ATG: Formation Master c21

Yun Canghai wondered who this kid was and how he had appeared here. It was some sort of strange technique.

The seal was still strong. The only way to enter this place was through the sword when it was being pulled out, but as it is, it's impossible.

Is it as he says? He used a formation to somehow project himself here?

“Hmm… it depends, youngster. I hate Sacred Grounds. I wish to destroy them. They killed my Emperor.” Yun Canghai spoke after pondering for a while.

“Hmm, I see. I don’t have the greatest fascination with them either. Other Empires and Sacred Grounds look down on my Nation. We are the youngest nation with the worst resources.

That is why, to combat this, I studied formations and delved into fundamental understandings of how things work in the universe.

Now we are on the way to the top. In a few years, I will be able to begin the war for dominance of this continent.

The question is, my mysterious old man, are you willing to work with me?" he asked. A chair appeared behind him as he sat down.

“...Ambitious, youngster, but your Sacred Grounds are despicable and use underhanded methods. You should be careful.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt, but sadly for them, then don’t wield what I do.” Cang Long showed him a quite evil smile.

“...”

“It would be dangerous when you can’t trust your comrades, right? Formations come in all shapes and sizes, soul and mind-altering are just a few.”

“...So you are no different from them.” Yun Canghai frowned, not liking that one bit.

The Prince shrugged at that response, the honourable ones are annoying sometimes.

“You asked, and I replied, Old man, if you think that Mighty Heavenly Sword Region is that dangerous, then I gave you a news flash.

They are good with swords, I am good with altering the very reality you live in.” 

“...”

“Regardless, it turns out that you are not fascinating.” Cang Long sighed as he got up, and the chair disappeared.

“I will be leaving you. I have to prepare for a war. My family is about to send a middle finger to Phoenix Empire. The era of paying tributes is over.”

The Prince slowly disappeared from the cave.

“...I will see you soon, Crazy Prince.” Yun Canghai mumbled as he knew the seal needed to be recast soon.

That means that he will see the prince soon. Maybe by then he will make up his mind and join this… lesser evil.

~~~

Chu Yueli was a bit surprised when Cang Long, out of nowhere, stood up, dismissed all of the formations, his Dharma Body vanished, and the Formation pillars were recalled.

All of that happened in less than five seconds.

“Did something happen?” She asked, a bit worried.

“No, I learned that the individual sealed at the bottom of that seal is an enemy of the Sacred Grounds. While it would be an asset to me, he is far too righteous for his own good.” 

‘Asset to you!? H-He is planning to go against Sacred Grounds!?’ 

While she is impressed by his talent and abilities, she doesn’t know how well it stacks against those powerhouses!

“At some point, we are. Yueli, we are on the rise. Soon, we will eventually have enemies in the Divine Phoenix Empire and the Sacred Grounds. That is only a matter of time.”

“E-Enemies with Divine Phoenix Empire!? How?” She was surprised by that detail!” 

“They asked for greater tribute after learning that we are becoming rich; instead, we won’t be paying anything at all.” Cang Long explained to her.

Her eyes widened a bit. While the Divine Phoenix Empire was not as strong as Sacred Grounds, it also had Monarchs. 

Something Blue Wind Empire can’t compete!

“...is it wise? Can’t we just wait for a couple more years?” She asked him.

But instead, he smiled before replying. “We have been improving the borders we have with them for a while.

If anyone tries to fly over when the formations are active, they will be suppressed.

Our tactics are very simple. They will attack with their huge army, we shall suppress them at the border, kill them all, then I shall lead the offence into their heartlands.”

“And if their Monarchs show up?” She asked, concerned that it’s a bit reckless!

“Fire suppression formations. I have 40 thousand men who can fight like one formation. They all learned Burning Heaven Arts. 

They might use Phoenix flames, we can suppress them and use them against them, to some extent.” He shrugged at her; he wanted to find ways to oppose the Phoenix Empire for a while. He had got three years ago with the idiot Fen Yiyue plot. Now he has a fire art and can base formations against the Phoenix Empire with their help.

“...I see…” 

She wasn’t convinced completely, but at least she knows that he has plans.

After failing to get Yun Canghai to join him, Cang Long went back to see his two new minions. He instructed his lieutenants that these two would be his warriors.

Now that they have two Thrones, he can start piggybacking by using them. 

Powering stronger formations to accelerate the cultivation of his other soldiers.

With new instructions and another set of healing formations cast on the pair of Lings Cang Long, he summoned his white bird.

“Come on.” He motioned for her to join him on the bird.

Chu Yueli was about to comment that she could fly on her own. But she quickly realised that it was on purpose, so she followed his lead.

The beauty ended up sitting between his legs as he hugged her from behind. The fairy realised that this was a bit…

Well, she couldn’t complain. It was much better than her original idea. She imagined him jumping on her the moment they made that deal.

In truth, she was a bit dissapointed that he didn’t do it. As in her eyes, did that mean that she was not good? 

Regardless, Cang Long ended up hugging her and placing his head on her shoulder as he enjoyed that hug.

“You are quite cold. Let me hug you more,” he teased as the bird took off. They had around two hours of flying, which was more than enough time for him to flirt with her.

“I-I am always cold. It’s because of my Profound Arts.” She tried to explain herself, not realising that it was flirting.

“I know~~.”

‘Then why…’

Honestly…

“It's called ‘flirting’, have you heard this word before?” He asked her as his hands were around her waist, pulling her closer. The Fairy could feel that he was like a heat source that was heating her cold body.

“Umm…I think I have…” She wasn’t certain, but she had seen this before when she used to visit cities, and either women or men would flirt with each other in certain areas.

“Good, just to let you know, you will be experiencing it a lot," He whispered into her ear. Her cheeks and ears began to heat up. She was slowly starting to feel a bit weird.

“I-I see.” The fairy tried to calm down, but the constant contact didn’t help; she was getting all fluffy. 

Then, one of his hands went to her face and pushed to the side, making her look at him. 

Before she could ask, he moved in and kissed her. Chu Yueli’s eyes widened for a second. She didn’t know how to proceed, so she just waited for him to do his thing.

The kiss lasted for a while as his tongue slipped inside her mouth and started to wrestle with her tongue and explode her mouth.

The act caused her body to heat up as she started to feel strange.

After a bit, he pulled back and looked at her. Chu Yueli had glazed eyes as she looked at him, not knowing what she wanted to do next.

“This is a proper kiss; I expect you to know it in the future," He whispered to her before pulling her in and making her lean into his chest.

