ATG: Formation Master c7

The main gates of Heavenly Spear Thunderfire Fortress exploded after several hurls of fire.

“Disciples of Burning Heaven Clan, use your profound arts to burn them. Their Thunderfire is weak against real Fire.” Cang Long instructed as he watched everything from a distance.

With a warcry, the disciples of the Burning Heaven Clan advanced.

It was a one-sided slaughter. Not only were the fire users stronger, but the Box Formation made ranged attacks useless for the defenders. Their tactics of shooting from a distance quickly became pointless.

Not only that, but the clan was giving their all. They desire to atone for their actions.

“If this continues, we will have nothing to do.” Xiao Juetian complained.

“Then advance.” Cang Long instructed. The second wave will be for the Xiao Sect.

“As you wish, My Prince.”

Sure enough, with Xiao Sect, it was endgame for the Fortress.

Before long, the other armies approached as they were for a clean-up. 

Like sorting out the corpses, removing good armour, or some other trinkets.

The Formation Prince ended up sitting in the Fortress Master's seat as he listened to all the stuff he ‘conquered’ or, more accurately, liberated from treasonous scum.

“My Prince, Burning Heaven Clan has followed all of your commands. We have lost several disciples. Please be merciful and lower the amount we are paying as tribute.”

Fen Duanhun begged as he was on the floor. 

Cang Long smirked, seeing the proud Clan Master on his knees like that. He, of course, will lower the percentage but not remove it.

He needs to tame these pests, not too cruel or too kind. Close to that perfect middle.

“Your clan has fought valiantly, Duanhun. As a reward, you will only pay 30% from now on. I do expect you to continue to work diligently.” The Prince declared, making the Clan Master jump on his feet and thank him.

“Many thanks for your kindness, Your Highness!”

With his mission accomplished, the Clan Master can return to his clan. 

After the Burning Heaven Clan, Xiao Sect did some good in this assault; he shared some things with them.

But 90% of the stuff will go to the Royal Family. Cang Long began to spread his new resources. The Thunderfire stuff he will give to engineers who will utilise them for defences and assault engines, cultivation resources wil go to Profound Palaces.

The arts, including Heavenly Spear arts, will be given to the army and the Profound Palace.

All in all, it was a great first military campaign for Cang Long.

Upon his return to the Imperial Capital, people cheered him on like a conquering hero who had beaten an evil Sect that did cruel things to people.

It was crazy for him to see how flexible perspectives are. He just slaughtered thousands of people, but it was a great thing!

They were evil! From these people's perspective. Very flexible indeed.

Regardless, it was great for him as he now had his own army, the Formation Battalion. It was a new 40 thousand strong, with his three disciplines from the Ranking tournament as leaders. This Army’s Headquarters are now in Thunderfire Fortress, the place he just took from them.

Just like that, he is the only one of the princes who has a proper army, unlike the other useless princes.

When he returned, he went straight to see his father, who had been grinning from ear to ear for weeks now. He doubted anything could make him not smile.

“Long’er! Congratulations, you are now, as they say, tested by fire, and your reputation is spreading far and wide.

In fact…” He pointed at a pile of letters.

“These are marriage proposals, from Counts, Dukes, Marquises, and even other Nations. They all want you.” The Emperor chuckled as Cang Long looked at the considerable pile of letters.

“Other…nations?”

“Indeed, though not from places like Navy Tide, I am not even mentioning Divine Phoenix Empire, they only have one Princess who has never been seen by anyone outside the Royal Palace.”

“Hn. Then ignore them. I have no interest in someone that I have not chosen myself.” He shrugged, not caring about this one bit.

“Fine by us.” The Emperor dumped the letters into a bin. Before looking at him.

“We already approved all of your requests, including your army and the base. On top of that, we received the resources for the Profound Palace. It shall improve the cultivation speed considerably for our students.”

“Yes. I shall return to Profound Palace.” Cang Long was already itching to get back to improving his Profound Palace.

“Not yet, we are celebrating the tournament victory.” The Emperor grinned as he wouldn’t let him go that easily.

“Fine.” The Formation Prince sighed as he decided to get back to his mother instead; no doubt, she is itching to have a reason to celebrate.

“I will see my mother then.”

“Do that; she will select appropriate attire for you.” The Emperor smirked, enjoying the look on his son’s face.

With that said, Cang Long left the Emperor’s office. The man had many things to sign after all.

~~~

“Long’er~~~” A beautiful woman pulled the Formation Prince into a hug.

“Ugh…can you stop doing that?” The Prince blushed as he used his superior cultivation to extract himself.

“Nope! And you are not allowed to use your cultivation to pull yourself out!” The woman complained, and Cang Long gave up.

“Fine…”

“Good! Now tell me about the tournament and that conquest of yours~~” She pulled him into her favourite couch.

The Prince decided to entertain her.

As he was explaining pretty much everything, she pulled him by the ear.

“You! You could have died! Fighting against a Throne? And Sky Profound!? Are you mad?”

“But they are weak! My Dharma body makes them useless!”

“That reminds me, you gave it to that bodyguard! I want one too!” She puffed her cheeks. 

‘Damn this woman!’

“Ugh…fine…”

“What is with the long face?” She frowned.

“Don’t tell anyone how to make them. I am serious!” He sharply told her.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Why would I tell anyone?” She frowned even more.

“I understand that is our family’s power, and it should be with us.” She rolled her eyes.

“Alright.”

