Even if every influential force was watched over by a Venerable One, they might not have top-grade Spiritualists. Even if they had such powerhouses, they would not be willing to send them out for missions.
At the end of the day, top-grade Spiritualists were powerhouses that could become Venerable Ones.
If top-grade Spiritualists could become Venerable Ones, it would be notable achievements for dominant forces. Therefore, even the Humans’ Nine Great Sects in Danzhou regarded them as precious beings, who could not be easily seen.
Ghost-clawed Venerable One had once invested all of its resources in a genius junior, who did not disappoint it and became a top-grade spirit beast. However, the spirit beast finally drew the Thunderbolts Disaster, which was quite a forceful disaster, when it was on its way to becoming a Venerable One.
Due to the disaster, the top-grade spirit beast could not endure it and finally turned into ashes.
This was why Ghost-clawed Venerable One’s followers were in an outage period; 12 of them were high-rank spirit beasts, but there were no top-grade spirit beasts.
Ou Yangming was somehow relieved, and he began to think at once.
He had witnessed the mightiness of top-grade spirit beasts. Whether it was Ghost Mo or the Six-armed Giant Beast, he could not go against them. This was due to the enormous gap between their equivalent ranks, and he could not think of a way to make up for the shortcoming.
Pieces of equipment could allow a weaker party to defeat a stronger party, but if the original gap between them was too huge, as fine as one’s pieces of equipment were, one would only be killed.
That said, since there was no top-grade spirit beast, could he make a difference?
“Woof…”
Big Yellow barked all of a sudden. When Ou Yangming turned to look, they were both highly-spirited.
After all, they possessed divine tools with Devouring abilities. If they could absorb the energies of the Twelve Walkers… No, even if they only absorbed the energies of 2 to 3 of them, they would be given new leases of life.
Fueling war through war was the best way for an upgrade.
Ou Yangming gritted his teeth and asked, “Tell me—how do you contact them?”
As he kept asking questions, the frightened lizard no longer hid anything and revealed everything it knew.
The eyes of Ou Yangming and Big Yellow gleamed brighter without them knowing.
A shrill shriek was heard from the lizard after half an hour. When the big yellow dog pulled out its claws from the insect’s body, its aura and momentum seemed to have grown.
Chapter 651 - Studying A Formation Board
“Formation board, formation board…”
As Ou Yangming mumbled, he quickly carved a peculiar ore into a round board.
After being ambushed and countering the ambush, he had a clearer understanding of formation boards.
Formation masters were a profession rarer than blacksmiths. Their biggest reliance was formation boards, where formation maps that were engraved inside had enormous powers that allowed weak parties to dominate and challenge opponents of higher ranks.
Although formation masters had notable powers that could turn everything around, their potency was the reason they were rare.
Ou Yangming had not met a real formation master in the lower realm. Elder Universe had only scratched the surface from numerous ancient manuals because he lived long enough and had sufficient knowledge.
Even so, the superficial knowledge that the elder had introduced Ou Yangming to the field, where he gained some understanding of formation masters. Moreover, he also began to derive formation maps through Skill Runes and his knowledge.
Until today, Ou Yangming somewhat had little insight, which was why he could create formation boards and use them against his opponents.
Yes, if those round boards could be considered formation boards.
As compared to real formation boards that could be used multiple times according to legend, Ou Yangming’s round boards were as crude as they could be. Furthermore, they were also one-time consumables.
Nevertheless, the round boards worked together with the spiritual world that Ou Yangming released and unleashed their greatest potentials.
Lu Zhenxie and the 4 spirit lizards were captured by the formation’s mightiness just like that. They were then attacked by Ou Yangming and Big Yellow, and they ended up dying without peace.
Without the formation map’s assistance, even if Ou Yangming released the lazy turtle, he could not have killed his enemies easily.
Now, Ou Yangming set his target on high-rank spirit beasts, which were even more powerful. Therefore, he had higher demands for formation boards.
“Woosh…”
As Ou Yangming’s fire burned intensely and enveloped the round board, he slowly created rune paths that belonged to him on it.
He was already very familiar with the process, such that he would not make any mistake even if he closed his eyes. Nonetheless, the young fellow was not quite satisfied with his work. This was because he knew he was not carving a formation, but a Skill Rune.
Besides, if he carved runes on such raw ores, once they were activated, the forceful powers would destroy the runes.
Ou Yangming could not help but sigh when he sensed the rune slowly taking form.
Big Yellow blinked and asked in shock, “Lil’ Ming, what are you unhappy about?”
The young fellow shook his head and said, “I just find something odd—if I use these ores to smith a piece of equipment, why won’t the equipment’s skill destroy it? On the other hand, if I refine a round board with these ores, the skill that’s activated will ruin the board.”
Big Yellow’s eyes flickered. Ou Yangming’s question was undoubtedly obscure to it.
Despite that, it tilted its head for some time and blurted, “Perhaps it’s because they have different shapes.”
Ou Yangming could not help but laugh but on second thought, he seemed to have vaguely comprehended something.
