Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1161 Path of the nodes (1)

1161: Path of the nodes (1)

1161: Path of the nodes (1)

“What happened next after the seven palace realm experts showed up?” Yang Qing asked, his focus, though not explicitly stated, being on how exactly the Xia clan had survived against such a lineup.

Given the timeframe of the attack and Xia Fang’s age, it had happened before her time.

The fact that she was here, alive and well, meant her clan had managed to endure despite the overwhelming odds.

Yang Qing couldn’t help but wonder what trump card they had used.

It was one thing to wield a monarch-grade treasure against a single palace realm expert—it was another to use it against seven and still live to tell the tale.

Clearly, the Xia clan had something that allowed them to survive that impossible situation.

Xia Fang’s very presence was proof of it.

Yang Qing had no doubt that, given the three retainer clans’ decision to betray the Xia clan, they would have seen it through to the end—eliminating the entire clan to prevent future retaliation.

“You don’t pull off something like that unless you’re fully committed to seeing it through to the bitter end.

But even if they succeeded in wiping out the Xia clan to the last member, that would only account for those within the clan grounds.

There were still those who had been sent to the sect to consider.

Despite the sect’s indifference toward the Xia clan, their attitude would be different toward those who had become their disciples.

The three clans wouldn’t be able to get their hands on them, nor would they dare try—meaning they’d still be leaving behind a lingering threat.

Yet they still went through with it anyway…

Does their relationship with the Silver Crane Sect really run that deep that they don’t have to worry about any potential retaliation?” Yang Qing wondered, his thoughts swirling before he brought his focus back as Xia Fang moved to answer his question.

“We relied on a formation diagram,” Xia Fang said.

“As down on our luck as we were, we at least had a few things left to guarantee our survival, and that was one of them,” she continued.

A formation diagram, huh…

thoughtfully murmured Yang Qing.

“A middle-tier?” he quickly followed up.

Xia Fang nodded in confirmation.

“Ah, so that’s why,” Yang Qing muttered, his eyes gleaming with understanding.

When it came to trump cards for handling multiple opponents, few tools were as effective as a formation diagram—or a large-scale formation array in general—especially when one was in a weaker position, like the Xia clan.

A formation diagram was a miniaturized version of a large-scale formation array.

One could think of it as a mobile formation, similar to formation flags, in that it didn’t require a fixed location to function.

However, while formation diagrams and formation flags shared that similarity, they differed significantly in terms of execution and power output.

Formation flags were like the talismans of formations in that their power was always weaker than that of the original formation blueprint they were based on.

There were two main reasons for this.

First, the quality of materials used to create formation flags was barely half the worth of what it would cost to permanently lay down the same formation array.

Secondly, formation flags relied on easily accessible energy sources to function.

More often than not, they relied on drawing energy from the ambient spiritual qi in the atmosphere or the spiritual qi contained within spirit stones.

While this approach reduced costs, it also limited the strength that formation flags could exhibit.

A formation array’s power came from its ability to tap into the full strength of its surroundings—not just the spiritual qi, but also the entire geomantic structure of the area, as well as the natural laws and principles most active in that region.

A permanent formation array drew upon all of these factors, making it immensely powerful and highly adaptive.

However, for a formation flag to remain mobile, it had to forgo that crucial aspect.

And in doing so, it inevitably sacrificed the advantages that came with it.

To compensate for the weaknesses of formation flags while retaining their advantages in mobility and ease of setup, formation masters developed formation diagrams.

They bridged the power gap of formation flags by using cultivators as nodes, energy sources, and even as auxiliary materials to sustain the array.

In a way, formation diagrams functioned like a specialized, singular-target cultivation art.

The way they worked was by breaking down the functional mechanism of a formation blueprint array and translating it into the form of a cultivation art.

Cultivators would then learn this art just like any other, but with one crucial requirement—if they wished to serve as proper nodes for the formation diagram, they had to build their foundations exclusively around that particular art.

Practicing any other technique would render them “flawed” nodes, making them incompatible with the formation.

It was well known that cultivation arts had a profound effect on a practitioner’s body, reshaping and refining them—especially the stronger the art and the earlier one began cultivating it.

Take Yang Qing, for example.

Because he practiced the purple-grade art Universal Resonant Light, its unique properties transformed his qi, allowing him to wield universal light qi, which was a type of qi that could freely form and morph into different elements.

He had not been using the art when he was in the early stages of the qi refinement realm, as he wasn’t at the Order at the time but with his clan.

As such, he used the qi circulation and meditation art his clan had at the time.

It was only when he had passed his entrance tests and joined up with the Order, and subsequently met up with Ren Shu, that he got his hands on that art, which was when he was at the seventh stage of the qi refinement realm.

Despite initially cultivating with a different art, the high grade of the Universal Resonant Light Art, combined with the fact that he was still in the Qi Refinement Realm when he transitioned, allowed for a smooth transformation.

His innate Yin-Yang Jade Nature Peerless Jade Physique further accelerated the process, and within just two months of practice, his spiritual qi had been fully refined into universal qi, and the effects of that transformation continued to follow him as he advanced through the cultivation realms.

For instance, the foundation pillars he formed in the foundation establishment realm, while they were purple grade pillars, were a mutated variant form of purple grade pillars.

His pillars back then were purple, yes, but they also had the radiant light of his purple-grade art mixed in with them, and that effect was seen later when he was in the core formation realm where his purple core was also mutated as it had a universal resonant light mixed in with it.

Now, even in the Palace Realm, his internal palace world was still heavily influenced by the art.

The light of Universal Resonant Light had permeated to every fabric of his world that one could easily spot traces of it on the sun, moon, the ocean and on the green flame tree that was at the center of his internal realm.

Yang Qing had no doubt that this trend would persist into the Domain Realm and all the way through to the Soul Formation Realm.

At this point, just as inseparable as he was from his peerless jade physique, the same could be said for his cultivation art.

The longer he practiced and the deeper his mastery became, the more pervasive and pronounced its effects were on him.

Attaining perfection in terms of mastery of a cultivation art was often described as the true union between cultivator and art.

Only when one was deeply in sync with their art could they claim to have achieved perfection.

One way to evaluate that synchronization was by observing how much transformation the art had imparted on them.

The deeper the transformation, the greater the mastery.

And that was precisely the relationship that formation diagrams sought to capitalize on.

Skilled formation masters would break down the functional mechanisms of a formation array and convert them into a cultivation art.

This art would then be passed on to select individuals, who would cultivate it from an early age, allowing it to seamlessly alter their constitution.

In doing so, they would gradually be transformed into both functional nodes for the formation and its primary energy source.

The deeper their mastery, the more of the formation’s power they could exhibit.