Things developed just as Lu Yang had predicted. In the end, Zhao Xuhe still sold him the "Nine Transformations Dragon Transformation Art" at the cheap price of 1500 contribution points. That's just how people are when they're in debt.
After obtaining the "Nine Transformations Dragon Transformation Art," Lu Yang immediately returned to his cave residence. He committed the contents of the cultivation technique to memory, word for word, before carefully putting it away again.
"It's a pity I can't cultivate it now."
Having transformed into a blood shadow, his cultivation level would neither increase nor decrease, forever stuck at the late stage of Qi Refining. It was impossible for him to even dissipate his cultivation. Thus, he could only wait for his next life.
That being said, Lu Yang was in no hurry to kill himself. After all, time was precious. Even with the Book of a Hundred Lives, he would not waste it lightly.
Even if he couldn't cultivate, there were other areas where he could continue to improve. Thinking of this, Lu Yang took out Fairy Qingchen's "Secret Explanation of Formation Treasures" from his storage pouch. That's right, he was going to learn formations!
The four arts of cultivation were formations, artifact refining, pill concocting, and talisman drawing. Mastering any one of these skills would instantly make one a high-level talent in the cultivation world, able to make a living anywhere. Take Fairy Qingchen for example.
Lu Yang felt that she was truly a talented person. Not only did she know formations, but she could also refine formations into magical artifacts. It was just a shame her taste in men was terrible.
The men she fell for one after another were scumbags who would turn on you in an instant, and so both her lives ended in resentment and death. Opening the "Secret Explanation of Formation Treasures," the very first page made Lu Yang sigh with emotion.
"So-called formation treasures are those which treat formations as treasures, and treasures as formations. The two complement each other. The skills within were only developed after I poured my heart and soul into its research."
"To learn this Dao, both talent and hard work are indispensable."
After the opening preface, the second page was filled with dense, intricate patterns. Each pattern had an annotation explaining its meaning.
"The way of formations is centered on formation patterns. By outlining formation patterns and tracing the workings of heaven and earth, one can borrow the wonders of heaven and earth. However, the workings of heaven and earth encompass all the mysteries of the world and are difficult to comprehend, let alone transform into formation patterns. This requires extraordinary comprehension. Only by mastering formation patterns can one be capable of learning formations."
"Very good. You now have a basic understanding of the fundamental principles of formations."
"Next, turn to the third page. Let's look at the following simple example and apply the knowledge we've just learned to practice."
On the third page, an incredibly complex and intricate diagram came into Lu Yang's view. This was a formation diagram? Lu Yang stroked his chin.
Deciphering a formation diagram was essentially about identifying the composition of the formation patterns within it to deduce the formation's function. Formation patterns were the foundation of all formations. Whether a formation could be effective mainly depended on whether the combination of formation patterns was logical, whether there were any conflicts, and whether a complete, operational circuit could be formed.
"Interesting."
Lu Yang smiled confidently, feeling that this didn't seem particularly difficult.
"With my talent and hard work, a mere simple formation diagram is as good as mine!"
One month later. Lu Yang sat dazedly on his Meditation Cushion, surrounded by piles of manuscripts filled with his calculations. He looked utterly dejected.
In his hand, he held a series of combined formation patterns. An unknown amount of time passed before a spiritual light suddenly lit up at Lu Yang's fingertip.
"It worked!?"
Lu Yang shot to his feet, his face filled with ecstatic joy. He carefully examined the formation patterns he had pieced together, pinched his fingers to make a quick calculation, and then revealed a look of confusion.
"That's not right. How did it work?"
"How is this thing even operating?"
It was clearly the fruit of his painstaking labor over the past month, yet he himself didn't understand why it worked. This feeling was driving Lu Yang crazy. After a month of arduous study, he now had a much deeper understanding of formations.
To put it simply, formations were very similar to programming. The so-called comprehension of formation paths meant sifting through the tangled workings of heaven and earth, as if picking through a jumbled mess written by the old man in the sky, and extracting usable parts to form one's own design.
However, with something like formations, if you didn't know, you just didn't know. It was like trying to pan for gold in a mountain of filth. Someone without talent would end up just like the current Lu Yang: he hadn't found a single speck of gold, but had instead dug up a pile of crap.