A Skill Rune on a piece of equipment could only be incited at the cost of the user’s spiritual power, whereas a round board that was carved was not driven by spiritual power. Instead, its mightiness was the result of the power of the rune attached to it.
Ou Yangming’s eyes glowed unusually as he seemed to have grasped an important piece of information.
He turned his wrist and retrieved a real formation board.
This was the formation board that he stumbled upon before he entered the Wutong Tree’s secret realm. Once Xia Zizhen and Poisonous Saber Gentleman died, it naturally belonged to him.
As he inspected the formation board carefully, the lusters in his eyes changed unpredictably.
The ends of the rune paths on the formation board were connected, hence amateurs would not be able to notice anything.
Without pointers from a real formation master, other people could not spot anything even if they knew Rune Secret Techniques.
The formation board had been in Ou Yangming’s possession for some time, and he took some time to observe it almost every day. However, the closer he observed, the more he saw, and the more appalled he was. This was because he could not record the complicated rune paths.
It was nearly impossible. Even when his mental power was so remarkable, he could not remember even a part of the rune paths.
The only explanation would be the formation map was being resisted by a wonderful effect that it had.
Ou Yangming’s mentality was entirely different when he held the formation in his hand at the moment.
Big Yellow’s unintentional words seemed to have overthrown an invisible wall, allowing him to see the formation board from a new perspective.
‘Formation board, formation board. This is a treasure carved by a formation master, and it’s given a mysterious color.
‘In other words, can this formation board be treated as a formation master’s equipment?’
With half-squinted eyes, Ou Yangming fully released
his mental power and became immersed in studying the formation board.
Before this, he regarded the item as an imperceivable treasure, where he was in awe when he observed it. Even when he occasionally carried out experiments, he only scratched the surface and dared not dive deeper.
This was because he was afraid of the formation board being ruined, then he would have nothing to study anymore.
At this point, he finally cast his worries aside.
‘Isn’t this just a formation master’s equipment? I might not understand formations, but I know pieces of equipment very well. With help from the Heavenly Phoenix Fire, I don’t believe that I can’t even apprehend a piece of equipment.’
Ou Yangming completely focused on the formation board. His eyes were gleaming in ordinary lusters.
‘Equipment, equipment—this is an equipment…’
The young fellow searched the formation board patiently. He no longer regarded it as a mysterious and unpredictable treasure. Instead, he treated it as a queer piece of equipment.
He had smithed pieces of equipment for himself, Big Yellow, and other beasts.
Pieces of equipment for humans could be put aside as they were still similar even if there were slight differences between them. On the opposite, pieces of equipment for beasts were totally different. Even among the Walking Beasts, there were countless strange pieces of equipment.
The elephants, the Antelopes, the Wolves, and the other races had pieces of equipment with dissimilar traits. Without being experienced enough, ordinary blacksmiths would not be competent enough to smith them.
Other than the Walking Beasts, pieces of equipment for the Birds and the Insects were also eccentric, and they could not be treated normally.
As at this moment, Ou Yangming handled the formation map as if it was the strangest equipment.
Eventually, Ou Yangming appeared to be agitated. Once he treated the board as a piece of equipment, he found some clues indeed.
The rune paths on the formation board seemed to have come alive and fluctuated, whereas Ou Yangming’s mental power in his sea of consciousness surged as it wanted to imprint the fluctuations in his spiritual world.
Yes, his spiritual world—the exceptional world that was identical to the world’s origin and could turn something imaginary into something real in his subconscious.
Ou Yangming’s eyes began to look hollower. Upon noticing this, Big Yellow shook its body on the side as it somehow sensed an aura that made it shudder with fear.
It was deeply puzzled because the aura released by Ou Yangming seemed to have exceeded the achievable limit according to his cultivation base.
The aura was not borrowed from the power of the dragon and the phoenix’s appearance; it came from his abilities. That said, the pressure generated by the aura was much more intense than that of the middle-rank lizard, so much so that there was a substantial difference.
Ou Yangming’s fire scorched in his sea of consciousness at this time. Amidst the endless sea of flames, runes were slowly formed one after another. The biggest characteristic of the runes was their similarity with the runes on the formation board, by which they did not have obvious starting and ending points.
It was as though the runes were an inseparable unit the instant they were born.
They started from the same spot and ended on the same point.
Every rune path was intertwined as if they could become one with the world.
Ou Yangming’s body trembled slightly, and his breathing became hurried yet powerful.
“I see, I… See!’
The young fellow suddenly withdrew his mental conception from his sea of consciousness, and it was clear through his eyes that he was elated. He lifted his head and laughed out loud to express his wild joy.
Big Yellow widened its eyes. It could not understand why Ou Yangming went from pulling a long face to being so mad.
Ou Yangming stopped after some time and slapped Big Yellow hard. “Big Yellow, I did it!”
The big yellow dog’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Of course.” Subsequently, Ou Yangming retrieved enough materials from his interspatial bag and said, “I’ll make an attempt. If I succeed, we should start acting.”
