With an example set, all sorts of Memory Stones were brought to Joe Di. After an hour, Joe Di helplessly packed up his stall.
Aside from the first incomplete Soul Tempering Memory Stone he received, he hadn't gotten a single valuable Memory Stone in the entire hour.
He collected a pile of body refinement Memory Stones, but none caught his eye. Most of them were techniques he could write himself—utter garbage.
As for Memory Stones containing spell techniques, Joe Di had seen many before, but none impressed him.
This was understandable. Good spell techniques were a cultivator's lifeline—unless, like that Foundation cultivator, they were desperate to break into the Golden Core realm. Besides, the Soul Tempering Memory Stone he offered wasn't even a spell technique. Otherwise, nobody would bring out their most treasured spell technique Memory Stones.
"Leo Li from Evernight Continent greets you, fellow cultivator. May I ask your name?" As Joe Di packed up, the Nascent Soul, Second Level cultivator approached and greeted him with a cupped fist.
During his time at the stall, this Nascent Soul, Second Level cultivator hadn't organized attacks on the ancient sect formation or stopped Joe Di from setting up, which left Joe Di with a good impression. He returned the gesture, saying, "Joe Di, rogue cultivator from Aurora Continent."
"I've seen that your understanding of formation techniques is remarkable, Joe Di. Would you be willing to join us in attacking this ancient sect's defensive formation? If you're willing, I would gladly give up my command and let you lead us in the assault." Leo Li spoke warmly and courteously.
Joe Di understood that Leo Li had noticed his skill in formation techniques and sought his help.
In fact, he had planned to check out the ancient sect himself, but he hadn't intended to take charge of the operation.
If it had been before, Joe Di might have taken the lead. But the more he learned, the more he understood the terror of these ancient sects.
Just because the ancient sect in the Skyveil ruins has been gone for who knows how long, doesn't mean there's no one left. The vast cosmos holds countless planes and worlds—who's to say a powerful cultivator from this sect didn't escape?
Destroying a sect's protective formation is a grave enmity. Simon Qi from Qi Trading House dared to attack the Starstream School's formation because he didn't care about Starstream School, even planning to wipe them out. He hadn't expected a Nascent Soul cultivator to appear, and ended up losing an arm in the siege.
In fact, it's not over. If Starstream School produces a top-tier expert, they won't let Qi Trading House off. Likewise, if Qi Trading House's experts return, they'll take the chance to destroy Starstream School completely.
So it's fine to get rich or help out, but taking the lead is out of the question.
"Leo Li, I admire your previous arrangements as much as the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers. I only know a little about formation techniques. If you don't mind, I'd prefer you continue leading this attack and I'll assist, maybe by deploying some formation flags." Joe Di said with a smile.
"Joe Di, your cultivation is the highest..."
Before Leo Li could finish, Joe Di waved his hand and said, "Leo Li, we didn't know each other before, so I tricked you. Now that we're friends, I'll be honest—my cultivation is lower than yours."
Leo Li actually didn't want to lead, but as the highest cultivation here, he couldn't refuse. Now that Joe Di claimed his cultivation was lower, Leo Li had no choice. He didn't doubt Joe Di's word—Joe Di looked very young, and in today's resource-poor cultivation world, reaching Nascent Soul before a hundred is extremely difficult. As for Joe Di's mention of the Void Spirit Stage, Leo Li didn't take it seriously.
"In that case, I won't stand on ceremony." After speaking, Leo Li cupped his fist to the crowd and said, "Fellow cultivators, this ancient sect has been here for who knows how long. I estimate it will take months to break its protective formation. Now that Joe Di is an expert in formation techniques, he'll join me in breaking the formation. Everyone, follow Joe Di's formation flags with your attacks."
Hearing Leo Li's words, nearly all the cultivators responded in unison.
Joe Di could only sigh inwardly. He wanted to enter the ancient sect for its benefits, so he let Leo Li say what he pleased.
"Joe Di, can we start now?" After speaking, Leo Li turned to Joe Di.
Joe Di cupped his fist. "This defensive formation is at least a ninth-level formation. Let me observe it first, then I'll act."
"Alright, we'll follow your lead, Joe Di." Leo Li didn't hesitate to hand over the responsibility to Joe Di.
These old foxes really are clever, Joe Di thought. No matter what, at most he'd be an accomplice. Standing before the defensive formation, Joe Di extended his divine sense, probing the various formation bases and cores of the ninth-level formation.
