Chapter 2187: Heron Wing Camp

Novel:

The new Spirit Mark of Shared Qi bore faint traces of the patterns within the Bifang. This shouldn't be a bad thing, after all, the Bifang's power was largely attributed to those wondrous patterns within its internal space.

That must have been a truly remarkable Spirit Mark.

With the new Spirit Mark formed, Lu Ye didn't call on anyone else; instead, he directly constructed it using his Dao power.

It was successfully constructed with ease. Upon activating his Dao power, the Spirit Mark became as solid as a fortress, unlike two days prior when it would collapse at the slightest impact from Dao power.

Usable!

Lu Ye was delighted. The expenditure of two thousand points of Dao power had indeed yielded results.

With the Spirit Mark issue resolved, the next step was to choose a formation.

Although the Black Tortoise Formation was good, it wasn't suitable for so many people to use together. Therefore, another formation was needed.

Lu Ye had many formations in his mind, but none were truly suitable for a hundred-person formation.

With no other option, he could only summon Wang Xun.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xun was utterly astounded by Lu Ye. "Commander wants to form a hundred-person grand formation?" What an astonishing idea! Not to mention their temporarily assembled vanguard battalion, even the foundations of the four top aristocratic families couldn't form such a grand formation.

"However, if we're talking about a hundred-person formation," Wang Xun said, "I have indeed seen one."

Coincidentally, Wang Xun had previously pursued an auxiliary study in array arts and was very interested in things like arrays and formations. While a hundred-person grand formation was rare, it didn't mean it didn't exist.

However, forming this type of formation was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

"Tell me about it."

"This formation is called the Crane Wing!" Wang Xun immediately began to elaborate.

Lu Ye listened intently, nodding continuously. Finally, he decided: "This is it. Quickly compile the essentials of this formation, transcribe them onto jade slips, and distribute them. In half a day, I want to form the array!"

Wang Xun was dumbfounded.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that Commander Lu was a bit impatient. How could he be so rash? Relying on their temporarily assembled hundred-person battalion to form a formation of this scale, let alone half a day, even half a year would be impossible.

He wanted to offer some advice, but in the end, he held back.

If they failed to form the array later, the commander would naturally realize the difficulty and retreat.

Wang Xun followed the order and compiled the essentials of the Crane Wing Formation. Jade slips were distributed one by one. A moment later, the group of cultivators in the Dao Integration realm throughout the valley were dumbfounded, completely unsure of what Lu Ye was trying to do.

Even the few cultivators who had previously joined Lu Ye in forming the Black Tortoise Formation found it hard to understand. Although Lu Ye had previously used some unknown method to easily connect their qi mechanisms, which was indeed astonishing, the truth was that the so-called Black Tortoise Formation was utterly fragile.

But since it was the commander's order, everyone naturally had to comply.

They each pondered and observed, finding nothing particularly obscure. The essence of a formation was the connection of qi mechanisms; only then could everyone unite their will, consolidating everyone's power into one force. As long as this problem could be solved, the rest would not be an issue.

Half a day later, everyone gathered together. Lu Ye stood in the center, and with his Dao power activated, he constructed the Spirit Mark using himself as the foundation.

At his command, wisps of ethereal qi mechanisms extended from all directions, connecting with the Spirit Mark.

The expressions of the people in the valley began to change subtly.

A moment later, a formation took shape. Lu Ye was at its center, with numerous cultivators dispersed throughout. As power flowed, it resembled a divine crane soaring and dancing within the valley.

Within the formation, all the cultivators' expressions became inexplicably excited, because they could clearly feel themselves merging into a vast entity, becoming a part of this whole. Their own strength became the driving force for others' actions, while the strength of others flowed back through the formation, endlessly circulating and inexhaustible.

Everyone felt their strength increase by one or two levels. With this, even cultivators who were originally at the eighth level could unleash power equivalent to roughly the tenth level.

As for those at the ninth level, they could unleash power beyond the tenth level...

Half an hour later, Lu Ye guided the formation back down to the valley and dispelled the Spirit Mark he had been maintaining.

As the formation dispersed, all the power boosts suddenly vanished. Many cultivators wore expressions of lingering enjoyment.

Sweat beaded on Lu Ye's forehead, and his entire body looked as if it had been boiled, his skin flushed red.

This was because to maintain such a formation, he had to bear all the pressure. Fortunately, his true strength was currently over thirty levels, otherwise, he truly wouldn't have been able to withstand it.

Even with his current foundation, the time he could maintain such a formation was limited. He estimated he could last at most an hour before he would likely collapse.

Furthermore, this kind of formation consumed a significant amount of his Dao power, as he had to continuously maintain the existence of the Spirit Mark, which required a constant expenditure of Dao power.

There were still some drawbacks, primarily concerning distance.

Cultivators forming the array couldn't be too far from him. If they were too far, they could easily be impacted by the forces of battle, causing their qi mechanisms to disconnect from the Spirit Mark, and thus breaking away from the formation.

In large-scale battles, once separated from the formation, one would inevitably fall into peril.

This had always been a drawback of the Spirit Mark of Shared Qi. Previously, Lu Ye hadn't forged array discs for the Moonblossom cultivators in the Myriad Manifestation Sea, not because he couldn't forge them, but because even if he did, they would be useless. This was because when Moonblossom cultivators fought, their maneuvering range was too vast. It was difficult to maintain the formation using just an array disc, unless the Moonblossom cultivators forming the array clung together tightly, but then, it would be too much of a waste of combat power and they would easily be targeted.

