I Really Deserved to Die!

Ma Liang has been extremely worried about recruiting disciples lately!

How to recruit disciples, and what kind of disciples to recruit, are all things that need to be considered.

For this reason, Ma Liang traveled to almost every palace in the Vast Heaven Holy Land except for the Dark Moon Palace...

They consulted the opinions of the chief elders of each palace.

The elders of each palace also gave their opinions. Some elders believed that since it was Ma Liang's first time going alone, it would be safer to recruit those with sufficient talent.

Some elders believed that one should remain silent until the moment of truth, and then make a stunning statement. Since Senior Brother Xinghe has placed so much trust in you, shouldn't you give him a surprise?

If you really wanted to recruit some gifted disciples through normal means, would you really need Ma Liang's intervention? Couldn't anyone just do it?

So, Ma Liang was also confused in this situation: should he play it safe, or should he try to stand out?

Finally, Ma Liang arrived at the Formation Spirit Palace, just in time to find the White Tiger Holy Venerable and Elder Ling Mou exchanging array techniques.

After learning of Ma Liang's purpose, Elder Ling Mou spoke first, "Ma Liang, what do you think of my Formation Spirit Palace?"

"That's good..." Ma Liang didn't understand why Elder Ling Mou asked this question.

"Ma Liang... haven't you noticed that in the entire Vast Heaven Holy Land, only my Formation Spirit Palace is entirely Demon Race?"

Upon hearing Elder Ling Mou's words, Ma Liang realized it too!

It seems that's really the case. The entire Vast Heaven Holy Land, even the Dark Moon Palace has a disciple named Wei Buhui, and the Nether Snake Palace also has some disciples skilled in marking techniques who have entered.

And for such a long time, only the Formation Spirit Palace has truly not had any disciples to fill the vacancies!

The reason is simple... The Formation Spirit Palace has only been established for a short time. When Chu Xinghe recruited disciples before, although all of them were geniuses, their main ability was not in array formations!

In this situation, developing one's career in other palaces would definitely be the best approach.

Last year, they only recruited Strength Barbarian Evil Spirits...

Why don't you let the Body Cultivation disciples learn formations Strength Barbarian Evil Spirits learn them?

That's simply impossible...

So, after all that, the Formation Spirit Palace has become the only palace in the Vast Heaven Holy Land that still only Demon Race!

When he first entered the Vast Heaven Holy Land, Elder Ling Mou knew that it was inappropriate for him to say too much since he had only recently entered the sect.

But now that they're more familiar with each other, Elder Ling Mou said, "Isn't my Formation Spirit Palace part of the Vast Heaven Holy Land? Hasn't my Formation Spirit Palace ever contributed to the Vast Heaven Holy Land?"

A few days ago, Elder Ling Mou went directly to the Grand Elder and slammed his fist on the table! He declared that a disciple must enter our Formation Spirit Palace this year, or our Formation Spirit Palace will not give up!

Even the Grand Elder is having a major headache about this!

However, the Grand Elder did not tell Ma Liang about this. After all, it was Ma Liang's first time being the chief examiner, and if he were told that Ma Liang had to do this and that... the Grand Elder felt that it would put enormous pressure on Ma Liang.

Therefore, the Grand Elder believed that no matter what kind of disciples Ma Liang recruited, as long as a few of them had good talent in formations, sending them to the Formation Spirit Palace would be a way to give Elder Ling Mou an explanation!

But now, White Tiger and Ling Mou are dragging Ma Liang along—is this even reasonable? Is this even reasonable?

A vast Formation Spirit Palace, with no disciples outside the Formation Spirit Clan... Is that reasonable?

So what Elder Ling Mou means is, Ma Liang, you need to recruit more array masters for me this year!

The White Tiger Holy Venerable also expressed his support.

Upon hearing the speeches of these two influential figures, Ma Liang suddenly had a completely new idea...

Why didn't I think of a formation master?

How about recruiting only formation masters this year?

After all, array masters are truly powerful!

One claims to be able to take on two opponents of the same level, another claims to be able to fight opponents of a higher level... But when it comes to fighting opponents of a higher level, no one dares to challenge a formation master!

If a formation master sets up a formation in advance, they can achieve combat against opponents of higher levels, and even have the opportunity to fight against opponents two levels higher!

At the same level, no one would be willing to fight one-on-one with a formation master who has prepared all the necessary formations.

Although the Vast Heaven Holy Land has the Formation Spirit Clan, its members are few and Formation Spirit Clan, so training more array masters doesn't seem to be a problem.

Most importantly, array masters are extremely rare. Once trained, any one of them can bring unimaginable resources to our Vast Heaven Holy Land!

Therefore, Ma Liang's first thought was to recruit three thousand array masters!

However, this idea was immediately rejected by the White Tiger Holy Venerable.

"Ma Liang... a formation master must possess formation talent to succeed, but having formation talent doesn't guarantee success!"

Ma Liang was also knowledgeable about formations, and Ma Liang nodded in agreement with the White Tiger Holy Venerable's statement.

Other cultivation paths allow you to reach great heights if you have talent, or even without talent, you can still achieve a certain level through hard work and luck.

But array masters are different... Not only is it difficult to get started as an array master, and not only do they need talent in array formations, but they also need comprehension.

