Chapter 117 Cross-border Competition
The second-level formation master of Kunlun Sect actually thought he was hallucinating at first.
Immortal cultivators have limited energy. Apart from practicing their own magic power, it is already a great achievement if they can master one path. As for the others, they can only have a superficial dabbling at best. It is almost impossible for a person to be a second-grade alchemist and a second-grade formation master at the same time. This is not like refining equipment and mechanical arts, which have some similarities. Alchemy and formations have no similarities at all.
So this person is definitely not Li Yu.
He shook his head and whispered, "I never thought that there would be such similar people in this world."
Li Yu saw the second-level formation master from the same clan staring at him blankly, so he stretched out his hand and greeted him.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he put his hand down, the other person's eyes suddenly widened with an expression of disbelief.
"Are you Li Yu?"
"it's me."
This second-level formation master from Kunlun was completely dumbfounded.
It’s really Li Yu!
The fact that he was able to get here showed that his attainments in formations had surpassed most second-level formation masters. In the entire cultivation world, there were people who could do this at the age of twenty. Some talented disciples of Huashan Sect and Tiandao Sect, who had been trained in formations since childhood, could also do this...
But don’t forget, this guy’s main job is an alchemist!
Which alchemist comes to Tiandao Sect to cross the border to participate in the second-level formation master competition? Isn't this ruining the party?
Li Yu didn't know what the second-level formation master was thinking. The formation masters on the fourth floor were all sitting on the ground to rest. No one competed with him for a position. He stood in front of the formation barrier for a while, stretched out his hand and touched a certain position. Mana power poured into the eye of the formation, the formation disappeared, and he reached the fifth floor.
Anyone who could enter the fifth floor in such a short time must be extremely familiar with the second-order formation and soon attracted everyone's attention.
"so fast."
"You found the center of the formation so quickly?"
"He didn't even take a break. He broke through three formations in a row. Isn't he tired?"
"This person looks familiar. I seem to have seen him somewhere before, but I can't tell where..."
"Now that you mention it, I think he looks familiar..."
These formation masters usually don't pay much attention to alchemy and did not recognize Li Yu at first.
The second-level formation master from Kunlun stared blankly at Li Yu’s back. The fifth level, Li Yu actually made it to the fifth level, and so easily, could this formation be fake?
He stretched out his hand in disbelief and touched the formation. The next moment, he was bounced back.
This made the expression on his face even more dull.
Above the square at the foot of the mountain, a huge water curtain is suspended.
Ever since the Water Moon Technique was invented, all sects in the world of immortal cultivation have used it to project images when hosting grand events, making it easier for others to watch.
At every Xiandao Conference, the most watched events are the alchemy competition and the magic competition. Although the formation competition is not as popular, there are still many people watching. Anyway, there is no need to pay spirit coins for watching, so some people from Tiandao City will also come here to watch the fun. There are at least thousands of onlookers present today.
In order to have a clearer projection, only the images after the fifth floor were displayed on the water curtain. At this moment, there were twelve people on the fifth floor, six of them entered the sixth floor, and the last two stopped on the seventh floor.
The disciples of these three levels, without exception, all came from Tiandao Sect and Huashan.
It can be clearly seen that in the art of formation, these two sects are far ahead of other sects.
At this moment, there was a flash of light in the picture, and another figure stepped into the fifth floor, which also caused some discussion among the crowd.
"Finally, people from other sects are coming up."
"I wonder which sect this formation master belongs to?"
"So young, and still very good looking."
"…Am I seeing right? That person is Li Yu?"
"Yes, it's Senior Brother Li from Kunlun Sect. Did he go to the wrong place?"
"What is he, an alchemist, doing in a place where second-level formation masters are competing?"
The people who were watching in the square couldn't hear any sound and could only watch the competition, which was a bit boring. Li Yu's sudden intrusion instantly made the originally quiet crowd agitated.
Soon, people realized that Li Yu did not go to the wrong place, and it was impossible for him to go to the wrong place.
To get to that position, you need to go through four levels in a row.
"Could it be that he is not only a second-level alchemist, but also a second-level formation master?"
“I’ve never heard of it…”
"What about the Kunlun disciples? One of the Kunlun disciples, tell me, is Li Yu from your sect really a second-level formation master?"
