Chapter 212: The Necessity of Formations

The Ghost Judge on the other side had no intention of lingering any longer. After all, Lord Yama had repeatedly ordered him not to reveal his identity. Following the principle of “the more you say, the more mistakes you make; say nothing, make no mistakes,” the Ghost Judge turned toward Tang Chen and said,

“The final trial has been cleared. Congratulations, young friend, on passing and ending the exam early! We shall take our leave now.”

After speaking, he grabbed the pitifully whimpering Ghost King behind him and swiftly flew toward the Gates of the Underworld. Within moments, both had vanished.

Only then did the old man rush over—only to find Tang Chen standing there blankly amid the wreckage of the ruined temple. He immediately understood what had happened, a knowing glint flashing in his eyes. Tang Chen’s cultivation was indeed impressive—if he could face down an evil flood dragon head-on, then subduing a Ghost King wasn’t impossible.

So he gave a deliberate cough, walked over, and, without offering any explanation, pulled out a talisman paper from his robe. A moment later, his voice echoed across the entire village.

“The Ghost King has been vanquished, and the third trial is hereby concluded. Congratulations to all for passing. Your outstanding performances have been recorded by the Water Mirror. Please keep your ghost-capturing talismans safe and hand them over to your mentors upon return to the Celestial Masters’ Hall, as proof for your Celestial Master rank evaluation and final competition results.”

With that, he formed a quick hand seal.

In the next instant, all the disciples still within the village had their teleportation talismans activate at once, and in the blink of an eye, everyone was transported back.

———

Because the third trial had ended half an hour early, dawn had not yet arrived. The extra time allowed the old man to collect the ghost-capturing talismans from all the examinees.

Nowadays, cultivation manuals were no longer secrets in the Celestial Sect—anyone could study them freely. As a result, disciples’ strength had risen significantly. Even fierce spirits and malevolent ghosts could now be subdued by many. So this time, only a few of the underworld spirits who came as sparring partners managed to escape back through the Ghost Gate—most had been captured within ghost seals. As the head of the Youling Domain, the old man had to personally reclaim every one of the missing underworld spirits.

He worked tirelessly until dawn, finally finishing his count. Before leaving, he even held a small commendation ceremony—praising the outstanding underworld spirits who had “performed exceptionally well” during this exchange training task, including the Ghost King at the top of the list. Only then did he open the Ghost Gate and send all the “spirits on business trips” back home.

The final and most important competition—the duel of spells and combat—was scheduled for the day after tomorrow. The Celestial Masters’ Hall instructors needed time to review the Water Mirror footage and compile the results of the last trial.

Yun Jiao, however, didn’t need to participate in grading. As promised earlier, she went to check on Tang Chen’s injuries.

“There’s no major issue,” Yun Jiao said, pulling back her hand after checking his pulse. She turned to Tang Yi and continued, “The earlier damage to his soul has already healed. It’s just that his battle with the Ghost King drained some blood and disrupted his spiritual energy a bit. I’ll give him a few acupuncture treatments and prescribe some nourishing medicine—he’ll be fine after resting.”

Tang Yi finally exhaled in relief. “Many thanks, Master Yun. As long as my son’s fine, I can rest easy.” He sighed, shaking his head helplessly. “Ah, this son of mine is so stubborn and competitive. You wouldn’t know—back when he took the registration exam, he was in the same batch as you. He heard you deduced the Five Elements Demon-Subduing Formation during the test. Even though he’s not a formation cultivator, he spent two whole years learning it, just to—”

“Father!” Tang Chen suddenly shouted, cutting him off, his face burning with humiliation. Did he have to expose him like that?

Since childhood, Tang Chen had never lost—not once. He was called a genius for a reason. In the Celestial Sect, whenever people spoke of talent, his name was always mentioned. But all of that shattered during the registration examination.

If he was a genius, then Yun Jiao was divinity itself—an unreachable height above him.

At first, he refused to accept it, so he threw himself into studying formations. He thought: If she can do it, I, a genius, can too! He swore that next time, he would surpass her.

But by the time he finally mastered formation theory and learned to construct the Five Elements Formation, he found—she was already teaching her own disciples; she had become an Instructor of the Celestial Sect; his own father had become one of her students; she had saved the entire Western City; she had ventured into the underworld to rescue souls; she had changed the entire Celestial Sect…

From initial unwillingness, to frustration, to shock, to awe, to disbelief—and finally, to calm acceptance. He even felt a faint urge to travel back in time and smack his younger, arrogant self.

He had to admit—there are indeed some people in this world you can never catch up to, no matter how hard you try.

“In front of Master Yun, what’s there to hide?” Tang Yi continued, completely unfazed at exposing his son’s embarrassment. “You specialized in artifact forging since childhood but neglected your core cultivation methods—then suddenly started learning formations. That’s not the right approach, is it, Master Yun?”

Yun Jiao paused mid-acupuncture, tilted her head slightly, and said truthfully, “Formation study doesn’t conflict with artifact refinement. In fact, formations are widely applicable. Whether crafting tools or talismans, arrays can be integrated to enhance combat power. Among talismans, formations, and artifacts—formation is the most fundamental and worthwhile to prioritize.”

Turning to Tang Yi, she added seriously, “In fact, I think studying formations is quite beneficial. You, Tang Yi, should also put in more effort to improve your array skills and results.”

“…” Wait a minute—weren’t they supposed to be lecturing his son? How did it turn into his lesson?

“By the way,” Yun Jiao said casually, “if I recall correctly, during your formation final exam back then, you…” —didn’t pass.

“Master Yun!” Tang Yi’s voice suddenly jumped several octaves, cutting her off at once. “The final competition list should be out by now. Since the checkup’s done, we should head to the main hall to take a look. Maybe Head Instructor Xu needs our help!” Without another word, he hurriedly turned and fled.

Please, have mercy on this old father! Spare my dark history!

(_)

———

The Celestial Sect Grand Competition had finally reached its last stage—the Duel of Spells.

Although fifty contestants had advanced from the third trial, most were academy disciples. The few who weren’t were all from the advanced training classes.

Under the old criteria, these participants could already have been promoted to Five-Petal rank or even directly to Moon-tier Celestial Masters. But as the sect’s overall strength rose, the evaluation standards had to rise as well.

In the Celestial Sect, cultivation was divided into four realms—Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Mortal. Those who broke through to the Heaven Realm could theoretically ascend to the Upper World. Yet for countless years, aside from the ancient ancestors whose names were merely recorded in history, no one had ever ascended.

Even now, though there were a few who had touched the threshold of the Heaven Realm, none truly aimed for ascension—after all, Master Yun is still here in the mortal world.

Since she hadn’t ascended yet, who else would dare dream of it? Thus, though everyone’s cultivation advanced rapidly, the sect still cultivated in relative peace.

This time’s duel was a spectacle—each competitor displaying their full brilliance. The battles were fierce and magnificent, lasting six whole days before the top three were decided.

As expected, Tang Chen was crowned the champion of the Grand Competition.

(Chapter End)