Before the Assembled Formation Auction (4K)

"Since the Double Jade are so useful, should I get some of them too?"

If it could truly and rapidly increase the Spiritual Sense Strength and the Total Vitality, then it would undoubtedly be a good thing for Xiao Chen.

The Double Jade Assembly is just around the corner, and he still has quite a few Spirit Stone on hand.

Why not secretly find those independent cultivators to do business with?

The question is, is this the right thing to do?

Xiao Chen's gaze sharpened. "It feels like we could easily be tracked down and discovered."

"This concerns Double Jade's whereabouts; the Holy City might also get involved in the investigation."

"Non-Self leave immediately after the change and don't come back for a while, everything I do will definitely be affected by the massive search that's about to begin."

This task is easy to do in itself, but it's like stirring up a hornet's nest.

Once it happens, a lot of trouble will follow.

Xiao Chen felt he needed to carefully weigh the pros and cons before deciding whether to participate.

But then he thought again, tomorrow is the Double Jade Assembly, and it might be too late to make the acquisition now.

After all, it wasn't convenient for him to openly hang up a sign that said he would buy back Double Jade at a high price.

That shows a certain disregard for the Gui Yun Sect, the local overlord.

They are, after all, a powerful force with several Nascent Soul True Lord; we should still show them some respect for now.

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen sighed inwardly, feeling it was a pity.

Even if he returned to Gui Yun Market immediately, he wouldn't have time to buy many Double Jade.

And just by thinking about it, you'd know that this thing definitely requires a very large quantity to be effective.

If you can only afford a few hundred or a thousand yuan, it probably won't be very effective.

Furthermore, Xiao Chen now possesses the Jade Ruyi to hone his divine Divine Sense, and he can also increase his Total Vitality through the Blood Crystal given to him by Su Li.

For him, the Double Jade pieces weren't truly irreplaceable.

On the contrary, it's easy to cause trouble for yourself.

From this perspective, it might be better to focus on bidding for the spiritual items this time, and then try to use the Cai Family's connections to customize your own Spirit Artifact.

When another opportunity arises in the future, we'll go and get a large batch of Double Jade.

As the saying goes, you have to eat one bite at a time and do one thing at a time.

With this in mind, Xiao Chen simply calmed down and stayed in the study to look through the remaining books.

It added some scattered bits and pieces of common knowledge about the world.

It must be said that the New Cultivation World does indeed possess extremely high standards in many areas.

From these ancient texts, Xiao Chen learned about many new types of potent elixirs, as well as some rare and precious treasures.

For example, the Clear Dew Foundation Establishment Pill can increase the Foundation Establishment Success Rate by 90%, so getting it is basically equivalent to success.

With the future addition of the ' Golden Core Formation ' technique and related Secret Method, even cultivators with Mixed Spirit Roots will have the potential to break through to the Golden Core Realm.

Although these elixirs are expensive, ordinary cultivators certainly cannot afford them.

However, for some cultivators from wealthy families, it's a great deal.

For example, Portable Array Plate have also been developed in this world.

Building upon this foundation, they delved deeper and developed the concept of Assembled Formation.

By utilizing Portable Array Plate of the same origin, the two arrays are made compatible with each other, forming a low-configuration version of the pseudo- Linked Formation.

Although its power cannot compare to a true Linked Formation, it can surpass a single formation.

Theoretically speaking, a cultivator who doesn't understand formations can use two sets of formation plates.

The Assembled Formation can be set up in less than half an hour.

Not only is it fast, but it is also more effective than the arrays set up by Array Master of the same cultivation level in two or three hours.

Moreover, Xiao Chen also noticed...

The book mentions that as early as 100,000 years ago, the third-order Assembled Formation had already been widely promoted throughout the Cultivation World.

The Holy City had even forcibly assembled a fourth-order Assembled Formation 30,000 years ago.

However, its total Refining Cost is more than fifty times that of a normal fourth-order Linked Formation, making it completely uneconomical.

Currently, many Formation Master are researching how to improve arrays and reduce costs to increase their practicality.

"If this can be made, it seems quite practical."

At least Xiao Chen wouldn't mind carrying a Fourth-tier Grand Array with him, even if it's a little expensive.

Of course, he currently hopes to obtain the means to break the formation.

The book does mention something similar, namely a Special Spirit Tool called the Formation Breaking Cone.

Broadly speaking, the Formation Breaking Cone can be divided into two main categories.

These are, respectively, a dedicated Formation Breaking Cone for specific formations, and Reinforced Formation Breaking Cone with a wider range of applications.

