"That formation is incredible!" Adam suddenly exclaimed with complete elation. For a formations cultivator such as himself, seeing such a formation was beyond his wildest dreams. He had the urge to speed forward and study it, but knew such a thing was impossible given the company around them.
John smiled as he saw Adam's elated expression, as his sullen mood from before seemed to have vanished. Seeing Adam smile and be his normal self was far more enjoyable than seeing his friend worry about the Starforge Clan.
John's gaze shifted back to the powerful formation between the large valley, and he quickly spotted a group of over one hundred cultivators gathered. The cultivators all wore different colored robes, and were clearly formations experts from the gathered powers of the Alliance.
They were working on a massive formation themselves, carved into the ground before the Jade Dragon Empire formation wall. The formation being created by the formations experts was also beyond anything John had ever seen before other than the Jade Dragon Empire formation.
The formation on the ground was over a mile wide, and had hundreds of thousands of parts to it. Intricate formation runes linked together to form a singular yet massive rune, although John couldn't make much sense of it.
"It's a nullification formation, only on an absolutely massive scale!" Adam exclaimed with great enthusiasm.
"Nullification Formation?" John asked, as it was the first time hearing about it.
"A nullification formation is used to nullify another formation, typically barrier formations. It interferes with the barrier formation, and creates a passageway through. However, this is only temporary, and if the barrier formation is stronger, it will eventually overwhelm the nullification formation. Based on what I'm seeing, we should have a few months to half a year at most before the nullification formation is overwhelmed and fades away."
"A few months? I'm guessing the barrier formation returns to normal at that time?" Chase asked.
"Yep. So whatever we're going to do inside, we'll need to do it within half a year at most before we need to return to the entrance here," Adam replied with confidence.
"Hopefully that's enough time," Chase replied, slightly anxious at hearing about the formation closing in on them. "Hopefully nothing happens to it during that time and traps us within."
"Nothing will," John replied with confidence to ease Chase's nerves.
"How are you so sure?" Chase asked.
"Because the Honorable Alliance cannot afford to lose us. They are sending all of their best geniuses in, and losing us all would be tantamount to the alliance being destroyed. Even powerful clans like the Starforge Clan are sending in their best disciples. It's in their best interest to ensure everything goes smoothly, and so for the next half year, I'm sure this formation will be the best guarded place in the entire alliance. Attacking it would be tantamount to suicide," John explained.
"John's right," Adam replied with confidence. "Although its not obvious to the naked eye, I can feel the slumbering might of dozens of other formations in the ground beneath us. Defensive formations and offensive formations. This place is too well guarded to attack and overwhelm without devastating casualties on the attacking side."
Hearing all that, Chase breathed out a sigh of relief. John patted Chase on the back to reassure him, while his gaze returned to the formation's experts going about their work. Just as he did so, he noticed one of the experts break apart from the others and begin to walk over towards the gathered disciples. The Elder was a middle aged man, who appeared to be in his forties or fifties. His face was sharp, and he had piercing yet slightly sunken eyes.
The Elder's robes had the image of an anvil slamming down onto a star, an image which John had already seen once before recently.
'The Starforge Clan.'
Adam noticed the Elder as well, and his previous joyful attitude vanished as panic took over. John narrowed his eyes as he watched the Elder walk over to the group of Starforge disciples, and discuss something with several of them.
Amongst those disciples stood a youth at the front. He had long silver hair and a sharp yet handsome face. His body was rather slim, but his aura was beyond anything any of the other disciples in the Starforge Clan had. His piercing eyes glanced over towards the Heavenly Lightning Sect, and locked onto Adam's, causing Adam to take an instinctive step in retreat.
'That must be Kadin,' John mused internally as he stared at the youth. Kadin noticed John's gaze, and glanced at him for a moment before looking away without a care, as if John was not even worth looking at or taking note of.
Next to the youth stood Rydan, who was explaining something to the Starforge Elder. The Elder listened for a moment before he left the group and started walking in the direction of the Heavenly Lightning Sect.
The Elder's actions caught the attention of all the other disciples, as it was the only thing of note going on at the moment. They all watched as the Elder walked to the Heavenly Lightning Sect and stopped directly before Sect Leader Thunderfist. The Elder's aura was undetectable to all the disciples, as he was clearly above the Heaven Tribulation Realm. However, with his experience with standing before World Expansion Elders such as Thunderfist, Thunderzen, and the Grand Elder, John could tell that this Elder was most likely in that realm as well.
Thunderfist, with arms crossed before his chest, glanced at the Starforge Elder who had clearly come here for a reason.
"What do you want?" Thunderfist asked, his voice not amiable at all.
The Elder glanced at Thunderfist with slightly narrowed eyes, clearly not happy at the way he was being addressed. However, he ignored Thunderfists tone as he glanced past him and pointed into the crowd of disciples.
"You're harboring an exiled traitor of my Starforge Clan," the Elder replied as he pointed directly at Adam. The Elder's words caused everyone to look at Adam, who was visibly recoiling with panic and fear at the moment.
"Is that so?" Thunderfist replied, his voice still uninterested and dismissive. "So, if he's been exiled, what does that have to do with you and your clan anymore?"
The Elder glanced back at Thunderfist, and his cold gaze locked with Thunderfists dismissive gaze.
"He was exiled with the instructions to never return to the Divine Martial Continent, or he would suffer further consequences. His traitorous self clearly ignored our generosity, and so he must be taken back to the Starforge Clan to face judgment," the Elder instructed, his voice cold.
The disciples all around Adam, as well as the disciples of the other powers all stared at Adam with mixed expressions. Adam felt like the weight of the world was pushing down on him at the moment, and nearly collapsed in fear.
However, an arm suddenly held him up, reassuring and strong. Adam glanced over to John, who smiled at him with a confident expression.
"You don't have to worry," John consoled Adam. "Thunderfist would never allow you to be taken away."
"How do you know?" Adam asked, his voice trembling slightly.
"Just watch," John replied with a smile. From what he knew of Thunderfist and Thunderzen, it was that they did what they wanted, and ignored the opinions of others. Thunderfist was a headstrong man, and he would never allow himself to be commanded by another power.
"Piss off," Thunderfists voice boomed out with great power, shocking all who heard it. The man before Thunderfist was an esteemed Elder of the Starforge Clan, who everyone knew about. They were incredibly strong, and almost no one wanted to end up on their bad side, due to both their power and status within the formation world.
"What did you say to me?" the Starforge Elder asked coldly as he glared at Thunderfist. He had never expected to be talked to in such a way, and was used to the greatest amount of respect from all who dealt with him.
"I said piss off," Thunderfist repeated firmly with his arms still crossed over his chest. "He may have once been a member of your clan, but he is now a disciple of my Heavenly Lightning Sect. As such, he is untouchable by the likes of you.. Now piss off, before I cut you down where you stand."