The first attempt at setting up a formation ended in failure.
Xu Qian stared at the Formation Patterns on the stone slab, his brows tightly furrowed. He had already followed the diagram in Introduction to Formations, drawing every Formation Pattern of the "Minor Spirit Gathering Formation" stroke by stroke. He had even placed the only remaining spirit stone fragment, whose spiritual energy was nearly depleted, at the formation core.
By all rights, the formation should have activated.
But the stone slab showed no reaction at all, as if it were an ordinary rock.
"Where did I go wrong?" Xu Qian muttered to himself.
He picked up Introduction to Formations and studied it again, comparing every word and detail.
The direction of the Formation Patterns was fine.
The formation core was set up correctly.
The infusion of spiritual energy...
Wait.
Xu Qian suddenly realized a crucial point—he had infused Longevity True Qi, not pure spiritual energy from heaven and earth.
A formation used Formation Patterns to draw in the free spiritual energy between heaven and earth, forming a specific energy field. True Qi, meanwhile, was the energy Martial Artists formed within themselves after refining spiritual energy from heaven and earth. Though the two shared the same source, their natures were different.
"It's like using tap water to power a waterwheel. A waterwheel needs the flowing water of a river, not water from a pipe." Xu Qian suddenly understood.
He set down the stone slab and began thinking anew.
Since True Qi couldn't directly power a formation, how did Formation Masters set up formations?
Introduction to Formations said that Formation Masters communicated with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth through the "formation core." A formation core could be a spirit stone, spirit wood, or another material containing spiritual energy. Such materials