ATG: Formation Master c24

Xia Qingyue is certain that the Crown Prince doesn’t like her very much. This is the first time in her life that someone hasn’t tried to earn her favour or even act nicely.

It made her feel strange. She wanted to know why. What did she do?

“Think about it. A toothless and clawless tiger is nothing more than a house cat. Your disciple needs to learn how to fight, even more so, learn how to lose. Because one day she will lose and potentially could cripple herself as she could not believe that she lost.” He explained to Chu Yueli. The fairy slowly nods, understanding where he is coming from.

Then he summoned a chair from a space crack of some sort. At that moment, Xia Qingyue wondered if he was a Monarch in disguise.

He sat down, put one leg on another, crossed his arms, and looked at her, as if judging.

“Tell me, why are you so motivated to cultivate? Why do you seek profound strength?”

His question made her realise that he was testing her; he wanted to know if she was worthy of being her Master’s disciple.

This means she can’t dodge this… maybe it’s okay? She will ask him, perhaps he knows about the Realm of the Gods.

“When I was four, my mother abandoned us. All she said was that she is from the Realm of Gods before flying away. All I want is to find her and ask why she did it.” 

Cang Long closed his eyes for a second.

“Explain what changed to the point that she would leave?” He asked, making her think.

“...She recalled something?”

“Then it makes sense. Instead of cultivating, you should think for a moment. 

It was clear that she had lost her memories. No expert of high cultivation would stay here. She returned to her Clan, empire, or Sect.

That opens a lot of doors, Qingyue.” He sighed.

“She could as well be with her original family.” 

Her eyes trembled; she had never wanted to think this way, but he made sense.

“...Even so…”

“Next is her place.” He once more sighed.

“Realm of Gods is something that doesn’t exist on this continent. That would lead to realms above Sovereign Profound, where one can open the void itself and cross it.

One has reached this realm for the past thousand years or more. 

What you want is something even Sacred Grounds can’t reach.” 

For a second, her world got darker. She believed that if she could reach Monarch, she could go to this place…

“Are you sure?” Chu Yueli asked, seeing how her disciple looked; her eyes were hollow.

“Very sure. However, I do believe I could reach that realm.” He shrugged.

“I do have several formations in mind. It could compress profound energy, make it dense enough.” Csng Long stroked his chin. 

“...” Xia Qingyue’s eyes trembled as she looked at him. Of course! If this guy defied his average talent to reach this cultivation realm. 

“...Then…”

“What? We will see if I should help you, Xia Qingyue.” He shrugged before standing up and dismissing his chair.

“I am done here, Yueli. Give her the Frozen Cloud arts that I improved.” 

The Fairy slowly nodded as she walked over to her disciple.

“His Highness has improved the Frozen Cloud Art for us. It no longer has the original drawbacks.” She explained to her.

The disciple looked surprised. She didn’t expect that he could do that. Not long ago, she heard from her Master that creating, altering, and improving the arts is extremely difficult.

But then, all of a sudden, the prince did that. 

As she wondered, her Master transferred the arts. Xia Qingyue immediately understood what was going on.

It was water. Human bodies should not intake ice directly, but by switching to water and focusing on mastering it, they could wield ice as an afterproduct.

This might weaken the art, but it would make it more flexible, as they can now wield water. 

Chu Yueli then grabbed her disciple and began to float away.

“Master?” The girl was confused, but the fairy didn’t say a thing. Instead, she spoke with the prince.

“My Prince, I wish to speak with Qingyue in private. Please give me a moment.” As she said that, she landed metres away and cast a profound energy bubble.

“Qingyue. You must choose either Frozen Cloud or this marriage of yours. Cang Long is something we can’t lose as support. He clearly sees your actions as something that would betray Frozen Cloud later, and you don’t want to know what he does to traitors.”

The girl’s eyes slowly widened as she understood what she meant.

She is using Frozen Cloud to reach the high cultivation realm…

“But… My promise to father…”

“Until you prove your dedication to Frozen Cloud, I doubt His Highness cares about your promises,” Chu Yueli said seriously.

The girl grimaced. She was not someone who would break her promise, but at the same time, what was before her was far too great.

If she goes with them to Frozen Cloud and cultivates diligently, she could have a chance to reach Monarch and then maybe beyond with Cang Long’s help.

“I-I need time to think.” She ended up looking down as she couldn’t make up her mind.

“Take your time, practise the improved method, and don’t forget to thank the Prince for his help in improving this art.” The Fairy of Frozen Glass slowly nodded, and the young girl raised her head to look at her, nodding at her words.

Once they finished the conversation, they returned to him. 

“My Prince, Qingyue, thanks you for improving Frozen Cloud Arts.” Chu Yueli’s disciple cupped her fist while slowly nodding. 

“Hn. Take your time and practise it.” He nodded and looked at his attendant.

“Let’s go. We need to return to the capital and prepare troops for the Phoenix Empire’s attack.” 

“Yes.”

The pair began to float as they swiftly flew away at incredible speed.

“Troops for the Phoenix Empire invasion? What is going on?” the girl exclaimed, worried about the future and her Master's in extension for Frozen Cloud.

