Chapter 10 – Discovering Your Own Path

Ren felt an intense relief when teacher Fan said that array flags would be provided. He had been dreading using simple stone plates as array flags in front of others at his new formations class. When he arrived, he saw that everyone had a short but wide table to sit behind. On the tables were 27 carved sticks of wood. Also in front of him were blank sticks of wood, a short scroll, and a carving tool. Teacher Fan swept in just then, introduced himself, and began teaching.

“You young disciples are embarking on the path of formations. True mastery of formations is a journey without end, but it must begin somewhere, and it is my honor to guide you.”

“Formations are one of cultivators’ most important creations and are fundamental for crafting tools and weapons, capturing beasts, refining pills beyond our realms, protecting ourselves, and defeating foes. Used right, formations can give you twice the results for half the effort.”

“Since this is the basic class and most of you are new to the sect, you may borrow the array flags before you. We will begin with simple formations, and you will use the given technique to control them. Poor control of qi can break the flags, and a few failures are expected, so you will carve your own replacements. You have a stick of time to learn the technique, and then we will begin.”

He then lit a stick of incense and began laying out a formation of his own. Ren quickly studied the simple technique. Similar to his cultivation manual, it called for qi to be channeled through the wood of the array flags and would enable him to move them by will. There were also instructions on carving replacements for the basic array flags he had been given. He practiced carefully so as to not break the flags.

When the incense had burned down, teacher Fan began speaking again. “Qi flows through nature. Like building a dam on a river, we place array flags to redirect its flow. By harnessing multiple such flows, you can create a formation. Observe.” He began to channel qi, and the formation lit up. This time, Ren could see shifting colors flow through the formation. “The sole purpose of this formation is to let qi be more easily perceived.”

Then he took it apart with a wave of his hand, impressing all the disciples struggling to maneuver the wobbling sticks through the air. Then he taught them a qi gathering formation. This one was a much more advanced one than the simple one Ren had learned previously. He eagerly absorbed the knowledge, knowing precisely where he would use it himself.

After the class was over, he stayed to talk with the other classmates. He heard more stories about the developing beast wave. It was a rather popular point of gossip. He shared what he had learned about why Teacher Fan was so popular. Not many other teachers provided free array flags or basic techniques to wield them. His classmates made sounds of agreement.

Then the topic shifted to why everyone was interested in formations. One classmate was much older than the others. She talked about her experience with formations that led her to join the class. As everyone listened with growing horror, she told a tale of how she had encountered a village being stalked by a demonic cultivator. Over years, he had carved a huge sacrificial formation, intending to use it on the village. He planned to gather the blood essence from the formation to boost his own cultivation. She spoke regretfully about how her team didn’t know how to break the formation and watched helplessly as an entire village shriveled to a husk before their eyes.

Ren shivered, but such stories were depressingly common. The strong prey on the weak. Demonic or not, cultivators had an inherently selfish perspective on things. If something could benefit you, why leave it for the next to find? Even the legends of his own ancestor who established the Zhao family were the same.

His parents told the story with pride. How the ancestor had entered a hidden realm containing an inheritance of an immortal alongside hundreds of others and discovered many treasures. Then how he had bested would-be thieves and escaped, one amongst a dozen to exit.

As a child he loved the daring adventures and often tried to imitate them. But after the scales eventually fell from his eyes, those adventures seemed more like scavengers descending on a carcass, grave robbers stealing everything not nailed down. It was hard to find honor in such actions.

The elder sister’s tale had dampened the mood, so everyone dispersed. Ren went to the hall of scripture as planned. He approached the elder once again and very respectfully bowed and said,

“Greetings, senior. I was wondering if I could be of service. I saw careless disciples have disturbed your careful arrangement of the scriptures. Since I have some time, could I assist you in sorting the first floor?

Ren had practiced the short speech to avoid any indications that could be perceived as blame or anything negative. It was possible that the elder may reject him or accept his aid without payment, but he hoped he wouldn’t. He couldn’t be that shameless?

The elder looked up and watched him silently. Ren could feel sweat start to bead on his brow and was seriously doubting himself when the elder spoke.

“Why should I trust you? If you make a mess of my beloved library, how will you answer for it?”

Ren tried to prove he understood the current organization and even offered to sort it further. He further emphasized how he was a poor new disciple and wanted a chance to bring honor to his sect by assisting in whatever way he could. He tried his best to look impoverished and pitiful.

The elder seemed to waver. Weighing if this was worth the trouble, but since it was just a matter of the first floor and unimportant beginner-level manuals, he finally accepted.

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“I’ll give you a month. 1 contribution point a day. If you perform well, I’ll even throw in a bonus of 10 points, but if you make a mess, you will owe me 20 points instead. I’ll be watching, boy. Don’t let me down.”

It was a bit risky, but Ren accepted enthusiastically. Even if he performed badly, he would still be left with 10 points, but that wasn’t going to happen. He would aim for that bonus. Even the chance to read all those descriptions and learn all the different types of manuals and techniques the sect offered would be very useful knowledge.