Level 10 of the Ten Formations Pagoda.
The moment Su Zimo broke out of the formation, he caught sight of a man in white robes with his hands behind his back. His black hair was draped casually over his shoulders, fluttering gently in the breeze.
The white-robed man stood at the entrance of the pagoda with his back facing Su Zimo, as though he was one with the night sky.
Even though he could not see the man's appearance, Su Zimo's gaze shifted and he caught sight of a mysterious hexagonal pattern on the man's sleeves.
Array Peak's master, Xuan Yi!
Su Zimo furrowed his brows slightly.
Illusion?
Could it be that Level 10 wasn't made up of two types of formations, but three?
There was an illusion formation after the killing and trapping formations?
"This isn't an illusion. You've already cleared the Ten Formations Pagoda."
Right then, Xuan Yi's voice sounded. It was warm and calm, as though he had guessed Su Zimo's thoughts.
Some of the more powerful Array Formation Masters were experts in games and could deduce the thoughts of others through clues.
Even though he heard Xuan Yi's reply, Su Zimo did not let his guard down.
After all, the exact same scene would appear in an illusion and it would be difficult to differentiate between reality and illusion.
Su Zimo stood on the spot for a long time and cupped his fists when he could not sense the aura of the formation pattern. "Greetings, peak master."
Xuan Yi did not turn back and asked, "How long have you been learning about formations?"
"Three months," Su Zimo did not hide anything.
A shocking glint flashed through Xuan Yi's eyes before disappearing quickly.
"Three months, three months …"
Xuan Yi murmured repeatedly. After a long time, he turned slightly and nodded at Su Zimo with a smile. "Come, stand beside me."
Slightly stunned, Su Zimo walked forward and stood beside Xuan Yi.
"You must be exhausted, right?" Xuan Yi asked with a smile.
Su Zimo nodded. At that moment, he only wanted to return to his cave abode and sleep till the skies turned dark without caring about anything else.
"I've heard about your battle with Feng Haoyu as well. You don't have much time to begin with, why did you come here to learn array formations? "Xuan Yi was curious.
The image of that silly bird flashed through Su Zimo's mind. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and shake his head. "There's a reason for this, it's hard to explain."
"There's less than three months to the year-end face-off. I'm not too concerned about refining pills and weapons. However, I heard that you're going to fight Feng Haoyu after the face-off? "Xuan Yi asked again.
"Yes."
"Are you confident?"
Su Zimo hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. "No."
If it wasn't for the fact that he was worried about being discovered, Su Zimo naturally had great confidence.
However, Su Zimo was still far behind when it came to cultivation methods.
Xuan Yi said in a low voice, "Actually, the killing techniques of Qi Refinement Warriors are relatively simple. This is because the spirit energy in the dantian is limited. Even at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation, the sea of qi in the dantian was still in the state of spirit qi. It's only after advancing to Foundation Establishment Cultivators that their spirit energy can transform into liquid that they can release all sorts of powerful spirit arts. "
Su Zimo's heart skipped a beat as he suddenly recalled that back when he was hunted down by Joyful Clan, there were a few Foundation Establishment Cultivators who used some strange techniques such as Earth Entrapment and Wood Entanglement that caused him a lot of trouble.
Those must be the spirit arts that Xuan Yi was talking about.
"The killing of Qi Refinement Warriors is nothing more than sword wielding techniques."
Xuan Yi said, "In terms of sword wielding techniques, Ethereal Sword is one of the three secret skills of Misty Peak. It's extremely famous in the cultivation world of Tianhuang Mainland and is ranked at the top. As for Feng Haoyu, he has already cultivated Ethereal Sword. "
Su Zimo could tell what Xuan Yi was implying.
In other words, he had no chance of winning against Feng Haoyu who had already cultivated Ethereal Sword.
The night was hazy and the moon was sparse as the two of them stood at the top of the Ten Formations Pagoda. One of them was dressed in white robes with an elegant bearing while the other was dressed in green robes with delicate features. If any trial disciples of the five peaks were to catch sight of this, their jaws would definitely drop.
The five peak masters were all Perfected Jin Dan – what sort of status did they have in the sect?
For a mere trial disciple who was only at Level 6 Qi Condensation to be able to chat with Array Peak's master, such treatment was enough to make anyone envious.
When he saw that Su Zimo was silent, Xuan Yi continued, "Initially, I didn't want to tell you all this. But since you've already cleared the Ten Formations Pagoda, I can point you in the right direction. Whether or not you succeed will depend on yourself. "
"Thank you, peak master," Delighted, Su Zimo bowed hurriedly in gratitude.
Xuan Yi said slowly, "Apart from the fixed secret skills, there's another way to raise a cultivator's combat strength – sword formations!"
"Sword formations?" Su Zimo furrowed his brows in deep thought.
In the Array Chamber, he had once chanced upon a bamboo scroll called the Tripartite Sword Formation.
Xuan Yi continued, "Most Array Formation Masters have weak combat strength. That's because they won't give you a lot of time to set up your formation before charging in foolishly. However, there's a special branch amongst Array Formation Masters – Sword Formation Masters. "
"The prerequisite to becoming a Sword Formation Master is to first be an Array Formation Master and have a deep understanding of formations. Secondly, you'll have to cultivate a sword formation. "
Su Zimo nodded.
Xuan Yi continued, "Sword formation manuals are extremely rare and there are only two types of sword formations in the sect. One is the Tripartite Sword Formation and the other is the Hexagonal Sword Formation. The former is a Grade 1 formation while the latter is a Grade 2 formation. "
"The activation of a sword formation is, in truth, an Array Formation Master uses the remnant marks left behind by flying swords to replace the formation patterns. From there, a massive formation can be formed and release immense power!"
When he heard that, Su Zimo's heart skipped a beat.
Just setting up formation patterns was already extremely difficult for Array Formation Masters and the slightest mistake would cause the formation to fail.
Furthermore, the remnant marks left behind by flying swords were used to replace the formation patterns.
Xuan Yi continued, "There are extremely few Sword Formation Masters in the cultivation world because the requirements are way too harsh. Every single Sword Formation Master is a paragon amongst Array Formation Masters and their understanding of formations far surpasses everyone else. Furthermore, sword formations usually require multiple flying swords and it's already extremely difficult to control multiple flying swords in battle, let alone activate the sword formation. "
Su Zimo nodded.
For example, the Tripartite Sword Formation required three flying swords.
However, the Hexagonal Sword Formation seemed to require six flying swords by the looks of it!
"Also, controlling multiple flying swords will consume even more spirit qi. If the formation fails, the Sword Formation Master will have expended his spirit qi for nothing and he'll be placed in an even more dangerous situation. "
Xuan Yi smiled once more. "Furthermore, where can ordinary Array Formation Masters get their hands on so many flying swords? There aren't many trial disciples in our sect who can even possess an inferior-grade flying sword, let alone three, six or even more. "
"Can't we use flying swords of other grades as replacements?" Su Zimo asked.
"No."
Xuan Yi shook his head. "You must know that the flying swords used to create a sword formation must all be of the same grade. They must all be inferior-grade or middle-grade flying swords. If the grades are different, the formation patterns left behind by the flying swords in the void will be different and the formation will definitely fail! "
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