380: A sudden panic

Xu Sanyan ignored her, silently listing the Materials needed for the Formation in his mind.

This Soul-Gathering Life-Preserving Grand Formation is extremely vast, and the Materials required are immeasurable. For instance, carving the array patterns necessitates a large quantity of fresh blood.

Human blood!

The Formation states that humans are the essence of heaven and earth, and souls are the spirits of heaven and earth. It requires human blood as the foundation, Divine Soul as the frame, earth veins as the lines, and Spiritual Qi as the cage. When the Formation rises, heaven trembles, and all things return to ruin.

In Xu Sanyan's view, setting up this Formation shares a similar principle with building a house; both require step-by-step construction.

The so-called human blood as the foundation refers to carving the most basic array patterns of the Formation, much like drawing the blueprint of a house, which will serve as the basis for subsequent construction.

This step requires a large amount of fresh blood for him to carve the Formation.

As for Divine Soul as the frame, it is used to restrain the Divine Souls of Mortals, preventing them from falling into the Netherworld or dispersing into heaven and earth after death.

This relates to the ultimate effect of this Formation, because his ultimate goal is to defile the Heavenly Dao, causing the Heavenly Dao to detach from this world, so he can seize the opportunity to refine it.

But how can he defile the Heavenly Dao?

Nothing but blood Qi and resentment!

These two types of Qi are the most turbid, and neither can be lacking.

Blood Qi is tangible, while resentment is intangible; only when the two are intertwined can success be achieved.

This step requires a large amount of Soul Crystal, which gives Xu Sanyan a headache. Soul Crystal is precious and not as easily obtained as human blood, so it will likely require more effort.

The third step, earth veins as lines, as the name suggests, is to connect the five cities with earth veins, making them a single entity.

It can be compared to building the framework of a house; at this stage, the Grand Array will begin to take shape.

As for what 'earth veins' are, this is not the earth vein stone found in the Secret Realm world. Although their names are similar, they are actually two different things.

earth vein stone is formed from 'Divine Bone' and is not considered a true earth vein, while the 'earth vein' described in the Formation is 'Earth Qi'!

Why is some land fertile while other places are barren?

Why do some places grow Spirit Medicine while others are desolate?

Because of 'Earth Qi'!

If the Earth Qi is abundant, the land is fertile.

If the Earth Qi is scarce, nothing grows.

But Earth Qi is formless and intangible, invisible and untouchable. How can it be applied to the Grand Array?

This highlights the brilliance of the four Immortals who created the Grand Array. They devised a method, which is—

Formation within a Formation!

The so-called Formation within a Formation does not mean setting up another Formation within the Grand Array, but rather changing the structure of the Soul-Gathering Life-Preserving Grand Formation, adding another Formation to its original foundation, and integrating the two to give it the ability to condense 'Earth Qi'.

This seems simple, but it is actually very difficult, because at this moment, the Soul-Gathering Life-Preserving Grand Formation is like an incredibly vast and precise machine, with countless array patterns acting like screws within the machine, where one small movement affects the whole.

Yet, the four Immortals managed to forcibly insert a stone into it, and the machine still operates normally without any obstruction. This is certainly not something an ordinary person could achieve; at the very least, Xu Sanyan cannot.

With his current Formation Dao Cultivation, he still cannot fully comprehend the underlying principles, but he doesn't need to fully understand them; he only needs to set it up step by step.

This step requires a special kind of Ore, named earth core stone. This item is mostly found in the heart of Ore veins; although not common, it is not rare either, so it is not difficult to obtain.

And the final 'Spiritual Qi as a cage' is relatively easy to understand. When the Formation activates, it needs to absorb a large amount of Spiritual Qi. Xu Sanyan needs to prepare Spirit Stone, a lot of Spirit Stone.

This step is considered the simplest. If there aren't enough Spirit Stone, he can rob, steal, or deceive; in short, there are many ways.

