Immortal Martial Saint, something's wrong with my entry.

Li Youan was somewhat surprised by the scene inside the room.

"This is……"

There was only an old man sitting in the center of the room with his eyes closed, surrounded by some futons, but no students.

"Since we're here, let's pick a seat that looks good to us."

Li Youan did not see the old man open his mouth, but the voice had already reached his ears.

Li Youan bowed to the old man, then went into the room and found a seat.

"Um?"

"You've got guts."

At this moment, the old man opened his eyes and calmly looked at Li Youan sitting directly in front of him.

"Wait another fifteen minutes. If no one else is here, you'll be all alone today."

"Yes."

Fifteen minutes is neither a long nor a short time, but in this extremely quiet environment, Li Youan initially felt that every second was an eternity.

But Li Youan quickly adjusted his mindset, focused on meditation and breath regulation, and stopped paying attention to the passage of time.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Youan was interrupted by the old man's voice.

"There is no one else here today, so please listen to what I have to say."

Li Youan quickly scanned the room and found that, apart from the old man, he was indeed the only one listening to the lecture.

Seeing that the old man had adjusted his state and begun to teach, Li Youan also calmed his mind and listened attentively.

"To become a formation master, you must first understand the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, and their corresponding hand seals."

"Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui are called the Ten Heavenly Stems."

"Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai are called the Twelve Earthly Branches."

"Now watch me demonstrate what each hand gesture is like. You don't need to say it aloud, but you must remember the corresponding name in your mind."

Li Youan stretched out his hands and made hand gestures in unison with the old man.

After one round, Li Youan had memorized all twelve hand gestures and their corresponding names for the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.

The old man saw Li Youan's performance but said nothing. If he couldn't even do this, then Li Youan could leave now, and there was no need to continue.

"We array masters mobilize the vital energy within our bodies to create different hand seals, and then use these seals to form different arrays."

"For example, look at this one: Concealment Formation."

The old man made three hand seals, and a magic seal appeared in front of him. Then, he disappeared from the futon.

Li Youan watched helplessly as the old man vanished into thin air.

"This is the most basic application; it can only conceal the shape of stationary objects. As long as I speak, you can hear the sound, and even if I move my hand."

Sure enough, Li Youan saw the space in front of him distort, and then an arm appeared, swaying in the air. Soon after, the old man's entire figure was revealed.

"This is the simplest basic formation. If I had just maintained the flow of vital energy, you would have only heard a sound and seen an arm. Now try it."

The old man looked at Li Youan as he spoke.

Without further ado, Li Youan immediately closed his eyes and recalled the hand gestures the old man had just made. He then began to mimic the gestures with both hands.

"Concealment Formation".

As Li Youan finished making three hand seals, a magic seal appeared in front of him that was the same as the old man's, but with much less energy.

Then, Li Youan disappeared from the old man's sight, but not long after, before Li Youan could speak, he reappeared.

From Li Youan's perspective, he couldn't feel any changes in himself; his body looked the same as always.

"Teacher, what's wrong with me?"

The old man noticed Li Yu'an's question and quickly realized what was going on.

"Ah, it's been too long since I've taught students, and I'm a bit rusty with the procedures. Please try again."

As the old man spoke, he waved his hand, and the tea in the teapot not far away flew to Li Youan's front and condensed into a water mirror, in which Li Youan could see himself sitting cross-legged.

Li An immediately began to repeat the previous movements, this time much more skillfully than before, and the resulting hand seals were also more refined.

Although she could still see her own body when she looked down, when Li Youan looked up at the mirror, she found that where she was was just an empty prayer mat, but she could still see the marks of the mat being pressed down.

"Wow, it's done! It's done!"

As soon as Li Youan spoke, he revealed his entire figure, which was completely different from the old man who had gradually revealed himself earlier.

"Hmm, not bad, you have decent talent."

Seeing that Li Youan was able to reach the current level on his second attempt, the old man stroked his beard and nodded.

"Here, these two books are for you. The day after tomorrow morning, still here, I will test your learning progress."

The old man took out two books from his bosom and gently tossed them towards Li Youan.

Li Youan quickly caught the book and saw the titles "Introduction to Formation" and "Detailed Explanation of Basic Formation".

"Remember, when you're making hand seals, you must be steady, accurate, and fast in channeling your vital energy. Only in this way can the formation be sustained, stable, and powerful."

After the old man finished speaking, he closed his eyes to rest and ignored Li Youan.

Li Youan stood up, bowed to the old man, and then left the room.

The courtyard was empty. Li Youan returned along the same route and soon arrived at the main hall.

Li Youan came to the street, checked the time, and decided to go back to the alchemy hall to take a look. He wanted to finish the comparison today, determine the direction for the future, and not waste any more time.

After spending an hour each in the Alchemy Hall and the Treasure Refining Hall, Li Youan began his journey home.

After experiencing alchemy and treasure crafting, Li Youan realized that his talent lay not in alchemy and treasure crafting, but in formations.

Or perhaps it's because he transmigrated and merged with the soul of his predecessor, resulting in Li Youan's extremely powerful soul and spirit, making him very adept at controlling hand seals and magic hand gestures.

Alchemy and weapon crafting require not only the collection of raw materials, but also the preparation of a suitable alchemy furnace and a treasure-refining furnace, which is a considerable investment.

For Li Youan, absorbing the essence of demonic beasts could achieve the same or even better effects as taking elixirs, so spending time learning alchemy and treasure crafting would be a waste of his efforts.

After comparing several options, Li Youan decisively chose to major in formations. Besides his high talent in formations, the most important reason was that it required less investment.

As long as one's vital energy is sufficient, and one comprehends a powerful formation, one can directly apply it in battle.

This is exactly the opposite of others. Ordinary people need to have certain abilities in alchemy and treasure refining to improve their cultivation or obtain powerful magic treasures.

For Li Youan, there was only one thing to consider: how to quickly and efficiently acquire the source.

Back in the neighborhood where Qiang Ge lived, Li Youan didn't go to the rooftop, but went back to his room. Bai Ze didn't jump onto the bed as usual, but stood on the windowsill.

"Oh, it's so hot, so hot! This alchemy and treasure-refining is simply unbearable for a beast."

Bai Ze conjured up a ball of water out of thin air and plunged into it.

Just now, when we were in the Alchemy Hall and the Treasure Refining Hall, the teachers there also gave on-site instruction, directly leading them to the Alchemy Room and the Treasure Refining Room.

The temperature inside is extremely high, and the facilities are not as complete as those in Dongfang Jinghong's treasure refining room; there is no heat insulation cover.

Only those who reach the Kaiyuan Realm can perfectly protect themselves with their Yuan Qi.

Li Youan was only at the ninth level of the Body Tempering Realm, so he was naturally covered in sweat from the heat.

But Li Youan always felt that Bai Ze was acting, and he didn't believe that Bai Ze could be moved by this little bit of enthusiasm.

Watching Bai Ze tumble and roll in the water sphere, Li Youan sat down cross-legged and began to study the two books given to him by the elder of the Array Hall.