I am the Magus Immortal Book 1: Divine Lotus Sect

Side Story: Valley of Spells

A few months after he entered the sect and before he went to the spirit valley, little Xi decided to test himself on a trial by fire set by the formations peak. He thought the best way to understand eastern magic diagrams would be to physically study them and not just read about them. He just reached level three by this point and thus qualify for the test.

The test was located in the valley of spells behind the formations peak. The valley had three regions in total with differing types of tests, the last of which is a special place that only those who had special permission can enter.

For the first region a disciple who wishes to do the test just needs to unravel the formations on the entrance of the valley. As one goes deeper the formations become harder.

After unravelling and passing one formation it will automatically reform for the next test taker. The main goal for the first region is to get to the next region where the rewards can be found. However actually passing through the first region is pretty hard.

It is a kilometer in total with a diagram every meter, that is a thousand of diagrams total, each harder than the next. Even ordinary advanced class disciples can only pass five hundred meters at most if they stayed at the valley for long periods of time.

After a thousand meters is the second region. The second region is actually a huge diagram array on itself. It creates a space within that is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.

It is one of the more mysterious areas within the sect along with the Alchemy Garden of the medicine peak and the Flame Caves of the Artifice peak.

In the second region are different paths. Each path is riddled with formations a test taker unravels. It is believed that once all the formations of their chosen path is unravelled the test taker will receive a direct transmission and be able to learn a powerful formation spell.

This is why it's called the valley of spells. It is another way to learn formations aside from using points. However even passing the first region is quite hard. How much more the second region.

It is believed that only inner court disciples and those truly amazing advanced disciples were able to obtain a formation spell from the second region.

As it is still early in the year only a few disciples can be seen on the valley. Little Xi has casted an illusion charm on himself making him look like a teenager with forgettable common features.

When he stepped into the valley those who were there only spared him a glance and then totally ignored him. He had read a few scrolls in the scriptures pavilion, however even he knows that wouldn't be enough for him to advance even ten meters inside the valley.

What he has is his extreme sensitivity and control over energy, so he can easily see the core diagrams of these formations. Along with the memories in his mind he is able to easily comprehend each stroke and symbol of any diagram formation he will see, as long as he spends enough time that is.

The first diagram was quite simple. It was only a barrier type formation and he was able to easily see its structure. He was also familiar with the symbols from what he had read in the scriptures pavilion. The next one was a simple defensive formation and he also easily unravelled it. He continued to unravel each diagram after studying them a bit noting the different functions of the symbols and their interaction with each other depending on the type of diagram they are used.

Some of them are new to him which he took special care to understand. He can easily dismantle them after identifying the weak point but he was there to learn, and so he did.

As he advanced to the twentieth meter the formation became more difficult and symbols he was not familiar with started appearing. However, after understanding the structure and relationship of each symbols with how the energy interacted with the formation, he was able to easily deduce the functions of each new symbol. Thus he learned more about the basics of eastern magic as he advanced further in.