Just as Li Xingkong's attention was drawn to the Old Ox, Ji Qiu turned in with two boxes.
"Sir, I don't know if this will work?"
As he spoke, he opened the two boxes in his hand. Inside each box was a set of Go stones, with the black and white stones separated into two boxes.
There are exactly 361 Go stones: 181 black stones and 180 white stones. This number is exactly the same as the number of battle flags that Li Xingkong wanted, with one extra.
Li Xingkong reached into the box and picked up a chess piece, examining it closely in his hand. The material of the chess piece gave Li Xingkong a sense of familiarity; it was indeed made of Bone-Tempering Grass, but after being made into a chess piece, it had an additional layer of color.
The surface of this chess piece is very smooth, and it looks like it's been used frequently and has been played with extensively. This is probably one of someone's favorite little things.
The materials are fine, and the size is also fine. The core of the formation lies mainly in the Mana Circuit, so there are no strict requirements on the size of the formation flags. The only requirement is that this thing must be able to engrave the entire formation inside.
The size of these two boxes of chess pieces saved Li Xingkong the trouble of carrying them. They were just the right size, fitting easily into his pocket.
"Okay, this set of chess pieces is just the right quantity and the material is suitable, so I'll take it."
Li Xingkong tossed the chess pieces into the box and placed the chess set beside him.
"These chess pieces look like they've been played with so much they've developed a patina. Did you get them from someone?"
Although setting up the formation did require materials, taking what belongs to someone else is not a gentlemanly thing to do, so Li Xingkong still asked about it.
"No, no, this chess set is something Ge Baoqi and I play when we have nothing to do. It's not valuable, nothing precious."
Ji Qiu smiled, but a hint of heartache could be seen on his face.
"Alright, I won't take it for free."
Li Xingkong casually picked up a piece of material from a shelf in the corner of the office, then sketched a few lines and engraved a small array on it. After just a couple of twirling his hands, the small array was completed on the material.
He casually kneaded it a few more times. In Li Xingkong's hands, the material was like a piece of clay. With just a few kneads, it became the shape of a pendant. Although the material and color were different, it was still a qualified pendant.
After finishing, Li Xingkong tossed the pendant to Ji Qiu.
"Try infusing your Magic Power into the pendant."
When Ji Qiu saw Li Xingkong throw something to him, he quickly caught it with both hands. Then, following Li Xingkong's instructions, he channeled a wisp of his Magic Power into the pendant.
The pendant flashed with white light, then emitted several thin, white rays of light. These rays intersected and formed a chessboard suspended in the air.
It's like a hanging Go board for commentary, except this Go board is formed by a light screen—a virtual Go board.
Curious, Ji Qiu reached out and tapped the chessboard. A black piece landed where he tapped, just like playing some kind of virtual reality interactive game.
"I'll trade this chess set for your pieces, is that enough?"
"Enough, of course it's enough. Don't even mention replacing it; providing you with materials is my duty, it's only right, let alone this chess piece."
Ji Qiu's eyes were already drawn to the game of chess, and he kept tapping around the board, observing the various moves being made.
" Old Ji! Where's my chess piece?"
A greeting came from afar outside the door. Judging from the voice, it was Ge Baoqi. He had finished instructing Old Ox and come out to find his chess piece.
Upon hearing this sound, Ji Qiu immediately severed his Magic Power, causing the light barrier formed by the array to disappear. He then hurriedly stuffed the ornament in his hand into his pocket, covering it tightly.
"Teacher Li, now that I've delivered the materials, I won't bother you any longer."
Ji Qiu clutched his pocket, hurriedly said goodbye to Li Xingkong, and then slipped away, looking as guilty as a thief.
As soon as Ji Qiu left, Li Xingkong was left alone in the office. Ji Nanzhi had already gone to his cattle pen to do his research. If it weren't for the fact that all these miscellaneous things needed a place to be stored, he might have preferred to live in the cattle pen directly.
Now that he had the array flag materials, Li Xingkong could begin recording the Dharma Aspect formation. Although the site for setting up the array was still under construction, the array didn't actually have strict requirements for the location. As long as he had the array flags, the array could be set up anywhere.
Li Xingkong first arranged the chess pieces in the air according to a simplified formation. Then, he used his Magic Power to mark each piece according to its position before collecting all the pieces and inscribing the formation structure of its position on each piece.
The most time-consuming part of setting up an array is the design process. In reality, the setup is much faster. After all, in Li Xingkong's eyes, carving the array structure is just a simple mechanical process. With Li Xingkong's current control, his brushstrokes are more stable than any finely machined cutting tool. Basically, as long as he starts carving according to the design drawing, there will be no problem of error or hand mistakes.
It took about an hour to carve each chess piece one by one, and most of the pieces were already carved. These carved pieces could be arranged, and as long as they were arranged in fixed positions, the formation could be activated at any time.
These pieces have already fulfilled the main functions of the space elevator. If we're not too worried, the current formation is already capable of sending the elevator into space and back. However, we can't guarantee that we won't encounter various problems during the ascent and descent.
For example, if the flight encounters stability issues halfway through and the plane rolls over, or if the plane's axis shifts during flight and it starts to rotate, or if the speed is too high when flying out of space and friction occurs with the atmosphere, these are all details that the formation needs to handle.
If all these things are ignored, then it would be like the Russia style—recklessly charging forward without thinking. But Li Xingkong is, after all, Divine Land People, and he will consider things more comprehensively when making decisions.
The remaining pieces serve to perform these auxiliary functions, which are scattered but play various indispensable roles in the operation of the space elevator.
The branch in Longzhou didn't have many people. Li Xingkong had been practicing for so long without anyone bothering him, so he slowly refined each piece one by one. It only took him half a day to refine all the chess pieces.
All the array flags were completed, leaving only one lone black piece in the box. This was the last one left over; it had no place in Li Xingkong's original design.
The entire chess set had been trained into a formation, but this one piece was left unused, which was indeed somewhat imperfect. Li Xingkong held it, wondering if he could modify it and add it to the formation.
After thinking for a while, Li Xingkong had an idea. This chess piece really did have a use—it could be used as the switch for the entire formation.