The price of the former depends on the formation itself that needs to be attacked.

The stronger the formation, the higher the price.

The latter was used as a means of self-preservation, and its price remained high for many years, making it unaffordable and unavailable to ordinary cultivators.

This thing was originally invented by Array Master to counter their peers.

However, in the New Cultivation World, it has now become an important way for Artifact Refining Master to earn cultivation resources.

"Use Spirit Artifact to counter the formation?"

Judging from the description alone, Xiao Chen didn't really trust the effects of this thing.

As far as he knew, many Defensive Formation and Entrapment Formation were not afraid of the impact of Spirit Artifact.

However, considering that the overall level of cultivation in the New Cultivation World is better, it should be more than enough for him to take back and deal with the Sea Race's formation.

"Yes, it's better to leave this matter to the Cai Family."

What Xiao Chen needed was to Reinforced Formation Breaking Cone, since he didn't know what kind of array the Sea Race was using.

I also want to keep a few more to use against the Yin Corpse Sect in the future.

This means he would have to order a large batch.

It would be too conspicuous for a lone cultivator to show up alone; why would a rogue cultivator need so many Formation Breaking Cone?

Perhaps it would be better to let the Cai Family attract attention from the outside world.

Just as I was thinking of the Cai Family, Master Cai came knocking on the door and asked, "Senior, the Spirit Boat is ready. When would you like to depart?"

Xiao Chen closed the book and looked outside.

Only then did he realize that he had unknowingly spent a whole day and night reading Ancient Books.

Fortunately, I've read most of the important content, with only one book left to read: <Nine Nine Delicacies Record>.

Xiao Chen simply took the book in his hand and replied, "You don't need to ask me about this; just do it according to the usual practice."

"The priority is to avoid arousing suspicion from outsiders."

"Just arrange a separate cabin for me, no need for servants or maids, just treat it as a normal trip with a junior."

Upon hearing this, Master Cai immediately nodded. "I understand."

"Then please step aboard the spirit ship, senior. We should depart at this time."

Soon, the rest of the Cai Lineage members also appeared.

Coincidentally, no one was in seclusion.

So, Master Cai took the opportunity to introduce the important members of his Lineage to Xiao Chen.

Including himself, the Cai Family currently has a total of thirteen Golden Core cultivator.

Among them were five at the Golden Core Great Perfection, six at the Mid-stage Golden Core, and two at the Early-stage Golden Core.

At first glance, there seem to be quite a few people involved, and their Body Cultivator level is not low.

However, in reality, both the number of people and the ratio of cultivation levels have shown a serious gap.

The reason they all appear to have impressive cultivation levels is because they are all old guys.

One of the two Early-stage Golden Core cultivators had been stuck at Minor Bottleneck for thirty years with no progress, while the other barely managed to form his Golden Core at the age of one hundred and thirty, with no further strength to follow.

Judging from this, it will only take another one or two hundred years for these old guys to gradually leave.

The Cai Family probably doesn't even have many Golden Core cultivators left.

No wonder that even the Master Cai gave up the Spirit Field and spirit mines outside and withdrew his power to hide in the ancestral home.

They simply couldn't afford any more unexpected events.

For example, when participating in the Double Jade Assembly this time, besides Master Cai, there was only one other person in the Mid-stage Golden Core accompanying him.

The rest of the people stayed in the ancestral home and did not go.

Even the younger generation only brought a dozen or so people, while the servants who were there to make a show of things numbered around three hundred.

This also includes four Golden Core Guest Elder invited from outside.

Master Cai even specifically asked Xiao Chen what identity he planned to appear in front of outsiders, and whether he wanted to pretend to be Guest Elder.

However, after some consideration, Xiao Chen decided to impersonate a young member of the Cai Family family who was being secretly trained and was making his first official appearance outside the home.

This identity makes it easier for him to disguise himself.

Because there are places to inquire about the origins of the Golden Core of the Wasteland, including probing some of its behaviors and habits.

However, since the Cai Family retreated back to their ancestral home, the outside world has had no way of knowing what's going on inside.

Even if someone becomes suspicious, Master Cai can help cover it up.

Xiao Chen even designed a persona for himself, portraying someone who had been wholeheartedly focused on cultivation all these years and knew little about the outside world, only having some knowledge from books.

This way, even when communicating with others, it won't arouse any suspicion.

It actually seems much more real.

After all, according to Xiao Chen's expectations, once others learned that he was Cai Family, they would likely take the initiative to come over and strike up a conversation.