~~~

Upon return to the capital, Cang Long went to the Profound Palace.

With his status, no one dared ask why a fairy was following him. In truth, they were proud, as from the clothes she was wearing, they knew this was a Frozen Cloud Fairy.

The Prince took her to a recently finished area. It was an herbal farm with arrays of herbs, grasses, and small trees. These were precious plants that he had collected from the Secret Realm. 

The whole area was in a glasshouse; it was considerable in size, with a large pond at one corner close to the city walls. 

“This is… your herbal farm?” Chu Yueli was pleasantly surprised that they had such an area. It was even bigger than theirs! 

“I've been working on this since I took over Profound Palace for myself.”

“You are the Palace Master? I didn’t know that!” She was even more surprised!

“That’s because I never told anyone. I prefer Prince and not Palace Master.” He shrugged.

The fairy deadpanned for a second. It was a silly excuse.

“I see…”

Cang Long smiled at her reaction. In his opinion, becoming Palace Master is far easier than being a Prince. That is why he prefers that title.

The pair walked to the pond, and Cang Long floated over to the middle of it. Then, with a hand motion, a blue lotus flower came out from a space crack.

“T-That Flower! Incredible!” Chu Yueli immediately knew what this flower was! She saw this in a book!

“The Emperor Heart Awakening Lotus!” A small gulp escaped from her mouth. This was a legendary flower that accelerates one’s cultivation. If Earth Profound consumed it, he would reach the Throne realm!

“Indeed, I prepared this pond just for this flower.

As he said that the flower floated down the formation, holding it was slowly undone, but then formations in the pond reacted.

It began to glow. The fairy could see the bottom of the pond. It had intricate formations.

To her surprise, the flower swiftly set its roots down, and not long after, it bloomed and began to disperse its seeds.

“...This is…” 

What she was looking at was very rare. Such a flower blooming… if any greedy person saw this, he would scramble to get this flower and turn it into a pill.

Instead, the Prince keeps it and tries to cultivate it so there will be more of these Lotus flowers.

“I am very impressed," She commented genuinely, with a small smile. What she was seeing made her understand that he cared about his Profound Palace. 

At the same time, she knows what he could do to people who provoke him.

He could kill them, create formation puppets, and no one would even see them being replaced.

Truly terrifying, thankfully, she is on his side… forever.

“You should, this is one of my masterpieces. The formations in the pond draw the power from the Dragon Vein and convert it into natural energy and nutrition for that flower.

Eventually, it won’t just spread out and make more flowers; it could have a breakthrough and reach the next level," He explained to her as he landed on solid ground just a few metres from the fairy.

“That is possible, but what about time?” She asked. “Flowers like these could take decades to grow if not centuries.”

This is where he smirked at her. “That is why I said this was my masterpiece.” 

“The water is special. It accelerates growth. As you can see, there are no other plants in this specific area. Only my new lotus flower.”

As he said that, Chu Yueli noticed that new, very small flowers were starting to emerge around the lotus flower.

“...I-If you could do that…”

Now she realised where his confidence to face Sacred Grounds and Phoenix Empire is coming from.

“Indeed, in just a few short years, I will have an army of Thrones that can use group formations. It would take long to have Overlords and Monarchs too.” He smiled, revealing what he was cooking behind the doors.