Chapter 775: Preparation!

Shang Xia’s intervention allowed him to discover something. There were a lot of problems with the Five Element Formation, and if not for the fact that Chu Jia urged him to make his move, the entire formation would probably crumble.

“Hehe... Looks like a Formation Grandmaster is a Formation Grandmaster alright. She knows what she’s doing.” Shang Xia muttered inwardly while following Chu Jia’s instructions to slow the energy down.

He managed to stop the formation from breaking down completely and prevented a huge loss of resources and possible death. He could also make use of the energy contained in those elemental essence crystals.

Shang Xia gained a sudden epiphany. The reason Chu Jia wanted to test out the formation on the floating island wasn’t because of how confident she was of succeeding. It was because she was sure that Shang Xia would be able to handle it.

“To be able to get a great Martial Dipper Realm to be our helper, don’t you guys think that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? What’s more, the person cleaning up our mess is the great Talisman Grandmaster of our institution!” Even though Chu Jia was speaking ‘softly’ to the disciples she brought, she didn’t seem to care that Shang Xia could hear her too.

The Formation Masters of the island were working extremely hard, but they shot strange looks at Shang Xia from time to time.

“Hey, don’t you at least feel a little bad for saying this in front of me?” Shang Xia muttered in annoyance.

“Sigh...” Chu Jia turned to look at Shang Xia and continued, “I have no choice! The trade fair on the Three Unity Island is about to take place. Don’t you wish to complete this before it starts so we can send a portion of cultivators over? It’s something that will boost the prestige of our You Continent...”

Shang Xia couldn’t refuse her claims and could only obediently deal with the spiritual qi in the surroundings.

In the Azure Ascension World, it would be hard to find another Martial Dipper Realm expert like that who was willing to act as a mere tool. Actually, he was probably the only one.

Because they had the ultimate protection that came in the form of Shang Xia, a Martial Dipper Realm expert, no one held back. They made constant progress and it seemed to be getting better every day.

3 months passed in a flash and the year was about to end. The deployment of the foundation also neared its last stages.

Hmm... At least that was what it seemed to be in the eyes of Chu Jia, their Formation Grandmaster.

“Is that it? That’s all?!” Shang Xia couldn’t help but ask after another test drive of their modified island. Seeing how they were about to conclude it as a success, he was about to rush at them with his guns blazing. He snorted with dissatisfaction. “The circulation of the Five Element Formation still has a lot of room for improvement. We can also increase the efficiency of energy use from the elemental essence crystal. If we achieve this, not only will we be able to fly faster. We will expend less essence crystals and save a lot of resources. Why are we stopping now?”

Chu Jia giggled softly while staring at Shang Xia who was yelling impatiently. However, she didn’t give an explanation.

Helpless, Bai Luming could only brace himself and take on the question. “Young Master Shang, with the assistance of the elemental essence crystals, we are able to carry 100 passengers on the island. Our speed has also increased by 30 percent and we can make a trip by using 50 elemental essence crystals. We would only need to station 2 to 3 Martial Extermination Realm experts on the moving island, which is much fewer than the 8 we originally planned for. They don’t even need to be responsible for powering the formation completely. All they have to do is to ensure that it maintains a safe amount of energy...”

After the other rank three Formation Masters saw that Bai Luming had spoken, they quickly continued, “It’s just as Master Bai has said. Moreover, it's not like we’re no longer improving the formation. We will keep up the research after returning to the Formation Hall. After all, this is a new path of formations. We barely stepped into it and we can’t give it up easily!”

The others continued to speak after Bai Luming and the other rank three Formation Master had spoken.

“Yeah! Young Master Shang, even if you don’t allow us to use this Five Element Formation in the future, we will continue to research the topic secretly! We won’t give up on it!”

“The moving island isn’t fully complete yet anyway. We will have to add some structures to it. After all, we can’t possibly let those traveling on it roam around while it’s moving, right?”

“The year is ending and the trade fair is about to begin... We don’t have any more time to complete more modifications!”

“Young Master Shang, the principles behind the Five Element Formation are profound. Why don’t you take the chance to conduct a lecture about it?”

“The Five Element Formation is truly profound, why don’t...”

“...”

Shang Xia’s head was starting to hurt after their flurry of comments and he glanced at Chu Jia who was gloating beside him. She seemed to be reveling in his misfortune!

He quickly extricated himself from the mob that was gathering around him and he arrived beside her. “Can you do something about this?!”

“Hehe...” Chu Jia mumbled, “I heard that the 3 year patrol mission given to our Tongyou Institution is about to begin again. When are you planning to head over?”

“Oh no! I almost forgot...”

...

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

One year ago, Shang Bo ended his task of patrolling the space around the Azure Ascension World. A year had passed and according to the agreement between experts of the 4 Elysiums, the Tongyou Institution would have to send another Martial Dipper Realm expert over to continue keeping watch for any traces of the Spirit Abundance World.

