Chaotic World Book

"This must be what they were looking for," Zhao Changhe gasped for breath, his tone unusually excited, "You have more experience than me, do you know what this represents?"

Luo Qi had a mixed expression of sadness and happiness as she stared blankly at the scene of the Blood Dragon coiling around the moon in the pond.

After a while, she responded in a low voice, "This has activated a certain prohibition; it could be that a previously invisible secret door has now revealed itself or a deadly restriction has been lifted, allowing entry. Whichever it is, the vicinity should be around here, certainly not somewhere out of reach."

"So..." Zhao Changhe weakly got to his feet and looked around.

The fantasy element grew stronger.

"So the Blood God Sect settled here because their Cultivation Technique, the Blood Evil Qi, could activate the prohibition," Luo Qi muttered to herself, "the hardship of your Blood Evil Skill..."

"It wasn't for nothing, right? This is what they call the main character's fate. So many who learned the Blood God Sect's techniques never came here to shed their blood," Zhao Changhe now felt much less weak and energetically strode around the pond, "Come here, I guess if there is a secret door, it should be here."

Luo Qi followed as if sleepwalking and saw Zhao Changhe walking towards the mountainside behind the waterfall.

Behind waterfalls usually formed indentations or small caves due to the constant splashing over the years. Obviously, this place also had them. However, Luo, who had been intentionally searching, had already inspected it long ago and found nothing special. In fact, followers of the Blood God Sect had searched here countless times before, and if there had been something, it would have been discovered long ago.

Yet, at that moment, Luo Qi agreed with Zhao Changhe's judgment. If the prohibition was lifted, the secret door would likely be here.

Indeed, once the two went behind the waterfall, they saw an extraordinary starry configuration in the originally empty rocky indentation, resembling a semicircular heavenly vault sprinkled with countless stars, which looked very mysterious.

"This is another array that needs to be deciphered to enter," Luo Qi pondered for a long time, "This star map resembles the Dragon Star Constellation Map..."

She touched the corresponding stars of the Seven Dragon Constellations one by one, the star map flickered slightly, but no further reaction occurred.

Luo Qi's face looked distressed, "This response shows the thought is correct, but there is still a critical point missing... What could it be..."

Zhao Changhe also frowned.

If Luo Qi couldn't solve it, he certainly couldn't either. Yet, now that the mechanism had been revealed, it would be unfortunate if someone else came and discovered it before them.

Though he had no idea what was inside.

"For now, it's unlikely to be discovered here anytime soon since others must have searched countless times already and won't bother checking again just for the sake of it," Zhao Changhe asserted, "We need to find this key point within the next few days."

Luo Qi looked at him with a complex expression and whispered, "You could probe Grandmaster Sun for some hints. As for how to ask..."

Zhao Changhe also felt awkward; how on earth was he supposed to ask that...

"I'll give it a try," Zhao Changhe murmured to himself, "After all, the greatest hope to get out of this situation lies right here."

Luo Qi turned to look at the pond outside, the scene of the Blood Dragon encircling the moon had already disappeared, and from the outside, everything appeared unchanged.

...

"Did it break through?"

The next morning, Zhao Changhe went to see Instructor Sun as usual. Seeing his clearly fiercer demeanor, Instructor Sun knew he had broken through.

Incidentally, whether Grandmasters have another ingenious method is one thing, but ordinary martial artists can't just look at someone and determine their cultivation level. Just like the squad leader needed Luo Qi to reveal that she was at the First Layer of the Mystical Gate before he could weigh her strength. Instructor Sun's knowledge was based on the fact that he knew Zhao Changhe was breaking through last night; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to tell Zhao Changhe's level of cultivation.

Therefore, there were so many instances of disguised assassinations in the Worldly Society, causing many heroes and warriors to die in bitterness.

"I've broken through," Zhao Changhe answered very calmly, showing no signs of hidden discontent, "I tested it a bit, and my explosive power is now double what it was originally, and my ability to withstand hits has also significantly improved. The First Layer of the Mystical Gate really is powerful."

Instructor Sun didn't respond to that, but after sizing him up for a while, he took the initiative to say, "Cultivating the Blood Evil Skill for a long time leads to boiling Evil Qi, gnawing like ants, which ordinary people can't endure. Therefore, our sect's Blood Stabilization Pill is needed to suppress it. It's not just during breakthroughs that this happens; it's likely to occur sporadically, but it's especially evident during breakthroughs... The reason Blood Evil Skill is allowed to be taught outside the core members is because of this..."

