Cultivating Disciples to Breakthrough

Keeping an eye on the seven formation masters as they slowly worked their way towards the three-tiered pagoda, Chu Yang made sure that no demon beast was able to sneak up on them from behind while they cleared a safe path to the three-tiered pagoda.

Although the group of seven didn’t end up discovering any formations guarding the place all the way up to the entrance of the pagoda, it didn’t make any of them the slightest bit relaxed, as everyone understood that any formations that might have survived to this day should be the core formations that had guarded this pagoda in the past. Not to mention, the pagoda was a formation record hall, it was extremely unlikely that there wasn’t any formation in place around a building dedicated to storing information on formations.

The main reason they hadn’t encountered any formations so far in the eyes of the seven formations masters wasn’t because there hadn’t been any formations in place, but instead because they had decayed to a point where they no longer worked. In fact, they had managed to find a few remnants of what should once have been part of a formation guarding the three-tiered pagoda.

Unfortunately, due to the difference in level between themselves and the creator of this long since decayed formation, they were unable to tell if it was just an external formation used to guard the area around the pagoda or the core defensive formation for the pagoda.

In the end, they could only slowly try and figure this out by analyzing the entrance of the three-tiered pagoda to ensure that there wasn’t any formation left, something that they soon ended up spending the next hour carefully investigating while Chu Yang was allocated to deal with any demon beast trying to sneak up on them during this time.

The overall conclusion that they came to after this hour-long investigation of the entrance to the pagoda was that formation that they had found earlier in a decayed state was not the same as the one guarding the three-tiered pagoda... And maybe more importantly, the one guarding the three-tiered pagoda was still active to some extent.

Bad as this information was with how they all wanted to enter this ancient pagoda, it wasn’t entirely negative, as they had also realized that the coverage of the formation guarding the three-tiered pagoda had weakened with time and decreased the area it covered to preserve itself.

The overall area covered should only be the core area of the pagoda where the most precious formation information was stored. Meaning they were safe to enter the pagoda if they avoided the core of the pagoda that was located on the third floor of the pagoda.

In a sense, this activity could also be seen from the outside, as the first two tiers of the ancient pagoda had already been partly claimed by the surrounding nature, while the third tier and top floor of the pagoda remained unharmed.

In other words, to stay safe inside the pagoda, avoid areas that are still in a pristine state without any damage.

”So... It’s safe to enter?”

”Yes! Even if the formation is still active, it doesn’t cover the entire pagoda. Staying out of the still covered parts of the formation should allow us to safely move through the pagoda without any problems.

Ah... But we must ensure that we don’t accidentally affect the area guarded by the formation, as there is a chance that it could expand into covering the entire pagoda if it sensed anyone entering.”

”That... Is reassuring...” Not knowing what else to say as he looked over the older man who was already itching to rush inside the pagoda to search for information that could help him improve his comprehension of the Dao of Formations, Chu Yang decided to follow along as they stepped inside the first floor of the ancient pagoda.

The main reason why he agreed in following along with these formation masters being because the strength of the demon beast rushing towards them had slowly become stronger as the more powerful demon beasts in the forest became more active. At the end, even Soul Ascension Realm demon beast had started to eye them.

Luckily, they hadn’t yet decided to make a move on them due to the presence of the ancient pagoda somehow intimidating them.

Even more so now that he stepped inside the ancient pagoda, he clearly sensed that the Soul Ascension Realm demon beasts that had been lurking around them retreated and disappeared back into the depths of the forest.

Not just that, but even the weaker demon beasts that had been coming at them without the slightest hint of fear stopped rushing over a similarly retreated the second they stepped inside the ancient pagoda.

Although he felt confident that the group of formation masters wasn’t wrong in their analysis of the formation guarding the ancient three-tiered pagoda, he couldn’t help feeling a bit uneasy seeing the reaction from the demon beasts. After all, the demon beasts living in the forest had far more knowledge about the danger of the different ruins than cultivators who had only spent a few hours wandering through the forest.

The troubling thing was not so much the stronger demon beasts at the Soul Ascension Realm retreating, but more so the fact that even the weaker demon beast who shouldn’t have been around for that long retreating, as it hinted at the fact that even they viewed the ancient three-tiered pagoda as being dangerous.

I hope I’m just worrying for nothing...

Shaking his head as he thought this to himself while looking through the decaying internal structure of the first floor of the pagoda, Chu Yang slowly walked over and joined the formation masters in searching through the ruins of the first floor for anything precious.

After all, even though he himself wasn’t a formation master, he could always bring the information he gathered back to the sect and earn a few contribution points in the process.