[Year fourteen, age thirty-three.]

[Drawing traits...]

[Drawing successful!]

["Voice Left at Home" (White Common): Your speaking voice is so low that others can barely hear you.]

[Adjust traits?]

[Yes/No]

[You chose No and cursed under your breath.]

[Under the alias Chen Dong, with a cultivation level that outsiders assumed was the Golden Body Realm, you joined the Formation Dao lineage of the Free and Unfettered Holy Land's Nine Palaces Island.]

[Before the finals could begin, all candidates had at least ten years to work hard and raise their cultivation levels.]

[The finals didn't care about what realm you were in; everyone had to compete on the same stage.]

[But you didn't need to work too hard.]

[All you had to do was gradually release the aura of a higher realm.]

[Of course, you didn't slack off on your own Spirit Condensation Realm cultivation either.]

[You just didn't need to spend too much time on it; after all, you basically relied on popping pills.]

[You used the extra time to study the path of formations and the way of faith.]

[The way of faith was profound and unfathomable, leaving you completely confused.]

[The path of formations, bolstered by the effects of your traits, advanced rapidly, changing with each passing day.]

[Add to that the rotating instruction from a host of Formation Masters on Nine Palaces Island, and your formation skills were gradually approaching master-level.]

[Formations were also divided into five grades: Low, Medium, High, Earth, and Heaven.]

[Whatever grade of formation you could set was the grade of Formation Master you were.]

[By now, your skill level had reached the Earth-Grade Formation Master tier.]

[However, because your true master was Old Shen's thirty thousand years of research, which included many long-lost ancient formation secrets, many of your insights into the Formation Dao were considered highly beneficial, even by the Heaven-Grade Formation Masters on Nine Palaces Island.]

["So-called Formation Dao is about 'channeling the power of heaven and earth.' I used to think that was just one school of thought, but seeing you demonstrate it like this, I now feel that this is the very origin of formations!"]

[Exclamations like this often popped up during the lessons taught by your Formation Master teachers.]

[Even though you were the student, these teachers frequently learned something from your offhand insights, finding it truly miraculous.]

[Needless to say, the old fogies of Nine Palaces Island had realized they had a prodigy on their hands!]

["It seems Nine Palaces Island finally has a worthy successor. Perhaps Chen Dong has the potential to become an Immortal-Grade Formation Master in the future, stepping into a realm we could never hope to reach!"]

["Truly a blessing for our Nine Palaces Island! In recent years, the geniuses who joined the Holy Land have favored the Nine Martial Arts lineages. The Nine Dao are hard to learn and few visit them, especially our Formation Dao, which is the most esoteric and has almost no new blood coming in!"]

["This is wonderful! With Chen Dong, Nine Palaces Island will thrive for the next hundred years! We must support him in becoming a Saint. When he breaks through to the Martial King Realm, his lifespan will be much longer, and Nine Palaces Island can prosper for even longer!"]

[Now, everyone up and down Nine Palaces Island treated you like a treasure.]

[Not only were you a genius in formations, but you were also no slouch in martial arts.]

[The elders on the island scoured for treasures and secret techniques to help you raise your cultivation, terrified that you might never reach the Martial King Realm in this lifetime.]

["Actually, I've always had one small wish since joining the Free and Unfettered Holy Land."]

[Upon hearing you had a wish, over a dozen old men with immense authority and an immortal air surrounded you.]

["Speak your mind, beloved disciple! Though Nine Palaces Island may not be favored by young disciples, the Formation Dao is crucial for refining artifacts, alchemy, protecting the mountain, and many other things! We old geezers still have some pull within the Holy Land."]

["It's nothing major, really. I want to meet the Free and Unfettered God. I heard he is the Martial God of this era, and I've admired him for a long time."]

[The old men stroked their beards and roared with laughter.]

["This matter... is both difficult and simple."]

["What do you mean by that?"]

["Do you know how many years the Free and Unfettered God has been alive?"]

["I've heard from some senior brothers and sisters that it's over ten thousand years."]

["The theoretical lifespan of the Martial God Realm is one thousand years. How can he live for ten thousand?"]

["I assume there must be some secret technique?"]

["No. It's a secret treasure!"]

[The masters of Nine Palaces Island told you that the Free and Unfettered God had once stumbled upon a treasure he called the "Time Room."]

[This object was truly miraculous.]

[If a person stayed in the Time Room for one day, a year would pass in the outside world!]

["That amazing?"]

["Indeed. However, only the Free and Unfettered God himself can use this room. Entering it is useless for anyone else."]

[You understood. The Free and Unfettered God used the "Time Room" to bridge such a long span of years.]

[To the people of the Holy Land, he was mostly absent without a trace, but every so often, he would emerge to preside over major events.]

[For instance, the canonization ceremony for Saints and Saintesses.]

["If you want to see the Free and Unfettered God now, no one can invite him out for you, because he's inside the Time Room, completely cut off from the outside world. But if you become a Saint, he will come to you on his own. He will also use the 'Divine Enlightenment Method' to help you break through to the Martial King Realm. This is what has been circulating outside: that the Holy Lands have a 'stable method to break through to the Martial King Realm.' In truth, where is there a 'stable method'? It's simply because there is a Martial God at his peak state."]

["Thank you, masters, for telling me this."]

["Hahaha! It's nothing, nothing! My dear disciple, have you had any new insights recently? Come, share them with your masters so we can ponder them together?"]

[Year fifteen, age thirty-four.]

[Drawing traits...]

[Drawing successful!]

["Seven Captures of Meng Huo" (White Common): When you wear women's clothing, you are more womanly than a woman. Every other man who sees you will forget that they had previously discovered you were a man.]

[Adjust traits?]

[Yes/No]

[You chose No and cursed even more foully.]

[Life on Nine Palaces Island was very comfortable for you.] 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

[Not only did your Formation Dao progress by leaps and bounds, but your martial cultivation also soared thanks to the old men's help.]

[By now, you had stepped into the Ninth Level of the Spirit Condensation Realm.]

[On the other side of things, Long Yang, who had chosen the Nine Palaces Island lineage with you, was having a miserable time of it.]

[He couldn't learn formations, and his martial arts were suffering too.]

[The masters of Nine Palaces Island didn't treat his so-called Heaven-Grade Bone Structure or special physique as anything precious.]

[So what?]

[The Holy Land had them in spades!]

[In the eyes of the Nine Palaces Island masters, anyone who couldn't learn formations was a waste, so don't bring up their martial arts talent.]

["If you're too stupid to learn the 'Basic Introduction to Formations' in two years, then you're simply hopeless! Look at Chen Dong! He's almost in the ranks of Heaven-Grade Formation Masters!"]

[The masters scolded Long Yang without mercy, constantly comparing him to you, the "model student," leaving him utterly humiliated.]

[Long Yang would often kneel by the seaside, crying out to the heavens in despair.]

["A woman fears marrying the wrong man, but a man fears joining the wrong profession!"]

[Luckily, the Holy Land allowed for a "change of major."]

[After hearing about Long Yang's situation, the Divine Sword Island, with its sword lineage, sent two Martial King Realm masters who offered to take Long Yang to Divine Sword Island.]

["Thank you, seniors, for your life-changing kindness! Long Yang is eternally grateful!"]