Bai Yuhan was slightly taken aback, then gave a wry smile and sighed.
Back when she was a disciple, she had participated in the Sect Grand Tournament herself, so she knew the true weight of the duo matches.
It was a competition that gathered the chosen elites from the many prodigies, where true disciples and Direct Disciples from every peak assembled.
Three years ago, Xiao Qingxuan and Ye Luqing’s duo match—Golden Core versus Nascent Soul—had secured first place. That alone could be considered a miracle.
Back then, the pair was the strongest combination of sword cultivator plus array cultivator. If it had been a dual array cultivator team, setting aside winning the championship, the odds of even reaching the top four would be next to nothing.
But since her own disciple was so resolute, as her Shizun, Bai Yuhan could only support them.
“Senior Sister…”
Ying Qianqian was deeply moved, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked at Ye Luqing.
Seeing this, Ye Luqing smiled and gently patted Little Ying’s head. The pink strands of hair carried the fragrance of early cherry blossoms, and the texture was wonderfully pleasant to the touch.
“With your senior sister here, you can rest easy.”
The reward was only one aspect. Abandoning her adorable junior sister would go completely against her style.
“Mm.”
Ying Qianqian closed her eyes, and the tears welled up at the corners spilled down her cheeks.
In that moment, she felt as if she had finally earned the approval of the person she admired.
She pulled Ye Luqing’s hand over and pressed it against her own cheek.
“Senior Sister Ye, you’re so good to me…”
Ying Qianqian gently nuzzled her cheek against Ye Luqing’s hand, her face brimming with what could almost be called adoration.
Feeling the unusual warmth against her palm, Ye Luqing felt a sudden flutter of unease for some reason.
This should be just sisterly affection between fellow disciples… right?
Right?
Even Bai Yuhan, who was standing off to the side, looked at the two of them with a smile, muttering something like, “Ah, to be young.”
Shizun, please don’t go “ah, to be young”! If Xiao Qingxuan saw this, your precious Direct Disciple would likely be finely diced into filling!
After a moment, Bai Yuhan cleared her throat twice.
“Even though you’ll be a dual array cultivator pair, the two of you still need to decide who will take the lead attack and who will provide support.”
“Without a clear division of labor and everyone fighting on their own, your combat effectiveness will be greatly diminished.”
Whether a setup involved one attacker and one supporter or a dual-attacker formation, the person responsible for the main assault was always clearly identified.
In the case of a dual array cultivator team, it’s very easy to fall into a situation where both of them huddle inside the array and simply take a beating together.
“Little Ying, do you know any offensive formations?” Ye Luqing asked.
Right now, the only decent one she had at her disposal was the Profound Yellow Mountain-Suppressing Art. The rest were mostly for support purposes.
Ying Qianqian nodded with a hint of hesitation.
“I do know a few, but they all require a long preparation time and are large-scale arrays.”
The so-called large arrays were rigorous formations that required the integration of formation artifacts, array runes, and formation cores—none could be missing—and they needed thorough preparation in advance.
Take Ye Luqing’s Profound Yellow Mountain-Suppressing Art, for example. Strictly speaking, it didn’t count as a true formation. It was an art that used spiritual power to simulate formation artifacts and Profound Yellow True Qi to simulate a formation core.
However, if she prepared in advance, using higher-grade materials and higher-quality spiritual power, the might of the Profound Yellow Mountain-Suppressing Art could be elevated to an entirely new level.
Of course, the tradeoff was that the formation’s preparation time would also become longer.
“For example, the True Fire Cloud-Eating Formation and the Flowing Firefly Sky-Burning Formation. They are only Profound-Tier Mid-Grade formations, but once fully charged, they’re enough to crush a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.”
“But… both of these arrays take over half a shichen to prepare…”
“Even with an array cultivator allowed to bring one personal formation artifact, the time can at most be compressed to within half a shichen.”
Just as sword cultivators could bring a spirit sword and spell cultivators could carry a dharma artifact, array cultivators were allowed to bring one formation artifact.
But whether weapons or artifacts, they were all subject to restrictions. Unlike the Upper Four Realms, where fighting involved drawing upon the Power of Heaven and Earth, battles between Lower Four Realms cultivators could be heavily influenced by good equipment.
If no restrictions were placed, it would easily turn into a contest of who had more money and better protective gear, losing the original meaning of the Sect Grand Tournament.
