CHAPTER 199
### What Feng Luo Said
On the seventh day west Feng Luo said: "I want to go back to the formation site."
They were at the midday camp. The territory here was standard transition zone — sections in the forty to sixty percent range, passive domain contribution sufficient. No urgency.
Jian Yu looked at him.
"Not permanently," Feng Luo said. "One week. Maybe two."
"Why," Jian Yu said.
"The forty-seven practitioners," Feng Luo said. "Wei Lan's lineage. They have been practicing the morning sequence in the formation's amplification for two months. I want to see what two months of the formation's amplification has done to the sequence's development."
"It has been deepening the practice," Bing Xi said. "Li Shan's cascade data shows the formation's energy level has stabilized at a higher baseline since the forty-seven arrived."
"I know," Feng Luo said. "I read the cascade data. I want to see it."
"You want to feel it," Xian Yue said.
He looked at her.
"Yes," he said.
She was quiet for a moment.
"The Vermilion Flame Blade's cross-absorption," she said. "The Lost Blade's unnamed color quality in the Vermilion fire. It has always been more active at the formation site than anywhere else."
"Yes," he said.
"You want to know what the formation site feels like with forty-seven practitioners doing River-Stone's sequence in the amplification," she said.
"Yes," he said.
She looked at the road.
"The northeastern sections I identified," she said. "The ones the Dragon Roar Fang needs to visit. They are three days northeast of the formation site."
"I know," he said.
"If you go to the formation site," she said, "the northeastern sections are on the return route."
"Yes," he said.
She looked at him.
He looked at her.
Something passed between them. The specific communication that still did not have a name and did not need one.
"One week," she said.
"One week," he said.
He looked at Jian Yu.
"The growing season sections on the western route," Feng Luo said. "You have the five here. You have Xian Yue. You have Bing Xi."
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
"You do not need me for the western work," Feng Luo said.
"No," Jian Yu said.
"The formation site needs the Vermilion Flame application periodically," Feng Luo said.
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
"The forty-seven practitioners do not have the Vermilion position," Feng Luo said. "River-Stone's sequence does not include it. The formation's defensive capability requires five specific positions."
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
"The formation site has Wei Lan's forty-seven and Li Shan and Elder Qin and Shen Hua's perimeter," Feng Luo said. "It does not have the Vermilion position filled."
"No," Jian Yu said.
"It has been without the Vermilion position for two months," Feng Luo said.
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
Feng Luo looked at the road northeast.
"One week," he said. "Then the northeastern sections. Then back to the main group."
"Yes," Jian Yu said.
The Flame Blade's fire rose.
Not agitation.
Forward.
Feng Luo looked at Xian Yue one more time.
She was already looking at the northeastern route on the map.
She felt him looking.
"The northeastern sections," she said. "Three days northeast of the formation site. I will be there when you arrive."
He said nothing.
He picked up his pack.
He walked northeast.
The Flame Blade's fire was at full height until the road curved and the terrain took him out of sight.
Jian Yu looked at the road west.
Then at the road northeast.
Five swords, four directions.
The work distributed.
He counted nothing.
He walked west.
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