Chapter 631: Tournament 6
Jiang Han looked at the five tunnels with a thoughtful expression.
A moment later, he walked to the closest tunnel and began to examine it.
Similarly, Ying Si, Yu Jing, Tang Feng, and other formation masters also began to study the tunnels.
’The tunnel entrance is a formation with twenty-three nodes.’ Jiang Han thought and subconsciously frowned.
Ordinary level one formations had nine nodes.
Similarly, level two formations had eighteen nodes, twenty-seven nodes for level three formations, thirty-six for level four, and forty-five for level five.
Considering that, Jiang Han concluded the entrance formation was non-standard.
After all, twenty-three nodes were somewhere between a level two and a level three formation.
’It’s five nodes more than a level two formation but four nodes less than a level three formation. Considering that, is it a level two or level three formation?’ Jiang Han wondered.
However, he didn’t dwell on the tunnel entrance.
Instead, he moved to the next and began examining it.
Like the previous tunnel, this entrance formation was also non-standard.
With forty-nine nodes, it was neither a level five nor a level six formation.
’I think I am beginning to get the picture.’ He thought while walking to the third tunnel.
Thirty-two nodes.
Forty-one nodes.
Thirteen-nodes.
After checking all five tunnel entrances, Jiang Han couldn’t help but frown.
’None of the entrance formations are standard. I can’t decide whether to choose up or down.’ He thought.
With such thoughts, Jiang Han retreated to an empty corner, sat cross-legged, and began to meditate.
An hour later, he stood up and returned to the tunnel with twenty-three formation nodes.
’I need another criterion since I can’t use the number of formation nodes to decide.’ He thought.
While thinking, he used his spiritual sense to examine the nodes.
However, this time, he didn’t focus on quantity but quality.
From what Jiang Han knew, the nodes of high-level formations were more complex than those of low-level arrays.
Knowing that, he began to study node complexity.
Two hours later, he returned to his corner and sat cross-legged.
’I didn’t learn much from that.’ He thought.
Overall, each of the five formations had a mix of complex and simple nodes. With his current formation mastery, Jiang Han couldn’t tell what was what.
As a result, he couldn’t decide which formation was more complex than the other.
As Jiang Han was thinking, dozens of formation masters began to enter the tunnel.
Seeing this, Jiang Han narrowed his eyes in confusion.
’Did they discover something?’ He wondered, looking at the tunnels.
At a glance, the formation masters were entering the fifth tunnel.
The entrance formation on this tunnel had thirteen nodes and was likely a level one or level two formation.
However, Jiang Han was not convinced.
He always felt the solution wasn’t so easy.
’Am I complicating...’ He thought and an idea suddenly flashed in his mind.
"That’s it." He muttered, hurriedly stood up, and walked to the first tunnel.
As before, he used his spiritual sense to probe the tunnel entrance.
Soon after, his lips curled into a smile and he rushed to the next tunnel.
In this way, Jiang Han examined all five tunnels.
When he was done, he shook his head and burst into laughter.
’It didn’t need to be so complicated.’ He thought.
When arranging arrays, formation masters not only needed formation maps but also appropriate materials.
Two of the biggest considerations when choosing formation materials were element and qi flow.
This time, the solution was related to qi flow.
Using his spiritual sense, Jiang Han traced and felt the qi flow of the materials used to arrange the formations.
Consequently, he was able to accurately gauge the level of each entrance formation.
’The solution lies in the basics. Everything else is a distraction.’ Jiang Han thought, his eyes filled with admiration.
"As expected of cousin Jiang." He muttered before entering the fourth tunnel.
When he saw this, Ying Si couldn’t help but be surprised.
’The fourth entrance has forty-one formation nodes. It’s a level four, if not a level five formation. Is Jiang Han so talented?’ Ying Si couldn’t help but be confused.
However, he quickly suppressed his unease and continued his examination.
Half an hour later, he also entered the fourth entrance.
Following that, Yu Jing and Tang Feng also entered the fourth tunnel.
