Chapter 80: The Cultivation World’s Training Program

Perhaps it was because the phrase “lost formations” sounded too tempting, but even after the strict screening by the Heavenly Master Hall, the final number of attendees still reached four hundred and twenty-one.

When the Hall sent over the payment of forty-two thousand one hundred taels of gold, Yun Jiao’s first ever long-distance formation seminar officially began.

Since most participants were sect leaders, elders, or at the very least elite disciples, she skipped all the elementary lessons and dove straight into the good stuff—explaining high-level formation blueprints, placement logic, elemental interactions, suppression techniques, and all the subtle details that usually took decades to comprehend.

Even though word of Yun Jiao summoning the Grandmaster and subduing the Evil God in Four Seasons Village had spread throughout the cultivation world, most people still doubted her. A twenty-something junior claiming to master every lost formation? Impossible. Formations required years of deduction and trial. Any real formation master was at least a white-bearded scholar with a lifetime of study behind him.

Yet Yun Jiao had boldly promised to teach them every single one from the list—over a hundred of them, many that even the elders only vaguely remembered by name. Her confidence sounded outrageous.

So most people joined with low expectations—even if she can’t really teach them, maybe we can at least reconstruct a few patterns from her diagrams.

But then came the first class.

And all those doubts were flattened—smack, smack, smack.

○|￣|_

Yun Jiao lectured for two hours and covered eight formations. Not only did she explain the diagrams, she broke down everything from elemental nodes to interaction ratios, from arrangement geometry to energy flow.

Yes, she occasionally said things like “formula,” “secondary axis,” or “power to the third,” which made no sense to anyone, but aside from that, every sentence was shockingly clear. She spoke so plainly that even someone half-asleep could follow along. Complicated high-tier arrays suddenly looked like child’s doodles—easy to draw, easy to activate.

By the end of the session, even disciples who’d only joined to “listen for fun” understood seventy or eighty percent. Some even tried setting the arrays immediately.

And then—someone actually succeeded.

It was Elder Jiao Hengyi, the most formation-obsessed man there.

“I—I did it! It really works! So that’s how the energy anchors align—Cloud Daoist, this formation—” he started to gush.

But Yun Jiao’s calm voice cut him off mid-sentence.

“Good. That’s enough for today. We’ll continue with the next few formations tomorrow. Class dismissed.”

“Wait, Yun Daoist—”

“I’ll be sending a written analysis of these formations to the Heavenly Master Hall,” she added. “If you have questions, the answers will be there. Copy them down if you need to.”

Jiao Hengyi stopped, a bit dazed.

…Was it his imagination, or did she sound like she didn’t want to talk to him?

No, no, definitely imagination.

“Also,” Yun Jiao continued matter-of-factly, “you’re all elite disciples. For today’s eight formations, you should be able to complete at least five or six. That will be your homework for today. I’ll check it tomorrow.”

Everyone: “…”

Homework?

(⊙_⊙)

And before anyone could recover, she went on, perfectly serious:

“Since you’re studying under me, I have to take responsibility. In our Qingyang Sect, we hold a monthly exam. But since you only asked to study for a short period, we’ll change it to an exam every three days. You don’t mind, right?”

“…”

“The first test papers have already been sent to the Heavenly Master Hall. Hall Master Xu, please distribute them to every sect. Don’t miss anyone—thank you.”

“…”

“I won’t supervise the exams in person because of the distance. They’re written tests—very easy. Turn them in three days from now.”

“…”

“Oh, and when you finish this month of lessons, remember to submit your graduation thesis.”

“…”

“Alright, that’s all. Don’t forget your homework. Class dismissed!”

Then she simply cut the communication link.

Everyone: “……”

What… just happened?

Who were they? Where were they? What were they supposed to be doing again?

Σ(°△°|||)︴

It took a full moment of silence before they received the exam papers from the Heavenly Master Hall—only then did reality sink in.

Cloud Daoist had really given them homework.

At first, everyone felt oddly touched—she was so thorough and responsible! But once they actually read the papers, their admiration turned into despair.

Because the tests were impossibly hard. The difficulty level didn’t match the lesson content at all!

w(Д)w

That night, disciples across the cultivation world witnessed something unprecedented—sect masters and elders who usually maintained saintly composure began burning midnight oil, scratching talismans on the floor, occasionally letting out roars of anguish:

“How do you solve this one?! How?! Aaaaagh—”

“I can’t derive it—why won’t it balance?!”

(Д)

Disciples: “…”

Their mighty leaders… had they all gone mad?

(⊙_⊙)

Soon, the entire cultivation world was shrouded in the collective trauma of exams.

As someone who had personally suffered through Yun Jiao’s quizzes before, the old man Bai Yu expressed his deepest sympathy—

…and gleeful support.

“Hahaha… finally! They’re suffering too! This feels amazing!”

He laughed for a solid minute—until a calm voice drifted over.

“Oh, by the way, old man,” Yun Jiao said sweetly, “I’ve prepared your homework and test papers too. Don’t forget to do them.”

“…” What?

“You already have a foundation, so I adjusted the difficulty upward a little. I’m sure you’ll manage.”

“…”

“I’ll be busy, so I won’t check it myself. Just hand your work to the Grandmaster for grading.”

“……”

No.

No, this couldn’t be happening.

“Girl—come back! Come back!!!”

(End of Chapter)