“Alright, bwudder, I’ll go play.”
Lu Guoguo was sensible enough, and she pranced away like a very nimble swallow, quickly disappearing out of Lu Xuan’s sight.
At that moment, several people were standing at the foot of the mountain that housed the Yunxuan Villa, looking in awe at the villa, which was completely shrouded by mist and clouds.
Those people were not strangers to Lu Xuan. They were none other than Chief Ming Yueyao from the Min Province Special Task Force, Chief Yun Sheng from the Fu City Special Task Force, and Chief Wang Junming from the Sha City Special Task Force.
“So this is the formation the legends told of, eh? I’ve only ever seen it in the documents before. This is my first time seeing it for real, right before my eyes,” Wang Junming said, feeling rather awed by it.
Wang Junming was truly overwhelmed by the huge formation before him, veiled in fog and low-hanging clouds. He hadn’t been living under a rock or anything, so it wasn’t like he had never seen formations before. Information regarding them could be found in all manner of files in the Special Task Force, after all.
There were even experts in the agency who specialized in researching formations passed down from ancient times. They looked into the inner workings of such formations to see how they were capable of manipulating ambient spirit qi, how they were capable of achieving such special effects, and so on.
They attempted to examine all the component parts contained within those formations in a scientific manner in order to go from just knowing how they worked to knowing why they worked.
He only knew a thing or two about any of that, as it was something else altogether from his own work.
However, when he finally came to lay eyes on a formation massive enough to envelop an entire villa, he was still thoroughly shaken by the sight of it all.
“This is really something. Not only is Mr. Lu very good at cultivation, but he’s also probably the number one most knowledgeable about formations, too,” Yun Sheng commented.
He was unable to see through that formation at all, but then again, he had little knowledge regarding formations to begin with.
There were simply too many branches to cultivation: talismans, formations, smithing, alkahestry, magics, mystic arts, martial arts, and many others. Just getting really into any one of them would most probably take up a lifetime, and one may not even achieve very much.
There was no way Yun Sheng would have had the mind and energy to learn about the other branches. While he had adequate knowledge at surface level, he would need to get the experts if he were to run into any real trouble.
That was precisely the reason that he’d become increasingly impressed with Lu Xuan, as he found the young man to be too much of an all-around genius to be a mortal.
Furthermore, given the fact that Lu Xuan had already demonstrated such startling knowledge in the area of talismans through the protection talismans that he sold, it was easy to see that the knowledge he had demonstrated thus far consisted of elements from many different branches. What was more, he’d demonstrated astounding knowledge in all of them.
He was unlike the small group standing at the foot of the mountain, who only had entry-level knowledge. Lu Xuan actually knew enough to form his own solid opinions in those areas of expertise.
The construction of the villa was a collaboration with the Special Task Force, and they had put considerable effort into it. Many materials were only purchasable through channels solely accessible to the Special Task Force. As such, they all wanted to learn more. They were able to speculate from the channels taken by Lu Xuan that he was trying to construct a formation, but they had never expected that the finished product would be something so awe-inspiring.
“Aren’t all our higher-ups totally stuck about how to deal with that sword formation? The experts are unable to do anything about it, but we could definitely ask Mr. Lu. He might have a way to solve it,” Yun Sheng piped up at that moment, having recalled something.
Wang Junming sported an expression that showed that he understood it very well. Lately, the case with the White Ape King had really been putting a lot of pressure on everyone in the Special Task Force.
The entire country had been thrown into mass panic due to the emergence of the White Ape King, so much so that even the Chief of the Inner Palace was enraged by what happened. Conventional armies were useless against the ape, so all that pressure was naturally transferred to the Special Task Force.
While the three beneath the mountain were only branch chiefs of the agency, they could nonetheless sense that a storm was brewing.
This was especially the case when it came to that sword formation, which had become like a personal talisman of that White Ape King. If they were to approach the problem scientifically, the best option available was clearly to use nuclear weapons, yet doing so would have felt rather like overkill.
Everyone in the Special Task Force was of the same opinion in that regard—matters regarding the world of cultivators needed to be dealt with using cultivation methods.
High-tech weapons were out of the question.
“Actually, we could consider it.”
Ming Yueyao then took a deep breath and said in a loud voice, “Ming Yueyao, Chief of Min Province Special Task Force, hereby pays a visit to the villa with my subordinates. May I know if Mr. Lu is around?”
Her voice was booming, and it was heard loud and clear all over the Yunxuan Villa.
The looks in the eyes of Yun Sheng and Wang Junming showed that they were rather awed. The thought crossed their minds that she was indeed their boss, and her powers were truly something else altogether.
Deities are really something else!
Ming Yueyao’s powers had made a breakthrough into Level Eight Deity Level after quite a long time. Those two subordinates of hers had become Level Seven National Guardians, as well.
Given the resources provided by the Special Task Force, such rates of progress were anything but slow, yet but they were still not something worth shouting about.
It was all very normal.
Still, such levels were inadequate given the state of the world at the moment.
They knew very well that the White Ape King had been throwing its weight around since its emergence. There had been countless deaths throughout the many branches of the Special Task Force, with even some Level Seven National Guardians being killed almost as soon as they saw the ape.
If it had not been for the runic ammunition that Lu Xuan had invented, they would have had no way of dealing with the White Ape King at all.
All that simply added to the amount of respect they had for Lu Xuan. It was due precisely to the runic ammunition that Lu Xuan had invented that those people had been able to pose any threat at all to fighters at Invincible Vajra level.
A small figure could be seen walking out of the mist a short while later.
The crowd saw that the person was an average-looking woman.
However, none of the three of them dared to underestimate her at all, as they could sense nearly explosive force from that petite frame of hers.
“A Level Eight Deity!” Ming Yueyao looked rather stunned.
If even Yun Sheng and Wang Junming could feel a powerful force concealed within the petite frame of that woman, then Ming Yueyao was surely capable of seeing her for what she was. The power housed within that woman was definitely power at Deity level.
Furthermore, it seemed that she had not made the breakthrough too long ago, so she wasn’t yet able to conceal her Spiritual Qi fluctuations all that well, allowing them to sense all that about her.
If it had been Lu Xuan standing in front of them instead, he definitely would not have emanated fluctuations so powerful that they could be picked up by others.
But then again, regardless if she had only made the breakthrough recently or not, the truth at the moment was that Deities were indeed top notch combat units, right below the Invincible Vajras, and very few had been able to break through into that level just yet.
After Zhang Hongyang, whom Ming Yueyao had met earlier, that woman was the second Deity that she’d ever met.
Lu Xuan had really managed to surround himself with so many powerful individuals without alerting the world. That showed that not only was he powerful at a personal level, but he was also probably almost the most powerful of all forces found in Min Province in terms of the levels of beings doing his bidding.
“My name is Ding Zhuxuan. Well met, Chief Ming.”
The woman with a petite frame was naturally the second disciple of Zhang Hongyang, Ding Zhuxuan.
Just as Ming Yueyao had suspected, Ding Zhuxuan had only made it to Deity level just two days ago. However, there was not the slightest hint of condescension on her face, and there were no signs at all of feeling insulted that a Deity-level fighter like her was made a lowly guard.
She knew all too well that being at Deity level was hardly anything worth bragging about in the Yunxuan Villa.
