Let alone the fact that a guest elder of the Yan Clan was already humiliated outside. However, this most probably wouldn't affect anything. Their reputation wasn't built up in a single day but through the accumulation of the years. Since Di Tian wanted to challenge them, let's see how capable he was then.
There were some serving girls who went to the entrance to lead the spectators in. This caused many in the crowd to praise the Yan Clan. As expected of an aristocrat clan, they did things in style, they didn't even care when the crowd wanted to spectate.
Although Grandmaster Di Tian had a very high attainment in the dao of formations, he still ultimately couldn't compare to the Yan Clan, right? Now, they only wanted to see how far his strength could carry him.
As an aristocrat clan specializing in formations, the Yan Clan naturally had a vast training ground for establishing formations. Spectator stands could be seen in all directions and right in the center, numerous platforms could be seen. For the internal competition of the Yan Clan, the competition was held here as well. Right now, they led Di Tian and the spectators here.
The person in charge of receiving Di Tian was an elder named Yan Zhong. He was very powerful and had a cultivation base at the peak-phase of the mid-stage. He was only a step away from the peak-stage of the immortal emperor realm. In addition, he had very high attainments in the dao of formations. This was why he could become an elder. Right now, he was sitting in the host seat and there were several other immortal emperors beside him. There were also some guest elders, as well as the Yan Clan's juniors. All of them were now looking at the masked figure in black.
"This person came here to challenge our Yan Clan, but the elder actually personally received him. From my perspective, it would be enough if we get someone else to toss him out." A very young female junior spoke unhappily. Given the status of their Yan Clan, when had an unaffiliated grandmaster ever been so arrogant to challenge them before? She felt that by sending out an elder to receive the challenger, it was actually a blow to their Yan Clan's prestige.
"What do you know? This is considered a show of force. Since he came here to challenge our Yan Clan, we shall show everyone how foolish his decision is." A relatively handsome young man who was standing at her side, spoke.
These juniors sat together, discussing in low voices. Those elders also didn't care about them, allowing the juniors to do what they wanted.
"Grandmaster Di, I wonder what is your purpose for coming to my Yan Clan today?" Yan Zhong glanced at Di Tian, asking the question despite knowing the answer in his heart.
"I heard that the Yan Clan is an aristocrat clan specializing in the dao of formations. I admire your expertise and hence, came by to seek guidance, wishing to take a look at how profound the Yan Clan's formations are." Di Tian calmly spoke, yet his tone contained a faint hint of coldness. Everyone knew that he came here to challenge them, why would there be a need to be overly polite? Yan Zhong was merely feigning civility or he wouldn't have arranged for Grandmaster Mao to obstruct him at the Yan Clan's entrance.
This was naturally unavoidable. If Di Tian couldn't even pass that test, it meant that he didn't even have the qualifications for the Yan Clan to feign civility towards him.
"Grandmaster Di, how do you want this challenge to be?" Yan Zhong asked.
"Formation Breaking, Martial Formation, Battle formation." Di Tian calmly replied, his words causing the eyes of everyone to gleam with sharpness. For contending against each other in the dao of formations, there were three methods and they were all listed out by Di Tian.
Formation Breaking was the same as what occurred outside the Yan Clan. Two grandmasters would set up their formations and they would then mutually try to break each other's formations.
Martial Formation was a type of warring formation, and the experts would directly spar against each other. However, during the sparring process, they were only permitted to borrow power from their respective formation and the usage of innate techniques and arts were forbidden.
Battle Formation was also a type of warring formation, but it was slightly different. The two grandmasters would first set up their formations and entered it for the sake of controlling it. The purpose was to see which of the two formations were stronger.
Out of all three methods, the requirements for the martial formations are in fact the highest. Ordinary grandmasters wouldn't be able to achieve the borrowing of power from their formations during sparring. One had to establish the formations they wanted with a single thought, this was something ordinary grandmasters couldn't do.
Di Tian came here for a challenge and directly listed out the three methods. From this, one could see that his attainments in the dao of formations were pretty deep and he could be considered skilled in all aspects. Just his earlier words alone were enough to cause the expressions of many to turn solemn. Seems like Grandmaster Di came here prepared.
Yan Zhong's gaze also turned slightly heavy as he cast a deep glance at Qin Wentian. This mysterious grandmaster didn't seem to be simple. They had to be serious about this challenge or if they really lost it, the prestige of the Yan Clan would sweep the ground. Everyone would feel that the Yan Clan was no longer as powerful as before.
"Since Grandmaster Di is so keen on this, we will naturally oblige." Yan Zhong replied. The other party has already listed out the ways he wanted the challenge so clearly, how could the Yan Clan reject it? That would be tantamount of dodging the battle if they really rejected it.
"It's just that our experts from the Yan Clan are each proficient in different aspects. Hence, for the three rounds of challenges, we would need to send up three different experts. If you want us to find a grandmaster that's proficient in all aspects, there's no problem as well. We will have to invite peak-stage grandmasters to act then and this wouldn't be fair to Grandmaster Di Tian. What do you think?" Yan Zhong asked. These words were somewhat shameless. After all, Di Tian was just alone and the Yan Aristocrat Clan was actually prepared to send out three different experts to deal with him.
