Chapter 27: Comprehending the Formation

Everything unfolded exactly as Lu Yang had predicted; in the end, Zhao Xuhe still sold the "Nine Transformations Dragon Transformation Art" to him at the cheap price of 1,500 contribution points.

That’s just how people are when they are in debt.

After obtaining the "Nine Transformations Dragon Transformation Art," Lu Yang immediately returned to his cave dwelling. He memorized the contents of the manual word for word and sentence by sentence before putting it away again.

"It's a pity I can't cultivate right now."

Having transformed his body into a blood shadow, his cultivation neither increased nor decreased, remaining eternally stuck at the late stage of Qi Refinement. Even if he wanted to dissipate his cultivation, it was impossible; he could only wait for his next life.

That being said, Lu Yang was in no hurry to commit suicide.

Time was precious, and even with the [Book of a Hundred Lifetimes], he would not waste it easily. Even if he couldn't cultivate, there were other ways for him to continue making progress.

Thinking of this, Lu Yang took out Fairy Qingchen's "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures" from his storage bag.

That's right, he was going to learn formations!

The four arts of cultivation were Formations, Artifacts, Alchemy, and Talismans. Possessing even one of these skills would immediately make one a high-level talent in the cultivation world, capable of making a living anywhere.

Take Fairy Qingchen, for example; Lu Yang felt she was truly a talent. Not only did she know formations, but she could also refine formations into magical treasures. Unfortunately, her judgment in men was terrible; she had fallen for two successive scumbags who turned on her without hesitation, leading to her dying with resentment in both of her lives.

Opening the "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures," the very first page made Lu Yang unable to help but sigh.

[What is called an Array Treasure is to use an array as a treasure and a treasure as an array. The two complement each other, and the technique within was researched through the painstaking efforts of this author.]

[To learn this path, both talent and hard work are indispensable.]

Following the preface, the second page was covered in dense, intricate patterns, with every single line accompanied by annotations explaining its meaning.

[The Way of Formations relies primarily on array runes. By sketching array runes and tracing the heavens and earth, one can borrow the wonders of the universe. However, the mysteries of heaven and earth are infinite and difficult to comprehend, let alone translate into array runes. This requires extraordinary comprehension. Only by mastering array runes can one have the ability to learn formations.]

[Very good. You now have a certain understanding of the basic principles of formations.]

[Next, turn to the third page. Let us look at the simple example below and apply what we have just learned to practice.]

On the third page, an extremely complex and tedious pattern met Lu Yang's eyes.

This was an array diagram.

Lu Yang rubbed his chin. Deciphering an array diagram essentially meant identifying the composition of the runes within the formation to deduce its function.

Array runes were the foundation of all formations.

Whether a formation could function primarily depended on whether the combination of runes was reasonable, whether there were conflicts, and whether they could form a complete circuit to operate.

"Interesting."

Lu Yang gave a confident smile, feeling that it didn't seem particularly difficult. "With my talent and hard work, a mere simple array diagram is well within my grasp."

One month later.

Lu Yang sat blankly on a prayer mat, surrounded by a massive pile of manuscripts filled with his calculations. He looked utterly despondent.

In his hands were various combinations of array runes.

After an unknown amount of time, a spark of spiritual light suddenly ignited at Lu Yang's fingertip.

"I did it!?"

Lu Yang stood up instantly, his face filled with wild joy. He carefully examined the runes he had pieced together, calculated them mentally for a moment, and then a look of confusion crossed his face.

"Wait, that's not right. How did it work?"

"How on earth is this thing running?"

This was the result of a month of his blood, sweat, and tears, yet he didn't even understand why it worked. This feeling drove Lu Yang to the brink of madness.

After a month of bitter cultivation, he now had a much deeper understanding of formations.

To put it simply, formations were very similar to programming.

The so-called "comprehension of array paths" was the act of extracting usable parts from the "spaghetti code" written by the heavens and assembling one's own code.

However, with formations, if you didn't know how to do it, you simply didn't know.

It was like panning for gold in a pile of filth; those without talent would end up like the current Lu Yang—not finding a single speck of gold, but instead unearthing a pile of shit instead.

