The Xingtian Formation’s Trial of Strength
2,063 words
Outside the Sealing Formation, the Grand Xia Emperor and a million Immortals watched.
Inside the formation.
The rather famous Celestial Immortal Northpolar, clad in a starry Daoist robe, spoke to the thousand Celestial Immortals and one hundred thousand Loose Immortals within the formation: “I trouble you all, fellow Daoists.”
“Form the formation,” Celestial Immortal Northpolar ordered.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!!! The thousand Celestial Immortals and one hundred thousand Loose Immortals all flew up into the air. The Grand Xia Emperor had already selected them and predetermined each of their positions within the formation. In simple terms, each Celestial Immortal was to command a hundred Loose Immortals. That hundred Loose Immortals would always follow that single Celestial Immortal, and the thousand Celestial Immortals would take Celestial Immortal Northpolar as their leader. This would secure the stability of the entire Xingtian Formation.
The Immortals floated in mid-air.
Instantly, blood-colored runic symbols began to float out from each of their bodies, and a shocking battle-will quickly coalesced.
“Boom!”
A surge of blood-red aura shot straight out of the Sealing Formation, yet without harming the formation in the slightest.
Countless beams of blood-red light converged, vaguely coalescing into a blurry giant figure the color of dark red.
Then, heaven and earth changed color!
A massive whirlpool appeared above the entire Grand Xia Imperial Capital. The world’s vital energy from over a million li in every direction was frantically drawn in and swallowed. In almost an instant, a million-li region was turned into a perfect vacuum. All of the world’s vital energy converged within the Sealing Formation into that blurry giant figure, which quickly began to solidify.
The giant, ten thousand zhang tall and colored dark red, at first glance seemed to have an enormous head and powerful arms and legs! But upon a closer look… that so-called massive ‘head’ was actually its upper body! It merely used its eyes and navel for its mouth. Its entire upper half resembled a huge face, one that looked savage and fierce, and it was vaguely discernible that it bore a resemblance to Celestial Immortal Northpolar.
“So this is Xingtian?”
Ji Ning and the others all watched in amazement.
A thousand and one Celestial Immortals and one hundred thousand Loose Immortals were all within this ‘Xingtian God’. This Xingtian God had been formed from the endless world’s vital energy gathered from a million-li radius. Just its aura alone was even stronger than that of many Empyrean Gods or True Immortals.
“It looks formidable, but there’s some looseness to it,” Celestial Immortal Tonghe commented from the side. “Clearly, this massive body of world’s vital energy can’t be perfectly mobilized. Some of it is dissipating.”
“To perfectly mobilize this vast amount of world’s vital energy is far too difficult. No matter how powerful a Celestial Immortal is, they can only mobilize as much as possible,” Ji Ning said, also sensing the immense power of that force. If anyone could perfectly and absolutely control this terrifying power, even Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would flee before the wind! Unfortunately, even a Pure Yang True Immortal acting as the formation’s core would find it impossible to achieve perfect control.
“Fellow Daoist Northpolar.”
At this moment, the Grand Xia Emperor outside the formation spoke.
Whoosh.
A white-robed version of the Grand Xia Emperor appeared out of thin air. He walked towards the Sealing Formation, which did not block him at all, allowing him entry.
“Your Majesty.”
The Xingtian God, Northpolar, said respectfully.
The Xingtian God was entirely dark red, with only an animal hide covering its waist and hips. Above its body, a pillar of blood-red battle-essence surged into the sky—a physical manifestation of its fighting spirit.
“Familiarize yourself with it a bit first,” the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor said.
“Yes.” Xingtian God Northpolar acknowledged respectfully, and the world’s vital energy covering his entire form continued to surge, gradually stabilizing. His body grew even more solid. The aura he gave off actually condensed somewhat, but after a brief period, he could make no further improvements.
The white-robed Grand Xia Emperor nodded. “Prepare yourself.” As he spoke, he waved his hand, and a pile of enormous black rocks appeared beside him, stacked layer upon layer like a small mountain. These black rocks were dotted with hints of gold, giving them a mysterious air.
