Tu Shi Cheng

He teaches that formation path is one of the longest standing paths, created in the same era as qi path and wisdom path, and that Gu formations can use Gu of many other paths, which makes formation path the most complex. Fang Yuan places the dream in the Late Antiquity Era because Spectral Soul has not been mentioned yet. Tu Shi Cheng gives his son formation heart Gu, a rank one Gu, then demands an immediate Gu formation from four mortal Gu, insisting the boy rely on feeling with only one chance. ^{ch. 1323}

Although he is the dream boy’s father, Fang Yuan finds him completely unreliable as a teacher. He says at least two of the Gu must be used to set a formation, then cuts thinking time to three breaths and urges the boy to rely on feelings. When the attempt fails he says the boy has failed and truly disappoints him. ^{ch. 1324}

After early failure and renewed attempts, he laughs when the formation succeeds and praises natural talent for formation path. He then cages his son with a panther and gives five minutes to arrange Gu into a formation, saying he will not intervene and that failure means the boy is not worthy to be his son. Fang Yuan reads him as looking like a righteous path Gu Immortal whose heartlessness may be meant to force potential out. ^{ch. 1325}

After the panther test he laughs with madness, keeps the training going, and warns of a stricter life-and-death test in a month. He takes Fang Yuan to Southern Border’s red dragon river and throws him in with borrowed Gu to construct a formation alone. ^{ch. 1326}

The dream’s main content is this brutal teaching style that uses survival to stimulate potential. ^{ch. 1327}

When Fang Yuan reads that the super Gu formation’s second layer is built on the four elements concept, he recalls that he himself found Tu Shi Cheng’s training of his son in the formation path dream realm quite traumatic. ^{ch. 1356}