Chapter 504 The arrival of the Holy Scholar at the Array Dao Academy caused a sensation!

Emerging from the Yunqi Courtyard atop Heaven Pillar Peak.

Jiang Yun did not summon Little Skylark.

Besides.

Heaven Pillar Peak was the location of the Holy Son Courtyard, and it was not far from the various academy areas at the foot of the mountain; walking there would only take a few moments.

He slowly descended the stone steps of Heaven Pillar Peak, his robes fluttering gently in the morning breeze.

However, just as he reached the foot of the mountain and stepped onto the main road leading to the various courtyards, students began to appear one after another.

Those students had originally been gathered in twos and threes, heatedly discussing the Ancestral Dragon phenomenon that had just streaked across the sky...

Some said it was a resonance between heaven and earth caused by a dean breaking through to the Sun-Level, others claimed it was an ancient treasure suppressed deep within the academy being unearthed, and still others swore they had seen a golden dragon soar into the sky from the top of Heaven Pillar Peak with their own eyes.

The arguments rose and fell, with no one able to convince the other.

Then, someone saw Jiang Yun.

"Look, look! Isn't that the Sacred Student?! The Sacred Student has come down from Heaven Pillar Peak!"

As this shout rang out, everyone's gaze in the vicinity turned in unison toward the stone steps.

Those students who had been arguing about the source of the phenomenon instantly shut their mouths, their pupils dilating slightly at the same time.

"The Sacred Student?! It really is the Sacred Student! He's coming down from Heaven Pillar Peak at this time... don't you understand yet?! That phenomenon just now erupted with the Holy Son Courtyard as its center! The entire Heaven Pillar Peak was enveloped in the light of that phenomenon! Now that the Sacred Student is coming down from the mountain, doesn't that explain everything?! There's an eighty percent chance that the phenomenon was caused by the Sacred Student!"

A Gold Rank student slapped his companion's shoulder hard, his voice cracking with excitement.

"Nonsense! Who else could it be besides the Sacred Student? Think about when the Sacred Student's Divine Roc crushed Sect Master Feng Tianyang during the arena match; that was an Amethyst Sixth Tier fighting a Purple Crystal Ninth Rank Peak! It hasn't even been a day since the arena match, and the Sacred Student has caused such a heaven and earth phenomenon that covered the entire academy... Does this even need to be asked? It must be that the Sacred Student has broken through again! And the commotion of this Breakthrough is even bigger than the one at the arena match; maybe one of the Sacred Student's beasts has directly broken through to the Diamond Rank!"

Another student clutched his head with both hands, looking at Jiang Yun as if he were a monster, his voice filled with irrepressible shock.

"Diamond Rank? From Gold Rank to Diamond Rank in one week? Do you think cultivating beasts is like drinking water?"

An older student nearby frowned and retorted.

"Don't believe it if you don't want to! The Sacred Student was already Amethyst Sixth Tier during the last arena match! Those Legendary skills he used when his Divine Roc fought Sect Master Feng Tianyang, which one of them didn't consume a massive amount of energy? He was still calm and composed after the fight, as if his spiritual energy was endless! This kind of endurance is simply not something that should belong to the Amethyst Rank! I suspect that the Sacred Student's true Realm might have long since surpassed the Amethyst Rank! He is just deliberately suppressing his Realm because he doesn't want to be too flashy!"

The student became more and more excited as he spoke.

The more he spoke, the more he felt his analysis was well-founded.

"So that's it! No wonder the Sacred Student acts so low-key! Despite having the strength to crush the sixth place on the Heaven Ranking, he never actively shows off! This Heart-Nature, this level of vision, is simply..."

"Simply a role model for the Beast Tamer world! Look, the Sacred Student doesn't even ride his beast when going out now; he just walks quietly, without any airs of an expert! If it were someone like Sect Master Feng Tianyang, if he had half the strength of the Sacred Student, he would probably be dying to ride his beast and circle the academy three times a day! The Sacred Student, on the other hand, is more low-key the stronger he gets!"

Jiang Yun took in all the discussions around him.

His expression remained unchanged.