~~~

The next day, the Imperial City descended into a celebratory mood. Tavern bills were on the house, and it was a national holiday for a week.

Statues were ordered to be erected in Profound Palace; they are for the Prince who made the Imperial Family the dominant power in the Blue Wind Empire for the first time since its creation.

Cang Long, who was in the Royal Palace’s Main Hall, was forced to become the central figure in this whole ordeal.

He was surrounded by the guests and had to entertain them with his stories. 

Honestly, this was the one thing he hated about being royalty.

He had to suffer from an overload of beautiful girls trying to seduce him. These noble ladies, while not bad… ranging from age fourteen to even twenty, were sending all sorts of signals to him.

“Big Brother!!!” At that moment, he was saved!

“Excuse me. My darling little sister requires my attention.” Cang Long excused himself from a small army of females and walked to Cang Yue, who had puffy cheeks.

“Are you done with those?” She huffed with crossed arms.

“Indeed. You saved me, little sister.”

“Good! Then I request you to train me! I want my Big Blue!” she exclaimed, making a motion that looked cute.

“Big blue?”

“That’s right! I will call it big blue!” She clenched her small fist.

“Alright, then, enrol at Profound Palace, and I shall teach you all you need.” He smiled at her while patting her head.

The girl, like a small animal, laughed.

“Then why don’t we start with a dance?” The girl looked at the hall where some nobles were dancing.

“Fine by me, Princess.” The Prince offered his hand.

“My Prince.” The princess took it.

The pair soon became the centre of attention. The noble ladies looked like they would kill someone, as they had been asking for a dance since the dancing part of the party began hours ago.

~~~

After the celebration, the Empire returned to normalcy. Sects continue to cultivate, armies train, and merchants continue to make money.

Two years have passed since the Imperial Family’s Victory. The Profound Palace is no longer the same. It’s full of people who wish to represent the Imperial Family.

With how many are in the Profound Palace, expansion work began. However, in the Inner Palace, there can only be a hundred people.

Not long ago, it was normal in the Inner Palace to see the top people with measly Spirit Profound four or even two.

Now… they were dominated by Peak Spirit Profound practitioners from the top hundred to the top fifty, and Earth Profound from the Top fifty to the top one.

Of course, in the top 1 spot for years, it was Formation Prince. Now fifteen years old, the Prince was an expert in Earth Profound Four.

“Not bad, little sister, you can cast multiple formations now.” Cang Long was chewing a piece of grass as he looked at the sweaty Cang Yue. The princess was dressed in the Blue uniform of Profound Palace. The girl was fourteen, and she was already True Profound.

She could have been much higher, but half of her cultivation goes to her Big Blue.

“Hmph! Nowhere near your level.” She puffed her cheeks.

“Well, I was the one who invented this stuff.” He shrugged before enjoying the sunshine in his hammock. 

The Prince enjoys chilling in his small house in the Inner Palace. Here, he has some peace away from the public’s attention.

Over those two years, his popularity only increased, even if he didn’t do anything. Well, his cultivation is closely followed by everyone.

“Whatever.” She puffed before deciding to return to her cultivation.

“Make sure to keep several formation stones with you for prolonged use.”

“I know.” With that said, she left him alone. It has been like that for months now. She would cultivate for a bit and try to show off, but then Cang Long would reveal that he improved even more than her, so she would puff and huff and return to her practise.

‘At least it keeps her motivated.’

He hummed to himself as he was napping, but then he felt something.

In the city perimeter, a huge amount of ice profound energy and fire profound energy erupting from inside!?

‘What the hell!?’

He snapped and jumped from the Hammock and decided to explore what it was.

In less than ten minutes, he appeared in the area. 

It was a remote area, at the edge of the city-wide formation that he had set up.

“My Prince, you must see this.” One of his attendants got his attention and motioned for him to see it.

When he walked over there, he saw a bloody woman. Her clothes were blue and white. She had long black hair. He can imagine that she is a beauty, but the current situation… she was a bloody sight.

He walked over and placed his hand on her. 

“She is still alive, but her profound veins…she burned herself? Plus, I sense wisps of poison.”

“My Prince, what should we do?” One of his attendants asked him.

‘This is strange, but I guess my family pushed the fairies to be more extreme in pursuit of power.’ Cang Long realised that this woman was Chu Yuechan. She got poisoned four years early.

With no Yun Che intervening, she used THAT method to try to heal herself.

“I will take care of her.” Cang Long created several formations and sent them into the fairy. It should stabilise her for a bit before he goes over and picks her up.

With the fairy secured, he began to walk towards his place.

“Send someone to fix this mess.” He ordered the attendants.

“As you wish, my Prince.” They scrambled to find some people to fix the crater left by the fairy.

While the Prince looked at the Frozen Beauty in his hands, he was curious. It would be a challenge for him to fix her.

“I always wanted a Fairy.” He mumbled to himself.