Shang Xia returned to the Talisman Hall in a flurry and learned that not even a month was left before he had to report for duty.

Once they learned of his return, Fan Yuanhui and Lou Zizhang, the rank four Talisman Grandmasters, along with Ren Huan, came to pay him a visit. Even Ren Bainian from the Weapons Hall heard the news and rushed over.

Shang Xia saw that Fan Yuanhui and Lou Zizhang had pretty good attitudes and he asked casually, “How are your talisman crafting skills now?”

Exchanging a glance, Fan Yuanhui chuckled softly. “We probably improved a little. Even though we haven’t reached the point where we can craft a talisman in 3 attempts, we should be able to reach the level soon after the turn of the year.”

Lou Zizhang also laughed, “Everything is thanks to the agreement you made with the Tianya Pavilion. We managed to obtain a steady flow of beast skin from them and thus were able to gain a stable production of talisman paper. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to improve so quickly!”

Shang Xia smiled in response.

He knew that the improvement they were talking about only referred to their ability to craft the Space Shattering Golden Blade Talisman and the Thousand Yang Sword Talisman.

He long since recognized that unless another Talisman Grandmaster was like him and could craft all sorts of talismans, they would focus on a few of them.

Fan Yuanhui added, “We also have a piece of good news. We gained another rank three Talisman Master.”

That was indeed something worth celebrating.

Counting the new rank three Talisman Master, the Tongyou Institution would possess 9 rank three Talisman Masters or higher. In total, there was 1 rank five Talisman Grandmaster, 2 rank four Talisman Grandmasters, and 6 rank three Talisman Masters. There were many ordinary rank two Talisman Masters and Talisman Disciples that made up the rest of the Talisman Hall.

Their foundation was enough to allow the Tongyou Institution to surpass many other factions in terms of Talisman Masters. Even an Elysium might not possess more experts than them when it came to talisman crafting. At the very least, Shang Xia knew that the Yuanchen Sect which was the last to become an Elysium, had no rank five Talisman Grandmasters.

Lou Zizhang also spoke up suddenly. “According to our tradition, anytime a new rank three Talisman Master appears, you would hold a public lecture to celebrate. Today, everyone is looking forward to that opportunity and hope that you can craft talismans for all of us to observe again.”

That was their true motive in looking for Shang Xia.

Unfortunately, Shang Xia revealed an expression of discomfort as he muttered, “This is bad timing indeed. I have to head out to patrol the space around our world in less than a month and I will only be back in 3 years. I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold it this time. Why don’t you guys...”

Bitter smiles appeared on their faces and Fan Yuanhui sighed helplessly, “Without you present, there’s no point to hold a public lecture in the Talisman Hall. It’s fine. Isn’t it just 3 years? Let’s talk about this again when you come back!”

It wasn’t as though any rank four Talisman Grandmaster could give public lectures. Only with Shang Xia’s perverse success rate would he be able to teach everyone in the Talisman Hall. Even the 2 of them had lots to learn from him. If they were to do what he did and craft talismans in front of everyone, they would only be embarrassing themselves.

Shang Xia didn’t feel too good that he had to miss the session. After all, he made it a tradition himself. He could only sigh softly before taking out a near-complete rank three talisman seal from his sleeves. “Originally, I planned to craft a few rank three talisman seals for the guardians stationed in the east. This is an additional piece and I hope that you can help me to give it to the new Talisman Master as a gift. After I return 3 years later, I will hold another live crafting session and every Talisman Master in our You Continent will be permitted to attend.”

Fan Yuanhui examined the talisman seal he had never seen before and revealed a look of envy. “A rank three talisman seal... This is a truly valuable gift indeed. Even I have to envy him...”

After they left, Shang Xia looked at Ren Bainian and laughed, “Senior Ren, how is the modification of the White Bone Brush?”

“I overestimated myself... I’m great when it comes to repairing stuff, not replacing and modifications. We did find a suitable spirit bone in the corpse of the beast, but it’s no longer a problem of just changing the shaft. Even the blacksmiths of the Weapons Hall are not capable of doing it.” Ren Bainian forced a chuckle.

Shang Xia was disappointed, but he understood that his request was extremely tough to fulfill in the first place. He muttered, “It’s alright. I was too hasty. You can take your time to modify the brush. I have the Purple Bamboo Brush that can be used for now.”

Ren Bainian hastily added, “Actually, it’s not like we don’t have another idea...”

“What is it?” Shang Xia’s eyes brightened slightly.

“I heard that you went to the ocean and got acquainted with 2 Grandmaster Blacksmiths of the Tianya Pavilion. Why don’t you look for them?” Ren Bainian asked.

“Hmm... I was planning to give our guys the chance to modify the brush. Looks like I can only...” Shang Xia mumbled softly.

After Ren Bainian left, Ren Huan was the only one left. He presented 3 pieces of rank five talisman paper made from the skin of the sea beast.