Cultivation Online

”For the final test, you must activate two level 5 formations—one defense and one offensive—simultaneously and keep them activated for an hour without any external assistance, such as spirit stones. You have five minutes to prepare,” said Hao Chen.

Any Array Master could easily activate a single formation and sustain it using spirit stones. However, activating and maintaining two formations simultaneously was far more challenging. It required significantly more spiritual energy and placed a substantial burden on one’s soul strength.

Yuan spent a few minutes mentally preparing himself. Once he was ready, he recreated the offensive formation and defensive formation he showcased during the last two tests.

After activating them, he sat down and closed his eyes to focus on maintaining the formations. Normally, this test would push most Array Masters to their limits, but Yuan felt incredibly at ease.

His spiritual energy recovery was so powerful that he could easily maintain a dozen formations simultaneously, much less two level 5 formations. As for his soul strength, it had reached the point where he couldn’t even feel it depleting.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and Yuan passed the final trial without breaking a single drop of sweat.

”Congratulations, you are now officially a Level 5 Array Master!” Hao Chen said to him afterward.

”It was only thanks to you, Senior Hao.”

”In that case, don’t forget about me when you make it big in the Array Tower,” Hao Chen laughed merrily.

Yuan left the Array Masters’ Association shortly after and made his way back to the Array Tower.

Once he returned to the Array Tower, Yuan approached the closed entrance, where a powerful tier 5 formation kept the doors sealed.

Yuan noticed the formation before he became a Level 5 Array Master, but he did not have the means to unseal it.

He proceeded to spend several hours trying to crack the formation. Despite the formation being a level 5 formation, it could qualify as a level 6 array solely due to its complexity.

Eventually, Yuan cracked the formation, unsealing the doors.

When Yuan stepped into the Array Tower, an ordinary-looking young woman greeted him just slightly beyond the entrance.

”Congratulations, you have qualified to take the assessment to join our Array Tower. Would you like to take the assessment right now?”

As the woman spoke, her gaze landed on Yuan’s tower badges. Her eyes widened with surprise, as it was quite rare to see an individual associated with two towers simultaneously, especially the Martial Tower and Cultivation Tower.

”I would,” Yuan nodded in response.

”Very well. If you could follow me, please.”

Yuan followed the young woman to an empty room, where another individual was waiting.

This person was a middle-aged woman with dark green hair.

”In order to join our Array Tower, you must defeat me using level 5 array formations only,” said the green-haired woman.

”We will both have ten minutes to prepare a defensive formation around our body. Then, we will attack using attack formations. Whoever breaks their opponent’s defensive formation wins.”

”Any questions?”

”Am I allowed to use formations lower than level 5?”

”Yes, anything below level 5 formations are allowed.”

Yuan nodded.

”Then we will begin in right now.”

Both Yuan and the green-haired woman began working on their defensive formation.

Yuan finished his level 5 defensive formation less than three minutes into the match. Seeing this, the green-haired woman sneered inwardly, ’What a fool, rushing his defensive formation. Not only is he using one formation, but he didn’t even bother to refine it.’

A formation can be strengthened in two primary ways. The first is through refinement, where the Array Master redraws or recreates the formation, layering it over the existing one to enhance its power.

The second method involves using treasures and external resources to amplify the formation’s effects. However, for an assessment like this, relying on external aids was clearly not an option, leaving Yuan to rely solely on his skills and endurance.

The green-haired woman finished her defensive formation nine and a half minutes later. She was going to create more than one defensive formation, but seeing how Yuan was still a beginner, she didn’t bother doing so, looking down on him.

”We will begin now,” said the green-haired woman.

Yuan nodded and immediately started creating hundreds of level 1 array symbols every second.

’This bastard, he’s using level 1 array symbols?’ The green-haired woman raised her eyebrows and thought to herself as she worked on her level 5 array symbols.

Due to how fast Yuan was creating his array symbols, he finished creating dozens of attack formations around the woman.

”Activate.”

The formations attacked the woman’s defensive formation, leaving tiny cracks on the surface every time they struck. However, these cracks quickly recovered in the blink of an eye.

”The power is quite lacking…” Yuan muttered after seeing the results.

Meanwhile, the woman was shocked that his level 1 attack formations could even damage her level 5 defensive formation.

’His soul strength must be as high as the heavens!’ she cried inwardly, almost fumbling her attack formation from the shock.

After his initial attack, Yuan didn’t attack again, as he wanted to see how much his defensive formation could endure.

Once the woman finished her level 5 offensive formation, she immediately activated it and attacked Yuan’s defensive formation.

A strong explosion consumed Yuan’s figure and formation a moment later.

Inside the cloud of dust and smoke, Yuan could see that his defensive formation had barely been affected by the attack, with only slight cracks that healed instantly. Seeing this, he continued his assault, using level 2 attack formations.

By the time the smoke and dust settled a few moments later, Yuan had created over a dozen level 2 attack formations, using them to attack the woman, who was in disbelief and couldn’t believe that Yuan’s defensive formation had managed to survive her attack.

’How?! His formation should’ve been heavily damaged if not outright destroyed by that attack just now!’ she cried inwardly, her eyes wide with disbelief as Yuan’s attack stuck her formation.