Chapter 773: Vision of the Rank Five Formation
“Rank five sea beast?!” Ren Huan stared at the corpse in shock before asking again, “Did you kill it alone?!”
“Nope. I was assisted by a friend who is also in the Martial Dipper Realm. Because I helped her with some other matters, she gave the entire corpse to me.”
If not for Shang Xia working together with Lady Yu, it would be impossible for either of them to hunt down the sea beast alone.
In the great ocean, a rank five sea beast possessed a massive geographical advantage. If not for the fact that the expert of the Muhai Sect wasn’t thinking straight, the 2 of them would still have to waste a lot of effort to kill the beast.
Of the 3, Ren Bainian was amazing at repairing weapons. Ren Huan could craft talisman paper, and Shang Quan was a talisman ink maker.
Their opinions would weigh the most in their respective fields, but Ren Huan seemed to have the most say among them. After examining the corpse, he muttered with a tinge of regret but also in slight celebration, “The corpse isn’t small at all, but it suffered a lot of damage externally. The skin of the beast will definitely be affected but this is a rank five sea beast at the end of the day. It’s not a random fish. If it was, it wouldn’t be easy to turn the skin into rank five talisman paper.”
Shang Xia asked hurriedly, “What’s the matter? Can’t you make the skin of fishes into talisman paper?”
“It’s not that you can’t do it. It’s just that they aren’t as good as beast skin. Rank five fish skin might not be able to transform into rank five talisman paper, but it won’t be too difficult to turn them into rank four talisman paper!” Ren Huan tutted.
Shang Xia seemed a little disappointed and he mumbled, “I thought that I could go around killing high rank fish and sea creatures so that we can obtain a steady supply of talisman paper resources. From what you say, it’s not entirely feasible.”
Ren Huan chuckled in response, “I might not have gone to explore the oceans, but I managed to learn from some records out there that the scales of those creatures will be extremely useful. It’s just that they aren’t good enough to be used to craft talisman paper. They can still be made into artifacts. Moreover, the oceans are endless and there are too many sea creatures to count. Of course, because the oceans are endless, it won’t be easy to find those high-level beasts anyway.”
Shang Xia nodded in agreement. However, he added, “No matter what, it seems like we have to prioritize hunting down those sea creatures.”
“We can try to obtain some special methods to hunt them from the factions that are stationed in the ocean. Those sects there definitely tried them in the past but it doesn’t seem like it’s extremely useful... Otherwise, our Azure Ascension World wouldn’t have 0 Holy Lands from the ocean. Whatever... Learning how to hunt those creatures is better than going in blind.” Ren Huan suggested.
Thinking about the secret region that contained the Tianya Pavilion, and the Muhai Sect that had a way to control rank five beasts, Shang Xia couldn’t help but mutter, “It’s not as though those sects in the ocean are completely useless. Now that the Azure Ascension World obtained 3 different types of world origin and origin essence, it strengthened greatly even though we couldn’t ascend into a Spirit World. Also, a ton of resources have been created due to the great influx of world origin...”
He sank into contemplation for a second before he continued, “The situation on land is basically set. Our You Continent is controlled by our Tongyou Institution, but it’s not impossible for us to continue expanding in the future. Now, the only way we can grow is to spread our influence into the ocean.”
Due to the lack of population in the You Continent, they had more than enough cultivation resources to go around.
Many resources in the You Continent had yet to be fully developed and utilized, but as a member of the Tongyou Institution with enough authority, Shang Xia continued to push for the expansion of the You Continent in order to obtain more resources.
His goal was simple and clear. The resources within the You Continent was finite. Even though it might not have been fully uncovered and utilized, the Tongyou Institution had basically controlled everything. There was no need to rush to develop them. They might as well continue to expand outwards in order to gather more streams of resources!
Shang Xia turned to Ren Bainian before speaking. “Senior Ren, do you think the bone of the beast can be used to replace the shaft of the White Bone Brush? Will the brush grow to become of a better grade when that happens?”
Forcing a smile, Ren Bainian chuckled, “I’ll do my best. However, I’m afraid I will have to waste a lot of spiritual bone when doing so. I will also need the help of the blacksmiths of the institution.”
Shang Xia pointed at the corpse and gave his order. “Alright then. Senior Ren, you and the talisman hall can use as much of the corpse as you require.”
Ren Bainian cupped his fist in response and no longer said anything else. He seemed to be thinking of how he should improve the White Bone Brush.
Shang Xia then handed the blood of the beast to Shang Quan. He laughed, “Uncle Quan, the blood is extremely important when crafting ink. You can try to use this to craft rank four talisman ink...”
“I apologize. I barely managed to craft rank three talisman ink. I’m afraid you will be wasting the blood of a rank five sea beast by giving it to me.” Shang Quan laughed bitterly.
Shang Xia didn’t seem to care. “Nonsense! Uncle Quan, use it however you like. Oh right. I have to congratulate you on becoming a rank three talisman ink craftsman!”
Shang Quan waved his hands immediately as a show of humility. “Actually, the timing is pretty coincidental. I discovered some sort of crystal powder recently and tried mixing it into some talisman ink. I didn’t think that I would be able to succeed in creating a batch of rank three talisman ink easily the moment I did so.”
Shang Xia seemed pretty excited. “Oh?! How did that happen?”
“It seems like the powder only worked for a certain type of talisman ink. I tried it on 2 other types of ink and it failed miserably.” Shang Quan explained.
Shang Xia seemed to have thought of something and he asked, “Uncle Quan, what type of crystal powder did you use?”
“It’s something like essence crystals, but the one I used seemed to possess some frigid yin spiritual qi. It’s not as mellow as a normal essence crystal.” Shang Quan introduced.
