Ou Yangming exhaled deeply and looked at the small formation board in front of him. A complicated yet indescribable look flickered in his eyes.

The runes that were carved on the formation board were not what he saw from the books; they came from the depths of his sea of consciousness and were what he vaguely sensed with the help of a mysterious power.

As he tried to distinguish the runes, he had a stronger feeling that they were very familiar. Needless to say, if he was not familiar with them, he could not have refined them.

After a long time, Ou Yangming's eyes lit up because he understood where the runes came from.

Big Yellow!

The fellow's natural gift comprised earth-series defensive techniques, and Ou Yangming even apprehended the first Equipment Skill from it. Therefore, this Skill Rune gave him the deepest impression. This time, the formation maps that the young fellow read about in the library were actually from a complete system. They helped him progress from a muddled state to actually learning about the system seriously.

Although Ou Yangming was reading about Illusion Formations, he was well-experienced, hence he could learn by analogy. As such, the young fellow combined and enhanced his understanding of defensive skills and naturally made the Defensive Formation Board.

Ou Yangming became extremely curious when he stared at the formation board.

He was convinced that the formation board could be used but because he could not make a comparison, he did not know how powerful it truly was.

Perhaps the formation board was mighty enough to block a Venerable One… 'Mm, I shouldn't have such wishful thinking.'

Ou Yangming was confident, but he also understood that given his state at the moment, he could not refine a formation board that could resist a Venerable One's attacks. Especially for a powerhouse like the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One, a strike from its paw could almost overturn seas and rivers. In that case, this small Earthly Defensive Formation Board was not worth mentioning at all.

Nonetheless, Ou Yangming had not refined the Defensive Formation Board to use it against Venerable Ones. As long as it could defend attacks from Spiritualists, it would be worthy enough.

Moreover, when Ou Yangming somehow apprehended the formation board's runes, he had a stronger feeling about something else.

It was a Linkage Method, which was the usage of a secret technique to connect more formation board powers with the same property and mightiness to form a superb big formation board.

Ou Yangming had not learned the method before, but related contents about it automatically appeared to him when he learned about formation maps. Of course, he had not learned this by analogy; it came from the Phoenixes' unique spiritual world.

It seemed like his abilities and knowledge had reached a certain stage, thus a certain light spot in the spiritual world was unsealed, and the memory was then passed on to him.

Ou Yangming was not a phoenix, but he received corresponding benefits after he possessed the spiritual world that was unique to the Phoenixes.

All of a sudden, he was struck with a thought. 'A mere formation board's defensive ability isn't much, but if a formation board's defense could reach a certain level, what will happen when 100 or 1,000 of them are linked?'

One could easily break a chopstick, but if there were 10 or 20 chopsticks, breaking them would be beyond an ordinary person's limit.

A formation board could not defend against a Venerable One's attacks, but if there were 100 or 1,000 of them, where the total number of formation boards changed substantially, how would the situation change?

Ou Yangming's heart throbbed, and he even began to breathe faster.

When he returned to the Beast King Sect this time, he decided to smith a Thunderbolt-resistant Suit for Multi-armed King Kong so that it could prepare to face the Heavenly Thunderbolts during its advancement into a Venerable One. Nevertheless, in the Spiritual Realm, even the young fellow dared not guarantee that the suit could definitely withstand the rolling Heavenly Thunderbolts.

After all, they were in the Spiritual Realm, not the lower realm that lacked resources and spiritual power.

The Heavenly Thunderbolts in this realm were surely mightier than that of the lower realm, so Ou Yangming could not guarantee that his Thunderbolt-resistant Suit would yield the expected effects.

This was why instead of smithing the equipment right away, he entered the library first as he wanted to find some inspirations and workarounds from formation maps.

The Beast King Sect had many book collections, but Ou Yangming had stayed in the library for a long time and read almost all of the books about smithing art, so it would be hard for him to learn anything else that would be beneficial. On the other hand, the young fellow might be able to gain new thoughts and ideas from reading about formation maps, which were closely related to smithing art.

Sure enough, he gained a new inspiration.

Even though the inspiration came from his accumulated knowledge and the Phoenixes' spiritual world, without studying and deriving formation maps, he could not have been inspired.

At the very least, he could not have refined the Earthly Formation Board nor could he learn about the Linkage Method from the spiritual world.

Ou Yangming got up out of the blue as he thought about the most suitable candidate.

When he left his room and looked at Multi-armed King Kong's magnanimous body from afar, he felt rather regretful.

Multi-armed King Kong could not use force anymore for the time being; each time it used its powers, it would weaken the secret oppressive technique that was attached to it by the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One.

This was why it could not test the Earthly Formation Board.

