Linking all ten formations together was even more troublesome than imagined.
Between two formations, only one channel of power needed to be handled.
But with ten formations, they had to consider how the other nine should support any one formation when it came under attack.
Too much support
could destabilize the formation itself.
Too little support,
and the effect would not be obvious.
Especially for formations with clearly conflicting attributes, such as the Ice Formation and the Earth Inferno Formation, even the slightest carelessness could cause their powers to cancel each other out during transmission.
For the next ten full days,
booms occasionally rang out from the front of the Shang Camp.
At first, the soldiers thought West Qi was launching a surprise attack.
But after hearing it often enough,
everyone got used to it.
Some patrolling soldiers would even hear an explosion in the distance and merely glance up.
"Blew up again?"
The old soldier beside him did not even raise his head.
"Yeah."
"How many times today?"
"The third."
"Then it's not too bad."
"The day before yesterday, it blew up six times in half an hour."
"..."
Lin Yuan happened to be passing by.
The corner of his eye twitched as he listened.
Before the Ten Ultimate Formation had even shown the Elucidation Sect its terror,
it had first trained the people in their own camp to become harder to frighten.
Fortunately, their efforts had not been without reward.
On the twelfth day,
the first version of the linkage between the ten formations was finally completed.
Nine Supreme Clarity Formation Talismans had been added around the outer perimeter of the ten formations.
These talismans were not responsible for killing enemies.
They had only one function.
Transferring power.
Qin Wan stood within the formation.
His expression was far more serious than usual.
"Try it."
Zhao Jiang and the other nine nodded at once.
The next moment,
the Heaven-Absolute Formation fully activated.
Boom!
Thunder rumbled within the formation.
Killing intent soared into the sky.
Lin Yuan voluntarily stepped to the edge of the formation.
Naturally, he was not going to risk his life testing it.
He merely threw an ordinary magical sword into the Heaven-Absolute Formation, then controlled it to repeatedly strike one Formation Eye.
Qin Wan also deliberately lowered the formation's power.
Under normal circumstances,
after the Formation Eye endured repeated attacks, the formation patterns around it had already begun to tremble faintly.
"Borrow!"
Qin Wan shouted in a low voice.
Buzz!
The Earth Inferno Formation lit up first.
Ten percent of its power swiftly entered the Heaven-Absolute Formation through the Formation Talisman.
Immediately after that came
the Wind Roar Formation.
The Ice Formation.
The Golden Light Formation...
One after another, the nine great formations sent over a portion of their power.
The Formation Eye that had just begun to shake instantly stabilized.
It was even several degrees steadier than before.
Lin Yuan's eyes truly lit up.
It had succeeded.
"More!"
Qin Wan had clearly gotten carried away as well.
The power borrowed from the nine formations increased once more.
Ten percent.
Fifteen percent.
Twenty percent.
At twenty percent,
the Heaven-Absolute Formation began to show faint signs of instability.
Qin Wan immediately stopped.
"That's enough."
"Stabilize it at ten percent for now."
Zhao Jiang burst into laughter.
"Ten percent isn't low."
"One formation lends ten percent."
"All nine lend it simultaneously."
"That's equivalent to gaining magical power support nearly equal to an entire great formation."
Golden Light Holy Mother shook her head.
"It can't be calculated that way."
"The loss is considerable when power from different formations is transferred."
"If it can ultimately increase stability by thirty or forty percent, that will already be quite good."
Lin Yuan was even more satisfied after hearing that.
Was thirty or forty percent still too little?
In a true life-and-death battle of magic,
even half a percent more room for error could determine life or death.
Not to mention that they had only completed the first version so far.
"Don't keep modifying it yet."
Qin Wan quickly made a decision.
"Testing it on paper a hundred times is no match for having someone enter the formation once."
Everyone agreed with that.
That very day, Wen Zhong had someone deliver a message to West Qi.
The Ten Ultimate Formation had been established.
If they wanted to break it,
they were welcome to try.
West Qi responded quickly as well.
The next day,
several Qi Practitioners arrived before the formations.
They were not among the Twelve Golden Immortals.
They were clearly only there to test the formations.
Qin Wan was the first to step out.
"I am Qin Wan."
"This formation is called Heaven-Absolute."
"Who will come?"
One West Qi Qi Practitioner voluntarily entered the formation.
His cultivation was not weak.
Moreover, he had clearly studied some intelligence on the Heaven-Absolute Formation beforehand.
Upon entering, he did not recklessly charge around.
He first brought out a defensive magical treasure.
Then he continuously probed the patterns governing the killing intent within the formation.
For the first dozen or so exchanges,
Qin Wan did not borrow power from the other nine formations.
The man gradually figured out one Formation Eye of the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
A smile finally appeared on his face.
