When Chi Muyao challenged the next layer of the formation test, he felt a clear, steep rise in the level of difficulty. Each formation he now faced was very tricky.

While he thought he had gone to the fourth floor, he had in fact jumped right to the sixth.

The Eighty-one Rhythm Drum Formation he solved before was a highly difficult formation. It was set up so that, if someone could break through in one go, they could skip a floor and go directly to the sixth floor test.

Although this mechanism had been set up for a long time, no one had been able to accomplish this feat. Either the disciples facing this formation couldn't solve it in one go, or those who could solve it in one go were not lucky enough to encounter it. 

Over time, everyone has forgotten this rule.

Chi Muyao didn't even know to begin with. 

He just assumed that there was a bump in difficulty on the fourth floor and continued to focus on breaking formations.

His goal was to make it to the seventh floor, and maybe solve two formations on the eight floor at most. He had no intention of going to the ninth floor.

The ninth floor was open to spectators, and there were many Nascent Soul Stage elders in attendance. If he accidentally used a wrong move or was exposed as a He Huan Sect disciple, things wouldn't end well for him.

The elders' divine senses only swept through the first eight floors occasionally, just to make sure that the participants were safe.

But everyone would be watching more intently on the ninth floor. 

Unfortunately, when he thought he had entered the seventh floor, he had already entered the ninth floor where everyone could see.

 Chi Muyao was even thinking of giving the formations on this floor his all.

 After Chi Muyao solved the last formation of the eighth floor, the senior supervising the Tower informed Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable.

 Guan Nan and Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable came together, awaiting the challengers of the ninth floor to gather.

After the two of them arrived, the other disciples quickly caught word and followed suit. When they reached the ninth floor, they stood outside the barrier and looked down at the barren field enclosed within.

For viewing convenience, there was only one formation space on the ninth floor. 

If a cultivator came to the ninth floor while the formation was already activated, they could only wait outside for the people ahead of them to succeed or fail before they could enter. Sometimes, the previous group would take quite a while, resulting in hours of waiting or more. 

Yi Qianxi rushed to the ninth floor to try and get a good spot. She was just distressed over the front row positions all being occupied when she spotted an opening and hurried over. Only when she arrived did she realise why there was an open spot there. The trio from the Qing Ze Sect were there, and the other righteous cultivators didn't dare to approach them.

She gave them an irritated look and tried to recall Qiuqiu.

Unexpectedly, Qiuqiu flew onto Xi Huai's shoulder of its own volition, using it as a perch to look down on things.

 Yu Yanshu also came over at this time, standing beside her and looking down. He was taken aback at what he saw. 

Yi Qianxi hadn't even looked down yet. She greeted Yu Yanshu, "People here sure move quick. I thought the first person to reach the ninth floor just came up? Who knows how long it'll take my shidi to..."

She glanced down while saying that and ended up being shocked speechless too. 

There lay Chi Muyao in a safe part of the formation...sleeping under a little quilt! 

You could enter the formation, but it would only activate when the people inside tried to break it. Before that, cultivators could choose to observe the formation or take a rest in a safe spot.

During their break, other cultivators would have a chance to arrive. In order to not make the other cultivators wait too long, the first to enter the formation would sometimes wait a while before activating it. 

Chi Muyao had been in the Ninety-Nine Glazed Glass Pagoda for three days or so. After entering the first formation of the 'seventh floor', he decided to take a break. So after covering himself with a quilt, he fell asleep in a place that wouldn't activate the formation.

 How was he supposed to know that the floor he entered was the ninth, and that everyone could see him sleeping?

Yi Qianxi rubbed her face repeatedly, feeling embarrassed on her shidi's behalf. She snuck a glance at the seats the elders were watching from.

There were screens around the area, so she could only vaguely make out that there were five or so elders seated there. It was quiet, almost too quiet.

Gradually, the sounds of discussion could be heard. "He's the first to reach the ninth floor?"

"Who is he?" Not everyone knew who Chi Muyao was at this point still.

"He's from the Yu Chong School, the rumoured number one beauty of the three realms.

"The Yu Chong School, really?

 As soon as that was said, someone glanced in Yi Qianxi's direction.

Yi Qianxi pretended to be calm and unmoved.

 Yu Yanshu also seemed very curious. "You guys study formations as well?"

When Chi Muyao said that he wanted to take part in the formation test before, Yu Yanshu thought it would be good for him to get some points. But now he was astonished to see that Chi Muyao was the first to make it to the ninth floor. He didn't expect Chi Muyao's formation skills to be that good.

