Wuji City, a massive city standing at the center of Tianyunzhou, had been a place of dreams for formation cultivators since ancient times.
When it came to joining the Qiankun Sect, Yan Huo had once been filled with confidence—at least, before he arrived in this city.
A month ago, he had bid farewell to his parents, shouldered a simple pack and a few ancestral formation tomes, traveled thousands of miles across mountains and rivers, and finally reached this place, all for a chance at a future.
He had originally thought that his innate formation bones were meant for the art of formations, and that joining the Qiankun Sect wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
But after truly stepping into Wuji City, Yan Huo felt how naive and laughable his past thoughts had been.
He did have innate formation bones—that was his greatest pride and the reason he had dared to come here.
But his spiritual root was merely a mediocre third-grade.
In this place where geniuses emerged in droves, a third-grade spiritual root was practically the bottom of the barrel.
And among the young cultivators who came here hoping to join the Qiankun Sect, which one didn’t have a hidden trump card or a family technique?
Some were already third-grade formation masters at a young age.
Some carried family secret arts and were proficient in several rare formations.
And some, like him, had innate formation bones, or even had both formation bones and formation veins—more monstrous than him.
On top of that, the spiritual roots of those people were at least fourth-grade, and even fifth- or sixth-grade ones were common.
The Qiankun Sect’s strictness in accepting disciples was notorious.
Those lacking in skill naturally wouldn’t come to bang their heads against this wall.
After learning all this, Yan Huo’s initial fearless spirit was doused like a bucket of ice water, cooling rapidly, and he couldn’t help feeling uncertain.
‘Can I really make it?’
Lying on the hard board of a cheap inn, Yan Huo tossed and turned, unable to sleep, asking himself over and over.
He stretched out his hand—a hand that, as a formation master, should be steady.
But now, thinking of the future, it trembled uncontrollably.
He really had no confidence.
Although he had arrived in Wuji City half a month ago, precisely because he had seen so many competitors better than himself, he had never dared to go to the Qiankun Sect’s mountain gate to participate in the entry screening.
He was afraid—afraid of going full of hope only to be eliminated in disgrace, leaving him with no opportunity at all.
Counting the time, the mountain gate of the Qiankun Sect would remain open for another half month.
Yan Huo sat up from the bed, his gaze firm.
“No, I can’t give up just like that!”
Wuji City had a formation plate left behind by an ancient great power, placed in the square at the city center for anyone to comprehend.
He would spend this half month, day and night, absorbing its insights, improving his formation skill as much as possible—even if only a little, it was still hope.
Yan Huo immediately decided not to sleep.
He got up and headed to the square, where quite a few other cultivators were already comprehending formations.
Finding a secluded corner, Yan Huo sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to focus on his comprehension.
The great formation left by the ancient great power was already incomplete, but the remnants of its formation circuits were extremely profound and mysterious.
In the past few days of comprehension, Yan Huo had indeed gained quite a bit.
He felt that he was not far from breaking through to become a second-grade formation master.
Just as Yan Huo was immersed in his comprehension of the formation….
Suddenly, he sensed an unusual fluctuation, a ripple directly within his own sea of consciousness.
“Huh?”
Yan Huo’s eyes snapped open, startled and uncertain.
‘What… what is this?’ the youth thought inwardly, a little at a loss.
Yan Huo warily looked around.
It was daytime, and there were quite a few people here.
But there was no unusual movement or change.
Could it be an illusion brought on by his own mind?
Yan Huo frowned, suppressed his doubts, closed his eyes, and intended to continue.
But just then, the strange feeling not only didn’t disappear, it grew stronger.
The fluctuations in his sea of consciousness intensified, and then a voice gradually became clear.
[Hey there, young man… Can you hear me?]
“Who is it!” Yan Huo was startled, unable to help shouting out loud.
His cry immediately attracted confused glances from the people around him.
[Don’t shout, young man. They can’t sense me or see me…]
The voice within his sea of consciousness carried a hint of helplessness as it continued.
[I don’t truly exist here… If you want to communicate with me, just think it silently, no need to speak aloud.]
That voice became clearer as it spoke, and Yan Huo sensed that it seemed quite old.
Suppressing his astonishment, he did as the voice instructed and began to think silently.
[Who are you? Why are you appearing in my sea of consciousness?]
[It’s not that I’m inside your sea of consciousness, but…]
The hoarse voice paused, as if considering how to explain, then continued after a moment: [Look at what you’re wearing on your hand.]
Yan Huo was startled and instinctively looked at his own hands.
On the index finger of his left hand were two rings.
One was a storage ring he had brought from home, containing all his belongings.
The other was a ring he had come across two days ago at a street stall in the southern part of the city.
It was an antique bronze ring with a simple little formation engraved on it.
According to the stall owner, it had the effect of calming the mind and focusing the spirit.
At the time, he had been unsettled by the disappointment he suffered, and the ring was very cheap, so he bought it and had been wearing it ever since.
The person who sold the ring had only seemed like a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old youth, who claimed he had obtained the ring by chance and needed to gather spirit stones to buy cultivation pills, so he sold it cheap.
Yan Huo hadn’t thought much of it at the time, just assuming he had gotten a bargain.
[You… you’re inside this ring?]
At that moment, Yan Huo understood instantly.
[Mm, that’s right.]
The voice sighed.
[Now I’m nothing but a wisp of remnant soul attached to this ring, barely lingering on.]
[Originally, I thought I would sink into silence like this until I completely dissipated, but I never imagined… Since you put on this ring, I discovered that I could barely communicate with your spiritual sense.]