Falling in Love to Escape the Original Book Plot [BL]-Chapter 406: Formations Master Challenge 3

After watching previous competitions, he contrived to use the heavenly inferno formation as the challenge question.

On one hand, only the Sima family had the formation map of the heavenly inferno array, and on the other, he was particularly good at arranging the formation.

Unfortunately, he calculated everything but still underestimated Zhen Yuan.

’His formation map is countless times better than that of my Sima family.’ He thought, and a trace of unease flashed in his eyes.

That said, he wasn’t discouraged.

After all, the challenge had two parts.

Although he lost the first part, he felt he could win the second part and force a draw.

"Elder Fu..." Yang Zitao called, drawing everyone’s attention to himself.

"What’s the outcome of this assessment?" He asked, and Fu Cheng sighed before speaking.

"Disciple Zhen has won this round." He said, looking at Zhen Yuan with a meaningful expression.

"So far, disciple Zhen has five points and disciple Sima has zero points." Yang Zitao said and quickly continued.

"Let’s move on to the next assessment."

The second half of the assessment was breaking each other’s formation.

Knowing this, Zhen Yuan walked to Sima Ling’s formation while Sima Ling stayed before Zhen Yuan’s.

"You have half a day to break your opponent’s formation. Whoever succeeds first will be the winner of this part of the assessment." Yang Zitao announced.

Zhen Yuan could outrightly see the laws of Sima Ling’s formation.

However, he didn’t immediately break it.

Instead, he began walking around, studying the arrangement and identifying the gates.

Sima Ling’s formation had one death gate, one life gate, thirty-six dangerous gates, and one weak point.

A death gate was the deadliest part of a formation, almost guaranteed to result in death if someone accidentally triggered it.

In the same vein, the life gate was the safest part, while the dangerous gates were not as deadly as the death gate, but triggering them would cause serious injuries or even death.

As for the weak point, it was the most vulnerable part of a formation and would cause the array to collapse if attacked with appropriate force.

After identifying the gates and weak points, Zhen Yuan nodded with a satisfied expression.

’Not bad.’ He thought.

Although Sima Ling had a strange personality, his formation talent was good, and Zhen Yuan couldn’t help but secretly praise him.

’His talent is wasted on his family’s mediocre formation inheritance.’ He thought and sighed.

Soon after, he took out his formation-breaking jades and used soul power to control them.

A moment later, he attacked the weak point, and the formation collapsed like a stack of dominoes.

The elders and spectators were shocked when they saw this.

After all, it had only been an incense stick since the second half of the assessment began.

"This... "Chen Fei muttered and turned to Wang Qing.

"Sister Qing, how long do you need to break the formation?" She whispered, and Wang Qing narrowed her eyes before speaking.

"Longer than an incense stick. What about you?" She asked.

"Longer than an incense stick." Chen Fei said and turned to the other elders, who nodded with a solemn expression.

They all knew they would also need longer than an incense stick to break the formation.

"Senior Fu..." Wang Qing started with a complicated expression.

"Is something wrong?" Fu Cheng asked, and Wang Qing sighed before speaking.

"Disciple Sima has always been excellent and has no equal among the level eight formation masters. I am afraid he won’t be able to take this blow." She said.

"Even I feel almost unable to take this blow." Chen Fei muttered and subconsciously clenched her hands.

Although she was an elder, she was not beyond feeling restless after encountering someone who made her feel small and insignificant.

"Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu are not good for our sect disciples’ state of mind. These kinds of monsters should be used as weapons against other sects. We should let them appear less." Zhang Long said.

If even he felt pressured after seeing what Shen Xu and Zhen Yuan could do, what about the disciples? Wouldn’t the disciples accidentally birth an inner demon and be unable to advance for a long time?

Considering this, Zhang Long felt they should take precautions to prevent the two children’s talent from affecting the other disciples.

"Your concerns are not unreasonable." Fu Cheng nodded with a solemn expression.

As peak elders, they naturally couldn’t let the appearance of two monsters affect the entire sect.

