Those fourteen sects banded together, pooling their resources to purchase a middle-tier blue-grade formation plate along with its accompanying flags. They also hired a blue-grade formation master to set it up.
The formation plate they acquired was a restraining type, designed to lock a target in place. It functioned similarly to a sect-guarding array, but in reverse. Where a sect-guarding array was meant to keep outsiders from entering, this one was meant to prevent something—or someone—from escaping.
Using this formation plate, they completely sealed off the palace realm expert's sect, trapping both him and all its members within. Neither he nor anyone else could leave the confines of the array. While the formation posed no direct lethal threat, its defensive and beguiling properties were formidable.