Jun Changxiao, having just become a Formation Master, had incredibly good luck when a Formation Compendium appeared in the mid-tier shop refresh.

However, after purchasing the Mid-Grade Hanmang Sword recipe, he only had 830 Contribution Points remaining, so he could only watch helplessly without being able to make the purchase.

“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter.”

Jun Changxiao consoled himself, “The disciples have already begun accepting sect missions one after another. Gathering 1,000 points should only take a few more days.”

Closing the shop panel, he swallowed a 15x Qi Gathering Pill, circulated the Muscle-Tendon Transformation Scripture, and began continuing his cultivation.

What a pity for Jiang Xie—because of his Wuwang status, he couldn’t cultivate this type of internal cultivation method. Otherwise, his physical body’s strength would have increased considerably more.

In truth, with the Tempering Chamber’s tempering, his strength steadily increased every day, advancing toward the extreme tier. This already satisfied him greatly.

This was just the beginning.

When Jiang Xie began studying the Tiegu Sect’s techniques, he was immediately deeply shocked, thinking to himself, “Although the Explosive Fist and Mountain-Splitting Palm aren’t high in grade, they’re sufficient to rival high-grade martial techniques!”

Especially after cultivating I Slash—that shock became even more intense!

This type of spirit-energy martial technique whose power increased with level advancement while not consuming too much spiritual energy—he had never even heard of such a thing!

Of course, there were also the Seal Shield, Cloud-Traversing Steps, and Voice Transmission Technique.

As Jiang Xie cultivated each one, he couldn’t help wondering secretly where exactly the Sect Master had found so many profound martial techniques!

And this was just the martial techniques portion.

When he entered the Pill Pavilion and received the monthly fixed allocation of pills for elders, experiencing the high-multiplier Qi Gathering Pills, he sincerely said, “No wonder we didn’t win a single match against Shengquan Sect!”

Don’t worry—Elder Jiang’s shock was still to come, because there was still the even more incredible Training Tower he hadn’t experienced yet.

……

In the following period, the Tiegu Sect enjoyed a rare period of calm.

The newly inducted disciples also began their painful yet joyful sect life.

When they cultivated the techniques, obtained pills, and experienced the Tempering Chamber’s tempering, they immediately became filled with hope for the future!

Other sects required disciples to fight for everything themselves.

At Tiegu Sect, they didn’t need to worry about too many things—there was only one main quest: to become stronger!

Clothes handed to them, food brought to their mouths—would this make disciples grow lazy and negligent?

No.

Because every month there was a strength test, and disciples who failed to meet requirements would be punished.

If the second strength test showed their power increase still hadn’t changed much, they would be expelled from the sect.

“All of you remember this well,” Jun Changxiao said before the great hall. “Joining Tiegu Sect doesn’t mean you’ve come here to be pampered masters. If you cannot repay us with your strength, you will definitely be cleared out!”

“Yes!” the thousand newly inducted disciples shouted in unison.

The sect provided resources for free—anyone who didn’t work hard to become stronger and instead chose to be lazy and negligent would definitely have something wrong with their brain!

……

With everything arranged, Jun Changxiao focused his attention on cultivation.

Unfortunately, even with high-multiplier Qi Gathering Pills supplied, breaking through to Third-Rank Wuzong would still require considerable time.

The Mission Pavilion distributed missions, and disciples came and went every day, accepting missions suitable for themselves.

Jun Changxiao received notification sounds every day for completed missions and awarded rewards.

Of course, as the sect’s construction level increased, quite a few high-star missions gradually appeared as well.

These missions were mostly done by inner sect disciples, while ordinary difficulty missions were given to outer sect disciples and newly inducted disciples.

After completing missions, disciples would also independently purchase Qi Gathering Powder to help themselves advance faster.

In summary, with the sect mission board and vending machines, Jun Changxiao didn’t need to personally oversee things—the disciples accepted missions and exchanged items in an orderly manner.

Unfortunately, sect missions only appeared after recruitment was full and couldn’t be published daily, so there were often interruptions.

“If the mission board had missions published every day, even if it didn’t give me rewards, having them do tasks would still be better than just knowing how to cultivate single-mindedly,” Jun Changxiao murmured.

The System said, “That’s why the host lacks a Sect Mission Publisher. It publishes missions daily at fixed intervals, and after completion, disciples can also obtain corresponding contribution points.”

“Sounds very advanced—it should need to be purchased from the mid-tier shop, right?” Jun Changxiao asked.

