"I said, what you're doing now is at least driving the wind, not herding sheep, so why do you have no energy at all?"
Creating a high-pressure point is relatively simple for a large array; the only difficulty is maintaining that point around the equator.
In order to pass the assessment smoothly, Li Xingkong down and stayed close to the created location to ensure that the artificially created strong wind could successfully complete its task.
However, even the strongest winds have their limits. Their speed is much slower than Li Xingkong's current flight speed, so Li Xingkong looks rather lazy, almost like he's going out for a walk.
The system was speechless at his lazy demeanor, which resembled that of someone tending sheep on a hill.
"What else do you want me to do? Do I have to pretend to be having a hard time?"
Li Xingkong maintained his leisurely demeanor, following behind the air pressure mass at a leisurely pace.
"I should have included a course like 'How to Improve Your Sophistication' in the previous curriculum. Looking at you now, you don't resemble a spiritual practitioner at all; you have no bearing whatsoever."
The system complained.
"Tch, what's the use of style? Does it increase cultivation speed or enhance offensive capabilities?"
Li Xingkong scoffed at this. As long as his cultivation level was high, even if he liked to pick his nose, a bunch of people would still follow suit and think it was the trend.
"Vulgar! Ugh, I can't bear to watch anymore. I need to finish the assessment quickly so I can wash my eyes."
Although he was chatting idly with the system, Li Xingkong's attention was not relaxed at all; it was all focused on the air pressure mass in front of him.
This man-made gale is extremely strong; according to Divine Land's wind rating system, it would be at least level ten.
After controlling the strong winds for more than a day, the assessment was finally completed successfully.
"Let's move on to the next one. This assessment is fine in every other way, it's just a bit time-consuming."
Back at the starting point, Li Xingkong then spoke to the system.
"Since you think this is a bit time-consuming, I'll give you something quicker next time."
The system replied and then assigned the task to Li Xingkong.
"The location is the North Pole, and the mission objective is to bring rain."
Upon seeing this task, Li Xingkong smiled.
As Li Xingkong had predicted, the difficulty of these three tasks increased progressively.
The biggest problem in getting rain to the North Pole is the temperature. The North and South Poles are known as the polar regions, where temperatures often drop to tens of degrees below zero. It's practically impossible for rain to fall in such places.
To accomplish this task, the only option is to use a large-scale formation to forcefully push the tropical air currents surrounding the equator over the Arctic, using the warm currents and temperatures carried by these tropical air currents to make rain possible.
To accomplish this, it is necessary to solve the problem of the clash between warm and cold currents, and even to cut through the oncoming cold currents as the warm currents travel to the poles.
It is indeed possible to achieve this using only a large formation, but it would take quite a long time.
But the system didn't say that only formations could be used, did it?
Li Xingkong acted decisively, first gathering a large amount of warm current and rushing northward, and just before contacting the cold current, Li Xingkong directly drew his sword and cut a gash in the cold current that covered the entire polar region.
The lingering Sword Qi blocked Sword Qi raging cold currents around them, while a large amount of warm currents squeezed through the gaps created by the flying swords and reached the skies above the Arctic.
The warm air brought by the warm current did not dissipate, nor did it come into contact with the cold air, causing the temperature in the local area to rise significantly in a short time.
Taking advantage of this brief respite, Li Xingkong quickly activated the grand formation, causing it to rain.
Although the raindrops only lasted for less than five minutes before turning into hail and snowflakes due to the dissipation of Sword Qi and the addition of cold air, it was indeed raining over the polar regions within those five minutes.
"How was it? Got it?"
Li Xingkong raised his hand, and the flying sword flew back into his hand. Only then did he speak to the system.
"You consider this acceptable?"
If the system had a persona, it would be covering its face at this point.
"Why not? Just tell me whether it rained or not."
Li Xingkong countered. Since the system didn't specify the amount or timing of the rain, even a single drop would be enough to complete the task.
"Alright, alright, you're awesome, I'll pass you."
The system seemed somewhat reluctant, but what could it do? It was the system; its word was law, and there was no going back.
"So, our first task is to control the celestial phenomena..."
"The system's assessment is over," Li Xingkong couldn't help but ask.
"You've finished. Although this third task was a bit rushed, passing two of these tests is already a passing grade."
The system itself verified the information, and Li Xingkong was overjoyed.
The assessment is halfway complete, which is great news. We should speed things up and finish the other half of the formation so that we can begin the so-called Core Formation.
However, before setting up the next formation, Li Xingkong felt it necessary to first communicate the details of the Four Seas Heaven-Regulating Formation to Old Tang and the others.
After all, this thing was created for people to use, so the sooner we notify them, the sooner our formation can be put to use.
With that in mind, Li Xingkong immediately contacted the Earthly Capital.
Li Xingkong didn't go directly to Old Tang. He vaguely remembered that Old Tang had previously hired a junior assistant named Zhang Yumeng.
After all, it's not easy to explain this grand formation just through voice; it would be best to have someone personally demonstrate it at the formation's core. For someone as busy as Old Tang, coming out would involve going through quite a few procedures.
Meanwhile, in the Earthly Capital, Zhang Yumeng had almost forgotten about Li Xingkong.
After all, what kind of good person would disappear for ten years or more after only a few contacts? If this happened in an era without cultivation, let alone ten years, even a disappearance for two years would be considered death. Even now, with cultivation prevalent, people occasionally go into seclusion, but they usually only last a month or two. Ten years is still too long.
Seeing the incoming call on her phone, she racked her brains for a long time before finally remembering whose number it was.
The person she had almost forgotten suddenly popped into her mind, and even though she was now Late Qi Refining Stage cultivator, she was still somewhat flustered.
He quickly answered the call.
"Hello, Mr. Li, I am Zhang Yumeng."
The phone was answered after a long pause, and Li Xingkong thought that after so much time, the guy had changed his number.
"So, what brings you here? If not, I'd like to ask you to come out for a bit."
"Um?"
Zhang Yumeng was somewhat at a loss. What was going on? They hadn't interacted for over ten years, and now he was inviting her out? She really couldn't figure out what Li Xingkong wanted.
"No, it's nothing. Just tell me the location, and I'll be right there."
Li Xingkong looked around. The Dragon Palace was still at sea, far from the Earthly Capital. If he waited for her to come, it would be too slow.
"It's good that you're alright. Here, wait a moment, I'll come pick you up."