Hearing the preparation time needed for Ying Qianqian’s arrays, Ye Luqing fell into thought for a moment.
“That really is a bit too long.”
Battles at the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages were often decided within a single ke of time.
Forget half a shichen—lasting even half a ke was considered a long fight.
Bai Yuhan nodded slightly and looked toward Ye Luqing.
“Then that only leaves Xiao-Qing to take the main attack role.”
Ye Luqing’s speed at deploying formations was extremely fast; even many Spirit Transformation stage array cultivators couldn’t match her.
And on the arena stage, a split-second reaction could determine victory or defeat.
Ye Luqing nodded. “At least I know a few offensive arrays that can be prepared quickly. I should be fine as the main attacker.”
The Profound Yellow Mountain-Suppressing Art was more than enough against Golden Core cultivators, but based on her fight with Pei Ruyi, it was already starting to strain against Nascent Soul cultivators.
Moreover, in a duo match, she’d be facing two opponents at once. With the limited Profound Yellow True Qi she could currently wield, the formation spell she cast would be hard-pressed to cover two people simultaneously.
“The Profound Yellow Mountain-Suppressing Art… I thought that decree had been lost to the ages.” Bai Yuhan said with a somewhat meaningful undertone.
Hearing that, Ye Luqing froze for a moment, her expression growing tense.
It had to be noted, when she had used this formation spell yesterday, not a single person from Azure Sky Peak had recognized it.
She had never even demonstrated it in front of Bai Yuhan, yet here her Shizun had seen right through to her foundations.
A Dao Integration Realm Dao Venerable… terrifying as expected.
“I’m not sure how I learned it either…” Ye Luqing lowered her head slightly, making full use of her amnesiac backstory.
Bai Yuhan merely patted her head and said,
“It must have been something you and Xiao Qingxuan found while out on a mission, back when you were still at the Nascent Soul stage.”
“To comprehend this Earth-Rank Formation Decree, you need to be at least at the Nascent Soul stage.”
Just like the self-created spells of Myriad Arts Peak, ordinarily a Nascent Soul cultivator could only grasp the Fourth Law. A heaven-sent prodigy might manage to learn the Fifth Law.
But if you claimed to have learned the Fifth Law at the Golden Core stage, you might as well say you are the First Emperor of the Heavenly Qin Empire—send me 50 Spirit Stones and I’ll appoint you Grand Commander of the Imperial Army.
Ye Luqing nodded with a look of pure innocence, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief.
Shizun Bai was simply too kind. She didn’t even need to make up an excuse—the woman would self-rationalize everything.
No wonder she was toyed with in the palm of Sect Master Feng Linyi’s hand and tricked into playing all sorts of… scenarios.
Oblivious to Ye Luqing’s wandering thoughts, Bai Yuhan continued:
“The power of the Profound Yellow Mountain-Suppressing Art is indeed outstanding, but with Xiao-Qing’s current cultivation level, she cannot sustain its usage.”
Ye Luqing nodded. Whether it was the extremely difficult-to-condense Profound Yellow True Qi, or the backlash from drawing upon the Earthly Sha Force that would rebound onto its user’s body, neither was something her Golden Core-stage physique could withstand.
After consuming the Profound Yellow Pill, Ye Luqing had gained a total of sixty strands of Profound Yellow True Qi in one go.
She had used ten strands during the fight against Pei Ruyi, leaving her with fifty strands.
Given her current body’s limits, she could release a maximum of ten strands at a time. Exceeding that would cause backlash, rendering her immobile just like last night.
If she staked everything on that one strike and happened to defeat the enemy with it, that would be fine. But if the opponent still had some strength left, her defeat in the match would be all but certain.
Her ten strands of Profound Yellow True Qi had been able to defeat Pei Ruyi, who was early Nascent Soul stage. But against cultivators at mid, late, or even peak Nascent Soul stage, how much of an effect it would have was hard to say.
Let alone the fact that every single true disciple and Direct Disciple had their own hidden trump cards.
Thinking that she could win the tournament, claim the reward, and complete the System task just by relying on her current grasp of the Profound Yellow Mountain-Suppressing Art… that would be nothing but wishful thinking.
At that thought, an idea flashed through Ye Luqing’s mind. She quickly pulled Ying Qianqian over and gave Bai Yuhan a deep bow.
“Shizun, please bestow upon us a technique!”
