Yu Ke’wei lowered her head with a hint of guilt upon hearing Yang Hong’s question.
“I’m sorry, Master. Ke’wei couldn’t find any alchemy techniques. No demon in this sea region knows alchemy.
It is said that the closest island with elixirs for sale is Qingmu Island, thirty million li away.”
“Hiss, thirty million li?”
Yang Hong was stunned.
That was enough to travel to the moon and back several times from Earth.
“Yes, Yuliu Island is in a rather desolate area of the Myriad Demon Archipelago. The spiritual energy is not very abundant, and there isn’t a Rank Seven Demon Lord guarding it, so demons who know alchemy won’t come here.
Fortunately, we are close to the outer regions of the Myriad Demon Archipelago, where there are islands with human settlements.
Qingmu Island is a human island.”
“I see.”
Yang Hong nodded in understanding.
“Master, if we truly want to acquire alchemy inheritances, the best option would be Yubang Island, two hundred sixty-two million li away.
The alchemy inheritances there are suitable for our demon race,
and the lowest grade of alchemy inheritance there is Rank Four, which is far superior to the low-grade human alchemy techniques.”
“Hmm, that seems right.”
Yang Hong was taken aback for a moment, then he understood.
Demons, upon transforming, are already Rank Four, possessing intelligence comparable to ordinary humans.
At this stage, Rank One to Three elixirs are basically useless to them.
By the time demons master alchemy, they would be at least Rank Five, or late Rank Four,
and would even less care for Rank One to Three elixirs.
This is why demons only research alchemy starting from Rank Four, making alchemists among them extremely rare.
Yu Ke’wei was not wrong, as any elixir useful to her would be at least Rank Six.
However, she overlooked one thing:
Yang Hong was human.
“Heh heh, Ke’wei, give me the jade slips you’ve collected over the past two years.”
“Alright, here you go.
This includes 624 jade slips for formations and 2,157 jade slips for cultivation techniques.
I have basically harvested all the cultivation techniques of the demons within 60,000 li.”
Yu Ke’wei handed Yang Hong a storage bag and said proudly.
She held her head high, with an expression that clearly said, “Praise me quickly.”
“Ke’wei is amazing.”
Yang Hong reached out and rubbed Yu Ke’wei’s head, praising her with a smile.
This Yu Ke’wei, having just cried, had become a bit more sensitive.
“Master, I want to study formations with you and go out again next year.
Can I?”
“No problem. I’ll also use the灌顶 (guàn dǐng) technique to help stabilize your cultivation.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Yu Ke’wei smiled so happily.
To her, Yang Hong’s 灌顶 was the best reward, much like an infant craving mother’s milk.
Yang Hong, on the other hand, felt Yu Ke’wei’s mana was a bit unstable after his own cultivation increased, which prompted him to think of helping her.
As for Yu Ke’wei only collecting 2,157 cultivation techniques this time, he was not surprised.
Two years ago, when King Golden Peng descended, Yu Ke’wei had already given him over 4,000 jade slips.
Being able to collect another 2,157 cultivation techniques, as she said, meant she had thoroughly harvested the area.
…
Yu Ke’wei stayed on Yuliu Island for another half year before leaving again, this time on a mission.
Her target was Qingmu Island, thirty million li away, with the primary objective being human alchemy techniques.
Yang Hong’s specialty was planting spiritual herbs, and the most effective way to utilize them was naturally alchemy.
As for the low grade of human alchemy techniques, it didn’t matter; he could find higher-grade ones later.
He would lay a solid foundation first.
Just as Yang Hong had expected, even after studying all 624 formation jade slips, his level in formations was still stuck at Rank Three.
He could only set up existing, learned formations. Although he could constantly stack and combine them,
he could not modify or innovate formations.
Modifying existing formations or creating new ones was the hallmark of becoming a Rank Four formation master.
Since he couldn’t improve his formation level, Yang Hong could only focus on combining formations.
He attempted to combine the Rank Three 【Spiritual Gathering Formation】 into a 【Wood Water Concealment Formation】, but the effect was not as good as simply stacking wood and water formations.