"I am a disciple of Kunlun, and I don't know when Senior Brother Li became a second-level formation master..."
…
In front of the fifth step, because of the obstruction of the formation, Li Yu could not hear the sound outside, but was carefully watching the formation in front of him.
After the fifth stage, the changes in the formation became more obvious. The core of this formation changed very quickly. Even if one could calculate it, the position would change if one was slow. However, since it was an open-book exam, there was naturally no difficulty.
He pretended to calculate for a while, then broke the center of the formation and came to the sixth level.
This speed dumbfounded the twelve second-level formation masters on the fifth floor.
The fifth level of the formation is not like the first level. The position of the center of the formation changes very quickly. They were already dizzy after breaking through here. The opponent was able to break through the formation so quickly, obviously knowing it very well.
After Li Yu arrived at the sixth level, the six people on the sixth level could no longer sit still.
They were still studying the formation, but they immediately walked to the front of it. Li Yu was not in a hurry either. He lined up at the end of the line and waited quietly.
Several people tried one after another, but all ended in failure. The Tiandao Sect's formation competition gathered formation geniuses from the entire world of immortal cultivation. The difficulty of each level of the formation was higher than the previous one. They would not be able to break the sixth level of the formation in a short time.
Only after all six people failed did Li Yu stand in front of the formation. A moment later, he stretched out his hand, took a step forward, and reached the seventh level.
Several people on the sixth floor spoke in disbelief.
"Who is this person? He can break the formation so quickly. Is he from the Huashan Sect?"
"I thought it was from your Tiandao Sect..."
"It's not Huashan, nor Tiandao Sect. Where did he come from?"
…
After stepping onto the seventh floor, Li Yu sat cross-legged on the ground and took two pills to restore his energy and spirit. He looked exhausted.
Although he hasn't fully understood it yet, he still has to pretend, otherwise it would be too much.
This scene also made everyone feel a little comforted.
A second-rank alchemist who had entered the sixth round of the second-rank formation master competition would be really out of line if he didn't even take a break...
The two people on the seventh floor, one was a young man from the Tiandao Sect, the other was a young man from the Huashan Sect. When they saw a stranger breaking into the seventh floor, they were surprised for a moment, then closed their eyes and adjusted their breathing, and were not affected too much.
Li Yu came from behind and took the lead. He was not in a hurry because the two men did not start to break the formation.
The young man from Huashan Sect, after regulating his breath for a quarter of an hour, walked to the front of the formation, looked at it for a long time, and finally pressed his right hand on a certain position of the formation and successfully entered the eighth level.
The disciple from Tiandao Sect followed closely and entered the eighth level. This level of formation was also not difficult for them.
After they entered the eighth floor, Li Yu waited for a long time before following them in.
"It's the eighth floor. Li Yu is also on the eighth floor!"
"Yang Jia is a disciple of a fourth-rank formation master, and Li Jingcheng is also a rare formation genius of the Tiandao Sect. Li Yu is an alchemist, but he can actually keep up with their speed in breaking the formation..."
"This is really outrageous..."
Jiang Li and Xu Qingxin stood in the square. When they saw the figure in the water curtain, they looked at each other with confusion on their faces.
As the people who know Li Yu best in the world, they also don't know when Li Yu learned the formation.
Xu Qingxin was also puzzled. Who was the person she had recruited from Baiyun Temple to Kunlun as an exception? Except for his lack of talent in cultivation, he was good at everything else...
…
Li Yu had been waiting for an hour at the ninth level of the formation, but there was no movement from the two people from Huashan and Tiandao Sect.
He was a little impatient. After all, Jiang Li, Zhou Zixuan and Senior Sister Xu were still waiting outside. He had originally planned to watch the competition for a while and then take them shopping, but now he had been delayed for several hours.
He was the first to walk up to the ninth floor's formation, pretending to look here and there, then quickly stretched out his hand and pressed on the rapidly moving center of the formation. His magic power burst out, and he stepped into the tenth floor with ease.
If he breaks the last formation, he will be rewarded with ten Tuomai Pills.
No, not ten. If you get first place in the formation exchange, the sect will reward you with ten. A total of twenty Tuomai Pills are within your reach.