"No matter what, I did manage to dig up something."
Lu Yang sighed and continued his research, forgoing food and sleep. Like this, another month passed before he finally deciphered the diagram in his hands.
"This is an illumination formation!"
"Within the range of the formation, everything will be brightly lit, and most concealment methods will become ineffective. Other than that, it has no offensive or defensive power."
Lu Yang looked haggard, his eyes bloodshot, but his face was filled with excitement. With a full sense of accomplishment, he turned to the third page of the "Secret Explanation of Formation Treasures."
"Actually, it's normal if you couldn't solve it."
"The problem on the third page was mainly to make you understand how difficult formations are, so that you approach their study with a humble heart and don't always aim too high."
Lu Yang was speechless.
"Scoundrel! What a scoundrel!"
Lu Yang abruptly stood up and slammed the book in his hand onto the ground. He was now one hundred percent certain that this was definitely a formation manual written by a Saint Sect formation master! After a while, Lu Yang picked the book up again.
He had no choice. There were some things you had to do for a living, whether you liked them or not, whether you understood them or not, whether you wanted to do them or not. You just had to bite the bullet and carry on.
However, after further study, Lu Yang discovered that his talent was not as bad as he had imagined. As the book said, the intricate diagram on the third page was not meant for beginners to solve, which was why Lu Yang had been stuck on it for two months. But there were benefits.
Now that he had switched to some simpler, more understandable formations, Lu Yang's learning speed visibly quickened. Occasionally, when he got stuck, he would overcome it after a few days of research. This allowed Lu Yang, who had previously suffered a severe blow to his confidence, to regain it.
In the cave, he lost track of the years. Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed.
During this period, Lu Yang paid no mind to the outside world, single-mindedly studying his formation books. He didn't even bother to pay the rent for his cave residence and moved directly into the outer sect. After all, he couldn't cultivate now and had no pressing needs, so he naturally just slacked off and didn't work.
And in those twenty years, almost every few years, a Son of Heaven with boundless fortune, just like Xiao Shiye in the past, would suddenly rise in the outer sect. However, after that Son of Heaven obtained a certain great opportunity known to everyone in the Saint Sect, he would suddenly disappear.
Disappearing along with him was a large group of unlucky fools who, after discovering the Son of Heaven's fortune, had harbored ill intentions and tried to latch onto him to leech off his luck.
"That senior is fishing again."
Every time he heard similar news, Lu Yang felt a wave of panic. After all, with Xiao Shiye as a prime example, he would only steer clear of any Son of Heaven. He couldn't afford to provoke them, so he could only hide.
Then there was Zhao Xuhe. After twenty years, he had already reached the Perfection of the Qi Refining Realm and become a famous True Disciple of the Saint Sect. Unfortunately, he failed in his attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm a few years ago and passed away.
Regarding this, Lu Yang merely sighed and paid it no more mind. What truly brought Lu Yang joy was that after twenty years of diligent study, he had finally and thoroughly mastered the knowledge within the "Secret Explanation of Formation Treasures." Inside the cave residence, Lu Yang's entire focus was on the sword pellet before him.
At this moment, he was too weak to even maintain his human form, and his blood shadow was incredibly faint. This was a sign that his end was near. The side effects from cultivating the Heavenly Demon Transforming Blood Divine Light in the past had finally caught up to him.
As a result, at only forty years of age, his lifespan was already exhausted; his oil had run out and the lamp was dry. However, Lu Yang didn't care about this in the slightest. He remained fully concentrated on inscribing the formation.
Even as he approached death, he did not get up, nor did he attempt to do anything to save himself, because that would only interrupt his inspiration, and he didn't want to waste that precious inspiration.
"I understand! Wait... no, that's wrong..."
"Oh, it's right! It's right... No, wait, still not right... oh, it's right, it's right!"
A long time passed like this. Finally, just as Lu Yang's blood shadow was about to dissipate, in that instant between life and death, Lu Yang's eyes suddenly flew wide open.
"Hahaha! I've succeeded!"
Watching the formation patterns he had painstakingly drawn assemble around the sword pellet and finally operate successfully, Lu Yang burst into loud laughter that echoed throughout the cave residence. And just like that, amidst his laughter, he fell silent.
"Book of a Hundred Lives!"
(End of this chapter)