West Qi did not launch a direct assault immediately.
A full day passed.
Only then did figures appear outside the Ten Ultimate Formation again.
This time, those who came still were not the Twelve Golden Immortals themselves.
But they had been replaced by several Qi Practitioners who had clearly received guidance from the Jade Clarity lineage.
The biggest difference from yesterday's group was that they had brought quite a few magic treasures specifically meant to counter the Ten Ultimate Formation.
"They came well prepared."
Lin Yuan stood behind the formation.
He watched as one person across from him held a Thunderbolt-Repelling Pearl specifically designed to counter lightning and fire, another wore a Wind-Calming Banner at his waist, and another carried a Scarlet Sun Mirror clearly meant to deal with the power of ice.
Gao Yougan clicked his tongue.
"Looks like those people who got blown up yesterday did plenty of homework after they went back."
Qin Wan was in no hurry.
"Let them come."
The greatest change in the Ten Ultimate Formation was never simply the massive increase in the power of each individual formation.
Even if the enemy had thoroughly prepared against one formation, that did not mean they could prepare against the other nine.
The first person chose to enter the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
This Qi Practitioner was clearly much more cautious than yesterday's formation tester.
The Thunderbolt-Repelling Pearl hung high above his head.
A layer of pale blue protective light also covered his feet.
Qin Wan activated the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
Lightning descended.
The Thunderbolt-Repelling Pearl immediately diverted most of the lightning away.
A smile appeared on the man's face.
"The Heaven-Absolute Formation."
"It is nothing special."
Qin Wan glanced at him.
Outside the formation, Zhao Jiang suddenly laughed.
The moment Lin Yuan saw that expression, he knew it.
They were about to pull something.
The next moment.
The Earth Inferno Formation's Formation Talisman lit up.
What it sent over this time was not pure Upper Clarity Dharma Power.
It also carried a wisp of adjusted Earthfire aura.
Qin Wan raised his hand.
Amid the Heaven-Absolute Formation's attacks, which had originally centered on lightning's killing intent, a flash of crimson suddenly appeared.
Boom!
The Thunderbolt-Repelling Pearl had indeed diverted the lightning.
But Earthfire was not its responsibility.
Blazing flames erupted from beneath his feet.
The person who had entered the formation jolted as he was burned.
"Fire?!"
"Why does the Heaven-Absolute Formation have Earthfire?!"
He was clearly stunned for a moment.
And that moment was enough.
Lightning had already descended again beside him.
The Thunderbolt-Repelling Pearl activated in haste.
Boom!
The blast sent him staggering back several steps.
Gao Yougan was already laughing himself silly outside the formation.
"Exactly!"
"How could the Heaven-Absolute Formation have fire?"
"Think fast!"
Lin Yuan could only shake his head at the sound of it.
Senior Brother Gao's sarcastic mockery was rather gifted.
After steadying himself, the man in the formation quickly thought of the ten formations' linkage.
"It is the Earth Inferno Formation!"
"You are borrowing the Earth Inferno Formation's power!"
Qin Wan did not hide it.
"So what if you know?"
The other man's expression darkened.
Since he knew the source.
Then he only needed to cut it off.
He produced a jade talisman.
A streak of white spiritual light spread through the area, attempting to disrupt the transmission of aura between the formations.
Lin Yuan's gaze shifted slightly.
The other side truly had come prepared.
After the white light appeared.
The power sent from the Earth Inferno Formation noticeably slowed.
Yet Qin Wan did not panic in the slightest.
"Fellow Daoist Zhao."
"Stop."
Zhao Jiang voluntarily severed the Earth Inferno Formation's connection.
Seeing the Earthfire vanish, the other man had just breathed a sigh of relief.
The Wind Roar Formation lit up.
Whoosh—!
A violent gale rose abruptly.
Vast torrents of astral wind suddenly mixed into the lightning-and-fire formation.
The Thunderbolt-Repelling Pearl remained busy dealing with the lightning.
That jade talisman was still disrupting the Earth Inferno Formation.
The newly appearing wind blades came straight at his face.
"You!"
The Qi Practitioner within the formation finally lost his composure.
"You can switch them too?!"
Qin Wan looked as though it were only natural.
"There are nine of them."
"Why can't I switch?"
"..."
It made far too much sense.
Which left him with no way to refute it.
Standing outside the formation, Lin Yuan suddenly understood why support classes in multiplayer dungeons were so annoying.
You thought you were fighting one BOSS.
But in reality, nine healers were crouching behind it.
And while healing, they might suddenly toss a fireball at you.
This battle lasted for more than half a shichen.
In the end, that Qi Practitioner still failed to break the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
He withdrew in a miserable state.
