The Rich Cultivator

Chapter 764. Problem with Formation Hall

After finishing his classes for the day, Tyler headed toward the Formation Hall once again. He had originally planned to visit yesterday, but the hall had remained closed. Today, however, he was determined to find out what was happening. If he wanted to join the Formation Hall in the future, he couldn’t keep turning around every time he saw a closed door.

Unfortunately, the situation hadn’t changed much.

The entire Formation Hall remained sealed behind a massive barrier. The main building could still be seen through the translucent layers of spiritual light, but nobody could enter or leave. Several disciples stood outside discussing the matter, while a few others examined the formation pillars surrounding the hall. These pillars were arranged in a large circle around the building, each engraved with countless formation patterns and connected by invisible streams of spiritual energy.

Tyler slowed his steps and observed the scene.

"Still closed?"

"It has been over three days."

"What are they even doing in there?"

"Who knows? I heard even the Branch Master is trapped."

The surrounding disciples continued whispering among themselves.

A short distance away stood an elderly man wearing formation robes. Behind him were two inner disciples who appeared equally helpless. The old man’s brows were tightly furrowed as he stared at the barrier.

"It’s already been more than three days. What exactly are those fools doing inside?" the old man muttered.

Tyler’s eyes moved toward him. The old man clearly wasn’t an ordinary elder. His robes alone were enough to show his status.

Tyler immediately grabbed a passing disciple, "Senior Brother, who is that elder?"

The disciple looked annoyed, "Let go."

Tyler casually placed a Qi Restoration Pill into his hand.

The disciple’s expression instantly changed, "Junior Brother, you could have asked nicely."

Tyler smiled.

The disciple quickly pocketed the pill and lowered his voice, "That’s Elder Martin. He’s a Formation Master from the Main Formation Hall."

"The Main Formation Hall?" Tyler immediately became interested.

The disciple nodded.

"The Formation Hall here is only a branch. Same for the Pill Hall, Weapon Hall, and other halls. The truly important halls are located in the Inner Court. Elder Martin came from there."

Tyler finally understood.

No wonder the old man looked so troubled.

If someone from the Main Formation Hall had personally arrived, then the situation was probably more serious than he originally thought.

After thanking the disciple, Tyler walked toward Elder Martin and cupped his hands.

"Greetings, Elder Martin."

The old man turned around.

Tyler continued politely.

"This disciple is Tyler White. I wanted to join the Formation Hall, but I’ve found it closed for several days. May I ask what happened?"

Elder Martin looked at Tyler before sighing, "You chose a bad time to visit."

One of the inner disciples beside him shook his head.

"The Branch Master and the formation disciples locked themselves inside while researching an ancient formation."

"They’re trapped inside for four days.," the other disciple added helplessly.

Tyler blinked.

"Trapped?"

Elder Martin nodded.

"They activated an ancient formation obtained from some ruins. Unfortunately, they didn’t fully understand it. The formation activated successfully, but looks like nobody inside knows how to deactivate it. Even worse, the formation core is trapped inside with them."

"We considered forcefully breaking through," one of the inner disciples said, "but doing so would destroy the formation itself."

Elder Martin’s expression darkened, "We can only wait for the formation energy to exhaust itself."

Tyler looked toward the barrier.

A fully active ancient formation. Judging from its size, it could probably run for years if it was loaded with spirit stones. If it was connected to spirit veins. Then Maybe decades. Even longer.

As his gaze moved across the formation pillars surrounding the hall, something caught his attention.

The pillars. The formation lines. The positions. He observed all the things.

Tyler narrowed his eyes. "Huh..."

He stepped closer. The more he looked, the stranger his expression became.

Meanwhile, one of the disciples nearby suddenly spoke, "Teacher, what if we simply remove one pillar?"

Elder Martin immediately shook his head.

"Absolutely not. These formation pillars are valuable research materials. Be careful when touching them." The disciple immediately backed away.

However, before anyone could react, Elder Martin suddenly widened his eyes.

"What are you doing?!"

Everyone turned.

Tyler had already walked toward one of the pillars. Before anyone could stop him, he grabbed it. The pillar was nearly as tall as a man and weighed at least several dozen kilograms.

The surrounding disciples immediately panicked.

The two inner disciples looked horrified.

Even Elder Martin rushed forward. Then everyone froze. The formation moved. Not just the pillar. The part of entire formation moved. As Tyler lifted the pillar slightly and shifted it to one side, a portion of the barrier shifted together with it like a giant curtain being pulled aside.

"What..." One disciple rubbed his eyes. The other disciple looked equally stunned. Elder Martin simply stared. For several breaths, nobody spoke.

Then one of the inner disciples pointed toward Tyler’s feet.

"Elder... look." Elder Martin immediately lowered his head. His eyes widened again. A section of the barrier had actually lifted together with the pillar, revealing a clear path beneath it.

It looked as though someone had lifted the corner of a giant carpet. One could literally walk underneath.

