The process of finding the connections and placing the orbs was long and tedious. At least if he did not count with the help of Xian Xinyue, someone who was responsible for their maintenance. And as he did, they managed to finish in under a single day.

The activation of the cores would be left to her as well, after all, Wu Guang at least openly had no access to the mind-power needed to use a formation.

She would need between two and three days to finish as the formations had never been used before, and so Wu Guang suddenly found himself with a bit of free time.

Being unable to reveal his identity, he decided to use this time to advance his cultivation.

He had already learned another martial skill, so the only thing that was left to do was to achieve the needed level of mastery. To avoid being detected or alarm anyone, Wu Guang returned to the tower that was allocated as his residence.

Sealing the 3rd, empty, floor with an array powered by a few qi treasures he had obtained on Black Island, he began practicing with the 'Imperial Blade'.

________________________________________________________________________

Wu Guang had omitted explaining Chun Hua about the items he got from Chen Jiahao considering that she would not be interested. Truth to be said, he never requested any of them, simply responding to a few questions about what he needed asked by the latter.

Still, when he awoke, a second storage ring was present on his finger, and inside... there was at least a single of each item or thing he had mentioned.

So, albeit unexpected, his haul was great.

The new storage ring was of similar quality and size as his own, making him think that the origin of these rings could be the same.

The new one contained a few dozens of things, amongst which the most important, and mission-related, would be fifty Stabilizing Orbs.

Wu Guang was supposed to use 19 of them in the sect, as well give up another 20 to Lady Xian. As for the rest, they were basically given to him for any emergency.

It also contained ten common qi storing treasures, albeit their quality was far higher than the ones he had bought himself. Wu Guang was not an appraiser, even so, he considered that they were at least ten times the rarity, and value, than the simple ones he had obtained before.

A few other things like rare weapon manuals and even a High-Tier Martial Skill was present, though he decided to examine them profoundly later.

Apart from what he had spoken about, there were some healing, restoration, and even cultivation pills. As well as some single-use items like message stones, special signal flares, etc.

Overall, it was a well-rounded package of things useful to any cultivator on an outside mission.

Funny as it may sound, it was shameful for Wu Guang to acknowledge he had no idea how the storage ring was placed on his finger. In fact, he could not even remember sensing anyone coming close to him.

"Hmm, maybe that's the real reason behind me not telling Chun Hua" Wu Guang muttered while remembering this. A few moments later, he cleared his mind and returned to his current task, improving his cultivation.

________________________________________________________________________

His cultivation method required him to reach advanced mastery with a martial skill to provoke an opportunity to break through. It was meant to give both time and expertise to a cultivator while his Soul power grew. And even though Wu Guang could omit the latter because of his far stronger soul, he was grateful to have at least some means to control his breakthroughs.

'Imperial Blade' had no real requisites to be used, but its mastery depended on the number of weapons he could use along with the skill. And so, Wu Guang spend more than two days getting familiar with the skill using different bladed weapons. To achieve the correct amount of weapons, he recurred to use even the ones he had bought before as training props. In total, he used six weapons allowing him to reach the Master level with the skill.

The weapons were a sword, an ax, a small saber, a big saber, a glaive, his chakrams.

He had felt the opportunity to breakthrough since the previous, advanced, level of mastery but decided to finish training before advancing. Which he did on the third day of his free time, how he referred to it.

And so, when he received a qi transmission from Lady, or Senior Xian that she was done, Wu Guang went to meet her as a full-fledged 3rd level Soul realm cultivator.

Obviously, his actual strength could be a lot higher, but he forcefully contained his aura on the same, equivalent to the 4th, level as before. The objective was not to conceal his cultivation but simply increase the aura strength slowly. After all, he did not want to affect his own body with a sudden splurge of extra power, did he?

________________________________________________________________________

"From my calculations, I am fairly secure that the headmaster will exit the pocket realm tomorrow"

"Understood. Does Senior Xian already prepared the activation core for him?"

"It will be only partially his"

"..."

"I do intend to give him a semblance of control, but I do not plan to grant him the ability to deactivate it"

"Senior has suspicions about how it would be used?"

"Not really, I simply consider that the best way to make sure no one can deactivate the formation is to simply have no person that can do it so present"

"I hope that Senior does not means..."

"I do" She interjected.

"But neither my strength nor loyalty is really on the level of giving me such ability. I mean, what if I decide to sell out everyone to the Eagle Kingdom? If they can not break the formation by forceful means, they would be happy to buy it for any price"

"Indeed, but I don't think you would do so. Plus, if you do... Then it means that there is not a single Warrior Lord cultivator along with the army. In that case, I am afraid that it would be your last deed before departing the realm of the living"

"True"

A short pause later, Xian Ru suddenly looked at Wu Guang with a mischievous smile and said

"You know, I expected any reaction from you about the implication of the formation. Even such as the one you had, but! How could you remain so calm after I threatened you with death?"

