Hu!

The steps were eroding and the formations were collapsing. Before the other examinees could process what was going on, they suddenly felt the ground beneath them vanishing, and 'putong!', 'putong!', all of them fell to the ground, creating huge depressions beneath them.

Opening their eyes, they scanned their surroundings with a dazed look, unsure of what was going on.

We are only here to take the formation master examination. Can anyone tell us.. what in the world is going on?

"King of Destruction, you must compensate our Steps of Formations!"

"If you can't fix it well, don't even dream of leaving!"

"You bastard, I'll kill you!"

"Elder Su, don't get reckless. You won't be able to defeat him.."

Elder Su and the others felt burning rage gushing into their minds, and they immediately sealed the surrounding space as they stared at the young man in the sky with hatred burning in their eyes.

The Steps of Formations had been in the Sanctum of Sages since time immemorial. Countless geniuses had been assessed by it, but never had any problem cropped up before. Yet, it was reduced to rubble as soon as that fellow came!

How could they possibly not be burning with rage?

"I.."

The King of Destruction also didn't seem to know what was going on either. With a dazed look on his face, he looked down at the collapsed staircase beneath him, as if still trying to figure out what had just happened.

"I really didn't do it on purpose.. Could it be that the quality of the Steps of Formations is made out of inferior materials?" the King of Destruction asked with a helpless shrug.

"Inferior your sister 1 !" Unable to take it any longer, Elder Su roared in anger.

You said that it was made out of inferior materials?

So many people had challenged it, but it was still able to remain standing across all those years. Yet, as soon as you came, it ended up collapsing.. How can you have the cheek to say it's made out of inferior materials?

"Su Bing, I have warned you before. Don't you dare insult my sister.." Upon hearing the cursing, the King of Destruction's face immediately darkened as a threatening glint emerged in his narrowed eyes. A hint of killing intent emanated from him.

Hong long!

In the blink of an eye, the figure in the sky had already appeared right before Elder Su.

Alarmed, Elder Su raised his hand to receive the King of Destruction's attack in a fluster, but before he could make it in time, he already felt a sharp pain in his chest. A foot had struck him squarely.

Peng!

While spurting blood in mid-air, he crashed right into a wall not too far away and created yet another massive hole in his wake.

"That fellow is strong.." Zhang Xuan's lower jaw fell in astonishment.

Elder Su's true strength was at Saint 7-dan at the very minimum, and yet, he was still unable to withstand a single strike from the King of Destruction.. It seemed like despite the young age of the King of Destruction, the strength that he wielded was not to be underestimated!

What was particularly impressive was the speed he traversed from the sky to Elder Su at. It was as if he had stepped right through space, achieving a speed that was on par with his Unbounded Voyager!

"Calm down, calm down! Su Bing didn't do it intentionally.. It's just out of a moment of rage that he misspoke.." Seeing that one of their companions had been sent flying with a kick, the other elders glanced at one another in shock for a moment before hurriedly rushing up to placate the King of Destruction, fearing that the young man would fly into a rage once more.

"I told you before. Criticize me if you want, but never ever insult my sister. If I were to hear a single word regarding my sister coming out from your mouth.." the young man said as he glared coldly at the elders standing before him.

Facing the young man's menacing gaze, the lips of the elders twitched in fear.

"Y-yes.. Old Su, what are you waiting for? Get over here and apologize!" one of them turned around and bellowed.

"Cough cough!" Climbing up from the rubble with difficulty, Elder Su spurted a mouthful of blood upon hearing those words. With a tearfully indignant expression, he walked forward, clasped his fist, and said, "I apologize for my previous faux pas, and I seek your forgiveness for the matter.."

To be sent into the wall twice in a single day..

What the heck is this!

Hearing Elder Su's apology, the coldness on the King of Destruction's face finally alleviated, and he nodded in satisfaction, "That's more like it. You better take note of it in the future, alright?"

"Ah.." Zhang Xuan and Chen Leyao glanced at one another in utter shock.

No words could describe what they were feeling at this moment.

Too arrogant!

That fellow had turned the examination ground to rubble, and yet, when one of the elders reprimanded him for the matter, he actually just rushed forward to beat him up..

