A cultivator beside them quietly interjected.
"What if Taia turns on us and snatches the formula once they get their hands on it?"
Lin Qingzhu did not even raise her head.
"You think they don't want to?"
"Of course they do."
"So we have to build two layers into it. The first is the effect they can see. The second is the foundation they can't fathom."
She turned to Zhou Xuan.
"I'll tell you where they hurt."
"You give me a knife."
Zhou Xuan smiled.
"Now that sounds good."
Lin Qingzhu pushed aside the dossiers on the table, clearing a space.
"Now there's only one question left."
"What do we use to make it?"
At those words, everyone in the room began breathing a little more quietly.
They all knew that however brilliant the analysis, it ultimately had to come down to the goods.
Without goods, it was all empty talk.
Zhou Xuan glanced at the documents on the table. Instead of answering right away, he rose and walked toward the inner room.
"Come with me."
Lin Qingzhu paused, then immediately followed.
The three accompanying cultivators had barely taken a step before Zhou Xuan stopped them.
"You stay outside."
"Guard the door."
All three stopped at once.
Zhou Xuan led Lin Qingzhu through the inner room, along a short corridor, and into the Quiet Chamber at the very back of the courtyard.
The door closed.
Another layer of Restriction descended.
Only then did Lin Qingzhu realize that Zhou Xuan had set up far more than seven Formations in this courtyard.
There were seven in plain sight, but several hidden layers contained structures she had never seen, all tightly nested together.
She glanced at Zhou Xuan.
"With defenses against thieves like these, you don't look like you're doing business. You look