Chapter 74: The Puzzle of Formation Magic

The medicinal peak beneath Jing Yihong’s feet was filled with ordinary spiritual herbs. Since he wanted to test the effects of “Spiritual Blood,” Jing Yihong didn’t dare use those rare and precious herbs for experiments, so he chose this ordinary medicinal peak instead.

On the peak grew green cherry blossoms, typically used to craft spiritual pills that replenished immortal essence. Jing Yihong took a white jade bottle and approached a green cherry blossom tree that was only ten years old. The tree was about a meter tall, with dark branches and entirely white leaves, though its flowers were green. Upon closer inspection, however, it could be seen that the flower contained only ten stamens, indicating it had only grown for ten years.

If a green cherry blossom reached fifty years old, it could be used as raw material for pill-making.

Jing Yihong opened the white jade bottle, grabbed it with his right hand, and released it—allowing Wood-type immortal essence to enter the bottle. He then drew out a drop of “Spiritual Blood” and dropped it onto the flower. The Spiritual Blood vanished instantly.

Then, a miraculous phenomenon occurred. The green cherry blossom shook violently, and its stamens began to grow rapidly—twenty, thirty, forty—until finally, forty-nine stamens appeared before growth stopped. A single drop of “Spiritual Blood” was equivalent to making the flower grow an additional thirty-nine years!

Jing Yihong’s mouth remained agape; he was utterly astonished. “How is this possible? What is this thing? How can it make a green cherry blossom grow so fast? Ah, I’m going crazy!” he shouted frantically, unable to calm down.

After a while, Jing Yihong took a deep breath and looked closely at the tree again. Confirming that all the flowers on the tree had forty-nine stamens, he finally believed that the “Spiritual Blood” in his hands could accelerate the growth of spiritual herbs.

“I’ll try it with other spiritual herbs!” Jing Yihong felt excited, his whole body burning with enthusiasm.

Soon, he arrived at another medicinal peak. There, a type of drunken immortal fungus grew—raw material for crafting hallucinogenic spiritual pills. The fungi resembled clouds, growing layer upon layer, with each branch white like a layer of cloud. However, they weren’t very tall, only about ten centimeters, making them appear to grow right from the ground.

Without hesitation, Jing Yihong drew out a drop of his Blood of Devouring Spirits and poured it onto the roots of the drunken immortal fungus. In moments, the medicinal energy emitted by the fungus surged dramatically, and the entire plant doubled in size, becoming even whiter and brighter.

“This… the Zui Xian Zhi, which was originally a hundred-year-old variety, has now become a 120-year-old one!” Jing Yihong exclaimed in surprise. However, it takes five hundred years for Zui Xian Zhi to mature, so it still cannot be used as raw material for spiritual medicines at this point. Jing Yihong once again drew out the blood from his Soul Devouring Bloodline and dripped it onto the roots of the Zui Xian Zhi. After fifty drops, the size of the Zui Xian Zhi didn’t change much, but the medicinal energy it emitted had already reached that of a 500-year-old variety. Jing Yihong stared at it in awe, even tears welling up in his eyes. “Yuxuan Pavilion, Yueying Peak—we’re lucky! With this spiritual blood, what other spiritual medicines could we possibly lack? From now on, as long as we have the formulas, we can continuously refine spiritual pills,” Jing Yihong said emotionally, tears streaming down his face. After a while, he calmed down and murmured to himself, “This spiritual blood must not be known by others. Such a miraculous substance—if others find out, they will surely come to investigate me, and then my life will be in danger.” It was then that Jing Yihong realized it was better to keep treasures secret. Thus, he also understood that in the future, he would only use this ‘spiritual blood’ to accelerate the growth of spiritual medicines when refining pills on his own. At the same time, he had a plan: in the future, if he could have his own territory, he would be able to use this ‘spiritual blood’ in large quantities.
※※※
Fire Lord continued to cultivate in his own cultivation cave. He already knew about the results of Jing Yihong’s experiment with the Soul Devouring Bloodline, so he was relieved. Next, he just needed to wait for Jing Yihong to gather various spiritual pills and failed pills, after which he and the other four Lords could consume them in large amounts. Unfortunately, the peaceful time didn’t last long. Hua Hai, the alchemy officer of Tongzhou Hall, came to see Fire Lord again. “Fire Lord, it’s Hua Hai. I request an audience with you,” Hua Hai called out loudly outside Fire Lord’s cave on the mountain peak. After a while, Fire Lord emerged from his cave. “Hua Hai, what’s the matter?” Fire Lord asked calmly. Seeing Fire Lord appear, Hua Hai’s anxious expression immediately turned joyful. “Fire Lord, Tongzhou Hall has taken on all the alchemy tasks at the two-star Human Soul Immortal level. But for some of these tasks’ formations, even after gathering all our master mages, we haven’t been able to figure them out, so we can’t complete those tasks,” Hua Hai said anxiously.

