Over the next few days, formation masters who had responded to the call began arriving one after another at Crane Peak. Among them was another grand formation master, Jiang Feihe.
He was a rare sight even among formation masters, a cultivator who had already reached the Golden Core stage. Tang Song welcomed him warmly, declaring that with Jiang taking the field, he now felt “much more confident.” Jiang Feihe was entrusted with a major responsibility: overseeing the largest earthfire at Stone Valley. Tang Song assigned him eleven formation masters, nearly forty percent of the total.
By this point, the distribution of formation masters was as follows: twelve at Stone Valley, seven at Zhidun Ridge, five at Horse-Breeding Slope, and five at Qionghan Pool. The only earthfire vent at Fangle Peak was personally managed by Tang Song. Of course, he had already reassigned all available personnel to the other four locations. On the mountainside terrace here, besides Tang Song himself, there was only a runner named Liu Xiaolou and Master Long—an artifact refiner Tang Song had invited to oversee the refining of formation disks.
In total, there were thirty-one formation masters and one refiner. Among them were three Golden Core cultivators: Tang Song at mid-stage, Jiang Feihe at early stage, and Long Zifu. Alongside them were eight Foundation Establishment cultivators and twenty at the Qi Refinement stage.
Of the Qi Refinement cultivators, all but Liu Xiaolou were at least at the seventh layer. Someone like him, still at the fifth layer, was one of a kind.
Formation masters occupied a rather special place among cultivators. They devoted themselves almost entirely to external tools and arrangements, to the point of neglecting their own bodies. In fact, they were even more focused on external matters than artifact refiners. Refiners, when handling spiritual materials or crafting magical tools, were skilled at blending their cultivation with the item. Formation masters, on the other hand, focused on inscribing true spiritual talismans into materials and laying out formations across mountains, rivers, and seas.
Because of this, formation masters usually advanced much more slowly in their cultivation than other cultivators. Since arranging formations and refining formation disks did not place such heavy demands on cultivation level, a Golden Core formation master was already considered a grandmaster, while a late Foundation Establishment formation master could be called a senior master. Most formation masters, however, were high-level Qi Refinement or cultivators in the early to mid stages of Foundation Establishment.
For that reason, even among the great sects, in sects dedicated entirely to formations—such as Siming Mountain—the sect master was only at the early Nascent Soul stage, while the elders were all at the Golden Core level.
The protective grand formation of Jinting Sect’s main peak, for instance, had been refined and laid out by two late-stage Golden Core elders from Siming Mountain. It had held strong and shielded Jinting Mountain for eighty years.
By comparison, having three Golden Core cultivators personally preside over the refining of a grand formation, as the Zhao clan had done, was already considered extravagant. The cost in payment alone was beyond imagining. Liu Xiaolou didn’t dare ask, nor did he even know how much he himself, just a runner, would eventually be paid in spirit stones. But judging from the first three batches of materials Tang Song had drawn up, their value alone was no less than three thousand spirit stones.
At this, Liu Xiaolou couldn’t help clicking his tongue in private, muttering a few words about how “lavish” it all was. His mind wandered for a moment, imagining what might happen if a hero’s post were issued… No, best not. This was the Zhao clan of Jinting Sect. Only someone tired of living would dare issue such a challenge, and even if they did, chances were no one would dare accept it.
Among all the materials, the Five Metals and Eight Stones were the absolute essentials. Not only were they indispensable, but several full sets had been prepared: gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, cinnabar, realgar, mica, azurite, sulfur, rock salt, orpiment, saltpeter, and other such basics. Each type of metal or stone was further divided into at least three to five subcategories. Just this category alone came to more than fifty different materials, each in quantities ranging from a few pounds to several dozen, enough to be a hundred times what Liu Xiaolou had used back when he forged the Abyssal Blackstone Formation.
There were also over a hundred pieces of spiritual materials from birds, such as Darkfeather Stone, the wings of the Jiuhua Falcon, and owl eyes. From beasts, dozens of materials like Flood-Ox hooves, the antlers of the Three-Flower Deer, and Xiang-ape fur. From spiritual plants, thousands of pounds in total, including Golden Leaves, Ghost Orchids of Yin and Yang, Blood-Arrow Wood, Lightning-Struck Wood, and Purpleheart. Not to mention large quantities of poisonous insects and rare snakes.
