Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 353 Assembling the Formation - Before the Auction (4K)

"Since the twin jades are so useful, why don't I get some of them too?"

If it can truly and rapidly increase the strength of one's spiritual sense and the total amount of one's blood and qi, then it would undoubtedly be a good thing for Xiao Chen.

The Double Jade Gathering is coming soon, and he still has quite a few spirit stones in his possession.

Why not go and make a deal with those independent cultivators in private?
The question is, is this the right thing to do?

Xiao Chen's gaze sharpened: "It feels like we could easily be tracked down and discovered."

"This concerns the whereabouts of Shuangyu, and the Holy City might also get involved in the investigation."

"Unless I leave right after I change and don't come back for a while, I'll definitely be affected by the massive search that's going on."

This task is easy to do in itself, but it's like stirring up a hornet's nest.

Once it happens, a lot of trouble will follow.

Xiao Chen felt he needed to carefully weigh the pros and cons before deciding whether to participate.

But then he thought again that tomorrow was the Double Jade Conference, and it might be too late to make the acquisition now.

After all, it wasn't convenient for him to openly hang up a sign that said he would buy back Shuangyu at a high price.

That shows a lack of respect for Guiyun Sect, the local overlord.

After all, they are a powerful force with several Nascent Soul True Monarchs, so we should still show them some respect for now.

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen sighed inwardly, feeling it was a pity.

Even if he returned to Guiyun Market immediately, he wouldn't have time to buy many double jades.

And just by thinking about it, you can tell that this thing definitely needs a very large quantity to be effective.

If you can only afford a few hundred or a thousand yuan, it probably won't have much of an effect.

Furthermore, Xiao Chen now possesses the Jade Ruyi to hone his divine sense, and he can also increase his total blood volume through the Blood Crystal given by Su Li.

For him, the two jade pieces were not truly irreplaceable.

On the contrary, it is easy to cause trouble for yourself.

From this perspective, it might be better to focus on bidding for the spiritual items this time, and then try to use the Cai family's connections to customize your own spiritual weapon.

When another opportunity arises in the future, we will go and get a large batch of double jade.

As the saying goes, you have to eat one bite at a time and do one thing at a time.

With this in mind, Xiao Chen simply calmed down and stayed in the study to look through the rest of the classics.

It added some scattered bits and pieces of common knowledge about the world.

It must be said that the new cultivation world does indeed possess extremely high standards in many areas.

From these ancient texts, Xiao Chen learned about many new types of potent elixirs, as well as some rare and precious treasures.

For example, the Clear Dew Foundation Building Pill can increase the success rate of Foundation Building by 90%, so getting it is basically equivalent to success.

With the future addition of the 'Golden Core Formation' technique and related secret methods, even cultivators with mixed spiritual roots will have the potential to break through to the Golden Core stage.

Although these elixirs are expensive, ordinary cultivators certainly cannot afford them.

However, for some cultivators from wealthy families, it's a great deal.

For example, this world has also developed portable array plates.

They went a step further on this foundation and came up with the concept of modular formations.

By utilizing a portable array plate of the same origin, the two arrays are made compatible with each other, forming a low-configuration version of the pseudo-linked array.

Although its power is not as great as a true chain formation, it can surpass a single formation.

Theoretically speaking, a cultivator who doesn't understand formations can use two sets of formation plates.

The assembly formation can be set up in less than half an hour.

Not only is it fast, but it is also more effective than the arrays set up by array masters of the same cultivation level in two or three hours.

Moreover, Xiao Chen also noticed...

The book mentions that as early as 100,000 years ago, the third-order assembly formation had already been widely promoted throughout the cultivation world.

The Holy City had even forcibly assembled a fourth-order assembly formation 30,000 years ago.

However, its total refining cost is more than fifty times that of a normal fourth-order linked array, making it completely uneconomical.

Currently, many array masters are researching how to improve arrays and reduce costs to increase their practicality.

"If this thing can be made, it seems quite practical."

At least Xiao Chen wouldn't mind carrying a fourth-order grand formation with him, even if it's a little expensive.

Of course, he currently hopes to obtain the means to break the formation.

The book does mention something similar, namely a special spiritual artifact called the Formation-Breaking Cone.

Broadly speaking, the Breaking Formation Cone can be divided into two main categories.

These are, respectively, a dedicated formation-breaking cone for specific formations, and an enhanced formation-breaking cone with a wider range of applications.

