“A kick?”
Guild Leader Zheng and Wang Haoxun were taken aback. They were baffled. What kind of formation breaking technique was called ‘a kick?”
“That’s right. From the first stage to the fourth stage, before all of the formations, he simply kicked, and then… then… the formation simply stopped!” the senior said.
“A kick each? You mean that… he used a kick to break the formation?” Guild Leader Zheng and Wang Haoxun nearly spewed blood.
“Yes!”
The senior nodded his head.
The two great 4-star formation masters stared at one another.
“Yes? Yes your head!
What kind of formation breaking technique is that? Do you think that makes sense?
“Senior is right! He simply kicked each of them to overcome the formations. The both of us saw it ourselves too…” Seeing the disbelief in the guild leader and their teacher’s eyes, the two juniors immediately stepped forward to testify.
“Could it be that he was lucky such that the formations he met were some of the more basic and simpler?”
Since there were three people saying the same words, Wang Haoxun knew that it was unlikely to be a lie. Thus, he tried asking from another perspective.
In the Sea of Formations, the formation one triggered was completely random and so, luck played an important role in the examination. For the other party to pass all four stages so swiftly, could he have met with the weakest formations of each grade?
“Lucky?”
The trio’s mouths twitched, “We’ve never met a person who is as unlucky as he is! In the first stage, he encountered the Cloud Ocean Confinement Formation, in the second, an Illusion Formation, in the third, the Qinghong Falling Petal Formation…”
“Cloud Ocean Confinement Formation? Illusion Formation?”
“Qinghong Falling Petal Formation?”
Just by hearing the formations the other party encountered in the first three stages, the two 4-star formation masters nearly fell to the ground.
Those were formations unparalleled in their respective grade! For a person to meet all of them in a single examination…
Are you for real? How unlucky must one be for that to happen?
…
More importantly, even though he met with those formations, he still managed to clear the stages so quickly? He even went to the extent of breaking the great formation sustaining the guild…
“What was the formation for the fourth stage then?” Guild Leader Zheng hurriedly asked.
Could the formation for the fourth stage be relatively easier?
“If I’m not wrong, it seemed to be the… [Drunken Heart Beguilement Slaughter Formation]!” the senior said.
“Drunken Heart Beguilement Slaughter Formation… The grade-4 pinnacle formation which fuses Beguilement Formation and Slaughter Formation together?” Guild Leader Zheng exclaimed in shock.
He thought that after the fellow was unlucky for the first three stages, his luck might get better in the fourth one. Who knew that he would meet with the worst of the lot!
That was definitely the most fearsome formation within the Sea of Formations.
Ordinary formations only took on one type—they were either Illusion Formation, Slaughter Formation, Beguilement Formation, or Confinement Formation… Under normal circumstances, there would be no overlap between the two. But this formation had complemented the two together in a very profound manner.
In other words, if one were to be trapped in it, one would first be beguiled before being… slaughtered.
Even Guild Leader Zheng had to admit that it would be difficult for him to survive if he were trapped in it. Yet, not only was the other party fine, he even broke the formation and went ahead… to get rid of the guild’s main formation…
Did you have to be so extreme?
“Indeed. After stepping into the formation, his eyes were dazed for a moment so I thought that his mind might have succumbed to the formation. But in the end… with two consecutive kicks, the Drunken Heart Beguilement Slaughter Formation broke down and soon afterward… the great formation of the guild was stopped as well. Seeing that there was no way for the examination to continue on, we decided to just step out of the corridor…” the senior explained.
“A grade-4 pinnacle formation and a grade-5 formation can be broken with a single kick?”
Guild Leader Zheng and Wang Haoxun felt as though their worldly horizons were crumbling down.
By the side, Hall Master Sai slapped his forehead.
He thought that Zhang shi would at least a little more reasonable here… But it seemed like he was too naive.
That fellow was just intent on causing trouble wherever he went!
While the crowd was overwhelmed with shock, the main character of the entire saga walked out from the corridor.