Most of those who could enter the Skyveil were elites, aside from a handful. As Joe Di studied the formation with his eyes closed, no one rushed him. Everyone waited quietly, some even began to cultivate.
Everyone understood that, despite their numbers, the strongest among them was only at the early Nascent Soul stage. Facing a sect's ninth-level defensive formation, without an expert in formation techniques, even a year of continuous assault might not break it.
The opening time of the Skyveil was unpredictable—the longest lasted nearly three years, but the shortest was less than a year.
If it took a year to break the formation, the Skyveil might close before they even succeeded.
So when Joe Di spent time studying the formation, no one said a word.
After just a few days, Joe Di opened his eyes and stood up.
"Brother Di, any progress?" Leo Li had been watching Joe Di closely, and as soon as he stood up, Leo hurried over to ask.
Joe Di nodded. "It's ready. Everyone, attack where I place the formation flags."
Leo Li immediately stepped forward and shouted, "Wherever you see Joe Di's formation flags land, attack that spot!"
Joe Di grabbed a handful of formation flags and called out Sprout.
"You actually have such a tree spirit companion—truly fortunate!" Seeing Sprout appear, Leo Li couldn't help but praise Joe Di.
Joe Di didn't reply and immediately tossed out the first formation flag. He'd called Sprout out just so that when the formation was broken, Sprout could snatch things too. By revealing Sprout now, everyone knew Sprout was his, or else someone might try to seize him.
"Go!" As Joe Di threw out the first formation flag, Leo Li was the first to unleash his magic treasure and shouted.
As Leo Li's magic treasure struck, thousands of treasures followed, everyone attacking the formation with full force. Even those who held back only kept their deadliest moves in reserve.
As Joe Di threw out formation flag after formation flag, waves of attacks followed. The assault was so intense, it felt as if even the space itself was shaking.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The relentless barrage struck the outside of the formation, the points of impact constantly shifting.
Joe Di could clearly sense that the formation was still repairing itself—after every attack, part of it would recover.
This made Joe Di's heart burn with excitement. It could only mean one thing: there were spirit veins buried beneath the formation.
Spirit veins were far superior to spirit stones for cultivation. Joe Di grew even more eager to obtain such a top-tier spirit vein.
On the twenty-first day, a cracking sound echoed, and everyone attacking paused in excitement.
The hardest part of attacking a self-repairing sect formation was the initial stage. Once a formation base was breached, the rest would soon follow.
As the first formation base was broken, Joe Di was suddenly struck by inspiration. Countless details about formations fused in his mind, forming an entirely new understanding. Concepts that had been vague suddenly became clear.
Normally, after breaching the first formation base, everyone would press the attack as quickly as possible.
But now, as Joe Di entered a state of enlightenment about formations, the attacks abruptly stopped without anyone to lead them.
"He's having an epiphany..." Seeing that Joe Di had stopped moving, someone realized he was in a state of enlightenment.
Many looked at Joe Di with envy, though some were dissatisfied. "We've spent nearly a month attacking, and just as we're about to break the formation, he stops? Isn't that wasting all our previous effort?"
Actually, that wasn't entirely wrong. The ninth-level sect formation could self-repair, and with Joe Di in enlightenment, if enough time passed, the formation would be restored to its original strength. They could break it again, but it would waste a lot more time.
"Are you saying that without Brother Di, you could break this formation in a month?" A mid-stage Golden Core cultivator couldn't stand the complainer's attitude.
Leo Li waved his hand and said, "Let's wait for Joe Di to finish his enlightenment. Without him, we probably couldn't break this formation even in a few more months."
Just then, Joe Di opened his eyes and cupped his fist to Leo Li and the Golden Core cultivator who had spoken for him. "Thank you all for not disturbing me during my enlightenment. Now we can continue attacking the formation."
He felt very pleased—after more than twenty days of leading the attack on the ninth-level formation, at the moment the first formation base was broken, he had advanced to the rank of Seventh-Level King Formation Master.
(First update delivered. Please subscribe and support! The initial subscriptions just passed ten thousand, and while later ones were fewer and didn't reach the hoped-for twenty thousand, I'm still very satisfied. Thank you again to all fellow readers who subscribed to The Ninth Sovereign. Four updates today—thank you, thank you! Regarding the update schedule, I'll clarify in the book's tail end during the fourth update tomorrow night.)