Seeing that Li Yu had broken through the ninth level of the formation, the two formation masters from Huashan School and Tiandao Sect could no longer sit still. They wanted to break the formation before they had enough rest. However, the ninth level of the formation was extremely complicated, and the position of the eye of the formation was difficult to calculate. The more anxious they were, the harder it was to find it. After making several mistakes in succession, they were exhausted and sat down on the ground, looking at Li Yu with puzzled eyes.
Where on earth did this guy come from?
Their rhythm was completely disrupted by him, and without an hour's rest, there was no way they could break it a second time.
In this battle of formations, they originally thought that the winner would definitely be one of the two. Who could have thought that such a guy would appear halfway through? They even suspected that the other party was a disguised third or fourth-level formation master...
The two people at the back took a rest, and Li Yu also took a rest.
Another hour passed, and when the two of them started to break the ninth level of the formation, he began to break the tenth level. The first time he broke the formation, Li Yu deliberately failed, took two pills, and rested dejectedly.
This gave the two of them some comfort that they still had a chance.
However, the ninth level of the formation was not easy. They tried it once and failed again.
Seeing Li Yu on the upper floor making another move, they immediately became nervous, hoping that he would not succeed.
But the opposite happened. As soon as this thought came to their minds, that figure easily stepped over the step and stood at the highest point.
He also cracked the most difficult tenth-level formation!
At this moment, the square below was in an uproar.
"No way, Li Yu is the first one?"
"The first place in the formation master competition was taken away by an alchemist?"
"The formation geniuses from Huashan and Tiandao Sect are probably about to cry..."
"How much did Senior Brother Li learn without telling us?"
…
In the square, disciples from various factions were discussing the matter. Xu Qingxin, Jiang Li and Zhou Zixuan also stood there in a daze, unable to come back to their senses for a long time.
At the location where several judges were standing, the Kunlun Jindan strongman picked up a spiritual conch and excitedly said to it: "Master, you would never have thought that Li Yu would win the second-level formation master competition..."
In the spirit snail, Wang Daoxuan said calmly: "What's so strange about this? Given his level of alchemy, you should be so surprised that he didn't win..."
After a moment, his voice suddenly rose a few notches, and he asked unsurely, "Which competition did you just mention? Say it again?"
He suspected that he had just heard wrongly. Li Yu, a second-grade alchemist, won the second-level formation master competition?
What is the difference between this and the Huashan Sect's formation master participating in and winning the Kunlun Second-Rank Alchemist Competition?
In the spiritual conch, the Golden Core Elder said excitedly: "Master Master, you heard it right. He is a second-level formation master. In addition to his high attainments in alchemy, Li Yu is also a formation master..."
After a moment, Wang Daoxuan put down the conch, a look of surprise appeared on his face.
But he soon realized that it was impossible for Li Yu to be proficient in formations. At his age, it was impossible to do so. However, his magical "Qi-seeing Technique" could see through the core of various formations.
It would be really difficult for him to refine the formation flags and plates and carve the formation patterns, but it would be not difficult at all for him to break the formation.
For those formation masters who have not cultivated the Five Spiritual Veins and do not understand the art of looking at qi, there are two conditions for breaking the formation. First, they must be extremely familiar with the formation and know the changes in the center of the formation. Second, they must have extremely fast calculation and reaction speeds in order to deduce the real-time position of the center of the formation.
But in Li Yu's eyes, the core of the formation was clearly laid there, and there was no need to understand the formation or calculate it.
A long time ago, the Tiandao Sect modified the content of the formation competition in order to simplify the rules, but unexpectedly Li Yu took advantage of the loophole.
The first place in the second-level formation master competition was taken by a Kunlun disciple, which was the first time in history.
In Tiandao City.
Li Yu was the first to crack all the formations. The formation masters behind him were no longer in a hurry when they saw that the first place had been taken away by someone else.
The formations at the ninth and tenth levels are extremely difficult. In previous competitions, it took at least two days for someone to break through them all.
After returning to Jiang Li and the others, she saw that the three women were looking at her with surprised eyes. Li Yu did not hide anything and said in a voice transmission: "Don't look at me like that. I don't really understand those formations. I just know the Qi-enhancing technique..."
