Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 734 - 458 Formation

Chapter 734: Chapter 458 Formation

Sunlight sprinkled over the quiet alleyway, leaving only the sound of footsteps to echo.

Walking back to his own courtyard, Xu Yuan chatted with his younger sister Ran Qingmo, who walked silently beside him, his head bowed; inwardly, he sighed to himself.

Although his response a moment ago seemed serious, it did nothing to dispel the awkwardness between the two of them.

In hindsight, the most correct way to handle the situation would have been to just give his little sister’s head a slap and snap her out of it directly.

But none of this was his fault; if blame had to be assigned, it would lie with Xu Xinyao.

His sister, with whom he had lived for more than twenty years, suddenly displayed the demeanor of a young girl in his presence, which momentarily overloaded his brain.

What, this sister was his first love in past memories?

Xu Yuan suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Regardless, he temporarily lacked the courage to enter the courtyard where his father stayed. As for asking Lou Ji to use the Black Scale Guards to investigate the matter of the Great Desert, delaying it by a day or two wouldn’t affect the big picture. For now, it would be better to ask Xu Xinyao if she had a way to solve his cultivation issue.

A short tea time later, Xu Yuan led the silent Xu Xinyao into his own courtyard.

Of course, they didn’t enter a room but instead sat down in the pavilion next to a small pond in the courtyard.

After the farce that had just occurred and seeing his sister’s current demeanor, Xu Yuan temporarily dared not lead her into a closed space.

Inside the pavilion,

Xu Xinyao tilted her little head and stared blankly at the koi swimming in the pond, while Xu Yuan, as if talking to himself, repeated the circumstances of his encounter to her.

After that, the two fell into silence once again.

Xu Yuan looked at the young girl across from him, still with that absent-minded look of inattention, and suddenly felt hesitant.

Hesitant about whether to give his little sister a slap on the head right now.

"It’s never too late to mend," they say.

If the atmosphere between them continued to be like this, he might have to endure beatings nine times every three days.

With soft, satin-like hair cascading over her rounded, fair shoulders, Xu Xinyao suddenly shifted her gaze and spoke softly, with a tender and low voice:

"So, elder brother, are you saying that you now need a formation that can extract Yin Source from specters and Life Origin from demon crystals?"

At her words, Xu Yuan immediately nodded and whispered:

"For now, it seems I can only give it a try. Is it possible?"

Xu Xinyao’s eyes, pretty as water, slightly downturned. After a few breaths, she analyzed in a soft voice:

"To extract the Life Origin from a demon crystal... The kind of fungus mat operated by Senior Luo can do that."

As she spoke,

Xu Xinyao looked up and down at the man in front of her for a moment, slightly hesitant: "Xinyao recalls, elder brother, that you were able to control this kind of fungus mat before. If you can still do it now..."

"I should be able to," Xu Yuan contemplated briefly, "but I need to verify it. It’s just that the fungus mat in my body now..."

Hearing this, Xu Xinyao’s lovely face displayed a serene smile as she spoke softly:

"When healing your body before, those fungus mats were absorbed by Senior Luo. We should be able to borrow some from her, and as for demon crystals... the Geometry Institute has a substantial stock of them on hand."

During the occasional development of Secret Realms, they would encounter strange creatures like Yin Ghosts, so over time, the Geometry Institute’s warehouse had amassed various grades of Yin Ghost demon crystals.

Feeling the awkward atmosphere gradually dissipating, Xu Yuan let out a long breath and whispered:

"With the Life Origin solved, that leaves only the Yin Source from specters."

"Hmm..." Xu Xinyao nodded slightly, but hesitation flickered in her eyes.

Seeing the hesitation on the face of his sister from the Prime Minister’s Mansion, Xu Yuan’s heart couldn’t help but sink slightly:

"Is this matter very difficult?"

"I remember that old man Jiang He developed a grand formation that could encircle and extract the soul power from ghosts, couldn’t we make some improvements on that?"

The Geometry Institute of the Prime Minister’s Mansion has already achieved some research breakthroughs with ghosts, so extracting the Yin Source from a Yin Ghost isn’t as difficult as starting from scratch.

Xu Xinyao gently shook her head and said in a low voice,

"Extracting the Yin Source from a Yin Ghost is indeed not too difficult; the challenge lies in how to remove the violent emotions within the Yin Source, and moreover... Third Brother, if you wish to cultivate, you likely need a formation that can integrate the Yin Source with the Life Origin, right?"

Upon hearing this question, Xu Yuan was slightly stunned before hesitantly replying,

"That shouldn’t be necessary; my body can most likely directly breathe in and out these two types of energy..."

"Not quite."

Xu Xinyao interrupted Xu Yuan’s speech with a very certain tone, so certain that it was as though even Xu Yuan himself had to understand his own body: "Third Brother, your body might indeed be able to manage a bit, but if you rely on your flesh to refine and breathe in and out, then you would be distracted, which is secondary to slowing down your cultivation speed. However, if you cannot achieve a balance between Yin Source and Life Origin, it’s highly probable that you would directly succumb to devilish possession, or even fall back into your previous condition."

As she spoke,

Xu Xinyao’s gentle, watery demeanor gradually turned serious. She habitually lifted her right hand, placing her slender index finger between her red lips, lightly biting down on it as she muttered to herself,

"Moreover, Third Brother, if you wish to cultivate relying only on Yin Source and Life Origin, it likely won’t be enough. After all, when healing you before, your body also contained Origin Qi, which means, this formation must also be able to blend Origin Qi, Life Origin, and Yin Source together. Furthermore, it has to consider the stability of energy conversion and output. Using Nascent Formation Eye as it is won’t suffice; improvements must be made..."

"..."

Xu Yuan listened to his younger sister as she rambled on, able to understand the first part, but later it felt like he was listening to an arcane scripture.

Is this the way of formation arrays?

"Brother."

Suddenly, Xu Xinyao broke the silence and looked up to ask, "Where do you plan to establish this formation?"

Just as Xu Yuan was about to answer, Xu Xinyao didn’t give him the chance, bowing her head and biting down hard on her slender, pale index finger,

"Brother, you have to feign death, not leave the house, which means the formation must be built within the inner courtyard. The largest secret chamber inside should be where the Communication Crystal is housed. As for the spatial construction of such a space, the currently strongest formation material, Sumeru Iron, likely isn’t sufficient to sustain an array of such intensity. It would take too long to develop new materials from scratch, so we’ll need to request Father to open up a new space underground..."

"..."

"..."

"Zeng."

Unsure how long she had been rambling, Xu Xinyao suddenly stood up, her lake-blue ruqun billowing within the pavilion.

Xu Yuan, whose mind had already wandered far away, immediately came back to his senses at her movement:

"Xinyao, you..."

"Brother, I’m going to the Geometry Institute now to gather some top-tier Array Masters for some preliminary preparations. You just wait here for me for a few days."

Before finishing her sentence, Xu Xinyao interrupted him. Without waiting for Xu Yuan to respond, she turned around and walked out of the pavilion.

"..."

Xu Yuan was momentarily stunned; he hadn’t expected his younger sister to be so decisive when it came to work.

Her resolute and swift demeanor was quite cool.

"Pop."

A crisp sound gently rang out, and it wasn’t until Xu Xinyao came to her senses that she realized her wrist had been grabbed by her Third Brother.

Xu Yuan gave her a slight smile,

"There’s no need to rush at this very moment; I haven’t yet asked you about Ran Qingmo."

"..." Xu Xinyao.