The price of the former depends on the formation itself that needs to be attacked.

The stronger the formation, the higher the price.

The latter was used as a means of self-preservation, and its price remained high for many years, making it unaffordable and unavailable to ordinary cultivators.

This thing was originally invented by array masters to fight against their peers.

However, in the new cultivation world, it has now become an important way for weapon crafting masters to earn cultivation resources.

"Use magical artifacts to counter the formation?"

Judging from the description alone, Xiao Chen didn't really trust the effects of this thing.

As far as he knew, many defensive formations and trapping formations were not afraid of the impact of magical artifacts.

However, considering that the overall level of cultivation in the new cultivation world is better, it should be more than enough for him to take back the great formation to deal with the sea race.

"Yes, it's better to leave this matter to the Cai family."

What Xiao Chen needed was to strengthen the array-breaking cone, since he didn't know what kind of array the sea tribe was using.

I also want to keep a few more to deal with the Yin Corpse Sect in the future.

This means he would have to order a large batch.

It would be too conspicuous for an individual to show up; why would a rogue cultivator need so many array-breaking cones?

Why not let the Cai family attract attention from the outside world?

Just as I was thinking of the Cai family, Old Master Cai came knocking on the door and asked, "Senior, the spirit boat is ready. When would you like to depart?"

Xiao Chen closed the book and looked outside.

Only then did he realize that he had been reading ancient books for a whole day and night without even realizing it.

Fortunately, I've read most of the important content, with only one book left, "Nine-Nine Food Records," remaining unread.

Xiao Chen simply picked up the book and replied, "You don't need to ask me about this. Just do it the way it is every year."

"The priority is to prevent outsiders from noticing anything amiss."

"Just arrange a separate cabin for me. No need for servants or maids. Just treat it as a normal trip with a junior."

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Cai immediately nodded: "I understand."

"Then please step aboard the spirit ship, senior. We should depart at this time."

Soon, the rest of the Cai family members also appeared.

Coincidentally, no one was in seclusion.

So, Old Master Cai took the opportunity to introduce the important family members to Xiao Chen.

Including himself, the Cai family currently has a total of thirteen Golden Core cultivators.

Among them are five Golden Core Great Perfection cultivators, six Golden Core Middle Stage cultivators, and two Golden Core Early Stage cultivators.

At first glance, there seem to be quite a few people, and their overall cultivation level is not low. But in reality, both the number of people and the cultivation level ratio have shown a serious gap.

The reason they all appear to have impressive cultivation levels is because they are all old guys.

One of the two early-stage Golden Core cultivators had been stuck at a minor bottleneck for thirty years with no progress, while the other barely managed to form his Golden Core at the age of one hundred and thirty, and had no further strength to continue.

Judging from this, it will only take another one or two hundred years for these old guys to gradually leave.

The Cai family probably doesn't even have many Golden Core cultivators left.

No wonder that even the old master Cai gave up the spirit fields and spirit mines outside and withdrew his power to hide in the ancestral home.

They simply couldn't afford any more unexpected events.

For example, when he participated in the Double Jade Conference this time, besides Grandpa Cai, there was only one other person in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm accompanying him.

The rest of the people stayed in the ancestral home and did not go.

Even the younger generation only brought a dozen or so people, but the servants who were there to make a show of things brought a total of three hundred people.

This also includes four Golden Core guest elders invited from outside.

Grandpa Cai even asked Xiao Chen what identity he planned to appear in front of outsiders, and whether he wanted to pretend to be a guest.

However, after some consideration, Xiao Chen decided to impersonate a young member of the Cai family who was being secretly trained and was making his first official appearance outside the home.

This identity makes it easier for him to disguise himself.

Because there are places to inquire about the origins of the Golden Elixir of the Wasteland, including probing some of their behaviors and habits.

However, since the Cai family retreated back to their ancestral home, the outside world has had no way of knowing what's going on inside.

Even if someone becomes suspicious, Grandpa Cai can help cover it up.

Xiao Chen even designed a persona for himself, portraying someone who had been wholeheartedly focused on cultivation all these years and knew little about the outside world, only having some knowledge from books.

This way, even when communicating with others, it won't arouse any suspicion.

It actually seems much more real.

After all, according to Xiao Chen's expectations, once others learned that he was a member of the Cai family, they would likely take the initiative to come over and strike up a conversation.

They might be trying to win people over or test the waters.

