The Path of Survivor begins with obtaining titles

Chapter 650: Chapter 326 Formation Course
 

After the time for the class had arrived, a middle-aged man at the Refining Void Realm walked in slowly, clad in a grey Taoist robe. Within the Tai Xuan Dao Palace, there was no set attire for disciples, and one could wear whatever they liked.

Similarly, there wasn’t a strict distinction between teachers and students. As long as one had the capability in a certain area to teach disciples of lower realms, they could accept the Dao Palace’s examination. Once they passed, they would be able to offer classes and teach disciples within a certain realm.

For disciples to participate in classes, they needed to pay with achievement points. The Hall of Preaching would distribute a certain proportion of these points as teaching rewards to the cultivators who offered classes.

Each class, if the number of participating disciples reached a certain amount and the quality of teaching was deemed satisfactory, would be recorded and teaching points would be awarded. Once teaching points met the required threshold, one’s teaching status could be upgraded.

In the early stages of obtaining a teaching status, one could only offer classes for up to fifty people. After an upgrade in status, one could conduct classes for a larger number of disciples, and the proportion of achievement points received would also increase.

These rules of the Dao Palace also attracted many to obtain a teaching status and offer classes, forming a virtuous cycle.

Lin Yi gained this information from the Dao Discussion Pavilion within the Tai Xuan Mirror, which was somewhat similar to the spell teaching classes at the Liu Yun Sect.

However, teaching within the Dao Palace first required an assessment, and furthermore, the quality of the teaching classes would be verified by disciples dispatched from the Hall of Preaching, including attending the classes in person, and allowing the cultivators who participated in the classes to evaluate and score them. If the quality was too poor, not only would one fail to earn teaching points, but even the achievement rewards would be deducted.

This ensured that every teacher would put their heart into their lectures, unlike some Foundation Building cultivators in the Liu Yun Sect who would slack off if they could, spending an entire class talking nonsense.

After the man at the Refining Void Realm had taken his place on the lecture stage in the hall, the disciples below all stood up in succession, clasped their fists and bowed, “We greet Teacher Jiang.”

Lin Yi also stood up, clasped his fists, and bowed. This was a form of respectful address to a teacher. Those who preached and taught were called Dao Masters, and today’s Dao Master was named Jiang Cheng.

One could tell from the number of attendees that this person had considerable ability in formations, or else he wouldn’t have attracted so many Dao Palace disciples to his class.

The Refining Void Realm Dao Master Jiang Cheng smiled and waved his hand, “Please sit down, thank you all for signing up to attend my formation class. Today, I will be discussing Defensive Arrays…”

“You are all Cultivators of Huashen, so I believe you all understand the importance of Defensive Arrays. Whether it is for secluded cultivation, encountering enemies in the wild, or crossing the Heavenly Tribulation, Defensive Arrays are essential.”

“Simple Defensive Arrays are arranged using Array Flags and Stones and are managed by cultivators or Spiritual Artifacts as the Array Core. More powerful Defensive Arrays, on the other hand, are built with the Power of Mountains and Rivers and are nearly impregnable.”

“This class is targeted at Cultivators of Huashen with a certain foundation, so I won’t be explaining the basic principles of formations anymore. Those who wish to learn about them can look forward to the basic formation classes I will offer later…”

“Basic Defensive Arrays only possess defensive capabilities, while composite Defensive Arrays have a variety of functions. Defense is the most basic, but they also have effects like trapping enemies in Illusion Lands and Magic Attacks.”

“So, how can we add other effects to a Defensive Array without causing it to collapse? This is the content I will discuss…”

Hearing Dao Master Jiang Cheng’s lecture, Lin Yi couldn’t help but nod. The hardest part of mastering formations is understanding their principles, thus achieving a level of comprehension that allows one to adapt one principle to a variety of situations, rather than mechanically memorizing how to set up one formation.

As the saying goes, it’s better to teach someone to fish than to give them a fish. Understanding the principles of formations and methods of arrangement leads to an integrated understanding and, therefore, a deeper insight into formations.

Rather than just teaching one formation and how to make Array Flags, which would only allow one to set up that single formation.

No wonder this person’s class attracted so many Dao Palace disciples to listen.

However, this short class of six hours couldn’t enable one to learn everything. When Lin Yi had signed up, he noticed the class title had a “one” as a serial number, suggesting it was part of a series of classes offering an in-depth explanation of the various principles of Defensive Arrays.

Back when the Dan Immortal Master taught him about formations, he initially had him learn some basic formations as a foundation before moving on to an intensive explanation of the principles.

Lin Yi listened attentively, finding that what Dao Master Jiang Cheng taught was somewhat similar to the Dan Immortal Master but also contained some of his own ideas. It was evident that this person’s research into formations had reached an exceptionally proficient level.

For six hours, he listened very carefully. Aside from being genuinely interested, he was also motivated by the opportunity to ‘shear the wool,’ so to speak. When someone else was imparting knowledge and effectively paying him in cultivation levels, it would have been remiss not to take it seriously.

Soon the class approached its conclusion, and he prepared to leave, given that there was only half an hour until the start of the next class.

As Dao Master Jiang Cheng finished the last part of his lecture, he said with a smile, “Thank you all for listening. This concludes our class, but before we end, I would like to invite two fellow cultivators to come forward and attempt to integrate three basic formations. Who would like to try? For those who perform well, I will also offer some rewards.”