Chapter 404: Formations Master Challenge 1

Zhen Yuan’s opponent was called Sima Ling.

He was the sixteenth disciple of the fifth mountain’s peak elder and was a well-known formation master.

Most importantly, he was born in a prominent family of formation masters. As a result, his formation’s inheritance was even more profound than that of the Tianxuan sect.

“I have heard fellow Daoist Zhen is an incredible formation master. I hope we can learn from each other.” Sima Ling said, his lips curled in a pleasant smile, but his eyes were filled with mockery.

’Why do I always get the strange ones?’ Zhen Yuan wordlessly complained when he saw the mockery.

However, he didn’t dwell on it.

After all, he only needed to win and wasn’t obligated to become friends with his challenger.

Thinking this, he nodded and turned to Yang Zitao.

Seeing the look, Yang Zitao sighed and began explaining the competition.

“The formations challenge has two aspects.” He started and quickly continued.

“The first is arranging a formation and the second is breaking one.”

“Each of you will be required to arrange a level seven heavenly inferno formation using the provided materials. Afterwards, you will break each other’s formation.” The elder said, and the spectators couldn’t help but be excited.

“I can’t believe they are arranging the heavenly inferno formation.” A female cultivator said with a surprised expression.

“Fellow Daoist, you know the heavenly inferno formation?” A nearby spectator asked, and the female cultivator nodded.

“I am a formation master.” She said and quickly continued.

“The heavenly inferno formation is a killing array that draws fire from the sun, creating a sea of deadly flames. However, …”

“However?”

“The heavenly inferno formation is powerful, but it has quite a few limitations. It’s because of this that its use is unpopular and its map has almost been lost. As far as I know, only the Sima family has the map of the heavenly inferno formation.”

“Limitations? Senior sister, can you tell us about it?” A male cultivator asked.

“The formation has three major limitations.” The female cultivator said, swallowed, and continued.

“First, it’s powerful when the sun is bright but mediocre when the sun is down. This makes it unreliable at night and on cloudy days when the sun is hidden.”

“That’s a pretty big limitation.” Someone said, and the surrounding cultivators couldn’t help but agree.

After all, no one could guarantee that their enemy wouldn’t take advantage of this loophole to attack when the formation was at its weakest.

“I wouldn’t dare to use this formation even if I was sure that the enemy would attack during the day.” Someone said.

“Me too. It’s possible to calculate the enemy, but what about the weather? What if there is a sudden downpour or clouds covering the sun?”

“It’s why the heavenly inferno formation is so unpopular.” The female cultivator said and continued.

“The second limitation is the method of arranging the formation.” She said, and the surrounding cultivators couldn’t help but be confused.

“What do you mean?” Someone asked.

“Arranging the heavenly inferno formation doesn’t require many or precious materials. However, it requires a deep understanding of heaven and earth.”

“I still don’t understand.” A male cultivator said and subconsciously frowned.

“Most formations require spirit stones and other materials to arrange, but the heavenly inferno formation uses heaven and earth as the material. Without a good understanding, the formation will collapse, and even if it doesn’t, it may not work well.”

Most of the surrounding cultivators frowned and shook their heads when they heard the explanation.

“This formation isn’t worth studying.” Someone said, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Most formation masters think so.” The female cultivator sighed and continued.

“Finally, the formation may not require precious materials, but arranging it is taxing on the qi and soul power.” She said.

Hearing this, the surrounding spectators turned to the stage and couldn’t help but pity Zhen Yuan.

“Fellow Daoist Zhen may not win this challenge.” Someone said.

“I think it’s a little early to talk about winning.” Another said and quickly continued.

“Can he even arrange the formation?” He asked.

“Now that you mention it…, only the Sima family has the map of the heavenly inferno formation.”

“This challenge is deliberately unfair to fellow Daoist Zhen.”

“Fellow Daoist Zhen and junior brother Shen have already embarrassed six challengers. I think the young sect masters no longer want to pretend.”

