Road to Be the God

Chapter 24 Formation Master

It was not the first time that Lin Tian had seen the peculiar patterns of the thin book. Not long ago, after the iron sword entered his body, a lot of things came into his mind, which included the patterns.

"These patterns are..."

Lin Tian was a bit shocked.

Likewise, the other disciples in the lecture room were also quite puzzled.

The old man folded the book and said slowly, "These are formation patterns."

"Formation patterns?"

Someone asked confusedly.

"Formation patterns are the achievements of the formation masters' hard work over a long time. And formation masters are what I want to tell beyond the traditional martial cultivation," the old man said slowly, "With their energy and some special materials, the formation masters can make the combat craft scrolls that even ordinary people can use, draw the energy-gathering formation patterns to enhance the martial artists' cultivation speed and reinforce the weapons' power by imprinting the formation patterns on them. Legend has it that a top formation master can even harness the universal power to imprint a killing pattern in midair. Very horrid!"

How amazing!

Just when the old man finished talking, all the disciples in the lecture room were startled.

Formation masters? They were so strong!

In the corner, Lin Tian was slightly shocked and finally took a tumble.

"It turns out that the peculiar divine patterns in my mind are formation patterns, some stuff of formation masters."

Lin Tian muttered to himself.

Suddenly, his eyes glistened. The old man said a lot about formation masters and the most intriguing part was that formation masters can enhance the martial artists' cultivation speed by drawing energy-gathering formation patterns. Now, it happened that he was facing the problem of how to improve his cultivation speed.

"Sir, I want to become a formation master. Can you show me how?"

"Me too! Sir, I want to learn how to harness the formations too!"

"Me too!"

In the lecture room, most disciples were thrilled.

The old man shook his head with a smile and stretched out his hands with palms facing down, suggesting the crowd to be quiet.

"Formation masters enjoy a high position in Beiyan Empire. All the forces want to rope them in. Once someone becomes a qualified formation master, he can easily obtain wealth and power," the old man said, "However, it is too demanding to be a formation master. Ordinary people can hardly make it."

Quite some disciples were taken aback.

"Sir, what does it require to become a formation master?"

A disciple asked.

In the corner, Lin Tian also listened keenly. The so-called formation master might be the only opportunity for him to reach the ninth layer of body cultivation within three months. Of course, he must listen carefully.

The old man said, "To become a formation master, one must meet two requirements. Firstly, he must have an extraordinarily powerful soul; secondly, he needs a strong formation master to teach him the formation patterns." Speaking of that, the old man shook his head and said, "In Beiyan Empire, very few people can have a soul as powerful as required to become a formation master. As to the formation patterns, formation masters barely teach others their own formation patterns. Therefore, it is really DIFFICULT to be a formation master."

The old man's emphasis on the difficulty startled many disciples.

"Well, putting aside the soul power, don't you have the formation patterns?"

A disciple asked in a low voice.

Then, many people looked at the old man.

The old man shook the thin book and said, "These formation patterns were doodled by some formation masters and then copied by some laymen. They contain no panache and entail no value in reference."

"Oh, no." A lot of disciples looked disappointed.

Looking at these people's reactions, the old man said with a smile, "No need to be so disappointed. If you want to be a qualified formation master, putting aside the previous two criteria, you still need a large sum of money. Because when a formation master is practicing the formation patterns, he needs to cost a lot of precious materials, which ordinary people cannot afford. Of course, once a man becomes a qualified formation master, he can earn good profits by selling some combat craft scrolls made by him randomly. It is easy for him to make money."

As the old man said so, the disciples grew a stronger yearning to become formation masters. Certainly, they were more disappointed because to be a formation master was too demanding. Every condition was despairingly difficult to satisfy.

"Okay. Don't overthink. You should dedicate yourselves to martial cultivation."

The old man said.

Many people smiled with embarrassment and quieted down. For them, being a formation master was wishful thinking. Then, they started to listen to the old man talking about traditional martial cultivation.

In the corner, Lin Tian clenched fists and his eyes were glistening. "Oh, so that is what the formation master is."

The class lasted one hour. One hour later, the old man announced that the class was over. Lin Tian instantly paced out of the lecture room and headed towards his residence in the Martial Institution. Having returned to his residence, he directly locked himself indoors and started to browse those mysterious formation patterns that came to his mind not long ago.

In order to fight with Zhou Hao three months later, he had to reach the eighth layer of body cultivation at least. The time was not enough for him at all. If he became a formation master, he could draw an energy-gathering formation to improve his cultivation speed, which was indisputably what he needed most for now. Besides, a martial artist would need massive resources for cultivation, such as elixirs and magic weapons. If he could become a formation master, he would be able to make a fortune and then use the money to buy a lot of fine elixirs and top-grade weapons.

Therefore, he must become a formation master regardless!

