Jone sat on a nearby rock, biting into a fruit and calmly enjoying the amusing sight in front of him.
He then said, "I had said it, you won't be able to break the formation no matter how hard you try."
"Are you sure you don't want help?" he asked again, taking another bite of the fruit with a smile on his face.
The old witch saw how comfortable Jone was, as if he were in his own home without a care in the world. Her anger intensified every time Jone spoke.
"We don't need it!" the old witch exclaimed angrily.
"Everyone, gather. We've found all the parts of the formation that light up when touched. We've identified twenty-five such places."
"The twenty-two strongest disciples will attack these places simultaneously with the three of us and break the formation."
"Yes, elders."
Soon, everyone took their positions, and a new attempt began.
'Truly futile effort,' Jone thought, watching them all fail again.
Half an hour passed, and there seemed to be no progress in breaking the formation.
'Tsk, it seems the brat wasn't lying. It's impossible for us to break this formation on our own,' the old witch said, irritated with the others.
'It looks like we'll need your help, but the price will be high,' Elder Wu replied.
'We can accept your help, but half of the fruits are impossible. I haven't seen or felt anyone nearby all this time. He might be alone here just training.'
'Maybe he doesn't have a protector, only some tricks to save his life. But I doubt he can resist the three of us.'
'What do you think about accepting his help to break the formation? When we reach the tree, we'll be in a confined space. He won't be able to escape from us there. We can give him only a few fruits.'
'He won't have a choice when he's inside, and if he refuses, just kill him. These fruits are of great importance to our demonic branches, at the end of the list of the fifty demonic sects.'
'We just have to hide our traces and leave quickly. I don't think the main sect will investigate an unknown genius who has already died without doing anything,' the old witch shared with the others.
'Alright, let's do that. Our three sects together won't be weaker than the Demonic Horn Sect. We don't need to fear them. It'll be worth it, even with the risks.'
'If he doesn't accept the share we offer, we'll have no choice but to kill him,' Elder Wu said, walking over to where Jone was.
"We'll accept your help to break the formation. Half of the fruits from the tree will be yours."
The elder spoke without changing his expression, but Jone felt his left eye pulsating slightly and saw that the elder's expression didn't seem natural in his vision.
'That's… he's lying. My eye tells me that. It seems they're planning something, but it doesn't matter. I'm confident I'm safe.'
"Oh, it's a great choice. It seems there's still a bit of intelligence in you, old folks. Alright, step back and let me work," Jone said as he stood up and walked calmly past everyone without a care.
'Truly annoying. I can't wait to see him suffer,' the old witch said in her mind, paying attention to Jone.
Jone approached the large stone wall on the mountain, energy was sent to his left eye.
'Eye of True Sight.'
Suddenly, everything appeared before him—the gigantic cave, along with a massive formation blocking the entrance and hiding it.
"If it's like I read in the basic formation books in the sect, then it should be like this…"
Jone began walking along the walls and occasionally touched places that quickly lit up with light and then disappeared.
"Yes, it's like a puzzle, although I've never seen or played one when I was on Earth, I've heard about it."
Jone then touched in a specific order, and the lights that were shining and going dark no longer functioned that way—all the ones he touched remained lit, and soon all twenty-five lights were on.
"If not for the eyes of true sight, I would have stayed here for years trying to figure out this combination. If you're not proficient in formations, it would be hard to break this formation."
Then the lights that were on quickly gathered in one place, and a bright blue light shone strongly on the large wall, and then…
'Clang.'
A loud noise, like breaking glass, echoed in everyone's ears, and a gigantic cave appeared in front of them.
Giant roots were in the cave, glowing while a mysterious aura emanated from them.
"This is incredible."
"There was something like this hidden here."
"Whoever made this formation must have been really impressive."
The disciples and the elders looked surprised at the cave, paying no attention to anything else.
'It's really here. Let's get the fruit as quickly as possible. The aura of the crystal tree was stuck because of the matrix, but now that it's released, the beasts will sense it soon, and after a few days, everyone with a certain level of cultivation in a large area will sense it.'
"Let's go," Elder Wu said as the disciples followed, but the old witch suddenly spoke.
"Wait, where did the brat go?!" The old witch realized that Jone had disappeared and shouted to the others.
"Damn, the brat deceived us. Run fast to the cave; don't let him escape," the old witch said, running at full speed toward the cave.