However, his worry seems somewhat unnecessary.

When the group arrived above Guiyun Market, they discovered that the other three major families and Guiyun Sect had not waited for the Cai family's arrival and had entered the large garden below ahead of time.

"what happened?"

Xiao Chen came to the deck with some curiosity: "What happened?"

This is clearly different from what Grandpa Cai said before.

According to past practice, at 9:00 AM, the four major families would gather in their spirit boats above Guiyun Market, arranged according to the four cardinal directions, and then wait together.

The giant spirit ship belonging to Guiyun Sect will appear approximately half an hour later.

Then everyone took turns stepping into the air and landing in a large garden.

This was done to demonstrate the status of the four major families and the Guiyun Sect to the outside world's independent cultivators.

But today, before the Cai family even arrived, the other families had already entered the garden.

This clearly broke the previous understanding.

Grandpa Cai's face immediately turned very ugly.

He knew that his family had not had a Nascent Soul True Monarch for a long time.

But don't these people even want to maintain a semblance of civility?
If we can abandon the Cai family today at such an important festival as the Double Jade Assembly, can we simply remove the Cai family from the list of the four great families tomorrow?
Thinking of this, he was filled with both anger and shock.

I felt indignant about this situation, but at the same time, I couldn't help but feel a little worried.

If Guiyun Sect really abandons all decorum, the Cai family really doesn't have much of a way to deal with it.

Although they could rely on the formations left by their ancestors to hold out and refuse to be swallowed up by others.

However, in doing so, they would lose the qualification to obtain high-level resources, and would be destined to eke out a living with no hope of turning their lives around.

Grandpa Cai's mind was immediately filled with all sorts of thoughts.

He couldn't help but glance at Xiao Chen.

Just yesterday, he hesitated about whether or not to collude with outsiders.

In hindsight, this decision was a huge help.

Thanks to the blessings of our ancestors, the Cai family found another path before they were truly abandoned.

Now, Grandpa Cai has only one wish.

That is, this Senior Xiao must keep his promise and not take advantage of the Cai family's misfortune.

Of course, he didn't just pray for divine protection.

Grandpa Cai took a deep breath, suppressing all the complex emotions in his heart.

Forcing himself to appear calm and composed, he replied slowly, "This year's situation is indeed different from previous years, but perhaps some unforeseen event has occurred."

"Please wait a moment, senior, while I go and ask a few old friends for information."

He couldn't let Xiao Chen realize that the Cai family was no longer useful.

To avoid the other party thinking they have lost their value for cooperation and thus abandoning them directly.

In that case, there would be absolutely no way out.

"misfortune?"

Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes; he seemed to have already guessed what had happened.

After all, the biggest event that has happened recently is definitely his battle with that red-bearded giant.

So she smiled slightly and said, "It's alright. This year's situation is indeed different from previous years. Go ahead."

"And you should be careful, you don't need to be so cautious when you're out."

“On the surface, I am your junior now, but if others see you like this, they will become suspicious.”

Xiao Chen had already emphasized this point before leaving, but he didn't expect the other party to have not noticed.

Grandpa Cai quickly apologized twice before covering his face and leaving.

He wouldn't normally make such a basic mistake, but he had too many things on his mind just now.

So focused on keeping Xiao Chen in check and maintaining the cooperation between the two sides, they neglected the pretense.

He quickly used the excuse of inquiring about the news to sort out his thoughts and then went to ask a few old friends what exactly happened.

However, to Mr. Cai's disappointment, he was turned away several times in a row.

Several old friends either said they didn't know or made excuses, saying that a gag order had been issued and they really couldn't say anything at the moment.

This attitude made him feel even worse.

At the same time, Old Master Cai also tried to pay a direct visit to the True Lords of Guiyun Sect.

However, the boys all said that their master was busy with important matters and would not be able to meet with others until he was done.

After gritting my teeth and paying a sum of 'tea money'...

Grandpa Cai then learned that it was True Monarch Hua Jian who had invited the other True Monarchs to discuss important matters behind closed doors.

Only True Monarchs are allowed to participate in this discussion; everyone else, including the Golden Core elders of the Guiyun Sect, is excluded.

"I see. Then I am relieved."

Grandpa Cai forced a smile and then returned to the spirit ship.

However, instead of feeling relieved, he became even angrier, and then felt a sense of desolation.

The statement that only True Lords can participate is clearly a veiled attack on him!

(End of this chapter)