TFHS: Chapter 162

Judging from his appearance, Ji Yuan looked really good but Feng Ming thought he was still a bit worse than Bai Qiaomo.

Ji Yuan looked a bit like the elegant scumbag type. This made people feel that he was full of bad intentions and it wasn’t known who he was plotting against.

Of course, this was Feng Ming’s feeling. In the eyes of others, they thought Ji Yuan was elegant, gentle and amiable. Ji Yuan had many admirers in the Imperial Academy.

If he got close to someone, that person would definitely be in trouble. However, the person who got close to Ji Yuan was Qiu Yi. The admirers could only accept their defeat since they couldn’t touch Qiu Yi.

Feng Ming asked curiously, “Who is this Ji Yuan. He isn’t related to the imperial family like Qiu Yi, is he?”

Chen Tianlang smiled. “They aren’t related but they are very close. Ji Yuan is an orphan and was adopted by the chief formation master of the imperial family when he was young. He showed his talent in formations at a young age, and naturally became the direct disciple of that formation master. Therefore, he and Qiu Yi have known each other since they were young. They can be said to be childhood friends.”

So that was how it was. No wonder why he saw that Ji Yuan and Qiu Yi had a very close relationship.

Facing Qiu Yi, Ji Yuan’s smile wasn’t fake.

However, Feng Ming noticed that when Chen Tianlang talked about Ji Yuan, Bai Qiaomo showed something strange in his eyes. This couldn’t be noticed unless the person was familiar with Bai Qiaomo.

Feng Ming didn’t ask any more questions. He decided to wait until they were in private before asking if Bai Qiaomo knew anything.

The competition between formation masters wasn’t to see who could successfully produce a certain level of formation plates on the stage, but to use formations to compete with each other, testing each other’s ability to set up and break formations.

In a competition of this level, no one would dare to bring out a first-grade formation master. The formation masters sent by outside parties must be at least second-grade.

In fact, there weren’t many second-grade ones. Only the third-grade formation masters were considered to be good enough to compete for the final 20 qualifying places.

First, the second-grade formation masters came on stage, divided into groups of two. They set up the formation together on the stage. Once the formation was set up, they each went to break into the other person’s formation.

Whoever set up a formation that lasted the longer and broke the formation the fastest would be the winner and enter the next round of competition. The best one among them could challenge a third-grade formation master.

It was possible, but in such a competition, there was almost no second-grade formation master who would overestimate their own abilities and challenge a third-grade formation master. If they had enough confidence, they would’ve improved their formation level to the third-grade long ago.

Seeing up a formation was fine. Cultivators who didn’t understand formations wouldn’t be able to see much. However, breaking the formation was something that everyone enjoyed watching.

In some places, there were fires, landslides and rain. In other places, the formation masters who tried to break the formation could only circle around in a small area and not get out.

Some formation masters shouted and yelled inside the formation, obviously trapped in an unknown illusion.

Pei Yingmin understood formations, but he wasn’t as specialized as his junior brother Bai Qiaomo.

In his spare time, Feng Ming would also read some books collected in the relic mansion, including formation books. He had some understanding of basic formations, but he couldn’t handle those that were too advanced.

The formation masters on the stage used all their tricks to break the opponent’s formation in the shortest possible time.

In the stands, Pei Yingmin explained to everyone the types of formations and the methods used to break them.

In such situations, most of the time, violent means wouldn’t be used to break the formation, Instead, clever force would be used to break the surface based on their understanding of the formation.

“In the past, there was a bad formation master who loved to arrange an illusion formation. His illusion formation was arranged very smartly, which often made the cultivators who entered the formation subconsciously immersed in the illusion and made some very indecent actions. Later, the Formation Hall issued a regulation that during a competition, they have to cover up the formation so that outsiders can’t watch it or restrict the use of such illusion formations to avoid the formation masters breaking the formation from looking too ugly on stage.”

Feng Ming gasped when he heard this. “That guy is really ruthless. If you show an ugly appearance on stage, how can you be a human in the future? Wasn’t the formation master beaten to death in the end?”

Pei Yingmin laughed. “It was many years ago. I don’t know what happened to that formation master in the end, but it is indeed easy to be beaten. He would be lucky if he wasn’t beaten to death.”

Chen Tianlang smiled. “If this formation master dared to do this, he must’ve considered a way out. Maybe he ran away and hid as soon as the competition was over.”

Feng Ming thought about it. This was really possible. The formation master’s opponent was really pitiful. In the words of his previous life, it was a social death.

There were image stones in the world. Once the image stone was used to record something, the person who broke the formation would be pointed at wherever he went.

Therefore, Feng Ming concluded, “Formation masters, no, a skilled formation master is really scary. They can trap people to death when plotting against others. You must never offend a skilled formation master.”

Pei Yingmin and Chen Tianlang turned their heads to look at Feng Ming. Then they glanced at Bai Qiaomo. Was Feng Ming talking about Bai Qiaomo?

Feng Ming reacted belatedly and quickly turned to look at Bai Qiaomo.

