop laughing uncontrollably.
After he recovered, Saint of Formation pointed at the web of light surrounding the Gray Mine.
"If the human body is a small formation, then this spatial barrier is a grand formation of heaven and earth. But no matter what kind of formation it is, there's always a way to break it."
"Look."
As he spoke, Saint of Formation pointed the bronze sword toward several flickering points of light near the edge of the rift in the Gray Mine.
"Those are several connection points. They're where this space connects to the Mist World's space."
"What do you mean by connection points?"
The more Ethan listened, the more confused he became.
But for the sake of learning such an incredible technique, he had no choice but to ask without shame.
"You might not understand if I explain it that way," Saint of Formation thought for a moment before continuing, "So let me put it in simpler terms. You can tell that this space didn't originally belong here, right?"
"Yes," Ethan nodded.
"That's because the connection points linking this space to its original world, or these connecting formation lines, were broken."
Saint of Formation continued, "Of course, they might have been destroyed by someone, or perhaps natural changes occurred. For example, the world changed over time, causing the formation lines to break. So the space began drifting through the void."
"Then that rootless space drifted here. Coincidentally, this place had some spare formation lines, or perhaps someone deliberately created extra ones, and they hooked onto this space."
"At that point, the space anchored here like a ship dropping anchor."
"And if..."
"We want to close it, then the simplest method is naturally to let it leave."
"Cut the connection lines between it and this place," Ethan answered immediately, "That'll make this space get lost, right?"
"You're quick to learn," Saint of Formation nodded in satisfaction, but then said with a smile that wasn't really a smile, "But cutting the formation lines connecting one space to another isn't easy. Why don't you give it a try?"