Actually, Hua Hai didn’t mention one thing: he had visited other alchemy branches and asked them for help in providing the formations needed for those alchemy tasks, promising to reward them afterward. However, since Tongzhou Hall had taken on alchemy tasks at the one-star Human Soul Immortal level and now also those at the two-star Human Soul Immortal level, almost all other alchemy branches were furious with Tongzhou Hall.

As a result, each alchemy branch deliberately refused to help Tongzhou Hall, wanting to see it fail.

Upon hearing Hua Hai’s words, Huo Zun thought for a moment and guessed the difficulties Tongzhou Hall had encountered during this time. After all, it was he who had taken on those two-star Human Soul Immortal level alchemy tasks. Now that there were problems, Huo Zun couldn’t stand by idly—he had to go all out.

“Alright, I’ll head to the headquarters. Hand over all the formation problems you’ve encountered; I’ll handle them collectively,” Huo Zun said with a calm smile, showing no sign of difficulty.

Qu Yi had already completed scanning the “Path of Primordial Energy” taught by the God of Tools and was extremely familiar with formations at the Human Soul Immortal level. Since their souls were one, whatever Qu Yi knew, Huo Zun also knew.

Hearing Huo Zun’s confident tone, Hua Hai’s worries dissipated, and he burst into laughter. “Huo Zun, you’re truly amazing—nothing seems too difficult for you.”

Huo Zun slapped his forehead, ignored Hua Hai, and quickly flew toward Tongzhou Hall’s headquarters.

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There were a total of 2,000 types of alchemy tasks at the two-star Human Soul Immortal level, amounting to 800 million items, with a task duration of ten years. Among them, 1,000 types of tasks were beyond the ability of Tongzhou Hall’s formation masters to solve.

It was likely that the group of formation masters inside Tongzhou Hall hated Huo Zun the most at that moment.

Huo Zun arrived at Tongzhou Hall’s headquarters, entered the “Formation Hall,” and sat down at an empty table in the main hall. Soon, upon hearing the news, formation masters from various places flocked in like bees, swarming into the Formation Hall and surrounding Huo Zun’s table completely.

“Huo Zun, are you crazy? You took on alchemy tasks at the one-star Human Soul Immortal level with such confidence, thinking Tongzhou Hall can handle all the two-star Human Soul Immortal level tasks.”

“Right now, out of 2,000 types of two-star Human Soul Immortal level formations, Tongzhou Hall can only solve 1,000 types. There are still 1,000 types we can’t handle. Time is tight, and the tasks are heavy—find a way to solve them.”

“Don’t blame us spellcasters for not trying hard enough. We’ve studied all the formations in Tongzhou Hall, yet we still can’t solve these two-star Soul Immortal artifact refinement tasks. You must solve them yourself.”
“Heavens, if we fail to complete these tasks, Tongzhou Hall will be ruined. I guess even if everyone committed suicide, it wouldn’t be enough to cover the losses.”
“It’s over, it’s over! We’ve only been in Youhan Sect for a little over ten years and haven’t even enjoyed its benefits yet, and now we have to leave.”
……
In an instant, waves of shouts surged toward Fire Venerable.
Fire Venerable placed his right hand on the table, his fingers gently tapping the surface as he listened to the frustrated voices of the spellcasters, remaining smiling the whole time.
After a long while, seeing that Fire Venerable continued to gaze at them indifferently, the spellcasters, feeling bored after shouting a few times, gradually quieted down.
When the hall fell silent, Fire Venerable stood up with a smile, glanced at the spellcasters, and said, “Are formations that difficult? Here’s what I propose: Hand over any formations you can’t solve to me. In a month, I’ll give you solutions for all of them.”
As soon as he said this, the hall was filled with screams.
“You’re really good at boasting!”
“Are you trying to take advantage of this to escape?”
“It’s impossible for nearly five thousand of our spellcasters to complete these tasks, and you think you can do it alone in a month? Dream on!”
In moments, the noise that had just ceased erupted again, shaking the entire formation hall.
Smack!
Fire Venerable slammed his palm, turning the wooden table beside him into splinters.
The hall fell dead silent, not even a breath to be heard.
“Alright, those of you who think I can’t solve these formations, step forward. I’ll make a bet with you: If I can’t solve one formation, I’ll give you 100 million Origin Stones. If I can’t solve a thousand formations, I’ll give you 100 billion. If I do solve them, you still have to compensate me. Will you take the bet?” Fire Venerable called out with a smile.
Hiss!
In an instant, not a single spellcaster in the hall dared to speak. They all took a deep breath, terrified by Fire Venerable’s bet.
Seeing everyone looking at him in fear, Fire Venerable clapped his hands and said with a smile, “Alright, hand over the formations you can’t solve to me, and I’ll help you solve them.”
To improve Tongzhou Hall’s reputation, Fire Venerable had to patiently deal with these spellcasters.
Soon, the spellcasters calmly inscribed the formations they couldn’t solve on jade slips and handed them to Fire Venerable.

After collecting the jade slips, Fire Lord smiled and said, “The time is one month—please be here on time.” With that, Fire Lord flew away.