Chương 149: Chapter 148: Formation Lanes

Yang leaned back in his seat and let his thoughts drift over the past few days. The Unknown Inscription event had taught him a great deal even as just an audience member, and watching how the participants were tested had proven he had been right to skip it. He would have been wiped clean.

The incomplete inscriptions had grown harder and harder as the event had progressed, and by the sixth one Yang had been sitting in the audience completely unable to even confidently guess what the complete talisman was meant to be. Each time he could think of half a dozen possible ways to complete each one, but there was always some kind of hidden element that required a trained and experienced eye that only came from decades of dedication, something his own talisman crafting experience couldn't match yet.

His transmigration and his years in the Cardwright world aside, this was the real world. Even with magic available, there were no shortcuts that would make him an expert capable of matching the might of cultivators who had decades let alone centuries and millennia of experience in their craft. He would have to climb this mountain step by step. He was in no hurry anyways. Learning is an unending journey. No matter how much he learns there will always be more to learn and discover.

He looked around the large waiting room, almost ten times the size of the waiting room in the inscription hall, with a vaulted ceiling and clusters of chairs and small tables arranged throughout the room. Some disciples sat alone and some in small groups talking with friends. A low hum of voice filled the air. He turned to look as sudden moment at the door caught his eye. One side of the double entrance doors swung open quietly as a female disciple entered. The whole room came to attention.

Yang looked more closely at the embroidery on her sleeve and realised this was an elder rather than a disciple. She looked no older than Yang himself which was not really a surprise but what actually shocked him was how she projected the impression of being in qi condensation realm. Thats what had initially thrown him off, making him think of her as a fellow disciple. He could also see his own initial confusion mirrored in the eyes of some disciples nearby who clearly like Yang weren't familiar with this elder.

Those that did know her had already straightened up. The disciples of True Talisman Peak, most likely. She gave a cursory look around the room and began immediately.

"I am Elder Jun Jia of the True Talisman Peak," she said in a straight forward voice.

"I am here to ensure you are all clear on the rules of today's event. This is the Defence Endurance competition. Before the actual test starts, each of you will be given ten minutes with an orb that will attack you. During those ten minutes apart from observing the type of attack you will face you will also need to create whatever talismans you believe are best suited to withstand the attack for as long as possible. The highest rank will go to the last shield standing, second to the second last and so on."

"Oh and you will also get points deducted if some part of the attack came through and harmed you even if you still have talismans remaining to defend with" She looked around at the disciples "Questions?" A hand fron the back went up.

"Is there a limit to the number of talismans we can make?"

"You get ten minutes. Make as many as you can. There is no restriction. Though you may only use the provided supplies to make them." Another hand rose.

"Will all participants face the same type of attack?"

"Yes. Same type, same intensity for every participant." The disciple who had asked the question visibly relaxed. Yang could see why. He was already near the upper threshold of the beginner Foundation Establishment division. One more minor realm advancement and he would be competing as one of the weakest participants in the mid stage Foundation Establishment division instead as one of the strongest in the beginner division.

The same type of attack and intensity meant that he held advantage over that majority of cultivators taking part, at least as far as qi reserves were concerned. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Elder Jun Jia looked around the room once more as no one else came forward.

"Good. When the bell rings you all will leave in a file and take the nearest empty station." She turned and left through the same door she had entered. The waiting room broke into quiet conversation. Yang had already started making his way back to his empty chair when the bell to call them rang. He changed directions mid step and joined the queue forming at the door. He followed the stream of disciples out of the door and stepped into the arena. It was full. Thousands of people in the stands.

Yang looked around trying to locate the faces of his friends but had to soon give up. There were just too many people. He stepped on the platform and took in the layout for this event. The round stage was divided in half, each sidelined with what looked like more than a hundred cubicles, each one roughly ten feet tall and open only at the front. Like a doorless cabinet meant to face the participant, closed on all three sides and above, blocking the view of the stations to either side.

Each cubicle had a floating transparent orb at its centre. Glowing lines marked the floor, dividing each participant's area from the next. Yang understood the purpose immediately. The lines would likely contain each participant's talisman effects and prevent interference between adjacent stations. He chose to stand in front of the nearest empty station and stood dozens of meters away from the cubicle where the formation lined the limit for participants.

He tried to concentrate on the orb suspended in the air in his cubicle but he was unable to perceive anything. There seemed to be a barrier between him and it, likely to give everyone the same amount of time to prepare. The bell rang and Yang quickly walked towards the cubicle making his way in as the barrier dissolved.

As soon as he stepped inside a panel on his right side in the cubicle snapped open with the talismans supplies arranged neatly and the panel suspended at an angle to work as a temporary desk to inscribe talismans on. He quickly turned back to the front and made for the orb first. He couldn't read anything from it visually so he took a chance and just placed his hand on it directly. Fire. The impression was immediate, like an overwhelming sense of an inferno engulfing him.

He quickly yanked his hand back and let out a harsh breath. Not really surprising. It was a competition to test beginner Foundation Establishment cultivators, anything esoteric would have been inappropriate for this division. That left fire as one of the natural choices. Normal fire he could deal with. But the Fire qi was the real problem. If that was anywhere near the intensity of the actual attack he would be facing then no single talisman he could make would hold for long.

Maybe if he layered a few he could last a round or two. Anything beyond that seemed too optimistic. He quickly started going through his options. Standard barrier talismans were definitely out. Even his best wouldn't hold for long enough. He mused, he could try to disrupt the air around, spreading the fire rather than blocking it, reducing the intensity at a single area and use a general barrier talisman to ride it out.

But as he looked down at the formation lines marking boundary lanes for the participants he gave up. The space was too confined. The approach needed more room to work with. In an open area he could have dispersed the fire easily enough. Here it would be ineffective and would probably redirect the heat back at himself. If he could see the actual style of the attack he would know better how to defend but the test only allowed the participant to know the element they will be dealing with.

He also considered removing oxygen from the immediate area. A fire could not sustain itself without it. But fire qi does not make an ordinary fire, and he was not certain whether removing oxygen would affect a magical fire the same way as a normal fire. There was also the matter of himself. If he managed to create an oxygen depleted pocket within his assigned area, he would be the one fainting. An unconscious participant with a working talisman still in place was still a failed participant.

There was also the issue of him not knowing if the formation would even allow the area to be depleted of oxygen. The elders may have precautions built in the formation for safety. Yang imagined the elders wouldn't want the participants to lack air as the fire attacks burn through the oxygen. In such a case making his whole area devoid of oxygen would take more research than the ten minutes he had to work with.

He moved towards the supplies picking each brush testing the weight and feel and settling on the fifth one. He dipped it in the ink and held it over the first sheet of talisman paper. A chime rang. One minute gone. He had thought extensively about defending against fire attacks in his preparation, what he had not accounted for was the space limitation. The solution he was working towards now was different than anything he had practised. He had only the next nine minutes to find out whether it would hold.

He put the brush to the paper and began inscribing the first talisman. When he was done he set it aside and moved immediately to the second sheet. Another chime rang. Eight minutes remaining.