ATG: Formation Master c1

“M-My Prince…” The guards rushed over. My gaze went from the destroyed barrier wall to the guards.

“I didn’t expect them to burn their blood essence.” I should have known that there are nut cases in such a situation.

That said, I dismissed my Dharma Body, and with it, the barrier began to disintegrate. It wasn’t a strong barrier.

The issue with these barriers is that they need to gather energy from their surroundings before fully powering up.

Otherwise, I would need to use my own Profound Energy, and that is just stupid. Nature has all the energy one needs.

“Your Highness, what was that?” One of the guards who has been guarding me since my birth asked. Of course, other people don’t have such balls.

“Dharma Body, a technique I developed myself,” I explained plainly before motioning for them to continue travelling towards Blue Wind Imperial City.

The Blue Wind Profound Palace was not far from the City, so their window of attack was small.

“Let’s go, I will report this to my Royal Father.” 

The guards gulped nerviously when they heard that.

“Don’t worry, I will tell him you guys fought valiantly.” I chuckled before returning to my carriage.

~~~~~~Back in the Capital~~~~~~

“They did what!?” The Emperor roared angrily as he jumped out from his throne.

Cang Wanhe, the Emperor, was quite young and in his early forties. Thanks to decent cultivation, he would remain looking like that for a considerable amount of time.

Sadly, cultivation’s true colours only start appearing in Earth Profound when lifespan begins to increase beyond a hundred years.

As I was thinking, the Emperor rushed over and checked me.

“Long’er are you fine? Nothing happened to you?”  He asked worriedly.

As one would expect, because of my genius, I became my royal father’s favourite.

“I am fine, Royal Father. No lowlife could hurt me.” I scoffed.

The Emperor smirked before patting my back.

“Indeed! You are Emperor Cang Wanhe’s son!” The man laughed before looking serious.

“But they were Spirit Profound, what did you do?” The Emperor asked.

“I had a breakthrough. I realised that my martial talent alone was not enough to be a top expert, so I studied.”

Cang Wanhe immediately nodded. The librarian had no doubt told him I had visited that place and read up on records and other things.

“I realised that I am a genius in Formations.” As I said that, my eyes glowed blue as huge hands manifested beside me.

“...Formations…these are formations?” The Emperor looked shocked.

“Formations come in different sizes and shapes. They can encase people, buildings, even minds.” I looked at the blue hands.

The Emperor realised something.

“These… are from your mind! Incredible! Simply incredible!” The man began to laugh again. The court and the nobles who were present heard everything. They all began to whisper among themselves, This news will spread quickly.

But it’s fine. I have Emperor and his spies to gather information.

I already know who did. It's either my eldest brother or the Burning Heaven Clan, who are jealous of anyone with greater talent than they have.

“Yes. Sadly, I was not able to keep one of them alive. They were too fragile.” I shook my head.

“It’s fine. WE WILL find out who did it.” The Emperor promised in an ice-cold tone.

“For now, return to your mother. You did well, Long’er.” 

I nodded before dismissing my Dharma body and leaving with a small bow.

~~~

Once I was on my side of the palace, a beautiful woman pulled me into a hug.

“My darling Long’er~~~ my pride and joy~~~” The woman snuggled as I rolled my eyes.

“I heard that people tried to assassinate you!” She panicked as she inspected me from top to bottom.

“I am fine. Some low lives can’t possibly do anything to me.” I scoffed for a second.

“So cute~~~ my Royal Prince all puffy!” She poked my cheek before getting serious.

“I assume you finally learned something.” The woman wasn’t stupid; beauty was not all that was needed to become a royal concubine.

“Of course.” I brought my hands together and decided to share a bit of that ‘sugar’. 

As I separated my hands, several symbols were floating before them, forming a glowing orb.

“This is a formation. They come in different shapes and sizes. This one is meant for a single person and will be carved into one’s soul.”

As I said, I pushed it into my awed mother.

“You will now cultivate passively, and slowly your talent will improve.”

Her eyes bulged out in disbelief.

“...is that even—” She looked at her hand.

“I-I just had a breakthrough!” Mother looked surprised.

“Indeed. Now, if you excuse me, I have things to do.” I wanted to walk away, but she hugged me again.

“No way! My darling Prince is staying with her mother! No ifs!”

I sighed again. I can’t wait to grow up. I can’t stand this pet treatment.

Regardless, it lasted for a while before I could leave. The chef had cooked dinner, so I went to eat. Thankfully, I live in a world of cultivation where everyone has their own palaces.

My mother and I have our own palace, which the Emperor visits quite often and which infatuates the Empress and the Crown Prince.

Knowing how scummy the Crown Prince and his brothers are. I began laying proper security formations.

After the assassination attempt, my fame began to grow even further. It reached the point that people stopped calling me the Eighth Prince and instead called me the Formation Prince.

Formations are rare; not everyone has them, and even if they do, they are not as advanced as what I can do. 

My mastery over formations quickly began to spread through the Empire.

It helped the Royal family, especially for talented people who had no idea where they wanted to join.

Joining the Sects and joining the Government have their own benefits.

In sect one, one can cultivate faster, but in the Government, riches and fame come more easily. Noble rank and sways of land can be theirs. Something one can’t get in Sect.

Regardless, since I was known as Formation Prince, I decided to start flexing.

One of the things I decided to do is improve Blue Wind Profound Palace.

I installed better barriers that can keep Profound Energy.

