Chapter 1036: Preparing for War

Over the next few days, Lu Ye continuously activated the power of his Talent Tree to absorb Blood Crystals for cultivation, while also crafting array discs.

Nearly two hundred array discs were produced almost every day. Feng Wujiang would visit him every two days to collect the crafted discs. Although Lu Ye remained in his room and did not go out, he still felt an impending sense of urgency, like a storm brewing. He knew that the Holy Land had little time left. From the Blood Clan's four battlefronts, over a million troops must already be on their way. It wouldn't be long before they reached the city walls, and at that point, the Holy Land's survival would hang by a thread.

A month passed in a flash. During this period, Lu Ye had steadily crafted five to six thousand array discs, and the amount of Blood Crystals he had absorbed was immeasurable. There was no longer a need to craft more array discs, as he had enough for use. He could now fully dedicate himself to cultivation. After another ten days or so, the spiritual power within him refined further. With the ninth rotation of spiritual power, an invisible wave of energy surged forth, and Lu Ye slowly opened his eyes.

He had reached the ninth layer of the True Lake Realm. The Divine Sea Realm was now just a step away. There wasn't much time left, preventing him from cultivating to the Divine Sea Realm, and with the great battle against the Blood Clan about to begin, he had no intention of continuing his cultivation. He did not get up immediately but spent two days consolidating his cultivation. Only then did he step out of his room, found the green-robed attendant who had been staying on the Holy Mountain, and instructed him to find some materials.

The green-robed attendant complied without question. He had remained there under Feng Wujiang's orders to fulfill all of Lu Ye's needs. An hour later, the green-robed attendant brought all the materials Lu Ye requested. Lu Ye began to prepare them. The green-robed attendant watched with curiosity and asked, "My lord, what are you making?"

Lu Ye explained, "For tattooing."

"Tattoo?" The green-robed attendant was puzzled. "What is that?"

"You'll see," Lu Ye replied, offering no further explanation. He then casually asked, "What's the enemy situation?"

The green-robed attendant's expression grew serious. "I heard from the Holy Lord earlier," he said, "that the Blood Clan army has begun crossing the Divine Que Sea. They'll arrive in as few as six or seven days, or at most, ten days to half a month."

Lu Ye nodded. There was still enough time.

A few hours later, all the materials were prepared. Lu Ye beckoned to Dao Thirteen, who stood nearby. Dao Thirteen obediently stepped forward.

"Take off your top and lie down," Lu Ye instructed, pointing to the wooden bed in front of him.

Dao Thirteen complied.

With everything prepared, Lu Ye then took out the set of needles his master had given him and began tattooing spirit patterns onto Dao Thirteen's body. What he tattooed was, naturally, the Symbiotic Spirit Pattern. Although he already possessed Symbiotic Array Discs, which allowed companions to connect their aura and easily form arrays as long as they were within the disc's area of effect, this method had a drawback: the array discs could be captured by the enemy and used against them. Moreover, during a battle, if an array disc was shattered, the formation would instantly collapse. After all, the array discs themselves were not particularly durable.

But tattooing the patterns was different. There was absolutely no chance of them being captured or shattered, unless the person died! Lu Ye intended to tattoo the Symbiotic Spirit Pattern onto Dao Thirteen and all the Blood Slaves under his command. This way, they themselves could replace the array discs. In a sense, each of them would become an array disc, capable of connecting their aura with others at will. He even considered deploying these tattooed soul slaves among the human cultivator army. They could also serve as substitutes for array discs, potentially yielding miraculous effects at critical moments.

Lu Ye hadn't delved into the Way of Tattooing for a long time. The last time he had studied it was in the Return to Heaven Valley spiritual land on the Cloud River battlefield, when he tattooed patterns onto the wolf pack. Since embarking on the path of cultivation, with the Way of Spirit Patterns as his foundation, he had encountered too many auxiliary arts: the Way of Formations, the Way of Tattooing, the Way of Artifact Forging, and so on. He might encounter even more in the future. But a person's energy was limited, so it was impossible to master everything. The only outcome of trying to master everything was becoming proficient in nothing. Cultivation was what he needed to focus on most. Perhaps one day, when his cultivation could no longer advance, he would explore more auxiliary arts, but not for now.

Although his proficiency in the Way of Tattooing was mediocre, thanks to his Talent Tree, tattooing was not actually very difficult for him. Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen Dao Thirteen first.

The green-robed attendant stood by, watching Lu Ye's hand move so fast it became a blur. As each tattoo needle moved, a complex spirit pattern gradually appeared on Dao Thirteen's chest. He couldn't help but be amazed.

Before long, Dao Thirteen got up and put his clothes back on. Lu Ye then called over another Blood Clan soul slave and repeated the process. Not all Blood Clan soul slaves had their tattoos on their chests. Among these Blood Clan members, some were female, so he had to choose to tattoo them on their backs, as their chests were not flat, which would affect his performance in the Way of Tattooing.

It took two days for Lu Ye to tattoo all the Blood Clan soul slaves. Only then did he begin training them. This training was simply to familiarize them with the evolution of battle formations. Lu Ye had long since obtained many formation training methods from his senior brother, preparing for this very day. There was the 'Black Tortoise Gazing at the Moon Formation', which favored defense; the 'White Tiger Sky-Shattering Formation', leaning towards offense; and the unpredictable 'Azure Dragon Seven Constellations Formation'. The names of these formations sounded incredibly mighty, suggesting their effectiveness in actual combat wouldn't be poor.

