Chapter 1179: Formation Mastery, Mo Yue Treasure Land
Ning Qingxue and the others knew Ye Mo was going to establish the city's defense formation, so they refrained from bothering him with minor requests. Eventually, even Luo Ying and Luo Fei joined to assist. With Ning Qingxue's legal system in place, Mo Yue City became the first on the Luo Yue continent to have established laws. Lin Yiban and Xu Tong also aided Ning Qingxue, helping to establish authority. Mo Yue City suffered from a lack of spiritual chi; its inhabitants were mostly mortals or cultivators in the Chi Gathering and Foundation Establishment stages. Golden Core cultivators were rare, and the highest-level cultivator, Gu Wei, a Nascent Soul cultivator, had remained to repay Ye Mo for past kindness. Hearing of Ye Mo's survival, he was eager to stay and reported to Ye Mo at the city lord's estate upon Ning Qingxue's ascension.
Mo Yue City's insufficient spiritual chi, despite a spirit gathering formation, hindered its appeal to cultivators. Low-level cultivators had initially flocked there due to Ye Mo's reputation, but those aware of his conflict with the Infinity Sect departed. Even the last remaining low-level cultivators were eventually driven away by Ye Mo's equal treatment of everyone. Thus, Mo Yue City had very few cultivators. Despite this, Ning Qingxue and her companions, Nascent Soul cultivators, maintained supreme power within the city, even without their Body Condensation stage bodyguards. The three Truth Realization state guards secretly protecting the city remained unseen, having been assigned by the Silver Moon Pill King and Shen Guanqing to aid Ye Mo with the defense formation.
As Ning Qingxue's laws were implemented, some people were expelled from Mo Yue City. With further departures, the city's cultivator population dwindled. Those remaining deeply revered Pill King Ye and showed no inclination to leave. Mo Yue City also instituted strict citizenship requirements, meticulously logging every entry to prevent clandestine arrivals. Leaving was easy; returning, far less so.
Ye Mo focused on the defense formation. A level seven formation was inadequate; he aimed for level eight. While not yet a level eight formation grandmaster, he believed he could attain that level with dedicated study. His experiences in the Ice God Forbidden Grounds provided new insights, even laying the foundation for a new system, though he lacked the time to fully explore it then. Now, however, with time to contemplate those formations and simulate them using the Three Birth Chant, he believed he could reach the level eight grandmaster rank.
This was only one reason. He also believed his formation skills were better than his past performance indicated. His formations were often hastily constructed, utilizing generalized formation flags rather than those tailored to specific formations. He was confident that crafting unique flags and considering geological factors would significantly improve his work. His ability to forge mid-grade, and occasionally top-grade, spirit artifacts further enhanced his potential, as a forgery master's formation flags would inherently be superior. Moreover, since achieving level seven formation grandmaster, he had neglected dedicated formation study.
To break through, Ye Mo entered the Golden Page World and utilized the time formation disk to perfect his formation system. A year passed within the disk, equivalent to only one month in the outside world, undisturbed. Upon perfecting his system, he exited the Golden Page World. He believed he could now create level eight formations.
He then spent another month studying the geology of the area. He carefully examined the plains outside Mo Yue City and the two intertwining rivers, deciding upon three formations. The first would encompass the rivers, plains, mountains, and fields below the river. He intended to use a spirit gathering formation to transform the fields into spirit farms. This would allow ordinary people to trade with cultivators, improving their quality of life. This formation, however, required extensive materials and covered a vast area; even as a level eight grandmaster, he could only manage a level seven formation.
The second formation would be located 100 kilometers from Mo Yue City, a level eight defense formation. The third would serve as the final defense, incorporating both a level eight defense and a level eight attack formation.
A previous attempt at a level seven formation outside a spirit marrow location had been detected by another level seven formation grandmaster, serving as a harsh lesson. His previous casual approach, assuming its inaccessibility, had proven flawed. Therefore, he was determined to leave no weaknesses, not even for another formation grandmaster.
Over the following period, Ye Mo focused on creating formation flags and placing spirit arrays. He used all the spirit arrays given by the Silver Moon Pill King, planting them beneath Mo Yue City. During this time, rumbling sounds were audible throughout the city. Yue Qichao even personally assisted, bringing two Truth Realization state cultivators.
Three months later, Ye Mo had constructed over ten formations: defense, spirit gathering, air restriction, and attack formations. He also rebuilt the formations in the city lord's estate and Mo Yue Lake. Eventually, he could effortlessly create level seven formations and, with minimal effort, complete a level eight formation.
Once Ye Mo finalized the spirit arrays beneath Mo Yue City and activated the spirit gathering formation, a surge of intense spiritual chi permeated the city. The few remaining cultivators rejoiced, immediately beginning cultivation. Such a dense concentration of spiritual chi was normally only found in the territory of major sects; even large cultivation cities rarely possessed it.
"Brother Ye Mo is truly remarkable; he created these level eight formations so quickly. Brother Ji Ling would have been overjoyed," Shen Guanqing sighed, acknowledging Ye Mo's extraordinary talent; he, himself nearing Truth Realization, could clearly perceive the power of the formations. Yue Qichao concurred, imagining Ji Ling's delight had he lived to witness such a formation genius.
With Mo Yue City's formations complete, the mortals gained access to the spirit farms. Cultivators residing in the city had their own designated areas, though entering the city remained challenging for outsiders. Under Tang Beiwei and Ning Qingxue's direction, cultivation and mortal business districts emerged. Cultivation resources and pills flowed into the cultivation business streets. Precious pills unavailable elsewhere appeared in Mo Yue City: Foundation Establishment Pill, Cultivation Increasing Pill, Blue Wen Pill, Condense Red Pill, Cao Huan Pill, Soul Condensation Pill, Hollow Meridian Pill, and with sufficient spirit stones, even Dew Condensation Pill and superior pills.
In a short time, Mo Yue City's fame spread throughout the entire South Peace State. Cultivators flocked to the city, those who had previously left filled with regret. Leaving was simple, returning, extremely difficult.