Condemning the Heavens

After the explosion, Xue Wei stood back up. He dusted off his clothes and looked at the door.

Although the explosion had been rather violent, it was not enough to destroy the door. Instead, it did just enough to trigger its unlocking mechanism.

Xue Wei thought about making a few more Spiritual Energy Bombs to blast his way through the other doors, but he quickly discarded the idea when he saw how resilient the door was and continued into the next room.

"Welcome to the fifth room of the trials." The very moment Xue Wei entered the room, the Moon Prince’s voice emerged before he could even look at his reward from clearing the fourth trial. He focused his attention towards this voice.

"If you pass the trial in the fifth room, then you will have made it halfway towards my grave. This in itself is no easy accomplishment, and thus the reward for passing the fifth trial will be my notes on formations."

"The reason I am telling you this already now is that I want you to understand one thing.

“I have given out bits and pieces of my legacy up until now because I do not wish for the art of formations to disappear. Even in my time, the interest in formations has been slowly diminishing. Although they are useful, no one is willing to spend the time needed to learn the way of formations, and not many can see the usefulness in cultivating their spiritual energy."

“I need someone who is willing to accept my legacy, but a big part of my legacy revolves around the creation of formations, and I wish that my successor shares my passion for them.”

Xue Wei had already understood this much, but he still listened intently.

"The trials from this point onwards, apart from the tenth, will all be about formations. Only those who manage to understand my formation techniques can hope to understand my legacy!"

Xue Wei acknowledged that this Moon Prince was obsessed with formations. It was clear that formations were much more important to him than even his martial art techniques and that the legacy he truly wished to pass down was his accumulated knowledge of formations.

The fifth trial required him to set up a Qi Gathering Formation, which was a step above the previous trial’s difficulty.

The concept of a Qi Gathering Formation was to attract a wide radius of heaven-and-earth essence from the surroundings to create a zone of high-density energy for accelerated cultivation.

This formation required a full seven runes. Unlike in the previous trial, they were not given stones to engrave their formation on. Instead, they were given papers, lots of them, alongside a pen and ink.

From the amount of papers that were stacked up on the table, it was clear that the Moon Prince had taken a lot of precautions in case the candidates taking his test repeatedly fail to compose the runes. The Moon Prince was aware of how difficult the beginning of formation creation was. A lot of materials had been placed in the test room as a result.

Xue Wei began his first attempt at writing the inscription for the first rune, but he found, much to his dismay, that his control over the pen had rusted over the years. He had been taught calligraphy early on, but he had not dabbled in it for years. Although he was capable of writing it, the runes did not come out as well as he wanted them to.

Xue Wei sighed. He had to refresh old muscles, so he repeatedly drew the different runes that the Moon Prince had taught him through the jade slips until he got the hang of it. This took him a full day, but he could not tell, as day-night cycles did not exist inside the grave. All light came from small light-orbs, and it was impossible to see what time of the day it was or how much time had passed.

Xue Wei had already lost track of time as he immersed himself in the art of inscribing formations.

In another place inside the grave, Wang Xiaoyun stared at a closed door with mixed emotions on her face. She had failed the very first trial. Not because she lacked willpower, but because what she had gone through was simply far too cruel for her to overcome without provoking the heart demon inside her.

Since she had failed the first trial, she had returned to the front room of the grave – the place where they had split up.

A day had gone by in a flash, and Hei Gou was the next person to appear. He had failed the trial of spiritual energy.

Although he had more spiritual energy than the average of his kin, he was still from a family of beasts that specialized in brute strength, so he was ill-equipped for the task.

When he entered the front room, he spotted Wang Xiaoyun. She had been diligently meditating since failing the first trial.

She had no time to waste. She was chasing after the Ice Harpy, but knew that she was currently too weak, so she squeezed every moment dry for cultivation.

However, Hei Gou’s movements woke her up from her meditative trance. Her eye shone dangerously, and she slowly stood up. She was swathed in an oppressive air, and her one eye gleamed with madness.

"It is all because of beasts like you!" she growled. Then she opened her hand, producing the green fan as if performing a magic trick.

"Hey, cut it out!" Hei Gou yelled with surprise and irritation. "If you kill me, then Wei won't look at you again!" he exclaimed angrily.

These words seemed to reach Wang Xiaoyun.

The murderous air around her decreased a bit, and her face turned sour. "I just have to make sure he doesn’t find out who did it!" She sneered at him, but Hei Gou snickered. "Do you think Wei is dumb?" he asked mockingly.

"The last trial I faced was focused on spiritual energy; it’s obvious these trials are not designed to test our survivability. The trials are meant for those who dabble in formations, so we won’t die no matter how problematic they are! So what excuse would you use? That I just vanished into thin air? Do you really think he will believe you?"

