chapter 21″The Formation Stepping”

Lu Yan's breath was steady, his mind sharp. The Second Stage of Qi Condensation was just a threshold, a door barely cracked open. But now, his focus had shifted. Cultivation alone was not enough—he had already decided. Formation mastery was the path he would carve into the world.

Formations were the foundation of power. A single, well-placed array could decide life and death. Sects relied on them to guard their treasures. Armies fell before them without a single blade being drawn. There were those who shattered mountains with their fists, and then there were those who shaped the battlefield itself.

Lu Yan would become the latter.

He sat cross-legged on the plateau, his fingers moving across the dirt. Formations were not just symbols or carvings; they were pathways for Qi, veins through which energy surged like blood.

A simple pentagram. Five points. Five anchors.

He gathered a small portion of Qi and let it flow into the lines. The energy moved, but it was sluggish, unrefined. A dead formation. Without intent, without balance, it was nothing more than markings in the dust.

Intent was everything.

With a deep breath, he adjusted the structure. The points weren't enough—they needed direction, flow. Qi moved like water; without a proper channel, it scattered uselessly. He redrew the lines, thickened the connection between them, and infused a steady pulse of energy.

The ground trembled. The lines lit up faintly, a thin shimmer running along their edges.

This was a basic energy-gathering formation, the simplest kind. But even this required precision. A single misplaced line, and it would collapse.

His gaze darkened. In battle, a proper formation master didn't just set up arrays. They broke them.

Lu Yan rose to his feet, stepping around the glowing formation. Its energy pulsed in a steady rhythm, following the paths he had carved. But every flow had a weak point.

His fingers traced the air. Formations were like living creatures—if you knew where to strike, you could bring them down in an instant.

He focused, sensing the cycle of Qi moving through the lines. A mistake most would make was attacking the formation itself. The true key was disrupting its core.

There.

At the northern anchor, the energy hesitated, just for a fraction of a second before completing its circuit. A flaw in the balance. He struck—a single precise movement, sending a sharp pulse of Qi into the weak point.

The formation shattered. The energy dispersed, vanishing like mist.

His chest rose and fell, his thoughts racing. This was just the surface. True formations layered upon each other, their weaknesses hidden beneath countless cycles of Qi. There were arrays that trapped, arrays that poisoned, arrays that twisted reality itself.

And then there were grand formations—the kind that swallowed entire sects whole.

Lu Yan's hand clenched into a fist. He had taken the first step, but this was only the beginning.

He spent hours, Seven Days, refining the simplest structures, feeling the way Qi moved through each one. Defensive formations absorbed impact, dispersing force like ripples in a lake. Illusion formations bent light and sound, hiding their true shape. A killing formation, when properly set, could turn even a flat field into a death trap.

Yet the most terrifying formations were not always the strongest. They were the ones no one could see.

His mind burned with new understanding. This was power beyond brute strength. A formation master did not fight on an opponent's terms. 

Lu Yan's lips curled slightly.

there were Three Basic formation principles :

1. Anchor points. Every formation needed stability, whether through carved symbols, formation flags, or array disks. Without anchors, the energy would collapse in on itself.

2. Flow of energy. Energy could be gathered, redirected, or dispersed. Defensive formations absorbed impact, offensive ones concentrated power, illusionary formations manipulated perception.

3. Layering. The strongest formations were never a single-layered construct. Each formation had depth, concealed mechanisms, and countermeasures against those who sought to break them.