"No way..."

Even Elder Martin sounded shocked.

Tyler looked equally ’surprised’. Though He already expected it to work.

Elder Martin immediately rushed over and grabbed the formation pillar, "Move aside."

The old man raised the pillar above his head. The opening beneath the barrier became even larger. Without hesitation, Elder Martin stepped underneath.

Tyler followed behind him.

Soon both of them stood inside the formation while the two inner disciples remained outside staring blankly.

Elder Martin quickly turned around, "You two stay there. If I need to leave, lift the pillar exactly like this."

The two disciples nodded repeatedly.

Only after arranging everything did Elder Martin finally look toward Tyler, "What did you say your name was?"

"Tyler White."

The old man nodded, "Good. Tyler, how did you discover this weakness?"

Tyler scratched his head.

"Honestly, I just noticed something odd about the pillar positions. I thought moving one might disrupt the formation. I didn’t expect this result."

Elder Martin immediately became impressed.

"You already understand positional theory?"

Tyler maintained an innocent expression.

"A little."

Elder Martin laughed.

"Not bad. Many formation disciples don’t even understand that much. Some formations require absolute positional accuracy. Once a position shifts, the entire formation changes. Fortunately for you, this one didn’t explode."

Tyler nodded obediently.

Meanwhile, inside his heart, he was thinking something entirely different.

This wasn’t some profound ancient formation. At least not in his eyes.

After examining it earlier, he had already recognized the structure. The formation’s purpose wasn’t offensive or defensive. It was essentially a containment formation.

More specifically...

A livestock enclosure.

Someone thousands of years ago had probably used it to stop spiritual beasts from escaping.

Unfortunately, Tyler wisely kept that opinion to himself.

"Come." Elder Martin waved his hand, "Let’s see what kind of disaster those idiots created."

The two walked deeper into the Formation Hall.

The moment they entered the central courtyard, Elder Martin nearly coughed blood.

Formation discs, formation flags, jade slips, and research notes were scattered everywhere. Several formation masters sat around a gigantic formation core while arguing fiercely.

One old man stroked his beard and let out a long sigh while staring at the gigantic formation core in the middle of the hall. "No. We should prepare for the worst. Let’s strengthen the formation further. It’s boring outside anyway. If we really can’t get out, at least the Sect Master will have to personally come rescue us."

Hearing this, another formation master sitting nearby immediately nodded in agreement as though he had heard some profound truth. "A wise plan."

Several others even revealed thoughtful expressions and began discussing how to reinforce the formation rather than how to leave it.

Tyler’s mouth twitched when he heard that. He originally thought the people trapped inside would be desperately trying to escape. Instead, they seemed to be treating this place as some kind of retreat.

Beside him, Elder Martin’s face gradually darkened. The veins on his forehead began bulging one after another as he listened to the conversation. "These idiots..." he muttered through gritted teeth before striding forward.

Unfortunately, none of the formation masters noticed his arrival. Their attention was completely focused on the formation core and their increasingly ridiculous discussion.

One particularly energetic elder was currently speaking with great enthusiasm. "I guarantee Elder Martin is outside pulling out his hair right now trying to figure out how to save us."

The surrounding formation masters immediately become silent. They noticed Martin, "huh... Elder Martin?"

The elder continued, "That old fellow abandoned us and went back to the Inner Court with his junior sister. Hoes before bros."

The elder was still laughing proudly when a chill suddenly ran down his spine. His instincts screamed that something was wrong. The smile on his face froze. Before he could turn around to see what had happened, a foot landed squarely on his backside.

Bang!

The elder flew across the hall like a cannonball. He spun several times in midair before smashing directly into a distant wall. Dust exploded everywhere and, when it finally settled, a perfect human-shaped hole could be seen in the stone wall.

Everyone slowly turned their heads toward the source of the kick and immediately felt their hearts skip a beat. Elder Martin was standing there with a smile on his face. Unfortunately, nobody present felt any warmth from that smile. Instead, every formation master instinctively took several steps backward.

The elder embedded in the wall slowly raised his head. After seeing who had arrived, his face turned pale.

"M-Martin... Senior Brother?"

Elder Martin slowly cracked his knuckles. The smile on his face widened slightly.

"Oh?" he said softly. "I heard someone was discussing my hair."

Cold sweat instantly appeared on everyone’s forehead.

The unfortunate elder struggled to climb out of the wall and immediately forced out an awkward smile. "Senior Brother, please listen to my explanation."

"What explanation?"

"I was ... Courting Death?"

A moment later, miserable screams echoed throughout the Formation Hall.

"Senior Brother, wait!"

"It was a misunderstanding!"

"Don’t pull my hair!"

"AHHH!"

Tyler silently turned his head and looked elsewhere. He suddenly felt that some things were better left unseen. After all, no matter how powerful a formation master might be, nobody looked dignified while desperately trying to protect their hair.