However, Yan Zhong could be considered honest. He said that it wasn't that the Yan Clan doesn't have a grandmaster who is skilled in all aspects. They did have some, but these grandmasters were too powerful and would be considered as bullying Di Tian if they showed up for the challenge.
"Anything." Di Tian calmly responded, he didn't care at all. His casual words actually caused everyone to feel that the Yan Clan was too petty.
"Right. Grandmaster Di Tian, you are at the initial-stage of the immortal emperor realm. However, formations are different from the martial path. Hence, there's a possibility that the grandmasters we sent out might have a higher cultivation base than yours." Yan Zhong spoke, many people silently cursed at how unimposing the Yan Clan was. Although formations were different from the martial path, but the grand dao unites everything. Usually, the stronger someone was, the greater the power their formations would have.
Di Tian was just one man, it was fine even if the Yan Clan sent out three experts to deal with him, but they even wanted the cultivation base of the people they sent out to be higher? In that case, wouldn't this challenge be unfair?
However, the three challenges were suggested by Di Tian and the Yan Clan clearly didn't want to lose. Hence, although Yan Zhong knew that others would gossip about them, he still chose to do so for the sake of victory. After all, the victors would always be kings while the losers would be vilified. As long as their Yan Clan could crush Di Tian with an overwhelming advantage, no one would mention anything about this, they would only know that the formations of the Yan Clan were so powerful that they can stand up to all challenges.
"Up to you." Di Tian calmly replied, seemingly extremely confident. The pride he had in himself was unable to be masked.
"Fine. In that case, the order of the three challenges will be set by Grandmaster Di Tian then." Yan Zhong acted politely as he spoke, causing many to snort silently in disdain.
"Let the first round be formation breaking then." Di Tian spoke. Yan Zhong nodded, he then turned his gaze towards an old man at the side. That old man radiated an extremely sharp aura, akin to an unsheathed sword. He directly soared through the air and landed on a platform.
"Please." The old man stared at Di Tian.
Di Tian stood up and stepped forward, arriving at the platform in front of the old man.
"Let's get started." Di Tian spoke. In an instant, resplendent astral light cascaded down from the sky. He stomped on the ground as numerous divine inscriptions flashed, interweaving with each other, forming a diagram that directly engulfed the platform. Within, constant rumbling sounds rang out. No one could see clearly how Di Tian inscribed his formations. Even immortal senses were unable to penetrate the diagram.
The old man in front of Di Tian was engraving his formation as well. His formation was a killing-type one. Since the first challenge was for formation breaking, this meant that Di Tian had to break his formation. By setting up a killing formation, the meaning was clear. If Di Tian was killed while in the midst of the challenge, even the governor's manor could not do anything. This was a challenge that both sides agreed to.
If he died, there was naturally no need for the other two rounds.
Everyone quietly waited. After some time, the diagram vanished and Di Tian appeared, quietly standing on the platform. The old man had finished setting up his formation too. A fearsome sharpness containing slaughter energy could be clearly sensed radiating from it.
"Please." The old man spoke to Di Tian.
"Please." Di Tian replied. After that, the two of them stepped out, moving towards their opponent's formation. Since it was formation breaking, both would naturally carry it out at the same time. If the two of them had the ability to break each other's formation, they would then compete on who could do that the fastest.
However for the formation breaking battle, the old man from the Yan Clan would surely possess the advantage. After all, his cultivation base was at the mid-stage, higher than Di Tian.
But, would Di Tian care about such an advantage?
Di Tian came to the old man's platform. When he saw the destructive energy here, his eyes flashed with coldness. He then stretched out his hand as the heavenly hammer appeared once more, continuously expanding in size. With no hesitation, Di Tian directly flew into the air as his hammer smashed down.
Emperor light flashed as the slaughter energy gushed forth, enveloping everything. The slaughter energy transformed into a tight net of slaughter, wanting to envelop Di Tian within.
A moment later, everyone only saw a terrifying runic diagram manifest from the heavenly hammer. A wave of suppressive energy gushed forth, clashing against the destructive might, creating thunderous rumbling sounds that echoed through the area.
Di Tian's movements didn't cease. He continued to lift the heavenly hammer and smash down once more.
Upon seeing this scene, the expression of the old man from the Yan Clan changed, understanding that this formation was impossible to obstruct Di Tian. Hence, he directly entered Di Tian's formation and an instant later, terrifying waves of sword might bore down on everything as a thick killing intent permeated the atmosphere.
"Swish, swish, swish~" The sword formation inscribed by Di Tian seemed to have been angered. Countless swords blotted out the sky and when the old man inclined his head, he actually discovered that he had no way to sense any of the heavenly laws. His expression couldn't help but to turn heavy. This entire platform had been sealed off from the world. His fate was determined the moment he set foot within.
"BOOM!" On the other platform, Di Tian's hammer continued smashing downwards. With every smash, the destructive might would be diminished and suppressed.
The situations on the two platforms were drastically different!