The latter smiled very beautifully, which made Feng Ming’s heart tremble. He quickly said, “But it is lucky and blessed to have a very skilled formation master as a friend. Don’t you think so, Brother Bai?”

Chen Tianlang laughed heartily. Oh, his junior brother was really smart. How could he be so cute?

What could Bai Qiaomo do? He could only rub Feng Ming’s head helplessly.

Chen Miao saw this and smiled.

Shi Yan happened to stay to watch the competition today. He might be sitting in the back, but he could still hear Feng Ming and the others talking in front.

Shi Yan’s mouth twitched. He agreed with Feng Ming’s words very much. A skilled formation master was indeed very scary. They were those who could set deadly traps without the slightest remorse. Some people would be killed by formation masters without even knowing they were being plotted against.

Wasn’t this exactly what happened to the young master Wu Yingyan? He never knew whose hands he died at.

Shi Yan had been there in person and couldn’t tell that the formation in the cave was artificially controlled. Therefore, everyone who entered the abandoned mansion was kept in the dark, including a fourth-grade formation master.

So no matter who they offended, they couldn’t offend a skilled formation master. Shi Yan felt that this was very reasonable and a wise saying. He decided to keep it in mind and stay away from skilled formation masters in the future.

Of course, it would be a very lucky thing if they could become friends as Feng Ming said.

The competition between the second-grade formation masters was still lacking a bit. However, the competition between the third-grade formation masters was much more intense and exciting. The audience members below the stage all regarded it as an advanced rehearsal for the martial arts competition.

Some formation masters were bombarded by the formation on the stage and were covered in dust. Once they finally walked out of the formation, their clothes were torn into strips, revealing their white flesh.

The formation master blushed, quickly put on a new set of clothes and hurried off the stage.

Some formation masters were unable to get out of the maze-like formation until the referee announced the end of the competition time.

He wasn’t able to see the light of day again until the formation master removed the formation personally. He almost collapsed on the ground and was able to get off the stage because his legs were almost out of strength from walking so much.

The various battle formations and methods of breaking them made everyone very interested.

After the battle between the third-grade formation masters, only one person went up on stage. That was Ji Yuan.

It meant that among all the contestants, Ji Yuan was the only fourth-grade formation master. With this level, he was already number one among the younger generation of formation masters.

In fact, there was no need for a competition since Ji Yuan was the best among the formation masters. However, the judges discussed it with each other and asked for Ji Yuan’s opinion. Finally, they decided to adopt Ji Yuan’s proposal.

The chief of the Formation Hall announced, “All formation masters who feel qualified to challenge Ji Yuan, please step forward. Each of you will set up your best formation. In the end, you will all work together to break Ji Yuan’s formation while Ji Yuan alone will break the formations set up by all of you.”

In the audience, Feng Ming clicked his tongue. “This guy is really arrogant. He let everyone challenge him alone. Isn’t he afraid of getting caught off guard? That would be extremely embarrassing.”

Bai Qiaomo said, “He must be confident in his own formation skills.”

Feng Ming muttered, “In any case, I think this guy’s smile is pretty fake.”

Others thought Ji Yuan had an immortal-like aura, but Feng Ming thought he was a fake. He was two-faced.

Bai Qiaomo smiled. He felt that Junior Brother Ming had a very accurate eye for people. Ji Yuan was indeed a very complicated person. To some extent, Bai Qiaomo felt a bit sympathetic toward Ji Yuan.

Everyone was watching Ji Yuan’s formation carefully. The formation master was explaining what formations Ji Yuan had set up.

It would take too long to set up a fourth-grade formation, so Ji Yuan didn’t set up a large-scale fourth-grade formation. Instead, he set up a number of small third-grade formations.

But any formation master with a keen eye could see that he was setting a formation within a formation, connecting the third-grade small formations into one, forming a complete fourth-grade large formation.

Ji Yuan’s formation ability couldn’t be underestimated since he was able to set up such a chain formation in a limited time. Even Pei Yingmin agreed with Ji Yuan’s talent in formations after watching and listening to other people’s explanations.

Despite this, Pei Yingmin didn’t think that Ji Yuan could defeat his junior brother Bai Qiaomo. It was because he and his master knew very well how powerful the formation restrictions around the spiritual plant valley in the Xuanyue Secret Realm were.

Ji Yuan was a formation genius while his junior brother could be called a formation prodigy. There was a gap between the two.

There were five third-grade formation masters who came on stage to challenge Ji Yuan. They were the five who had ranked at the top in the previous third-grade formation master competition.

They put a lot of effort into setting up the formation and their faces were pale when they finished.

They knew clearly that there was a considerable gap between third-grade and fourth-grade. It wasn’t something that could be crossed just by leaping across levels. If they were unlucky, they might remain stuck at a bottleneck.

But they were still willing to give it a try to compete with the formation genius Ji Yuan. After all, such opportunities were rare.

They had heard of Ji Yuan’s name more often than the alchemy genius, Qiu Yi. It was because Ji Yuan became famous earlier and wasn’t hidden by the Imperial Academy. He also loved to go out and challenge formation masters who were known for their talent. This made formation masters from certain forces hate him.