He was not being deliberately low-key; he just felt that walking from the mountain to the Formation Institute was only a few steps, and there was no need to summon Little Skylark at every turn.

But clearly, in the eyes of these students, everything he did was automatically imbued with some profound meaning.

Walking low-key was humility and restraint, summoning the Divine Roc was an imposing Aura, not speaking was being unfathomable, and speaking was being a man of his word.

To be honest, he was not quite used to this feeling of being surrounded by stars.

However, he also understood that this was the inevitable result brought about by strength...

When your strength far exceeds your peers.

Any of your actions will be interpreted in an amplified way.

This is not their fault; it is human nature.

He did not deliberately correct the students' speculations, nor did he stop to enjoy their worship.

To those students who bowed respectfully to him, he nodded slightly in return, but his pace never stopped.

"Greetings, Sacred Student!"

A young Bronze Rank student was flushed red with excitement, cupped his hands and bowed ninety degrees, his voice trembling.

Jiang Yun nodded slightly.

"Hello."

With just these two words, the student was as if invigorated, almost jumping up on the spot with excitement.

"The Sacred Student replied to me! The Sacred Student said hello to me! My life is worth it!"

Jiang Yun heard the cheers behind him.

He smiled helplessly in his heart.

He quickened his pace a little more.

Now he finally understood why some experts liked to stay out of sight...

It was not because they were cold and aloof, but because going out was like being a rare beast on display; no one could stand that.

After walking for about half an hour.

The architectural style around him began to change quietly.

The pavilions on both sides of the main road gradually transitioned from the general style of flying eaves and arched brackets to a more orderly and rigorous geometric style.

Scattered low stone platforms appeared on the roadside, covered in dense Formation markings, some of which were still glowing faintly, clearly in operation.

The air was filled with a faint scent of black jade dust...

That was the scent left behind after grinding the specialized black jade used for carving Formation markings.

The closer one got to the Formation Institute.

The stronger this scent of black jade became.

Finally.

A towering stone gate appeared at the end of his line of sight.

The stone gate was carved entirely from a single piece of blue-gray boulder, about ten zhang high and six zhang wide, with three vigorous and ancient large characters carved on the lintel...

Formation Institute.

The brushwork was sharp yet rounded, and subtle Law markings flowed faintly within every stroke; clearly, the person who carved the characters had already infused their own insights into the Formation Dao into the strokes while writing.

On the stone pillars on both sides of the stone gate, countless overlapping and nested Formation markings were densely engraved; those Formation markings were layered like a spider web, precise and complex, yet orderly and interlocking, without a single redundant spot.

Standing in front of the gate, one could feel a deep and heavy foundation of the Formation Dao rushing toward them.

Jiang Yun stood outside the stone gate and observed for a moment, nodding inwardly.

This Formation Institute was like a school within a school; within the stone gate, several bluestone paths could be faintly seen winding toward different pavilions and courtyards, each building arranged extremely regularly, connected by Formation markings, and the layout of the entire courtyard area was itself a giant Formation.

The other Inner Courts were probably the same...

Each occupying an independent area, cultivating specialized Disciples with their own unique Legacy systems.

He did not hesitate much.

He stepped directly into the stone gate.

The moment he stepped into the Formation Institute.

The surrounding world seemed to quiet down instantly.

The noise and clamor outside the courtyard were isolated by that layer of invisible Formation Dao Law, replaced by a nearly solemn tranquility.

On both sides of the bluestone paths, a few low stone platforms and pavilions were scattered, where students sat in twos and threes, diligently studying. Some held black jade pens, repeatedly carving basic runes on a palm-sized Formation Plate, each drop of the pen tip extremely slow and precise, not even bothering to wipe the fine beads of sweat seeping from their foreheads.

Some sat cross-legged on the stone platforms, with a Formation Flag that had already taken shape floating in front of them, dozens of Formation markings on the flag slowly circulating. His eyes were tightly closed, and he was using Mental Energy to adjust the spiritual energy circulation path between the Formation markings bit by bit, his brows tightly locked, his lips pursed into a thin line.

Others simply sat on the ground, with a stack of Formation Dao classics half a person's height piled beside them, flipping through books while tracing complex Formation diagrams on the ground with their fingers, muttering to themselves, completely unaware of anyone passing by.

