The Human Emperor

Chapter 1390: Bizarre Formation!

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

While Elders Fang and Du had still been around, Wang Chong had learned a little about formations from them, and in the apocalyptic era, Wang Chong had also interacted somewhat with formations. It was just that he had never had any systematic education. However, Wang Chong undoubtedly knew more than the common person with regards to formations.

“This… Fine. In any case, I couldn’t think of an idea after this long, so there’s no harm in you trying. It’s better than doing nothing.”

As the Formation Elder spoke, he extended a finger. Swish! A bolt of energy flew through the air, and as the Formation Elder’s finger moved, it began to draw out a formation on the ground.

This was a gigantic circular formation with more than one thousand formation gates and more than ten thousand permutations. Completely drawing out such a massive formation was almost impossible. Even the Formation Elder could only draw out something thirty to forty percent similar.

But this was already rather astonishing and would certainly alarm many people if it ever got out. After all, the Origin Immortal Lord had been the greatest formation master of the Central Plains.

Moreover, these ancient formations had already been lost, so the Formation Elder had obtained this rough estimate of the formation’s shape through his own deductions.

“It’s great that you have some foundation, but this is still a formation left behind by the Origin Immortal Lord. How much you can comprehend will depend on yourself. I can only give you a rough explanation.

“The art of formations is one of constant transformation, but none of the shifts are ever far from the base. All formations essentially share the same foundation, the eight gates of Life, Pain, Rest, Stop, View, Death, Alarm, and Open. As long as you can grasp the key shifts of these gates, you should theoretically be capable of opening up all formations, though that’s only theoretically.”

The Formation Elder continued to write on the ground, lecturing Wang Chong on the changes in formations while also providing some supplementary knowledge.

The Formation Elder had never been a good teacher, nor did he have the time to devote to teaching a disciple. However, the Formation Elder had already busied himself over this formation for many hours with little progress, so he had nothing better to do except teach Wang Chong.

Moreover, even if he didn’t care for the monk, he had to care for the Buddha. It was better to get into the good graces of the Demonic Emperor Old Man.

“So, each of the eight gates corresponds to 128 formation gates of this formation with 1536 permutations?” Wang Chong finally said after listening to the Formation Elder’s explanation.

The Formation Elder’s face froze upon hearing these words, and he looked strangely at Wang Chong.

He had only roughly explained the basics to Wang Chong, but Wang Chong had already been able to deduce something like this, far surpassing his expectations. Such comprehension was truly incredible.

This kid isn’t just good at martial arts! He also has tremendous talent when it comes to formations!

As this thought flew through the Formation Elder’s mind, he shot a glance at the Demonic Emperor Old Man. At that moment, he suddenly had a strange idea.

A momentary silence ensued, during which the Formation Elder calmed down so that he could continue lecturing Wang Chong about formations.

“The Open Gate, Rest Gate, and Life Gate are auspicious gates and are generally not that dangerous. The Death Gate, Alarm Gate, and Pain Gate are inauspicious gates, and if you enter the formation gates corresponding to them, you’ll be in grave peril. Entering the gates of the Death Gate is particularly dangerous, and you generally won’t come out alive. As for the Stop Gate and View Gate, they are rather balanced, between the auspicious and inauspicious gates. They aren’t that dangerous, but they aren’t that safe either. You and your master are currently in the Rest Gate.

“The Rest Gate is the gate of recuperation. In a formation, the formation gates are constantly changing. Once inside, if a martial artist doesn’t die, they’ll be exhausted from trying to survive, as there’s simply no time to rest. Only in the Rest Gate can one get a chance to catch one’s breath. In these formation gates, you can meditate and recuperate, recovering your Stellar Energy. This was also why when your master got in touch with me through the world of energy, I told him not to leave. This formation was the creation of the Origin Immortal Lord, and it uses the energy of the world. Once you leave the Rest Gate, even someone as strong as your master will be in grave danger.”

The Formation Elder spoke in an extremely grave tone. This formation was far more dangerous than anyone could imagine. Not even the Demonic Emperor Old Man would dare to say that he was safe in here, much less anyone else. Even a master of formations like the Formation Elder could only guarantee his own safety.

When moving from his current position to this one, he had felt like he was treading on thin ice. Otherwise, he would have never taken such a long time.

“But, Senior Zhou, according to your explanation, as the Rest Gate is an auspicious gate, there should be no danger here at all. Yet not long ago, we were attacked by the formation within the Rest Gate. This doesn’t seem at all like the place for rest and recuperation that you say the Rest Gate should be,” Wang Chong said, his brow creased.

