"First let me tell you about the gradation of a formation master. Depending on the energy, perception, understanding and material requirements, formations are graded. Being able to construct a formation of a certain grade makes you a formation master of that grade.
"Energy and perception requirements are straight forward. Grade one requires qi condensation realm energy and perception, grade two foundation building, grade three core formation and finally grade four nascent soul realm.
"Using assist tools, the energy requirement can be brought down to the high stage of the preceding level. There exist tools to lower the perception requirement too, but other than the tool for grade one the rest are too expensive. It is better to work on one's perception.
"As for materials, grade one requires tier one materials and so on.
"When it comes to understanding, grade one and two formations can be constructed by anyone. As long as one knows what to do and satisfies the other three requirements, the formation can be built. But grade three onwards, one's understanding becomes very important.
"For grade three, it requires understanding of the flow of spiritual energy of heaven and earth. And grade four requires a rudimentary understanding of dao of formations. With time, the first can be easily achieved. But the second has eluded most formation masters, including your master. In the whole country there is not one that has even seen a glimpse of the dao of formations."
Zhang Wuji was listening with rapt attention when Feng Xi stopped.
"Sigh.. I'm more than two hundred years old. I've been running and running my whole life.. Haaah forget it" "Do you have any doubts so far?"
He hesitated for a moment before asking "What is so difficult about understanding?"
Feng Xi thought for a moment before answering "Knowledge is dead and understanding is alive. It is realization. You know that there is gravity, you see it on a daily basis. But have you ever felt it? You see the sun, feel the heat on your skin, but have you ever felt the sun?
"You might be thinking I'm spewing nonsense. But you are very familiar with understanding. Have you ever felt gratitude, a sadness so deep that it sublimes into just.. being, or compassion that moved your very soul?, these are nothing but instances where you truly know, you are, you understand, you are, you feel, you are. When you can similarly feel the flow of spiritual energy of heaven and earth, you can build third grade formations.
"When you feel the essence, the very existence of formations, you will have seen a glimpse of dao and can build fourth grade formations. Now tell me, if just seeing a glimpse of yourself needs a trigger that moves your whole being, think how difficult would it be to understand, not letting that feeling to slip from our fingers like sand. If understanding yourself is so difficult, how difficult it must be to understand something else?"
Seeing Zhang Wuji deep in thought, Feng Xi heavily patted his shoulder "Don't think about this stuff for now, it is useless. You must first know before you understand. And you have a lot of stuff to think about. For example," He waved his hand and a thick book appeared on his palm "how to construct all these first grade formation using only one attributed ink. Submit me all your designs in two months. Failing to do so might put your discipleship in jeopardy. Now get to work."
Feng Xi picked him up and threw him out the window. Zhang Wuji flew quite a distance before falling on the ground. His fall was cushioned by qi so except for the dirt on his clothes there were no damages.
THUD!! As he was getting up, something hit him on the head and landed beside him.
"Aii" He rubbed his head to alleviate the pain and looked at the object that hit him. It was the book Feng Xi took out. On top of with was a white jade token. On top of it were the words white serenity and nothing else. 'Is this an Elder's token.' He picked it up to examine it closely when he felt a prick in his hand and blood was squeezed out by the token.
'Little boy, this token will help you get access to the whole library in the College. Use it wisely. Also I have an extra storage ring with me. If you want it, it's yours. But you should know, you can't use it at your current realm. I came up with a neat solution. Come up with a formation design to access the items inside and I'll make it for you. Finally, don't disturb me unless absolutely necessary. Now, get to work.'
'A space ring yay! I can make stuff magically appear with a turn of the hand. YES!!' He forgot the bump on his head and excitedly picked himself up with the book and token in his hands and went straight to the College, he had some formation designs to outsource.
....
"Brother Shen please! Ok, forget about the book. Just the storage ring formation will do. Please I'll owe you one."
"I really wish I could help you, but, I don't want to. Elder Feng wants you to make an original, that'll take a lot of effort and time."
"But he said nothing about an original!"
"In that case there are similar designs in the library, why don't you just copy one?"
"I think he'll know."
"Of course he'll know! At his realm and age he must've remembered every single design in the College."
"Maybe I should tweak a design so that it looks original."
"Trust me, coming up with a new one is easier. Look, I'll help with a few of the formations in the book to help you get familiar. That's all I can do. That's a humongous book, there's no way I'm gonna do it for you!"
