Chapter 361: Formation Masterwork
Lei Bohai had been stuck in a dreadful city on a disadvantaged continent for way too long, but upholding the title of Formations Master was important. He’d worked his way up the ranks over the course of centuries before achieving that rank, and there was no way he would let an unrecognized upstart run around calling himself that.
When a functionary from the Jade Chameleon Sect, a minor sect though apparently a ruler in their region, had contacted the Twelfth Majestic Order of Formations Masters to request assistant in putting down a Nascent Soul realm charlatan, Lei Bohai had been the first to volunteer. No one in the organization was as good as he was at hiding arrays, perfect for the planned ambush.
Usually, his services weren’t for sale. Only his sect or certain extremely influential cultivators were the beneficiaries of his immense talents. If he were to be so gauche as to charge actual spirit coins for his creations, the cost would be high enough to break a Nihility Realm practitioner.
It wasn’t often, however, that anyone dared to defy the Order, and Lei Bohai took it as a personal affront. Which led him to charging only a pittance to hide a multi-purpose formation in a small plaza. Which he’d done. All that was left was for the trap to be sprung.
He just hadn’t realized how long that would take. Months. Stuck in a sub-standard inn in a sub-standard city on a sub-standard continent, all while having his cultivation restrained to Golden Core level by a device he’d created to hide his presence.
Worse, the functionary had come to him and pleaded to have the formations moved, worried that the target might learn of the arrays and disable them. As if a charlatan, even one who had somehow managed to reach Nascent Soul, could even detect a masterwork created by Lei Bohai, much less determine how to sabotage it!
No one, not even the grandmaster of the Twelfth Majestic Order of Formations Masters could spot one of Lei Bohai’s hidden arrays. It was impossible.
Not one to be completely unreasonable, he had quoted the functionary a price. That tender surely outstripped the entire reserves of the minor sect by several orders of magnitude, but it had at least been offered. Never let it be said that a member of the Order was unaccommodating, even if the person requesting cooperation had implied that one’s arrays could so easily be found and disabled.
Still, protecting the integrity of the Order was of the utmost importance, not something to be left solely to the ineptitude of minor sects. He was not willing to further devalue his work, but there was another way he could assist in the mission’s goals by weaponizing the Order’s prestige and influence.
The functionary was quite happy with the compromise.
Unfortunately, arranging for assistance only further delayed the date of the punishment, leaving Lei Bohai languishing at the dreadful inn even longer.
The only thing that would soothe the ignominy of having spent so much of his valuable time in such a poor, depressed place while being disrespected by such a minor sect was watching the charlatan die for daring to call himself a Formations Master. And, finally, the day arrived.