“It’s a pity, but fellow Daoist Zhen and junior brother Shen haven’t suffered too much of a loss in these challenges.”

“I think so too. After all, they will still get six treasures even if they lose the remaining four challenges.”

“Do you really think the elders will allow them to choose from the sect treasury?”

“I think they will, but it’s likely they will hide the good things before allowing the two into the treasury.”

“Fellow Daoist Zhen and junior brother Shen may not get priceless treasures, but they will definitely get valuable resources. After all, the elders want to count on them for future competitions.”

While the spectators were speculating, Yang Zitao continued the explanation.

“You will have one day to arrange the formation and three shichen to break your opponent’s array.” He said, but didn’t stop there.

“The assessment will follow three criteria – grade, effectiveness, and the time needed to break the formation. Grade will carry one point, effectiveness has four points, and time has five points.”

Hearing this, Sima Ling tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

“Can we use our own formation flags?” He asked, but Yang Zitao shook his head.

“You will use the provided formation flags, but you can use your own methods to break your opponent’s array.”

“Understood.” Sima Ling said and smiled with a careless expression.

After Yang Zitao finished his explanation, Sima Ling turned to Zhen Yuan.

“How about a bet?” He asked, and Zhen Yuan sighed before nodding.

“I am in.” He said, and Sima Ling chuckled, but a trace of mockery flashed in his eyes.

“I will give you the heavenly inferno formation map if you win the challenge. What do you think?” Sima Ling asked, and Zhen Yuan almost rolled his eyes.

’As I guessed, I drew another inexplicable one.’ He thought, recalling Zhou Yanyu.

However, neither his heart nor expression wavered, giving the impression that Sima Ling’s mockery did not disturb him.

“Your heavenly inferno formation map is worthless to me.” Zhen Yuan said in an indifferent voice, but Sima Ling didn’t lose his smile.

Instead, his smile widened, and his expression became more careless.

“It seems fellow Daoist Zhen looks down on my Sima family’s inheritance.” He said, but Zhen Yuan didn’t react.

After all, he indeed looked down on the Sima family’s inheritance.

Although he had never studied the Sima family’s inheritance, Zhen Yuan instinctively knew that his inheritance was superior to any that he would ever encounter.

Considering that, he chose to neither confirm nor deny the assertion that he looked down on the opponent’s inheritance.

“Daoist Sima can suggest something else.” Zhen Yuan said, and a trace of anger flashed in Sima Ling’s eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

“I won’t force it since fellow Daoist Zhen looks down on my family’s inheritance.” He said and quickly continued.

“How about formation materials? Are they acceptable, or does fellow Daoist Zhen look down on my family’s materials?” Sima Ling asked, and Zhen Yuan sighed.

’Annoying.’ He thought, but forcibly suppressed his impatience.

Although he got some formation materials from Jianyu and bought others from the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, Zhen Yuan felt it was better to have more or less.

After all, it was normal for formation flags to break and materials to be damaged or lose their aura.

That said, since the other party was looking for a fight, Zhen Yuan decided to cooperate to the end.

“Formation materials are fine, but it’s meaningless to bet on those that can be easily bought in shops.” He said.

Sima Ling nodded when he heard this.

He had long realised that Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan were uncommonly wealthy.

Considering that, he planned to trick a few good resources from Zhen Yuan, a person who didn’t know his own weight.

“Why don’t we make it more interesting and bet on three things?” He suggested, and Zhen Yuan raised an eyebrow but nodded.

“The first thing is a set of level eight formation flags, the second is a set of level eight formation breaking coins, and the third is ten formation materials. The materials must be level eight and of different elements. What do you think?”

The elders and spectators were shocked when they heard the bet.

After all, although level eight materials were not as rare as level nine, they were still precious and hard to come by.

“Is Daoist Sima really willing to part with a light element and a dark element formation material?” Zhen Yuan asked.

He got light and dark element formation materials from Jianyu.

However, he only got a few pieces, which showed how rare and precious the materials were.

“What’s there to be reluctant about?” Sima Ling asked with a confident expression.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep