183 Months of Trials (2/2)
Hei Gou had no favorable impression of Wang Xiaoyun. He regarded her as a walking time bomb that was ready to kill him at any moment, so his only option was to be on constant alert around her. No one knew when she would have another fit of madness and make an attempt on his life.
While Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou managed to come to a truce and opted to find their respective corners in the front room to cultivate, Bai Tianyi was breezing through the trials.
He was a creature made of souls, and he had previous experience with formations. Creating all of these beginners formations was as simple as breathing to him, and he quickly reached the tenth trial.
The tenth trial was exactly as the Moon Prince had said; it was a trial that did not care about formations and spiritual energy. It tested only one's physical strength.
”I ought to wait here for a month or two,” Bai Tianyi said as he looked at the empty room. He had not triggered the tenth trial yet, and he was not interested in getting the legacy of the Moon Prince. He knew that Xue Wei needed it much more than him.
”The other two are likely to have failed already,” he said to himself with a slight smile on his face. ”That black dog is quite true to its nature, but that woman gives me a bad feeling for some reason… I can't tell Wei about it since he won't listen, but I better do some research when we meet up again. Can't lose my master after finally finding someone worthy. Such a person is hard to find, though he doesn't even seem to be aware of his own heritage yet.”
Bai Tianyi sat down right beside the door and began cultivating. Two months went by like this. While Bai Tianyi cultivated, Xue Wei went through one trial after another.
He created formation after formation. Some were engraved on stones, others were written on papers.
Xue Wei had made a few copies of each and kept them in his storage ring for later use.
Among the formations he had made was the Spiritual Energy Bomb, a lightning-based formation, and even a formation to summon a stone golem. The golems only needed Qi to sustain themselves.
He received many different rewards from clearing these trials, which ranged from pills that increased spiritual energy to formation runes and formulas.
By now, Xue Wei was capable of making up to seventy formations, all of which were novice formations, such as for example the paralyzing formation. This formation was usually inscribed on a weapon or an ornament, which when imbued with Qi would possess the ability to inflict a brief stun on an opponent.
There were many different kinds of formations. Some of them could be used in battle, either directly against an enemy or to support one during battle by creating minions or other supporters.
Formations could boost one's strength in many ways. It was possible for a formation to assist the user's Qi-absorption in cultivation, or it could heighten the purity of the Qi flow for you. It was also possible to boost the user's physical strength for a period of time.
It had to be said that there were always downsides to using formations like these, such as overdrawing the body's reserves, but it was still a viable last-resort for tough situations.
Formations could also grant objects the ability of flight, or they could be used to fortify one's home or base.
Formation masters were a rarity nowadays. The study of said subject had slowly vanished, and only a few formation masters remained, who all safeguarded their trade and their formulas with their lives.
Xue Wei was still unaware of the rarity of formation masters, but he was incredibly drawn to the allure of formations and how to make them.
He did not understand the runes themselves, but he figured that they were likely an ancient language.
Finally, Xue Wei reached the tenth room. He eagerly awaited the appearance of the Moon Prince's disembodied voice.
Throughout the trials, the Moon Prince had imparted varying information and many pointers to Xue Wei through the voice formation, which had let him improve by leaps and bounds.
”Even if I don't get the final inheritance, I have learned and gained more than the worth of this visit!” Xue Wei smiled, giving himself a small peptalk for the final room's trial.
From the beginning, he had been interested in the final room since this room did not focus on formations.
Xue Wei looked around. There was a large stone pillar erected in the middle of the room. This stone pillar went from the ground to the ceiling, and some crystals were embedded into the part where it connected to the ceiling.
There were seven crystals in total, all of them in the different colors of the rainbow. The colors were also in proper order according to the rainbow's spectrum: red first, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally a violet crystal.
”Let me guess, you thought the final trial involved fighting?” The sound of the Moon Prince's chuckle appeared out of the blue. ”Before I passed away, I was aware that it would most likely take a long time before anyone capable enough to enter my grave would appear. Furthermore, I am incapable of leaving behind an offensive formation that will last that long; it will without a doubt run out of Qi or spiritual energy.”
”You were earlier tested with a formation that used your own Qi to fight, and since you passed that, the only thing I need to know now is if your base strength reaches my standard.”
Xue Wei listened and became curious about how the pillar testing his strength functioned. As if Xue Wei's mind had been read, the Moon Prince's voice drifted out once more.
”Hit the pillar with all your might. If you light all seven crystals, you will have passed. The deeper the color of the crystals, the stronger you can be considered.”
”You have three tries!”