Then, Comprehension Formation, a Formation that can assist with Comprehension of techniques or even Bottlenecks.

Lastly, hot springs can purify bodies and even open profound entrances.

Of course, I made sure the effects were not THAT groundbreaking, because they would be an attack from vultures.

~~~

The formations were not installed in a single day; it took me a while. Before I even knew it, three years had passed.

My cultivation rose to Spirit Profound. Something many talked about. A thirteen-year-old Spirit Profound was ground-shaking.

If only people knew that I had barely been cultivated. I spent that time improving my Dharma Body, turning it into a technique similar to Mind Scape. 

Not to mention, quite a bit of that energy went to improve my ‘Guardian’.

Regardless, my Guardian became a legend. Many wish to witness in action. 

But that is for another time, as I am preparing to leave for my first Ranking Tournament. This time, I will be visiting it with my Royal Father. 

Usually, he is very reluctant to do it, as Blue Wind Royal Family will suffer insane loses because of our shitty fundations. But now…

We have a selection of decent practitioners, and because of the formations in the Palace, their Cultivation is decent.

This was only the beginning. The next tournament will be better and better until we take the top! In fact, I will be in the next two tournaments.

“Long’er this is your Giant Snow Eagle. Take care of him.” The Emperor presented me with a huge white bird.

“Oh… wow…” I looked at it with wide eyes.

“Our Cang family is raising these; we use them as our mounts,” Cang Wanhe proudly declared.

I slowly nodded. The bird was beautiful.

“Contract it.” He motioned towards the bird. 

With a nod, a ball of energy appeared in my hand. It had several symbols in it. I ensured it could continue growing and that we had a bond. Because I know that cultivating a beast can be a pain in ass, so I will simply create formations that could accelerate it’s growth beyond a set limit.

Moments later, when symbols fused with the beast, the animal realised what had happened and began to rub its neck against me.

“There-There. What a gorgeous bird you are!” I stroked the feathers before jumping on its back.

As I did, the emperor mounted his beast. They were followed by the Emperor’s Bodyguard, a late Sky Profound Expert and our three fighters, who were all in late Spirit Profound.

~~~

As the birds landed in front of Heavenly Sword Villa’s main gates, the guards scrambled to greet them.

With the ever-growing influence of the Blue Wind Royal Family, the Sects in the Empire are slowly beginning to show more respect to the Emperor and his people.

“Look! That kid over there!” One of the guards pointed at a boy dressed in blue.

“Spirit Profound Two!? At that age!?” 

“No doubt the Formation Prince, damn! He is already coming to the tournament.” The guards are a bit uncomfortable. They don’t want this monster to dominate the tournament! They know about his strange ‘Dharma Body’, the profound arts he wields with his mind, and how it can defy cultivation realms.

“Even the Royals have to obey the rules! The earliest age for entrance is sixteen!” 

“Indeed, for now, notify Villa Master, the Emperor, and the Formation Prince is here.” The leader guard instructed one of his minions, who nodded and pulled out a communication talisman.

Meanwhile, the Emperor and his group landed and recalled their Mounts. 

The group approached the gates.

“Good Morning, Your Excellency and Your Highness, welcome to Heavenly Sword Villa.” The guards cupped their fists as they greeted the Royals.

The Emperor grinned internally. This was better than last time! That is for sure. It was all thanks to his favourite son.

“At ease. Here is the invitation.” The Emperor pulled out his invitation. Ling Yuefeng, the Villa Master himself, gave the invitation when he came to visit the capital.

He came to see the Formation Prince, of course, the Villa Master rarely leaves his Villa.

“Many thanks.” The guard read through the list. He was relieved to see that the Prince was not on the list of participants.

‘Even so… it would seem the Blue Wind Profound Palace is becoming a powerhouse.’ The guard noticed the cultivation realms of the three participants.

“Please enter, Villa Master and Mistress shall greet you in person.” 

As the group walked in, Cang Long looked around. He was pleasantly surprised by the buildings. It was a legit city, not a Sect or Palace.

“And we are not making them pay taxes? It’s a waste of resources.” The Prince commented. He is starting to feel annoyed that many powers in the Empire are not paying anything to the crown.

“That’s because they are the guardians of our Cang Family. If anything happens to any of us, they will find out and punish them. That is why we give our resources to them.”

“Hmm…” 

Cang Wanhe can see that his son doesn’t quite like the arrangement.

Regardless, as they arrived at a huge greeting hall, Cang Long could see a pair of people were waiting. His eyes went to the lady next to the man he had seen before.

The lady was beautiful. He had already seen a lot of pretty faces, being Royal and all that. His mother is gorgeous anyway, but this lady is gorgeous and strong. He can sense Sky Profound cultivation from her.

“Your Excellency, and Your Highness, welcome to Heavenly Sword Villa.” Ling Yuefeng greeted them respectfully.

The royals greeted them back. It was a simple gesture of respect from both sides. Even if the lady next to the Villa Master did it mechanically, one could see that she barely cared. It was given as she was from a Sacred Ground. 

“My~ my Prince is quite powerful. This Mistress is impressed.” The Villa Mistress looked at Cang Long as if she had found a curious bug on the side of the road.

“This Prince loves to train, Villa Mistress, that is all there is.” The Formation Prince smiled back. 

“Indeed! It would seem you had a breakthrough, Prince Long! Already Spirit Profound Two!” Unlike Xuanyuan Yufeng, Ling Yuefeng is impressed by the progress, even his eldest Son is way below this Prince!