Lord Chongxiao's decision to help was, for Jiang Chen, nothing short of a godsend.
In the field of formations, what he lacked most was powerful assistants. Restarting this formation was not something that could be done in a day or two.
First, the three formation cores had to be located. Jiang Chen naturally knew their approximate positions.
However, given how much time had passed, finding them and carrying out the necessary repairs would still require considerable effort. It was an exceedingly complex process.
Minor details could be entrusted to lesser cultivators. But the major aspects required capable hands of real strength.
Lord Chongxiao had been a high-ranking figure of the ancient Danxiao Sect. In his era, his mastery of formations had been among the very best. Moreover, when the Myriad Spirits God-Locking Grand Formation had originally been laid down, the Danxiao Sect had been one of the three great powers involved.
"In the coming days, we'll be holding a selection for formation masters—scouting out promising talent. I'd like Lord Chongxiao to oversee the vetting. These people may very well become the backbone of the Danxiao Sect's reconstruction someday."
Lord Chongxiao's eyes flickered. "Chen Shao, you mean...?"
"Rebuilding is not something that can be achieved overnight. Restoring the Danxiao Sect on the strength of just the two of us is obviously impossible. A sect that wishes to recover its former glory and power needs generations of accumulated effort. It must constantly bring in fresh blood."
Lord Chongxiao nodded in agreement. "You're right. So this recruitment of formation masters—it's preparation for the Danxiao Sect's revival?"
"Killing two birds with one stone, you might say," Jiang Chen said with a smile. "You'll be in charge of the selection and vetting. No problem with that?"
Lord Chongxiao replied hastily, "No problem at all. I guarantee I'll get the job done. I'll make sure to pick out a batch of truly talented individuals with exceptional potential."
Jiang Chen reminded him again, "You've seen the current state of the human territories. When you're selecting candidates, you can't hold them to ancient standards. If you do, you won't find a single soul."
"Rest assured, I'm not some inflexible old fool," Lord Chongxiao promised.
Jiang Chen chuckled. "Good to hear. With your eye, I'm confident you'll find plenty of promising talent. By the way, on your travels, what about the others? How are they doing now?"
Lord Chongxiao's weathered face reddened slightly. "We went our separate ways after leaving the Six Inheritance Palaces. The others—well, I suspect they won't last long out there either. Chen Shao, I've come to realize you're not just a little devious. You put on this magnanimous show of letting us go off and travel, but you'd already figured we wouldn't be able to stay away, hadn't you?"
Even when called out like this, Jiang Chen would never admit it.
He let out a mischievous laugh and declared with righteous indignation, "My lord, do I seem like that kind of person? You've truly misunderstood me!"
Lord Chongxiao grumbled under his breath but said nothing more.
In the time that followed, the human territories continued to be rocked by sporadic turmoil—an attack here, an incident there. The teams Jiang Chen had dispatched could suppress the disturbances and reduce their frequency, but they could root out the problem entirely.
Though this frustrated Jiang Chen, he did not lose his composure.
Instead, he methodically pushed forward with the work of restarting the Myriad Spirits God-Locking Grand Formation. The top priority, now as always, was getting this formation back online.
Roughly three months later, Jiang Chen had pinpointed all three formation cores and excavated them from the earth.
These three cores were the key to restarting the formation.
The overall framework of the formation had not been destroyed. As long as the cores could be repaired and restored, restarting the formation would pose no significant difficulty. Even if portions of the network had been damaged, those could be repaired at any time.
The most critical thing was that all three cores had to be intact.