Even so, this was only temporary. Once Multi-armed King Kong withstood the Heavenly Thunderbolts Disaster, it would become a Venerable One.

While the king kong could not become as fearsome as the 10,000 Beasts Venerable One so quickly, Ou Yangming would still be up in the clouds.

Ou Yangming shook his head and curbed his thought. He retrieved his flying carpet and got onto it, then he flew toward another mountain. Multi-armed King Kong and the others were sensible enough to not disturb the young fellow when they noticed from afar that he was in a hurry. The only thing was that the goshawk and Big Yellow could not help but look enviously at the king kong.

"King Kong, you're so blessed. Lil' Ming has never worked so hard for me before," Big Yellow remarked enviously. It paused for a while before it added, "You mustn't let him down."

The goshawk shrieked on the side, but it dared not be as straightforward as Big Yellow because it knew its position in Ou Yangming's heart could not be mentioned on equal terms with that of the 2 other spirit beasts. Despite that, as long as it followed them closely, it believed that the young fellow would not stint on helping it if it had the opportunity to become a Venerable One in the future.

Multi-armed King Kong shook its massive body. It looked into the distance where Ou Yangming left.

It uttered, "I won't let Master down."

Far behind them, Wu Yuanwei and Hong Feiyu looked at each other. They had also found out through a certain channel that Ou Yangming was bustling about.

This was the exact reason they were in disbelief.

If Multi-armed King Kong could really become a Venerable One, would it not mean that Ou Yangming would have a Venerable-One-level pet beast?

In any case, they must not be blamed for not having the ability to imagine; the world should be blamed for being such a mad place.

※※※※

Ou Yangming rode his flying carpet not because it was more eye-catching, but because it could save him a lot of trouble.

It was true that he was well-known in the Beast King Sect, but only a limited number of people had seen him in person. Other than the people at the library, where he always showed up, he would still be stopped by other people that did not recognize him.

In particular, forbidden areas of places where the higher-ups resided would be more strictly guarded.

If Ou Yangming sat on his flying carpet to openly go to places, even the people that did not recognize him knew where the flying carpet came from. As dumb as a person was, one would not stop him to question him at all.

To avoid unnecessary troubles, Ou Yangming could only show off.

As at this moment, when he landed on this peak, someone approached him from far to welcome him.

"Haha, Master Ou, why are you free to come here?" Mao Jianbi laughed as he walked over to the young fellow, but he was feeling rather puzzled.

He was cultivating on his own when his servant reported to him that Ou Yangming was riding his flying carpet to his peak. The great elder immediately went outside to welcome the young fellow, but he could not understand why the fellow had come to visit him.

Ou Yangming grinned and cut to the chase. "Great Elder Mao, I have a favor to ask of you."

Mao Jianbi raised his eyebrows and replied to him at once, "Alright, what is it? As long as you give me the order, I'll do it for you." He agreed to help the young fellow without asking what it was about.

The servants and guards in the distance dared not get close to them, but they could hear their conversation, hence they exchanged glances and wondered why the Beast King Sect's great elder acted so rashly. Ou Yangming might be the Phoenixes' messenger, but the great elder could not fawn over him regardless of his image, could he?

Having said that, due to the statuses of the servants and guards, they were not aware that Ou Yangming was helping in the refinement of Eternal Pills, and they knew nothing about him attaching a Self-recovery attribute to a piece of equipment. If not, they would understand Mao Jianbi's choice.

Ou Yangming chuckled. "It's not something serious. I just refined a formation board, so I'd like you to test its defensive power, Great Elder Mao."

Mao Jianbi was struck dumb. "Your… Formation board?" He almost thought that he was mistaken.

'Isn't Ou Yangming a smithing master? Why did he help in the refinement of Eternal Pills and even began to refine formation boards?'

"Yes, please lend me a helping hand, Great Elder Mao," Ou Yangming expressed sternly, "Don't worry, you'll benefit from this in the future."

Mao Jianbi pulled a long face and came back to his senses. He was displeased as he responded, "Master Ou, what are you talking about? Isn't this just a small test? Why would I ask for any benefits? You don't think of me as a good friend, do you?"

Ou Yangming smiled apologetically. "It was a slip of the tongue—I apologize." Whether or not Mao Jianbi meant what he said, at the very least, it was heartwarming.

Mao Jianbi was finally pleased. "Where is it? How would you like me to test it?"

Ou Yangming turned his wrist and retrieved the Earthly Formation Board. As he channeled a bit of his essential Qi, a light was emitted from the board.

Following that, he casually tossed the formation board to the flat ground and noted softly with a smile, "Great Elder Mao, you only need to attack it…"