Li Yuan studied the items at the counter. "That," he said, tapping the jade slate with one finger. "That one as well. And that."

  The attendant followed his pointing with a growing stiffness in his posture. "I mean no disrespect, Senior. But those items… are very expensive."

  "You don't need to worry about that. In fact, add three of those as well," Li Yuan added, almost as an afterthought as he finished his shopping spree.

  Formation plates. Formation flags. Auxiliary anchors. Stabilising pins. Qi-conductive powder. None of them were rare on their own. Together, though, they painted a very clear picture of someone was about to set up a proper cultivation formation.

  They were also incredibly expensive, hence the attendant's hesitation.

  The attendant quickly tallied the cost and his eyes widened in shock when he paid the necessary amount in Sect Merit Points without blinking in eye.

  The disciples around him also gave him a more cautious look after that. Though some of them looked more calculating than cautious. A few others started whispering to their friends, telling them about the rumours of him regularly hunting Late-stage Spirit Beasts to ensure they won't do anything foolish.

  Some of them tried to sense his level of Qi Condensation. Those ones in particular froze in shock when they couldn't feel anything at all. Which was something that only happened when a cultivator was using a secret technique or artefact to hide their cultivation level, or they were just on a much higher cultivation than you.

  Either was worrying for those who disrespected him by blatantly trying to sense his cultivation.

  A good thing that he couldn't care less about them.

  However, despite his growing fame, as soon as he left the Treasure Exchange Hall, the Halo above his head instantly changed colour.

  Going from a Pristine White to a bright Yellow.

  "…Huh?"

  Li Yuan stopped mid-step and glanced at the halo in confusion. He had seen it turn black or grey many times before but never yellow like this. He focused on it to see what's going on.

  And the world tilted as a vision unfolded behind his eyes.

  ——

  Him walking back along a quieter path. Then, footsteps sounded behind him. Three… no, four cultivators. Outer sect, mid Qi Condensation.

  He turned to face them and noticed their greedy eyes. The way they nervously placed their hands on the hilts of their sword. At a single glance, he could tell that these guys were amateurs at this whole robbing thing.

  They were either desperate, foolish, or simply let their greed get he best out of them. Either way, ambushing him like this was foolish.

  They asked him to hand over all his belongings. He refused. And after some hesitation and side eyeing each other, they attacked.

  The outcome was predictable, and soon enough, four corpses lay cooling at his feet. Four more corpses for him to feed his Stele. So he placed them within his Spatial Ring and quickly left.

  After returning home, he gathered their wealth… and it came about at a few hundred Spirit stones worth of items. A small fortune.

  Then, the vision ended.

  ——

  Li Yuan stood there for a long breath, rain-damp stone beneath his boots, then slowly exhaled before letting out a chuckle to himself.

  There was a time when an ambush like this would've counted as a misfortune, and require him to use up some of his accumulated fortune to survive. But now…

  Now it counted as a fortune.

  Strength truly made all the difference.

  Now, instead of having to run or hide from his ambushers, he could simply walk straight into the ambush. Knowing that it wouldn't be enough to threaten him anymore.

  He shook his head and resumed walking.

  'Still… this sect. What the fuck is wrong with it?' He thought with some annoyance.

  Disciples killing disciples. Ambushes in broad daylight. No elders ever intervening. No investigations were ever carried out unless someone important died in a loud enough manner.

  Part of him suspected it was intentional. A method used by the sect to sharpen its disciple. By letting the weak, the foolish and the naive be culled and for the smart, and cautious to learn fast.

  After all, as dangerous as this sect was, it was still far safer than the outside world. And if you couldn't survive here, then what hope would you have of surviving outside its boundaries.

  But another part of him wasn't so charitable and felt that instead of some grand scheme, it was merely the negligence, corruption or downright malice of the elders in charge which gave birth to an ecosystem like this.

  That so long as the resources kept flowing upward and no trouble reached their doors, they couldn't care less about the happenings of the Outer sect.

  Both explanations fit too well. And being well aware that he had no way of learning the truth right now, he decided not to think on it anymore and focus on the ambush ahead of him.

  The ambush came exactly where the vision had shown it would.

  A bend in the path. With a thick grove of trees surround the area that would muffle any sound.

  It wasn't long before the disciples came out from behind the trees. Looking just as incompetent as they had in the vision.

  "Hand over the spatial ring," one of them barked, doing his best to sound confidence. "And maybe we let you walk away."

  The battle ended even faster this time around. After all, the vision gave him a good view of their abilities beforehand. So he now knew which one of them relied on Talismans. Which one didn't own a defensive artefact. Which one would hesitate during the battle, and which one would run.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  When it was over, four bodies lay cooling on the ground. He placed them into his Ancient Spatial Ring and swiftly left the place.

  By the time he returned to his courtyard, dusk had begun to creep in. He slipped inside his house, closed the door, and then stepped inside the Ancient Spatial Ring.

  He looted what little of value they had. Then, four fresh corpses entered the Stele, adding a little over two hundred points to his panel. Counting the points he gained from Shu Dong's corpse, he now had a little over three hundred points in his account.

