The true culprits of this war were currently in the Belmont Holy Land, which was also shrouded by a top tier formation. Although Lionel had used a secret passage way to enter, that was nothing but an act put on by him to fool Ri, or attempt to fool Ri, not knowing that she had already seen through his act.
As a member of the traitor's alliance, Lionel had long been given means to breach the formation, however, those who wanted to enter now weren't so lucky.
Amell glanced at his wife as they stood in the air. He couldn't help but frown when he saw her serious expression. For a formation to make someone as outstanding as his wife react like this, it was definitely no joke.
After the grandmaster level, array alchemy itself experiences a watershed wherein one becomes a true expert. Of course, the grandmaster level requires a saint level soul, and although it is a difficult level to reach, it isn't looked to with as much respect as upper levels. This is of course because the soul itself also reaches a watershed after surpassing sainthood.
When one crosses into the threshold of a celestial soul, the soul itself become capable of existing without the body. This isn't only due to the power now available to the soul, but because of the connection it now receives from the universe. The soul becomes blessed, thus being capable of relying on the universe itself to survive without utilizing the body as a proxy. This also acts as a first step toward truly becoming a transcendent being. This is also why the best universes and quadrants often see anyone under the celestial level as juniors, whereas true cultivation begins after stepping onto that path.
This is analogous with array alchemy as well. After the grandmaster level, one becomes truly acknowledge by the Guild Headquarters, and although they have long since stopped recognizing array alchemy as a single discipline, it warmly welcomes those who excel in formation or alchemy or weapon smithing, in addition to a whole host of array alchemy related professions.
After first stepping past the grandmaster level, one steps into the Comet ranks of array alchemy. This is split into 6 levels and corresponds with the first half of celestial cultivation, stages 1 through 6. Although the soul will continue to simply be Celestial stages, depending on the progression within those stages, they can correspond with energy cultivation rankings between celestial stage 1 and 6.
The next step is the Moon ranks. This is also split into 6 levels and corresponds with the second half of celestial cultivation, stages 7 through 12.
This means that one must have a Lower and Middle Celestial soul to draw comet rank arrays and have a Higher and Peak Celestial soul to draw moon rank arrays. The same is true of creating weapons. Spiritual weapons are named as such because they are named after celestial bodies. A Spiritual weapon can be either of comet rank 1 through 6, or moon rank 1 through 6, depending on its quality.
The third step after, corresponding with a Lower and Middle Dao soul, is the planet ranks. The fourth step after that would be the star ranks corresponding with a Higher and Peak Dao soul.
The number of planet rank specialists number in the few thousands, despite the trillions of living beings there are. As for star rank specialists? Maybe only a handful exist in this plane, because to have a soul that powerful likely means you've already transcended!
All of this said, Nora's current problem wasn't her soul strength. As a dao formation expert who specialized in soul techniques, her soul had long since caught up with her cultivation, steadying itself at the lower Dao stage. The problem was that, unlike Dyon, array alchemy expertise usually lagged far behind soul strength…
The fact that Dyon could almost instantly climb to an array alchemy understanding that matched his new soul strength was a feat that would cause billions of array alchemy fanatics to go crazy with jealously. It simply wasn't normal.
At the moment, despite her innate aurora and a Dao soul, Nora could only don the robes of a rank 5 Comet formation expert. Her alchemy was slightly better, being at the rank 2 moon alchemy expert level, but that wasn't helpful here… Not when the formation before her was a rank 6 comet formation.
Even if it was a rank 5 comet formation, it would have already taken Nora some time to break. But, now that it was above her station, the time increased exponentially.
"Do you think it would be more efficient to break it forcefully?" Amell asked. Since it was a barrier formation, brute strength might work better.
Nora shook her head as her eyes shone gold. If one paid attention, you could see the faint darkness of a vast universe behind her pupils as 5 comets danced around in beautiful patterns.
"With this type of illusory formation, unless you have the ability to obliterate it with a single strike, it would divert your power to strengthen itself." Nora explained.
Although this formation was a mere rank 6 comet formation, capable of being built by a celestial level soul, the reality wasn't so simple. Just because a formation was created by a certain level soul, didn't mean that level of energy cultivation could obliterate it. There were many other involved variables. For example, the length of time taken to create the formation, the number of layers it had, and also what power sources it utilized to sustain itself.
Although Amell and Nora were dao formation experts, this formation had far too many layers and time invested to be taken out so simply. As such, Amell could only sigh, in wait. In his mind, images of a child left behind ravaged his memories.
King Belmont and Big Red could only stand by and wait. Although King Belmont had tried to get Big Red to go and rest, as he was heavily injured, he insisted that it was his job as the king's guardian to stay by his side. But, this only made King Belmont feel even more guilt.
However, this group of elders were right to hurry. Although the situation within had reached a stalemate with the demon generals steadily gaining an advantage despite the numbers difference, no one knew how long they could last in such conditions…