Before he could finish, Zhao Changhe interrupted him very calmly, "I know. In fact, the instructor has hesitated several times before, wanting to speak... Just this much, I can't blame the instructor, I can only blame my own rush for success."

He also knew that if he had stopped practicing this Evil Technique half a month earlier, he might have been able to withdraw in time. Once practiced for too long, it would be too late by the threshold of yesterday's breakthrough.

The best solution seemed to continue on the dark path, aiming for the Blood God Skill. It was said that the Blood God Skill could eliminate these drawbacks, and that was probably true. Or perhaps under the guidance of a stronger Grandmaster, there might be a way.

Instructor Sun continued, "I see great potential in you. Mr. Fang has always been leaving you hanging, which I've always thought is a personal waste of talent. In a few days, I may be transferred back to the Main Temple, and then I'll report Mr. Fang's conduct to the Sect Hierarch and try to get you formally admitted into the sect. Then we'll see if you have the opportunity to practice the Blood God Skill."

Zhao Changhe paused, "Is the instructor leaving?"

"It depends on... a certain outcome..." Instructor Sun didn't elaborate, only saying, "Anyway, it will be some time before we know. In these days, I'll teach you the Blood Evil Saber Technique... You can rest assured this time, although the Blood Evil Saber Technique is more powerful when driven by the Blood Evil Skill, the saber technique itself has no negative effects. It's a good technique. Even if you switch to another method later, this technique can still be used, merely requiring a different set of energy transfer techniques to drive it."

Zhao Changhe bowed in respect, "Thank you, Instructor. Also, I've heard about formations, am I currently at a level to learn them?"

As for the matter of which the result was pending... he obviously knew what it was. If it were before, he might have reported it to the instructor for everyone's benefit, but now he was reluctant. Not keeping a backup plan for himself, and waiting to be played to death?

Instructor Sun also didn't know whether he was being overly suspicious, but he still felt that although Zhao Changhe's demeanor was calm and polite today, there seemed to be something else hidden behind it... Saying that he couldn't blame the instructor, whether he really didn't blame him or not, nobody could tell.

He didn't mind it either. It was normal for young people to have emotions in such situations, and soon he would understand that being in the Worldly Society was just like that; how could everything be perfectly satisfactory? Precisely because you were under control, the Holy Sect would trust you more, such as with formations which involved more core aspects of the sect. Now might as well talk about it.

"You want to learn formations?" Instructor Sun said, "Cramming too many things at once, biting off more than you can chew. You don't have that much energy."

"One should at least know how to break them, right? What if someone traps you in a formation while you're out in the Worldly Society, wouldn't not having learned any be akin to waiting for death..."

"You still think about wandering the Worldly Society... Hah..." Instructor Sun chuckled, "But your point is indeed correct, one should at least understand the most basic knowledge for breaking formations."

"Please, Instructor, enlighten me."

"Breaking a formation essentially boils down to the critical point and the order. Take, for example, the Three Talents Formation of Heaven, Earth, and Man, the thinking for breaking it involves finding the right order; first break Man, then Earth. If you directly target Heaven at the start, it's no different from running into a wall. And for formations like the Big Dipper Seven Stars Formation, you need to first determine where the Tianshu position is, gaining control over the critical point..."

Order, critical point.

Zhao Changhe thought of Luo Qi's operation; she could understand that it belonged to the range of the Dragon Star Constellation, and could also understand which stars among a large swath belonged to the Seven Dragon Constellations, the starting point was correct. This was already not bad, as he, Zhao Changhe, couldn't understand it and randomly pressing might have blown the whole thing up.

But Luo Qi's understanding stopped there; she obviously couldn't break the correct order, pressing according to the usual positions of 角亢氐房心尾箕, so she couldn't open it.

Thinking this way, it actually wasn't difficult... research a bit about this world's narrative on the star map, which among the constellations was the most critical one in the Seven Constellations, wouldn't that be the critical point?

Instructor Sun added, "At this point, you're completely a layman, even if someone else set up a formation, you wouldn't know, not to mention talking about breaking them; take it slow. At least start with learning the Blood Evil Saber Technique, the accompanying footwork already contains a bit of the essence of formations, by analogy, you'll gradually grasp it..."