After thinking it over, Lu Yan decided to put away the Ten Thousand Formations Compass. Compared to the risk of having it stolen, he felt that earning a little less was fine; it wasn't as if he wouldn't make any money at all.
He didn't think the dead old man's reputation carried enough weight to ward off those who would covet a semi-divine artifact. Reaching up, he pressed against his chest, feeling the cold weight of the Ten Thousand Formations Compass resting flat against his skin through his robes.
It felt cold and slightly heavy. He pushed it in a bit deeper to make sure it was secure, then withdrew his hand and continued walking.
Currently, the best weapon the Artifact Sect could forge might reach the low-grade Heaven Rank. This was something they had co-created a few years ago with the Yonglu Divine Sect and the Formation Sect. As for why the Elixir Sect had been left out of the four arts of cultivation, it was because they were forging an elixir-refining cauldron...
If the Ten Thousand Formations Compass wasn't in the hands of a formation master, it wouldn't even qualify as an Earth Rank formation tool. At its core, this thing was essentially a spatial item. You could record, store, or contain formations within the device.
In other words, as long as you set up a formation in advance, you wouldn't need to spend time laying it down when an enemy attacked; you could trigger it instantly. Yes, instant cast.
This thing could completely revolutionize the combat style of traditional formation cultivators. They would no longer have to act like turtles hiding in their shells while taking a beating, gaining the ability to launch genuine, proactive attacks against their enemies. But of course, some might argue that it wasn't a big deal—after all, couldn't a regular formation plate achieve the same instant-cast effect? No, no, no, my friend.
No matter how incredible a formation plate was, it could only store one formation, whereas this damn thing had no storage limit... At this thought, even he couldn't help but add in his mind: “That is fucking ridiculous.”
Holding this in your hand was equivalent to holding a book of forbidden spells—no, it was like holding a scroll of forbidden spells.
The Formation Sect had been passed down for over sixty generations. Every successor was the top formation master of their era, and each of them had stored at least a thousand or so formations inside it. If one had sufficient spiritual energy, they could truly achieve infinite formation deployment—essentially using "forbidden spells as basic attacks."
Furthermore, formations weren't always set up by a single person. Even if a formation was laid down by multiple people working together, this device could still record it, allowing a single person to deploy it.
Mastering this device was equivalent to holding the tens of millions of years of the Formation Sect's heritage...
As for why only a formation master could unleash its potential as a semi-divine artifact, on one hand, only a formation master knew how to best utilize formations.
On the other hand, for a formation master—especially one capable of reaching the level of a sect leader—once they used up a formation, they could simply store another one inside. A formation that had been deployed could be learned with a single glance, and once learned, they could just record it back in when they had the time.
Only a formation master could truly unlock its value, because it required constantly filling it with new formations, understanding the logic behind every single formation line, and deciding which one to release during battle. This wasn't something that could be achieved simply by having a high cultivation level.
In the hands of a non-formation master, the Ten Thousand Formations Compass was nothing more than a poker—it could hit things, but it couldn't produce its true effects. In the hands of a formation master, it was a semi-divine artifact. Unfortunately, he was only at the Foundation Establishment stage.
The only drawback was that invoking an instant-cast formation would inevitably drain the corresponding spiritual energy. No matter how incredible Lu Yan was with it, he was still only at the Foundation Establishment stage.
However, he possessed a five-element spiritual root, making his dantian's capacity several times larger than that of someone with a single spiritual root. With his current cultivation, severely injuring a Golden Core cultivator shouldn't be much of a problem.
As for the Nascent Soul stage... Lu Yan let out a dry laugh. It would be a miracle if he could even survive an encounter with a Nascent Soul cultivator. However, he wondered if the Mind-Clearing Pills would still be effective. If they were, then forget Nascent Soul—he wouldn't even fear a Soul Transformation expert, and could easily suppress them in a fight. He didn't laugh out loud, his lips merely twitching slightly.
He remembered the recipe for the Mind-Clearing Pill, and he remembered the ingredients, but he couldn't afford them. He suddenly froze for a moment—he wondered if he would actually dare to face a Soul Transformation cultivator if he had a Mind-Clearing Pill in his hand right now.
Speaking of which, as he walked toward the Fu manor, he turned his gaze inward to examine his spiritual sea. According to what Jiang Ci and the others had said, he had practically descended like a god back then, showing off incredible power and wiping out an entire city of Ice Spirits in no time at all.
Of course, that was just Lu Yan's own interpretation, not Jiang Ci's exact words, but it was close enough. Afterward, he had passed out, only to wake up and find that his spiritual sea had inexplicably doubled in size.
In truth, the expansion of his spiritual sea wasn't a bad thing, as his mental strength had increased significantly. He could set up formations much faster now, and it had even improved his vision. It was just that the expansion had happened too rapidly back then, nearly bursting his brain and causing him to pass out.
All in all, it could be considered a blessing in disguise. Yet, he still felt an inexplicable sense of unease deep down. Perhaps he was a bit paranoid, feeling that his cultivation level was far too low, which meant he needed to work hard to raise it in the near future.
His efficiency in locating his shattered divine sense fragments had improved slightly, but he still needed to get some Mind-Clearing Pills; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to budge the fragments. Now that his spiritual sea had expanded, he could see the boundaries of those fragments much more clearly—where there had once been a blurry grey haze, he could now distinguish the cracks between individual pieces.
The more clearly he saw them, the more he realized how much was missing. It wasn't a complete puzzle of a spiritual sea waiting for him to assemble; it was a shattered plate, and he had to find every single piece to glue it back together. What he could find right now was far from enough. He lingered in his inner vision for a few breaths, counting the fragments he could see, then counting the empty spaces in between the cracks. Before he could finish counting, he withdrew his consciousness. The more he counted, the more he realized how much was still missing, so it was better not to count at all.
Not only the Mind-Clearing Pills, but also Jiang Ci's medicinal baths and Blood-Vitality Pills... He was still desperately short of money. Lu Yan sighed as he arrived in front of the Fu manor. He stood at the entrance for a moment, looking down to brush the dust off his hem and adjust his collar, then raised his hand to knock.
“Knock, knock, knock.”
“Who's outside?”
“Lu Yan!”
It was still the same butler surnamed Jin, but this time, he didn't make Lu Yan wait. The front gates opened much faster than before, as if someone had given instructions in advance. As Lu Yan stepped through the door, he noticed something.
The potted plant by the threshold had been replaced. Last time, it was a cluster of red flowers; this time, it was a short, dark green plant with thorny edges, its species unrecognizable. He spared it an extra glance as he passed, then withdrew his gaze and followed Old Jin inside.
Fu Xingjian seemed to have anticipated his arrival. He sat in the main seat of the hall, leisurely sipping his tea. Beside him sat a young man.
He was young, with stiff facial features, high brow bones, and a darker complexion. Lu Yan noticed his posture—his back was perfectly straight, his chin slightly tucked, and his hands rested naturally on his knees.
Fu Xingjian smiled and spoke, “My dear nephew, my son here should have met you once before.”
Lu Yan looked at the young man. To say he looked familiar would be a stretch; he had absolutely no memory of this face. His lips twitched.
“Should I have?”
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