FVN Chapter 593 You arrived so quickly, were you perhaps eliminated from alchemy?
Chapter 593 You arrived so quickly, were you perhaps eliminated from alchemy?
The array platform area is located on the west side of the offering hall, facing the alchemy room across the distance.
As Chen Fan passed through the inner hall, the complex gazes behind him were gradually blocked by the pillars, and the fluctuations of the array in front of him became clearer and clearer.
The array platform area covers a vast area, with the ground paved with azure jade. The jade surface is covered with dense array patterns. Every ten steps there is an independent array platform, and each array platform has a different grade of array barrier floating on it.
The barrier is semi-transparent, and the runes flowing within it can be vaguely seen from the outside, but the specific structure inside the array cannot be seen.
A slightly elevated judging platform was set up to the north of the array, and an elderly man with white hair dressed in a gray array robe sat on it.
This person had a thin face, high cheekbones, and two bright eyes set in deep-set eye sockets. His body was surrounded by constantly flowing array energy, clearly indicating that he was a fifth-grade array master.
It was none other than Ouyang Ye, the chief array master of the Offering Hall.
Nine candidates were already waiting below the judging panel.
The pale-faced middle-aged demonic cultivator in the boundless sea, the old woman holding a staff in the desert grassland, and the white-haired old man from the Qi Kingdom were all among them!
As Chen Fan stepped into the array platform area, nine pairs of eyes simultaneously fell upon him.
"Oh, isn't this that eunuch from the Great Yu?" The middle-aged demonic cultivator from the Boundless Sea spoke first, his voice hoarse like sandpaper rubbing against withered wood, a sneer playing on his lips. "The alchemy selection is over so quickly? I was just betting with you all how long you could last in the alchemy room. I didn't expect you to be kicked out before even an hour was up. That's right, alchemy requires real skill, not just the leisurely act of serving tea and water. It's not shameful to fail at it..."
He abruptly changed his tone, becoming even more sarcastic: "But you ruined your pill refining, instead of finding somewhere to hide, you still have the nerve to come here to the formation? What, are you trying to embarrass yourself in front of the formation as well, to make it a double celebration?"
Upon hearing this, several low chuckles immediately rang out from the surrounding crowd.
A formation master in a blue robe shook his head and said, "It's good for a person to know their own limitations. Chen Fan, right? I think you shouldn't waste your time. Formations require even more talent than alchemy. If you can't even handle alchemy, then forget about formations."
Although the old woman on the desert grassland did not speak, when her cloudy old eyes swept over Chen Fan, the corners of her mouth twitched slightly, and her wrinkled face was full of disdain.
Only the white-haired old man from Qi remained unfazed, quietly inspecting the array flags and array plates on the platform, as if everything around him was irrelevant.
Chen Fan ignored these taunts.
He had been a eunuch in the palace for decades and had heard all sorts of unpleasant things. This level of sophistication didn't even warrant a frown from him.
He walked straight to the judging panel, bowed to Ouyang Ye, and said, "Chen Fan, the Great Yu, is participating in the formation selection."
Ouyang Ye raised his eyelids and glanced at him.
The fifth-grade array master's gaze was sharp as a knife. It lingered on Chen Fan for a moment before he looked away and said calmly, "The rules for selecting arrays are different from those for alchemy. Participants must enter illusion arrays of different grades in sequence and break through them within a specified time. The shorter the time to break through the array and the higher the grade of the array that is broken, the better the result. The array grades start from the third grade and go up to the sixth grade. Each participant has three chances to choose an array grade. Once a grade of array is chosen, the participant must enter it. Only by successfully breaking through the array can the participant choose a higher grade. If the participant fails to break through the array, the result will be based on the last array that is successfully broken."
Chen Fan nodded: "I understand."
Ouyang Ye waved his hand: "Choose your own rank and enter the formation."
Upon hearing this, the other nine candidates immediately sprang into action.
The middle-aged demonic cultivator from the Boundless Sea took the lead and walked towards a fourth-grade array platform. The old woman from the Great Desert Grassland followed closely behind and also chose a fourth-grade array platform. The white-haired old man from Qi and the remaining array masters also each chose a fourth-grade array platform.
Of the nine people, not one chose the third rank!
After all, a third-grade formation is too simple for the formation masters who can participate in the selection of Zhao Kingdom, and no one wants to fall behind in the first stage.
Chen Fan, however, did not move.
He stood still, his gaze slowly sweeping across the array platforms, finally settling on one marked "Rank Three".
It was a very basic trapping illusion array. The barrier was light blue, the runes flowed slowly, and the array power fluctuations it emitted were the weakest.
He strode toward the third-rank array platform.
The middle-aged demonic cultivator from the Boundless Sea was about to step onto the fourth-grade array platform when he caught a glimpse of Chen Fan's movements out of the corner of his eye. He was first taken aback, then burst out laughing: "Third-grade? You chose a third-grade array? I thought you were only bad at alchemy, but I didn't expect you to be a half-baked array practitioner as well. Third-grade arrays are for array apprentices to practice with. You, someone who came to participate in the Zhao Kingdom's selection, actually chose a third-grade one as your starting point? Are you here to participate in the selection or to learn arrays?"
The green-robed formation master laughed out loud: "I told you long ago, this guy is just here to make up the numbers. Rank three? The worst we have here starts at rank four, and he dares to try and get rank three. Da Yu really has no one left this year, sending a eunuch to fill the ranks."
The old woman on the desert grassland merely snorted coldly, not even bothering to glance at Chen Fan again, and stepped straight into the fourth-grade array platform.
Chen Fan still ignored him.
He walked to the third-grade array platform, took a deep breath, and stepped into the barrier.
The scene before my eyes suddenly changed.
The judging platform disappeared, the judging panel disappeared, and the surrounding jeers also disappeared.
Instead, there was a vast expanse of white fog, so thick it was almost tangible; divine sense that ventured out three feet was immediately repelled.
Faint array patterns flowed within the sea of mist, those patterns resembling countless fine chains interwoven into a large net, sealing off the entire space completely.
The ground beneath your feet is not solid, but a constantly churning gray vortex. Every step feels like walking on cotton, and a slight misstep could send you being swept into its depths.
A third-grade trapping illusion array uses mist to trap and illusions to kill the enemy. It is a perilous place with a nine-out-of-ten chance of death for Foundation Establishment and Core Formation cultivators, but it is nothing more than a trivial matter in the eyes of Nascent Soul cultivators.
Chen Fan stood in the center of the sea of mist, spreading his divine sense outwards.
With the enhancement of the Fixed Word Technique, his divine sense was far superior to that of other cultivators of the same level. The array patterns that were chaotic in the eyes of ordinary array masters were as clear and distinct as ink lines on white paper in his perception.
He quickly located three nodes where array patterns converged deep within the fog sea. These three nodes were arranged in a triangular shape and connected to each other by array power threads, forming the core hub of the entire illusion array.
If brute force is used to break the formation, one only needs to use the spiritual power of a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to forcefully bombard any one of the three nodes, and the entire formation will be shattered.
But Chen Fan did not do that.
He came to participate in the formation selection, not to show off his cultivation. The formation selection tests one's mastery of formation techniques, not brute force.
He used his divine sense to guide the array flags on the platform, and a flag floated up around him.
His fingers flew like lightning, each array flag piercing the sea of mist at an extremely tricky angle, precisely severing the array force threads between the three nodes.
The silk threads trembled violently under the interference of the array flags, and then broke one by one like snapped strings.
The sea of fog began to churn violently, and the illusions hidden in the fog were torn to pieces by the backlash of the array's power before they could take shape.