“Heh, I wasn’t finished yet. For you to quickly notice this is not bad, not bad!”

The Formation Elder stroked his beard, casting a praising glance at Wang Chong as he nodded.

“The Rest Gate isn’t as simple as you think. It’s only less dangerous when compared to the other formation gates, but it’s not completely free of danger. Once you enter a wondrous formation like this, there is no position that is completely unchanging, completely safe. As they say, pull a hair and put the entire body into motion. The moment you enter the formation, you set off a chain reaction. Only by finding the Life Gate can you leave.

“The Rest Gate is about rest and only rest. You can’t just stay there forever. At the Rest Gate, there will be a shift every twenty hours, a point where the place is beset by traps and poison gas. This is unavoidable.”

Wang Chong looked up at the Formation Elder and said, “But… if we continue on this line of thought, one should only face danger once a day, yet my master and I have been attacked twice since I came in. This isn’t at all in line with Senior’s theory.”

The Formation Elder was a master of formation arts, and he shouldn’t have been wrong. But Wang Chong had swiftly noticed parts of the Formation Elder’s explanation that did not line up with reality.

The master and disciple had spent many hours here, and he could not possibly have miscounted.

“You!”

The Formation Elder was struck dumb by Wang Chong’s words.

“Haaa, this kid! What a pity what someone with such ability is following a master like this!”

“Old rascal, put aside that idea right now! This old man will never hand his disciple over to you! Expel that thought from your mind!” the Demonic Emperor Old Man suddenly said icily. Although his gaze was elsewhere, he was well aware of what was going on around him.

“Zhang Wenfu, what in the world are you thinking? Has this old man ever talked about stealing your disciple?”

The Formation Elder was rather embarrassed, his face turning red upon being exposed.

He had always been a solitary man, and on this journey to the northwest, he hadn’t even brought a servant. From this, one could see that it wasn’t that he was proud or aloof, but because he had never found a disciple that he liked. To be at his age without a successor, how could he not be concerned?

But being anxious about this matter wouldn’t deliver him a disciple. After all, not everyone could serve as an inheriting disciple. His harsh way of speaking further increased the difficulty of finding an appropriate disciple.

But the Formation Elder had never imagined that Wang Chong would be so talented. There were many things that he only needed to explain once for Wang Chong to understand.

A pity, what a great pity! Haaa, if he weren’t that scoundrel’s disciple, I could have stolen him…

The Formation Elder felt a great regret, but he did not voice a single bit of it.

Wang Chong couldn’t help but inwardly chuckle. Although he was occasionally rather strange and stubborn, the Formation Elder was also rather adorable at times.

“Senior, let’s get back to the formation,” Wang Chong said.

The Formation Elder struggled for a few moments, but he had been thoroughly cowed by the Demonic Emperor Old Man’s tyrannical power and did not dare continue on this line.

“Kid, you’ve got a good sense. For the Rest Gate to be attacked twice in twenty-four hours is truly abnormal. This is also why I said that there was something strange about this formation, that there seemed to be someone controlling it! But how could this be? The Origin Immortal Lord has been dead for centuries, and his lineage has gone completely extinct. And now, with the art of formations in decline, there are only a few left in the world who can truly understand ancient formations like this. Or could it be that there’s someone better than me in formations who got into the core of the formation and took control of it?!

“But that’s impossible…”

The Formation Elder trailed off, his brow furrowed and his hands scratching his head so badly that he almost drew blood. He had always been proud of his mastery of formations, and there was barely anyone in the world who could compare to him.

He had studied all kinds of formations. While ancient formations and formation diagrams might as well have been alien words to other people, the Formation Elder knew them like the back of his hand.

But in the face of a true master from seven to eight hundred years ago in the Origin Immortal Lord, the Formation Elder found it hard to exert his learning and was incapable of comprehending even one-fourth of the workings of this formation, let alone the entire thing.

Thus, the scenario he had stated should have been impossible.

This impossibility had caused the Formation Elder to spend a great deal of time in agonized thought.

Wang Chong said nothing, only lowered his head in thought. He did not believe that there was someone as skilled in formations as the Formation Elder who had gotten here first and reached the core of the formation. For a formation master like the Formation Elder to appear in the northwest was already a rare sight. It was almost impossible for a second to have shown up.

Moreover, if that person had managed to reach the core, they would have taken any treasure within and would have immediately left regardless. They wouldn’t stick around for hours on end, scheming against the seven to eight hundred martial artists in the formation rather than searching for treasure.

This simply wasn’t reasonable.

Moreover, this sort of conduct would offend both the evil and righteous factions, a most unwise move.