Chapter 19: Innate Talent for Formations

  "Everyone knows we can't lose, but do we have the ability? The current highest cultivation of our sect is just us few old goods, and that's only mid-fourth grade. Other sects almost all have fifth-grade powerhouses, how can we win? Whoever is sent out will definitely not be able to win and will undoubtedly be eliminated first!"

  "What's most detestable is that the Jinwu Sect and Jiuyou Valley look down on us, thinking our strength is insufficient, and mock us everywhere. They say we're a useless sect, and even gave us a nickname - 'Fourth-rate Sect'... They say that whenever they meet us, they'll beat us until we're covered in bruises and feces, and make us hand over the 'Refining Crystal Veins' obediently."

  Several elders mentioned the upcoming war two months later, all of them sighed and lamented, with a sense of frustration and despair that was hard to express.

  They are all veteran figures of the Tiande Sect, watching the Tiande Sect grow step by step and accompanying the Tiande Sect through countless twists and turns. Most importantly, the Tiande Sect gave them a high status and dignity. Seeing that the Tiande Sect's largest artery is about to be dug up, it can be imagined what kind of future awaits them.

  Among the ten sects, with Xie Ping's disappearance, the Ti Yin Sect plummeted from a top sect to the bottom. Others were all at the fifth-grade array master level, while he was only a fourth-grade late-stage cultivator, and then after Yang De Song was killed, he became a fourth-grade mid-stage cultivator. This huge gap could never be made up for again. Of course, unless they had someone who could also advance in grade by killing others like Lin Kuang, and kill fifth-grade early-stage cultivators at the fourth-grade mid-stage level.

  But this is obviously impossible, Lin Huan is an anomaly, a freak, one in a billion.

  Xie Li also shook his head in his heart, this was really too difficult. To pick one out of the fourth-grade mid-term exams,

  To fight one-on-one with a group of five strong opponents and must win, who can do that!

  The first person that came to his mind was Lin Heng, because in the entire Fei Yin Sect, the one with the truly strongest power wasn't any of these four middle-grade cultivators, but rather Lin Heng.

  Secondly, there is a rule in the competition that sects can invite foreign aid, but this foreign aid must be under twenty-five years old. Generally speaking, most sects are not willing to invite foreign aid, after all, those under twenty-five years old, even if they are third-class, are extremely rare.

  To bring in such a level of aid, facing a group of opponents above five-star, it's almost like admitting defeat.

  Xie Li hesitated because Lin Hong was only a third-grade late-stage, and killing a fourth-grade late-stage was his maximum limit! To defeat a fifth-grade would be an impossible task. If Lin Hong failed, then as the young master who personally recommended and made the decision, he would definitely have to take responsibility.

  If Lin Huan was a member of the clan, then it wouldn't be a big deal. But he is an outsider after all, and if he fails, these elders will definitely shift their anger at failure onto him.

  "Shao Zongzhu, express your thoughts on this battle. Who should we send out to fight? My suggestion is to send Zhong Lao, among the several old goods, his 'Tian Luo Sha' is the most powerful. Although it's difficult for him to make it to the end, he might be able to win one or two rounds and not lose too much face." said an elder.

  "I support Zhao's suggestion, among the four of you, although they are all second-rate, but with Zhong's 'Tian Luo Sha', it is the most bizarre and has the greatest lethality. If he can exert his full strength, I'm afraid he can only compare with the later stage of the fourth rank. Only if he goes to battle, there will be a glimmer of hope..."

  "I think sending Huang Changlao is better, although Zhong Changlao's strength is outstanding, but his combat experience is far inferior to Huang Changlao's. In a huge gap, the role of combat experience is even greater. Moreover, Huang Changlao's 'Tian Ku Lei' is also a third-grade martial skill, and it's not much different from 'Tian Luo Sha'..."

  The six elders chattered endlessly, expressing their own views and arguing with each other. In the end, they couldn't come to a conclusion, so they all turned their eyes to Xie Li.

  Xie Li fell silent for a moment, took a deep breath, and then with a resolute gaze swept the crowd slowly, saying word by word: "I have decided to call for reinforcements."

  Several elders were stunned: "Reinforcements?"

  The light of the glowing crystal is very soft and suitable for books, especially in such a quiet and secluded enclosed space.

  Lin Heng held a book "Introduction to Yi-style Array Method" in his hand, frowning and reading carefully. Next to him were placed the nameless secret book and several other books obtained from the hidden library of the Diyi Sect, all of which were about the basics of array methods.

  "The Scripture Pavilion" is a very important place in the sect, where various inherited secret books collected by the sect are treasured.

  Lin Heng, although having a great favor towards Xie Li's siblings, only allowed access to the books about formation techniques in the library. This wasn't because Xie Li was stingy, but rather giving an outsider access to their sect's core location was extremely sensitive. If those elders were to find out, who knows how they would react.

  Lin Heng was uninterested in the martial skills and internal cultivation secrets of the Tiande Temple, as his current level of cultivation didn't require him to pry into these things.

  What he needs is knowledge of the formation method. In his adoptive father's treasure room, he found a total of two secret books. One is "Xuanlian Seven Segment Mystery", and the other is this book without a title, which contains secrets about the formation method.

