The scene of the Dragon Palace shifted, revealing the familiar white jade martial arena.  

The "Water Dragon Guard," composed entirely of deep blue flowing water, held its raging spear and reformed once again, its swirling eyes still chillingly cold.  

"Meeting again, old friend."  

In two years, Li Pingcan had suffered countless defeats under this guy's hands, doubting his life every time he was poked by that water spear.  

But today was different.  

"Buzz!"  

The Water Dragon Guard moved, still executing that textbook-precise opening move. The spear shook, and a roaring water dragon lunged forward with claws bared. This move had once left Li Pingcan struggling desperately to defend, utterly miserable.  

But now, with second stage Qi Refinement and spirit beast talents, he only needed to think once.  

[Windriding]!  

A peculiar force instantly spread throughout his body, making him as light as a feather. Facing the fierce charging water dragon, he didn't even retreat. Just a light tap of his toe on the ground, and his figure slid sideways at an incredible angle like a leaf carried by a gentle breeze, effortlessly dodging the water dragon’s frontal assault.  

The whirlpool in the Water Dragon Guard's eyes seemed to freeze for a moment, clearly surprised by Li Pingcan's sudden speed increase.  

"I have long understood your moves."  

Over the past two years, he had analyzed the Water Dragon Guard's action patterns countless times.  

It was powerful and precise but therefore lacked variation. After every stab, there was a brief stiffness to gather water flow; each horizontal sweep followed a fixed arc trajectory.  

These details, trivial to others, had become exploitable flaws to Li Pingcan after hundreds of beatings.  

The Water Dragon Guard missed its strike, but its spear momentum never stopped. The long spear swept horizontally, raising a crescent-shaped water curtain, blocking Li Pingcan’s evasion space.  

"Reapplying the old trick!"  

Li Pingcan remained calm. He had anticipated this move long ago. With the power of [Windriding], he advanced instead of retreating, like a swift flying swallow skimming the ground. Just before the water curtain closed, he narrowly slipped beneath the spear shaft!  

Closing the distance!  

This time, the Water Dragon Guard was caught off guard. As an elemental entity, it excelled at mid to long-range magical suppression, but once in close combat, its movement was severely restricted.  

Seizing this fleeting chance, Li Pingcan refrained from using any flashy spells—water spells were ineffective against the Water Dragon Guard.  

The real killing blow was his painstakingly tempered Postnatal Realm physical body and the two years of accumulated combat experience!  

Fists! Elbows! Knees!  

At this moment, every joint in his body transformed into a deadly weapon, each strike hitting precisely at the Water Dragon Guard’s weak water flow nodes!  

*Bang! Crack! Smash!*  

The dull thuds echoed continuously across the arena. The massive Water Dragon Guard was forced backward repeatedly, its water surface violently rippling, its form growing somewhat ethereal.  

It roared in anger, trying to push Li Pingcan back with its spear, but under the boost of [Windriding], Li Pingcan’s footwork became slippery and elusive, like a bone-deep parasite. No matter how the Water Dragon Guard struggled, it could not escape his close combat entanglement.  

The True Qi Pill’s effects surged more and more intensely. The grudge accumulated over two years poured out through his fists like a torrential flood.  

The Water Dragon Guard seemed utterly enraged. It suddenly stabbed its spear into the ground, letting water flow surge violently through its body. In that instant, the entire arena trembled violently. Several water pillars shot up from the ground, forming a dense, wind-permeable cage meant to completely crush the True Qi Pill user.  

"I’ve been waiting for that move for a long time."  

A flash of sharp light appeared in Li Pingcan’s eyes. This was the Water Dragon Guard’s strongest move, and also the moment when its energy was most dispersed and defense thinnest!  

As the water cage sealed, the flow of magical power shifted again. Using [Windriding] to break free, Li Pingcan unleashed the full might of his Postnatal Realm body and delivered a brutal punch straight to the Water Dragon Guard’s chest.  

*Boom!*  

A tremendous explosion shattered the core in the Water Dragon Guard’s chest into a mist of water vapor. The water prison enveloping the entire arena collapsed with a thunderous roar, turning into a heavy downpour.  

