Formation Dao, Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian

These three courses were not cultivation techniques, but prerequisite knowledge for cultivating spells. Those well-versed in their meaning would achieve twice the result with half the effort when cultivating spells; those ignorant of them would not know how to begin even if handed a spell.

"Even basic information costs Spirit Stones. Honestly..."

Zhu Yu was speechless to himself. Shaking his head, he strode toward the stone tower.

The moment he stepped through the doorway, it was as though he had passed through an invisible membrane. The clamor outside came to an abrupt halt, and a clear, refreshing breeze brushed his face, jolting his spirits and making his thoughts noticeably livelier and clearer.

"Could this be a formation?"

Zhu Yu's eyes lit up slightly as he looked around.

It was somewhat different from what he had imagined. The interior of the Sutra Lecture Hall was exceedingly plain. Aside from wooden doors marked with room numbers, there was only a small desk. Behind it sat a young man who looked about twenty, engrossedly reading a book.

"Greetings, Senior Brother."

Zhu Yu stepped forward and cupped his hands in salute. "May I ask what I need to do to enter a classroom and attend a lecture?"

The young man glanced at him, set down his book, and took a jade token about an inch long from a cabinet. Lazily, he said, "Your name."

"Reporting to Senior Brother, this disciple is called Zhu Yu."

The instant Zhu Yu finished speaking, he felt as if something had scalded him—or perhaps as if a mosquito had bitten him. The pain vanished in an instant. Thinking it was merely an illusion, he paid it no mind.

The next moment, the True Sight Eye abruptly sent him a message.

[Warning, high-risk radiation detected...]

"Hm?"

Zhu Yu jumped in fright and instinctively retreated two steps. As though recalling something, he looked at the young man with a hint of horror in his eyes.

The Qi Refining cultivators he had encountered before had only registered as mild radiation in the True Sight Eye.

Yet the faint trace of aura inadvertently revealed by this young man had triggered a "high-risk radiation" warning from the True Sight Eye. Zhu Yu did not want to know how high the man's cultivation was. He only wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Several breaths later.

The young man opened his eyes. Looking at the youth who had backed away several paces and was now clearly far more respectful, surprise flickered through his gaze.

"What sharp senses."

With a flick of his hand, he tossed the jade token before Zhu Yu, then waved lazily. "This is your temporary Identity Jade Token. If you lose it, it cannot be replaced. If there is anything you do not understand, place the token against your brow and examine it."

With that, he picked up his book and continued reading with relish.

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

Zhu Yu accepted the jade token and did not dare linger for even a moment. He turned and walked away. Upon reaching a corridor, he could not help letting out a soft breath. He examined the token, then pressed it to his brow.

At once, unfamiliar information flooded into his mind.

A short while later.

Zhu Yu lowered the jade token, a faint delight on his face.

According to the information in the token, the Sutra Lecture Hall had three floors.

The first floor taught only foundational methods, with Qi Refining cultivators who had deeply studied particular foundational methods serving as lecturers. The second floor was much the same, except it taught no longer foundational methods, but some entry-rank methods.

The third floor was the most important, and opened only periodically.

When it did, Foundation Establishment True Persons of the Yin-Underworld Grotto would appear to impart the Dao and teach.

Besides that.

Every disciple entering the Sutra Lecture Hall for the first time received ten contribution points for free. They could be used to attend lectures or purchase other items.

At the same time, if one wished to exchange Spirit Stones for contribution points, one had to seek out the attendant—the young man sitting in the hall reading his book.

"The Sect has finally been generous for once. With these ten contribution points, I can attend more courses..."

Delight shone in Zhu Yu's eyes. After a brief moment of thought, he followed the information conveyed by the stone tower and turned toward a room teaching "Detailed Explanation of the Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian," which had not yet begun.

"Six-Nine"

He pushed open the door.

What met his eyes was a somewhat spacious room of roughly a hundred square meters, with Cushions arranged across the floor. Since class had not yet begun, there were only a dozen or so people inside. Some sat cross-legged in meditation, while others whispered with familiar friends.

Zhu Yu's entrance did not draw much attention. Seeing empty seats in the front row, he immediately walked over to an unoccupied Cushion and sat down cross-legged.

While waiting, he checked the jade token. Sure enough, after he entered the room, one contribution point had automatically been deducted. It was quite miraculous.

"Another formation..."

Recalling how the inside and outside of the tower felt like two entirely different worlds, Zhu Yu became increasingly interested in the Formation Dao, which stood among the foremost of the hundred arts of cultivation. He silently listed it as one of his potential Dao Paths after Qi Refining.

Time slowly passed.

Before he knew it, half the Cushions were occupied. No one spoke loudly; even those talking did so in hushed voices, their gazes drifting toward the door from time to time.

Just as Zhu Yu listened intently to the two people beside him discussing the Disciple Market.

The door opened.

An elderly man in a black Daoist robe, with white hair and a ruddy complexion, slowly entered the room. The voices inside abruptly ceased, and everyone turned their eyes toward him.

Zhu Yu studied him as well.

There was nothing unusual about the old man's appearance. He wore a smiling expression at all times and seemed exceptionally kind and amiable. Yet when one looked into his eyes, it was like gazing upon an icy river gorge, and an involuntary chill rose from the depths of one's heart.

Upon reaching the front, the old man swept his gaze across the crowd. Without wasting words, he began the lecture directly.

"Heaven and earth give birth to yin and yang, the five elements; so too does man possess yin and yang and five-element Dharma Veins, responding to heaven and earth in mutual accord..."

As his words fell, a humanoid figure of light materialized in midair at his right. Its body was covered in intricate, tangled lines—some thick, some thin, some long, some short—densely interwoven together.

"If the human body is compared to heaven and earth, then Dharma Veins are like the laws of heaven. Heaven and earth naturally give rise to wind and rain, bring down snow and condense ice. When the meridians of the human body correspond, they too may summon fire and command wind..."

The old man raised a hand and brushed it over the humanoid figure. Ripples spread, and the originally milky-white lines were visibly dyed in a dazzling array of seven colors.

Lines of varying colors, some more deeply dyed and some less, intertwined together until they made one dizzy. Staring too long even brought a feeling of nausea.

"Yet human bodies also differ greatly."

As the old man's words fell, another humanoid figure materialized at his left and was swiftly dyed in a dazzling spectrum of seven colors. Looking closely, one would not find it difficult to see that while both figures displayed seven colors, their color distributions differed slightly.

"Every cultivator is a unique heaven and earth. Their Heaven and Earth Dharma Veins may incline toward wind, fire, earth..."

"..."

A quarter of an hour passed. The lecturer had long since departed, yet the people in the room were still immersed in the intricate Dharma Veins and had not come back to themselves.

"Hiss..."

Zhu Yu drew a deep breath and murmured inwardly, No wonder "Detailed Explanation of the Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian" is regarded as one of the foundations of spells.

If one did not understand the attribute inclinations of one's own Dharma Veins and still forced oneself to cultivate spells, it would be strange if one succeeded.

Zhu Yu silently recited, Establish a model. Using the two recorded Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian Diagrams as templates, scan and construct my Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian Diagram.

["Human Body Heaven and Earth Meridian Diagram" scan progress: "1%". Estimated scan time: "one hour".]