108: Chapter 108 The Essentials of the Zhou Tian Formation

After resting on Juechen Island for several days and familiarizing himself with the basic rules of the Sect, Lin Qing finally stepped out of Juechen Island and arrived at one of the core areas of the Chuyun Immortal Sect: the Scripture Pavilion.

The Scripture Pavilion of the Chuyun Immortal Sect stood tall on a large main island in the center of the Sect. A nine-story pavilion rose from the center of the island, encompassing various cultivation systems such as Cultivation Techniques, Spells, Alchemy, Artifact Crafting, Talismans, and Formations. It was a Holy Land of Dao scriptures that countless Cultivators in the East Xuanqing Province dreamed of.

Moreover, the Chuyun Immortal Sect's Scripture Pavilion was not an ordinary building; it was a Divine Artifact that the Sect had spent great effort to create.

A Divine Artifact was, naturally, a Magic Treasure superior to a Spiritual Artifact, generally used by Cultivators in the God Realm.

Stepping into the Scripture Pavilion, spiritual light circulated within, Restrictions crisscrossed, and countless ancient books and Jade Slips were neatly displayed. Lin Qing walked toward the Formation Dao scripture area. This area was not large, and in its center, a table occupied most of the space, with books of the same name neatly stacked upon it—《The Essentials of the Zhou Tian Formation.

Just by looking at its placement, one knew its importance. Furthermore, there were no Restrictions on it, and it could be read freely or even taken away.

Since it was free to read, Lin Qing picked one up and opened it.

《The Essentials of the Zhou Tian Formation was not an ordinary Formation tome that directly recorded Formation diagrams or listed steps for setting up Formations; it only contained a few basic introductory Formations as examples.

It was the general outline of the Formation Dao in this world. It was a masterpiece of culmination, constantly perfected and updated by countless Formation Masters over millions of years. It was the foundational enlightenment for stepping into the Formation Dao, and it was also the core underlying logic for all high-level Formation techniques, strange Formations, kill Formations, and trap Formations.

No matter what kind of strange, complex, and earth-shattering Divine-Grade Formations evolved in later generations, their fundamental principles were all derived from this ancient tome.

Opening the book, the opening sentence, consisting of only a dozen characters, exhausted the fundamentals of Formations:

"The Great Dao is fifty, the Heavenly Derivation is forty-nine, and one escapes."

This sentence meant that the Great Dao still left a glimmer of life, and Formations were the same. All Formations in the world must have a Formation Eye and a flaw; this was the "one." Without the "one," a Formation could not be formed.

The book also provided examples:

That kind of directional attack-type Formation, although possessing earth-shattering power, had a single direction of attack, and the other directions were the flaws of the Formation.

And that kind of inward-gathering kill Formation that surrounded from all directions, seemingly without flaws and all-encompassing, actually necessarily possessed a weak point.

At this point, the attack either missed completely and could not cover it, or the power was greatly reduced, far lower than the rank of the Formation.

The same principle applied to defensive Formations.

A standard sixth-rank defensive grand Formation had a maximum load-bearing capacity corresponding to a Peak sixth-rank offensive, capable of withstanding the full-force bombardment of a sixth-rank Cultivator. But such a Formation also inevitably had a place where, if attacked, one did not need sixth-rank attack power to tear the Formation apart.

Even the Spirit Gathering Array, most commonly used by Cultivators, could not escape this iron law.

The Spirit Gathering Array was like an hourglass. When it operated, it forcibly pulled Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from all four directions to converge, but they would eventually flow out from the center of the hourglass. This location was the Formation Eye of the Spirit Gathering Array.

This resulted in higher Spiritual Qi concentration the closer one got to the Formation Eye. This was the principle by which Cultivators used the Spirit Gathering Array to cultivate; it did not just mindlessly gather Spiritual Qi in one place.

Besides this, 《The Essentials of the Zhou Tian Formation also explained the difference between an ordinary array-setter and a true Formation Master.

As long as there was a complete Formation diagram, even an ordinary Cultivator could complete the setup of a Formation by placing Materials in the appropriate positions, but this could not be called a Formation Master.

A true Formation Master had to be able to adapt to local conditions, without fixed Formation diagrams or fixed Materials, observing the mountains, rivers, and terrain, and observing the flow of Spiritual Qi, to set up a Formation on the spot.

In addition, the ability to break Formations, modify Formations, and repair Formations were all skills that a Formation Master needed to possess.

The book also gave examples of how to judge the strength of a Formation Master's ability.

Taking an inward-gathering sixth-rank kill Formation as an example:

Known to naturally have a weak flaw, a top-tier Formation Master would strengthen the Formation from three directions:

First, hide the flaw as much as possible, using terrain, Spiritual Qi, light and shadow, and Formation patterns to conceal the flaw so that the opponent had no way to find it;

Second, compress the range of the flaw. Even if the opponent luckily found the flaw, the range here was too small, and they would still be unable to escape severe damage;

Third, strengthen the power of the flaw, trying to raise the lower limit of the power at the flaw point, forcibly reinforcing the weak point that was originally far lower than the sixth rank to the Peak of the fifth rank, infinitely close to the grade of the Formation itself.

Defensive Formations, trap Formations, maze Formations, and illusion Formations all followed this reinforcement logic.