  Array is a special and massive energy method that can be used for both attack and defense.

  The advantage is that it can mobilize the hidden energy of heaven and earth, producing a terrifying power. The disadvantage is that it can only be fixed in one place, making it difficult to attack fluidly, and setting up requires time.

  Lin Huan is now outside the cave mansion, it's a "Turtle-shaped Array" array.

  It mobilized the energy between heaven and earth, adding a protective cover to the cave, even a sixth-grade warrior found it difficult to break through, showing the powerful might of the formation.

  Setting up an array requires various types of array crystals and space stones, among other materials, to activate and mobilize the energy of a large array. In this world, an array master is far more valuable than a warrior, as the damage value that an array master can create is something that ordinary warriors cannot even begin to compare with.

  Lin Huan had zero contact with formation knowledge in the past, but that didn't mean he looked down on the power of formations. On the contrary, he knew better than anyone else that once one mastered the art of controlling formations, the value gained was not inferior to obtaining any high-level internal martial arts manual.

  The formation is the best and most solid defensive means, and only the formation master can break through the formation.

  However, the knowledge of arrays is complex and difficult to understand, not only requiring hard work and extraordinary talent, but also strong mathematical thinking, making it extremely difficult to enter. However, this point is actually Lin's greatest advantage. In his previous life as a student, the only subjects he excelled in were mathematics, geometry, physics, and even won second prize in a municipal competition.

  Compared with the mathematical knowledge of this world, it is far beyond too much.

  The book introduces the basic knowledge of array methods, various line segments' hooking and inference, spatial stone's landing points and calculation methods, making him feel like he's back in his junior high school math class, gradually getting sucked in. He simply took a piece of black chalk like his adoptive father did, and then wrote down what he thought and remembered in the room, sometimes scribbling calculations.

  For two consecutive days and nights, the entire room was filled with his messy yet solemn data. And the five books about array methods he borrowed from the library, from shallow to deep, made him understand thoroughly. His knowledge of array methods went from zero to a surprising stage.

  At this time, Lin's eyes were full of bloodshot, but he was filled with excitement, a kind of joy of acquiring new knowledge filled his heart.

  He took out the large box of space stones from the space bead, originally thinking that they were all just one type of thing. However, after this period of study, he was able to distinguish that there were over a dozen different types of space stones in the box. Different types of space stones had different functions, some with multiple uses, such as those that could be used to cast space beads while also being used for array formation; others could serve as the central stone for large arrays while also serving as guard stones, commander stones, or camp stones...

  Lin Heng turned the entire box upside down, and the densely packed space stones spilled all over the ground.

  He went back and forth memorizing the types of space stones, then took a glance at the terrain of the room, identifying the flow of energy.

  He only saw him place a slightly larger "Rainbow Crystal Stone" as the master stone in a position on the southeast side, and then he gently twisted his strength, and the Rainbow Crystal Stone gradually disappeared transparently and merged with space. As time flew by, he continued to arrange various spatial stones according to what he had learned, slowly setting them up.

  Half of the space rocks on the ground remained after an hour.

  Lin Heng looked at the completed spatial array, others might not see it, but as the arranger, he clearly felt the position of each spatial stone, and let out a gentle breath. This thing is really complicated, just setting up an array requires so many spatial stones and time, ordinary people can't learn it.

  He retreated to the entrance, just about to activate the formation and test it. Suddenly he shook his head, no, this small "Reversal of Day and Night" formation should have a faint sunset glow after being set up, why wasn't there any sign of that? He squatted down again, recalculating carefully, half an incense stick later, he finally found the mistake in one of the stone's position.

  As he slightly adjusted the position of that piece of space rock, a faint red color emerged, and indeed, like flowing light, it burst forth with a ring of red halo.

  Lin Hengxin's anger burst forth, and he immediately turned to activate the stone, causing the formation to shake violently.

  Suddenly, a wave of energy fluctuated and merged into a vast expanse of white mist that enveloped more than half the room, making it difficult to discern what was inside.

  Lin Heng casually picked up a space stone and threw it upwards. "Bang" The extremely solid space stone touched the outer casing and immediately bounced back!

  "Haha, it really succeeded" A strong sense of satisfaction made him extremely pleased.

  "Let me see your power!" Lin Hua used his accumulated force to punch at the outer casing.

  The outer shell shook slightly and immediately returned to its original state. You bastard, a small formation can actually block my third-grade potential attack?

  Lin Heng had expected the formation's power to be great, but it still exceeded his expectations. He launched a series of attacks in succession, and although the formation shook violently, it remained standing upright.

  "Alright, since the setup is successful, let's see if I can crack you?" Lin Yang calculated for a moment, then pushed a small pile of space stones in front of him.

  He first threw a small stone to the southeast, "whoosh" the stone didn't enter the formation. Then he threw one to the east, this time it bounced out. However, Lin had expected this and suddenly threw out another two stones, flying in different directions to the previously calculated positions, one bouncing out and one entering. Immediately after, he threw faster and faster, until the nineteenth stone "boom" the entire formation collapsed.

  "Haha, succeeded!" Lin Huan was so delighted that he jumped up like a little kid.