Two people with the same talent for formations, even if taught by the same teacher, will achieve vastly different results.

Therefore, talent in formations is merely the threshold for you to glimpse the path of formations... Unless you are Innate Formation Mastery, if three thousand formation masters are recruited, only one or two hundred may ultimately succeed!

Other forms of cultivation are easy to begin with, but become increasingly difficult later on.

The only thing that's difficult is the formation itself; it's hard at first, and then... it gets increasingly difficult.

To learn the art of formations, one needs sufficient resources, exceptional talent, and the ability to endure tedium!

For disciples who have entered the same sect, it's not impossible for other disciples to reach the seventh or eighth rank within three years, but a formation master might still be hovering around the first or second rank after three years...

So, even though you both started at the same level, your junior apprentices are already famous, while you're still just a beginner. This disparity is something most people can't accept.

So White Tiger's meaning is simple... they can't recruit all the array masters. Three thousand array masters would not only consume far more resources than other disciples...

In the end, there might only be one or two hundred successes... In that case, the cost would be far too high.

That's too risky!

After listening to Ma Liang's words, Chu Xinghe's eyes started to gleam with excitement!

I was wrong! I, Chu Xinghe, was wrong...

I was only thinking about how the formation master could go on a rampage after succeeding!

I overlooked the fact that it's even more difficult for a formation master to succeed than for an alchemist!

There's nothing we can do about it; Chu Xinghe is Innate Formation Mastery!

What does this mean...? No matter what kind of formation it is, as long as Chu Xinghe has learned it, he can learn it and use it with ease...

So far, only the White Tiger Holy Venerable and Chu Xinghe in the entire Four Continents possess such talent!

For ordinary array masters, Jiu Hai is already a master among array masters. But if you look into Jiu Hai Jiu Hai, you'll know that he started learning arrays at the age of eight, entered the basics at fifteen, and became Second Rank array master at twenty-two. It's unknown how many years have passed since then to get to where he is today!

Behind the Jiu Hai is the support of the entire Demonic Sect Spirit Beast Continent. Qiu Tian has spent countless resources on the Jiu Hai.

It's fair to say that the Jiu Hai were built purely on resources!

Therefore, under normal circumstances, no formation master can take any shortcuts; they must rely on rote memorization to grow.

What the hell? Why do you think formation masters progress so slowly? Isn't it all about cultivation?

It's different. For example, when you learn swordsmanship, you don't need to perfectly replicate the technique, because everyone has their own style of swordsmanship.

To put it simply, even if you've mastered 100% of a sword technique, you might forget 70% during a fight due to nervousness, leaving only 30%, which you can still use.

Therefore, if a thousand people learn one sword technique, there will be a thousand different routines!

But formations are completely different. With formations, you must remember the exact position of every single array pattern. If you make even the slightest mistake, the formation will fail!

Not everyone can arbitrarily modify formations and succeed like Chu Xinghe.

Even if you force the White Tiger Innate Formation Mastery to be changed temporarily, the probability of failure is still 99%!

Therefore, array masters must absolutely memorize every single array pattern when learning arrays, as any mistake will render the array completely ineffective.

Therefore, in the same battle, a sword cultivator might forget 70% of his swordsmanship due to nervousness and still be able to kill indiscriminately, but a formation master, just because of nervousness, might misplace a single formation pattern and become no different from an ordinary person.

Every top-tier formation master has achieved their level step by step.

Array masters must memorize all the array patterns by rote, and absolutely no mistakes are allowed. This is why array masters take so long to develop.

Because a single formation can have ten million different combinations, and if even one of these combinations is wrong, all efforts will be in vain.

You can learn swordsmanship for three years and then go down the mountain, killing indiscriminately. I can learn formations for three years, but when I get nervous going down the mountain, I'm nothing...

This huge sense of disparity is what makes it so difficult for a formation master.

Everyone across the Four Continents knows that formation masters are invincible, so why are there so few forces that cultivate them?

Not only because the success rate of array masters is low, but also because array masters are too expensive to afford!

If you take in five sword cultivator disciples, give each of them a sword and a cultivation technique, even without providing them with spirit stones or other resources, they can still achieve some success after practicing for a few years.

But if you recruit a formation master and don't give him the resources to set up formations, relying solely on rote memorization without any practical skills, how can he possibly succeed?!

Therefore, sword cultivators only need to carry their swords and stab everywhere. As long as they stab enough, they will eventually find their own sword technique.

For a formation master to cultivate, each move requires the consumption of resources...

Therefore, White Tiger thought that recruiting three thousand array masters was too outrageous... Not only would the success rate of these three thousand array masters be low, but they would also consume so many resources. Who could stand that!

This is why Ma Liang thought it was too risky.

But Chu Xinghe Ma Liang was thinking at the moment... Chu Xinghe thought to himself, "I'm so blinded by my own involvement!"

I'm an Innate Formation Mastery, and I always thought, what's so special about formations? Isn't it just something you can draw and then slaughter everyone?

Moreover, because of my Chu Xinghe Innate Formation Mastery, no one had ever told me about these things concerning array masters, since these things were simply not within Chu Xinghe scope of consideration.

But this time, after listening to Ma Liang's words, Chu Xinghe realized that he had missed such a good opportunity to deplete the sect's resources all these years!

I'm so damn stupid!