ATG: Formation Master c31

Yun Che walked around for a bit. He picked up from people's discussions about what was happening.

The people are celebrating Blue Wind's victory over the Divine Phoenix Empire. The smallest Empire has crushed the biggest continent superpower and tripled its territory. On top of that, the victory was so bad for the Phoenix Empire that they offered their only princess in a personal union.

“...That is something I didn’t expect to hear when I return to civilisation.” He commented as he continued to walk.

“To beat an empire that had Phoenix blood is not easy. I wonder who this Formation Prince is.” His Master commented. She had heard of this Formation Prince in Floating Cloud City, Cyan Wood Town, and now even more in New Moon City.

After that, he arrived at a junction, in the middle of which was a large statue.

“Well, you can see it, can you?” He commented with an eye roll. Before them was a statue of Cang Long, the Eighth Prince, the Crown Prince, and the Formation Prince.

Even now, carvers were working on improving it, adding another title while blue-robed people made hand motions as if chanting something.

“What is that?’ She was surprised as a crimson blur left him, floated over, and began inspecting these people.

She watched how these men were creating symbols with their profound energy and sending them into the statue.

‘How are they able to make so many intents? Solid enough to maintain symbols, potent enough to maintain a solid formation without materials?’ 

If this is true… if they can do this at a big enough scale… then it's no wonder they can beat Phoenix Empire.

If they are creative enough, no godly legacy could resist.

Even hers… all he needs is a wisp of her Profound energy, and he could seal away her power, suppress her legacy, even seal away her power.

That is, if she is not overthinking.

“C’mon, Jasmine, we need to find this Profound Palace.” Yun Che got closer.

“...Yes, let’s go.”  She didn’t argue for the disrespect; her mind was far away, trying to think how to use these to her advantage. That’s the thing about Formations: unlike Profound arts or resources, Formations are good regardless of the cultivation realm.

Even the most basic Profound energy gathering formation cast by her will be strong, but if she learns something more complex and casts it by herself, it will be even more potent.

Maybe potent enough for her to reach the next minor cultivation realm at a much faster pace, and not in thousands of years…

The ghost of the girl returned to the Sky Poison Pearl.

~~~

“This has to be it…”  Yun Che gazed at the large gates. He could see pillars of light rushing into the sky from behind these walls, and the walls had glowing symbols in them. It looked far more mystical than any other place he had ever seen.

Even her Master is not responding. He wonders if this is so impressive that even she has nothing to say.

In truth, it was not the pillar of light or the glowing symbols on the walls but what her divine sense was telling her about the things behind those walls.

She never sensed such an organised flow of Profound energy.

By this point, she is wondering if there is another godly legacy, but this time, it's related to a Godly Formation maker and not Phoenix.

Because she is having a hard time believing that one could achieve this much without the help of a god.

As he walked inside, he saw a line of people waiting. As he got in line, one of the guys in front of him began to talk.

“Are you trying as well? They never turn down people; anyone can join. However, a lot of people fail in the first year’s exams.”

“...Exams? You mean examinations?” 

Yun Che’s reply made him a bit confused.

“Oh, you want to be a soldier for the Empire? Well, it is the easiest route. I was talking about the written exams, the ones that want to be Formation Masters.

The Elders test your knowledge; you do know that you need to be good at writing and recalling things. Becoming a Formation Master is the highest honour anyone could get in the Empire, well, after two days ago, it’s the greatest honour in the entire continent.”

Yun Che looked spacey, written exam? He is not a scholar! If it were medicine, he could write something! The guy is here to improve his cultivation fast enough!

“...I thought we were here for Profound Strength.”

The guy chuckled, hearing that. 

“You are clearly not from cities, then. His Royal Highness was born with Eleven Profound Entrances, yet he is an Overlord who can fight Monarchs at the age of seventeen. 

His might is because of Formations; he is the Father of Formations. 

If you need faster cultivation, you make a formation that increases your cultivation speed; if you need faster healing, you make one.

That is why our Empire is number one in this Continent.” 

“You will study, I am clear? This Prince has revolutionised Formations; they are even better than from the place I came,” Jasmine said with an icy, cold tone. She was dead serious.

He slowly nodded to her words. If this is the case, then he will listen.

“I see. I spent last year in the wilderness. I clearly missed some things.” Yun Che tried to explain his lack of knowledge.

The memories he inherited from Xiao Che are useless. He was a whimp who daydreamed and lived with fantasy stories.

How did he expect to marry someone like Xia Qingyue with that kind of mentality? No wonder that girl cancelled her marriage and went to train in Frozen Cloud.

Yun Che does not take that humiliation lightly. He will train and become strong, strong enough to make that girl regret it!

“Next.”

The elder’s voice brought him back. He saw the guy in front of him go to the elder, who checked his age, profound entrances, and place of origin.

Standard procedure.

After a short check-up, he was let in. 

“Next.”

Yun Che walked over, fished out a blue envelope, and gave it to the elder. The old man looked at it.

“Formal invitation, huh?” 

The inspector checked the envelope before checking the content.

“Well, well, Grand Elder Sikong’s invitation. I have no idea what your family did to the Grand Elder, but this is valid. You may enter.” The elder motioned for him to get in.

Once he entered the entry building, he saw lines of people. They were all dressed in white uniforms with yellow accents, such as undershirts or gloves.

The very first thing he had to do was go to the table where a girl in her twenties was sitting.

“Your size? You need to wear a uniform for the knowledge examination.”

“...But I had a formal invitation.” Yun Che frowned. He expected to pass automatically!

“The invitation is to pass the entry examination. Now that you are part of New Moon Profound Palace, we need to know how you stack up.

If you fail the knowledge examination, you will be relegated to an automatic five-year course. Upon completion, you will earn an automatic invitation to the regular army.

If you succeed, you will earn entry to the third examination after five years in New Moon Profound Palace.” The girl patiently explained to him.

“And what is this third examination?”

“You will be tested to determine whether you are a Formation Master Material or a Dragon Handler. Once you have passed, you will be taken to Blue Wind Imperial Profound Palace. For another three years, you will study there to become an elite among the elites.

Who knows, you might serve the Crown Prince directly, it’s the highest honour one could get.” She smiled while saying that, and there was a dreamy look on her face. Not seeing the look Yun Che had…

“What is Dragon Handler?” 

His question snapped her from daydreaming as she looked surprised.

“You are not from the cities, are you?”

“I was training for close to a year in the wilderness.” It started to piss him off that people treat him like a countryside bumkin!

“I see. It makes sense that the Dragon Handler role was created recently to counter the huge numerical advantage the Divine Phoenix Empire had.

His Royal Highness collected all the Dragons from the Imperial lands and brought them to the Capital, where he began their domestication. He invented new forms of Formations that are directly carved into minds and souls.

Eventually, he realised that he could command them and link their minds directly, which allowed the dragon to learn Profound Arts.

Now imagine a hundred metre long Monster summoning fire storms. His highness’ mount, an Emperor Profound Fire Dragon, it is said, was able to burn hundreds of thousands of Phoenix Soldiers at the critical battle of Border Crossing.” 

‘What she is talking about is a greater version of slave imprint. I never imagined that such a backwater place would invent such a thing.’ Jasmine thought to herself as she listened to the explanation.

“I see. My thanks, oh, and my size is—”