"Should we call the game?" Wang Qing asked, but Fu Cheng shook his head.

"Aling has already noticed that his opponent has broken his formation, but he hasn’t given up on breaking Zhen Yuan’s array. Let’s give him time to do his best." The old man said, and the others nodded in understanding.

Unfortunately, Sima Ling did his best for half a day but didn’t make progress on breaking the formation.

After the allotted time ran out, he stopped his efforts and walked to Zhen Yuan.

"It’s your win." He said, and Zhen Yuan nodded before speaking.

"You are not bad either." He said and planned to return to Shen Xu’s side.

However, before he could, Sima Ling stopped him.

"These are your winnings." He said and threw a storage ring.

After catching the ring, Zhen Yuan transferred the goods and returned the ring to its owner.

"Fellow Daoist Zhen..." Sima Ling called when he saw that Zhen Yuan had already begun walking away.

"Is there something else?" Zhen Yuan asked, turning around to look at Sima Ling.

"I am willing to pay any price for the formation map of the heavenly inferno array." Sima Ling said, and Zhen Yuan raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Masters would ordinarily be offended when someone tried to buy their inheritance.

However, Zhen Yuan was not offended.

His inheritance was different from ordinary inheritances.

Although it was detailed in many aspects and provided maps for formations, talismans, and inscriptions, Zhen Yuan always understood that the inheritance was meant as a foundation, while his own understanding was the true direction of his mastery.

Because of this, his formations, inscriptions, and talismans vastly differed from the common inheritances in the cultivation world.

Giving Sima Ling the map of the heavenly inferno array was not a hardship for Zhen Yuan.

However, he chose not to do so.

On one hand, the current map relied on his understanding and wasn’t suitable for other cultivators, and on the other, he wanted Sima Ling to break out of his limitation.

Thinking this, Zhen Yuan waved his hand and sealed the space.

"I will give you one chance. Do you want it?" He asked, and Sima Ling immediately nodded.

"I will not give you the map, but I will tell you how to develop your own. I will give you a reward if you succeed within ten years. Are you willing?" Zhen Yuan asked.

Zhen Yuan and Shen Xu had gotten countless inheritances when they emptied the black lake in the Tianqi continent.

Although the inheritances were inferior to what they already had, they were countless times better than what was available in the cultivation world.

Since he didn’t need the inheritance, Zhen Yuan decided to compile a jade for Sima Ling.

On one hand, he wanted to develop Sima Ling’s talent, and on the other, he wanted to give back to the cultivation world.

After all, although he wasn’t of the world, the world had provided him and Shen Xu with countless resources.

"I am willing." Sima Ling said, and Zhen Yuan nodded.

"Your heavenly inferno formation draws fire from the sun. Because of this, it’s only powerful when the sun is out. However, the sun is a star that shines during the day, while other stars shine at night."

"The true heavenly inferno formation draws fire from the stars. That said, the power of the formation differs with the stars chosen for the array. Do you understand?" Zhen Yuan asked, and Sima Ling nodded with an excited expression.

He had always followed the formation map and never thought of the reasoning behind the arrangements.

Now that Zhen Yuan mentioned it, Sima Ling felt he had studied too ignorantly.

"You can draw fire from one star or from as many as one hundred and eight stars. The choice is yours." Zhen Yuan said, and without waiting for a reply, he unsealed the space and prepared to walk to Shen Xu.

However, as soon as he stepped out of the sealed space, he realised that something was wrong.

At a glance, the elders seemed uneasy and secretly looked at him with suspicious eyes.

’Did something happen?’ He wondered and subconsciously turned to Shen Xu.

Seeing the look, the double smiled and waved.

At the same time, he transmitted a message, and Zhen Yuan immediately understood what was going on.

[Where are the puppets?] Zhen Yuan asked.

[I didn’t let them return after completing the job. They have secretly mixed in with the spectators.] Shen Xu said, and Zhen Yuan smiled before walking towards his partner with a nonchalant expression.