Since entering the Formation Institute, Jiang Yun had passed at least a dozen Formation Dao students, several of whom he had seen on the spectator stands during the arena match...

Those who could get on the arena match spectator stands were at least Gold Rank Peak students.

But at this moment, none of these people looked up at him; it wasn't deliberate ignoring, but rather they simply didn't notice anyone passing by.

Their entire focus was immersed in the world of Formation markings between the square inch in their hands, as if everything in the outside world had nothing to do with them.

A trace of respect could not help but arise in Jiang Yun's heart.

The academic atmosphere of this Formation Institute.

Was purer than he had imagined.

The students who could be admitted to Sky Dome Academy were all elites selected from various places, and those who could enter the Inner Court to specialize in one lineage were the elites among the elites.

But here, these elites were willing to sit on stone platforms day after day, grinding away at a palm-sized Formation Plate, wrestling with a Formation marking thinner than a hair, and spending the whole afternoon on a classic as thick as a brick.

Not everyone could persist in this kind of boring cultivation method.

The Formation Dao lineage was different from others...

Students of the Beast Taming Institute could bring their beasts to the martial arts arena for a hearty fight, students of the Pill Institute could watch with their own eyes a furnace of Medicinal Pill taking shape in the flames, and students of the Artifact Institute could feel the power by listening to the roaring sound of casting hammers hitting iron blocks.

And the students of the Formation Institute faced silent Formation markings, colorless Laws, and invisible deductions.

This loneliness was, in itself, a threshold.

He collected his thoughts and brought his attention back to the matter at hand.

The map of Sky Dome Academy was already firmly in his mind; the residence of the Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi was in the deepest part of the courtyard area, adjacent to the core Formation pavilion of the Formation Institute.

But the problem now was...

Was the Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi in his residence?

Jiang Yun glanced at the sky; about half an hour had passed since the Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi left the Yunqi Courtyard.

Half an hour was enough for an Eclipsing Moon Rank Formation Dao Grandmaster to fly from the Holy Son Courtyard back to the Formation Institute, but it might not be enough for him to be settled in his residence.

Perhaps the Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi was teaching somewhere, or guiding Disciples in some Formation pavilion.

Just as he was thinking about whether he should find someone to ask, a young man was walking toward him from not far away, holding a stack of thick Formation Dao classics.

The young man was lowering his head, walking while gesturing in the air with his fingers, muttering to himself, as if deducing the spiritual energy circulation path of some Formation marking, completely unaware that someone was standing in front of him.

Jiang Yun walked up.

And spoke politely.

"Fellow student, may I ask where the Dean of Array Department is at the moment?"

The young man heard the voice, the deduction movement on his fingers stopped abruptly, and his brows frowned subconsciously.

He was just deducing to a key node; being interrupted was like someone bumping the table when a puzzle he had worked so hard to finish was almost complete, and that annoyance surged up almost instinctively.

"Where is the Dean of Array Department? Don't you know that today the Dean of Array Department is going to hold a lecture and teach all the students of the academy at the lecture platform in the courtyard square?"

His tone carried some impatience from being interrupted, and he continued without even raising his head.

"Everyone has run over to listen, only you are still wandering around here... Are you a student of my Formation Institute? How could you ask such a question!"

Saying this, he frowned and raised his head, his gaze sweeping impatiently toward Jiang Yun's face.

Then.

His pupils dilated sharply.

The stack of classics in his hands slid to the ground with a clatter, a few heavy ones landing on his own feet, but he was completely unaware.

He opened his mouth, his lips trembling violently several times, as if his throat was blocked by something, the sound he made was sharp and broken, completely out of tune.

"You, you, you, you! You are... the Sacred Student?! Damn! It really is the Sacred Student! Alive! It's a living Sacred Student! Oh my mom! I actually saw a living Sacred Student!!"

The corners of Jiang Yun's mouth twitched slightly.

How did this sound so awkward... what did he mean by a living Sacred Student?

Could it be that there were dead Sacred Students in the academy?