“These are Chaotic Goldstone,” the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor said. “This stack is ten blocks. Later, you will focus all your strength and strike down with a palm blow on this Chaotic Goldstone. The more you split, the greater your power at the core of the Xingtian Formation. When the other fellow Daoists come to lead the Xingtian Formation later, they will also strike this Chaotic Goldstone.”
“Strike Chaotic Goldstone? We haven’t even received the key technique for the Xingtian Formation yet. Can we break it?” Celestial Immortal Tonghe outside the formation asked with some concern.
“Hard to say,” Ji Ning replied, uncertain.
He knew all about Chaotic Goldstone. After all, among the Five Element treasures required for the fifth cycle of the Starseizing Hand, the metal-element treasure could be Chaotic Goldstone.
Chaotic Goldstone was mined from the endless Chaos by True God Daofathers, making it incredibly hard. Under normal circumstances, only Empyrean Gods and True Immortals could damage it. But for True Gods and Daofathers, the true purpose of Chaotic Goldstone was to refine it and extract the ‘Chaotic Gold Essence’ within. The surface of the black stone was faintly dotted with specks of gold—those specks were the Chaotic Gold Essence.
The ten blocks of Chaotic Goldstone, each a thousand zhang long, would probably yield no more than a single fingernail’s worth of Chaotic Gold Essence after being fully refined. Even True Gods and Daofathers found Chaotic Gold Essence nearly impossible to damage. It could only be melted and forged using special methods like artifact refinement. It was a truly top-tier refining material; even a trace of Chaotic Gold Essence mixed into a Pure Yang top-grade magic treasure would make it indestructible.
“Begin,” the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor inside the formation ordered.
Outside the formation, a million Immortals watched.
Xingtian God Northpolar raised his enormous hand. His thick palm resembled a great axe as he formed his hand into a blade and brought it smashing down! The force of the blow caused ripples in the surrounding space that spread outward in both directions. However, the power was mostly contained within. If it had been fully unleashed, space would have already been torn apart.
Boom!
The giant hand struck the ten stacked blocks of Chaotic Goldstone. The entire Imperial Palace square trembled violently, though the Imperial Palace itself—the most stable structure in the Grand Xia Dynasty—was completely unharmed.
“What happened?”
“They broke!”
“They shattered!”
“It looks like four blocks shattered!”
The million Immortals were all watching, each of them exclaiming in amazement. To be able to shatter four blocks of Chaotic Goldstone meant that even without the key technique, the Xingtian God’s strength was absolutely at the Empyrean God/True Immortal level. Ji Ning had to admit that this Xingtian God was far stronger than his own Zun, which had barely crossed into the Empyrean God/True Immortal threshold. And this was all before obtaining the key technique.
“Four blocks shattered, and the fifth has some cracks,” the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor said, nodding as he inspected. “Alright, next up is Fellow Daoist Zhenbi.”
The Sealing Formation was temporarily withdrawn.
The Xingtian Formation dispersed, revealing the one hundred thousand Loose Immortals and the one thousand and one Celestial Immortals. Celestial Immortal Northpolar first bowed to the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor, then walked out of the Sealing Formation. At the same time, a tall, thin, gray-faced old man walked in.
…
Over three hundred and fifty-nine Celestial Immortals all took their turns trying.
Celestial Immortal Northpolar, who had gone first, was considered quite formidable. The general standard afterward was shattering three blocks.
“Fellow Daoist Tonghe,” the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor looked outward.
“I’ll go first.” Celestial Immortal Tonghe smiled at Ji Ning and walked towards the Sealing Formation.
Ji Ning watched.
This was now the one hundred and ninety-second attempt. The most powerful Celestial Immortal so far had shockingly shattered six blocks of Chaotic Goldstone. That was a female Immortal, ‘Flying Rain Celestial Immortal’ of the Tiannong clan, a famed master of alchemy. No one had ever heard that she was particularly skilled in combat, yet she was currently the strongest.