“Uncle Quan, where did you find such crystals? Do you have more of them? Are you able to find their source?” Shang Xia asked immediately.
Something that could excite a Martial Dipper Realm expert like Shang Xia would definitely not be an ordinary treasure.
Shang Quan immediately recognized the fact that the crystal he used might have far surpassed the value he estimated and he spoke quickly, “Little Xia, is the crystal important? Our clan managed to get our hands on it by chance and it came from the Liao Continent.”
“Liao Continent?!” Shang Xia thought for a second and muttered, “Can you inform the person from our Shang Clan in charge of trades with the Liao Continent to obtain these crystals with everything in their power? Oh right, don’t make it too obvious.”
“In recent years, crystals like this have been appearing in the Azure Ascension World. Not many people know of their true value. It’s a great opportunity for us!” Shang Xia said to Shang Quan after passing down his instructions.
He then turned to Ren Huan and Ren Bainian. It was clear he was planning to explain what he was doing to them. “I only have some clues for the use of the crystals. However, I believe that they will be much more useful than they let on. We will have to work on it to discover how its full potential can be unleashed.”
Shang Xia grunted once and concluded, “In the future, when you try crafting, or repairing anything, you can try adding some powder shavings of the crystals. Try to look for more ways to use them. Even if you waste some resources doing so, there’s no need to worry. I’ll explain what happened to the deputy patriarchs.”
With Shang Xia’s confirmation, the 3 of them revealed looks of ecstasy.
It didn’t matter that they could still use those strange essence crystals. What got them was the fact that they could go all out and ignore any losses while carrying out their experiments!
They felt that they would have to try to use those crystal powder whenever possible!
Shang Xia also understood that a huge amount of resources would be wasted in the near future due to their need to verify the uses of those crystals. However, everything would turn out to be worth it in the long run.
Finally sending them away, Shang Xia rushed over to the Formation Hall. He heard that Chu Jia hadn’t been around for a long time and she had been modifying a small island in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion for some time now.
Without a word, he rushed over to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion and discovered what Chu Jia was doing. She had the assistance of 2 other rank three Formation Masters, along with several Martial Intent Realm or higher cultivators of the Formation Hall. There were even 2 rank three Talisman Masters of the Talisman Hall among them. They seemed to have reached a dead end with a tiny fragment of land that was honestly too small to be called an island at that point.
The moment Shang Xia arrived, Chu Jia, who had been extremely annoyed, found someone to vent her anger on.
“What are you doing here?! Is the great Talisman Grandmaster here to watch us embarrass ourselves?” Chu Jia snapped.
Everyone else started to take their leave as they didn’t want to be caught up in the wrath of the little ancestor from the Formation Hall.
Shang Xia seemed to ignore their actions and he continued to approach the structure. “Did you run into some problem you can’t solve again?! Why the hell are you so angry?”
Chu Jia snorted heavily before turning around to ignore him. She felt that her intuitions were right and he was really there to make fun of her.
Shang Xia could only sigh helplessly when he saw that she wasn’t planning to respond. “I came here to ask you for help. I didn’t think that you would have also run into a problem here.”
“Nonsense! This isn’t a problem at all!” Chu Jia declared haughtily the next second. “How can this be a problem? It’s just modifying an island to ferry our low-level cultivators to and fro the Three Unity Island. I’m just thinking of a way to reduce wastage of resources!”
Shang Xia glanced at his surroundings and saw the expressions the others were revealing. He might be a Formation Master, but he knew the basics...
A moment later, he adjusted his tone and muttered, “Looking at the size of this island, you should be able to bring 80 or so people on it, right? How many people do you need to maintain its flight?”
Shang Xia seemed to have hit the nail on the head as Chu Jia acted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. She became even more unwilling to speak now that Shang Xia had accurately pointed it out.
“According to our estimates, even after we complete the modifications, we will need at least 3 Martial Extermination Realm experts to move the island. It won’t be able to move quickly either. I’m afraid before reaching the Three Unity Island, those experts will probably die from exhaustion. In order to ensure the flight of the island, we will need at least 6, or maybe even 7 Martial Extermination Realm experts to share the burden of powering the island.”
Shang Xia recognized the person who spoke. It was Bai Luming, a rank three Formation Master of the Formation Hall.
Chu Jia sounded extremely exasperated as she sighed, “Bai Luming, no one will take you for a mute if you don’t talk...”
Obviously, he was someone who knew her temper really well. He went to hide behind the others the moment he completed his explanation earlier.
Shang Xia chuckled in response. “What if you use essence crystals to power it? Or perhaps, if you use the strength of those you are transporting?”
Bai Luming didn’t even need to say anything when Chu Jia replied. “It’s easier said than done. How many essence crystals will we need if that’s the case? We might not even be able to earn enough essence crystals to cover the cost of going there. Don’t forget, those who wish to head over to the Three Unity Island still need to borrow the power of our Tongyou Paradise to arrive at the Beyond Heavens Pavilion before heading over. Otherwise, they won’t be able to board this moving island.
“As for getting them to chip in... All of them are low-level cultivators to begin with. It doesn’t matter if they’re in the Martial Extremity Realm or the Martial Intent Realm. They won’t be able to do much! Not to mention the fact that they already paid to use our services. If they need to provide the energy required to make the trip there, it will be too...”
Shang Xia nodded slightly before turning to Chu Jia to speak in an extremely grave tone. “I might have a way to solve this problem.”
Widening her eyes in surprise, she didn’t seem too convinced and she snorted softly, “What ideas can you have?! Are you planning to use a talisman to solve this?”
“I have a concept of a rank five formation that can do that, but I need your help in order to complete the preparations.” Shang Xia smiled.
“Rank five formation?! Do you actually know how to use formations?!” Chu Jia stared at Shang Xia with her pupils trembling slightly.
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