A Small Test of the Grand Formation

Peony detached her right hand and used it as a projector. She brought over a stool, drinks, and snacks, then sat next to Wang Jixuan, craning her neck to watch the holographic projection in front of them.

Fortress No. 76's surface was quiet.

Wang Jixuan looked at the stacked monitors and accepted the preserved fruit Peony handed him, chewing it.

Hmm? This isn't an industrial product.

Wang Jixuan asked, "Where did these preserves come from?"

"Preserves?"

Peony honestly replied, "You have special talent subsidy points. I saw you didn't have much use for them, so I exchanged them for some snacks. They were quite expensive supplies."

"They taste good."

Daoist Wang chewed the preserved fruit, bringing it to his lips, and instructed, "Save some for Ling Tong... Can you see the Command Center on the third level?"

"According to regulations, you shouldn't be able to," Peony said with a mysterious smile, "but if you permit it, you can."

"Show me the feed."

"Certainly."

Peony snapped her slender right hand, which was resting on the table. A projection screen appeared to Wang Jixuan's left, displaying the Command Center where Dongfang Zhenghong was located, with synchronized audio and video.

So this is the perspective Old Fu usually uses to spy on various commanders?

It's quite interesting.

On the large screen in front of Dongfang Zhenghong, a radar interface was displayed, showing dozens of constantly flashing red dots.

A group of High-Tier Psionicists were advancing underground, seemingly using some kind of psionic energy to slowly overcome terrain obstacles.

"The targets are predicted to appear on the sides of the fourth, fifth, and sixth levels!"

"Their movement has slowed; they're avoiding the minefields!"

"Commander, should we proactively detonate the mines?"

Dongfang Zhenghong said calmly, "Individual human targets are too small. The explosive mines prepared for Drill Worms can be blocked by the underground strata, making proactive detonation extremely ineffective. Wait until they get closer."

"Yes!"

Seeing this, Wang Jixuan felt a bit more at ease.

To be honest, he was quite worried about Uncle Tai and the others' safety.

But hearing Dongfang Zhenghong's tone, and recalling what Old Fu had said before—that they had prepared sufficient combat power—he now felt somewhat confident.

Fortress No. 76 was now an important Psionic Weapon development and production center; D5 would not be easily abandoned.

Moreover, Wang Jixuan had already seen some of the situations within the fortress in a corner of the screen in front of Dongfang Zhenghong.

Most civilians had entered the shelters on each level.

A large number of Mechs filled the streets of Midtown and Upper City.

Black Shell, along with that batch of third-generation Half-Human Mechs, had donned psionicist-specific equipment and were ready to launch a bombardment at any moment.

The military had indeed made thorough preparations.

There was also another point:

Autonomous Mechs possessed powerful learning capabilities. With the permission of human commanders, they could share their combat experience and, utilizing the network built by the Autonomous Mech computing cores, continuously evolve enemy tactics, thereby completing their own tactical upgrades.

Previously, the Autonomous Mechs had accumulated extensive experience fighting Blade Beasts.

Recent continuous battles in the Xingrui Wilderness of the D3 Integrated War Zone had also allowed the Autonomous Mechs to collect a large amount of data on Psionicists.

The combat power of these Mechs was continuously being unlocked.

Therefore, Wang Jixuan was quite looking forward to the upcoming battle, wondering what spectacular combat scenes would unfold when these Psionicists were plunged into a sea of Mechs.

They were getting close!

The Psionicists were using some special abilities to navigate through the underground minefields, similar to Ji Xiao's abilities but also different...

Peony closed her eyes, focusing on managing the live broadcast for Wang Jixuan.

The atmosphere in Dongfang Zhenghong's command hall gradually became tense.

Wang Jixuan could almost hear the sound of heartbeats from the screen.

Their heartbeats were synchronizing.

Suddenly, the constantly flickering red dots on the large screen stopped moving. The Psionicists had hit a wall and began to arrange themselves in an arc.

These red dots were still about sixty to seventy meters away from the fortress's outer wall in a straight line.

The Grand Formation's barrier!

"What's going on?" Dongfang Zhenghong asked with a frown.

A staff officer reported, "Commander! They might be gathering! They're very close to us now!"

Dongfang Zhenghong nodded and thought quickly.

Unfortunately, their Mechs, Half-Human Mechs, and special forces could only fight in normal space, leaving them somewhat helpless against enemies hiding in rock layers using psionic energy.

Daoist Wang, seeing this, leaned back slightly.

"Peony?"

"Yes."

"Didn't I tell them before that I set up a Grand Formation?"

"You did," Peony replied softly, "but they didn't seem to pay much attention. They just thought it was your new technology to protect the seventh level."

Wang Jixuan: ...

Fine, it shouldn't affect anything.