In truth, the current Zhang Xuan was slightly nervous.
The first three stages were extremely easy to him. Even without using the Library of Heaven’s Path, with just a glance using the Eye of Insight, he could easily find the core of the formation and kick them to a stop. However, the final stage wasn’t that easy.
A grade-4 pinnacle Beguilement and Slaughter Formation. If not for his Soul Depth having reached 12.0, the level equivalent to a 4-star master teacher, he would have surely lost his ability to think rationally as soon as he stepped in and died from the formation.
At the crucial moment, he activated the strength of the Library of Heaven’s Path and found a few flaws.
Knowing that it was too dangerous then, he didn’t have the time to analyze the consequences of his actions so he immediately kicked the two formations to a halt.
“Seems like it’ll be best for me not to trifle with grade-4 formations in the future…”
Remembering the previous experience, Zhang Xuan still felt a little fearful.
If not for his high Soul Depth, he would have been dead by now.
Since even a grade-4 formation was that scary, it was difficult to imagine how fearsome the higher tiered ones were.
Zhang Xuan thought that formations were nothing but a decoration to him especially since he could determine their flaws via the Eye of Insight and Library of Heaven’s Path. However, he had just realized that his thinking was too naive.
The truly formidable formations would kill one before one could even react. No matter how capable one was and how many flaws in the formation one knew of, it would be for naught.
“Zhang shi, you… managed to break through all of the formations?”
Just as Zhang shi was preparing himself, he saw Guild Leader Zheng and Hall Master Sai walking over with a look of awe.
“I only stopped them temporarily!” Zhang Xuan shook his head.
Breaking a formation meant destroying the formation core. Under such circumstances, it would be difficult for the formation to work again. On the other hand, stopping a formation was different. A formation which had its operation stopped was just a formation that had been ‘switched off’. One could still reactivate it after that.
To summarize, it was just the difference of whether the formation core had been destroyed or not.
Breaking a formation meant destroying the entire formation while stopping a formation meant using a unique method to stop its operation. Even though the effects were similar on the surface, there was a huge difference between the two.
“Stop?” Hearing those words, Guild Leader Zheng and the others heaved a long sigh of relief.
If he had really destroyed the Sea of Formations’ strongest grade-4 formation and the guild’s main formation, then he, as the guild leader, would surely be held accountable.
After explaining the matter, Zhang Xuan asked, “Since I’ve managed to clear the Sea of Formations, can I be considered as an official formation master now?”
“May I know what cultivation realm is Zhang shi at…” Guild Leader Zheng asked.
“I’m at Half-Transcension… However, I should be able to reach Transcendent Mortal 1-dan within the next two days.” Zhang Xuan replied.
Having compiled the Transcendent Mortal 1-dan of the Heaven’s Path Divine Art, as long as he managed to find a Spirit Gathering Formation, he should be able to achieve a breakthrough very quickly.
“One has to possess at least the strength of a Transcendent Mortal 3-dan to apply for the rank of a 4-star formation master. Your cultivation is still lacking…”
Guild Leader Zheng frowned.
Just as he had deduced before, the young man before him hadn’t even reached the Transcendent Mortal realm yet. Bestowing him the rank of a 4-star formation master wasn’t quite possible.
As one of the occupations of the Upper Nine Paths, one of the promotion criteria involved one’s level of cultivation.
Without a sufficiently high cultivation realm to match up with the rank, it wasn’t possible for the rank to be bestowed to one.
A moment later, Guild Leader Zheng said, “How about this? Zhang shi, I’ll give you a quasi 4-star formation master emblem for the time being. At the same time, I’ll report the matter to the headquarter and if they give their approval, there will be no problems giving you the rank of a 4-star formation master! But even if they do not approve the request, given your talents, you should be able to easily reach Transcendent Mortal 3-dan before thirty. By then, you will be automatically given the rank without having to take the examination again!”
“Quasi 4-star formation master?” Zhang Xuan was perplexed.
There was such a rank?