Regardless, she clenched her hand, thinking about what to do. Because next time she sees her Master, she will need to decide what to do.

Should she cancel her marriage or continue and risk the Prince’s wrath? 

A sigh escaped from her lips. Her ‘perfect’ plan is getting undone.

~~~~~~Later~~~~~~

The trip back to the Capital lasted three days, during which Cang Long continued to cultivate. He spent two days increasing his base cultivation, while on the third day, he focused on recultivating his Dharma Body.

At that time, he reached Emperor Profound Four. To increase his cultivation so fast, he used the blood pills and his cheat code, rapid absorption.

Chu Yueli tried to keep up, but she only increased her cultivation by a single realm, making her the same realm as Cang Long.

By this point, she is slowly getting jealous and beginning to think of ways to make him teach her the art.

As she pondered her cultivation speed, the duo landed in Profound Palace.

“My Prince!” The guards saluted their Prince.

“Send the word. I wish to see the elders. Let them come here. I have things to share.” He instructed his guards as he turned around and moved his hand.

The space began to tear up as a pair of silver flood dragons emerged.

The pair of guards gulped as one of them dashed into the Palace to find the elders.

A few minutes later, a group of Sky Profound elders arrived to see the Prince with two Sky Profound Flood dragons.

The group gulped down as they were a bit spooked. Dragons are notoriously difficult to domesticate; on top of that, they are proud and would rather die than follow ‘puny humans’.

Yet…

Here was their prince with two Sky Profound Flood Dragons. 

“Good, you are here. I will keep this short. I want you all to split up and collect all the flood dragons spread through the Empire’s lands.

We shall breed them.” He dropped a bombshell.

“...”

Before they could say a thing, the Prince continued.

“I have prepared formations that will allow us to domesticate these beasts as war animals.” Cang Long explained.

“With this, a new branch of Profound Palace will open. The Dragon Handlers. They will be responsible for maintaining and breeding Flood Dragons for the Blue Wind Empire.”

The elders looked at each other. They are clueless about how to do this!

“Don’t worry, for now…” He did a hand motion, internally he copied sets of memories before transferring to the elders, who were awed for a second before snapping out.

“These are formations for capturing and taming them. How are we going to raise them?” They were confused.

“One thing at a time. For now, I want groups to be organised to collect more of them. After we have things set, we can begin developing other things.”

“This… if His Highness wishes, we shall do it.” All of them nodded before leaving for their tasks.

One by one, they left. Chu Yueli looked at the Prince.

“How ARE we going to raise them?” she asked, hoping he would tell her more.

“Yueli, I have taken their memories, I know what they like to eat, what environment they like, all of that is right here.” He pointed at his head.

“Unlike what many think, they are not picky eaters or require much land. 

All I have to do is set up formations with higher power density and occasionally catch a prey or two. Thankfully, we have danger zones where we can see as many Profound Beasts as we want.” He explained after checking their memories. Unlike human ones, these are mostly sleeping, something he can easily sort out without fearing that he might miss something.

“Is that so?” She was not surprised. Once they remove their pride, these dragons are just like any other beast. Maybe a bit more violent, but that is not hard to control with these mind formations.

“Indeed, for now let’s return to Royal Father, give him an update and then begin construction of the Dragon Den.” 

“Won’t we need to prepare for war?” She asked.

“We are. The troops have been notified, and we are simply waiting for the situation to change.

We need to know the Phoenix Empire's response. If they declare war, then we shall move. If not… then well… disappointment, I guess.” Cang Long said the last part with a frown.

He is certain that they will attack. They have their pride and their reputation to maintain. If a puny Empire doesn’t pay tribute, other Empires will follow suit.

In other words, they have to attack.

“...I see…” She sighed. Well, she will need to prepare as well.

Not long after that, they went to the Palace and reported to the Emperor.

Cang Wanhe was very pleased that they were taming FLOOD DRAGONS! The man smirked, his constant smile having just morphed into a smirk.

He began to ponder whether he should change his title from Blue Wind Emperor to Blue Wind Dragon Emperor.

“Long’er, do you perhaps have a flood dragon for us?” The Emperor asked.

“I do have a pair. It’s Sky Profound beast, and at the moment, I am teaching him Burning Heaven Arts.” Cang Long replied to the question.

“Good! Very Good! Then we shall contract the male! The female can go to my wife to be!” Cang Wanhe nodded a couple of times.

He is already planning something.

“From this day, I shall change my title! We shall be known as Blue Wind Dragon Emperor! Phoenix Emperor can himself be Phoenix Emperor, but apart from his diminished bloodline, he has Phoenix as a contracted beast!”

Cang Long grinned from ear to ear. This WILL provoke the Phoenix Empire, he is certain! 

He can’t wait. All those preparations and formations he designed for mass conflict are about to pay off.

His box formation is one of them. His Formation battalion is a fully fledged Formation users.

Their numbers have nearly doubled since his creation. In fact, his battalion is the fastest-growing army in the whole Empire.

Combined with regular troops and spread out formations, he is certain they could challenge the Phoenix Empire on the plain battlefield.

At least from what he remembers in the books!