Liu Xiaolou spent his days running back and forth between the various earthfire vents, delivering the lists of spiritual materials Tang Song had drawn up, balancing shortages and surpluses, and sometimes even heading down to the foot of Fangle Peak to press the Zhao clan to hurry their preparations.
Just gathering and refining the materials alone took a month and a half, keeping him so busy his feet hardly touched the ground.
When he thought back to the days of refining his own formation disks and compared them to the present, it was like two entirely different worlds.
It was also during this month and a half that Liu Xiaolou finally witnessed Tang Song’s true authority. The master who had always worn a kind and gentle smile at last erupted in fury during two interviews with newly arrived formation masters, roaring at them until both were driven away in disgrace.
So for now, the mountainside terrace still had only Tang Song, Liu Xiaolou, and the refiner, Master Long. Some of the more difficult spiritual materials were personally refined by Master Long using the earthfire vent there.
Liu Xiaolou had also realized that Tang Song’s outbursts mostly came from the mounting pressure on his shoulders. So he began taking the initiative, asking if there was anything he could do to help.
Facing the endless stack of lists in front of him, Tang Song kept shaking his head. “Does everyone think they can just call themselves a formation master? Learn a few scraps of technique and then dare to refine formation disks? Utter nonsense! The grand formation of Fangle Peak consists of five sub-formations and twenty-eight micro-formations. A single mistake ruins hundreds of spirit stones’ worth of materials. How could I possibly use those two just now?”
“But,” asked Liu Xiaolou, “since no one here on the mountainside terrace has been making formation disks, won’t that hold back the progress of the entire formation?”
Tang Song let out a sigh. “At worst, it will set us back a month. There’s no helping it.” He paused, then said, “No, we’ll need to make some adjustments.”
He began shuffling the papers on the table, muttering under his breath. “Let’s change the order. Start with the northern Blackwater. Have Diao Daoyi start refining the Gen Eighth Palace. Jiang Feihe can take charge of the Dui Second Palace and the Zhen Third Palace. As for Xing Bujou’s side… how many vents have opened at Horse-Breeding Slope?”
Liu Xiaolou answered, “Three.”
Tang Song hesitated. “Then transfer Fu Conglin from Jiang Feihe’s group over to Horse-Breeding Slope, and have Xing Bujou oversee the refining of the Kun Second Palace…”
“Master Tang,” Liu Xiaolou reminded him, “two days ago you said Xing Bujou specializes in water-type formation disks. The Kun Second Palace belongs to earth.”
Tang Song smacked the back of his head. “Nearly forgot. Good catch, Xiaolou, very good. The Kun Second Palace should go to Diao Daoyi at Zhidun Ridge. Xing Bujou will handle Kan One Palace instead. The northern Blackwater is heavy with true water, so Xing Bujou will have to shoulder more. Give him the Qian Sixth Palace as well…”
After this round of adjustments, the Northern Blackwater sub-formation finally entered its official refining stage.
That day, Liu Xiaolou went to Zhidun Ridge to deliver one of the true spirit talismans Tang Song had revised after reassessing the local terrain and geomancy.
Diao Daoyi accepted the talisman, studied it, then closed his eyes for a long moment. “The Heart Palace’s Spirit Gate has shifted northwest. Was that because of last night’s gale?”
“It seems so,” Liu Xiaolou replied. “The winds roared through the night. Master Tang observed the qi from the terrace for quite some time. Afterward, he wrote this talisman by hand and told me to bring it to you.”
Diao Daoyi nodded. “Understood.”
Such adjustments happened often, and Liu Xiaolou had carried them out more than once, so he said no more. He had just left Zhidun Ridge when he noticed Liu Daoran trailing behind him, looking hesitant and uneasy. Liu Xiaolou stopped and waited. “Brother Daoran?”
Liu Daoran glanced around to make sure no one had noticed, then came up beside him and poured out his troubles. “Brother, I have a request that may be out of place. I wonder if you might help me?”
“Please, speak,” Liu Xiaolou said.
“Would you be willing to speak to Master Tang on my behalf, and have me transferred away from Zhidun Ridge?”
Liu Xiaolou was taken aback. “Brother Daoran, what do you mean?”
With a sigh, Liu Daoran said, “That Senior Master Diao… a few days ago, when we were refining Golden Leaves, I argued with him. I was too blunt with my words and ended up offending him. In short, I can’t stay here any longer.”