“Indeed. This is how the guild deals with individuals who were able to pass the 4-star formation master examination when their cultivation hasn’t reached the required level yet! It’s the same for most guilds as well. There are some occupations that don’t have a requirement on one’s cultivation realm and an emblem is bestowed straight after the candidate passes the examination, but those number in the minority,” Guild Leader Zheng said.
Take the appraiser occupation for example. Right after Zhang Xuan passed the examination, he was given a 5-star emblem.
“Quasi 4-star formation master works for me too. Then… Can you give me the formation blueprint, flag, and core of a grade-4 Spirit Gathering Formation?”
The main reason why he took the formation master examination was for this. Since he was already a quasi 4-star formation master, he should be qualified to obtain them.
“Un, wait a moment!”
Seeing that the other party was asking for the items, Guild Leader Zheng shook his head with a bitter smile. He turned around to instruct Xiaowu and the latter left the room. Not too long later, the latter returned wiht a jade token, formation core, and flag in hand.
“This is the formation blueprint for a grade-4 Spirit Gathering Formation. You can record it down but make sure not to leak it out!”
Saying so, Guild Leader Zheng passed the jade token over.
Nodding his head, Zhang Xuan took the jade token and immersed his consciousness into it. A formation blueprint appeared in his mind, and it even described the various ways of setting it up when on the differing geographical terrain.
“Hm? Wait, this Spirit Gathering Formation can only extract spiritual energy from ten spirit stones at once?”
After reading the content and the introduction within, Zhang Xuan’s expression showed slight disappointment.
The Spirit Gathering Formation was formidable, but it could only extract spiritual energy from ten spirit stones at once.
Ten was a huge number for others, but to Zhang Xuan… it was far too insufficient.
A single spirit stone would break within two breaths of his cultivation. Even though ten spirit stones could sustain him for a little longer, all in all, it was only twenty breaths. That wasn’t really much of a difference from before.
In the end, he still had to keep switching spirit stones in the formation while attempting to achieve a breakthrough in his cultivation.
“To be capable of extracting spiritual energy from ten spirit stone at a once, this is already the most efficient Spirit Gathering Formation in our guild. It is enough to sustain even the cultivation of a Transcendent Mortal 4-dan expert. Is it still insufficient for Zhang shi?”
Guild Leader Zheng frowned.
A grade-4 Spirit Gathering Formation could already be considered as top-notch within Myriad Kingdom Alliance. If one’s cultivation hadn’t reached the corresponding level, it would be very hard to set it up. If the other party still thought that it was insufficient, there was nothing he could do about it.
After hesitating for a moment, Zhang Xuan carefully asked, “Is there a formation… which can extract the spiritual energy from all of the spirit stones placed within, regardless of the quantity?”
He needed to expend an ocean worth of spirit stone to reach Transcendent Mortal 1-dan. If he could only use ten of them at once, he would surely waste a lot of time.
It would be best if he could put in all of the required spirit stones at a single go. In this way, he could focus his attention on cultivating.
It was just like the petrol tank of a car. If it was the size of a teacup, regardless of how many petrol stations there were on the way, one would be terribly inconvenienced. On the other hand, it would be much convenient if it was the size of a fish tank.
“No limits on the quantity?” Guild Leader Zheng’s mouth twitched. “There is one but… that is a grade-5 Spirit Gathering Formation. Furthermore… I only have the formation blueprint. I don’t have the formation flags and core!”
In Honghai City Formation Guild, the highest rank formation master, Guild Leader Zheng, was only at 4-star pinnacle. He wasn’t capable of preparing a grade-5 formation so naturally, he didn’t possess the materials required to set it up.
Besides, these items were exorbitant, and if one’s rank hadn’t reached the level yet, it would be difficult to obtain the items.
“Only the formation blueprint…”
A deep frown was etched on Zhang Xuan’s forehead.
He’d spent the entire day reading books and taking the formation master examination. Did he really have no choice but to accept this insignificant Spirit Gathering Formation and cultivate slowly?
If that was really the case, then it was really darned!
Campaigning for power stones!!!
