His reason for asking for the formation diagrams now was that it shouldn't matter if he got it now since he was supposed to receive the formation diagrams regardless of the outcome of the fight.

This was what he said. He didn't say his other reason which was that he didn't trust them.

Pale Shadow still didn't speak when she heard his request. But she nodded and went to get what he asked for.

She left for 30 minutes. Then she returned with many memory crystals containing formation diagrams.

He received the memory crystals from her. Then the two of them went their separate ways after the meeting.

Pale Shadow went to report the outcome of the planning meeting to the other golden core elders and to the patriarch, while Arthur went to the house that was prepared for him.

His house was situated in the outer portion of the sect. No one from the Blood Skull sect was allowed in the inner sect of the Purple Flower sect, especially him.

The outer sect of the Purple Flower sect wasn't mountainous like that of the Blood Skull sect. It was a plain with grass that could grow taller than people. This indicated that the entrance to the inner sect of the Purple Flower sect was somewhere above ground.

If the entrance of a secret realm was underground, the area it is in will either be mountainous or have a body of water like a lake or spring. This is because the mana released from the secret realm would cause the rock in the ground to grow or cause groundwater to flow to the surface.

In the case that the secret realm's entrance is above the ground or somewhere on the same level as the surface, the mana ejected from the secret realm won't affect the ground much but will instead affect the living things growing on the surface of the ground.

This is the kind of situation that causes ordinary grass to mutate into giant grass that can compete with bamboo in terms of growing speed and maximum height.

In the special case that the entrance of a secret realm is high up in the sky, there will be constant weather phenomena in the area. The most pertinent weather in that area is usually a windy storm perpetuated with lightning.

It should also be noted that sometimes, secret realms have more than one entrance. In case of multiple entrances, some of them can be underground, at surface level, or high up in the sky. This usually leads to a complicated ecology and environment.

But in the absence of multiple entrances, Arthur can narrow down where the entrance of the inner sect will be with some accuracy. He was thinking about this as he went to his house because the thought of wandering into the inner sect passed through his mind.

He had that thought because he wanted to be in an environment with a high concentration of mana for him to cultivate. But the thought was brief and fleeting.

No matter how desperate he was for mana, the first thing he would do to solve the problem of the lack of mana wouldn't be to sneak into the inner sect of the Purple Flower sect.

He would rather give up on the exchange program and return to the Blood Skull sect for mana. The patriarchs of his sect might be high in quantity and quality, but at least, they are bound by oaths that will prevent them from killing him outright.

If he can't offend the patriarchs of his sect by giving up on an important mission that they assigned to him, then there is no way he will try to offend the patriarch of another sect by sneaking into their inner sect.

As he entered his house, he thought to himself, "At least, not yet. Let me wait until I reach the nascent soul realm and have avatars to spare. Then I will risk sneaking into their precious secret realm."

The house he was given was a large mansion. It was a giant structure of luxury and opulence. There was everything he could want in the house except mana.

There were even women available for his sexual pleasure. But this wasn't enough to make up for the lack of mana.

Besides, he wasn't going to touch the unknown women from the Purple Flower sect. Not after he had warned the disciples of his sect to abstain from something like this, and not after he began to suspect that the Purple Flower sect was up to something.

He also didn't care for sex when he had formation diagrams to read and learn. He was more excited about the formation diagrams than risking falling into some trap laid by the Purple Flower sect.

So he spent the rest of the day learning the formation diagrams and teaching them to his formation breaker. It was a very enjoyable experience because the formation breaker also taught him some things by making him think differently.

Unfortunately, he had to stop their study session because of the fight. Since he had already received half of the benefits for the fight and the fight had been announced to everyone, he couldn't back out now.

He had to give up on studying to participate in the fight. As he stopped studying, he caressed the floating white disk and said, "Soon, you will become smarter than your father. That will be a momentous day worth celebrating."

The formation breaker said, "I want to grow strong to help Father."

Arthur smiled and encouraged him, "Don't worry. That day will come soon. You just need to keep working hard."

Then he sighed and said, "For now, I have to go work. As they say, we have to do what we don't want to do in order to get the resources to be able to afford to do what we want to do."

After saying this, he examined his weapons. He would need them for his fight, so he checked to make sure that they were in the right condition for battle.