Many of the nodes Ryu ran into were damaged and incomplete, disallowing him to get a full picture. But the more he observed, the more fascinated he became.
After running into his 13th formation node, Ryu stopped for a long while, his expression calm and his breathing entering a rhythmic cadence.
It was a shame. If his Heavenly Pupils weren't sealed, he would be able to enter the States of Meditation with ease and this process would become even faster. However, he still had the Frost Clan's ring to rely on, at the very least.
With a thought, Ryu's palm flipped over and his blue steel lightning dagger vanished in place of a hovering ball of white. This ball of white was none other than a Formation Node formed of qi, but it wasn't any normal Formation Node. In fact, this was the Visualization of one of the Zu Ancestors, Morvar.
Morvar's Visualization allowed the one using it to form their Formation Nodes using their Spiritual Qi instead of utilizing precious items or Feng Shui. This allowed the quick deployment of large scale formation so long as you had the stamina to withstand it.
The issue with Morvar's Visualization when applied to the True Martial World, though, was that it was too weak. It was incomplete and it didn't have the necessary foundational firmness to create formations that would be helpful to Ryu, and it also wasn't constructed with the formation principles of the True Martial World in mind.
Just looking at this hidden expert's abilities, the scope and intent was like night and day.
For example, this formation was such that just the residual impacts of it were capable of forming a Spiritual Ore Vein of such a large scale. If Ryu cared about the wealth here, just digging into these walls might grant him enough resources to build his own Sect.
Secondly, this individual was able to infuse their Dao understanding into the Formation itself, which was what resulted in the formation of the ore vein to begin with. This alone was on a completely different in comparison to Morvar.
But there was a third and even more curious matter. This formation didn't rely on too many external resources or formation flags, at least not in these outer reaches. However, these formation nodes were still here and persisted even after so long.
The only explanation was that this region relied of Feng Shui to accomplish their goals, but if that was true, why was it forming natural resources instead of the other way around?
Usually, Feng Shui relied on the atmosphere in the surroundings to form the effects it wanted. It didn't create energy, it directed, redirected, and controlled energy that already existed. This was why when Ryu was forging his weapons, he had to plant very specific Spiritual Herbs and allow the environment to undergo a form of Terraforming before he could begin the forging process.
But here, it happened in reverse. The expert lay the formation, and then the Spiritual Ore Vein appeared, whereas it should have been the opposite.
This was another all too obvious sign of just how high level this individual's attainments in formations were.
It was also possible that this person invited an expert to help them, but Ryu felt like it was unlikely.
Still, not that that actually mattered to him, at least not now. He had found something far more interesting.
Fusing one's Dao with your Formation Nodes, what a fascinating concept, and it wasn't all that far from something that Ryu had already done.
Using the eight trigram diagram, Ryu created a formation that used his Dao as the Core and his Inheritances as the pillar. The more powerful he became, the more powerful the formation became. This could be considered to be a very similar concept, but altogether different at the same time.
The huge difference lay in the fact that Ryu was locked into just a single formation while this individual had access to the creation of a whole host of formations that were compatible with their Daos.
From what Ryu could see, this Dao was greatly defensive in nature. Although Ryu couldn't see through any more secrets, at least not with the small bits of fragments he had managed to see until now, this was all he needed to know. Of course such a person would be confident in laying defensive formations to protect themselves in seclusion if this was the case.
But what about Ryu?
The eight trigram diagram was both the simplest formation in all of existence and the most complex depending on how you look at things. At its core, it represented the very world itself. Wind, Water, Mountain, Earth, Thunder, Fire, Life and Heaven. Together, these eight pillars represented all things and it was also the foundation from which all other formations were birthed.
If Ryu used his eight trigram diagram as the pillars and Morvar's Visualization as the foundation, or even the vice versa, wouldn't he be able to transcend the weaknesses of this Formation Node hovering above his palm?
Ryu opened his eyes. 'This could work, but I need to see more.'
Ryu crushed the Visualization in his palm with a squeeze of his fist and flashed and vanished once more. He wanted to observe more formation nodes to get a stronger grasp of what was going on here. There might even be something intangible that he was missing to take that final step.
…
As Ryu rushed about the tunnels and even began to create some of his own, the first of the new arrivals came.
The Bewitching Charm Sect, the Wallowing Wisp Sect and the Dew Drop Sect all appeared at once. In fact, the moment they did, a sort of standoff began in the air.
These three Sects were the closest to the Metal Work Sect and it wasn't too much of a surprise that they were the first to arrive, and even the weakest of them was a Core Disciple well into the Dao Pedestal Realm.
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