It was in this moment that a seed of doubt was planted in Zhang Xuan's mind—Had I actually been too amiable in the past?

Admittedly, he did cause quite a bit of destruction in the past, but he would always try to make up with it by offering all kinds of compensation, sometimes even offering to repair it back to perfection. On the other hand, the young man in front of him was completely unreasonable, not even bothering to apologize for what he had done!

So what if I destroyed it?

Just try criticizing me, and I'll make you crawl all over the ground, searching for your fallen teeth!

"Alright. There's no need to give me a gift or anything of that sort as an apology. I am a rather casual person, and I don't like to cause excessive trouble either." the King of Destruction waved his hand leisurely.

Those words left the elders of the Formation Master Guild branch nearly collapsing to the ground.

We are only apologizing to you.. Who in the world is going to give you a gift?

Furthermore, casual? Don't like to cause excessive trouble?

At the rate you are going, even killing all of us here would be a trivial matter to you, right?

"Is that how it's supposed to go?" Overwhelmed with shock, this was the only thing that was on Zhang Xuan's mind at this moment.

It was no wonder why the other party was called the King of Destruction, he was indeed vicious!

Compared to the other party, he was truly lacking. There was really no ground for comparison between the both of them.

"Regarding the Steps of Formations.." With faces reddened in indignation, Elder Su and the others couldn't stand it any longer, and they pointed to the rubble on the ground.

"Don't bother with words of apology or that sort anymore. What's more important right now is that I haven't finished by 8-star formation master examination yet. You all should hurry up and find a way to repair it first." the King of Destruction interjected.

"This.." The crowd was stifled speechless by those words.

Even Zhang Xuan was left in a state of shock.

Was it really fine for one to be that shameless?

It was one thing not to offer any compensation after destroying the other party's property, but to pummel the other party up and even demand it to be fixed as soon as possible.. Really, did that fellow have no sense of shame?

"It seems like I'm still thin-skinned as compared to him!" Zhang Xuan thought in embarrassment.

All those who had chased after me due to the destruction I have caused, did you see that?

That's the real King of Destruction standing right there!

What I did can only be considered as a small disturbance at the very most, not even worth a mention!

"The Steps of Formations was constructed by eight 9-star formation masters dispatched by the headquarters, and they took three months in total before they finished building it. Our strength isn't sufficient to repair it." Elder Su said with a reddened face.

9-star formation masters were basically capable of creating any formations beneath grade-9 in an instant. However, to compress a formation into the size of a single step, and have it trigger immediately as soon as someone came into contact with it so as to assess him.. That was definitely no easy task.

Even formation masters of their rank would need to take a fair bit of time before they could pull off something like that.

"You aren't able to repair it? But I need to clear the formation master examination as soon as possible. I don't have much time to waste!" the King of Destruction frowned in anger.

"Actually, there's no need for you to worry. We have all seen that the circumstances of the examination earlier, and you have already reached the 79th step, just a step away from reaching the 80th. That is sufficient to show that your prowess is already on par with 8-star formation masters. We can help you apply for an 8-star emblem straight so that you don't have to take the examination anymore!" At this point, Elder Su didn't even want to argue with the King of Destruction anymore. All he wanted to do was to send the other party away as quickly as possible.

It was already bad enough for it to be destroyed once. If they were to allow that fellow to challenge it once again after it was repaired, who knew what would happen the next time around? Since that was the case, they might as well just clear the fellow and send him on his way.

In any case, given the previous circumstances, it was apparent that he was about to reach the 80th step when the Steps of Formations abruptly collapsed. Thus, in a sense, they weren't compromising on the examination either.

"You want to apply for an 8-star emblem for me?" the King of Destruction was taken aback. "How can that do? I always seek to clear my examinations with my own ability. Such shortcuts just aren't for me! Besides, formations have always been my greatest weakness, and since I'm already taking the examination, I should use it as an opportunity to temper my skills too.. I don't need you to apply the emblem for me!"

".."

Elder Su and the others clawed at their hair.

Are you done yet?

We have already admitted defeat, even offering to give the emblem right into your hands, so why are you still rejecting it.. Will you only be content after you have driven all of us mad?