~~~

After getting his new set of robes and changing into them, he walked to the waiting area, where he saw more people gathering.

His eyes scanned the surroundings until he stopped on someone.

What he saw was a beauty radiating a regal, nonchalant aura. Her long, loose black hair reached her waist, and she stood there with crossed arms.

“She is not simple.”

“I can tell.” He smiled, agreeing with her.

“Not that you fool! Her real self is behind layers of profound energy. She is hiding a much higher cultivation. What you are sensing is merely a fraction of her power.

I would say she is from one of those hidden clans or families, most likely trying to get into Blue Wind Imperial Profound Palace.” She reasoned. Not that Jasmine was revealing everything, but her Divine Sense was telling her that this girl had even more power than her cultivation allowed her. Which is a bit crazy… 

She can tell that this girl can access space at will as well!

Something only a Monarch should be able to do.

Whatever it is… she wants to know more.

“I see, very interesting.” He wanted to know more, so he went over and tried to speak with her.

“When will this examination start?" He asked the girl. Her gaze went to him, and she looked for a second before answering.

“When this hall fills up. There is a set time as well. If it doesn’t fill up by afternoon, they will start either way," She explained to him in a slightly bored tone.

“Oh, Senior Sister knows a lot.” He tried to praise her, but she snorted at it.

“And you don’t, this is basic information you can read in the instruction book.” She rolled her eyes at him, making him blush a bit in embarrassment.

“I had no time. I just joined this place.” He tried to explain himself.

But these were some basic excuses that didn’t impress her one bit.

“You are in the best place in the whole continent to train and cultivate. That is, if you can pass the examinations. 

“So I have no idea why you think you can skip fundamentals," The girl said, pointing out his incompetence.

“She is right! Take this seriously! I want to learn their methods!” Jasmine hissed into his ear.

“Okay, okay. Damn it!” Yun Che hissed back. He thought he could flex with his Heretic God veins!

“Good, and stop speaking directly; she will think you are insane.” His Master reminded him that only he could see her.

“...right…” He slowly nodded, looking at the beauty before him. What he saw was that she didn’t pay attention to him at all.

She looked at the front where elders were gathering, his existence to her was insignificant.

That damaged his pride! 

‘Damn it! I will show you that I am the real deal!’ He is being trained by someone insanely powerful, which means he will be strong naturally!

As he was thinking about how he was going to ace these examinations, he didn’t realise that his profound veins or techniques wouldn’t mean a thing as they were not being tested in the first place.