In the rain curtain, Li Pingcan stood quietly, soaked through but with eyes shining brightly.  

[Trial successful.]  

"Ha..."  

Li Pingcan exhaled deeply, feeling a great relief, a triumphant smile spreading across his face as he looked at the pill reward in his hand.  

[True Qi Pill: Its potent and refined efficacy tempers true essence, stimulating the pure true energy within the user’s body.]  

Then, with a flash of light, he was teleported out of the arena.  

"Little Carp, how was it? How long did you last this time? Over ten breaths?" Green Jiao teased slyly.  

But when it saw the pill glowing softly in Li Pingcan’s hand, its voice abruptly stopped, and its snake-like pupils widened in shock.  

"You you you! You passed?!" Green Jiao was incredulous.  

Li Pingcan shook the pill before Green Jiao’s eyes and said flatly, "Just lucky. The Water Dragon Guard seemed off today. I caught a few flaws."  

Off today? Yeah, right!  

Green Jiao looked at Li Pingcan’s smug expression, furious, flicking its tail wildly.  

"No way! This guy’s already through the third level, and I’m still stuck rolling around in the second level’s cozy zone! So embarrassing! If this keeps up, how can I still hold my head high in front of him? It’s just an illusion realm, I can handle it!"  

Li Pingcan deliberately didn’t swallow the pill immediately just to show off in front of Green Jiao—why return with wealth when you can show it off in fine clothes at night?  

Also to provoke his good brother with reverse psychology.  

Now that the goal was achieved, he comfortably swallowed the True Qi Pill. The medicinal power flushed through his meridians, continuously tempering his true energy, purging impurities, making it denser and purer, transforming it into a higher-level martial true energy.  

This pill was not a one-time burst but fundamentally enhanced the pill user’s body and meridians, paving the way for future cultivation and slightly boosting immortal arts.  

"My body’s strength has improved!"  

Li Pingcan ended his meditation, feeling joyful.  

After cultivating his physical body to the Innate Realm, he had felt his martial cultivation progress greatly slowed. Even with daily practice, it felt like hitting a ceiling.  

But after taking the True Qi Pill, that feeling significantly lessened—it essentially raised his ceiling.  

Feeling Li Pingcan’s aura strengthen again, Green Jiao truly realized the reality of Little Carp’s "far lead," shedding tears of envy, jealousy, and hatred. It wasn’t afraid of hard work for its brother, but feared the brother driving a luxury car!  

Painful reflection—no more slacking off!  

If it could reach the seventh level next, it would sever that damned root of desire!  

It swore a solemn vow, that moment tinged with hesitation.  

"Keep pushing forward!"  

Having gained many benefits, Li Pingcan looked forward to the Dragon Palace even more as he advanced to the fourth level.  

As he stepped forward, the scene before him was no longer the martial arena but an ancient, solemn hall.  

"Why did it change again?"  

Li Pingcan was slightly stunned. He had expected to continue fighting or refining his mindset.  

Next moment, four glowing orbs floated in the center of the hall, each flickering with a different light, representing: pills, weapons, talismans, and formations.  

[Dragon Palace Fourth Level, Path Selection Hall.]  

[Please choose your immortal cultivation art.]  

Looking at the four glowing orbs, joy surged in Li Pingcan’s heart.  

Among immortal arts, the most powerful were pills, weapons, talismans, and formations—considered the "wealth and law" of "wealthy companions and lands."  

He had heard from his Second Brother that even the influential Mu Family in the prefecture treated alchemists with great respect, never daring to be rude. Their status was noble!  

Now, besides the "formation" path, he could learn a second immortal art!  

But after much thought, Li Pingcan slowly shook his head.  

The pill path, weapon path, and talisman path were all great roads but required vast time and resources to master.  

The druid proficiency upgrades and planting already took up a lot of his time, not to mention martial arts, meditation, and formation study... opening a new path, even for someone energetic like Li Pingcan who took Dao Spirit Pills and Foundation Establishment Pills, was impossible.  

Balancing all cultivation time was already at its limit.  

"My energy is limited. Rather than spreading myself thin, it’s better to specialize and delve deeply into one professional field!"  