  He decided to save those points for when he'll start learning the Heavenly Star Refining Sutra.

  Satisfied, he considered practicing his new cultivation art. But seeing as it was still daytime and there were no stars out just yet. He decided against it and instead pulled out the manuals on Spirit Herbs he'd bought earlier.

  Sitting down near the spirit lakes, he placed the stack of books and started reading.

  Time passed without him noticing.

  Eventually, he glanced back at the Stele. And noticed that a new line had appeared at the bottom of his Status Panel.

  NAME: Li Yuan

  AGE: 14

  CULTIVATION: 6th Stage Qi Condensation

  SKILLS

  Nine Peak Breathing Art – 0 / 200 (Major Accomplishment)

  Mountain-Splitting Stillness Sword – 1 / 600 (Perfection)

  Shadow-Cloud Steps – 0 / 800 (Perfection)

  Veil of Borrowed Heaven – 448 / 1200 (Major Accomplishment)

  Spirit Residue Following Technique – 1 / 500 (Major Accomplishment)

  1st-Tier Formation Breaking — 800/800 (Perfection)

  2nd-Tier Formation Breaking — 1 / 400 (Moderate Accomplishment)

  Spirit Herb Cultivation – 1 / 100 (Minor Accomplishment)

  CURRENT POINTS: 317

  Li Yuan blinked and the smiled. "…Nice."

  Seems like growing Spirit Herbs does indeed counts as a skill. Something he was grateful for.

  His gaze then drifted to the nearby herbs. Several of which had their leaves dulled, looking like they were on the verge of dying.

  "Alright. I get it," he muttered. "I promise I'll fix you guys soon. Just… wait a bit."

  The plants didn't reply, and he returned to his books.

  —————

  Night fell slowly.

  By the time the last bit of red hue vanished in the horizon, Li Yuan was already at work in his courtyard.

  He placed down the formation plate and pressed the flags around his courtyard into the soil one by one. The courtyard was small and uneven, the ground still soft from the storm, but the formation didn't have any harsh requirements and worked pretty well regardless.

  When every other component had been added, he took out a single low-grade Spirit Stone and slotted it into the formation's core.

  A soft click echoed and the stone dimmed before turning to dust as its energy was used to it kick start the formation.

  Above him, the night sky seemed to… deepen and the stars shining above him suddenly became very clear and radiant.

  It wasn't obvious at first but as the formation picked up speed, he could almost feel the presence of each star up in the sky as their energy was sent to his body.

  Li Yuan nodded to himself in satisfaction. Then he sat down on his cultivation mat...

  And frowned.

  The mat gathered ambient qi in the world around it, letting him cultivate at a faster pace.

  Except… there was nothing for it to gather anymore as the energy he was now using was the star energy, which was quite different from the ambient Qi he used to cultivate beforehand.

  In fact, the formation was doing that job now—drawing energy directly from the heavens rather than the land. The mat might as well have been a decorative rug.

  He snorted quietly and pushed it aside.

  The Stillmind Pendant, however, stayed where it was. The faint calming pressure it radiated settled his thoughts, smoothing out any impatience he might feel and giving him far greater control over his own inner Qi.

  Good.

  Li Yuan crossed his legs, straightened his back, and began to follow the Heavenly Star Refining Sutra step by step.

  His breathing slowed, and the circulation of his Qi shifted, going through entirely new meridians, some of which he hadn't even touched during cultivation before.

  Finally, the first treads of stellar energy washed into his meridians.

  Except. It didn't behave like qi. And it certainly didn't want to be absorbed. It circulated his meridians for a while, and then slipped out of his body without him absorbing any of it.

  Hours passed as he struggled to control the stellar energy but it was like trying to ride a horse while having no prior experience. So every attempt at refining thee Steller energy into Qi and then absorbing it continued to be met with failure again and again and agin.

  He adjusted his breathing, slowed his Qi circulation even further and tried again.

  Only to be met with further failure. Until suddenly, he gained a moment of enlightenment and went into deep focus during which he finally succeeded in turning a thread of stellar energy into Qi. But as soon as the moment of enlightenment had arrived, it left him and his control and understanding of the Stellar energy slipped through his fingers once again.

  He sighed wistfully at his momentary success and continued meditating.

  Eventually, his meridians began to ache from his Qi flowing in new and unfamiliar patterns. But despite his attempts at trying to regain that feeling, nothing happened.

  Before he knew it, the entire night had passed and dawn finally arrived.

  Li Yuan opened his eyes feeling disappointed at his continued failure.

  He shouldn't be disappointed, he knew. After all, many others must've tried to learn this Cultivation technique before him. Except, only one ever succeeded in the last 400 years. Of course it would be very difficult to learn.

  The fact that he gained an insight into the technique, even if only for a brief moment, was already thanks to his great fortune at work.

  He summoned the Stele anyway. Unsure if that brief moment of enlightenment counted as having learned the technique. And to his great surprise, a new line appeared at the bottom of his Status Panel in the Stele.