Yi Qianxi replied, "This is my shidi's personal hobby. I prefer furry spirit pets."

Like her, the other Yu Chong School disciples were only interested in spirit beasts. They had no interest in things like formations or even finding a cultivation partner. They didn't think Chi Muyao was particularly good-looking either.

Yi Qianxi only realised after going on the expedition together with Chi Muyao and seeing all the dumbfounded looks on everyone's faces that Chi Muyao was pretty beautiful among the animals that walked upright.

The elders had arrived an incense stick’s time ago, and Chi Muyao also slept for an incense stick. He didn't seem to be waking up anytime soon. 

At this time, the elders who watched finally broke their silence. It was Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable who laughed lightly at Chi Muyao first.

Then Xian Yue Heavenly Venerable asked, "What's the matter with this child?"

The one who answered was a Golden Core stage cultivator, "He skipped a floor after solving the Eighty-One Rhythm Drum Formation. It's more than likely that he doesn't know that and still thinks he's on the seventh floor, which is why he's resting right now." 

Xian Yue Heavenly Venerable frowned and asked, "Should we let him know?"

Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable spoke against her, "Breaking formations is a very intensive task. He's not wrong to take a moment to rest like this. It shows that he is confident in his abilities. If we were to wake him now, it would only make him nervous."

So everyone looked at Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable, wanting him to make the final decision.

Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable rested his chin on one hand, seemingly quite bored as he looked down at the arena. He asked in a cold voice, "He passed through the Eighty-One Rhythm Drum Formation in one attempt?" 

The Golden Core stage cultivator replied, "Yes."

"Display how he was able to pass.” 

"Understood.”

This way everyone could pass the time by looking at how Chi Muyao broke through the formation.

The Golden Core stage cultivator summoned a barrier. With the touch of a single finger, how Chi Muyao and the others broke the formation began to play. 

All the formation breaking in the Ninety-Nine Glazed Glass Pagoda would be recorded and could be replayed. No matter where the spectators were standing, they could see the entire picture. 

The barrier showed a dim night scene. Chi Muyao leaped up to beat a drum before pivoting towards the next. His movements were fluid and so beautiful that everyone was amazed.

Xi Huai stared intently up at the scene of Chi Muyao breaking formation.

Zong Sichen, on the other hand, propped his chin up with a hand and communicated via divine sense with Xi Huai, "His movements..."

He only said this much for fear that those elders could overhear their voice transmissions, but two words were enough for them to understand.

Chi Muyao's movements were extremely fast, and he used the Light Body Technique well. There didn't seem to be any flaws.

But if you made the connection and thought of Chi Muyao as a He Huan Sect cultivator? Then his light and quick movements would be nothing unusual. 

Song Weiyue instead sucked a breath in. "Fuck. He's way too...pretty, right?"

Only then did he realise he said that out loud instead of using divine sense transmission. He couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. His eyes darted around, only to find that everyone seemed to silently agree with him. 

Not everyone could make formation breaking appear so beautiful.

As expected of a beauty.

Yu Yanshu asked Yi Qianxi again, "Do Yu Chong School disciples know how to dance as well?"

Yi Qianxi couldn't take it anymore! They didn't know how to break formation or dance!! 

She could only bite the bullet and say, "You call this dancing? He's clearly breaking the formation! Can't you see him rushing to the next drum every time? Who dances while breaking formations, ah! Just ridiculous..."

Soon after, more people came to the ninth floor. They were the disciples who had been teleported out of the Ninety-Nine Glazed Glass Pagoda after failing.

Ming Shaluo managed to reach the sixth floor, and Tang Ming couldn't even pass the fourth.

Mu Ren passed the sixth floor, but the first formation of the seventh floor stumped him and he could only leave.

The sight they saw when they came up made it very hard for Ming Shaoluo to keep a decent smile on her face.

They headed in the direction with fewer people, only to find Xi Huai's group there. Ming Shaoluo immediately put on an arrogant appearance, like she didn't want to give Xi Huai a second glance.

Yet moments later, she discovered that Xi Huai didn't even seem to notice she was here.

Xi Huai's full attention was focused on the scene of Chi Muyao breaking the formation. Only after he ended did he turn to look at Zong Sichen. "Can this scene be recorded?"

Zong Sichen was a little embarrassed, "We didn't bring an artefact with that kind of function, and this is a mechanism of the tower, ah. We can't exactly take it away..." 

Xi Huai was very upset to hear that. He clenched his fists, almost mad with anger. "Then that leaves us no choice but to invade the Nuan Yan Pavilion and capture it."