.....
When he entered the fourth formation, Ying Si expected to appear in a tunnel.
However, what he saw was a three-way fork.
"Another choice." He muttered in a frustrated voice.
Earth psychologists had many theories when it came to right-left choices.
According to the psychologists, in uncertain situations, people often chose based on their dominant hands. That is, right-handed people usually chose right-side roads while left-handed people preferred left-side roads.
Alternatively, when running, it was more natural to choose the left road than the right road.
At this time, Ying Si suddenly remembered these theories but wasn’t stupid enough to apply them.
Instead, he used his spiritual sense to probe the road ahead.
Unfortunately, his spiritual sense hit a wall on all three roads.
"Am I supposed to assess the situation using my natural senses?" He wondered and began looking around.
No matter how he assessed, he found nothing.
At a loss, Ying Si sat-cross legged and began to meditate.
’Could it be that it doesn’t matter which road I choose?’ He wondered.
After thinking about it, Ying Si felt this was the only explanation.
An incense stick later, he stood up, and directly walked onto the middle road.
Soon after, the road fork disappeared and Ying Si entered a room.
"This...?" His eyes widened in confusion but before he could figure it out, his mind went blank.
When he came to, Ying Si was in pain and his heart was filled with grief.
"How could the boss die? How could something like this happen?" He muttered, tears streaming from his eyes.
Beside him, the other Ying guards were also crying.
They all felt like their world had suddenly crumbled and their belief had shattered.
"Boss." Ying Si cried, unable to extricate himself from his emotions.
However, even as he cried, something tagged at the back of his mind.
’Why am I crying in public?’ He wondered.
’Why is Ying Wu crying? This girl is as hard as nails. She wouldn’t cry when something like this happens. Instead, she would pick a fight and beat people like a madman.’
’What about Ying Yi? How can he cry? Rather than cry, he should be investigating the accident scene. How dare he cry without confirming the true circumstances of the accident?’
’What is going on here?’ Ying Si frowned.
The more he observed his fellows, the more he felt something was wrong.
Excluding Ying San, none of the Ying guards would cry in public.
Considering that, why had they gathered to cry together?
’This isn’t right.’ Ying Si shook his head, trying to clear the haze in his mind.
At the same time, he recalled the mind-clearing mantra he read in the library.
Without delay, Ying Yi sat cross legged and began to meditate while silently reciting the mantra.
When he next opened his eyes, Ying Si was alone and the Ying guards were nowhere to be seen.
"Illusion formation." He immediately realised.
At the same time, he took out his formation compass and formation-breaking bamboo slips.
Three hours later, Ying Si escaped the illusion formation and reappeared at another fork.
As before, he used his spiritual sense to check the roads but nothing could be investigated.
With a sigh, Ying Si chose the right road.
This time, Ying Si didn’t enter an illusion formation.
Instead, he entered a world of lightning.
As soon as he entered the world, a lightning bolt fell from the sky.
"Ten thousand lightning formation." Ying Si gritted his teeth, retreating to the side.
Unfortunately, the lightning had a lock on him.
Wherever he moved, the lightning followed and Ying Si couldn’t escape it.
In the end, he had no choice but to release his shield to block the lightning bolt.
"I need to quickly find a safe node." He muttered while recalling everything he knew about the ten thousand lightning formation.
"It only has one safe node." He said through gritted teeth, his eyes darting all over the place.
Half an hour later, Ying Si dragged his badly burned body to the only safe node.
Once there, breaking the formation was easy and barely an incense stick later, Ying Si found himself at another fork.
However, this time, Ying Si didn’t rush to choose a road.
Instead, he sat cross-legged and began to heal.
Only after his body healed did he pick a road and enter the next formation.
This time, the situation was a little different.
Although the array was the offence-type fire rain formation, its power was greatly reduced.
Seeing this, Ying Si was relieved but didn’t dare to linger.
With escape in mind, he began searching for a safe node and soon found it.
However, breaking the formation wasn’t as straightforward as he expected.