The second person entered the Wind Roar Formation.
He clearly knew how dangerous the Wind Roar Formation was.
The moment the Wind-Calming Banner unfurled.
The violent winds around him were immediately suppressed by quite a bit.
Dong Quan was not in a hurry either.
A normal Wind Roar Formation would indeed suffer when countered by a wind-calming magic treasure.
But now he had people backing him up.
He directly borrowed the Golden Light Formation's power.
The astral winds weakened slightly.
Yet golden light suddenly filled the sky.
The cultivator who entered the formation had only blocked a few rounds.
When the Ice Formation sent over another wisp of chill.
The ground beneath his feet froze solid.
The expressions of the West Qi camp grew increasingly unpleasant as they watched.
How were they supposed to counter this?
In the past, when breaking the Ten Ultimate Formation.
They could at least prepare matching magic treasures for each formation's characteristics.
But now the auras of the ten formations were interconnected.
You prepared a Wind-Calming Banner.
And they hit you with golden light inside.
You brought a Thunderbolt-Repelling Pearl.
And Earthfire surged up from beneath your feet.
You specifically guarded against ice.
Only for them to borrow the Wind Roar Formation in the next instant.
It was truly like painstakingly memorizing answers all night before an exam.
Then entering the examination room the next day and seeing—
The teacher had changed the question bank.
Several people failed in succession after testing the formations.
The Ten Heavenly Lords finally gained complete confidence.
Zhao Jiang had even begun studying whether they could further increase the proportion of borrowed power.
Lin Yuan, however, did not grow overconfident along with them.
He kept his eyes fixed on the rear of West Qi's forces.
Battlefield Killing Intent Perception told him.
The truly dangerous aura had yet to move.
These people were still only probing.
They were being used by the Elucidation Sect to determine the Ten Ultimate Formation's changes.
Qin Wan clearly understood this as well.
After the last formation tester withdrew.
He did not mock them.
Instead, he returned to the other Ten Heavenly Lords.
"The first version of the linked formations still has quite a few problems."
"After someone used that jade talisman to block the aura, the Earth Inferno Formation's transmitted power clearly slowed down."
Golden Light Holy Mother nodded.
"Also, the loss is too great when special powers are exchanged between different formations."
"Borrowing ten percent of Upper Clarity Dharma Power is easy."
"But truly sending Earthfire, ice, and golden light back and forth can only be sustained for a brief moment at most."
Lin Yuan smiled.
"That is already enough."
"Senior Sister."
"We do not need the Heaven-Absolute Formation to permanently become a fusion of all ten formations."
"The key is to suddenly pull it out at a critical moment."
"As long as it can trick someone, that is enough."
Qin Wan and the others thought about it.
That was indeed true.
The effects had been quite obvious just now.
Especially since the other side had clearly prepared restraining treasures, only to be caught off guard when the attributes suddenly changed.
In a magical duel,
a moment of panic was dangerous enough.
Wen Zhong walked over from outside the formation.
"West Qi probably won't send any more ordinary people into the formation today."
Zhao Jiang asked,
"What about tomorrow?"
Wen Zhong raised his head and looked toward West Qi.
"The Elucidation Sect's people have been watching for two days already."
"If they still don't step in,"
"they won't be able to save face."
Lin Yuan followed his gaze.
Above the distant clouds,
several streams of Jade Clarity Immortal Light were even clearer than yesterday.
One of them in particular—
his Innate Spiritual Perception had been constantly warning him of danger since earlier.
Its level of danger—
far surpassed every previous formation tester.
Lin Yuan slowly lost his smile.
"Senior brothers,"
"tomorrow,"
"I'm afraid we truly need to be careful."
Early the next morning.
Outside the Ten Ultimate Formation.
An Immortal clad in a Jade Clarity robe finally arrived atop the clouds.
He made no effort to conceal his aura.
Immortal light pressed across the battlefield.
Even the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him trembled faintly.
Qin Wan raised his head from within the Heaven-Absolute Formation.
The newcomer was not among the most exceptional of the Twelve Golden Immortals.
Yet a true second-generation disciple of the Elucidation Sect stood on an entirely different level from those Qi Practitioners who had tested the formation before.
He stood before the Ten Ultimate Formation.
Yet he did not immediately bring out a magical treasure.
The pressure emanating from his mana alone made the air nearby grow heavy.
"The Ten Ultimate Formation."
"I have observed it closely for the past two days."
"It has indeed changed somewhat."
The Daoist's gaze swept across the ten formations one by one.
At last, it settled on Qin Wan.
"Fellow Daoist Qin."
"Today, I have come to test the Heaven-Absolute Formation."
Qin Wan did not retreat.
"Please."
Before you continue