Zong Sichen hurried to dissuade him, "I don't think that's necessary...”

There are five Nascent Soul stage Heavenly Venerables sitting right there, sir! Aren't you afraid they'll take you down on the spot if you say things like that??

You might be able to face off against one, but five is a bit...

The five people over there heard him. Some seemed to glance in their direction.

Only Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable was amused enough to laugh again.

Chi Muyao still showed no signs of waking even after footage of him breaking the Eighty-One Rhythm Drum Formation finished playing.

The seniors were put in quite an awkward position. They didn't know if they should continue to watch or come back once Chi Muyao woke up.

Fortunately, Chi Muyao woke up after an hour. He sat up and glanced around at his surroundings in a daze for some time.

He was like an entirely different person from the beauty who broke through the formation. This still sleepy side of him was kind of cute in a dumb way.

The seniors finally started to talk, and the other cultivators listened carefully to them and learned from their words. 

Zhi Shan Heavenly Venerable watched for a while before commenting, "The Big Dipper Star-picking Formation. How fortunate, or unfortunate for him." 

Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable added, "En. This Big Dipper Star-picking Formation and the Eighty-One Rhythm Drum Formation come from the same principle, but the former's difficulty is hundreds of times greater. We'll have to see how many tries it takes him to pass..." 

Zong Sichen almost fell over. He uses his divine sense to transmit to the other two, "Rumour has it that Guan Nan and Zhi Shan are not close and only Zhi Shan works to maintain their relationship. It seems like that isn't the case.” 

Song Weiyue glanced over there and asked, "How can you tell?"

"Guan Nan only speaks after Zhi Shan does. He doesn't even bother when that old nun Xian Yue speaks.”

"You're right..."

Although their conversation was just over their divine senses, they felt an oppressive force fall on them.

It was obvious that these Nascent Soul stage seniors could hear their divine sense transmissions and picked up on their remarks. Xian Yue Heavenly Venerable was clearly not happy with them.

But the trio took joy in upsetting her.

Xi Huai ignored them and took out a chair from his Myriad Treasure Bell. He sat down leisurely and waited for Chi Muyao to break through the formation.

 Even the seniors were only sitting on sandalwood chairs. Xi Huai, on the other hand, was sitting on a chair made of Spirit Assembling Jade. This kind of jade was extremely precious. Ordinary cultivators used it to make jade pendants, which they could only bear to take out while training to help themselves cultivate.

Yet here Xi Huai was, sitting on a piece that was big enough to carve into a chair. He actually took it out with a bored look on his face just to watch someone else break a formation. This caused many cultivators to look at him. 

How opulent! 

At a second glance, Xi Huai was examining the situation inside the formation rather carefully, just like the oriole bird sitting on his shoulder.

The Golden Core stage cultivator looked down and said, "Xi Zihe is about to reach the ninth floor. I'm not sure if he can make it before the formation activates."

The mention of Xi Zihe brought a rare bit of warmth to Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable's gaze. "He's done fairly well." 

Chi Muyao skipped a floor, but Xi Zihe challenged every one and even used less time on average than Chi Muyao.

Still, not everyone had the patience to wait for others to come and break the formation with them.

At least Guan Nan Heavenly Venerable didn't.

Chi Muyao folded up the little quilt and walked to the centre of the formation to observe the formation eye.

He didn't expect the formation of the 'seventh floor' to be so complex.

Above him lay a sea of shining stars, many of which flickered and faded in and out of view.

 Below him was a layout of totems in the seven positions of Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang. Each pattern contained its own mysteries.

After looking down at each totem, Chi Muyao took a deep breath and activated the formation.

Xi Zihe, who was about to ascend to the ninth floor, didn't catch up to Chi Muyao in time so that they could solve the formation together.

This formation was similar to the Eighty-One Rhythm Drum Formation, but much more complicated.

The main point of the formation before was to beat the drums while keeping up with the rhythm. While hard, there were only eighty-one drums.

But this formation had tens of thousands of stars. There was no need to make contact with them, but you had to guide your spiritual energy in the direction of a star depending on the changes in the totems on the ground.

Chi Muyao raised one hand and cast hand seals in his sleeve.

Soon, a gigantic fluorescent silver compass appeared beneath his feet, taking itself as the formation eye and the formation as a disc.

This kind of compass was composed of three levels and twenty-four directions. It had an inner disc, an outer disc, and the ten paths of Tianxin. Chi Muyao used himself as the needle, pointed due south towards the Heavenly Pool. The disc shape was complicated, and those who didn't understand would not be able to follow along. 

