Formation

Sunlight streamed into the quiet alleyway, with only footsteps echoing through the air.

Walking back to his own courtyard, Xu Yuan chatted idly with his Fourth Sister, who was standing silently with her head down, while silently sighing to himself.

Although his response seemed proper, it did not ease the awkwardness between the two.

The most correct way to deal with it, in retrospect, would have been to give that Fourth Sister a slap on the head and wake her up.

But it's not his fault; the blame lies with Xu Xinyao.

When his sister, with whom he's known for over twenty years, suddenly reveals a girlish side to him, it leaves him momentarily overwhelmed.

What? This girl was his first love in his past memories?

Xu Yuan suddenly felt a headache.

Regardless, he didn't dare to enter his father's courtyard again for the time being. As for asking Lou Ji to use the Black Scale Guard Lou Ji investigate the Great Desert matter, doing so a day or two later wouldn't affect the overall situation. Right now, he should ask Xu Xinyao if she had any way to resolve his cultivation issue.

After a short while, Xu Yuan led the silent Xu Xinyao into his courtyard.

Of course, they didn't go into a room, but instead sat down in a pavilion by a small pond in the courtyard.

After the farce that just happened, and seeing the Fourth Sister's current expression, Xu Yuan didn't dare to lead her into the enclosed space for the time being.

Inside the pavilion,

Xu Xinyao tilted her head and stared blankly at the koi swimming and drifting in the pond, while Xu Yuan talked to her about what had happened.

After that, the two fell silent again.

Xu Yuan looked at his sworn sister across from him, who was still lost in thought, and suddenly felt a little hesitant.

I hesitated, wondering whether I should slap this Fourth Sister on the head right now.

It's never too late to mend the fence after the sheep are lost.

If this atmosphere continues between the two of them, he might get beaten nine times in three days.

Her silky, cloud-like hair cascaded over her rounded, fair shoulders. Xu Xinyao suddenly turned her gaze and spoke softly and gently:

"So, Third Brother, you need a formation that can extract the Yin energy of demons and the life essence of Demon Crystal?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan immediately nodded and whispered:

"For now, this is the only thing we can try. Will it work?"

Xu Xinyao lowered her beautiful, watery eyes slightly, and after a few breaths, she analyzed in a soft voice:

"The kind of fungal carpet that Senior Luo manipulates can be used to extract the life essence of Demon Crystal."

As he spoke,

Xu Xinyao sized up the man before her for a few moments, then hesitated slightly. "Xin Yao remembers that you, Third Brother, were also able to control this fungal carpet before. If you can still do that now..."

"It should be possible." Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment, "But we need to verify it, except for the current microbial carpet within my body."

Upon hearing this, a serene smile appeared on Xu Xinyao's beautiful face, and she said softly:

"When we were healing your body, Third Brother, all those fungal carpets were absorbed by Senior Luo. We should be able to borrow some from her. As for the Magic Crystal Academy, there's still quite a bit in stock."

While exploring those secluded realms, they would occasionally encounter monsters like the Others. Over time, the Institute of Geography accumulated a number of Others magic crystals of varying grades in its warehouse.

As the awkward atmosphere gradually dissipated, Xu Yuan let out a long sigh and whispered:

"If the source of life is resolved, then only the source of yin energy—the demonic energy—remains."

"Hmm," Xu Xinyao nodded slightly, but a hint of hesitation appeared in her eyes.

Seeing the hesitation on Dora A-Yao's face at the Prime Minister's Mansion, Xu Yuan's heart sank slightly.

"Is this matter difficult?"

"I remember that old man Jiang He developed a powerful array that could capture demons and extract their soul power. Could you perhaps make some improvements to it?"

The Prime Minister's Mansion's Institute of Investigation has already made some progress in the study of demons and ghosts, and extracting the Yin source of Yingui is not as difficult as going from zero to one.

Xu Xinyao gently shook her head and whispered:

"Extracting the Yin source from Yingui isn't actually that difficult. The real challenge lies in removing the violent emotions within that Yin source. Besides, if you want to cultivate, Third Brother, you'll need a formation that can fuse the Yin source with your life source, right?"

Upon hearing this question, Xu Yuan paused slightly, then hesitated before replying:

"It shouldn't be necessary. My body is most likely able to directly absorb and expel both types of energy now."

"Wrong."

Xu Xinyao interrupted Xu Yuan, her tone resolute, almost as if she demanded that Xu Yuan himself understand his body. "Third Brother, your body may indeed be able to do some of that, but if you use your physical body to refine and practice breathing exercises, it will distract you. It will slow down your cultivation speed, which is secondary. If you can't achieve a balance between your Yin Source and Life Source, Third Brother, you'll most likely Qi Deviation, and might even fall back into your previous state."

As he spoke,

Xu Xinyao's gentle, watery expression gradually turned serious. She habitually raised her right hand, placed her slender index finger between her red lips and pearly teeth, and gently bit it, murmuring to herself:

"Third Brother, if you want to cultivate, relying solely on Yin Source and Life Source shouldn't be enough. After all, when I was treating you earlier, there was also Source Qi in your body. In other words, this formation needs to be able to integrate Source Qi, Life Source, and Yin Source energies simultaneously, and it also needs to take into account the stability of conversion and output. Using the Nazi Formation Eye alone won't work; we need to make some improvements to it."

"."

Xu Yuan listened to the incessant ramblings coming from his Fourth Sister's mouth. He could understand the first part, but the rest felt like he was listening to gibberish.

Is this the way of formations?

"Elder brother."

Suddenly, Xu Xinyao broke the silence, raising her eyes to ask, "Where do you plan to set up this formation?"

Xu Yuan was about to answer, but Xu Xinyao didn't give him the chance at all. She lowered her head and bit her slender, white index finger hard.

"Brother, you have to fake your death and can't go out. That means we have to build this array in the inner courtyard. The largest secret room in the inner courtyard should be where the Communication Crystal is located. If we're building this kind of space, the strongest array material we have right now, Sumeru Iron, is probably not enough to support an array of this strength. Developing new materials would take too long. We'll have to ask Father to create a new space underground."

"."

"."

"Bass."

After muttering to herself for an unknown amount of time, Xu Xinyao suddenly stood up, her lake-blue dress fluttering in the pavilion.

Xu Yuan, who had been lost in thought, immediately snapped back to reality upon seeing her actions:

"Xin Yao, you."

"Brother, I'll go to the Institute of Investigation first to gather some top-tier formation masters to make some preliminary preparations. Please wait for me here for a few days."

Before he could finish speaking, Xu Xinyao interrupted him directly. Without waiting for Xu Yuan's reply, she turned around and walked out of the pavilion without looking back.

"."

Xu Yuan was stunned for a moment; he hadn't expected his Fourth Sister to be like this while working.

His decisive and efficient manner is quite cool.

"Smack."

A soft, crisp sound rang out, and Xu Xinyao only realized when she came to her senses that her Third Brother had grabbed her wrist.

Xu Yuan smiled slightly at her:

"There's no rush. I haven't asked you about Ran Qingmo yet."

"." Xu Xinyao.