Mobilization

"Formations truly are an enormous system involving far too many facets." Yaoguang concluded his day of teaching and returned to the residence Zhao Siliang had arranged for him. During this period, because he had to impart the fourth-generation Rank 5 Spirit Gathering Formation to these formation masters, he spent most of his time at the Energy Department outside Jiuxiao City. Because of this, even the pace of work over at Zixiao Institute had slowed down somewhat. There was no helping it; these formation masters simply learned too slowly. More accurately, there was too much involved, and it was too difficult and intricate—to the point where whatever Yaoguang taught offhandedly required a massive investment of effort on the formation masters' part to grasp. At first, he had been quite anxious, wishing he could have these "students"—who were revered as masters in the path of formations—graduate within a month or two. Yet he soon realized... It was futile. Being impatient did not help in the slightest. If they couldn't learn it, they couldn't learn it. Or rather, slow learners were slow learners. This had nothing to do with the efficiency of his instruction. It was entirely that these formation masters took too long to comprehend the concepts. No matter how rushed he felt, it was meaningless. Upon closer reflection, were it not for the enhancements granted by his Higher-Dimensional Cognition, understanding these things would have been just as difficult for him. Just as ordinary life found it hard to conceive of four-dimensional space, a four-dimensional entity would probably be astonished that a three-dimensional being could fail to grasp four-dimensional space. *Doesn't anyone with a brain know this?* Similarly, if a three-dimensional being were trying to teach a two-dimensional being to understand three-dimensional space, they would likely be frustrated to the point of fuming. *Isn't it just turning a flat plane into a three-dimensional volume?* *Can't you just jump and go from two dimensions to three?* *How can you fail to learn something so simple?* It was essentially like that. And so, he adjusted his teaching strategy. Treating them completely like a teacher guiding students, casually assigning some "homework" or scheduling an "examination" was enough to keep them racking their brains for days. In the meantime, he had ample time to attend to the affairs of Zixiao Institute. Although running between both sides and lacking his Origin Spirit power to coordinate operations inevitably slowed Zixiao Institute's efficiency, in the long run, this minor sacrifice was well worth it. As long as he introduced the Rank 6 Spirit Gathering Formation at the right time in the future and spent another two or three years teaching everyone the modified formations, the entire Nine Cauldrons Sect's spirit stone production was estimated to surpass 250 million. The exact figure would depend on whether the Nine Cauldrons Sect still had other hidden nodes. Given the precedent of having three hundred Rank 3 grand sword cultivators on the surface but actually possessing seven hundred, he was no longer so certain that the sect truly possessed only forty-three spirit energy nodes. "Regardless, Zhao Siliang gave me a set of data. If all the Spirit Gathering Formations can be upgraded over the next ten years, the Nine Cauldrons Sect's spirit stone output will increase by a hundred million, reaching the 180-million mark. Of that, I get thirty percent. That means ten years from now, I'll be raking in nearly thirty million spirit stones every year." For an annual return of thirty million spirit stones, enduring a bit of hardship now was well worth it. "Teaching Rank 4 formations took nearly half a year, and Rank 5 will probably take a full year... Now I finally understand why straight-A students like explaining problems to fellow top students, rather than teaching underachievers." Yaoguang shook his head. Just at that moment, his communication bracelet suddenly lit up. He glanced down, somewhat surprised. The message was actually from Su Yaoyu. "Yaoguang, is a war about to start?" Worry permeated her words. She had also sent several screenshots. They clearly showed squadron after squadron of sword cultivators soaring into the sky, heading toward the East Sea Archipelago. There were several similar scenes. At the end, she added: "Should we stockpile some supplies so we don't get caught short if things become tight?" "..." Yaoguang looked at it. That Su Yaoyu would ask this... Was not surprising. Ever since arriving in Longxiang City, she had worked conscientiously and diligently. Yet she lacked both innate talent and sharp capability; even though Yaoguang had given her plenty of opportunities, her accomplishments remained thoroughly mediocre. At present... Her role was roughly equivalent to that of chief steward for the Su family branch. As a steward, she naturally considered the food, clothing, housing, and travel of everyone in the household. Particularly over half a year ago, when the Wuji Astral Palace's sky-patrol warship bore down upon the city gates and hundreds of Great Cultivators fought back desperately—with cataclysmic torrents of energy constantly detonating overhead—the experience had left her exceedingly sensitive to such developments. After all... Though Longxiang City had remained unscathed during that battle, the battlefield had nevertheless unfolded not far outside the city walls, where quite a few small towns lay scattered across the region. Caught in the clash between a sky-patrol warship and star-destroying might, the mere shockwaves were enough to level poorly fortified towns to the ground. Yaoguang had not looked into how many towns were destroyed, but a conservative estimate... Would be no fewer than five. *Ordinary mortals,* Yaoguang thought to himself. Faced with warfare of such scale, ordinary people had no recourse other than closing their eyes and awaiting death; there was no room for struggle. And Su Yaoyu was, down to her bones, an ordinary person. Even when her external circumstances changed, her nature remained confined to that mold. That was why she was so sensitive to such matters. In this regard, she fell far short of Su Yaoxue, let alone someone like Lin Xia or Leng Jun. "It's fine, don't worry. What happened not long ago, with the sky-patrol warship driving into the interior and bearing down upon our gates, won't happen again," Yaoguang reassured her. "Or... should I use some reserve funds to purchase extra food and