“I wonder how Celestial Immortal Tonghe will do,” Yu Wei asked.
“Senior Tonghe is extremely powerful,” Ji Ning said. “I’m sure he’ll be remarkable.”
Boom!
Inside the formation, another Xingtian God took shape.
After a brief familiarization, Xingtian God Tonghe, upon the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor’s command, raised his right hand and struck downwards at the Chaotic Goldstone.
Boom! Another familiar thunderous crash again echoed out. The citizens of the Grand Xia Imperial Capital were surely growing accustomed to this violent tremor by now, as it had already happened nearly two hundred times.
Ji Ning quickly looked closely. Of the ten blocks of Chaotic Goldstone that had been struck, only four remained intact.
“Six blocks!” Ji Ning said, delighted.
“Truly formidable. He matches Flying Rain Celestial Immortal,” Yu Wei said, also delighted.
“Remarkable. Excellent,” the Diancai Immortal said excitedly. This gathering of Celestial Immortals was unprecedented; many were close to Pure Yang True Immortals in power. When it came to commanding the entire Xingtian Formation, it was indeed hard to say who could bring out its greatest power.
The million Immortals were filled with praise.
Inside the formation.
The white-robed Grand Xia Emperor nodded. “Six blocks shattered. The seventh has a few cracks. Very close to Fellow Daoist Flying Rain, though slightly inferior. Among the one hundred and ninety-two fellow Daoists, you rank second.”
The formation dispersed, and Celestial Immortal Tonghe landed on the ground, a look of delight in his eyes.
To rank second among one hundred and ninety-two Celestial Immortals meant a very high chance of finishing in the top nine out of all three hundred and fifty-nine. Still, if luck turned sour and the remaining ones were too powerful, there was nothing to be done.
…
One Celestial Immortal after another took their turn.
“Why hasn’t junior apprentice-brother gone yet?” Yu Wei said, a little impatient.
“No rush. Some go first, some go last,” Ji Ning said. The Grand Xia Emperor likely valued him greatly and was saving him for last as the finale.
When the number of Celestial Immortals who had attempted exceeded three hundred, the number who had shattered six blocks had already reached five!
“Fellow Daoist Ji Ning, if you please,” the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor spoke.
“Ji Ning?”
“Ji Ning is going.”
“Celestial Immortal Darknorth? It’s said that when he was at the Primal Daoist level, he could contend with nine Celestial Immortals. He’s a Daofather’s disciple. It seems his second true body has also transcended the tribulation and become a Celestial Immortal.”
“I saw him at the Immortal Fortunes Assembly. His talent is indeed monstrous. Still, Fellow Daoist Ji Ning has been cultivating for a relatively short time. I wonder if he can control this Xingtian Formation well.” The onlookers buzzed with discussion. To these ten thousand Celestial Immortals, Ji Ning’s reputation was enormous. Even if his current power might not be much to them, in the future, he would likely far surpass them all.
…
Inside the formation.
“Fellow Daoists, if you please,” Ji Ning said to the thousand Celestial Immortals and one hundred thousand Loose Immortals.
“Form the formation.”
With a whoosh, Ji Ning soared into the air, flying to a high point. The thousand Celestial Immortals followed him, spreading out around him in all directions, while the one hundred thousand Loose Immortals followed their respective Celestial Immortals. At the same time, a flood of blood-red runic symbols appeared, and endless blood-red light converged to form a blurry, dark red giant figure. The world’s vital energy began to surge wildly, quickly coalescing into a ten-thousand-zhang tall Xingtian God whose navel-face bore a striking resemblance to Ji Ning.
“What a powerful feeling,” Ji Ning marveled.
The surging power even exceeded his ability to control it. All he could do was try to command as much as possible.
“Fellow Daoist Ji Ning, familiarize yourself with it for a moment,” the white-robed Grand Xia Emperor outside said with a smile.