The continent has not yet calmed down about Wei Yuanjie’s arrival, when another shocking news struck that the Martial Alliance delegation sent an official letter of greetings to the prince’s palace.
This reinforced Wei Yuanjie’s status on the continent, which still was viewed with a bit of uncertainty. If this letter arrived later, about a month after Wei Yuanjie’s arrival, like the delegation leader planned, it would have been taken as a formality. Now, however, it was a statement.
The news of the Martial Alliance making a surprise inspection of the seal of the Great Wilderness World Stone, thus, was drowned in the generated noise and mostly ignored.
The Martial Alliance dismissed all the personnel stationed to guard the seal, transferring the authority to the Tiebi Mountain Sect which already had the World Stone within their nominal territory of influence, giving them status within the alliance with the backing of the Ember Palm Pavilion.
The last part, about the Ember Palm Pavilion backing a smaller local Sect did catch some eyes, mainly of their two rival big Sects, but in the end, it was revealed that it was a move in hopes of ingratiating themselves with the delegation leader of the Martial Alliance, and thus branded as an inconsequential one.
With this, however, Zhao Xieren, Wu Long and Lian Zhiqiu, both of the latter disguised in bamboo hats with veils covering the sides, followed by 10 of the most skilled Symbold Arts Masters, and 200 staff, quietly arrived in the territory of the Tiebi Mountain Sect, and from there proceeding to a very old fortress, built in times when the World Stone was still not sealed, but mostly abandoned now, with only the living quarters for guardians and the Sealing Formation regularly maintained.
Wu Long only half-listened to the Tiebi Mountain Sect’s Sect Leader expressing his endless gratitude to Zhao Xieren and showering him with praise as becoming part of the alliance and receiving a formal status was a big step up for their Sect, which raised their prestige and would boost the number of promising disciples wishing to join them.
He was also subtly asking for assurance that the seal would not be broken, which Zhao Xieren handled.
As they arrived, they saw the usual World Stone towering into the sky, but wrapped with massive chains that stretched to 64 massive pillar-like nails that were embedded in circular patterns around it.
Both the chains and the nails were 5th-tier Profound Grade Treasures, intricate patterns covering their surfaces.
There were massive array flags hanging from multiple spots from every chain, including the parts that were wrapped around the World Stone, and circular patterns were laid out on the ground in between the nails.
Massive glowing circles were floating and rotating just a bit above the pattern on the ground, and numerous glowing rings of intricate patterns and symbols were rotating along the tall World Stone itself.
Paper talismans were covering the chains and the World Stone, and hung on threads that were placed between the chains.
The Symbol Arts Masters and staff that came with them stopped in awe at the sight of the mastery with which the seal was made.
Even Lian Zhiqiu took a long look, seemingly taking in the feel of the Sealing Formation and experiencing a rush of excitement.
But even though it was grandiose, there was also moss growing on the chains, and most of the array flags were slightly tattered at the lower ends, even though they were still obviously functional. The whole place, along with the weathered and poorly maintained fortress around it was giving an eerie feeling of abandonment.
Zhao Xieren saw a look from Wu Long, and hurried to take the Tiebi Mountain Sect’s members including the Sect Master away with an amicable smile and words, to discuss some important matters.
And with this, Wu Long, Lian Zhiqiu and the Symbol Arts Masters, directed the staff and began their work, embedding additional array disks and array catalysts under the floor tiles of the old fortress, and creating a new formation.
From there, it was a fairly simple process of activating the new concealed formation, and then a very careful, and long process of covertly linking it to the Sealing Formation.
“Hoo~”, Lian Zhiqiu made a long exhale as the process was finished, and she felt the new concealed formation subtly blend in with the Seal.
They also confirmed that it connected with the Formation of the Oak Fortress, and satisfied with their work, quietly left the scene, leaving it looking as undisturbed and abandoned as they found it.
—
“A fortress on the other side?”, General Feng asked.
“Mm, we will establish a fortress right around the World Stone on the other side, and reinforce it with Formations as much as it is possible, and as fast as we can, preferably, before the ants locate us”, Wu Long nodded.
“Understood”, General Feng nodded, seeing that his army is finally going to get its first task of defending the construction of the fortress.
Wu Long added, “Your army should also not hesitate to us stink pills we talked about earlier in case of emergencies. Baihu and I will be there to safeguard against accidents, but that should be kept secret. They should learn to rely on the safety measures given to them, and utilize them when needed”
“Of course, no warrior of mine should be coddled!”, General Feng nodded in complete agreement.
“In any case, there is no way we could keep up a constant defense against such a swarm, so we will be using stink pills to give us breathing room, and even after establishing the fortress, we will be firing off stink pills with formations in all directions of the fortress”, Wu Long added on.
“In that case we should probably prepare enough stink pills to last us a few months beforehand”, Nie Xiwang added with an introspective look, seeing how heavily dependent on them they will be throughout the construction, but even on daily basis after that.
“My Mystic Flame Pavilion already started working on that” Yu Huan nodded, and then added, turning to Luo Mingyu “I wanted to borrow some of Sister Mingyu’s Dao Cultivators though, who could help those with talent advance from staff into Alchemists. It is quite a simple pill to make, so I am thinking of expanding the number of junior Alchemists we have and establish a group which members will be rotated in and out, who will begin and constant and stable production of them”
The latter smiled, “Of course, I will send our Elders… I would help personally…”
“T-There is no need to go that far, your Elders are more than enough”, Yu Huan shook her hands in front of her in a slightly flustered manner, knowing how much was already on Luo Mingyu’s shoulders.
“That’s right, Mingyu. Not to mention, you have a major breakthrough soon, we will try to let you focus on that for now without disturbing you”, Wu Long nodded with a smile, as Luo Mingyu was close to a breakthrough in regards to her physique.
“If we’re going to be using those pills on a semi-constant basis, no matter how cheap it is to make them, and even if we grow the plants for them ourselves, we are still going to need to buy some of the ingredients, which at this scale, is still going to stack”, Sui Luxiao asked, confirming what the costs would be.
“Yes, once we establish the fortress we absolutely cannot run out of those stink pills and thus the costs will stack. However, we will start reaping the benefits almost right away as well. I will give you a run-down of the products that we could make and their rough value”, Wu Long nodded.
“It is good we now have a cushion of finances to fall back on”, Sui Luxiao nodded.
“Ehm… about those live training grounds though…”, General Feng noted carefully, not wishing to remind too much, as he was daydreaming about those training grounds with true live enemies ever since he heard of the idea, quite often voicing how great it would be.
“Of course, once the fortress is established we will expand to create walls with towering formations, which will channel the swarm in many manageable streams, each of which could be tackled with various number of people”, Wu Long nodded with a smile, causing General Feng’s face to start almost shining with light out of how much joy he felt.
“Um… Wu Long… I was thinking… there will likely be a lot of injuries with such training… we might need a number of…”, Gong Liwei hesitantly raised her voice, unused to being present at such meetings, much less to join the discussion.
“Mm, I asked Old Yen to research on that, which is why I am going to send him, Kwon Qianhong and Nie Guanting to the Lone Cliff City, to do some follow-up research that he wasn’t able to finish in the Emerald Falls City”, Wu Long nodded again, “For the time being, we will manage without healers, but it would be hard to keep up training grounds safe without me and Baihu constantly there”
But even though he said that, Wu Long already had his eyes on one particular place they could get recruits from, he was just making sure there weren’t other, easier options around.
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