Breaking this defensive Grand Formation would definitely consume a lot of psionic energy from these psionicists, so he was indirectly reducing his own side's property damage.

Peony suddenly said, "Commander, Commander Dongfang's side has intercepted psionicist communication signals. Would you like to listen?"

"Listen."

Zzzzt.

After some static, the voices of several middle-aged men and women spoke simultaneously:

"What's going on? Why can't we get through?"

"I'm sensing psionic energy flow right in front of us, like a wall, but I can't pinpoint the fluctuations."

"Strange, there's nothing there, like a glass wall blocking us."

"We're not far from the Fortress, I can sense a huge cavity ahead, that must be the inside of the Fortress."

"How far exactly?"

"Sixty meters... Commander Anger, what should we do?"

"Spread out a little, I'll blast it open... Watch out for mines nearby. We can't afford to waste too much time underground, Captain Lu's ability won't last much longer."

Anger, must be that副团长 of the Destruction Group?

Wang Jixuan was a little curious about this person.

He must be an Awakened Psionicist too, and his strength shouldn't be much weaker than Meng Jin's.

--The average combat power of the Destruction Group members is slightly higher than that of the Judgment Group.

About half a minute later.

BOOM!

A dull tremor sounded, transmitted from the visual feed and the intercepted communication channel, one after the other.

The Command Center on the third floor of the Fortress, where Dongfang Zhenghong was located, also vibrated slightly.

Several deep-layer landmines outside the defensive wall were detonated.

A shockwave rushed towards the surface, and rock layers continuously fractured underground, but the affected area wasn't too wide.

Then...

Wang Jixuan looked at several screens. Since the screens couldn't capture the formation wall of the Grand Formation, Wang Jixuan didn't know the extent of the damage to the Grand Formation.

The Mountain Protection Grand Formation he set up only used one hundred and eight Formation Bases. This was just a basic defensive formation, but it included functions like [Absorbing Spiritual Energy], [Spiritual Energy Conversion], [Borrowing Earth Qi], and [Equalizing Force and Dissipating Magic].

The Mountain Protection Grand Formation of their Wangxian Valley, on the other hand, started with thousands of Formation Bases and needed to connect with the spirit meridians of each peak, fully utilizing the power of the underground spirit meridians.

That was a true Mountain Protection Grand Formation, said to be able to withstand an Immortal's finger.

Even if Demonic Entities were rampant, they wouldn't dare to easily attack Major Sects like theirs because of the existence of the Mountain Protection Grand Formation.

"Peony! Get me the screens for Wu Man and Zheng Shiduo!"

"Okay," Peony closed her eyes and agreed. A new projection screen soon appeared beside Wang Jixuan.

It was the second floor of the workshop.

Wu Man, Zheng Shiduo, Uncle Tai, and Gao Huating stood before a huge stone tablet. The tablet was carved with numerous swirling cloud patterns and was currently enveloped by a light film.

This was the core of the Grand Formation, the main Formation Base.

Wu Man remained calm, lightly holding a jade "remote control," responsible for directing the flow of the Grand Formation's spiritual power.

Zheng Shiduo and Uncle Tai were manipulating two projection screens, remotely controlling dozens of Mechs. They were ready to replace the Crystal Cores of the main energy-consuming Formation Bases at any time.

Gao Huating hummed softly, and streams of peculiar psionic energy flowed around them, reducing their anxiety.

Suddenly.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

Three consecutive muffled explosions erupted underground. Three distinct psionic energy attacks hit the light wall of the Grand Formation.

Three Awakened Psionicists had attacked simultaneously!

The stone tablet shook continuously. The jade remote control in Wu Man's hand flickered slightly. Zheng Shiduo shouted nervously, "Prepare! The Crystal Core's psionic energy is dropping too fast!"

As his words fell, Wu Man stepped forward, holding out the long jade stone.

A layer of earthy yellow energy appeared at the base of the main formation, instantly enveloping the entire stone tablet.

Simultaneously, a large amount of earth energy surged upwards. The formation base, responsible for storing spiritual energy, released the power needed for the grand formation, causing the formation wall, which had not been breached, to thicken even further!

Zheng Shiduo and Uncle Tai were a bit flustered, issuing commands to dozens of mechs to replace their crystal cores. The mechs executed the orders with precision.

A series of explosions sounded from outside.

However, the shaking of the main formation's stone tablet gradually lessened. The grand formation became increasingly stable, and the flow of spiritual energy became smoother.

In the blink of an eye, the mechs had finished replacing their crystal cores and were holding new ones, awaiting the command to replace the crystal cores for the formation base.

Wang Jixuan smiled with satisfaction.

The combination of technology and cultivation was surprisingly effective!

They only needed a few hundred crystal cores to completely exhaust these psionicists!

With that, Wang Jixuan couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

I overestimated them.