"Regardless, I did manage to dig something up."

Lu Yang sighed and continued his research, forgetting to eat or sleep. Another month passed before he finally deciphered the pattern in his hands.

"It's an illumination array!"

"The light shines throughout the range of the formation, causing most methods of concealing one's tracks to fail. Aside from that, it has no offensive or defensive capabilities..."

Lu Yang looked haggard, his eyes bloodshot, but his face beamed with excitement. With a profound sense of achievement, he turned to the third page of the "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures."

[Actually, it is normal if you cannot decipher it.]

[The purpose of the third-page problem is mainly to make you realize how difficult formations are. Approach the study of formations with a humble heart; do not always aim too high.]

Lu Yang: "..."

"You beast! You absolute beast!"

Lu Yang suddenly stood up and slammed the book onto the ground. He was now one hundred percent certain that this was definitely a manual written by a Saint Sect Array Master!

After a long while, Lu Yang picked the book up again.

There was no helping it. Some things don't care whether you like them, understand them, or want to do them; for the sake of survival, one had to grit their teeth and push on.

However, after further study, Lu Yang discovered that his talent wasn't as bad as he had imagined.

Just as the book said, that tedious pattern on the third page was not meant for beginners, which was why Lu Yang had been stuck on it for two months.

But there was a silver lining: once he moved on to more straightforward formations, his learning speed increased visibly. Whenever he hit a snag, he would spend a few days researching it and move past it, allowing the previously discouraged Lu Yang to regain his confidence.

Years passed unnoticed within the cave.

In the blink of an eye, twenty years had gone by.

During this time, Lu Yang was completely indifferent to the outside world, focusing solely on his formation books. He even grew too lazy to pay his cave rent and moved directly to the outer sect.

Since he couldn't cultivate, he had no urgent needs, so he naturally chose to slack off and stop working.

Over these twenty years, almost every few years, a "Child of Destiny"—someone with heaven-defying luck like the former Xiao Shiye—would suddenly rise to prominence in the outer sect.

However, once that Child of Destiny obtained some well-known great opportunity from the Saint Sect, they would suddenly disappear.

Disappearing along with them was a large group of unlucky souls who, upon discovering the Child of Destiny's luck, had harbored ill intentions to cling to them and leech off their fortune.

"That senior is fishing again..."

Every time Lu Yang heard such news, he felt a wave of panic. With Xiao Shiye serving as a cautionary tale, he made it a point to keep a wide berth from any Child of Destiny.

He couldn't afford to provoke them, so he could only hide.

Then there was Zhao Xuhe. Twenty years later, he had reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refinement and become a famous True Disciple of the Saint Sect, but unfortunately, he had failed his attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage a few years ago and had passed away.

Regarding this, Lu Yang merely sighed and moved on.

What truly brought Lu Yang joy was that, after twenty years of diligent study, he had finally completely mastered the knowledge in the "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures."

Inside the cave, Lu Yang's entire focus was concentrated on the sword pill before him. At this moment, he was even too weak to maintain his human form, and his blood shadow was incredibly dim.

This was a sign that his time was running out.

The side effects of his past cultivation of the Heavenly Demon Blood Transformation Light had finally caught up with him, causing his lifespan to be exhausted at the age of forty.

However, Lu Yang did not care at all. He remained fully focused on inscribing the formation. Even as he approached the brink of death, he did not stand up, nor did he attempt any remedial actions, because that would only interrupt his inspiration. He did not want to waste his precious inspiration.

"I understand! Wait, no, that's wrong..."

"Oh, right! That's right... no, wait, it's still wrong... oh, right, right, right!"

After a long time, finally, just as Lu Yang's blood shadow was about to dissipate at the threshold between life and death, his eyes suddenly snapped wide open—

"Hahaha! I succeeded!"

Watching the runes he had painstakingly traced piece together around the sword pill and finally operate successfully, Lu Yang burst into loud laughter, his voice echoing through the cave.

And just like that, amidst his laughter, he lost consciousness.

"Book of a Hundred Lifetimes!"

(End of Chapter)