He was just about to open his mouth to explain that he just wanted to ask for directions, but before he could say a second word, the young man had already turned around abruptly like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and ran wildly toward the depths of the courtyard.

He shouted at the top of his lungs while running, his voice exploding in the solemn air of the Formation Institute, the echoes bouncing back and forth between several stone buildings.

"Holy crap!! The Sacred Student is here!! The Sacred Student has come to our Formation Institute!! The Sacred Student is going to join our Formation Institute!! The Sacred Student is going to become a student of our Formation Institute!!"

His voice grew more distant, but the range of its spread grew wider and wider.

Several students along the way who were burying their heads in carving Formations on stone tables were startled by this shout, causing their hands to tremble and their ink jade pens to nearly slip and ruin the Formation on their Formation Plate.

Then, they realized what the shouting was about, and one after another, they put down their Formation Plates, stood up, and stretched their necks to look in the direction the voice came from.

Students looking through classic texts in several pavilions also lifted their heads in unison, looking at each other with faces full of disbelief.

"What on earth is that guy yapping about?"

A student who was lying on the ground copying a Formation diagram lifted his head, looking disheveled, and frowned as he watched the figure running away wildly.

"It sounds like... the Sacred Student is here? The Sacred Student is going to join our Formation Institute?"

Another student beside him chimed in uncertainly, his ink jade pen still hovering in mid-air; he didn't even notice the ink from the tip dripping onto the Formation pattern he had just drawn.

"The Sacred Student?! Are you talking about that Heavenly Saint Student Jiang Yun who insta-killed Lin Xinmu in the arena match, forced Lin Feng to kneel, crushed Sect Master Feng Tianyang, and suppressed an entire sect by himself?! That kind of Prodigy is coming to our Formation Institute?!"

"It doesn't sound like he's just coming... he's already here! Didn't you hear him shout that the Sacred Student is here?! The Sacred Student is in the Formation Institute right now! Right here in our Formation Institute!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the reaction of all the surrounding students was surprisingly consistent.

First shock, then wild joy, and then incredulous confirmation.

Shock and wild joy intertwined, making these usually steady and restrained Formation Institute students act as if they had been injected with adrenaline.

"The Heavenly Saint Student! That's the Heavenly Saint Student appointed by the Head Dean! SSS-Rank Talent! He went from Gold Rank to Amethyst Rank in one week, and his Beast Taming Bloodline is the top of the top... a top-tier Bloodline, a True Dragon Beast! If such a Prodigy joins our Formation Institute, wouldn't we just take off?! Our Formation Institute has always been suppressed by the Beast Taming Institute and the Pill Institute, isn't that just because we lack a top-tier Prodigy who can hold down the fort? If the Sacred Student really joins the Formation Institute, who will we be afraid of in the academy from now on?!"

"It's not just a matter of who we're afraid of! With the Sacred Student's talent, do you think he'll be slow at learning Formation Dao? He crushed the sixth place on the Heaven Ranking just over a month after enrollment! I suspect he could become a Formation Dao Great Master in less than a month! A Formation Dao Great Master! Something we've struggled for years to even dare think about might just be like child's play to him! This is the value of an SSS-Rank Talent!"

In an instant, the atmosphere of the entire Formation Institute changed completely.

Those students who were immersed in the world of Formation patterns put down their work one after another, stretching their necks to look toward the academy plaza. Some even put down their Formation Plates and stood up to walk toward the plaza, fearing they would miss the historic moment of witnessing the Sacred Student joining the Formation Institute.

Meanwhile, in the plaza of the Inner Court of the Formation Institute, this plaza was completely different from the plazas of other academies...

The ground was not made of ordinary bluestone slabs, but of a single, massive piece of Formation foundation stone that had undergone special tempering.

The Formation foundation stone was dark gray, its surface covered with dense Formation pattern carvings. Every carving had been precisely calculated, nested and connected with each other, forming the core hub of the entire Formation Institute's underground grand Formation.

In the very center of the plaza stood a circular stone lecture platform about three feet high. The edge of the lecture platform was surrounded by nine concentric circles of Formation patterns, each with different attributes...

