Leader Yang spoke dismissively, “You go aside, it’s none of your business. Even if I showed you, you wouldn’t understand.”
Zhang Lan retorted, “Who would want it anyway.”
Under the escort of Leader Yang and several teams of Taoist soldiers, Mo Hua returned to Nameless Peak, to the mining cave where the Taoist soldiers were stationed.
Leader Yang truly took out a set of spare armor and a spear, handing them to Mo Hua:
“These are spares; feel free to look them over. You can take them apart too. Just report the damages later, and we’ll send them off to the Taoist soldiers Court for repairs.”
“Is that really okay to do?”
Leader Yang waved his hand, “There’s nothing bad about it. Armor and weapons are meant to be used; it’s normal for them to get damaged.”
With those words, Mo Hua felt reassured. He glanced at the long spear and then touched the armor.
Both were first-grade Spiritual Artifacts, forged from refined iron which had a higher content than the iron used by Monster Hunters, and were made with a more special forging technique, resulting in better quality.
“As expected of the standard Spiritual Artifacts of the Taoist Court…” Mo Hua silently thought to himself.
He exerted some effort, trying to disassemble the armor to examine the Formation inside, but found his strength inadequate to budge it.
Mo Hua glanced at Leader Yang.
Leader Yang personally stepped in to help Mo Hua disassemble the armor, revealing the Formation inside.
However, as soon as the armor was taken apart, the brilliance of the Formation inside dimmed, indicating that it had also been damaged.
Mo Hua was somewhat surprised.
Leader Yang then explained, “This is a traditional Formation of the Taoist Court. To prevent the leakage of the Formation, once the armor is forcibly disassembled, the Formation inside is designed to be destroyed.”
So that’s how it is…
Mo Hua nodded in understanding.
Though the Formation was destroyed, the general layout of the Formation Patterns could still be made out.
Spread out the armor, Mo Hua began to study the Formation within.
The Formation embedded in the armor was of the Golden Series, and while it appeared to be a first-grade formation, it included more than nine Patterns.
“A Formation beyond first-grade?”
Mo Hua was taken aback, but after mentally simulating the flow of Spiritual Power, he realized that it was indeed just an ordinary first-grade formation after all, with only nine effective Patterns.
The additional Patterns were redundant, probably intended as a decoy to protect the real Formation from being deciphered.
Furthermore, this wasn’t a Single Formation, but likely a part of a Compound Formation.
After some thought, Mo Hua roughly understood.
When Taoist Soldiers fought in unison, a team wearing identical armors would have their Single Formations combine to form a Compound Formation, enhancing the effect through resonance.
The Single Formations used by Taoist Soldiers were not rare; they were just standard Five Elements Gold Series Formation Method. The most essential aspect was actually the pivot of this Compound Formation.
Based on the proximity, it coordinated the Single Formations to resonate with each other.
This pivot structure was something Mo Hua had never studied before and was very curious about.
However, since a Taoist Soldiers team consisted of ten members, in other words, this pivot also connected ten sets of armor. To examine this pivot structure, he might need to take apart all ten sets of armor.
Taking apart one set already made Mo Hua feel somewhat embarrassed; dismantling ten would be far too excessive.
After finishing his examination, Mo Hua looked up and asked, “Should this armor be sent for repair?”
Leader Yang nodded, “Yes.”
“May I try to fix it?” Mo Hua queried.
Leader Yang appeared surprised, “You want to fix it?”
Mo Hua nodded.
After some thought, Leader Yang agreed, “Sure, feel free to repair it. It’s already damaged anyway.”
Mo Hua then took out a Formation Pen and Golden Series Spiritual Ink from his Storage Bag. Following the trajectory of the existing Patterns, he began to meticulously mend them.
In just a short while, Mo Hua completed the repair.
Leader Yang reassembled the armor and activated it with Spiritual Power, only to pause in astonishment, “It’s actually fixed?”
“Lucky guess,” said Mo Hua, bashfully.
Leader Yang looked at Mo Hua with greatly increased interest and then asked,
“Mr. Little Mo, what do you think of this Formation?”
“It’s very intricate,” Mo Hua honestly replied.
“Would you like to learn it?”
Mo Hua was taken aback, “Is that something I can learn?”
“Of course! There’s just one small condition…”
Mo Hua couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the condition?”
“Join the Taoist Soldiers Court!”
Leader Yang’s face revealed a warm and enthusiastic smile, “As long as you join the Taoist Soldiers Court, you will naturally be able to learn these formations used by the Taoist Soldiers! And you can learn as much as you want!”
Upon hearing this, Zhang Lan spat out disdainfully, “So that was your game all along, kid.”
Leader Yang snorted, “If he can enter the Taoist Court, why can’t he join the Taoist Soldiers Court?”
“The Taoist Soldiers Court isn’t exactly a nice place, it’s all about fighting and killing.”
“Better than your Taoist Court with its seniority system and internal scheming anyway.”
Zhang Lan scoffed, “As if your Taoist Soldiers Court is any better, still dominated by the noble clans. Without the right status and background, can anyone really make something of themselves?”
“That’s only at the higher levels. The real brothers on the battlefield fight side by side, thick as thieves, their worth proven by true skill. The Taoist Court, on the other hand, is all about collusion and cronyism…”
“Quit spouting bullshit!”
“See, hit the nail on the head, now you’re all riled up and embarrassed,” Leader Yang mocked and then suggested, “As for status and background, that’s not a big deal at all. As long as you marry into my Yang Family…”
Zhang Lan spat again, “What wild dreams are you having? If it comes to marrying into a clan, your Yang Family wouldn’t be the first pick. My Zhang Family hasn’t even spoken yet, has it?”
Mo Hua is studying the Water Passing Step from his Zhang Family, so if there’s going to be any marriage, it should be into the Zhang Family. What right does your Yang Family have? Because Yang Jiyong has a big face?