Taking a deep breath, he resolutely reached out and touched the orb representing "formation."  

After his choice, the other three orbs slowly dissipated, leaving only the orb with the character for "formation," which glowed brightly. From it emerged the spectral figure of an old man with white hair and beard, exuding an immortal aura but with a stern face.  

This was the formation spirit of the Dragon Palace, who looked rather unfriendly.  

The formation spirit sized Li Pingcan up, his gaze full of critique and scrutiny. He snorted, his voice stiff: "Since you’ve chosen the formation path, you must endure the hardest hardships and never slack off."  

He paused and asked, "Have you studied formations before? If yes, how much time do you spend on formations daily?"  

"I have," Li Pingcan honestly replied, "about one hour."  

"Huh!? How did your teacher instruct you? You dare to be lazy like this!"  

The formation spirit glared immediately, so angry his beard seemed to bristle, "A scholar unworthy of teaching!"  

Unexpectedly, he was an old pedantic formation spirit...  

Li Pingcan felt he must have ignored the auspicious calendar before going out today and could only show an embarrassed yet polite smile.  

"Enough, I will first teach you the basics of formation diagrams."  

The formation spirit sighed, resigned, "Drawing a formation diagram starts with brush strokes. Each formation diagram’s strokes differ. Take the Spirit Gathering Formation as an example: when the rune patterns turn, the spiritual energy must first ‘gather,’ then suddenly ‘release.’ The brush lifts like a swimming dragon. This makes the strokes at the nodes solid, preventing spiritual energy leakage. There are eighty-one such critical turns in the Spirit Gathering Formation..."  

As he spoke, he drew in the air, like writing on a blackboard in a previous life’s classroom.  

Li Pingcan became more and more confused.  

What brush strokes and turns? The Five Elements Profound Formation manual hadn’t explained this!  

Such internal terminology was passed orally among formation masters. Though the manual taught basics, some industry secrets required practical experience.  

This was the difference between self-studying textbooks and learning from a teacher.  

Moreover, the author of the immortal knowledge manual wasn’t a formation master and couldn’t understand these "hidden tricks."  

Finding a "teacher" was rare. Li Pingcan humbly asked, "What is ‘gather’?"  

"You don’t know? How did your teacher instruct you? Has our formation inheritance declined?" The formation spirit suspiciously eyed him, speechless, "Do you know about lifting the brush like a swimming dragon, releasing the brush to set the ink, and sliding the brush to return the origin?"  

Li Pingcan widened his eyes.  

He recognized all these words but didn’t understand their meaning!  

Embarrassed, he whispered, "I self-studied some shallow methods. Please, Master Formation Spirit, guide me." He bowed deeply, extremely humble.  

"Don’t! I don’t have such unpromising disciples like you."  

Seeing Li Pingcan’s "not very clever" expression, the formation spirit sighed deeply, "Very well, let me see your foundation. Draw the most basic formation diagram."  

Saying so, the spirit waved his hand, and a glowing scroll and a spiritual energy condensed brush appeared before Li Pingcan.  

The formation diagram was well ingrained in his mind, but after recent setbacks, Li Pingcan decided to draw his most familiar "Spirit Gathering" formation diagram.  

He immediately lifted the light brush, focused his mind, and according to the methods in the Five Elements Profound Formation manual, his brush soared like a flying dragon.  

"If spiritual energy is drawn but not gathered, energy flows at will, shape scatters, and spirit is chaotic!"  

The formation spirit watched and silently evaluated, frowning more and more. This diagram was a chaotic defective product that should collapse anytime before completion—it was impossible to succeed logically.  

But...  

In just a moment, Li Pingcan’s Spirit Gathering diagram was completed.  

The formation spirit’s eyes widened, disbelief on his face—this could really work?  

It was like a shaky building frame that somehow stabilized rapidly.  

A bit of exploratory brushwork, a bit of stable spiritual energy, and a bit of luck!  

"Your drawing style... is way too wild!"  

The formation spirit instinctively glanced at Li Pingcan. Could this still be a raw jade?  