"This.. Elder Su, may I interject for a bit?" Seeing how the atmosphere had turned awkward, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but step forward to interject.

"Zhang shi, feel free to speak!" Elder Su clasped his fist.

Zhang Xuan had also destroyed the hall earlier on, but compared to the King of Destruction, the other party still felt pure like an innocent, white lily. Furthermore, after what the King of Destruction had done, the contrast between the both of them made him feel that Zhang Xuan's character was actually not too bad.

"Is it impossible to take the examination now that the Steps of Formations have collapsed?" Zhang Xuan asked.

Actually, this was what he was more concerned about.

He needed to clear the 8-star formation master examination as soon as possible so that he could access the grade-8 formation books. This way, he would finally be able to meet the disciple that he hadn't meet for a very long time.. Would the collapse of the Steps of Formations mean that his plans were going to fall through?

"This.." A conflicted look surfaced on Elder Su's face. "Actually, it's not that there's no other way to conduct the examination, but the time required might be a little longer.."

"Oh? What's the other way?" Zhang Xuan's eyes lit up.

"We can make an application to the headquarters right now and have them send over a brand new formation blueprint over. The examinee will start studying it on the spot and attempt to set it up. As long as the examinee succeeds, and the tier of the formation meets the mark, he would be considered to have cleared the examination.." Elder Su paused for a moment before saying.

In truth, this was the most direct manner to assess a formation master. However, having a 7-star pinnacle formation master set up a grade-8 formation would require at least several months of effort. Due to how exhausting and lengthy the examination was, as well as the great number of examinees that challenged the formation master examination each year, such an ineffective method had been gradually eliminated with time.

"In order for a formation to display its true prowess, one would have to harmonize it together with the surrounding environment, and considering the complexity of a grade-8 formation, it would indeed be far more time-consuming." Zhang Xuan nodded.

"However, I'm willing to undergo this examination!"

It was true that most 7-star formation masters would take a very long time to set up a basic grade-8 formation, but Zhang Xuan was different. With just a sweep of his Eye of Insight, he would be able to determine the ideal locations where he should plant the formation flags at. Even if that didn't work, he still had the Library of Heaven's Path to fall back on.

As such, setting up a basic grade-8 formation could be said to be a walk in the park for him.

"Since there's such a method as well, I want to take the examination too!" Before Elder Su could reply to Zhang Xuan's remark, the King of Destruction had already spoken up once more.

"You wish to take the examination too?" Hearing that the King of Destruction was going to continue with the examination, everyone shuddered in fear.

"That's right!" the King of Destruction nodded affirmatively.

Seeing the frightened look on the faces of the elders, Zhang Xuan couldn't help but step in, "This friend over here. Actually, since Elder Su and the others are going to apply for an emblem for you, there's really no need for you to take the examination anymore. Why do you want to go through so much trouble?"

Since that fellow could already obtain the 8-star formation master emblem, why in the world was he being so troublesome here?

"Having an emblem applied for one is like being taken pity upon. I don't need anyone's pity!" the King of Destruction harrumphed coldly.

"Since the Formation Master Guild is willing to give the emblem out to you, it shows that they have already acknowledged you. Since that's the case, how can that be considered as pity?"

At this point, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist and took out his emblem. "Look, this formation emblem I have over here was applied for me by Guild Leader Han of the Qingyuan Empire Formation Master Guild. I didn't even attend the examination!"

"This.." The King of Destruction frowned in dilemma. "It should be hard to get an emblem applied for one, right?"

To be able to have one's emblem directly applied for one was definitely no easy task. If the other party was able to get the head of a Formation Master Guild to do it for him, could it mean that the other party was an incredible genius as well, just like him?

"You're right. It's really, really hard to obtain one's emblem through application. After all, how often do you see a person obtaining his emblem through application?" With a deep sigh, Zhang Xuan flicked his wrist, and a whole string of emblems appeared before him.

"But well, what can I say.. my 7-star demonic tunist emblem—applied. 7-star apothecary emblem—applied. 7-star painter emblem—applied. 7-star terpsichore emblem—applied. 7-star appraiser emblem—applied. 7-star physician emblem—applied.."

".." King of Destruction.

".." The elders.

".." Chen Leyao.