"Eight Formations"

"Whoosh~~"

A figure clad in Ice Blue Battle Armor streaked across the sky above the dark brown mountain range.

Only after flying for a long while did the figure gradually slow down and land in a hidden valley littered with jagged rocks.

Qi Yuan sat atop a massive black boulder in the valley and flipped his hand, producing two Space Rings.

"Wouldn't it have been better for everyone to make money peacefully? You just had to fight and kill. Satisfied now?"

As Qi Yuan muttered, he directly branded his Spiritual Imprint onto the two Space Rings.

In an instant, two empty spaces, one large and one small, appeared within his perception.

The larger one was over two hundred meters in each dimension, while the smaller one had only just reached around one hundred meters in length, width, and height.

Both spaces contained a scattered assortment of items, but after rummaging through them, Qi Yuan was greatly disappointed.

"You've got to be kidding me. One was Universe Level Fourth Stage and the other was Universe Level Second Stage, and this is all they had?"

Although there were plenty of items in the two Space Rings, the most valuable ones were merely high-grade third-tier Force Weapons.

Added together, the miscellaneous items inside might not even have been worth as much as the Fourth-tier Force Battle Saber in his hand, the Soul Extinguishing Saber.

"No wonder those two lit up when they saw a lone Universe Level First Stage like me. They really were dirt poor."

Qi Yuan somewhat understood their motives.

In truth, in the powerful yet cold world of Swallowed Star, killing for treasure and plundering resources were practically the main theme of this world.

For resources, benefits, and territory, from small-scale personal battles to massive wars between entire races, bloodshed and slaughter almost never ceased.

This was especially true for the most numerous and lowest-ranking ordinary Cultivators in this world. Such struggles were perhaps even more intense and cruel for them.

After all, not everyone was a child of fortune like Luo Feng, obtaining the powerful inheritance of the entire Yun Mo Star lineage while still weak.

Later, he even joined the Virtual Universe Company and essentially never had to worry about cultivation resources again.

For the more ordinary Cultivators with average talent, they had neither powerful fortuitous inheritances nor outstanding aptitude sufficient to join a major faction.

If they wanted to cultivate and advance, or even simply survive, they had to keep fighting, killing, and using every possible means to obtain the resources they needed. Sometimes, they would risk their lives for even the tiniest bit of cultivation resources!

This was not a novel, but a real world.

There were not only legendary tales of geniuses rising at the speed of light, but also tragic, blood-soaked stories of countless ordinary Cultivators without backing struggling their entire lives without making the slightest progress.

After silently sighing, Qi Yuan dumped all the miscellaneous items from the two Space Rings into the World Ring he had just obtained.

Then, using a trace of World Power contained within the World Ring, he casually took out a book from the six-story building filled with all kinds of books.

He had encountered those two from Wuji Palace as soon as he emerged from the cave, so he had not yet had the time to carefully examine the contents of these books.

"I wonder what is so special about books that a Realm Lord treasured so dearly."

Swish!

With a thought, an enormous book nearly half a meter long, a foot wide, and almost palm-thick appeared in his hands.

The book's cover was dark gold, bearing a line of vigorous characters written in Universe Common Language—"Eight Formations - Gold."

"Eight Formations - Gold? What a strange name."

Somewhat puzzled, Qi Yuan opened the book's cover.

At once, twisted golden threads resembling unintelligible scribbles entered his sight.

Yet the instant he saw those twisted threads, information contained within the golden threads involuntarily surfaced in Qi Yuan's mind.

"Analysis of the 246,231st basic Formation combination of the gold element in the Law Eight Formations."

"Law Eight Formations... Formation analysis?"

Qi Yuan paused slightly, then quickly searched within the Virtual Universe.

Soon, understanding appeared in his eyes.

He began continuously taking out books from the six-story building within the World Ring and reading them.

"Eight Formations - Wind," "Eight Formations - Lightning," "Eight Formations - Fire."

Sure enough, every book's cover began with "Eight Formations," followed by the name of a certain Law attribute.

Furthermore, every book detailed the formation of special Formations using the mysteries of Laws.

"So this is actually an inheritance of a Formation Master!"

Qi Yuan's eyes could not help but light up.

Formation Masters had another, more widely known name—Secret Pattern Masters.

Whether Formation Masters or Secret Pattern Masters, the essence of their profession was to use the mysteries of Laws they had grasped and form special "Formations" or "Secret Patterns" through particular combinations.

These Formations and Secret Patterns had extremely broad applications.

For example, when Luo Feng repaired the Yun Mo Starship in the original work, he had the Secret Pattern Masters of the Virtual Universe Company's modification department specifically add powerful Secret Patterns such as "acceleration," "enhancement," and "propulsion," bringing every function of the Yun Mo Starship to an exaggerated level.

Beyond that, different Formations and Secret Patterns could be applied to weapons and Battle Armor, defensive Formations for Castles or cities, and even all kinds of powerful technological weapons.

If a Secret Pattern Master wished, they could easily become a weapons master, spacecraft design master, Battle Armor master, and much more.

In short, Secret Pattern Masters could be found in almost every aspect of this world.

For that reason, Secret Pattern Masters could practically be called one of the wealthiest groups among countless Cultivators!

However, becoming a Secret Pattern Master was not so simple.

First, one's comprehension of Laws had to be sufficiently high. Otherwise, it was simply impossible to create high-level Secret Patterns.

Second, becoming a qualified Secret Pattern Master required an inheritance rich enough in knowledge.

After all, Secret Pattern Masters needed to create special Secret Patterns with different effects according to different needs.

Without a sufficiently rich accumulation of knowledge regarding basic Secret Pattern combinations, one obviously could not meet that requirement.

At that thought, Qi Yuan could not help but send his consciousness toward the six-story "small building" inside the World Ring, which stood nearly eighty meters tall and had a base over thirty meters in diameter—

"The entire six-story building is filled with books about the Eight Formations. The Formation Master, or Secret Pattern Master, inheritance I obtained should count as sufficiently rich, right?"

Even if it was not rich enough, there was nothing to fear. He still had the Return System!

When the time came, he could pass it through his disciples once. With return multipliers of hundreds or thousands of times, even if it was not rich enough, he would make it "rich"!

Qi Yuan could not help looking forward to the day when he had disciples in droves, each one becoming a leading figure in their own field under his guidance.

For example, the eldest would be an unrivaled combat genius, the second a powerful Secret Pattern Master and Artifact Forging Master, the third a top-tier pharmacist, and Lao Si a financial prodigy found only once in a hundred million.

By then, he would not even need to act personally. A group of disciples alone would be enough to sweep through the Original Universe and overturn the Universe Sea.

Just thinking about it was exciting!

However, after indulging in that fantasy for only a moment, he quickly reined in his thoughts.

Such things were still far too distant. His foremost task now was to obtain more suitable resources in this Secret Realm ruin, using them as the "initial capital" for his gift returns!

Sorry, everyone. I'm heading back to my hometown for the next few days, so the daily updates may come a little later than usual, but I guarantee two chapters every day~~~