Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1124 - Yue state (2)
1124: Yue state (2)
1124: Yue state (2)
Those fourteen sects banded together, pooling their resources to purchase a middle-tier blue-grade formation plate along with its accompanying flags.
They also hired a blue-grade formation master to set it up.
The formation plate they acquired was a restraining type, designed to lock a target in place.
It functioned similarly to a sect-guarding array, but in reverse.
Where a sect-guarding array was meant to keep outsiders from entering, this one was meant to prevent something—or someone—from escaping.
Using this formation plate, they completely sealed off the palace realm expert’s sect, trapping both him and all its members within.
Neither he nor anyone else could leave the confines of the array.
While the formation posed no direct lethal threat, its defensive and beguiling properties were formidable.
It could withstand the full-force attacks of a fourth-stage palace realm expert without breaking, and as long as it had a stable energy supply, it could continue doing so indefinitely—or at least until the attacker advanced to the fifth stage.
Beyond its defenses, the formation’s illusory capabilities were so potent that even an early-stage palace realm expert could be effortlessly deceived by its effects.
Yang Qing guessed that the formation plate’s beguiling capabilities were likely one of the main reasons the fourteen sects chose it over other options, such as a killing array.
Aside from the fact that killing arrays were significantly more expensive than their illusory or restraining counterparts, they also required the element of surprise to be effective.
Setting up a killing array while the target was present was nearly impossible—any cultivator of sufficient strength would detect its activation, even if it wasn’t fully armed yet.
Subtle fluctuations in energy or spatial disturbances would give it away, especially if it was being set up in their own territory.
Killing arrays were most effective in ambushes, but for core formation experts, trying to ambush a palace realm cultivator was an almost impossible task.
Illusory arrays, however, were different.
Their strength lay in their subtlety.
Their activation and presence could be concealed seamlessly, making them ideal for use against someone in their own home—especially if that person was far stronger than the ones setting it up.
The odds improved even further if a skilled formation master handled the setup, which was exactly why those fourteen sects hired a blue-grade formation master.
They may not have had a palace realm expert of their own, but that didn’t mean they lacked the resources to deal with one—especially when they pooled them together.
With the formation plate in place, the fourteen sects forcibly sealed the palace realm expert within his sect’s territory while they worked from the outside to find a more permanent solution—such as producing a palace realm expert from within their own ranks.
As for why they didn’t simply hire one to kill him, the answer was simple: cost.
The price would have been at least a thousand times higher than what they had spent on hiring the blue-grade formation master and purchasing the formation plate.
Killing a palace realm expert was no small feat, and given the sheer power such experts possessed, it was only natural that the cost would be exorbitant.
Their dire circumstances would have only driven the price even higher.
That cost would have likely left them owing more than just spirit stones, which would have left them exposed to the very same thing they were fighting against in the first place.
Sealing the palace realm expert and his sect while they bided their time was the more reasonable choice.
While it didn’t offer an immediate solution, it still provided strategic advantages.
With the sect cut off from the outside world, its growth and development were effectively crippled.
Trade, resource exchange, and the many other necessities that allowed a sect to function smoothly were all severed.
Only top-tier organizations—like rank two sects or above—could afford to operate autonomously due to their immense wealth and foundation.
The most powerful among them, such as holy lands, were like independent worlds of their own.
But for everyone else, survival depended on being part of an ecosystem.
And that seal had completely cut the palace realm expert’s sect off from one.
After that, the fourteen sects did something even more incredulous than before—they shared their prized legacies with one another, along with other resources, all in the hopes of raising a palace realm expert as fast as possible.
They effectively erased the metaphorical sect boundaries and functioned as one.
Disciples could cultivate another sect’s legacy, train under an expert from a different sect, and exchange knowledge freely.
They had become one organism with different parts.
With a looming threat hanging over them, it was understandable why they went to such extreme lengths—even going as far as signing a soul-binding contract with the White Rose Pavilion as both witness and enforcer.
The purpose of the contract was to prevent internal annexation if one sect suddenly became stronger than the others.
It was a safeguard against another repeat of the very situation they were fighting to avoid.
Yang Qing didn’t know the exact workings of the contract, but soul contracts were generally known to be fiercely lethal when violated, even slightly.
Thus, through their combined efforts, the fourteen sects finally produced a palace realm expert after 300 years.
Another one emerged 200 years later, and by the time they reached the 800-year mark, they had four more, bringing their total to six.
It was at that point that they finally had the confidence to confront the palace realm expert they had sealed away.
Against six palace realm experts, he stood no chance.
He, his sect, and the sect he had annexed were annihilated.
From those ashes, the Yue State was born.
Presently, it had 28 palace realm experts, with seven known to be at the late stages—a massive leap from where they had started.
Their territory had expanded to the point that it rivaled some rank two organizations.
The same practice they adopted back then still prevails today—there are no barriers between the fourteen sects.
Rather than separate sects, they now function more like interconnected peaks within a single entity, maintaining the same interchange and upholding the binding soul contract.
These fourteen sects jointly rule over Yue State, making it one of the rarest of its kind—a nation built by cultivators, for cultivators.
Because of this, countless organizations have established bases there, including major merchant companies. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
It was no surprise that the Vast Blue Merchant Company had a branch there.
What was surprising, however, was Li Gang holding the position of branch manager.
Given Yue State’s size and economic importance, it was a prime market.
Any merchant company operating there would only send its best personnel to oversee business.
If Li Gang was stationed there, then he was likely a significant figure within the Vast Blue Merchant Company.
And if that was the case, his involvement with the Heart-Quenching Mulberry Dew made even less sense to Yang Qing.