The innermost circle was the Basic Spiritual Energy Formation, followed by the Elemental Conversion Formation, Law Amplification Formation, Space Compression Formation, Time Fine-tuning Formation, and so on...

The nine circles of Formation patterns were layered and progressive, forming an extremely precise composite grand Formation used for teaching.

The person teaching on the lecture platform could use this grand Formation to project the deduction process of any Formation pattern into the air above the plaza in the form of three-dimensional light and shadow, allowing every student present to see it clearly.

At this moment, on the lecture platform, Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi was sitting cross-legged. Floating in front of him was a three-foot-square phantom of a Formation Plate, with dozens of Formation patterns slowly flowing within the phantom.

He tapped his finger lightly on the phantom, and one of the Formation patterns was extracted separately, magnified dozens of times, and floated above the plaza.

That Formation pattern was pale gold and extremely complex in structure, composed of seven nested basic runes. Each rune was connected to the others by three spiritual energy channels of different attributes. When spiritual energy flowed through the channels, it would undergo three direction changes, with each change corresponding to an attribute change.

"Everyone, look at this seven-layer nested Formation pattern. It is composed of seven basic runes nested in the order of the Five Elements generation, with each rune forming a two-way spiritual energy cycle with the runes before and after it. Pay attention here..."

Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi's finger slowly traced across the densest node in the center of the Formation pattern, and that node immediately lit up with a soft golden light.

"When the seven-layer nesting is complete, the spiritual energy circulation efficiency of the Formation pattern is not simply a seven-fold superposition. Because each layer of nesting produces a spiritual energy amplification based on the previous layer, with seven layers of nesting, the final amplification efficiency is twenty-one times that of a single Formation pattern, not seven times. This is the core advantage of the nested structure... the amplification factor grows geometrically with the number of nesting layers, rather than linearly."

The hundreds of Formation Institute students sitting on the ground in the plaza let out an irrepressible gasp of amazement in unison.

Some were frantically recording something in notebooks on their knees, some were using their hands to trace the direction of the Formation patterns in the air, attempting to deduce them on the spot, and some were frowning in deep thought. The entire plaza was permeated with an atmosphere of study so focused it was almost stagnant.

Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi was very satisfied with his Disciples' reaction and was about to break down the last nested node of this Formation pattern for a detailed explanation when a sharp roar suddenly exploded from the entrance of the plaza, like a giant rock crashing into a calm lake.

"Hahahaha!! Fellow students!! The Sacred Student has come to our Formation Institute!! The Sacred Student is going to join our Formation Institute!! The Sacred Student is going to become a student of our Formation Institute!!"

The voice was sharp and excited, so excited that it completely cracked, bouncing back and forth several times over the solemn plaza of the Formation Institute before gradually dissipating.

The hundreds of Formation Institute students present turned their heads almost simultaneously, looking in unison in the direction the voice came from, their eyes filled with confusion and astonishment.

The focused atmosphere in the plaza was torn wide open in that instant.

"What the heck? What is that guy shouting?"

A student sitting in the front row frowned, his ink jade pen still hovering over a half-drawn Formation diagram.

"I think I heard something about... the Sacred Student joining the Formation Institute?"

"The Sacred Student?! Are you talking about that Sacred Student Jiang Yun who crushed the sixth place on the Heaven Ranking in the arena match and cleared the entire Jingfeng Sect from the arena by himself?!"

"Isn't he a Beast Taming Prodigy? What is he doing coming to the Formation Institute? Could he really be joining our Formation Institute?"

"Is it real or fake? He's a top-tier Prodigy! If he really joins our Formation Institute, wouldn't our Formation Institute be several heads above the other Inner Courts? The Heavenly Saint Student! That's the academy's number one Prodigy specially appointed by the Head Dean! If such a Prodigy comes to learn Formation Dao, I'm afraid he could be aiming to become a Formation Dao Great Master in less than a month, right? By then, our Formation Institute's status in the academy will be..."

"A month? You're underestimating the Sacred Student too much! He went from Gold Rank to Amethyst Rank in one week after enrollment, and crushing the sixth place on the Heaven Ranking was like child's play to him. This kind of Prodigy learns everything fast! Forget a month, he might be able to touch the threshold of a Formation Dao Great Master in half a month! This is a living legend!"

