After a long night battle session, Leyvi and Anda had a random chat together while Anda lay on top of Leyvi's body.
"Hahaha! That princess thought I was cheating on you? She sure has a wild imagination. Why would I need to do that when my own Big Madam is the match-making machine herself?" Leyvi laughed, his hand sifting through her shiny, long black hair.
"Hehe. That's actually a good profession. Want to find the love of your life? Come to your Match-Making Goddess, Anda. She will help you find your soulmate and be happy for the rest of your life!" She acted as if she were advertising herself.
"Yeah, sure. You just want to turn them into your loyal subordinates." Leyvi exposed her intention.
"Ooop. As expected of my husband. You saw through my evil plot so easily. As a punishment, take this Heavenly Mounds Barrage!" Anda adjusted her position and wiggled her upper body repeatedly.
Leyvi received the soft attacks on his face with a smile.
After Anda stopped, she said, "But that Princess Waniwani sure is interesting. My ability couldn't work on her at all. I wonder if it's because of an artifact or her innate power."
"So you have trouble figuring her out?" Leyvi asked. He did not expect someone to be able to block Anda's power, at least not at the same cultivation level.
"Hehe. Not really. Thankfully, I have become very good at this. I can guess her emotions based on the subtle changes in her facial expressions, body language, and Qi fluctuations. I've done this so many times that the common patterns have become very obvious." Anda said proudly.
"I see. So you're like a scanning array now. Come scan me. Guess what I'm feeling?" Leyvi asked.
"Hehe. You want my delicious body again, right?" Anda slowly stood up with a sultry pose and winked.
Her usual seductive scent filled the room once again.
Leyvi chuckled inwardly. Just say that you want more, succubus panda!
"Hahaha! What an accurate scanner! You shall be rewarded!" He played along.
The couple went for another round.
"I heard that you're a doctor now. When did you learn medical knowledge?" Leyvi asked after they were done, with Anda nestled on top of him again.
"Why? Can't a panda be a doctor? That's discrimination!" Anda joked.
"No, I'm just worried about the future victims."
"What do you mean victims? Doctor is a noble profession. We are saving lives all over the world." She acted dignified.
Leyvi squinted, looking at her suspiciously.
"Oh... my life is so sad... even my own husband doesn't believe in my noble intentions... goodbye, world..." Anda rolled in place above Leyvi dramatically.
"Hmm... Did your talent advance?" Leyvi guessed.
Anda stopped rolling. "Bingo! Now I can use my Alchemy Vision to look at people's bodies, and it will recommend what alchemy products they need, plus additional suggestions for better effects. It's more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it." She explained.
"I see. So you're just a fake doctor." Leyvi nodded.
"Hehehe. For now. But if I pay enough attention to recognize the patterns, maybe one day I can identify what's wrong with a person just by looking at the small hints and cure them with my alchemy products. All I have to do is accumulate countless experiences. I will be the first doctor without any medical knowledge!" Anda said.
"Ugh... sounds scary. By the way, can you guess the threshold for your talent advancement?" Leyvi asked.
Anda nodded. "I think I know. Before I realized my Alchemy Vision had advanced, I had just learned a new alchemy formula and made it. It was exactly my thousandth alchemy product. So it's pretty obvious in this case."
Most of the time, when talents advanced, the recipients did not even know what threshold they had crossed because they did not know what to track. So they could only randomly guess.
"A thousand different alchemy products, huh? That's a lot. My wife sure worked very hard. Thank you for your service, my lady." Leyvi said appreciatively.
"No reward?" Anda blinked pitifully.
"Say it, my lady." Leyvi indulged her.
Anda's eyes sparkled. "Change to 80 on Handsomeness Slider and ten more rounds!"
She demanded 80 because anything higher would make her lose her mind. When she saw Leyvi at 100 back then, she had turned into a crazy panda. At 80, Leyvi already become incredibly handsome, enough to charm most women. At the same time, she could still keep her sanity intact. This was the perfect level for her to experience maximum enjoyment with her husband.
"Very well, my lady. I shall indulge you for this special occasion. Handsomeness Slider 80." Leyvi said, snapping his fingers.
He did not mind. When else would he use this benefit if not to make his wives happy?
Anda watched as Leyvi's appearance perfected itself. A few seconds later, the most handsome man in the world stood before her.
Her eyes immediately turned dreamy, and her desire surged back instantly. Unable to restrain herself any longer, she leapt into action.
Two days later, Leyvi and Anda finally exited their house.
They were immediately met with a familiar sight in the distance, but this time it was far more widespread and frequent than before. Almost one-third of the side portion of the grand formation was under attack.
What they saw was the barrier being relentlessly pounded by the three factions outside.
Each individual attack struck the barrier and sent ripples across its surface, spreading outward like a stone dropped into calm water. The ripples gradually weakened as they travelled, eventually dissipating into nothing.
But when there were countless attacks, the ripples did not fade so cleanly. They collided with one another, merging and rebounding, creating interference patterns that behaved much like real waves. There were so many of them that the surface of the barrier became chaotic and turbulent.
Thousands of cultivators stood outside, spaced across the perimeter. They attacked in coordinated waves, their techniques lighting up the darkness with flashes of fire, earth, metal, wood, water, and countless other forms of Qi. Every kind of weapon and body strike crashed against the invisible wall. Elemental attacks splashed, hissed, and roared as they detonated against the barrier.
"They're really going at it today, huh? So much energy to spare." Leyvi said.
"The portal will be ready in just three weeks. Of course they're desperate. It's been a year, yet they still haven't found an effective way to damage the barriers." Anda paused and shifted her gaze toward other areas.
"This is truly an impressive formation. The total damage capacity it can withstand at once must be incredibly high. Unless they can reach that threshold, there's no way they can harm it." She sounded genuinely impressed.
"No wonder Bellion looks unbothered all the time. He must have anticipated this. Well, he does have the talent you gave him. If he couldn't even manage this much, I would have confiscated it back. But it seems he deserves it." Anda nodded in approval.
Leyvi chuckled inwardly. Good thing you worked hard, Bellion, or you might have suffered under a terrifying panda. Now that she has given you her blessing, you are finally a free man, my friend.
"I think right now, they're just attacking the barriers as relentlessly as possible to deplete the grand formation's energy." Anda offered her assessment.
"Deplete its energy? Didn't the barrier absorb their Qi and convert it back into energy?" Leyvi recalled their conversation from a year ago.
"That's true. It absorbs a huge portion of it, but not all. Also, not everyone uses Qi attacks alone. Most of them combine physical and Qi-based attacks. Some are even Body Cultivators. So if they keep this up long enough, the grand formation will eventually have its power source depleted, and the barriers will no longer be able to deploy. When that happens, we will have no choice but to fight." Anda explained.
"Wait, then isn't what they're doing a good strategy actually? Are we just letting them attack however they like?" Leyvi could no longer stay calm.
"Well, that depends on Bellion's energy supply," Anda replied.
"What is he using as his energy supply?" Leyvi blinked.
He had scanned the city before, and he was certain there was no spirit stone mine here. There was only a strange metal ore deposit that Bellion desperately wanted. Tamina, Tantan, and Ava had been helping him harvest those ores.
Leyvi could not find any massive energy source capable of continuously powering the grand formation. So what was Bellion using? If the formation suddenly ran out of power, it would be a complete tragedy. He could fully trust Bellion's formation skills, but the energy supply was a different matter entirely.
"I don't know." Anda shrugged. "But since he's so confident, he must have a reliable source."
"Ugh… that's not good. Let's go meet him. I can't stay calm if I don't know what it is." Leyvi grabbed Anda's hand and hurried toward Bellion's residence, anxiety creeping into his heart.
If needed, he might even lend his Spiritual Vein, the ultimate energy source.