After all, the formation involved three hundred and sixty degrees and was divided into two hundred and forty positions. It would be easier to measure direction with a compass.

The compass rose and spread out around him. Each needle was a ring which revolved around him like a gyroscope before pinpointing a location. 

He stood in the centre and looked at where his finger was pointing, performing the necessary calculations.

He was using the compass to determine the locations of the stars.

After the formation was activated, wind was generated within. To add to the difficulty, streams of light passed though the stars as distractions.

Chi Muyao only had moments to spare. Since he was busy with calculations, he had no time to focus on anything else. He could only pull out his hairpin and throw it in a certain direction, straight into the formation eye within a stream of light.

His aim was precise and true. 

A curtain of long hair poured down like a waterfall onto his shoulders, fluttering with his sleeves in the wind. 

The silver compass haloing him rotated once more as he started the next round of calculations.

In the stands, everyone was astonished by the compass that had appeared around Chi Muyao. They had no idea what it was.

Cultivators had such excellent eyesight that they could clearly see the words written on the compass. Such a wondrous feat sparked much discussion. 

Zong Sichen was quite interested in this method of dividing the formation using a compass. He observed carefully. "This way of starting the formation is interesting. Did he come up with it himself? Is it more convenient than others?"

Yu Yanshu instead sighed. "Maybe it's because he just can't afford a compass artefact.”

Song Weiyue was shocked. "H-he can't even afford that?" 

Yu Yanshu nodded. "En. After all, he still doesn't have an artefact capable of flight to date."

Song Weiyue and Zong Sichen looked at Xi Huai at the same time. They both knew that A-Jiu gave spirit stones to Xi Huai both times he apologised.

 What looked like a pitiful sum to them was indeed all that A-Jiu had.

Now that they've seen how poor Chi Muyao was, they began to wonder if A-Jiu had also been this poor for the past two years.

 Yi Qianxi hurried to explain, "It's not that our Yu Chong School is stingy with him. He's the Sect's accountant, he could buy one for himself, ah!"

Yu Yanshu patiently replied, "It's precisely because he's the accountant that he can't tamper with the accounts. If the rest of you don't say anything, he can't embezzle funds for personal use without authorisation."

Yi Qianxi pursed her lips. She too felt like they hadn't been generous enough with Chi Muyao. Perhaps it was time her shidi got a new artefact once they were back at the Sect. After all, they had earned quite a sum of spirit stones selling the parts of the Golden-Eyed Heavenly Wolf. 

Xi Huai frowned at the thought that Chi Muyao had to walk everywhere. He then asked, "Chi Muyao works in your Sect's Logistics Hall?"

"Our Sect doesn't have a Logistics Hall." Yi Qianxi was reluctant to talk to Xi Huai. "He manages the entire Sect." 

Xi Huai asked again, "Does your Yu Chong School practice the use of concealed weapons as well?"

Yi Qianxi rolled her eyes at Xi Huai. "We often use them to hit birds.”

Saying that, she gave Qiuqiu a look, causing the bird to jolt.

Xi Huai nodded. "Then could you demonstrate?"

Yi Qianxi was about to blow her top. "And why should I demonstrate anything?"

Yu Yanshu followed up, "Anyone who is skilled in the art of formations has methods to break the formation eye. He seems quite proficient at it."

 Because this could be explained, no one cared too much about how quickly Chi Muyao broke them. After all, he was someone who could make it to the ninth floor.

The rotating discs were making Song Weiyue dizzy. He had to ask, "What's he doing? Standing there for so long.”

"He's making calculations." Xi Huai replied calmly. 

"What's he calculating?"

"He's used to calculating all the possibilities before making a move. This way he can be sure it is the right one.”

"There are more than ten thousand stars out there, can he really account for them all? And even if he can, can he remember everything?"

"He can." Xi Huai knew that A-Jiu could.

Yu Yanshu also said, "He's not counting the stars one by one, but the changes of stars in a region, which he keeps in mind." 

Zong Sichen looked at him with a smile, "Then we should really take him back to Qing Ze Sect. I can write, he can count, and he can manage the Sect. Wouldn't that be great?" 

Song Weiyue said, "Pei. Would we still need you if we brought him back? How do you know he can't write?"

Zong Sichen: "..."

At the same time, a youth sitting on the stone steps made several calculations on his hand. Someone had entered the formation he set up.

His jellyfish-like hair was blown into the air by the wind, the bells tied to his hair making a crisp sound.

After observing for a while, he exclaimed, "Huh? He's the one breaking the formation? Hah... What a shame."