"Well, if Senior Xian will be the only Warrior Lord realm cultivator on the island, I don't really think any escape would be possible"

"Mmm, sensible and logical... Exactly as Zhenya said"

________________________________________________________________________

In any case, Wu Guang had no say on the matter and so he was connected to the sect protection formation via the new control core.

Granted, he could only deactivate it...

But considering that it would serve as an absolute, impenetrable defense against an entire army...

It was indeed an interesting power!

Honestly, Wu Guang doubted that the formation was so impenetrable, still, he could not do anything but agree with the words that Chen Jiahao had said during their meeting

"No one has seen a working formation in over 87 years. Even if the Eagle Kingdom has a few spies in the Empire, something that I highly doubt as that would mean that they are here since the last war, they only know that formations are usable on our island. So tell me, do you think they will arm their army with treasures capable of breaking through formations? An army going to invade the weakest, objectively speaking, island of the plane?"

Indeed, Wu Guang could not find any fault with this logic. The difference between peak experts also seemed enormous, which meant that whatever happened, the Black Empire should win in any, even the most improbable, case.

Chen Jiahao actually did not even try to hide anything from Wu Guang, answering all the questions he had about the real strength matter. Granted, he was sworn to never reveal it, but that did not change the fact of really knowing.

Four 'Peak', 2nd level Warrior Lords, experts were openly known, namely the leaders of the Black Empire, Eagle Kingdom, Blazing Sun Sect, and Holy Monastery. With the latter two occupied in their own hostilities and the first two being practically equal... It all would revolve around who had better concealed the amount of other high-level experts.

A few rumors about the Eagle Kingdom having a throne protector on the 1st level of the Warrior Lord realm existed, and Chen Jiahao confirmed it to be true. In fact, he was sure that at least another such expert was present, albeit his location or identity would be revealed only during the war.

Still, the Black Empire had SIX! such experts. None of them had appeared during the war, and with the absolute refusal to deal with other islands or powers, most of them were unknown on the plane.

Chen Jiahao did not hide their identities, and so Wu Guang knew of them. Leaving aside the two imperial bodyguards, there was also a general of the Empire responsible for the defense of the home island, the head of the Imperial Intelligence Corps who would oversee the other three task fleets, Lady Xian who protected the 'Three Hills Sect', and... Chen Jiahao.

Chen Jiahao had not fought in the previous war because of a few reasons including poison and an assassination attempt by the Black Eagles, still, when he overcame all of them, he felt the opportunity and had secretly broken into the Warrior Lord realm.

Such information was obviously a state secret, still, both Wu Guang and Chen Jiahao himself knew that the Eagle Kingdom would have tried to spy on the Imperial Forces. For now, it seemed that they were unsuccessful, thinking that formations were a thing of the past. But even if they did have some success on other matters, the only two Warrior Lords that openly revealed their cultivation to the public were the imperial bodyguards. As for the rest, they were meant and hopefully would give a very nasty surprise to the Kingdom.

________________________________________________________________________

The next day Wu Guang wore his personal disciple robes underneath the cloak and, alone, went towards the secret council room. With no one guarding outside, it meant that the process was successful. And indeed, after a few knocks on the wall where the disguised door into the room was located, it opened from inside and he was invited to enter.

Overall nothing had changed, with the same nine thrones standing around the strange sculpture. Still, the fact that eight of the nine seats were occupied signified that the headmaster was present. And the Head Treasurer was back as well.

Speaking of the latter, it was hard to not notice him. Albeit the headmaster, Teng De looked like a tired and old man, the airs that any Sage realm cultivator had would never allow one of thinking him as such.

"Disciple Wu Guang greets the Headmaster and present Elders" Officially his status being the lowest, and both his age and current strength the same, Wu Guang took the initiative and respectfully greeted.

"No need for ceremony. You, young man, are not only someone who completed the mission of opening the Pocket realm where I was imprisoned but also the current successor of the Sect"

Wu Guang intended to rebuke the latter, but seemingly the headmaster guessed his thoughts and so continued in the same calm but commanding tone

"We all know about your intention to leave the plane. Still, until you do your status is only beneath mine. Now, everyone, please welcome Wu Guang, invite him to sit and start the meeting"

The part of welcoming him was just a way to word "Just allow him to enter, make him sit down, and let's start" Wu Guang thought after receiving the gazes of the other seven in the room, a few small nods, and the indication from Deng Zian to come and sit on the throne adorned with the 'Succesor' character.

A thing to note, and one which Wu Guang immediately did, was that one of the gazes that he received was a bit off. Granted, a person like Master Sikou was cold and detached by nature, plus not really close to him and so there was no real warmth in his eyes, still, neither hostility nor superiority was present. In fact, it was more like an acknowledging, if not respectful, gaze. Another six were more-or-less close to him, and so it was shown in the gazes and the smiles that accompanied them.

Then, why was the person occupying the 'Halls' throne practically glaring at him? This would be something that Wu Guang would need to find...