Lin Tian closed his eyes and started to refine the peculiar patterns in his mind. Instantly, the divine patterns flashed across his mind, together with obscure essence, as if sharp blades were cutting his head. He almost screamed out of pain.

It lasted as long as three hours. Lin Tian didn't open his eyes until this afternoon.

"It hurts so much!"

With his head rested on his palms, he felt his vision blurred and his head ached heavily.

However, despite that, Lin Tian was rather excited. After refining the peculiar patterns, he really found many formation patterns, including the energy-gathering formation pattern mentioned by the old man. Most importantly, this pattern was the most basic formation pattern among all.

"Energy-gathering formation pattern, martial integrating formation pattern, power-reinforcing formation pattern, trapping formation pattern, illusion formation pattern, killing formation pattern..."

Lin Tian murmured.

He rubbed his head and shook it harshly.

Too many divine patterns flooded into his mind, ranging from the basic energy-gathering pattern to the top-grade killing formation pattern. The formation patterns were overlapped in his mind. Refined by him deliberately, they were about to overwhelm his mind.

Another one hour passed. Lin Tian finally felt better.

Within four hours, Lin Tian finally understood how to proceed with the cultivation of the formation master. As to the criteria of becoming a formation master, Lin Tian knew that his soul was powerful enough. Otherwise, he couldn't be able to sort out the formation patterns in his mind. Of the formation patterns, he clearly felt the vast essence, which could definitely be enlightening!

As to the cultivation, he should make the scroll first, which was made of parchment. This step was quite simple. What came next was to buy materials. The ink for drawing the formation patterns could be obtained by grinding the herbs. Sometimes, the blood of some advanced monsters would be needed.

After the scroll and the ink were prepared, he could make some finished products by imprinting the fully comprehended formation pattern on the scroll. This was the last step and the hardest part. Generally, it would be great enough that a formation master who had just started cultivated could have a 10% success rate.

Apart from the third step, generally, an ordinary formation master could fail the second step easily. Once he failed, the materials would be wasted so the money spent would be wasted too. As such, it was quite costly for a formation master to cultivate. Ordinary people could hardly afford the materials to be consumed during his cultivation.

"Let me try the energy-gathering pattern first." Lin Tian was slightly excited. He glanced over the required materials for making the energy-gathering formation pattern and subconsciously read the list, "Soul-teeth grass, golden-armor root, the blood of the third-grade monster beast Spiritual Fiery Ape..."

"These materials..."

Gradually, Lin Tian couldn't help smiling bitterly.

He could still afford the soul-teeth grass and the golden-armor root but the blood of Spiritual Fiery Ape and the two other materials were shockingly expensive. Each of them costed tens of spiritual coins. To sum up, it would cost him 100 spiritual coins to make a scroll of energy-gathering formation. Given the possibility of failure, he had to spend at least 1,000 spiritual coins buying the materials. Only in this way could he make a scroll of energy-gathering formation reluctantly.

"This is too costly!"

The spiritual coin was the currency of Beiyan Empire, which was said to be made of the dregs of some source spiritual mine. Generally, a spiritual coin was enough to support a family for one month. Lin Tian did the math and found that he only had more than 30 spiritual coins in total. He couldn't even afford the materials for making a scroll of energy-gathering formation.

Thinking of this, Lin Tian instantly felt a headache.

"It seems that I can only borrow money."

Lin Tian said resignedly.

...

"What? 1,000 spiritual coins? Why do you need so much money?"

Su Shu stared at Lin Tian,

1,000 spiritual coins were quite a lot even for her, the personal succeeding disciple of an elder of the Martial Institution.

"To buy things."

Lin Tian said with embarrassment.

In Jiuyang Martial Institution, he was only familiar with Su Shu, Mu Qing and Shi Dong. Mu Qing and Shi Dong were elders of the Martial Institution. How could he have the cheek to borrow money from the elders? Thinking back and forth, he could only turn to Su Shu for help.

Actually, as a man who was living for the second time, this was the first time for him to borrow money from a girl.

"What do you want to buy? How can it cost so much?"

Su Shu asked.

Lin Tian scratched the back of his head and said, "It's a secret. I cannot tell you for now."

"A secret?"

Su Shu stared at Lin Tian and instantly blew out her cheeks.

Lin Tian was speechless in embarrassment.

Su Shu hummed and still didn't make things difficult for him. In the end, she gave him 1,000 spiritual coins.

"Thank you. I'll pay you back as soon as possible."

Lin Tian promised her.

Having obtained the 1,000 spiritual coins from Su Shu, Lin Tian immediately returned to his residence and wrapped himself up with a black cloak. Then, he walked out of the Martial Institution. He had killed Mo Sen and held grudges against the Xiao family. Once he was exposed outside the Martial Institution, he might be in danger. Before he could become strong enough, he had better be careful.