Chương 100: My Formation VS Hong Yue

I carefully created the links connecting the triangles, directing a continuous flow of qi, to ensure stability in the flow of energy. Although creating this configuration was simple, it needed to be strong; each line had to be exact, and each angle had to be correct.

"Finished," I smiled, stepping back to evaluate my work. The pattern formed a round area roughly twelve feet in diameter, the chalk lines stood out starkly white against the dark soil. The three base triangles were positioned at perfectly symmetrical 120-degree angles relative to one another and faced inward to create a stable energy matrix.

"That looks neat," Elder Chen Yong murmured.

"What do you think, Hong Yue?" Hong Yue bent forward; her large head almost touched the ground as she examined my work. Her sharp eyes scanned over each line of the pattern with remarkable attention to detail. After a few moments, she stood and executed a series of gestures indicating reluctant acceptance, accompanied by cracking her knuckles menacingly.

"Are you ready to start?" Elder Chen Yong entered the configuration ring, signaling for me to follow.

"Remember, only ten seconds." I walked to stand beside him. I tried to exude a little more confidence than I possessed.

"Fine. Ten seconds. Up against a ninth-stage creature posing as third-stage. Easy." Hong Yue grinned as she backed away approximately a dozen steps, and assumed what appeared to be a professional fighting stance.

"Ready?" Elder Chen Yong asked as he lifted his hand. I nodded, directing qi towards the pattern. The chalk lines began to glow softly white as the barrier developed, a translucent spherical dome of energy developing above us.

"Go!" Hong Yue wasted no time; in an instant, she transformed from standing there, to charging toward us like an avalanche of red fur and deadly intent. Even restrained to third-stage, the spiritual pressure emanating from her was substantial. The barrier pulsed intensely when Hong Yue's massive paw smacked into it. The shockwave generated by her attack vibrated through the ground below our feet; however, the pattern held firm.

The problem was, barely a single second had passed, and she was already making the barrier shake. Hong Yue's eyes became narrow. She began circling the barrier, testing its strength with quick jabbing movements from various directions. With each impact, the energy barrier rippled, yet due to the triangular structural framework supporting it, the energy absorbed by each individual component of the barrier was evenly distributed, preventing any single point from experiencing too much stress.

"Around four seconds," Elder Chen Yong announced cheerfully, refilling his cup.

"Holding up great so far." It seemed that Hong Yue interpreted this as a challenge. She reared onto her hind legs and towered above the barrier. She brought both front paws down in an overhead crush that would likely destroy a small house. The collision produced a brilliant flash of light, and I felt the strain in my qi channels as the formation struggled to maintain integrity.

"Nearly six seconds! Almost there!" The massive bear lowered her forelegs and resumed delivering rapid-fire attacks; her paws flew rapidly in all directions as she tested for weaknesses in the barrier's structure.

"Eight seconds!" For the first time since beginning training, I felt my confidence build. The barrier was holding and there was only two seconds left. Hong Yue's grin suddenly turned wicked. Her eyes flashed, and I felt the spiritual pressure around her spike sharply.

"Oh no," I muttered as her aura surged to fourth-stage levels. Her next blow crashed into the barrier like a meteorite. The barrier exploded with a sound akin to shattering glass, and as the formation disintegrated, Hong Yue's massive paw stopped mere inches from my face, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from her fur.

"Nine point nine seconds," Elder Chen Yong announced as he shook his head.

"You're a naughty girl, Hong Yue." The enormous bear sat back on her haunches, looking entirely too pleased with herself. She made a series of gestures that seemed to say "I have no idea what you're talking about" while maintaining the most innocent expression I've ever seen on a bear's face.

"She did that on purpose!" I pointed at the bear. Elder Chen Yong chuckled.

"True, but don't worry, you passed anyway. The requirement was to maintain the barrier against a third-stage beast for ten seconds. Considering that Hong Yue had to raise her power to fourth-stage to break it is quite impressive for a first attempt." Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He reached into his robes and pulled out what looked like a jar of golden liquid.

"Here you go, you troublemaker. Payment for a job well done." Hong Yue's eyes sparkled when she saw the jar of spiritual honey. She skillfully used two massive claws to lift the jar out of Elder Chen Yong's hands and removed the cap. She poured the contents directly into her mouth. The image of a twenty-foot-tall spiritual bear delicately licking honey from her claws while producing contented humming noises was strange to say the least.

As Elder Chen Yong raised his hand to transport us back, Hong Yue caught my eye and made a quick series of gestures: first pointing at me, then miming a much more violent barrier-breaking sequence, followed by an exaggerated sad face. The message was clear - next time, she wouldn't go so easy on me. Before I could respond to her threat, the world contracted and that familiar distortion of space occurred. By the time reality stabilized, I was back in Elder Chen Yong's chambers.

"Now," he said sitting down in one of the chairs.

"It's time for your part of our agreement." I nodded, already knowing what he wanted to see. I reached inwardly toward that familiar entity residing in my inner world. My eyes glowed that distinctive blue light as a pale azure aura cloaked me. Elder Chen Yong began pulling bottles from seemingly nowhere and consuming them rapidly.