Xu Sanyan silently calculated in his mind. Overall, setting up the Grand Array requires human blood, Soul Crystal, earth core stone, and Spirit Stone, each in considerable quantities. Relying on him alone, he doesn't know how long it would take to prepare everything.

Therefore, the most urgent task is to find a partner!

Xu Sanyan pulled Wang Zixuan's hand, drawing her into his embrace. He initially wanted to assign her the task of collecting human blood, but after careful consideration, he ultimately gave up.

Wang Zixuan is not ruthless enough, and her personality is indecisive. He doesn't trust her with such a task.

Although the demonic seed can influence their thoughts, it cannot change their personalities.

If Xiang Tan were here, it would be great…

That woman appears harmless on the surface, but in reality, she is ruthless and black-hearted. Having struggled in a place like the Demonic Sect for decades, there is not a shred of kindness left in her heart.

It's a pity he can't return to the Demonic Sect yet.

Another figure appeared in Xu Sanyan's mind. Perhaps entrusting her with the task of collecting human blood would be suitable…

That person is Chang Yulian!

This woman is deep and unpredictable in her thoughts, timid yet cruel in nature, and never takes human lives seriously.

He had previously planted a demonic seed deep in Chang Yulian's Sea of Consciousness and had learned some secrets of the Chang family from her.

That Chang family Cultivation Technique is truly sinister, using human lives as a catalyst to nourish oneself. One who can Cultivate this Cultivation Technique must be extremely selfish and self-serving. In her eyes, the lives of Mortals are no different from ants.

This matter is perfectly suited for her.

Because she is timid, her actions will inevitably be cautious, greatly reducing the risk of exposure.

As for collecting Soul Crystal and earth core stone…

The first person Xu Sanyan thought of was Lin Fan. This person has immense luck and is extremely fortunate, so this matter could be entrusted to him.

However, Lin Fan's Cultivation is too low, and Soul Crystal and earth core stone are relatively precious, so he might not be able to access them.

Should he first find a way to help him improve his Cultivation?

As this thought arose in Xu Sanyan's mind, he suddenly felt a chill. Why would he have such an idea?

"Bang, bang, bang~"

A series of knocks on the door interrupted Xu Sanyan's thoughts. He heard Wang Ying's voice from outside the door, "Is Brother Lin home?"

"Come in."

"Creak—"

The main door opened. Xu Sanyan's gaze passed through the garden archway towards the entrance, where four figures stood outside.

Two of them were the Wang Brothers, and he recognized the other two as well, having seen them once at the Chi Shan Yang Family.

The two were a man and a woman. The woman was petite and delicate, with her hair tied in a bun. She was less than five feet tall, wearing a light pink long dress that made her appear even more adorable and alluring.

The long dress covered her knees, revealing a section of her slender, fair calves. She wore green short boots embroidered with a pair of mandarin ducks.

The young girl shyly looked up, secretly glancing at Xu Sanyan before quickly lowering her head, her face becoming even redder.

This girl was the one who had been responsible for entertaining Xu Sanyan when he was at the Yang Family previously.

And the man beside her was Yang An, the Eldest Young Master of the Yang Family. Speaking of which, Xu Sanyan had some unpleasant history with the Yang Family; he had taken advantage of them but didn't fulfill his part, yet the Yang Family dared not turn hostile.

"Come, sit."

Xu Sanyan pushed Wang Zixuan away and waved to the four people in the distance.

"Greetings, Brother Lin."

Yang An dared not presume, quickly stepping forward to bow.

There were a total of four stone stools under the stone pavilion. Xu Sanyan occupied one, the Wang Brothers each took one, and Yang An also needed one, filling all the seats perfectly.

Although Wang Zixuan was the mistress, she merely stood to the side, and the Yang Family girl also obediently stood behind Yang An.

"Don't just stand there, sit here."

Xu Sanyan, with a smile on his face, patted his thigh, warmly inviting the young girl to sit.