Zi Linling frowned and asked, "How can the hidden formation be broken?"
"Let me sense the formation's foot!"
Elder Du said, then closed his eyes and enveloped the pendant entirely with his soul power, sensing it carefully.
Ten breaths later, he opened his eyes and said with some doubt, "Strange, I can't find the foot of the hidden formation!"
Zi Linling's brows furrowed, "Can't find the formation's foot! How is that possible? Unless it has no formation's foot!"
No formation's foot?
Elder Du's eyes lit up, and he immediately closed his eyes to sense again.
This time, it only took three breaths before he opened his eyes, exclaiming with surprise, "Found it! The person who created this formation is truly a genius, using a formation within a formation!"
"A formation within a formation?"
Zi Linling was astonished. A formation within a formation that could deceive Elder Du, a formation master, showed just how powerful it was.
Elder Du nodded and said, "That's right! The person who created this formation superimposed three ultra-miniature concealment formations at the foot of the hidden formation. If you don't look carefully, you won't be able to find them."
During Elder Du's first sensing, although he felt something unusual there, he didn't pay it much attention.
It wasn't until Zi Linling's words jolted him from his reverie that Elder Du sensed it again, finally discovering the three small concealment formations.
Although concealment formations and hidden formations seem similar in meaning, the internal differences are vast.
A hidden formation is a static formation, meaning that what it hides cannot move.
However, a concealment formation is a dynamic formation, capable of constantly changing the position of what it hides.
The combination of hidden and concealment formations, with movement within stillness and stillness within movement, was truly perfect.
Elder Du pointed to an inconspicuous corner of the pendant and said, "Force out a drop of your vital blood and drip it here. The Illusory Hidden Formation will recognize you as its master, and you will naturally be able to see the pendant's true form!"
Zi Linling followed Elder Du's instructions and dripped a drop of her vital blood.
The drop of vital blood paused for a moment before quickly seeping into the formation on the pendant.
Instantly, the room was filled with a brilliant white light. When the light disappeared, the pendant had revealed its true form.
An ancient token appeared in Zi Linling's hand, covered with purple auspicious cloud patterns.
Upon careful examination, Zi Linling discovered that the purple auspicious cloud patterns were arranged in a specific pattern to form a large character "紫" (Zi).
At the same time, an ancient voice echoed in Zi Linling's ears.
"Since you have unlocked the Illusory Hidden Formation on the token, from today onwards, you are the seventy-second generation patriarch of the Zi family. Please drip your vital blood into the Patriarch's Token to complete the master-servant recognition!"
Zi Linling was startled. As if possessed, she forced out another drop of vital blood and dripped it onto the Patriarch's Token.
The Patriarch's Token absorbed the vital blood and transformed into a shadow. Before Zi Linling could react, it drilled into her dantian in one go.
After circling within Zi Linling's dantian, the Patriarch's Token stopped above it.
At this moment, a strand of multicolored light appeared at the bottom of Zi Linling's dantian.
The multicolored light shot straight up towards the top of the dantian, tightly entwining the Zi family's Patriarch's Token, and then rapidly retracted.
The Patriarch's Token tried to struggle, but it was of no use. It could only tremble as it was pulled to the bottom of the dantian by the multicolored light.
At this point, Zi Linling's eyes were filled with purple, and an ancient voice resonated in her mind.
"The first layer of the Seven-Colored Space, the Purple Space, has returned! Only by collecting all Seven-Colored Spaces can the Chaos World be opened. Please strive to find the other spaces and complete the space fusion!"
Concurrently, the miniature version of Zi Linling within Zi Linling's consciousness suddenly opened her eyes. A flash of purple appeared and quickly vanished, and the mini Zi Linling's eyes closed again.
When everything returned to calm, Zi Linling had already fainted.
As for Elder Du, he had been forcefully sent back to the Nine Spirit Ring the moment the multicolored light appeared, and his connection to the outside world was severed.
When Zi Linling woke up again, it was already the next morning.
She twisted her slightly sore neck and stretched.
Suddenly, her expression changed, and she sat cross-legged on the bed, examining her dantian internally.
She discovered that her previously colorless dantian had now turned entirely purple, and above the purple dantian, the Zi family's Patriarch's Token floated quietly.
Zi Linling was greatly alarmed, unsure if this change was for the better or worse.
However, when she circulated the "Human Emperor's Medical Canon," she found that not only had her spiritual energy absorption speed doubled, but the amount of spiritual energy her dantian could store had also doubled.
In other words, at the same level, her combat endurance was twice that of others.
From this, it seemed that the anomaly in her dantian was developing in a positive direction, which made Zi Linling happy and relieved.
The only thing that troubled her was how to take out the Zi family's Patriarch's Token.
To her surprise, as soon as she thought of the Patriarch's Token, the token appeared in her hand, which was another pleasant surprise.
As she touched the token, which exuded an aura of antiquity, Zi Linling felt a strange sensation.
But before she could sense it carefully, the feeling disappeared again.
Just as Zi Linling was about to try to capture it again, the room door opened, and Xue Ying entered with a basin of hot water.
"Miss, did you sleep well last night?"
Xue Ying placed down the basin and walked over with a wet towel, about to hand it to Zi Linling.
But when she saw Zi Linling, she pointed to Zi Linling's forehead and exclaimed, "Miss, you... what happened to you..."
Zi Linling was taken aback, "What happened to me?"
"You... you..."
Xue Ying stammered for a long time, unable to utter a complete sentence.
Zi Linling frowned and said, "Xue Ying, what is it? Please say something!"
Xue Ying sighed and said, "Miss, you should see for yourself!"
Saying that, she fetched a mirror from the vanity and held it up to Zi Linling.
Zi Linling looked at Xue Ying speechlessly, then turned to look into the mirror.
In the mirror, Zi Linling still bore her former resemblance, but her skin was fair, her brows delicately furrowed, as if she had undergone a complete transformation.
At the center of her forehead was a half-bloomed seven-petaled lotus flower hairpin, vividly rendered. One petal had already opened, its dazzling purple color further accentuating the beauty's ethereal grace.
This was truly the embodiment of "no beauty unmatched through the ages, pleasing to the eye is this maiden."
Zi Linling stared at her reflection with a touch of daze, "Xue Ying, is the person in this mirror... really me?"
Xue Ying nodded and said, "Miss, you look so beautiful now!"
Zi Linling gazed blankly at herself in the mirror, lost in thought.
Could it be the Patriarch's Token?
No, this seven-petaled lotus only has one colored petal...
Suddenly, she remembered the ancient voice and understood.
The Seven-Colored Space!
It was the Seven-Colored Space!