However, when the Spiritual Gathering Formation was used to form an offensive formation, the 【Green Wood Arrow Rain Formation】, it was three times stronger than simply stacking the Green Wood Arrow Rain Formation.
There were many possibilities in combining and stacking, which were not inferior to Rank Four or even Rank Five formations.
While Yang Hong was experimenting with formations, a group of uninvited guests arrived at Yuliu Island.
A massive sea vessel, three hundred zhang long and fifty zhang wide, stopped in the sea area outside Yuliu Island.
“Boss Lei Hu, are you sure there’s an island here?”
On the deck of the sea vessel, a group of demons looked at the empty sea and then at the sea chart in their hands, confused about where the mistake had occurred.
“There should be. My sea chart was updated only ten years ago; there shouldn’t be any errors.”
A burly man, standing two zhang tall, looked at the sea chart in his hand and then at the empty sea, speaking with a hint of uncertainty.
“Boss Lei Hu, could it be that Yuliu Island was sunk by Old Ancestor Golden Peng’s slap?”
A demon, about five feet tall with a rat-like face, asked shrilly.
“That’s unlikely. Yuliu Island is the territory of King Lei Peng. Even if Old Ancestor Golden Peng took King Lei Peng away, there’s no reason to sink an island.
After all, those demons could become King Lei Peng’s future subordinates and strengthen his power.”
“Then, it must have been hidden by a formation.”
A demon with a goatee and a goat-like face said in a deep voice.
“If that’s the case, then it’s simple.
Everyone, unleash your spells at the void in front of you.”
The two-zhang-tall Lei Hu put away his sea chart and said.
Then, he spread his legs, placed his hands on his waist, and opened his mouth towards the sea.
The dozen or so demons beside him tacitly stepped back a few paces and covered their ears.
“Roar!”
A loud howl echoed far into the distance, stirring up geysers of water,
and also waking up Yang Hong on Yuliu Island.
However, the water columns only lasted for less than two li.
“Haha, as expected, it’s a formation. If there’s a formation, there must be something good on Yuliu Island.
Everyone, put in more effort and break this formation.”
Seeing that the water columns were so short-ranged, Lei Hu burst into laughter with joy.
He had seen Old Ancestor Golden Peng arrive and then leave, and he guessed that something had happened on Yuliu Island. That was why he had traveled tens of thousands of li from Tiger Roar Island, 300,000 li away.
He intended to take advantage of the situation, to plunder Yuliu Island’s resources while King Lei Peng was away.
“Haha, Boss Lei Hu’s calculations are indeed brilliant! There must be a large amount of resources on Yuliu Island, we’re rich!”
“Yes, Yuliu Island originally only had two Rank Six Demon Kings. Now that King Lei Peng is gone, it’s fine even if we kill that ugly horse.”
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
“Let’s go! We have 12 Rank Six Demon Kings, let’s seize Yuliu Island.”
Upon receiving Lei Hu’s command, the group of demons rushed out swiftly.
“Rumble… Bang bang bang…”
Many demons even directly broke into the formation and began attacking indiscriminately.
Yang Hong on Yuliu Island was also stunned to see so many Rank Six Demon Kings.
“Twelve Rank Six Demon Kings?
Where did they come from? Wasn’t it said that there were only seven Rank Six Demon Kings ruling the Giant Salamander Sea Region?”
Despite his confusion, Yang Hong immediately entered Yuliu City and activated the city protection formation.
After all, safety first.
“Heh heh, just keep attacking. It’s a good opportunity for me to test the effect of the re-combined formations.”
With that thought, Yang Hong began to activate the 【Origin Transformation Formation】 he had spent the past year researching.
The 【Origin Transformation Formation】, distributed across the entire Yuliu Island, activated simultaneously. The attacks from the twelve demons outside were absorbed almost instantly.
These powerful energies were directly transmitted to the center of the combined formation, and dense spiritual energy was continuously converted.
The spiritual energy concentration on Yuliu Island slowly increased.
“Excellent! My hypothesis is completely viable.
The next step is to continuously attract these Rank Six demons to attack. Such strong laborers are rare!”