Seeing Li Pingcan’s sincere attitude, he finally patiently began teaching, his voice low: "Actually, you have already roughly grasped the ‘brush like a swimming dragon’ concept, but not systematically. Now I will teach you again, listen carefully. The way of formations uses the spirit as the guide, energy as the ink, intention as the bone, and must connect with heaven and earth’s spiritual resonance..."  

"Yes!" Li Pingcan was overjoyed. The wild path was too harsh. He had spent two to three years fumbling through formation diagrams; with a teacher, it would not be so difficult!  

In the following days,  

Li Pingcan completely abandoned his wild methods and humbly accepted instruction, relearning from the basics of holding the brush and guiding energy.  

Though the formation spirit was verbally harsh and grumbled, his teaching was meticulous, revealing the many essentials and orthodox knowledge of the formation path.  

Li Pingcan’s strong divine consciousness and high comprehension now gained orthodox inheritance, absorbing knowledge like a dry sponge soaking water. Many obscure formation principles suddenly became clear, and his formation path made great leaps.  

Five days later,  

"Draw the Spirit Gathering Formation again." The formation spirit said expressionlessly.  

Li Pingcan took a deep breath and picked up the brush again.  

This time, his movements were steady and smooth, the brush tip’s glow perfectly merged with his divine consciousness. Formation patterns filled with spiritual rhythm leapt onto the paper, connecting and forming a glowing, vibrant diagram.  

Though still not as natural as the formation spirit’s, it had transformed completely, showing the bearing of a true master.  

The formation spirit looked at the diagram silently for a long time.  

In those ancient, calm eyes appeared an unmistakable look of surprise. He examined the diagram carefully for a long while, then looked up at Li Pingcan as if staring at a monster.  

"How is this possible?"  

He stroked his beard and murmured, "In just a few days, such progress... such talent, such comprehension... could it be I found a treasure?"  

His gaze at Li Pingcan shifted from initial disdain to admiration, mixed with joy as if discovering a priceless gem!  

The formation spirit’s unchanging austere face even managed a faint, almost kind smile, though he still looked stern.  

"Ahem!"  

He cleared his throat, his tone brimming with pride, "The scholar is teachable, the young one is teachable! Looks like my eye for talent was right. You, boy, though your foundation is a mess, like dog paddling, your comprehension is acceptable. Barely... barely reaching one-tenth of my style back then!"  

Li Pingcan twitched his mouth.  

Good grief, his mood swings were faster than flipping a book. He had just been scolded, now it was almost "quickly bow and be my disciple."  

Still, he was happy. Being praised by a professional formation master felt better than successfully researching a hundred times alone.  

The formation spirit stroked his beard, increasingly unwilling to let go of this raw talent, fearing he’d be led astray by wild methods. He earnestly taught:  

"From guiding energy to formation array, from runes to formation eyes, I will explain every detail thoroughly. After returning, spend at least three hours daily studying. If I see any slack, don’t blame me for being unfriendly next time we meet!"  

Li Pingcan chuckled, "Thank you, Master, for your guidance."  

"Master? Who’s your master! I just can’t bear to see the formation inheritance fade and the bright pearl get covered in dust!"  

The formation spirit acted arrogant but smiled faintly, "Next time you come, I’ll teach you a trick or two more."  

Seeing the formation spirit eager to share all his knowledge, Li Pingcan felt moved and amused, contentedly teleported out of the Dragon Palace.  

His mind was now filled with the formation spirit’s exquisite methods. He longed to immediately tear down and rebuild the formations around his home and Listening Wind Cliff.  

"What did I call this formation method before? A patchwork fix—just patching one wall with another. Though it works, once a problem arises, it’s like digging through a mountain of crap to keep patching..."  

The once-proud "Hidden Profound Concealment Formation" was now full of holes.  

"This formation base is offset by three inches, causing poor spiritual energy circulation and greatly weakening concealment!"  

"The connection of this rune is too stiff, like blocked meridians—no wonder it always feels a bit rough!"  

"And this formation eye, my heavens, what was I thinking burying the Concealment Pearl directly? That’s just reckless!"  

He checked while shaking his head and sighing, heartbroken.