Chapter 725: Chapter 725

The meeting place for everyone was the living room of Fang Bai’s villa. Despite the large living room accommodating over a dozen people either sitting or standing, it didn’t feel crowded.

"Sister, how are Dad and Mom doing in terms of health?"

Fang Bai greeted Fang Yun with a cheerful smile and asked after their wellbeing.

Fang Yun nodded and said, "They’re doing great! Dad seems to get more vigorous with age, and Mom’s looking younger by the day! However, they often grumble that you’re too busy in Yanjing to spend time chatting with them!"

Fang Bai laughed and said, "Alright, I’ll make sure to visit them more often to chat!"

After saying this, his expression suddenly turned serious, and his gaze swept across the faces of Fang Yun and the others as he said solemnly, "I’m planning to leave for a while... As for where I’m going, I can’t say at the moment. It could be within the country or abroad; it might be famous mountains and great rivers, or remote wilderness... And I don’t know when I’ll be back..."

"What are you going to do?"

Fang Yun asked the question that everyone present wanted to know the answer to.

"To search for Essence Stones!"

Fang Bai sighed, "I don’t have many Essence Stones left on me, and I believe you don’t have much left either, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The Essence Stones they used for cultivation were all gifts from Fang Bai. Now that they were running low, some had come with the hope of acquiring more from him. But upon hearing Fang Bai’s words, they couldn’t help but feel dejected.

However, after their dejection, realizing that Fang Bai might be gone for a long time, they all felt a sense of reluctance to part with him.

Fang Bai continued, "The Martial Arts Techniques we practice are very special. If we don’t have Essence Stones to aid us, our cultivation progress will be significantly slowed. So the purpose of my trip to find Essence Stones is for myself as well as for all of you!"

Xia Chenyu said, "Wouldn’t it be better if we went to find them together? There’s strength in numbers!"

She had known Fang Bai for a long time, and her feelings for him ran deep. The thought of his departure, possibly for a long duration, weighed heavily on her heart.

For Xia Chenyu, even if it meant giving up on cultivation, she didn’t want to be separated from Fang Bai for too long.

Fang Bai shook his head and said, "Each of you has your own matters to attend to, so don’t get distracted. Besides, Essence Stones are extremely rare. Having more people doesn’t mean they can be found faster or in greater quantities!"

After pausing, he continued, "I called you all here to pass on several sets of team Formation techniques. These Formations possess formidable power. After I leave Yanjing, if anything happens that you cannot resolve alone, you can contact each other, come together, and form the Formation to deal with it."

Xia Chenyu and the others looked at each other and nodded unanimously.

Although they had improved significantly under Fang Bai’s guidance, the world was filled with hidden dragons and crouching tigers, with many strong adversaries around. Teaching them Formation techniques was Fang Bai’s way of taking precautions for the future.

Without delay, Fang Bai led Xia Chenyu and the rest in the villa courtyard to start practicing the Formation techniques.

The formations Fang Bai imparted had both the combinations of two or three martial artists working together, as well as more complex formations that involved four, five, or six people striking in unison, with the most complex being a seven-person formation known as the "Seven Stars Formation."

The power of each formation increased with the number of people involved.

Take the "Seven Stars Formation" as an example; it required martial artists with different Innate Spiritual Roots of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder to execute. Once Xia Chenyu and others became proficient in this formation, combining their attacks, they had the potential to contend with Heaven Level Martial Artists.

It should be known that among Xia Chenyu and his peers, the strongest, Ghost Hand, was only at the Profound Level Perfection realm.

This demonstrated the formidable power of the formations imparted by Fang Bai.

Additionally, the Jade Pendants Fang Bai gave to Xia Chenyu and the others contained several powerful murderous intents that, if unleashed unexpectedly, could potentially even cause a Heaven Level Martial Artist to fall in their combined formation.

Once Xia Chenyu and his peers mastered each formation thoroughly, Fang Bai could leave with ease.

Great teachers produce outstanding students.

Fang Bai was a "great teacher," and the martial artists with Innate Spiritual Roots such as Xia Chenyu were "outstanding students." Moreover, they were all cultivating Martial Arts Techniques taught by Fang Bai, and they had a kind of telepathy with one another, making the practice of these formations intuitive and twice as effective with half the effort.

In just two or three days, Xia Chenyu and the others became adept in the formations, coordinating seamlessly with one another.

During this period, the leader of the "Dragon Guard," Long Jingtian, visited Fang Bai’s villa, where Fang Bai invited him to test his skills against the formations composed of his "outstanding students."

Facing formations made up of Yellow Level and Profound Level Martial Artists, Long Jingtian initially dismissed them, but after consecutively unraveling the two-person, three-person, and four-person formations, his expression turned serious and solemn, realizing that the more people involved in a formation, the more difficult it was to break through.

When it came to the "Heaven and Earth Five Elements Array," composed of martial artists with different Innate Spiritual Roots of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, Long Jingtian exerted all his effort, attacking from left to right, but failed to gain the upper hand. He was trapped within the formation for an entire hour and eventually ended with a handshake and mutual recognition of skills.

When it was time for the most powerful "Seven Stars Formation," Long Jingtian found himself completely at a disadvantage, reacting passively at every turn, and if it weren’t for Fang Bai calling a halt midway, the outcome for Long Jingtian would have been to "fall" within the formation.

"Brother Fang, these formations of yours are formidable!"

Recalling the struggle he had just experienced within the formations, Long Jingtian was still shaken and couldn’t help but exclaim while wiping the sweat from his forehead, "I reckon this ’Seven Stars Formation’ could already contend with a mid-tier Heaven Level expert!"

Fang Bai smiled and shook his head, saying, "If the seven people forming the array could all reach the Profound Level realm, then indeed they could contend with a mid-tier Heaven Level Martial Artist. But as it stands, their uneven Cultivation Levels affect the formation’s power, so it’s suitable for dealing with early-stage Heaven Level Martial Artists, but not quite enough for mid-stage ones!"

Long Jingtian’s gaze swept over Xia Chenyu and the others, and with a smile and a stroke of his beard, he laughed, "Now that they are trained in these formations, even if you are not in Yanjing, there’s no need to worry about facing any difficult situations."

Fang Bai said, "I have killed many assassins from ’Wrathful Beauties,’ and our enmity is deep; they must hate me to the bone and wish for my death at every moment. What worries me most after I leave is that they will go after my friends and family. This trip is not just to search for Essence Stones but also to investigate the whereabouts of the ’Wrathful Beauties’ lair. If I can find it, I will eliminate the organization in one fell swoop and eradicate future troubles!"

When he mentioned "Wrathful Beauties," he couldn’t help but think about a time not long ago in America, when he encountered Hu Baimei, who bore a striking resemblance to the "Peach Fairyland Empress" from his previous life.

Originally, the relationship between Fang Bai and "Wrathful Beauties" was now one of life and death, and Fang Bai had sworn to wipe out any assassins from "Wrathful Beauties" he encountered, but when he faced Hu Baimei, he thought of his past life’s bond with the "Peach Fairyland Empress" and, in a moment of soft-heartedness, spared Hu Baimei.