  Heavenly Star Refining Sutra – 1 / 1000 (Minor Accomplishment)

  Li Yuan stared at it for a moment and then let out a sigh of relief. So he'd managed to learn the very basics of the technique after all. Then, he blinked and his eyes widened in shock.

  "…What?"

  He leaned closer, as if the Stele might correct itself under scrutiny. But the number didn't change.

  1 / 1000.

  That was… a thousand points just to complete Minor Accomplishment. That was twenty times the requirement of his previous cultivation method. And more than three times the amount of points required to learn Veil of Borrowed Heaven, which had been his most difficult technique he had learned till date.

  No wonder no one else has been able to use this cultivation technique in the past four hundred years.

  He exhaled slowly, suddenly feeling very grateful for that brief moment of enlightenment, or who knows how long he'd have to stay at it to even understand the bare basics of this technique.

  After all, without that brief moment of enlightenment, the technique wouldn't even have registered into his Stele. In hindsight, that brief moment had saved him weeks if not months worth of frustration as he would've tried and failed to advance a single step into this cultivation technique.

  He glanced up at his halo and saw that its white light had dimmed down a bit. Making it clear that it had indeed intervened on his behalf. Handing him that brief opportunity.

  A thousand point was still a lot. Especially as the technique advances to Moderate, Major and Perfection. In fact, the points required would continue to double till the technique requires a whooping 8000 points at the Perfection realm.

  Considering that a single Late-stage Spirit Beast gave a bit over 100 points, he would have to kill 150 of them to learn this skill in its entirety.

  That was a massive investment. But something told him that this technique would definitely be worth it. So. Without any hesitation, he placed his 317 points into Heavenly Star Refining Sutra, and suddenly gained deep insight on how to turn the stellar energy into his Internal Qi.

  Only when he used up all his points did he remember that he still needed them to improve his Spirit Herb Growing Skill.

  Oh well…

  He stood up, his joints feeling a bit stiff as he stretched and looked toward the forest beyond the sect.

  There was no avoiding it. If he wanted points he would have to go and hunt again. So, he picked up his weapon, and got ready to spend another day in the Forbidden Forest.

  —————

  A few days later, Li Yuan sat on the ground, wondering once again just why everything was related to formations.

  Or at least, everything that mattered to him eventually turned into formations.

  He sat beside the spirit lake inside his Ancient Spatial Ring, a stack of manuals spread around him, eyes flicking between diagrams and the struggling spirit herbs planted nearby. Not from lack of qi but from the wrong qi and environment.

  He exhaled slowly and closed the book in his hands.

  The deeper he dug into Spirit Herb cultivation, the clearer it became: many herbs didn't just want nourishment. They required special conditions to grow. Yin-heavy soil. Fire-aligned ambient qi. Cyclic pressure changes. Elemental balance.

  In environments, these specials conditions formed on their own, and thus gave birth to these spirit herbs. But how was a cultivator supposed to create these same conditions for the spirit herbs to grow and thrive under?

  That's the right. The answer was: Formations.

  Reading more on the topic, he learned about the various formations used by cultivators to create these microclimates.

  There were formations to turn ambient Qi into Yin aligned Qi that's beneficial for Yin aligned herbs. Formations to mimic mountain peaks with its windy nature and occasional lightning. Formations to mimic heavy rain, deep caverns, scorched plains, moonlit marshes, or just about any condition required to grow spirit herbs.

  Which is why, he found himself going back to the Scripture Pavilion once again.

  This time, he went straight to the formation section and started pulling manuals off the shelves. Specialised arrays. Environmental formations. Growth-support formations. Qi-filtering arrays. Rot-suppression seals.

  Just because he'd reached Perfection in Breaking 1st-tier Formations didn't mean he actually knew how to create formations. That would be like expecting a lockpick artist to know how to create locks.

  Yes, given enough time and resources, the lockpick artist could probably create a lock. But that's not his primary task. Nor his expertise.

  In the same way, if he wanted to learn how to create Formations then he would have to start from the basics.

  So far, the only thing he'd done regarding formations is learn how to buy the parts and set them up. But now, he was going to get a deep dive on the skill and learn how to make it work from the ground up.

  So, he paid with Sect Merit points, and then went directly to the Treasure Exchange Hall. To buy the various parts that were required to create formation plates and specialised flags. After all, the heart of the formation lies in the formation plate. In order to become a Formation Master, you first need to start by learning how to create Formation Plate.

  With his Stele, he didn't expect it'll take him long to Master the skill, but some hands-on practice will still be good for him.

  This time, as he bought various expensive items, he once again felt the gazes of the disciples around him burning into his back.

  But instead of feeling apprehension or fear, he only felt mild anticipation. For someone to attack him so that he could feed their corpse to the Stele.

  In the end though, no one did.

  Rumours about the last group who tried to ambush him and then simply vanished into thin air seemed to have spread through the outer sect. And now, the disciples were much more apprehensive about attacking him. What a pity.

  Li Yuan clicked his tongue softly in disappointment and returned back to his house with any altercation.

  He took out all the books he'd purchased from his Spatial ring and placed them on the table. He glanced at the large stack of books for a moment before he released a sigh.

  Time to start studying.