store it away?" "If you feel like buying some, go ahead," Yaoguang replied. "Then... I'll withdraw a hundred spirit stones. Just wanted to let you know." "Fine." Yaoguang nodded. Su Yaoyu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly hurried off to busy herself. Having placated Su Yaoyu, Yaoguang could only shake his head wryly. Among the Su family, only Su Yaoyu commanded a bit of patience from him. As for the rest... He wouldn't waste his breath on them. For instance, ever since he arranged for Su Yaoqin and Su Yaoshuang to enter Longxiang Taixue Academy, they had met fewer than five times. And those five occasions were merely when Su Yaoyu brought them along for customary holiday visits. Pondering this, Yaoguang glanced at Su Yaoyu's screenshots and contacted Zhao Siliang. "First Seat Yaoguang? No, I should call you Hall Master now. Is there something you need help with?" Zhao Siliang asked with a laugh. "What Hall Master?" Yaoguang was taken by surprise. "You'll know soon enough. We're on our way to your place right now," Zhao Siliang said cheerfully. "Is the sect moving against the East Sea region?" "Yes, the sword cultivators have already deployed as the vanguard." Zhao Siliang nodded. "Over two hundred of them have been equipped with that batch of Treasure Weapons you provided recently. It's time to let them show their edge." As he spoke, a flicker of coldness flashed between his brows. "Forces like the Great Sun Sword Sect, Xuanming Sect, Great Yue Dynasty, and Astral Sea Sect took advantage of the Wuji Astral Palace's sky-patrol warship advancing on our doorstep last time to seize all the islands that originally belonged to our Nine Cauldrons Sect. Now that the Wuji Astral Palace has turned its full attention to the Black Feather Sect, it's time to settle that score." "It really is time to settle it," Yaoguang agreed, nodding. Setting aside the Great Sun Sword Sect, medium-sized powers like the Xuanming Sect, Astral Sea Sect, and Great Yue Dynasty had dared to act so brazenly; they truly had a death wish. "The higher-ups attach extreme importance to this operation! Not long ago, the Wuji Astral Palace pushed into our interior, which dealt a considerable blow to the sect's governance and even triggered a massive outflow of capital. We must reestablish confidence in the sect through decisive action. The leadership's intent is that this war must not only be fought, and our former islands must not only be reclaimed, but we must also push our coastline outward—our minimum objective is thirty thousand li! Our highest objective is to push it forward by a hundred thousand li!" At this moment, Zhao Siliang appeared high-spirited. "Push forward a hundred thousand li... If so, wouldn't that completely wipe out the Xuanming Sect's influence in the East Sea? That would involve a war among Great Cultivators, wouldn't it?" "No matter," Zhao Siliang said. "The reason the Xuanming Sect dared to act so haughty before was because they had the Wuji Astral Palace backing them. But now... the Wuji Astral Palace has plenty of trouble of its own. They marched into the Black Feather Sect's territory, never expecting that the Black Feather Sect would immediately implement a scorched-earth strategy and disperse into smaller cells. The Wuji Astral Palace can't even find suitable targets to strike. To make matters worse, there are many remnants of the Liusha Sect within the Black Feather Sect who refuse to engage them in direct combat, constantly waging guerrilla warfare instead." Speaking to this point, he couldn't help but chuckle. "In the past, they could have simply destroyed all of the Black Feather Sect's cities, declared victory, and pulled out. But this time, after something as massive as the Sun Moon Peak incident, they can't just gloss over it. If they withdraw and claim to have accomplished their punitive mission without even wiping out the Black Feather Sect's core forces... the prestige of the world's foremost sect would be utterly shredded." "You mean the Wuji Astral Palace might end up bogged down in the quagmire of the Black Feather Sect?" Yaoguang caught his meaning. "Undoubtedly." Zhao Siliang cast a meaningful glance in the direction of the Myriad Beasts Sect. "Behind the Black Feather Sect... there's an expert pulling the strings." Yaoguang also had a flash of insight. Back in the day, both the Black Feather Sect and the Liusha Sect were members of the Northern Alliance, while the Myriad Beasts Sect was the elder brother of that alliance. Although the Northern Alliance had since dissolved and the Myriad Beasts Sect was reluctant to clash directly with the Wuji Astral Palace, the Wuji Astral Palace had acted with utter impunity—first wiping out the Liusha Sect, and now attempting to destroy the Black Feather Sect. Where did that leave the Myriad Beasts Sect's reputation? Therefore, digging a pit for the Wuji Astral Palace in the Black Feather Sect's domain seemed... Entirely reasonable. "We're almost there. Let's talk in person." "All right." Yaoguang ended the communication. After waiting a brief moment, over a dozen streaks of light pierced the sky and arrived. Familiar faces like Zhao Siliang and You Qianshan were among them, and alongside them were... Several individuals he had seen on the news interface of the Virtual Spirit Realm. "Hall Master Xu, Hall Master Gao, Hall Master Liang..." Yaoguang greeted them. Before he could finish speaking, Xu Qiexing had already stepped forward and said hurriedly, "Hall Master Yaoguang, there is absolutely no need to stand on ceremony! It is we who should bow and express our gratitude to you." The Hall Master of the Artifact Refining Hall, whom Yaoguang had met a few times before, said solemnly, "Your contribution to the sect is simply too immense—so vast that we hardly know how to properly compensate you..." "There's no need. As I've said before, I am also a member of the Nine Cauldrons Sect. Besides, don't I also take a thirty percent cut of the revenue from the modified formations?" Yaoguang said. "That's not the same! What deserves a reward must be rewarded, or how could the sect command respect and operate smoothly?" Xu Qiexing said with grave earnestness, "Following unanimous deliberation between the Sect Master and us, the title of First Seat of the Zixiao and Zhenhai Institutes clearly no longer matches your contributions. Therefore, the sect has appointed you as Honorary Deputy Hall Master of both the Artifact Refining Hall and the Mystic Formation Hall... to express our gratitude."