The formation plates needed for the sixth-rank Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Guardian Grand Formation and the sixth-rank killing formation would still have to be made from sixth-rank materials.
But for the rest of the city, Ye Qingxuan decided to lower his standards and use third- and fourth-rank materials to refine the city components.
On the city walls, he could forge the sixth-rank formation plates needed for the killing formation into brick shapes and scatter them sporadically within the walls. For the rest of the city walls, he decided to use fourth-rank materials uniformly.
Inside the city, aside from the sixth-rank materials needed to set up the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Guardian Grand Formation, he would use third-rank materials for everything else.
As for the city’s size, Ye Qingxuan decided that a radius of ten li would be enough. If the population grew, he could always expand the city later or set up spatial formations within it.
After making his decision, Ye Qingxuan began calculating how much sixth-rank material he needed to purchase.
As for the third- and fourth-rank materials, he already had plenty in his inventory, so there was no need to buy more.
The most commonly used material for setting up formations was formation stones.
Formation stones had excellent compatibility with all types of energy. When formation patterns were activated, they also provided good stability and energy conductivity.
The grade of a formation stone depended on its purity and toughness.
So, formation stones were basically the most common formation material on the market. Other auxiliary materials for inscription could be adjusted according to the specific needs of the formation.
Under normal circumstances, one cubic unit of formation stones could be used to refine thirty formation plates.
Refining formation plates was much easier than refining magical treasures.
The key to formation plates lay in the formation patterns themselves, and virtually all formation masters knew how to refine them.
A formation didn’t actually require many core formation plates; the extra ones were used to amplify the formation’s power and range.
For a radius of ten li, the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation would only need 108 formation plates.
The sixth-rank killing formation was for external defense, so its coverage needed to be as large as possible. Around 360 formation plates should be enough.
So, he would need a total of 468 sixth-rank formation plates, meaning purchasing 16 cubic units of sixth-rank formation materials would be more than sufficient.
However, Ye Qingxuan decided to buy 100 cubic units of lower-grade sixth-rank formation stones directly, along with some quantities of other common auxiliary materials.
After his avatar arrived in the Eastern Extremity Region, he would also need to build a city and settle down, requiring a large amount of materials for setting up sixth-rank formations.
Factoring in regular consumption, Ye Qingxuan decided to purchase 100 cubic units of lower-grade sixth-rank formation stones all at once.
For 100 cubic units of lower-grade sixth-rank formation stones, plus various sixth-rank auxiliary materials, the total would come to about 65,000 high-grade spirit stones.
He could easily afford that amount without any financial strain.
After deciding on the materials he needed, Ye Qingxuan sent a message to Zhu Dafu, instructing him to purchase them.
Once Zhu Dafu had made the purchases, Ye Zhaohéng could go to the Tianfu Shop to pick them up.
Zhu Dafu was already used to these sorts of requests by now and didn’t ask any questions. After receiving Ye Qingxuan’s message, he left the Tianfu Shop directly.
Since these were sixth-rank materials, Zhu Dafu felt it was safer to handle the procurement himself.
The next day, after Ye Qingxuan received the materials, he immediately began refining the formation plates without pause.
The most difficult and time-consuming part of refining formation plates was inscribing the formation patterns and imbuing them with spiritual energy.
With his current cultivation, Ye Qingxuan could only refine about five sixth-rank formation plates per day without affecting his own cultivation.
Just refining the formation plates would take him over two months, and that didn’t even include the city components he still needed to make.
The city components only required third- and fourth-rank materials and weren’t difficult to refine, but the sheer quantity was enormous!
Moreover, Ye Qingxuan planned to inscribe strengthening formation patterns on those third- and fourth-rank components to enhance the city’s durability.
That was another massive project.
Ye Qingxuan estimated that refining all the formation plates and city components would take about a year and a half.
As time passed, Ye Qingxuan had already refined most of the city components—
When he suddenly stopped what he was doing. After a brief pause, he took a single step and vanished from the Qingxuan Cave Heaven Paradise.
Because, outside the paradise, an old friend had come to visit.
When Ye Qingxuan arrived outside the Qingxuan Cave Heaven Paradise, a figure was standing in the stone pavilion, facing away from him, gazing into the distance.
Looking at this familiar silhouette, Ye Qingxuan softly called out:
“Tai’an!”
Then he walked toward the pavilion.
The visitor was none other than Liu Tai’an, the personal disciple of Xuantian Sect’s Sect Master Cen Zhe.
Hearing Ye Qingxuan’s call, Liu Tai’an turned around. Upon seeing Ye Qingxuan, his expression grew serious and he bowed:
“Tai’an greets Senior Brother!”
Ye Qingxuan was already familiar with Liu Tai’an’s personality, so he didn’t refuse the formal courtesy.
Stepping into the pavilion, Ye Qingxuan smiled slightly:
“Alright, have a seat!”
After they both sat down, Ye Qingxuan habitually began brewing tea. He then looked at Liu Tai’an, whose brows were sharp and eyes bright, and chuckled:
“It’s been a long time, Junior Brother. How have you been? Haha!”
It had been nearly ninety years since they last parted.
Hearing Ye Qingxuan’s greeting, Liu Tai’an replied respectfully:
“Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother. I’ve been doing well all these years.”
According to his original plan, Liu Tai’an had intended to go to the Central Region for training. But after the incident where the Green Demon Realm invaded the lower realm of Dixuan Realm occurred, he turned back and went directly to the Xuanmu Realm to slay Green Demon strongholds and hone himself.
Now, Liu Tai’an’s cultivation had reached the peak of the Spirit Transformation Realm. He was only one step away from the Void Piercing Realm.
If most of the Xuanmu Realm hadn’t been transformed into demonic territory by the Green Demon Realm, causing the world’s rules and principles to mutate, Liu Tai’an might have already broken through to the Void Piercing Realm.
This time, Liu Tai’an had returned mainly to enter seclusion and comprehend the principles of rules, aiming to break through to the Void Piercing Realm.
Secondly, he had a task assigned by his master, Cen Zhe.
And this task was related to Ye Qingxuan.
Thinking of his master’s instructions, Liu Tai’an hesitated for a moment, then looked at Ye Qingxuan:
“Senior Brother, was the series of Core Explosion Pills developed by you?”
Ye Qingxuan’s hands paused slightly as he brewed the tea, then he casually nodded:
“Yes, I developed them.”
Ye Qingxuan had originally expected that after the effects of the Cleansing Spirit · Core Explosion Pills were demonstrated in the Xuanmu Realm, someone from the Xuantian Sect’s elders would come to see him. He hadn’t expected it to be Liu Tai’an.
But this was fine. With his current Nascent Soul cultivation and the seed of the minor divine ability Deception of Heaven, he could hide his true cultivation from ordinary Sky Piercing Realm experts, as long as they didn’t probe him deeply.
If a Tribulation Transcendence elder had come instead, Ye Qingxuan would have been put in a difficult position.
Without revealing his secrets, he couldn’t give a reasonable explanation for his cultivation level. But if he did expose his secrets, he couldn’t be certain how the Xuantian Sect’s higher-ups would react.
Although Ye Qingxuan felt the Xuantian Sect wouldn’t harm him, he didn’t want to take risks and hand the choice over to them.