However, using his own body to construct the Spirit Mark yielded much better results than an array disc.

Conservatively estimated, as long as the vanguard battalion cultivators were no more than three hundred miles from him and didn't encounter overly fierce impacts, there wouldn't be any major issues.

"Commander, how are you?" Seeing Lu Ye's poor condition, Wang Xun quickly asked. Although he didn't know what Lu Ye had done to actually form the Crane Wing Formation, just by looking at him now, Wang Xun knew that the commander had endured immense pressure.

Lu Ye waved his hand, "It's nothing."

Just as he was about to tell everyone to continue resting, Lu Ye's expression suddenly shifted. He then ordered, "Assemble."

With that said, he was the first to shoot towards the sky.

At the same time, across the entire Bluewater Battle Star, streams of light flew out from different directions, converging towards a single point. From a distance, it was a magnificent sight.

Before long, Lu Ye led his troops to a certain location.

There was a temporary palace there, and Zi Ying stood before its hall, her hands clasped behind her back.

Lu Ye stepped forward, cupped his fist, and said, "Greetings, Garrison Lord."

Zi Ying nodded, "Enter the hall!"

Lu Ye accepted the order and led everyone into the grand hall. From the outside, the temporary palace didn't look large, but once inside, they realized it contained a world of its own. The interior was, astonishingly, an enormous hall.

Many cultivators had already gathered in the hall. Not long after the last major battle concluded, the Alliance Guards throughout the entire war zone were mostly concentrated at Bluewater for recuperation. This also made it convenient for Zi Ying to summon them.

Lu Ye looked around, seeing that most cultivators were gathered in small groups of three to five, appearing somewhat undisciplined. These cultivators were undoubtedly those who were currently unassigned.

In contrast, those groups that appeared orderly and disciplined must have been the garrison army stationed at Bluewater.

Finding an unoccupied spot, Lu Ye led his cultivators over and sat down to wait.

A group of over a hundred people, they showed little anxiety. Instead, their expressions were all invigorated. They had just experienced the power of the Crane Wing Formation, so they were quite looking forward to the upcoming battle.

"Commander, shouldn't our battalion have a name?" Wang Xun approached Lu Ye and asked.

"What name do you want?" Lu Ye asked while regulating his breathing.

Wang Xun chuckled, "Usually, battalions are named after their commanders. We could be called the 'Ye Character Battalion'. Later, when we make a name for ourselves, when people mention the 'Ye Character Battalion', they'll remember us."

"Not bad, not bad." Yang Mingfang chimed in, "Ye Character Battalion sounds good."

Lu Ye thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it the Crane Wing Battalion. Since we form the Crane Wing Formation, let's use that as our name."

"That works too!" Wang Xun nodded.

"Hurry up and rest. The battle is imminent, try to maintain your best condition," Lu Ye instructed. He was also somewhat anticipating how the Crane Wing Battalion would perform in the upcoming battle.

This was the first time in a long while that he was forming an array by leveraging the Spirit Mark of Shared Qi. It held extraordinary significance. If their performance this time was good enough, he might be able to research forging array discs later. Of course, forging array discs suitable for those in the Dao Integration realm would not be easy.

More and more cultivators continuously entered the temporary palace.

It wasn't until an hour later that the palace gates slammed shut. Immediately, Lu Ye felt a tremor, as if the entire palace was moving forward at an extremely high speed.

He knew that Zi Ying was piloting the palace, heading to the battlefield.

According to his original thoughts, Zi Ying intended to achieve a quick victory this time. Whatever her objective, she couldn't afford to delay for too long, as Bluewater was currently undefended.

If they were entangled for too long on the Blood Cloud Battle Star, the Blood and Insect races would certainly dispatch reinforcements.

Therefore, the battle had to conclude before enemy reinforcements arrived. Only then would their side have room to retreat.

Time passed.

Lu Ye estimated that only a little less than half a day had passed when the palace suddenly jolted again. Immediately afterwards, in the center of the palace, a massive array suddenly flared with light.

Someone shouted, "We've arrived! Everyone, pass through the array and prepare to kill the enemy!"

The speaker exuded a fierce killing intent, leading a group of cultivators to be the first to enter the array, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Seeing this, others followed suit.

The massive array was like the maw of an invisible beast, continuously swallowing and spewing forth the figures of cultivators.

Lu Ye led the Crane Wing Battalion through the array. With a blur before his eyes, he was already in space.

All around him were figures of their own cultivators. The temporary palace they had just been in was nearby.

Lu Ye's gaze swept around, and he immediately saw the valiant figure standing beside the palace: Zi Ying, with a grim and resolute expression, gazed at a crimson star in the distance.

Although it was his first time here, and his first time seeing this particular star, Lu Ye still recognized it at a glance: This must undoubtedly be the Blood Cloud Battle Star.

Zi Ying's speed in piloting the palace was very fast. From departure to arrival, it had only taken half a day. However, their journey had clearly alerted the Insect Queen's scouts. Thus, at this very moment, in front of the Blood Cloud Battle Star, a large number of enemy forces had gathered. Not only that, but vast expanses of crimson clouds stretched across, filling the entire view.

The enemy forces had clearly also prepared for battle.