On the lecture platform, Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi's finger, which had been hovering in mid-air, froze.

He had just witnessed Jiang Yun display the True Dragon and take out the Saint King Rank heavenly fire profound iron at the Yunqi Courtyard, and Vice Dean Ming Jing had specifically instructed everyone to keep the news about the heavenly fire profound iron a secret. It had only been half an hour, and the Sacred Student was already coming to the Formation Institute?

And said he wanted to join the Formation Institute?

His first reaction was not surprise, but suspicion... This news was spreading too outrageously.

He was very clear about Vice Dean Ming Jing's positioning of Jiang Yun. Back then, Vice Dean Ming Jing had said personally that the Sacred Student's training method should not be restricted to the system of any single institute, and all Inner Courts should be unconditionally open to him.

For Beast Taming issues, go to the Beast Taming Institute; for Medicinal Pill needs, go to the Pill Institute; for equipment forging, go to the Artifact Institute; for Formation assistance, go to the Formation Institute... Use whatever is needed, without having to go through the process of joining any institute.

This kind of treatment was the first in the entire history of the Sky Dome Academy. Since he had this kind of privilege, why would Jiang Yun need to specifically come to the Formation Institute to apply for admission?

This news was most likely a case of students spreading rumors, which ended up becoming the Sacred Student wanting to join the Formation Institute.

He frowned and was just about to sternly stop the student who was still shouting at the entrance of the plaza and seriously disrupting the classroom order, when his gaze swept toward the plaza entrance...

Then his pupils suddenly shrank. Not far behind the troublemaking student, a slender and upright figure was walking over slowly.

A handsome face, a calm expression, and robes fluttering gently in the breeze of the Formation Institute's unique ink jade dust. It was none other than Jiang Yun.

Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi's expression shook. The scolding that was about to blurt out was swallowed back hard. The Sacred Student really came? What is he doing here?

They had just parted ways on the top of Heaven Pillar Peak half an incense stick ago, and he had rushed to the Formation Institute so quickly... Could there really be an urgent matter? Or, is it possible that he has really developed an interest in the path of Formations?

Thinking of this, Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi couldn't help but feel a surge of irrepressible anticipation in his heart.

Although his reason told him it was impossible for the Sacred Student to go through the process of joining any institute, what if? What if this Prodigy youth, who had repeatedly refreshed everyone's perception, refreshed his perception again today?

The students on the plaza also noticed the slender figure at the entrance at this moment. Then, the silence of the entire plaza was torn to shreds by the rising and falling exclamations.

"Holy crap, holy crap!! It really is the Sacred Student!! That person behind is the Sacred Student! He really is here!!"

"Great! Could the Sacred Student really be joining our Formation Institute!! Our Formation Institute is finally going to produce a top-tier Prodigy who can suppress the Beast Taming Institute and the Pill Institute!!"

"Calm down! We don't know what the Sacred Student is here for yet! Maybe he's just here to ask the Dean about something!"

"No matter what he's here for, the fact that he's here is a good thing! If the Sacred Student really joins our Formation Institute, our status in the academy will skyrocket from now on! By then, students from other Inner Courts will have to be polite when they see us!"

Seeing that the discussions on the plaza were getting louder and louder, the originally orderly teaching atmosphere had been completely broken. Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi knew that if he let these Disciples continue to be excited, this class would not be able to continue.

He slowly stood up, flicked his sleeves gently, and a gentle yet unquestionable pressure spread from the lecture platform to the surroundings like an invisible ripple, suppressing all the noise on the plaza at once.

"Quiet."

Two words, and the entire plaza instantly quieted down. All the students closed their mouths, but their gazes were still fixed in unison on the slender and upright figure at the entrance of the plaza, and then turned in unison to Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi on the lecture platform, their eyes switching frantically between the two, filled with anticipation and curiosity.

Dean of Array Department Xuan Jizi stood on the lecture platform, his gaze falling on Jiang Yun, his tone carrying a touch of well-measured gentleness and confusion. "Sacred Student, I wonder what business brings you to my Formation Institute in person?"