Mortal Mage

Zhang Mingxuan learned from He Yiping that the immortal-grade foundation-building pill requires a Mahayana-level alchemist to refine, and it is extremely difficult to make the pill.

Chen Feng is a sword cultivator, and his cultivation level is only at the fusion stage. It is absolutely impossible for him to refine the immortal-grade foundation-building pill.

He knew nothing about what happened on Luyang Continent.

He sat cross-legged on the bluestone, holding the jade slip of "Essence of Runes" in his hand, and checking the slip with his spiritual consciousness.

"If you don't know a little bit of math, you really can't figure it out."

"The internal structure of these runes is extremely similar to the teleportation array."

He used his spiritual consciousness to check the jade slip and muttered to himself.

There were many runes of strange shapes floating in the jade slip.

After carefully examining a rune, he probed his spiritual consciousness into the interior of the rune.

Inside the rune, thread-like spiritual energy veins are faintly visible.

He could vaguely make out the spiritual energy veins within the runes, but the outlines of these veins were very blurry.

"Ugh."

He sighed lightly and thought: My cultivation is still too low and I can't see clearly. Although I can see the internal structure of the runes, the underlying spiritual logic is too vague.

Since the Xuan-grade runes are not clear, let’s first understand the Huang-grade runes.

Thinking of this, his consciousness shuttled through the jade slip and retreated.

Rows of runes flew away from his sight at a rapid speed, and in a flash, they stopped at a page with a huge "yellow" character.

His spiritual consciousness probed into the word "yellow", and the word "yellow" gradually became larger.

This yellow word is composed of thousands of various runes.

Dense runes flew past his eyes, and his gaze, controlled by his spiritual sense, stopped on a rune with coiled snakes.

He was deeply impressed by this rune. It cannot be said to be exactly the same as the one under the dragon throne of the Taicang Empire, but it can be said to be indistinguishable.

He remembered that this rune was used as the eye of the Taihe City defense formation.

Since it is a rune used in the city defense formation, the lowest level should be Xuan grade.

Why is this rune classified as yellow grade?

With doubt, he probed into the rune with his spiritual sense.

The rune suddenly unfolded, and a line of instructions immediately appeared next to it:

"Vajra Body Protection Rune"

"The five elements belong to metal, which is responsible for defense"

"It can be used to draw a talisman to protect the body, to strengthen the body and avoid external injuries."

"To draw it, one needs to have 'gold' in one's spiritual root, and use a mixture of diamond sand and the blood of a gold-attributed monster as a guide."

"If the rune's spiritual power structure deviates by more than 60%, the rune will be useless."

"A protective amulet? Isn't it the core of the city defense formation?"

Zhang Mingxuan frowned, feeling something was wrong.

Could it be that the records in this "Essence of Runes" are wrong?

After taking another look at the signature on the jade slip, he had already made a conclusion in his mind.

Although the number of people who compiled this jade slip is listed as hundreds, the one with the highest cultivation level is only a cultivator in the fusion stage named Bu Qingyu.

As for the remaining hundred people, except for one rune master in the out-of-body stage and one in the spirit separation stage, most of the compilers have cultivation levels within the Jindan stage.

Based on his understanding of the academic circle, this book "Essentials of Runes" was most likely compiled by Old Deng named Bu Qingyu in order to gain some "academic achievements" for the sect. He tricked a group of his disciples into helping to compile it. In fact, he might have just signed his name on it.

If it weren't for the profit motive, she didn't believe these old freaks could sit down and publish a book peacefully.

In his opinion, "The Essentials of Runes" only classifies the difficulty of drawing runes, not the power of runes.

Although this rune is of upper yellow grade, with his current level of cultivation, he can only draw lower yellow grade runes.

However, according to the records in the jade slip, the lower-grade yellow runes correspond to the cultivation level of the early stage of the golden elixir at most.

It’s not that he can’t draw it, but its maximum power can fight against the Jindan stage.

But he can use the lower grade yellow runes to combine the "Fire Escape Formation" to fight against the late Jindan stage.

Thinking of this, a look of joy appeared in Zhang Mingxuan's eyes.

His twelve spiritual roots naturally include the golden spiritual root.

He put the jade slip back into his ring, raised his eyelids and looked around.

The place is surrounded by cliffs on three sides and a pool of water in the middle.

Further away, three dangerous peaks are intricately hidden.

Even if you fly over here on a sword, it is difficult to attract attention.

Set up a "Sect Protection Formation" here.

Zhang Mingxuan jumped off the bluestone with a look of joy on his face.

Of course, the term "Sect Protection Formation" was something he came up with on the spur of the moment.

He planned to replace several main runes of Zhoucheng's defense formation with this "Vajra Body Protection Rune".

He has figured out the internal logic of the runes and can be sure that the yellow-level runes can completely replace the main runes of Zhoucheng's defense formation.

After all, the important runes used in the city defense formation were all of the top grade Xuan level, and he could not set them up.

He took out thousands of spirit stones from the ring and piled them beside the pond. He picked them up and began to pace around.

The sect protection formation is completely different from the fire escape formation he had set up before.

The Fire Escape Formation is no bigger than a room. If you are willing to put in some effort, you can complete it in three to five hours.

But if you want to cover the entire dangerous peak under your feet...

After roughly estimating the workload in my mind, I came up with a vague timeline: it would take at least three months.

With his Qi Refining Stage cultivation level, it would save him a lot of trouble if he could set up a defensive formation.

Hao Fen only has seventh-level demonic power, but he can only use illusion to defend himself. He does not master any magic skills and has no means to kill people.

He couldn't keep Hao Fen by his side all day long.

What's more, the fox demon needs his help to find out about the foundation-building pill.

While thinking, he was referring to the structure of Zhoucheng's defensive formation in his mind, placing medium-grade spirit stones around him, preparing for the next step of sorting out the spiritual power.

Seeing Zhang Mingxuan walking around with the spirit stones in his hand, Huo Xian guessed that he was going to set up a formation. She put away her guqin, grabbed a handful of spirit stones, and followed Zhang Mingxuan, her voice charming:

"Master, what kind of formation are you going to set up?"

"You're so smart, guess what."

Zhang Mingxuan looked around at the bluestone cliffs, trying to find where the spirit stone fell.

"My master often tells me how great it would be if I were the leader of a sect. I could recruit a group of disciples to help me find elixirs and herbs, explore the world, and gather intelligence. If I could cultivate disciples with great cultivation, they could also help me find natural treasures and maintain world peace."

"So, I guess the owner thinks this place is quite secretive and wants to use it as a base for the time being and develop gradually."

"But Master, with your level of cultivation... I'm afraid you can't set up a fire escape formation that can cover the entire mountain."

After saying this, Hao Xian sneered charmingly:

"Hehe, Master has been sitting for two days. I guess Master, it's not true..."

Her eyes trembled, as if she had thought of something unbelievable. The jade hand holding the spirit stone oozed a trace of sweat. The flower fragrance under her lips became heavy, and her pleasant voice gradually became louder:

"Master, you? Can you, with your Qi Refining Stage cultivation, set up a formation that covers the entire dangerous peak?"