Chapter 150: Sixth-Grade Formation
Xiang Yu managed to craft ten sixth-grade explosion talismans before exhaustion forced him to stop. The strain of creating such high-level items drained him significantly. He thought to himself that he desperately needed his Mind level to increase soon. After taking a brief rest to recover his spiritual energy, he shifted his focus to formations.
This time, unlike before, he decided not to create another offensive formation. The sect already possessed substantial attacking power; what they truly needed was protection. He would craft a turtle shell first.
The specifications for a sixth-grade protective formation were truly staggering. According to the insights his system had granted him, such a formation could completely block attacks from a hundred peak Core Formation cultivators for an entire week. It could withstand constant assault from a peak Golden Core cultivator for a full day, and even endure ten direct strikes from a peak Nascent Soul realm expert before failing.
"These specs are absolutely insane," Xiang Yu thought, his fingers moving carefully across the formation disk. "But I suppose it’s to be expected when crossing from low level to mid level."
Throughout the latter half of the afternoon, he invested every drop of his spiritual energy into crafting this single formation. The process proved far more demanding than he had anticipated. Each line required perfect execution, each energy node demanded flawless balance. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he maintained unwavering concentration despite his growing fatigue.
When he finally completed the formation, a sense of profound satisfaction washed over him. Despite the exhaustion weighing down on him, he felt a surge of accomplishment. With this additional safeguard in place, the sect’s defenses had reached an unprecedented level.
He carefully stored the formation disks in his spatial ring as he departed to prepare dinner.
The evening meal unfolded pleasantly, with all five of them enjoying the food. As they neared the end of their meal, Xiang Yu withdrew a set of formation disks from his spatial ring.
"I made a new defensive array," he announced, handing the disks to his martial aunt. "Just like the rest, layer this one in with the others."
"This one is a sixth-grade defensive array. As long as a Nascent Soul expert doesn’t attack, we’ll be completely safe."
Elder Huang’s eyes widened, genuine surprise etched across her features. Her martial nephew had improved yet again, advancing in a way that defied normal comprehension. He now casually discussed blocking Nascent Soul experts—a concept she could barely wrap her mind around. Even her seventh-grade appraisal ability could no longer properly evaluate the items he created.
"Sure, I’ll set it up," she replied, excitement evident in her voice as she quickly departed. She couldn’t wait to examine his creation in detail—everything her martial nephew produced provided invaluable material for her research.
Meiling sat nearby, her mouth hanging open in astonishment. "A sixth-grade formation master?" she thought incredulously. Their own sect’s defensive formation was sixth-grade as well, though theirs consisted of ten layered formations working together. Even so, they had spent a considerable fortune to acquire those formations. An elder at home was really worth a thousand gold.
And his wife—the Sect Master—was also a million-year genius as well. This pair was unmistakably aiming for the skies. If their sect didn’t secure an alliance soon, they might miss the opportunity when this ship finally sailed.
After they finished their meal, Xiang Yu rose to leave. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, halting his departure.
"Master?" he turned with a deliberately confused expression. Though he wasn’t actually clueless about what was happening, he pretended to have no idea. "Is something wrong?"
Elder Guo’s cheeks flushed slightly before he readjusted his expression, adopting the dignified demeanor befitting his position. "Disciple, this master has always looked out for you ever since you were young..."
Xiang Yu’s expression twisted in disbelief. Was it really that bad? He even used his ult.
With a deep sigh of resignation, Xiang Yu reached into his spatial ring. "It’s my last batch. Just take it," he said, handing Elder Guo a small bundle wrapped in cloth containing about ten pills.
He definitely had no intention of using them himself. Originally, he had planned to feed them to the spirit boar to see if it could impregnate some females and produce spiritual boar offspring. But after consideration, he’d abandoned the idea—that method would take far too long to yield results.
"Hehehe, good disciple," Elder Guo laughed with undisguised satisfaction, patting Xiang Yu’s shoulder before turning to leave with his prize.
Xiang Yu watched his master depart, shaking his head slightly. Without further delay, he returned to the spirit vein to continue his cultivation regiment.
As usual, he stripped down and dove into the spirit spring. The familiar tingling sensation of spiritual energy enveloped him as he prepared himself mentally for his daily ritual of bloodline stimulation.
...
This time, Xiang Yu approached his bloodline stimulation with less anxiety than usual. After instructing his martial aunt to establish the new sixth-grade defensive formation, a measure of confidence had settled over him.
Though the formation couldn’t block absolutely everyone, the eastern region’s peak strength only reached the Soul Formation realm. What were the chances that a Nascent Soul cultivator—representing the second highest cultivation realm in the entire region—would specifically target their sect?
The moment this thought crossed his mind, Xiang Yu stiffened. His internal monologue suddenly sounded dangerously like the kind of flag-raising statements that inevitably invited disaster. He quickly banished these thoughts from his mind, hastening to begin his bloodline stimulation ritual before his imagination could conjure more potential calamities.
As always, the moment he released control of the bloodlines, they burst into immediate conflict. Within mere seconds, the first ruptures appeared across his skin as the raging energies tore through his flesh from within. Despite his recent breakthrough to the thirteenth layer of Body Refining, the damage remained overwhelming—his internal organs began collapsing under the strain of hosting such concentrated power.
Xiang Yu hardened his expression, allowing the waves of agony to wash over him without resistance. He silently acknowledged that the pain was excruciating—like being simultaneously burned and frozen from the inside out—but he couldn’t afford to stop. The power these bloodlines granted was too valuable to abandon, regardless of the torment required to strengthen them.
A strange thought flitted through his mind: was he becoming addicted to this pain? He dismissed the idea instantly as another sharp pain lanced through his chest, striking just below his heart and causing him to cough up a mouthful of blood that quickly dispersed in the spirit spring’s waters.
With trembling fingers, he reached for one of his eighth-grade healing pills, placing it in his mouth. The medicinal energy surged through his meridians, targeting the critically damaged area and repairing the worst of the injury before the battling bloodlines could tear it apart again.
This brutal cycle of destruction and partial recovery continued hour after hour—skin rupturing, organs failing, bones cracking under pressure, followed by the temporary reprieve provided by healing pills. Just when Xiang Yu wondered if his supply of pills would run out before the session concluded, a familiar notification appeared before his eyes:
[Calculating Settlement]
With a thought, Xiang Yu immediately reasserted control over the bloodlines, forcing them to cease their conflict as the system began its daily accounting of his progress...
[Body Refining: 13th Layer (1000/13,000) (+1000/13,000)]
[Qi Gathering: 10th Layer (100/10,000) (+100/10,000)]
[Mind: Level 5 (1260/5000) (+60/5000)]
[Soul: Infant (450/100,000) (+50/100,000)]
[Spiritual Root: Medium-Grade Omni-Element (320/2000)]
[Transcendent Dao Body: Level 1 (4490/1,000,000) (+30/1,000,000)]
[Chaos Body: Level 1 (3200/10,000) (+100/10,000)]
[Bloodline: Dragon, Phoenix: Common Blood (700/2000) (+100/2000)]
[Enlightenment: Superior (2390/4000) (+30/4000)]
[Spirit Flame: Abyssal Void Flame: 5th Grade (310/50,000) (+10/50,000)]
[High-grade Lightning Strike & Palm: Minor Success (100/200) (+20/200)]
[High-grade Fire Palm: Intermediate (210/300) (+10/300)]
[High-grade Water, Wood, Earth, Metal Palm: Intermediate (10/300) (+10/300)]
[High-grade Ice, Wind, Light, Dark Palm: Minor Success (40/200) (+20/200)]
[Cook: 3rd Grade (190/700) (+10/700)]
[Appraiser: 5th Grade (300/500) (+100/500)]
[Talisman Maker: 6th Grade (70/400) (+50/400)]
[Alchemist, Formation Master, Blacksmith: 6th Grade (50/400) (+50/400)]
[Spirit Farmer, Medicine: 9th Grade (20/100) (+20/100)]
[Experience Points Doubled]
[Spirit Farmer, Medicine: 9th Grade (20/100) -> (40/100)]
[Alchemist, Formation Master, Blacksmith: 6th Grade (50/400) → 6th Grade (100/400)]
[Talisman Maker: 6th Grade (70/400) → 6th Grade (140/400)]
[Appraiser: 5th Grade (300/500) → 4th Grade (0/600)]
[Cook: 3rd Grade (190/700) → 3rd Grade (380/700)]
[High-grade Ice, Wind, Light, Dark Palm: Minor Success (40/200) → Minor Success (80/200)]
[High-grade Water, Wood, Earth, Metal Palm: Intermediate (10/300) → Intermediate (20/300)]
[High-grade Fire Palm: Intermediate (210/300) → Major Success (0/400)]
[High-grade Lightning Strike & Palm: Minor Success (100/200) → Intermediate (0/300)]
[Spirit Flame: Abyssal Void Flame: 5th Grade (310/50,000) → 5th Grade (620/50,000)]
[Enlightenment: Superior (2390/4000) → Sacred (0/5000)]
[Bloodline: Dragon, Phoenix: Common Blood (700/2000) → Common Blood (1400/2000)]
[Chaos Body: Level 1 (3200/10,000) → Level 1 (6400/10,000)]
[Transcendent Dao Body: Level 1 (4490/1,000,000) → Level 1 (8980/1,000,000)]
[Spiritual Root: Medium-Grade Omni-Element (320/2000) → Medium (640/2000)]
[Soul: Infant (450/100,000) -> Infant (900/100,000)]
[Mind: Level 5 (1260/5000) → Level 5 (2520/5000)]
[Qi Gathering: 10th Layer (100/10,000) → 10th Layer (200/10,000)]
[Body Refining: 13th Layer (1000/13,000) → 13th Layer (2000/13,000)]