Furthermore, depending on the number of participants, different formations could be deployed. If there were only two people, they could form the 'Two Dragons Emerging from Water Formation'. Higher up, there were the 'Heaven, Earth, and Three Talents Formation', the 'Four-Tier Tusita Formation', leading up to the 'Nine Palaces Linked Formation' for nine people. Over the past few centuries, the Heavenly Mystery of the Nine Provinces had sent many people to the Blood Refining Realm. Each of them was well-traveled and experienced. These formations were provided by those venerable seniors, encompassing the essence of at least a thousand years of the Nine Provinces' history.

Under normal circumstances, mastering the variations of formations in such a short time would be an almost impossible task, even if the formation members were extremely familiar with each other. Not to mention existences like Dao Soldiers, who had impaired intellects. They would never be able to comprehend what a formation truly was. However, with the aid of the Symbiotic Spirit Pattern, the Dao Soldiers performed the drills surprisingly well. The greatest difficulty for cultivators forming arrays lay in connecting their aura. Each person's aura fluctuation was unique. To connect their auras, they had to accommodate and interlock with each other, much like the yin and yang elements when constructing spirit patterns. Every spirit pattern was formed by countless yin and yang elements combined in various ways, allowing them to become a cohesive whole. The Symbiotic Spirit Pattern perfectly resolved this greatest difficulty. The rest, naturally, became simple.

After several days of such training, Lu Ye finally led his group of Dao Soldiers and proudly flew out of the Holy Mountain. Having inquired about his senior brother's location, Lu Ye headed straight in that direction.

A short while later, on an outer island, he saw his senior brother. The small island had a city, but it wasn't for habitation. All humans in the Holy Land were concentrated on the central large island. The outer islands, and even the cities on them, were merely defensive fortifications. Many human cultivators in the city were bustling about, making their final preparations for the impending battle.

Feng Wujiang stood on the city wall. Beside him were seventy to eighty figures, some sitting, some standing. His senior brother was clearly assigning defensive tasks, and all those qualified to stand by his side at this moment were top powerhouses from the Nine Provinces. Although many Divine Sea Realm cultivators had emerged locally after decades of development, their cultivation levels were not very high, and they were not yet qualified to attend such an occasion.

When Lu Ye arrived, pairs of eyes immediately turned to him. There was no overt pressure, but Lu Ye still felt immense pressure. He scanned the group, seeing that almost all of them had white hair and beards, with few middle-aged individuals among them. There were a few female cultivators who, like Yue Ji, maintained their appearance well, looking youthful and radiant. Amidst such a group, they truly stood out like a crane among chickens.

In the crowd, Lu Ye saw Jian Guhong, Wuchang and Meng Jie, and also Granny Jiu...

He landed, and the large group of Dao Soldiers behind him also descended. Each of them had blank expressions and vacant eyes. In contrast, Dao Thirteen was undoubtedly much more normal.

"Holy Lord, is this the junior brother you spoke of, who comes and goes like a divine dragon?" an old man with white hair and beard asked. The others all looked Lu Ye up and down with great interest.

Feng Wujiang chuckled heartily and affectionately put an arm around Lu Ye's shoulder. "Indeed, this is my junior brother," he said. "What do you all think, seniors? The waves behind push the waves in front, don't they?"

Lu Ye quickly bowed in all directions, saying, "Lu Ye of the Azureblood Sect from Bing Province, greetings to all seniors." His attitude was extremely respectful. There was no other choice, as everyone present was a true veteran. Each had dominated their era and stirred up winds and clouds across the Nine Provinces. Regardless of whether they originated from the Vast Heaven Alliance or the Myriad Devil Ridge, they were all allies now.

Lu Ye actually quite liked this atmosphere. Everyone worked together for a common goal, with no divisions or friction among them. Unlike in the Nine Provinces, where even members of the same faction engaged in numerous open and covert struggles. Even if there was no personal animosity between individuals from different factions, the opposing factions themselves provided sufficient reason for drawn swords.

The white-haired elder stroked his beard and smiled faintly. "Indeed, talent emerges in every generation," he said. While Lu Ye's cultivation at the ninth layer of the True Lake Realm might not be considered very high among them, who among these seniors didn't know or understand the remarkable methods Lu Ye had displayed?

Originally, for this Blood Clan encirclement, the Holy Land side actually had little confidence. The limited intelligence gathered showed that the Blood Clan's deployed forces were far greater than before. Moreover, many Blood Clan powerhouses were hidden within their army, and there were certainly a significant number of Saint Seeds among them. Clearly, the Blood Clan also knew that if they breached the Holy Land's outer defenses this time, they would have a chance to remove this "tumor" from the Divine Que Sea and eliminate this significant threat. To achieve this, the Blood Clan had put in a great effort.

This led to the Azureblood Holy Land having a very low chance of victory initially. Before Lu Ye's appearance, the venerable seniors of the Holy Land had even split into two factions. One faction advocated leading the current human cultivators out of the Divine Que Sea and finding another place to settle, planning for the future. However, this matter was too difficult and thus could not be carried out. This was, after all, the Blood Refining Realm, where the Blood Clan held sway. It was already fortunate that Feng Wujiang had discovered this area of the Divine Que Sea and established the Azureblood Holy Land years ago. There was no other Divine Que Sea in this world that could offer the Azureblood Holy Land such advantageous terrain.