"Fasshhhinating!" he exclaimed, swaying slightly as he circled me, though his spiritual sense remained razor-sharp as it probed the energy around me. True to his word, he didn't attempt to penetrate my body's defenses.

"The... the energy... structure! Yesh, that's the word.

'S like qi, but also not like qi. The... the resonance…is all wrong. Or right. But differently right!" He stumbled slightly, caught himself, then took another long drink.

"Y'know what's really weird though? Your head! Should be all..." he made an exploding gesture with his free hand, nearly dropping his bottle, "BOOM! But it's not! Foreign energy like this usually makes cultivators go all cuckoo in the head. Even the nice energies! But you're fine! Probably. Are you fine? How many fingers am I holding up?" He wasn't holding any fingers, just another wine bottle. I remained silent, memories of the Two Suns' priests flashing through my mind.

I'd seen firsthand what happened when people were overwhelmed by the blue sun's power - the religious fervor, the obsession, the eventual descent into zealotry.

"Reminds me..." he hiccupped, "reminds me of them ancient bloodlines. But those're usually all..." he made a series of increasingly elaborate hand gestures that nearly caused him to fall over, "specific. Transformations an' stuff. This is more... more..." he squinted, searching for the word, "fundy-mental! Raw power! But weird raw power!" He peered closely at something only he could see.

"An' it's almost like... like it's alive! Got its own brain going on..." I maintained my neutral demeanor; however, my heart rate increased. He was right; it seemed both suns had their own unique personalities.

"An' the healing!" he continued enthusiastically, now talking to a nearby wine rack.

"Most healin is all neat an' tidy, everythin in proper place. But this! This just goes wherever it wants! See somethin broken an' goes 'pfft, I can do better than that!' Make improvement! Very cheeky energy you've got there, veryyy cheekyy..." Before he could continue exploring that train of thought further, the blue sun's energy dissipated, and my eyes returned to their normal brown hue.

"Is…that it?" he hiccupped"Yes," I nodded.

"I can only use it for a little while."

"Hmph." He studied me for a moment longer, then brightened as a new thought struck him.

"Well! Time to process all thish... information!" He reached into his robes and pulled out a bottle that looked no different from his usual wine.

"Been shavin' this one," he announced proudly, holding it up to the light.

"Speshul occasion wine! An' this definitely countsh as speshul!"

"About our lessons," I cut in, not wanting him to get too distracted by his drinking plans.

"Lesshonsh? Oh! Right!" He attempted to wave dismissively but mostly just wobbled in place.

"Onche a week! Plentyy of time for practish... lotsh of booksh in the library... veryy good booksh. Can't do more 'caush I'm veryy busy. Veryy veryy busyy." I arched an eyebrow.

"Too busy getting drunk or pretending to be a cripple?" He drew himself up with exaggerated offense, which caused him to stumble backward slightly.

"I'll have you knowww..." he declared, pointing at a spot about two feet to my left, "that being a fake cripple is veryyy hard work! Lotsh of... of acting! And running a bushineshh! Do you know how much math that hash? Sho mush math." He brightened, holding up his special bottle.

"But right now, moree important reshearch on your weird energy! Thishh girll will help me think better. Yeshh, that'sh it!" I couldn't help but smile. For all his apparent laziness, I was starting to suspect that Elder Chen Yong's carefree attitude was at least partially an act. No one achieved his level of power without serious dedication, drunk or not.

"Same time next week then?" I asked.

"Yesh!" he nodded, already uncorking his precious bottle.

"Don't forget practish! And no more..." he hiccupped, "into too much trouble." He paused, squinting thoughtfully.

"But knowin you, that ship'sh already shailed. Crashhed. Whatever shipsh do when they're trouble." Trouble? Before I could defend myself and explain how I never actively sought out trouble but somehow it seemed to always find me, he waved his hand, the world twisted, and suddenly I was standing in one of the outer sect's courtyards.

"Master," Azure called out.

"That was an interesting first lesson."

"That's one way to put it," I snorted.

"The giant bear wasn't something I expected."

"At least she likes you."

"You call that liking someone? She spent half the time threatening to eat me!"

"I think she enjoyed the entertainment value you provided."

"Glad I could amuse her," I muttered, but there was no real annoyance in it. Sure, the test had been terrifying, but I had to admit the whole experience had been oddly fun. How many disciples could say they'd had their formation tested by a ninth-stage beast who liked to do comedy routines? Shaking my head, I laughed, something like that could only happen in a cultivation world. While I made my way back to my quarters, my thoughts turned to ways I could improve the design of the barrier.

I wanted to make it so that if Hong Yue cheated next time, then she won't be able to beat me so easily!

"Master," Azure interrupted my thoughts, "don't you have plans with Wei Lin and Lin Mei tonight?"

"Yeah?" I stopped mid-step.

"What time is it?"

"Based on the sun's position, about half an hour past when you were supposed to meet them."

"What?" My eyes widened.

"Why didn't you remind me earlier?!"

"I was rather distracted by the giant bear trying to crush us," Azure replied.

"Besides, you're the one who made the plans, I thought you would remember." There wasn't any time to explain to Azure how humans didn't have perfect recall like he did. Instead, I broke into a run, heading for the disciples' dining hall.