The Jindan-stage elder from Kunlun brought Li Yu to a high platform, took a jade box from a stone platform, handed it to Li Yu, and said, "This is the reward for winning the first place in the second-level formation master competition. Keep it well..."
In the jade box, there were ten Tuomai Pills, and Li Yu accepted them calmly.
There is no unified awarding ceremony for the competition in the Xiandao Conference. The disciple who completes the competition first can take away his or her own reward.
There are three stone platforms here. Li Yu took something from one of them and also took a look at the other two.
On a stone platform at the very edge, there was also a jade box containing twenty Tongmai Pills, which were the reward for the first place in the first-level formation master competition. On a large stone platform in the middle, there was something similar to a jade slip. In addition, there was a very small jade bottle next to the jade slip, which was filled with a light green liquid.
As he approached the jade bottle, Li Yu discovered that the alchemy furnace in his body began to feel a desire.
This desire is even stronger than when facing third-level spiritual herbs and medicines.
Li Yu pointed at the jade bottle and asked curiously, "What is this?"
The Golden Pill Elder smiled and explained, "This is a bottle of Yimu Spiritual Essence, a precious material for alchemy. After the Wood Spiritual Vein has completed its foundation, taking Yimu Spiritual Essence can greatly shorten the time it takes to form an elixir. Its value is no less than a fourth-level elixir..."
Li Yu was a little surprised, "Why is this the reward for the formation master's competition?"
In formation competitions, rewards like elixirs that increase cultivation levels, or formation flags, formation plates, formation manuals, etc. are relatively normal. However, the targeting of this kind of spiritual essence is too strong, and you can tell at a glance that there is some inside story.
The Golden Core Elder smiled and said, "In the past, the third-level formation master competitions would only reward formation flags and formation plates or formation secret books. This time, it was a third-level formation master from the Tiandao Sect who happened to need this spiritual essence. He was also the best among the third-level formation masters and had more than an 80% chance of winning the competition. So they tried to add this reward so that he could get it legitimately..."
Li Yu was no stranger to this kind of operation.
There are usually many people competing for the good resources of a sect, and no one can convince the others by giving them away. The simplest way is to set them up as competition rewards.
For example, the pregnancy pill he gave to Jiang Li.
For example, the master wanted to give him the Tuomai Pill, but it was not easy to give it to him directly, so he took a roundabout way and doubled the reward for the second-grade alchemist, so that he could get the extra pills legitimately. These are the sect's unspoken rules.
However, to do so, you need to have enough confidence in your own strength. If you are not strong enough, you will just be making wedding dresses for others.
It seems that the third-level formation master of Tiandao Sect is very confident in his own strength.
Kunlun, the Jindan elder, is a formation master who knows more about the formation world. He said, "Although Huashan has more formation masters above the fourth level than Tiandao Sect, the younger generation of formation masters in Tiandao Sect are much better than Huashan, especially the third-level formation master Luo Yuan. It is said that he obtained the formation inheritance of an ancient sect in a secret realm and is the undisputed number one third-level formation master. This bottle of Yimu essence was prepared by him for his son ."
He said with emotion: "Over the past few hundred years, the Tiandao Sect has poached many talented people from various sects. They also want to select the immortal cultivation talents from various secular countries first. With this momentum, perhaps in a few hundred or thousand years, the title of Huashan Sect as the number one formation sect will change hands..."
No wonder Li Yu discovered that the disciples of Tiandao Sect were obviously more than one level stronger than the disciples of the same age from other sects. The seeds with the best talents were picked up by them first, and other sects could only pick up the leaks. Even so, the geniuses of their own sect were still being remembered by Tiandao Sect, and they would poach them from time to time. In this way, it is no wonder that Tiandao Sect has the strength it has today.
If those talented disciples and resources were given to Kunlun, a thousand years later, Kunlun would also be able to become the number one sect in the world of immortal cultivation.
Looking at the bottle of Yi Wood Essence, Li Yu had some thoughts in his mind.
He was not doing it for himself. Senior Sister Xu was cultivating three spiritual veins, but currently only the water spiritual vein had formed a golden elixir. The wood spiritual vein and the fire spiritual vein should still be in the stage of compressing magic power. The magic power in the foundation-building period is itself in liquid form and is more difficult to compress. This bottle of Yi Mu spiritual marrow will be of great use to her.