And the ability to break Formations only had one sentence—find the Formation Eye. The stronger the ability to find the Formation Eye, the stronger the Formation Master's ability to break Formations.

Therefore, the Formation Dao extremely tested a Cultivator's thinking, Comprehension Ability, and ability to deduce in the moment. Sometimes extreme situations occurred; if a high-level Formation Master experienced a momentary mental block or closed thinking, they might even be unable to break the simplest first-rank basic Formation.

After reading the entire text, Lin Qing felt a lingering fear.

If he had encountered an enemy who used a Formation to trap and kill him in the past, he really wouldn't have known how to deal with it.

After reading the general outline of Formations, Lin Qing's interest was greatly piqued, and he couldn't wait to study Formation diagrams and practice setting up Formations.

However, when he searched in the Formation area, he realized the preciousness of the Formation Legacy. On the shelves, there were only a dozen or so Formation diagrams of various ranks available for exchange, among which Spirit Gathering Arrays and isolation Formations of various ranks occupied the majority.

The prices of the few available attack and defense Formation diagrams were far higher than martial arts and Spells of the same rank, and some were even more expensive than Cultivation Techniques of the same rank.

The reason was actually very simple: if a Formation diagram was exposed, it was equivalent to the Formation Eye being exposed. Once it became public and memorized by opponents, there would be no deterrent power when setting up this Formation in the future.

Therefore, Formation Legacies were rarely made public and were mostly passed down orally by close Revered Masters and Disciples, never entering the market.

Lin Qing was instantly in a dilemma.

Although his Revered Master Jue Chenzi was a Formation Master, he was out traveling to settle old debts, and such trivial matters were not worth disturbing his Revered Master with a transmission.

To get started quickly, he needed to find another way. After thinking for a moment, Lin Qing set off directly for the Sect's Dao Propagation Hall.

The Chuyun Immortal Sect had been educating people for ten thousand years and had a complete system, so naturally, it had areas specifically responsible for teaching.

The Dao Propagation Hall was not a single building but a vast complex of halls, finely divided into areas, encompassing various teaching areas for Cultivation Techniques, Spells, Alchemy, Artifact Crafting, Talismans, and Formations, specifically for Sect Disciples to pursue advanced studies in various side skills.

Walking along the way, Lin Qing soon arrived at the Formation teaching area.

The entrance to the area had a registration desk, with a guarding Disciple in charge, responsible for registering for courses and deducting contribution points.

Lin Qing stepped forward, handed over his Disciple identity token, and said:

"Yellow Character Room Number Three."

The guarding Disciple looked up at Lin Qing. What he saw first was not the identity token in Lin Qing's hand, but Lin Qing's young face.

Before a Cultivator entered the God Realm, their appearance was closely related to their age. Even if the lifespan of a seventh or eighth-rank Cultivator was as long as several hundred years, those who reached the age of several hundred would inevitably have an aged appearance.

In the eyes of the guarding Disciple, Lin Qing's face was youthful, and he must be an Outer Sect Disciple with fifth-rank cultivation.

And he was a noble Inner Sect Disciple.

Thus, after just a simple glance at Lin Qing, he lowered his head again:

"Two hundred contribution points."

"Huh?!"

Lin Qing looked up again at the bulletin board in front, which clearly stated: Yellow Character Room Number Three, first-rank Formation explanation, one hundred contribution points.

Without hesitation, Lin Qing raised his hand and slapped the other person to the ground.

"Slap!"

"If I hadn't taken a Revered Master, I wouldn't argue with you if you bullied me like this. But now that I have a Revered Master, and I'm still being bullied by you like this, then I would have taken a Revered Master for nothing!"

Lin Qing did not kill him. The Chuyun Immortal Sect had strict rules, and private fighting and killing among fellow Disciples were strictly prohibited. Even with Lin Qing's status, easily killing an Inner Sect Disciple would result in punishment.

At the very least, he would be grounded on Juechen Island for a day!

"Ouch, damn it!"

The Inner Sect Disciple hurriedly climbed up from the ground and rushed toward Lin Qing. The closer he got, the wider his eyes widened, and finally, he slid to his knees and skidded to a stop in front of Lin Qing.

He had seen the Personal Disciple token in Lin Qing's hand.

Although Lin Qing was a Disciple of Jue Chenzi and had a special status, the Sect did not have such a token, so Lin Qing's token was just the highest-spec Personal Disciple token among Disciples.

The guarding Disciple knelt in front of Lin Qing, his face full of panic:

"Senior Brother, please forgive me! It was this little brother who was blind! You can go in and attend the lecture directly; no contribution points are needed!"

Lin Qing did not argue with him further, put away his identity token, and turned to walk toward Yellow Character Room Number Three.

The contribution points would naturally be made up by this guarding Disciple himself.

After Lin Qing's figure walked away, the guarding Disciple slowly got up, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

Several Disciples passing by who were watching the excitement only then started whispering.

"Holy crap! A Personal Disciple? A seventh-rank so young?"

"Not necessarily seventh-rank; it could also be a Personal Disciple of some big shot."

"That's even more untouchable!"

Ordinary Personal Disciples could still be restrained by Sect rules, but if a Personal Disciple committed an offense, although there was punishment on the surface, others had their own ways to reduce the punishment.