"Found it."
A long sword suddenly shot forth.
Straight at the Formation Eye!
Outside the formation,
Lin Yuan stood among the Ten Heavenly Lords.
Seeing this, he did not panic.
Zhao Jiang beside him had already raised a hand.
The Earth Inferno Formation lit up.
The other formations followed close behind.
Nine streams of power transformed by the Formation Talismans rapidly flowed into the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
That man's sword struck at that very moment.
Boom!
The Formation Eye, which should have loosened, was as steady as if welded in place.
Instead, the sword itself buzzed from the formation's recoil.
The man inside the formation froze.
"What's going on?"
Refusing to believe it,
he changed directions and searched for a second weak point.
This time,
before he could even draw his sword, Lin Yuan noticed that several of the Ten Heavenly Lords had started smiling.
"Planning to borrow power again?"
Gao Yougan asked.
Zhao Jiang shook his head.
"Why the rush?"
"Let him think he found the right spot first."
Lin Yuan laughed when he heard that.
Well now.
They had learned bad habits quickly.
The Qi Practitioner within the formation continued probing.
At last, he found a second location that he believed could be breached.
His magical power erupted at full force.
He struck down heavily.
Buzz!
The power of the nine formations surged in once more.
The Formation Eye did not budge in the slightest.
Immediately after.
Qin Wan suddenly changed the operation of the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
The killing intent that had been hidden on the other side abruptly erupted.
Boom!
Lightning and fire intertwined.
The Qi Practitioner's expression changed drastically.
His protective treasure was struck into violent tremors.
Only then did he understand.
His so-called "figuring out the formation" earlier had amounted to nothing at all.
A normal Heaven-Absolute Formation was indeed like that.
But behind this Heaven-Absolute Formation stood nine other formations.
"Retreat!"
He no longer had the time to care about breaking the formation.
He charged out through the formation gate despite the risk of injury.
The moment he emerged.
He was already covered in dust and grime.
Part of his Daoist robe had been scorched black.
Several companions from West Qi hurried forward.
"How was it?"
The man turned back to look at the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
His expression was grim.
"The formation doesn't match the intelligence."
"Inside the Heaven-Absolute Formation..."
He paused.
Even he was somewhat uncertain.
"It seemed to contain the power of other formations as well."
The people beside him froze.
"What do you mean?"
"I entered the Heaven-Absolute Formation."
"But while breaking it..."
"It felt as though the other nine formations were helping it."
His words carried over to the Shang Camp.
Gao Yougan finally could not hold it in any longer.
"Hahaha!"
"So you finally noticed!"
Qin Wan stood before the formation gate, equally delighted.
In the past, the greatest strength of the Ten Ultimate Formation had been the destructive power of each formation itself.
Now, after someone had truly entered it for the first time, he personally experienced just how satisfying Lin Yuan's idea was.
The opponent had clearly found the correct weak point.
Under normal circumstances.
Qin Wan would have had to immediately mobilize power to patch it up.
But now?
He did not need to patch it himself at all.
The nine people behind him each lent a hand.
The weak point was directly welded into an iron plate.
That feeling could be summed up in only two words.
Worry-free.
Before long, someone from West Qi entered another formation.
This time, they chose the Earth Inferno Formation.
Zhao Jiang presided over it.
The opponent had likewise learned from the previous man's experience.
He was exceedingly cautious from the moment he entered.
Yet as the battle went on, he still discovered something.
The Earth Inferno Formation was wrong.
He had clearly depleted part of the formation's power.
So how had it been replenished in the blink of an eye?
Even more outrageous was this.
Just as he prepared to use a water-element treasure against Earthfire's weakness.
A bone-chilling power belonging to the Ice Formation actually surged along the formation's flow.
The water vapor had only just condensed.
When it was frozen solid first.
Then Earthfire erupted.
Boom!
Ice and fire exploded together.
The person inside the formation was blasted so badly that even his hair curled.
Outside the formation, there was utter silence.
Lin Yuan watched the battered figure flee the formation.
He silently felt sorry for him for half a second.
They said he was entering the Earth Inferno Formation.
Yet they had secretly stuffed the Ice Formation inside it too.
It was rather like hanging up a sign for mutton while serving ten different dishes.
After West Qi tested three formations in succession.
They finally stopped sending people in.
Because there was no point in continuing to send ordinary Qi Practitioners inside.
A cultivator who had just exited a formation returned to the army with an ugly expression.
"The Ten Ultimate Formation has changed."
"We must invite true experts."
In the distance.
A streak of Jade Clarity Immortal Light slowly rose at that moment.
Lin Yuan's Innate Spiritual Perception trembled faintly.
Compared to those previous formation testers.
This aura.
Was on an entirely different level.
Before you continue