The more Hei Gou spoke, the more the killing intent deflated. The madness in Wang Xiaoyun's eye also faded.

Hei Gou had no favorable impression of Wang Xiaoyun. He regarded her as a walking time bomb that was ready to kill him at any moment, so his only option was to be on constant alert around her. No one knew when she would have another fit of madness and make an attempt on his life.

While Wang Xiaoyun and Hei Gou managed to come to a truce and opted to find their respective corners in the front room to cultivate, Bai Tianyi was breezing through the trials.

He was a creature made of souls, and he had previous experience with formations. Creating all of these beginners formations was as simple as breathing to him, and he quickly reached the tenth trial.

The tenth trial was exactly as the Moon Prince had said; it was a trial that did not care about formations and spiritual energy. It tested only one’s physical strength.

"I ought to wait here for a month or two," Bai Tianyi said as he looked at the empty room. He had not triggered the tenth trial yet, and he was not interested in getting the legacy of the Moon Prince. He knew that Xue Wei needed it much more than him.

"The other two are likely to have failed already," he said to himself with a slight smile on his face. "That black dog is quite true to its nature, but that woman gives me a bad feeling for some reason… I can't tell Wei about it since he won't listen, but I better do some research when we meet up again. Can't lose my master after finally finding someone worthy. Such a person is hard to find, though he doesn’t even seem to be aware of his own heritage yet."

Bai Tianyi sat down right beside the door and began cultivating. Two months went by like this. While Bai Tianyi cultivated, Xue Wei went through one trial after another.

He created formation after formation. Some were engraved on stones, others were written on papers.

Xue Wei had made a few copies of each and kept them in his storage ring for later use.

Among the formations he had made was the Spiritual Energy Bomb, a lightning-based formation, and even a formation to summon a stone golem. The golems only needed Qi to sustain themselves.

He received many different rewards from clearing these trials, which ranged from pills that increased spiritual energy to formation runes and formulas.

By now, Xue Wei was capable of making up to seventy formations, all of which were novice formations, such as for example the paralyzing formation. This formation was usually inscribed on a weapon or an ornament, which when imbued with Qi would possess the ability to inflict a brief stun on an opponent.

There were many different kinds of formations. Some of them could be used in battle, either directly against an enemy or to support one during battle by creating minions or other supporters.

Formations could boost one’s strength in many ways. It was possible for a formation to assist the user’s Qi-absorption in cultivation, or it could heighten the purity of the Qi flow for you. It was also possible to boost the user’s physical strength for a period of time.

It had to be said that there were always downsides to using formations like these, such as overdrawing the body’s reserves, but it was still a viable last-resort for tough situations.

Formations could also grant objects the ability of flight, or they could be used to fortify one's home or base.

Formation masters were a rarity nowadays. The study of said subject had slowly vanished, and only a few formation masters remained, who all safeguarded their trade and their formulas with their lives.

Xue Wei was still unaware of the rarity of formation masters, but he was incredibly drawn to the allure of formations and how to make them.

He did not understand the runes themselves, but he figured that they were likely an ancient language.

Finally, Xue Wei reached the tenth room. He eagerly awaited the appearance of the Moon Prince’s disembodied voice.

Throughout the trials, the Moon Prince had imparted varying information and many pointers to Xue Wei through the voice formation, which had let him improve by leaps and bounds.

"Even if I don't get the final inheritance, I have learned and gained more than the worth of this visit!" Xue Wei smiled, giving himself a small peptalk for the final room’s trial.

From the beginning, he had been interested in the final room since this room did not focus on formations.

Xue Wei looked around. There was a large stone pillar erected in the middle of the room. This stone pillar went from the ground to the ceiling, and some crystals were embedded into the part where it connected to the ceiling.

There were seven crystals in total, all of them in the different colors of the rainbow. The colors were also in proper order according to the rainbow’s spectrum: red first, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and finally a violet crystal.

"Let me guess, you thought the final trial involved fighting?" The sound of the Moon Prince’s chuckle appeared out of the blue. "Before I passed away, I was aware that it would most likely take a long time before anyone capable enough to enter my grave would appear. Furthermore, I am incapable of leaving behind an offensive formation that will last that long; it will without a doubt run out of Qi or spiritual energy."

"You were earlier tested with a formation that used your own Qi to fight, and since you passed that, the only thing I need to know now is if your base strength reaches my standard."

Xue Wei listened and became curious about how the pillar testing his strength functioned. As if Xue Wei’s mind had been read, the Moon Prince's voice drifted out once more.

"Hit the pillar with all your might. If you light all seven crystals, you will have passed. The deeper the color of the crystals, the stronger you can be considered."

"You have three tries!"