Today was the last day of the fourteen days left before the invasion, and shit didn't look too damn nice.
I was flying literally all over the planet, placing as many beacons as I could. Which was definitely not good for my mental or physical health. The skies looked grim and dark. No, it was more as if the skies were muddied and dirtied like murky waters.
There seems to be something being prepared around the whole globe, and it didn't look right nor felt right. I hurried to place the final few beacons I had on me, which will finish up the full formation. Thankfully, without the beacons active, the enemy won't be able to figure out what I was doing until it's too late.
Yet sadly, I'll need a pitstop soon, I overworked Y too much, which was obviously something dumb as heck to do. And I need to do some repairs, not on his build because mere flight like this is nothing to him, but the reactor he was using had already threatened to burst in flames several times over.
I've fixed it as many times as I could, but I need to properly repair it once I'm done with this shtick.
I pulled up a small map and did my calculations, finding out that I was only missing two more spots, one in the high seas, and one at the top of a lone mountain, then my part of the job would be done and complete. The first is pretty close so I can do that right now, the second will take an hour to get to.
I sighed as we headed to the next node.
'I hope the two others had finished what I gave them'.
In fact, though I only gave them a hundred talismans each, while I took more than a thousand for myself to plant. I had Y's help to carry me all over the place while they need to actively move from spot to spot.
I just hope that they don't outright fall unconscious or unable to function after the excessive Qi expenditure of running this errand. The formation can reduce the pressure on the planet but we still need Half Ascendant power.
I threw one of the two remaining beacons on the top of a pretty damn high mountain top and then headed towards the sea where the final node needed to complete the formation.
I continued moving forward while I was making some shells and explosive canisters. I had nothing else to do before reaching the next point, so I was better off making more ammo for X, and myself.
"Master… The final node is nearby." Y said.
"Good, get me there, and rush back to the Black Tower where we left the Purple Cloud Sect, Sect Master."
"As you command," Y said.
Once I arrived at the final area and placed the node, surprisingly, this place was pretty close to the Deeps, which made me think about Wu Di, Yuzehan, and Xiao Lang. I wonder how they're doing.
I shook my head and headed back, there was no time to waste reminiscing. Though I don't dare think that they're capable of protecting their whole sect, I hope they can protect themselves and escape if shit hits the fan.
Y moved fast, and after a couple of hours I was already back at the Black Tower.
The city looked crowded with cultivators. While houses were closed, locked, and had their windows barred.
It was like everyone was preparing for a hurricane.
The ones who'll be harmed the most are mortals… which is sad.
Though it hurts my heart to imagine Lucid Springs suffering the aftermath of this war, I'm going to make sure that no one can easily lay their hands on MY town.
Once I came down, I took a few deep breaths, and walked into the tower, unbothered by the guards or any of the people at the reception, even while the whole city was in a ruckus. The tower still admitted and acknowledged my presence, and I was let inside with haste.
"Get me to the administrator," I said.
"Administrator?" asked the guard.
"The good-looking dude that's responsible over this tower," I said clearly annoyed because I need to explain myself, and because I never caught the guy's name in the first place.
"Ah lord Feng Han. Yes, please follow me," the guard said and headed towards the elevator which took us up.
Once on the top floor, I found the young man, Feng Han, sitting calmly and sipping tea from a cup as if the world invasion wasn't the least of his concerns and this whole thing was nothing but an afternoon event that he didn't care for, to watch, attend or even partake in.
"It's done," I said.
The man frowned, looked at me, and said, "What do you mean it is done?" he said.
"Your request, you said that I needed to help fix the planetary formation so you can let my sect go. Now I've done it, allow them to leave." I said.
The young man looked at men frowned and released a powerful divine sense, even more, powerful than any of the three half-step ascendants I met earlier.
How? If his divine sense is as strong as an ascendant, and even more… how come the world isn't chasing him off. How come he is still able to maintain his body in a space that doesn't allow cultivators with Saint Qi to exist within it?
I couldn't answer the question, but the look on the young man's face was pretty damn scary.
"You…you really did it? damn." He said and stood up, "And here I hoped that you'll just think of it as something impossible, and give up halfway. Now you did something really annoying," the young man said.
"MASTER! CARE!" he said and immediately I felt swords materializing all around me, while at the same time, Y's swords came in to block, yet two of the swords were too fast for Y's parry.
The swords however didn't pierce through me as they stopped a few inches away.
It seems that I entered some sort of domain. The world seemed to slow down, this was… time?
The passage of time felt pretty heavy, it was like the same thing that happens when I'm in the white space of the Lord of Lord's pagoda.
The young man sighed and said, "You're pretty lucky to have such a strong puppet. Ah, the problems you caused me, Shen Bao!"
I didn't reply, because, I wasn't supposed to reply especially when he thinks he has me in his domain and in his grasp.
"Do you know that by your meddling, the Fire King will really be annoyed now, I've tried to give you a safe exit from this clusterfuck but you went in and made this whole planet even more annoying to invade."
"You could have just accepted the transport, had you done that, the fire king will intercept the vessel and this whole place would have survived his wrath, not only would the planet and all of its people be saved, an annoying pest like you would have died. And I would have been rewarded with that puppet, but no, you went ahead and actually fixed an entire planetary formation… what should I do?" the young man started his villain monologue and didn't seem to want to stop.
He began walking in circles, with a hand under his chin.
"If I kill you, the Black Tower will start an investigation, I don't want that. If I go right now and temper with the Formation, though I can destroy a few, I'll definitely be exposed… hmm."
The young man pulled a sword from space itself and had it dangerously close to my neck, while I struggled to suppress the urge to look at him and kept my eyes focused on nothing lest he realizes I was not under his binding.
"AHHHH! Damn it! damn it! what should I do now? I already received the payment from the fire king… hold on, oh I have an idea." The man said smiling.
He then returned back to where he was before, and waved a hand, causing the swords to disappear, my ruffled clothes to return to their former statue, and even Y's massive arms disappeared back into the book.
"MASTER!" shouted Y in my ears.
"What happened? He asked.
I replied, "We entered a domain, don't use divine sense he can sense messaging."
"What are you and your puppet talking about?" the young man asked.
"He told me that he felt something strange happening. I also had a bad premonition right now," I said.
"Oh, must be the enemy preparing their offensive. Anyway, good job on the restoration of the entire planetary formation, the invasion will have a hard time. I'll send in for your sect master and rest of the sect." he said.
"Right, I'll wait for them then," I replied.
"Aren't you tired, shouldn't you take a rest, you must have worked really hard to fix the formation," he said.
"Yes, I am, but this might be the last time I see them, so might as well wait for a bit more," I said.
"Good, loyal to your sect, I appreciate it," he said in a gentle smile, hiding the most venomous sneer behind it.