Aotian emerged from seclusion on the morning of the sixth day. His hair was slightly disheveled, eyes glowing with a deep light of comprehension. His steps were firm, and though his robes were plain, his face radiated a glorious smile.
In these few days of seclusion, he was integrating his formation attainment to his own comprehension of formations. Usually, when a dao attainment mastery was taken from someone else, the person was taking the lifetime comprehension belonging to another. Actually, attainment is usually just memories showing the process and path at with a master walked before becoming a master. Following this path usually hinders growth on that said path above the attainment level of the original owner.
In the case of Aotian, he had three grandmaster attainments, three half-step grandmaster attainments and three master level attainment. All these attainments were dormant except for refining and Forging attainments since they were his own original path before he sent his memories back to his younger self.
In his future self, he had attained half step supremacy in both of his two paths.To his present self though, these half step attainments regressed to grandmaster in order to create room for more comprehension of the other attainments gained through GUI Ying,who imprinted them to his yuan spirit.
Alas, Ling Aotian spent five days learning about the basics of formation making and Alchemy. For his direct plans, which included using a grand formation to replicate the pressure of a heaven merging realm expert, he focused on his formation comprehension first. For his future endeavors however, he knew that alchemy would be a huge factor in his growth and so he also made efforts in that regard. But five days was not enough for full integration of attainment and comprehension, so he put more efforts in formations.
In the first three days, he studied the basics of formations. Using his dormant grandmaster attainment to confer, he quickly understood it's basics and essence, making his comprehension leap to the half- step mastery. He was using the life's comprehension of an elder of the ghostly shadow sect to compare notes to what he was learning for better understanding. At the end of the day, after reaching a bottleneck due to different analogies between him and the attainment of the grandmaster, he decided to study alchemy for the next two days.
" Are the things i asked for delivered..?" Aotian asked the maid he had sent on errands.
"Everything is ready young master Aotian. It..it's just that the medicine hall refused to sell us alchemical ingredients. They said that I could only buy pill but not ingredients."
Aotian pondered about this,before asking his goods to be delivered in his seclusion room. He himself went to find something to eat. When in seclusion, he was so emersed that he did not eat or drink, making his already frail body to become more skinny.
Cui Long reported on all happenings of the Auction and city during these five days when he was eating. The Auction at least was doing relatively well, while the atmosphere in the city was still calm. It was too calm. Normally, Lingfeng city would have small scuffels between the two major families. But nothing of the sort happened. Aotian wondered about that. However he did not comment on it when Cui Long filled in him. Instead he asked.." Did my aunt not come in these last few days? "
" No, but her attendants would occasionally come time after time."
" Send word that only two days remain. " Said Aotian in a relaxed tone.
" Also.. ask for more advanced books on Formations , talismans and Alchemy. Bring them to my seclution room."
***
Aotian stared at a plethera of goods. In front of him were multicolored formation flags, formations disks already created for specific functions, hundreds of Talismans and five bottles of body nourishing pills. Looking at them, he took out a scroll inked with formation geometry. This was the Qi concentration grand formation he had modified to his convenience. He was planning on assembling it into life.
Aotian first knelt on the ground, placing the scroll in front of him. The formation's geometry was inked with precise curves, intersecting nodes, and runic pathways designed to draw ambient Qi inward like a funnel. Though originally meant for large sect grounds, he had modified it for personal use.
Formations in essence are structured patterns of energy, symbols, or artifacts used to manipulate the environment, spiritual energy (Qi), or laws of nature. They can be carved into the ground, arranged using special materials, or even created in mid-air with powerful Qi control.
In simple terms,think of a formation as a magical blueprint that channels energy in a specific way. Just like electrical circuits guide electricity, formations guide Qi to achieve effects like: barriers and shields traps, illusions, energy blasts, creating healing zones, concealment, detection,
teleportation and sealing.
A formation must be laid out in a precise pattern,using carved lines, symbols (runes or talismans), spirit stones, or even people (in battle formations).
Once set, it's activated by a cultivator's Qi, a formation core, or external triggers (blood, footsteps, time). In the case of Aotian though, since he could not control Qi yet, he used beast cores and spirit stones.
Aotian unrolled a set of formation flags, each color-coded for its role:Red flags for energy convergence.Blue flags for boundary stabilization.Green flags for flow regulation.
He planted them in a hexagonal pattern, adjusting their angles based on the scroll. Each flag having a faint spiritual glow as it synchronized with the ground's latent Qi.
Using spiritual chalk and a brush dipped in spirit ink, he traced lines in the wooden platform between and under the flags, these formed the Qi channels.At the intersections, he painted intricate formation runes, each stabilizing Qi flow at a critical junction. The wooden floor was to make the formation portable and ready for activation.
At the center, Aotian embedded a pre-carved formation disk; the core controller. Around it, four smaller disks were placed at cardinal directions to regulate input, output, purification, and flow acceleration.
Now, all was left was to add beast cores and spirit stones at the formation discs and activate it. However he did not dare to activate it in the city. That was because this was a grand formation. Something only a grandmaster could formulate. Aotian himself could not formulate such a formation without the blueprint and aid of his dormant attainment. In all of Autumn Leaf country there was actually no formation grandmaster. Masters were few while Half step masters were people with high status in society.
In actuality, if Aotian showed his half - step master attainment in formation to the Ling Clan, they would drop all else to groom him. That was the importance of a formation master. It was a lucritive endeavor but also a costly one. This can be seen by the amount Aotian used to gather the formation materials. He was now almost bankrupt, having used most of the spirit stones gained from Master Yun and selling his assets.
"I should try forming heavens gift formation." Thought Aotian as he put the assembled part of the formation to his spacial ring. The heavens gift formation was actually the one GUI Ying had performed earlier. Aotian was planning on giving up on the sword attainment, determined to walk on his own path.
The sword path was different and one could not easily integrate them to their own comprehension. One could only absorb it, but that would hinder any further development of the sword dao. Ling Aotian could not accept that, hence wanted to trade with the heavenly daos.
For that though, he needed to make a couple of heaven lock orbs.He sighed, then sat on the floor, clearly knowing that he had a lot to do before coming out of seclusion.