"I was not asking you to do it for me, I thought you'll have the designs already."
"No, master gave me different assignments. He is an array expert and so am I. Within an year or two, you might end up knowing patterns as well as I do or maybe even better."
"I don't even know where to start."
"Don't worry, Elder Feng obviously won't give you an impossible task. After a few formations, it will be a piece of cake for you. Just read some books on interactions between elements and on ordinary pathways and you'll be fine."
"Ordinary pathways?"
"You know, pathways made out of unattributed cheap ink."
"Aren't they just used for insulation?"
"Oh no, your whole assignment is based on them. With these pathways you can make the single attributed ink seem like a magic ink, displaying any attribute you want. Not only that, they can be used to isolate from other elements, to retain purity and to introduce instability, security, sometimes they are used as markings for identification, alternate pathways, to introduce delays, reduce load, backup, hold, last but not the least to beatify, to add a certain symmetry to the formation without effecting it's functionality, sometimes even upgrading it."
Listening to the long list he could only cry inwardly. 'Sigh, I can't believe I have assignments in this world too.'
"Right what happened to the test after I left?"
"Nothing noteworthy, some qi condensation realm fellow was taken in as a disciple and everyone dispersed. They were eager to check out your formation. I'm still finding it hard to believe that you could further simplify first grade formation design."
"Hehehe" Zhang Wuji couldn't stop himself from giggling.
"If you are done giggling, should we start with the designs?" Shen Li smiled and asked.
"Sorry, ahem let's begin."
....
In the next few days Zhang Wuji dedicated his entire time to formations. Now that he was an Elder's disciple, there was no need for him to continue alchemy. He thanked Zou Shi profusely and left everything alchemy. Reading and designing formations, he got familiar enough to get a rough idea as to how to get the storage ring. Only problem was, his design was massive, not something that could fit on a ring.
His design included three function layers, one to mark the object to be put in the storage space, one illusion formation to store the marks, and one linking the illusion space thus created to the storage space within. The first layer was something he himself could construct once he reaches seventh level.
The other two layers on the other hand, would individually cost many times more than the ring itself. But he couldn't come up with a solution for that. The linking formation used a pair of link stones to access the storage space. The illusion formation despite being a grade one formation required grade two materials.
When shown the rough design, Feng Xi said only one sentence "Demarcating space, though sounds intimidating, is much cheaper." and sent him off to work on that.
A month passed.
Lin Yingjie and others returned from the secret realm trip. They were overjoyed upon hearing Zhang Wuji's news. They had a celebration after which he showed off the courtyard he was allotted in the first class disciples' residence area. Unlike Feng Xi who took two weeks to know his name, the sect was very enthusiastic about a new talented disciple and instantly upgraded his resource allocation.
His showing off triggered Li Xiaomei and she gave everyone a tour of her residence causing Zhang Wuji to deflate like a balloon, quite literally. It took him a few minutes of deep breathes to look full again.
In the following few months Zhang Wuji fit completely in his role as an Elder's disciple. He decided to center his cultivation around formations and learned how to fight using them from Shen Li. Pattern formations only provided two methods of fighting, one was formation disk which was a portable formation, and talismans. Both were options that he couldn't use for the moment.
Talismans were consumables and since he couldn't produce them, they would just be burning a hole in his pocket if used frequently. Formation disks had a huge set up time in the lower grades and were not feasible to use in a fight. So he turned to array formations. Reusable, fast set up time, perfect for a low grade formation master, and in his case, apprentice.
The day he finished all the designs, Feng Xi gave him a grade one Rebirth pill stating that he didn't want his measly cultivation talent to be a hindrance to his studies. Zhang Wuji was almost moved to tears and would have really cried if Feng Xi hadn't thrown him out the window again.
He could feel his body slowly changing. It wouldn't be long before he reaches seventh level. He was very very excited to build his very first formation.
Li Xiaomei's fight finally came to an end. The theatre owner gave in and promised to conduct a drama at least every two months. But before that he didn't forget to give a long speech about how traditional opera was a gift from ancestors, a way of life, another path to reach the dao and the rest. None of which was registered by her as she was excited counting the collections they made.
The end of the year. For the first time he was excited to go home. The year went well and he had a good feeling about the years to come. With clip-clops, the horse galloped again, homewards.