Their first day of travel went on smoothly. Fortunately, as the cave was already far in the east, near the border between the two nations, their journey would be over the next day. It was especially fast as this time, accompanied by a senior with peak Core Formation strength, and officially summoned to an important event for the kingdom, Baotian didn't have to worry about being discreet and taking detours as he and Zi Moyan did during the last two months.
'Ah, traveling is so enjoyable when there's a senior to shield you from outside threats' he thought.
The two of them created a generous encampment using wood spells, and took place.
"So, senior Bai, considering we will be there in two days at the very most, would you have the kindness to teach this junior the killer move you have been talking about?"
Bai Zisheng laughed at his impatience:
"Of course, of course" he replied. "Tell me, little Baotian, you practice the Blood Torrent Grandmaster's Blood Burial Mantra, right?"
Seeing Baotian nod, he continued:
"Good, good, I just wished to verify before going to the next point" he said. "Tell me, what do you know about formations?"
Formations? What did it have to do with killer moves? While Baotian was confused, he still answered the question:
"From what I know, formation is mainly used to designate two things" he said. "The first one is battle formations, where multiple cultivators each assume a different role in a combined technique, which allows them to fight enemies of higher levels. The second is arrays, which is the art of applying spells to a certain zone through inscriptions drawn with one's spiritual sense, which can then be activated later on"
"Good, good, you have solid bases" the old cultivator said. "But you do have the same misconceptions as most people from your level"
"Hmm? What is this misconception senior is talking about?"
Bai Zisheng, laughing, took several drops of blood essence out of his storage bag and began to rearrange them in a particular way, while inserting his spiritual sense in each of them in a different manner:
"In truth, the reason why both of these are called 'formations' is because both of these are fundamentally the same" he said.
As Baotian's confused look stuck to his face, he continued to explain:
"Think about it that way: a formation, in essence, is simply the process of using multiple, separate components, with each their own role, and making it so that the use of each component is encompassed in a larger process, allowing to produce an effect greater than the sum of all parts. For battle formations, those components are the cultivators themselves and for arrays, the components are the inscriptions.
In fact, we can even go a step further: both alchemists and artifacts creators are formation masters, combining different materials tempered by spiritual energy, theirs or not, to arrive at a result far more prized than the resources used to create them. Even the creation of your Qi Cube through the Qi Pieces is, in the end, nothing more than creating a formation. And so, here is my next question, little Baotian: if formations can have such vast uses, is there a way to use them in real combat, without allies or arrays to support?"
This time, Baotian more or less understood where he was going. But it was hard to imagine a way he could use formations in battle with his current methods…
Suddenly, a particular memory came to his mind: Liu Sword's Sword Sealing Net, the move Zhenyun had tried to use to seal him.
"Is the way to apply formations to real time fighting to use objects already imbued with your spells as mediums to use the killer move? That would mean that at my level, this type of formation can only be used by cultivators that already amplify their spells through external entities… In this case…"
Baotian thought for a bit. For the Liu Sword Scripture, it was obviously swords but then, for the Blood Burial Mantra…
"Must I use blood essence as the formation's components?"
Bai Zisheng applauded, seeming to be pleasantly surprised by his deduction:
"Exactly" he said. "Quite honestly, I'm impressed you understood so fast. There are few scriptures meeting the requirements, but yours does fit the requirement. So, would you like to begin practicing?"
Baotian nodded excitingly.
"Then let's begin, little Baotian. For starters, the position of the components to each other…"
The two trained for several hours before Baotian fell to the floor, exhausted. Bai Zisheng kindly offered him one of his own pills:
"By keeping up today's speed, we can arrive there when the sun settles down tomorrow" he said. "However, we wouldn't have the time to finish teaching you the basics of formation killer moves, and I could not help but notice you seem to run low on blood essence, meaning we'll also have to make a stop or two to refill. The friendly contest only begins in three days, so let's take two days instead, alright?"
Baotian agreed, but at the same time, the uncomfortable feeling he had before came back.
And one and a half day later, as they were but a few hours away from the border, the two stopped in a large village, with around three thousands people living there. Baotian hesitated for a bit before sighing:
"May you watch over to see if any high level cultivator approaches, please, senior Bai?" he said.
But the latter shook his head, still smiling:
"There is no need for such a thing, little Baotian" he reassured. "By now, it is pretty obvious to you that I'm a blood cultivator too, isn't it? I am much more proficient at extracting blood essence, and I can see you do not enjoy doing such a thing, so I will do it for you"
Baotian looked down with mixed feelings:
"Thank you, senior"
Bai Zisheng nodded, and then turned to the village. Launching multiple spells in succession, the village was quickly filled with crimson orbs, emitting an ominous aura.
"Until now, while this senior did show you some small scale uses of formation killer moves, you didn't get to see a real one yet" he said. "Let's change that"
With a few seals formed by his hands, the spiritual energy of each orb connected, creating a gigantic structure. It began with a small child, falling to the ground. Then, a pregnant mother. A newborn baby, a teen girl, elderly parents. First, it was the more fragile mortals, and then everyone in the village, even the most robust men and the two or three Qi Building cultivators that guarded the village.
Once they all had fallen, a thin mist of blood started to escape out of their seven orifices. Then, the same kind of mist started exiting from the pores of their skin, and all of it was absorbed into the crimson orbs. Baotian quickly realized that it was blood essence and, from the look of it, it seemed that Bai Zisheng's killer move could extract over three times more per person than him.
"I truly feel sorry for these Qi Building cultivators" Bai Zisheng sighed.
Hmm? What did he say? Baotian, perplexed, turned toward the senior. And then he saw it.
"Having to die just because they mixed with these weak, crawling, insignificant mud people, it is truly saddening. My heart aches every time I see these filthy creatures dragging down others with them"
Hatred. Not just the typical contempt that many cultivators had for mortals but, pure, unadulterated, boundless hatred toward mortals. Under his sinister killing intent, Baotian found himself having trouble breathing. For several seconds, the Core Formation demonic cultivator's face contorted in pure anger, barely human anymore.
'Ahh… right… that's where the uncomfortable feeling came from'
Someone who could hide such terrifying hatred so flawlessly most of the time was, most definitely, completely insane. And now, this insane person was there, right next to him.
"Here, little Baotian" he said as the orbs converged back in his palm. "A bit less than five thousand liter"
Whether or not he knew what Baotian thought right now, he didn't seem to care right now as he put half of his harvest into his storage bag, and handed him the rest.
"This… junior thanks senior" Baotian said, putting it into his own storage bag. "With that, I won't risk lacking it in battle for a very long time. Can we go now? I don't think it's wise to stay here, and it's better to arrive at the border early so we can properly rest before it begins?"
"Haha, you are right. Let's not waste any more time here"
Bai Zisheng threw a last hateful glance at the village and resumed flying. Baotian looked at it too, feeling slight nausea, and then flew after him, his discomfort toward his new companion worse than ever.
At the end of the day, the two finally arrived at the border between the Xuanhe Kingdom and the Lands of Yaoling. At the same time, another group arrived there, composed of two people as well.
Seeing them, Baotian's, who was already on edge from the day's previous events, froze on the spot. The pair, seeing him, froze as well.
"Ba… Baotian? Is it you… my disciple?"
The first person was Baotian's master, Liu Jianhong. And the second…
"So you came here too, Baotian. Good, I… have questions to ask you. We need to finish our discussion from last time"
It was Liu Zhenyun, his former junior brother, one of the six, or rather five geniuses. And it seemed that finally, Baotian would get to learn if he was a transmigrator as well.