Eight-Star Dou Zong

After the Trial Grounds officially opened to the public, Xiao Lin himself naturally did not remain idle.

Aside from occasionally practicing his Dou Qi, Xiao Lin focused most of his energy on the art of Formations.

Although Xiao Lin did not deduce any new Formations in the following six months, he actually had ideas to improve and enhance the power of the few Formations he had already mastered.

What delighted Xiao Lin the most was that his Spirit Array Master level had broken through to the fourth rank!

That is, on the Dou Qi Continent, due to the lack of array diagrams, he was unable to fully unleash the power of Four-Tier Spirit Array Master.

Otherwise, if given a few fourth-grade array diagrams, Xiao Lin was confident that his own power as a Spirit Array Master would be enough to make him invincible against any star-level Dou Zong.

It can be said that the Dou Qi Continent ultimately limits the potential of Spirit Array Masters.

The "spirit" in "Spirit Array Master" distinguishes them not only from Ordinary Formation Masters, but also because, to fully unleash the power of Spirit Array Master, the level of Dou Qi is still somewhat insufficient.

Only by using Spiritual Energy, which is a level higher than Dou Qi, to set up an array can the full power of Spirit Array Master be unleashed!

This is something that cannot be done on the Dou Qi Continent at present.

Therefore, if the Spiritual Formation created by Xiao Lin were placed in the Greater World, their power would definitely be even greater!

However, there's nothing he can do about it. He's already incredibly lucky to have become Spirit Array Master; he can't ask for more.

As for the four Formations that Xiao Lin set up in the Trial Grounds.

Among them, the Red Dust Heart-Refining Formation tempers a person's will!

Jia Nan Academy is ultimately an academic institution.

Many of these students are actually less determined than those who have been tempered by experience outside.

As for the Red Dust Heart-Refining Formation, since it is an Illusion Formation, it naturally trains the willpower of those who attempt to enter by setting up various illusions.

Willpower, well, it's a really strange thing.

But one thing is certain.

That means if you have a strong will, your strength may not be great, but if you lack willpower, you're guaranteed to be a loser!

Even if you manage to cultivate to a certain level by chance due to luck, you will definitely be inferior to someone with stronger willpower in a battle between people of the same level.

Besides the Red Dust Heart-Refining Formation, which tempers a person's will, the Ironstone Formation Array, a defensive array, tempers a person's offensive capabilities.

Those who venture into the Ironstone Formation must use all available means to break through layer after layer of defenses.

The Arrow Rain Formation, an offensive formation, is the exact opposite of the Ironstone Formation. It hones a person's defensive capabilities, as well as their evasion skills.

Those who brave the Arrow Rain Formation will face wave after wave of arrows.

You can defend against or dodge these incoming arrows.

Once you survive 12 waves of arrows, you've successfully completed the level.

The final trap – the Maze Formation – is designed to hone one's observational skills.

Within the Maze Formation, countless paths intersect, but only one of them is the correct one.

Of course, if that were all, given enough time, it would be possible to find the one and only correct path.

But since Xiao Lin has created such a Trial Grounds, does he really think that those who attempt it can succeed simply by rote memorization?

The answer is clearly no.

Within the Maze Formation, changes occur periodically.

Perhaps a correct path was taken just a moment ago, but once changes begin, that correct path can become a dead end. Conversely, a dead end might become a correct path!

Those who wish to navigate the Maze Formation must constantly observe the patterns of change within it.

Therefore, Maze Formation formations truly test a person's insight.

At the same time, to entice and motivate the students to try their luck, Xiao Lin also left many small items in these four Formations.

These little things Cultivation Method, Dou Technique, medicinal herbs and Medicinal Pills, as well as Fire Crystal Cards with different values.

For students taking on challenges, the choice is sometimes between the temptation of obtaining the rewards or the allure of successfully completing the challenge.

Take the trapping formation— the Maze Formation— for example.

Within the Maze Formation, Xiao Lin left behind many items, some of which were scattered along the wrong paths.

In situations like this, the student needs to make the decision themselves.

Xiao Lin naturally wouldn't interfere in this matter.

In addition, for the safety of the students, Xiao Lin also set up a trigger mechanism in these four Formations that would automatically teleport them out if they failed to pass the test.

In short, as time went by, the Trial Grounds that Xiao Lin had created were basically complete.

If Xiao Lin wants to increase the difficulty of the Trial Grounds later, he can continue to deduce new Formations and then place them within them.

As for the existence of such a Trial Grounds, many students of the Jia Nan Academy would try to venture here in their spare time to test their own strength.

Everything here is developing according to Xiao Lin's plan.

Before they knew it, two years had passed since Xiao Lin proposed establishing the Trial Grounds.

Xiao Lin has been at the Jia Nan Academy for four years now.

In the first two years, Xiao Lin broke through from the cultivation level of Three-Star Dou Zong to Seven-Star Dou Zong.

For the next two years, Xiao Lin devoted all his attention to the deduction of the Formation, only occasionally going to the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower to cultivate.

Therefore, in the end, he only advanced from the Seven-Star Dou Zong to the Eight Star.

Xiao Lin was not actually very satisfied with his cultivation progress over the next two years.

Now it takes him two years to advance one star. After he becomes Dou Venerable, it might take him more than three years to advance one star!

Even after Dou Venerable cultivates to the Nine Stars, there's still the ridiculous Nine Transformations!

In other words, at this rate of cultivation, Xiao Lin might not even reach the Nine-Star Dou Venerable after the story begins, let alone the Dou Venerable Nine Transformations.

Xiao Lin had great ambitions, and this outcome was not something he was happy to accept.

He wants to become "a tiny bit stronger" after the Original Work story begins!

However, Xiao Lin complained about his slow cultivation speed, which made First Elder Su Qian roll his eyes.

Even the Qian Bai Er Lao were speechless.

If they had Xiao Lin's cultivation speed, they'd probably be laughing in their sleep.

Is Xiao Lin still not satisfied?

What does their cultivation speed even mean?

Does the turtle crawl?

Therefore, when Xiao Lin brought up this topic with First Elder Su Qian and Elder Qian Bai Er Lao, he almost got a beating from the three of them!

By the way, ever since Xiao Lin orchestrated the destruction of the Black Hell Alliance, he has also had exchanges with the Qian Bai Er Lao and Erlao.

As a fellow Dou Zong, Xiao Lin was naturally qualified to interact with the two of them.

They were genuinely happy for Xiao Lin's decision to the Jia Nan Academy and the series of things he did for the academy afterwards.

After all, although neither of them were involved in any affairs.

But he still has a deep affection for the Jia Nan Academy.

Now that Jia Nan Academy is better than before, how could they not be happy?

Naturally, they also warmly welcomed Xiao Lin, who had brought about the changes that Jia Nan Academy had undergone.

If it weren't for the fact that only Dean Bu Tianchi was qualified, they would have already made Xiao Lin one of the Grand Elders of the Jia Nan Academy.