Big Yellow nodded eagerly. It was surprised yet overjoyed.
Following that, Ou Yangming grunted and released his fire to envelope an ore, then he quickly changed its shape.
It took only a brief moment for a round board to appear in his fire. Nevertheless, this time, instead of only looking impressive, the round board emitted a peculiar luster as soon as it was formed.
Afterward, the luster grew brighter and was almost on par with Ou Yangming’s fire.
The young fellow exhaled deeply after 15 minutes. When he curbed his fire, the luster on the round board disappeared at the same time.
Ou Yangming carried the round board and sensed the thin paths on it.
There were no beginnings and ends for the paths, where the starting and ending strokes could not be seen. This was because the paths and the round board appeared at the same time. Instead of being carved separately, they were presented as a whole.
Distinctive energy was released from the round board, causing it to emit a mysterious luster.
Ou Yangming smiled brighter as he was happier.
It turned out that the formation boards refined by formation masters were not carved, but were molded through ingenious workmanship.
This was a layer of glass paper. If it was not broken at all, most people would never have guessed the truth.
Since Ou Yangming grasped it by accident, he could learn by analogy and display what he learned as much as possible.
Chapter 652 - Tricking The Lazy Turtle
Ores were melted by Ou Yangming’s fire one after another and were gathered into formation boards.
Ou Yangming had gone through a lot of effort for the formation boards. He carved the essence that he apprehended from the Simulated Spiritual Fist on some of them, causing them to have marvelous effects of causing spiritual illusions. Apart from that, he also engraved the Dual Skill Technique that he learned on the other boards. Needless to say, what matched the second type of board was the poisonous pill’s spirit—the centipede. Once the formation board was activated, the centipede would release its poisonous gas, causing living beings within the formation board’s range to be secretly poisoned.
Nonetheless, Ou Yangming had reached his limit by refining 2 different kinds of formation boards.
If he was given sufficient time, perhaps he could come up with more powerful formation boards by merging different Skill Runes in his spiritual world. Since the Insect’s Twelve Walkers were keeping an eye out for him everywhere, he dared not delay more time.
The missing of 1 middle-rank lizard, 5 low-rank lizards, and Lu Zhenxie, would definitely catch the attention of other lizard powerhouses. Ou Yangming believed that unless he went far away, he would not have much time left.
Nevertheless, he was quite satisfied when he looked at the formation boards, which he had put a lot of effort into.
Being able to achieve this proved that what he learned from before was not pointless.
Ou Yangming kept the formation boards and pondered for some time, then he retrieved one of his Long Feather Bands. When he gently touched the feathers on it, peculiar energy was instantly released.
It was an extremely vigorous interspatial power. Once the power was curbed, a sleeping turtle appeared on the empty ground.
Big Yellow widened its eyes and jumped on the turtle’s back, then it barked out loud.
“Woof, woof, woof…”
The big lazy turtle moved its neck and extended it lazily. Its hazy eyes became clearer after it saw Ou Yangming and Big Yellow, then it looked around and finally had a clear look at its surroundings.
This was an entirely strange place.
The lazy turtle nodded at Ou Yangming in confusion and asked, “Master Ou, did you summon me for something?”
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br /> Ou Yangming could not help but laugh when he looked at the big lazy turtle; its back was covered in spiritual flowers and herbs, which were mostly what he gained in the secret realm. Even so, the lazy turtle was indeed a rare species as the spiritual flowers and herbs released a magical energy fluctuation.
The power was not forceful, but there was an indescribable feeling to it.
It was worth noting that the lazy turtle’s aura corresponded with the power very well. They merged and somehow complemented each other.
Sure enough, Ou Yangming made the right choice of entrusting the spiritual flowers and herbs to the lazy turtle. Even if the turtle never worked hard and was mostly sleeping, the flowers and herbs were born to match it well. As such, they somewhat fit God’s will wonderfully.
“Lazy turtle, these spiritual flowers and herbs are generally favorable. Looks like I was right about handing them to you,” Ou Yangming remarked.
“Master Ou, don’t worry, there’s no mistake leaving these spiritual flowers and herbs with me,” the big lazy turtle responded proudly. It paused for a while and suddenly recalled something when it slowly came to its senses. “Master Ou, you previously sent so many spiritual flowers and herbs into the place. When are you doing it again?”
Ou Yangming was slightly stunned, and his face could not help but take on an odd expression.
‘This big lazy turtle’s very greedy.’
The secret realm belonged to the Wutong Tree, which was also a type of spiritual item. What more it had been alive for over 10,000 years.
No matter how Ou Yangming looked at it, leaving the spiritual flowers and herbs in the spiritual realm seemed to be better than giving them to the lazy turtle.
Having said that, the secret realm was massive, and it had plenty of spiritual flowers and herbs inside. The Wutong Tree meant that it could only take care of the top-notch ones, whereas most of them would be left to self-destruct.
In that case, would it be a better choice to leave the substandard spiritual flowers and herbs with the lazy turtle?
Just as Ou Yangming was having a hard time deciding, Big Yellow barked again.
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