It could be about winning people over or testing their strength.

However, his worry seemed somewhat unnecessary.

When the group arrived above Gui Yun Market, they discovered that the other Three Great Families and Gui Yun Sect had not waited for the Cai Family's arrival and had entered the Large Garden below ahead of time.

"What happened?"

Xiao Chen came to the deck with some curiosity. "What happened?"

This is clearly different from what Master Cai said before.

According to past practice, at 9:00 AM, the Four Great Families would gather in their Spirit Boat above Gui Yun Market, arranged according to the Four Symbols Direction, and then wait together.

The Giant Spirit Ship belonging to the Gui Yun Sect will appear approximately half an hour later.

Then everyone took turns stepping into the air and landing in Large Garden.

This was done to demonstrate the status of the Four Great Families and the Gui Yun Sect to the outside world's independent cultivators.

But today, before the Cai Family even arrived, the other families had already entered the garden.

This clearly broke the previous understanding.

Master Cai's face immediately turned very ugly.

He knew that his family hadn't had Nascent Soul True Lord for a long time.

But don't these people even want to maintain a semblance of civility?

If they can shun the Cai Family today at such an important festival as the Double Jade Assembly, does that mean they can simply remove the Cai Family from the list of the Four Great Families tomorrow?

Thinking of this, he was filled with both anger and shock.

I felt indignant about this situation, but at the same time, I couldn't help but feel a little worried.

If Gui Yun Sect really abandons all pretense of decorum, the Cai Family really doesn't have much of a way to deal with it.

Although they could rely on the formations left by their ancestors to hold out and refuse to be swallowed up by others.

However, in doing so, they would lose the qualification to obtain High-tier Resource, and would be destined to eke out a living with no hope of turning their lives around.

Master Cai's mind was immediately filled with all sorts of thoughts.

He couldn't help but glance at Xiao Chen.

Just yesterday, he hesitated about whether or not to collude with outsiders.

In hindsight, this decision was a huge help.

Thanks to the blessings of our ancestors, the Cai Family found another path before they were truly abandoned.

Now, Master Cai has only one wish.

That is, this Senior Xiao must keep his promise and not take advantage of the Cai Family's downfall.

Of course, he didn't just pray for divine protection.

Master Cai took a deep breath, suppressing all the complex emotions in his heart.

Forcing himself to appear calm and composed, he replied slowly, "This year's situation is indeed different from previous years, but perhaps some unforeseen event has occurred."

"Please wait a moment, senior, while I go and inquire with some old friends."

He couldn't let Xiao Chen realize that the Cai Family was no longer useful.

To avoid the other party thinking they have lost their value for cooperation and thus abandoning them directly.

In that case, there would be absolutely no way out.

"Misfortune?"

Xiao Chen narrowed his eyes; he seemed to have already guessed what had happened.

After all, the biggest event recently was definitely his battle with that Red-bearded Man.

So she smiled slightly and said, "It's alright. This year's situation is indeed different from previous years. Go ahead."

"And you should be careful; you don't need to be so cautious when you're out."

"On the surface, I am your junior, but if others see you acting like this, they will become suspicious."

Xiao Chen had emphasized this point before leaving, but he didn't expect the other party to have overlooked it.

Master Cai quickly apologized twice before covering his face and leaving.

He wouldn't normally make such a basic mistake, but he had too many things on his mind just now.

So focused on keeping Xiao Chen calm and maintaining the cooperation between the two sides, they neglected the pretense.

He quickly used the excuse of inquiring about the news to sort out his thoughts and then went to ask a few old friends what exactly happened.

However, to Master Cai's disappointment, he was turned away several times in a row.

Several old friends either claimed ignorance or made excuses, saying that a gag order had been issued and they couldn't say anything at this time.

This attitude made him feel even worse.

At the same time, Master Cai also tried to pay a direct visit to the True Lord of the Gui Yun Sect.

However, the boys all said that their master was busy with important matters and would not be able to meet with others until he was done.

After gritting my teeth and paying a sum of 'tea money'...

Master Cai then learned that it was True Lord Hua Jian had invited the other True Lord to discuss important matters behind closed doors.

Only True Lord are allowed to participate in this discussion; everyone else, including the Golden Core Elder of the Gui Yun Sect, is excluded.

"I see. Then I can rest assured."

Master Cai forced a smile and then returned to the spirit ship.

However, instead of feeling relieved, he became even angrier, and then felt a sense of desolation.

The statement that only True Lord can participate is clearly a veiled attack on him!