While Lin Mu was setting up the formations, his companions were doing their own preparations as well.
Lin Mu had discussed a few tactics with them beforehand and they would finally get to apply them today. With that in mind, the four split up according to what they had been told. Ming Aolian called out her Sky Soar Wolf Ting, while Ming Dandan called out her Mulch Crawl Eater Beast.
'Ting, to the skies!' Ming Aolian ordered.
~WHOOSH~
Ming Aolian quickly gave orders to her wolf, who flew up into the sky, keeping an eye on the incoming cultivators,
"Create a circle of swampy earth." Ming Dandan ordered her tamed beast.
"Grwapa!" The Mulch Crawl Eater beast let out a cry in response and used its skills.
Energy waves spread off its body while it dug its legs into the ground. Its affinity with the Swamp Dao was shown right now, as the ground around them started to soften. Within a minute, a circle of swampy ground was created. It had a radius of five hundred meters and was hidden conveniently along the formations that Lin Mu was setting up.
Lin Mu was also setting up several illusory formation flags that would combine into an illusory array. While it wasn't strong enough to hide them entirely, it was still able to hide the presence of a swamp. Next, he set up multiple small befuddling formations.
These were easier to set up than an entire array but were weaker. Though Lin Mu's intention was never to set up a large array. Instead, what he wanted was multiple smaller formations that would be spread around randomly.
This would catch the cultivators who arrived off guard, especially when there was no rhyme or reason as to where these were spread. On top of this, they would be hidden by the illusory arrays, making it even harder to see and sense.
And while Lin Mu did this, Lu Xu and Qian Wen weren't waiting around either.
Instead, they were going to be the supporting pillars of this plan.
"I'm in position." Lu Xu said after reaching the outer edge of the formation.
"Me too." Qian Wen reported, taking a similar position but in the opposite direction to that of Lu Xu.
Lu Xu and Qian Wen were direct fighters that preferred a frontal battle, thus Lin Mu had thought of their positioning accordingly. They were just behind the radius of the illusory formations and just ahead of the circle of swampy ground that Ming Dandan had gotten the Mulch Crawl Eater Beast to set up.
This way, the incoming cultivators wouldn't know they were there, allowing them to be caught off guard. Of course, this might not be enough to defeat them, and would only injure them. This was enough, as Lu Xu and Qian Wen were expected to quickly retreat after the initial attack.
But the attention of the cultivators would still be on them and they'd rush after them, causing them to hopefully get caught in the Swampy ground. This would open them up to another attack, and hopefully would allow Lu Xu and Qian Wen to eliminate them.
Ming Dandan and Ming Aolian on the other hand, would be far behind them. They would be a short distance from the center of the circle, allowing them to give orders to their Tamed beasts while also giving them a good look over the battlefield.
They weren't supposed to fight themselves being Beast Tamers, thus it was best for them to be farther away from the conflict.
But the plan that Lin Mu had set up still had a flaw.
The cultivators were all immortals and could fly. Not just that, but they were stronger immortals at the Third Tribulation Stage of the Immortal realm or above. Though it was highly likely that the majority would be at the Fourth Tribulation Stage of the Immortal realm.
Such a group of immortals could simply fly to avoid a lot of things. The swampy ground would be easily avoided by this, and Qian Wen And Lu Xu might not be able to able to work properly either.
Of course, Lin Mu hadn't missed a flaw like this. In fact, he already had a solution for that. It was something that would further restrict the options of the incoming cultivators.
Since the flaw in his plan was the fact that immortals could fly, he simply decided to take that ability away from them.
"Now comes the difficult part…" Lin Mu muttered as he checked the formations that he had set so far.
They were functioning properly, and while they were good to use as it is, they won't be as effective without one more formation added to it.
"I never thought I'd make a formation like that right before a battle… but then again, I never had the opportunity to set it up before." Lin Mu muttered to himself as the aura of a Dao Embryo could be felt coming from him.
The aura was complex, and anyone that felt it would get baffled. Only those that had attainments in the art of Formations or were Formation masters themselves would be able to recognize what it was.
"Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo," Lin Mu calmly called out his newest Dao embryo.
The gleaming Dao Shell flew out of Lin Mu's abdomen, while a brush was laid against it.
'I'll need your assistance this time… Show me your strength in laying this formation!' Lin Mu said in his mind.
~humm~
As if understanding the challenge, the Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo hummed in response.
Lin Mu extended his right hand and firmly gripped the Rune Shaping brush with his fingers. Then he lightly pressed it against the Dao shell that was shaped like an Inkstone.
"With Qi as the ink, we shall clip their wings!" Lin Mu lightly said, spurring into action.
The tip of the Rune Shaping Brush glimmered with Immortal Qi as it waved through the air. Lin Mu's hand was slow at first but soon started to pick up speed. Rune after rune was drawn, with nary a flaw in them. Lin Mu continued to draw, and within a minute, he had created hundreds of runes.
At a certain point, his hand was but a blur, leaving a trail of light along the brush tip.
Not a single rune was drawn incorrectly, despite the speed at which Lin Mu was making them. Not to mention, he was drawing them directly on air, which had a greater chance of destabilizing. Without a solid medium like formation paper or other materials, the drawn runes might not be able to maintain themselves and scatter away.
In worse cases, they could even explode injuring the formation master.
Lin Mu had faced this several times as well and was well informed about it. And yet, he had still chosen air as a medium to draw the runes. This was simply because it was faster than other methods and could be deployed instantly.
It needed well refined Immortal sense, to guide the runes and control them while also having the sharp mental strength to withstand multiple commands at once. Not to mention, Lin Mu was doing this while splitting his attention into multiple sides.
One side was focused on his companions, one was focused on making the runes, while the third side was watching for the cultivators that were approaching them. While the cultivators were being cautious right now, it wouldn't be long before they'd gain confidence and start attacking them.
Lin Mu needed to finish setting up the formations before they did that. The time was short, thus Lin Mu sacrificed precision, focusing on speed instead. This led to some runes becoming unstable, but just before they'd reach a tipping point, they would suddenly calm down.
~humm~
The cause behind this was none other than the Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo!
Every rune that was touched by it would be firm and wouldn't break unless it was literally written incorrectly.
This was the ability of the Rune Shaping Brush Dao Embryo that Lin Mu was relying on to make the current formation. It wasn't a simple formation either.
"Sky Cull Grounding Formation is certainly worthy of its rank… Making it a short time like this even with the assistance of Rune Shaping Brush is difficult." Lin Mu muttered.
The Sky Cull Grounding Formation was one of the formations that could restrain the flight of the immortals. It was the very same formation that was used in the Tournament's rings as well as in the Capital City. Of course, for the Capital city, a more complex and extensive version of it was used.
It combined several of them to turn them into an entire array that covered an area of hundreds of kilometers.
The one that Lin Mu was setting up wasn't without flaws either. It consumed a lot of immortal Qi to make and didn't have a long life.
'I only need it to last till we defeat a significant number of cultivators or at least until the last Spatial Plane closes up…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