From Baiyun Temple to Kunlun, Senior Sister Xu helped him a lot, whether it was joining the sect, becoming an alchemist, or practicing. Li Yu always wanted to repay her, but he never had the chance.
He was too weak to help her.
It would be great if I could win this bottle of Yi Mu Ling Marrow back and give it to her, which would be a small way to repay her kindness.
However, in the competition among third-level formation masters, even if he could see the eye of the formation, his magic power at the foundation-building stage would not be enough to break the formation, unless he could possess the magic power of the golden elixir stage for a short period of time.
This kind of thing is not impossible.
Chen Ming was possessed by a ghost and his strength increased significantly in a short period of time.
Another soul awakened in Zhou Tian's body, and Li Yu, who was originally chasing and beating him, had no choice but to run away in an instant.
After practicing to the Golden Core Stage, more than 90% of the magic power is contained in the Golden Core. If the Golden Core is temporarily placed in the body of a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage, with the help of the Golden Core, the latter can also use the magic power of the Golden Core Stage for a short period of time.
However, unless there is absolute trust, almost no cultivator in the Jindan stage will lend his Jindan to others.
For a cultivator in the Jindan stage, once the golden elixir is lost, only one tenth of his magic power will remain, and it will be difficult to form it a second time. Which cultivator in the Jindan stage does not regard the golden elixir as important as his life? How could it be possible for it to leave the body easily?
Once an accident occurs, the path of cultivation will be ruined.
Moreover, the golden elixir of a cultivator is also a great tonic for other cultivators in the Jindan stage. After the Jindan stage, there is no elixir that can directly improve cultivation, but the golden elixir of the same level contains extremely pure magic power, which can be directly absorbed to strengthen one's own golden elixir. Anyone in the Jindan stage must be extra careful of others of the same level.
Li Yu was confident that he could borrow the golden elixir, but he didn't know whether the competition rules allowed him to do so.
So he looked at the Golden Core Elder and asked, "If I can borrow a Golden Core, can I participate in the third-level formation master competition?"
The Golden Core Elder nodded without thinking, "Of course, this time in the third-level formation master competition, a formation wizard from the Tiandao Sect came here to borrow the elder's Golden Core, and it seems that he also came here for the bottle of Yimu Spiritual Essence..."
At the Immortal Dao Conference, what is tested more is the theory of formation. The rules of the competition are very loose. As long as the cultivation level does not exceed the Golden Core level, no matter whether the cultivation level is one's own or temporarily borrowed, one can participate in the third-level formation master competition.
After all, there are a lot of Jindan-stage cultivators in the world of immortal cultivation, and one more or one less won’t make a big difference. However, there may not be one third-level formation master among dozens of Jindan-stage cultivators. Some formation geniuses that are rare in hundreds of years have already understood the third-level formation, but their strength has not kept up. The conference must of course give this rare genius a chance.
Not only the exchange of formations, but also the competition among cultivators, exchanges on alchemy, talismans, and weapon refining, all have no restrictions on this kind of thing. However, the other methods are not as simple as breaking the formation, and require the provision of long-term, continuous and stable mana, so borrowed golden elixirs are useless.
The problem is, even if you have the strength of a golden elixir, without the understanding of formations of a third-level formation master, you can't even break a formation.
Does this Li Yu already have the theoretical foundation of a third-level formation master?
Even if there is, who would be willing to take the risk of lending him the golden elixir?
Seeing Li Yu looking at him, the Golden Core Elder seemed to have thought of something and immediately said, "I will not lend my Golden Core to others..."
Are you kidding? To them, the golden elixir is as important as their life. They will not lend it out easily, let alone to strangers, even to their relatives and friends. Once something goes wrong, there is no regret medicine in the world of immortal cultivation.
Li Yu glanced at him. He was willing to lend it, but he was not willing to take it back.
Just knowing that this method works is good.
Breaking an array is not like refining the elixir. When refining the elixir, even if you borrow someone else's golden elixir, you cannot control the magic power stably for a long time. But breaking an array is different. It does not require much persistence. All you need is a momentary burst of magic power.
So, he asked the Jindan elder for a badge to participate in the third-level formation master competition.
Then, he walked up to Jiang Li and said, "Ah Li, lend me your golden elixir later..."
