‘Damn it. This old man dragged us into his fight.’
Shen Ji cursed silently as he looked at Loshaar and the incoming enemies begrudgingly.
Earlier, he had thought that he would be able to make use of the old man to get rid of Aksai. That’s why he took the effort to form a cordial relationship with the seemingly senile Loshaar.
Shen Ji could never have imagined that it would be him who was bound to get used by the Lakir clan instead. He felt miserable.
Even Kau was not particularly happy with this development. Technically speaking, Cavreach City was a neutral city that welcomed all kinds of Spirit cultivators. However, the influence of the righteous sects was obviously stronger in the city at this point.
Kau and his subordinates had joined Shen Ji for their obligation to Kalingoot. They had thought that dealing with a single island owner would be easy. Kau even thought that Shen Ji was just making a mountain out of a mole.
However, both Shen Ji and Kau didn’t want to fight with the people from the righteous sects near the Cavereach City. a deadline with a single islam owner who had achieved his breakthrough in the 2nd realm was one thing. However, there were many things that could go wrong if they ended up fighting the incoming forces.
That being said, Shen Ji and Lau didn’t think they had much of a choice. The Lakir Clan’s old ancestor seemed crazy enough to turn around and attack them if they didn’t cooperate with him.
“What are you waiting for? Initiate the battle formation. Otherwise, you won’t stand a chance to survive in a battle between Foundation Building Experts,” Kau Lou yelled at the dazed subordinates on the ground.
‘Hm? Kalingoot has developed 1st-order battle formations of their own? Looks like it was a good choice to align with them for the time being,’ Loshaar Lakir thought to himself as he heard the voices behind him. However, he chose to fixate his eyes on the incoming enemies instead.
***
A battle formation was much like a regular array formation except it used Spirit cultivators as its nodes and array eyes. It had various styles that could be broadly classified into four types: defensive, offensive, support, and hybrid.
These battle formations were mainly used by the big sects and influential cultivation families. For example, all the inner sect disciples of the Purple River Sect were proficient in using the Purple Haze Formation. This formation enabled them to use their collective Spirit essence to launch a formidable fire-element attack on their enemies.
The Purple Haze Formation was simple to execute and allowed for much-needed flexibility. It enabled the sect members to take advantage of their numbers to gain an edge over their opponents. Other sects also had their signature battle formations.
A strong battle formation allowed a group of Spirit cultivators to challenge and overcome opponents stronger than them. They increased the group’s attacking and defensive capabilities as a whole, preventing them from being killed by their opponents randomly.
The presence of a battle formation meant that one could not casually attack the cultivators involved in the formation individually. Depending on an individual’s cultivation base, they might face severe consequences if they tried to attack any of the rankers carelessly.
A battle formation was a way for low-level Spirit cultivators to pose a threat to a Spirit cultivator above them in terms of cultivation base. For example, ten Spirit Refining Perfectionists attacking a Foundation Building Expert simultaneously would typically result in the latter having the upper hand.
However, if those ten Spirit Refining Perfectionists used a battle formation to stack their defense and offense, they had considerably higher chances of defeating the Foundation Building Expert. This was the might of the battle formation, which couldn’t be underestimated.
Of course, if the one facing the ten Spirit Refining Perfectionists turned out to be a late-stage Foundation Building Expert or a Core Formation Lord, even the strength of their unity through a battle formation would not necessarily ensure their win or even survival. Against overwhelming might, the strength of unity could be a mere parlor trick.
That being said, battle formations had their own advantages. They could be employed in various ways depending on external factors and the practitioners’ needs.
Some battle formations allowed users to trap someone, while others enabled them to erect an elemental barrier strong enough to defend against an attack from a realm above their own. Some formations could create phantom illusions to confuse enemies, while others increased individual agility to the next level.
Some battle formations could be executed at a moment’s notice using various external tools like array disks and formation flags. Others employed a direct approach, requiring the Spirit cultivators involved in the formation to sync their breaths and Spirit spells.
Of course, the complexities of a battle formation increased with its power. For example, a 1st-order battle formation was easy to create and execute. It didn’t involve complex mantras and hand signs. The need for mantras and hand signs could be eliminated entirely using the right kind of tantra suitable for the particular formation as well.
The 1st-order battle formations could be used by late-stage Spirit Refiners to unleash collective might comparable to a Foundation Building Expert. These battle formations didn’t have many requirements regarding the peculiarities of the Spirit cultivators involved.
Elemental affinities, the layer of their cultivation base in the late-stage Spirit Refining, their talent, and Spirit Sense capabilities—all of these didn’t matter much for 1st-order battle formations.
However, from 2nd-order battle formations onwards, the level of difficulty in execution increased exponentially. These formations could only be used by Foundation Building Experts to stand on equal footing with a Core Formation Lord.
The difference in the might of a late-stage Foundation Building Expert and early-stage Core Formation Lord was like the difference between the day and night or earth and the sky.
As such, the 2nd-order battle formations that were supposed to rival the might of the 3rd realm needed to be executed with even more stringent requirements.