They really couldn't break through this mountain protection grand formation!

Wang Jixuan watched the flashing lights and shadows on the screen, his expression shifting from a myriad of emotions to a gradual calm.

He had been too quick to judge. He had thought that the mountain protection grand formation he activated before leaving was merely a defensive array, lacking counter-attack, confinement, or illusion arrays, and therefore not strong enough.

He truly hadn't expected the psionicists to not even search for the formation's weaknesses, instead just fiercely assaulting the formation wall.

The operation of the grand formation relied on the flow of spiritual energy between the formation bases, which was actually traceable.

Even stepping back, if they could concentrate their psionic energy into a very small area and then unleash it forcefully, they could still forcibly open the formation wall.

With their current method of attack, without the full power of a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator's strike, it would be impossible to break this grand formation.

Under the triple supply of earth energy, spiritual energy, and crystal cores, the mountain protection grand formation faced the increasingly frenzied attacks of the psionicists outside and...

Became even more stable.

Wang Jixuan chuckled to himself, "Peony, ask Commander Dongfang if we need to let the enemies in to fight, Wu Man and Zheng Shiduo can stop."

"Understood."

Peony's voice soon came back through the monitoring feed in the command hall.

Dongfang Zhenghong was stunned at first, then became conflicted.

He truly hadn't expected that even without Wang Jixuan at Fortress No. 76, so many powerful enemies could be easily kept outside.

His conflict was somewhat complex:

If he didn't let the enemies in, wouldn't all the forces he painstakingly mobilized and the traps he set become useless? If there was no battle here, how could he prove his command capabilities? He had always been confined to the rear; this was a rare opportunity for him to showcase his skills.

However, Dongfang Zhenghong quickly made his decision.

He smiled and said, "If we can keep the enemy at bay, why would we let them in? To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest form of strategy."

Wang Jixuan raised his eyebrows with a smile and had Peony send a text reminder to Dongfang Zhenghong.

Those psionicists were relying on some ability to shuttle through the ground continuously. They couldn't last long themselves; eventually, they would either have to break through to the surface or return the way they came.

Furthermore, Wu Man had a Storage Hoop;

Ji Xiao's earth-escape ability had been strengthened under Wang Jixuan's guidance.

Dongfang Zhenghong immediately understood. He called for a messenger and instructed Ji Xiao to take Wu Man's hoop artifact and rush to the command center as quickly as possible.

Wang Jixuan didn't watch the follow-up;

He chose to trust Dongfang Zhenghong and Ji Xiao.

After making these arrangements, Daoist Wang had Peony turn off the monitor.

Finally, Wang Jixuan heard the communication channel of the group of psionicists:

"This is impossible!"

"It won't open? What the hell is this thing!"

"Black Storm is amazing, I've fallen in love with this guy! This must be technology he brought! If only we had this kind of technology!"

"Let's try combining our strength! Hurry!"

"Let's focus on one point together! Increase the pressure without limit! According to the laws of physics, the smaller the contact area, the better!"

"Hahaha! Black Storm, you bring me such joy!"

Daoist Wang: ...

This group of psionicists was a bit disgusting.

"Aren't you going to keep watching, sir?"

"Just watching won't help me fly back to help them immediately, so it's better not to watch... Inform me immediately if there's any news from that side."

Daoist Wang sighed softly.

A cultivator's life is truly as lonely as the snow.

I'll reinforce the Mountain Protection Grand Formation to three hundred and sixty Formation Bases once I get back!

Let's set up both Killing Formations and Confinement Arrays!

The protective Grand Formations set up by the seniors of the Cultivation World are truly not to be trifled with!

Half an hour later, Peony brought back a battle report.

Ji Xiao used Wu Man's storage artifact and his own Earth Evasion ability to carry a Tactical Nuclear Warhead and plant it on the return route of those Psionicists, successfully detonating it.

The good news is that they eliminated over a dozen Psionicists;

The bad news is that those S-Class Psionicists only escaped with injuries.

The Tactical Nuclear Warhead had a small yield, and its power was greatly limited within the rock layers. Due to the less-than-ideal location choice, it failed to achieve significant results, leading to a certain waste of resources.

"Have Ji Xiao write a 3,000-character self-criticism and systematically study the principles of chain reactions."

Daoist Wang issued the order.

Meanwhile.

Fortress No. 76, in a studio on the seventh floor.

Zheng Shiduo and Uncle Tai, who were cheering incessantly, formed a stark contrast with Ji Xiao, who was dejected in the corner.

A Pitch Black Butterfly landed on the windowsill, carefully examining the Stone Tablet that served as the main Formation Base for the Mountain Protection Grand Formation.

Then, the butterfly flapped its wings, danced up and down for a moment, and transformed into a faint glow, chasing after the direction Anger and the others had retreated underground.