The System said, “Correct.”

“…” Jun Changxiao fell silent.

With his current contribution points, refreshing the basic-tier shop and buying items from it would be completely easy and relaxed. But after opening the mid-tier shop, he clearly felt that contribution points were completely insufficient!

Several days later, the disciples had completed quite a few missions. Contribution points increased from 830 to 1,200 points, and achievement points rose to 870.

Jun Changxiao purchased the Thirty-Two Formations of Qimen without hesitation.

It was a thick ancient tome with yellowed book covers. Taking it out from his spatial ring, it immediately emanated a desolate aura.

“This formation compendium has quite some history.”

Jun Changxiao sat in his study and opened the first page. It recorded that the formation’s creator was the Xiaoyao Emperor, and the reviser was the Feiyang Saint Emperor.

“Saint Emperor?”

Jun Changxiao murmured, “Is that Wudi?”

The System said, “In the vast universe there are many martial dao planes, and each plane also has its independent martial dao system. This Saint Emperor might be a realm, or it might be an honorific title.”

“Oh.”

Jun Changxiao acknowledged this, turning to the second page. It read: Basic-Grade Section, containing ten types of basic-grade formations.

Continuing to turn pages, a formation diagram appeared with various red hearts representing formation nodes scattered in a star-like pattern—it looked extremely complex.

If it were the former Jun Changxiao, he definitely wouldn’t have understood, but after becoming a basic-grade Formation Master, he could see it clearly and plainly.

The first formation was named the Basic-Grade Spirit Gathering Formation.

The description stated that regardless of which plane, as long as there was heaven and earth spiritual energy, once deployed it could rapidly gather it, and the concentration would be ten times that of the outside world!

“Ten times?”

Jun Changxiao exclaimed, “That impressive?”

The Disciple Spirit Energy Formation he had purchased from the shop was only twice that of the outside world!

Learn it. He must learn it!

Jun Changxiao hurriedly began studying it.

Formations seemed complex, but in truth, they were only composed of two parts: formation lines and formation nodes.

First set the formation nodes, then draw the formation lines, and the formation would condense into being.

Of course, there were strict requirements when deploying formations.

Formation node positioning and formation line sketching extremely tested the Formation Master—the slightest deviation would result in failure, and serious cases could even cause formation explosions!

Haven’t you seen how many half-baked Formation Masters, careless when deploying formations, forcibly turned harmless formations into explosive ones, then gloriously went to report to the King of Hell?

Therefore, to become a qualified Formation Master, one not only needed powerful memory and mental capacity, but also had to be extremely careful and cautious—ordinary people simply couldn’t handle it.

Half an hour later, Jun Changxiao had memorized all the formation nodes and formation lines of the Basic-Grade Spirit Gathering Formation.

Was it because he had become a Formation Master?

No!

It was because after the Thirty-Two Formations of Qimen had been refined, the number of formation nodes and formation lines wasn’t many—it was really too easy to memorize!

“Let me try it out.”

Jun Changxiao rubbed his hands together, then walked out of the courtyard.

He came to an open area in the back mountain and found a pile of small stones, beginning to arrange them according to a pattern.

Soon, the stones representing formation nodes were in position.

Jun Changxiao then took a small tree branch and began sketching formation lines from each formation node position.

His sketching technique was very steady—clearly the work of a professional Formation Master!

Connecting the final formation line with the formation nodes, the Basic-Grade Spirit Gathering Formation took shape. The formation nodes flickered with light, and intricately crisscrossing formation lines shimmered with flowing radiance.

“Whoosh!”

Suddenly, the formation barrier shot up into the sky.

“Success!”

Jun Changxiao smiled brilliantly.

He had deployed the Disciple Spirit Energy Formation and Sect Protection Grand Formation before, but those were all fool-proof operations.

This formation’s completion was drawn stroke by stroke by his own hand, so after taking shape, he immediately felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment!

See that? This was the first formation he had personally created in this otherworld!

“Whoosh, whoosh!”

Right at this moment, the formation barrier began distorting and flashing with dazzling, eye-catching brilliance. That feeling was like it was about to…

“Not good!”

Jun Changxiao’s smile froze. He hurriedly turned and fled.

BOOM—

A tremendous explosion echoed from the back mountain!

……

“This is terrible!”

“The Sect Master has been knocked unconscious by the explosion!”

“Quick! Quick, carry him to the Medicine Hall for emergency treatment!”