A Chaotic World

Chapter 116: Table Top Formation

The next day, after informing Nanlan Qianxue and Nanqing Haowen about his plans, Lu Tianzi left with General Nanbai Zhaoyu and headed for Formation Master Beimu's residence.

The famous formation master resided outside of Scarlet Moon City itself, deep in the forests south of the capital.

But due to the layers upon layers of concealing formations placed around her residence, nobody knew its actual location, not even General Nanbai Zhaoyu who was currently paying her a visit.

Thus, he could only bring Lu Tianzi with him and waited at a certain area within the forest, where the other party would send someone to receive him.

Thankfully, General Nanbai Zhaoyu had already informed Formation Master Beimu about his visit, and it did not take long before someone appeared before them.

It was a young lady at the Peak Essence Condensation realm, wearing clothes that looked similar to long daoist robes.

Her complexion was fair and her long hair was pinned up in a neat bun, revealing her full facial features. Her looks might not be as mesmerising as Nanlan Qianxue, but her graceful disposition definitely made up for it.

"Greetings to General Nanbai," the young lady nodded towards General Nanbai Zhaoyu.

Even while greeting, her actions were completed in a manner that was not one bit servile, perhaps even containing a hint of arrogance within.

However, General Nanbai Zhaoyu was surprisingly not offended at all.

He merely smiled and nodded in return, "It is my honour to have Lady Beimu personally come and bring me to see Formation Master Beimu."

The young lady merely let out a cursory smile before turning around, "Follow me."

Without even waiting for an answer, she started walking off into the forest.

General Nanbai Zhaoyu and Lu Tianzi did not need to be told twice, immediately following after her.

At the same time, Lu Tianzi had a bunch of questions in his head.

From General Nanbai Zhaoyu's tone, this Lady Beimu before them was unlikely to be the Formation Master Beimu Ting whom they were here to meet.

Yet she still acted in such an impolite manner towards the General?

Could it be that Formation Master Beimu's reputation was so stellar that even the juniors of her clan would possess a ridiculously high level of prestige within the capital?

Under the lead of this Lady Beimu, the three of them made several sharp twists and turns within the forest, almost to the point where Lu Tianzi felt like the other party was messing with them.

But when he saw how calm General Nanbai Zhaoyu was, Lu Tianzi thought that he must have missed something.

Could it be due to the concealing formations?

At his level, no matter what conjectures he had, there was no way for Lu Tianzi to verify it.

All he could do was to shut up and obediently follow along.

Due to all the twists and turns, Lu Tianzi had no idea how far they actually travelled. However, it did not take long before they finally arrived at the front gate of their destination.

They passed through a simple bamboo arch with the words 'Beimu Clan Residence' engraved on it, but it seemed to be more of an act of respect rather than necessity.

After all, there were no fences stretching out from either side of the arch, which meant that they could have simply walked around it and still entered all the same.

Beyond the arch were multiple houses, all of them with similar designs.

Without a single exception, all of the houses were made of bamboo and took up the exact same area of land. The only difference between the houses was the number of storeys.

These houses were lined up neatly on both sides, not a single one out of line. This alone was testament to the perfectly organised layout of the Beimu Clan Residence.

Finally, they stopped in front of a five storey high bamboo house.

Lady Beimu lightly knocked on the front door before taking a step back. Even she dared not carelessly barge into this house.

She had only just taken her step back when a gentle voice sounded out from within. "Enter."

Only then did Lady Beimu push open the door to lead the two guests in.

The interior of the house was just as simple as the exterior, with all of its furniture made of bamboo.

"Welcome, General Nanbai," an old lady sat at the long bamboo table in the middle of the room, greeting them as they entered.

The old lady wore a hat that obscured her head of greying hair, but her skin complexion was still fair and smooth, similar to that of a teenager. In fact, if not for her greying hair, anyone who looked at her youthful face would think that she was barely twenty years old!

Even so, Lu Tianzi saw that she was at the Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm, the same as General Nanbai Zhaoyu.

"Thank you for inviting me, Formation Master Beimu," General Nanbai Zhaoyu clasped his fist in greeting.

"Please take a seat," Formation Master Beimu gestured towards the seat at the far end of the long table.

At the same time, the Lady Beimu from before walked over to stand behind Formation Master Beimu respectfully.

"Thank you," General Nanbai Zhaoyu did not stand on ceremony, immediately taking his seat opposite the formation master.

Lu Tianzi followed behind the General, but just like Lady Beimu, he did not take a seat at the table. Instead, he tactfully chose to stand behind him.

When he got nearer, Lu Tianzi noticed that there were dozens of small bamboo tokens scattered on the bamboo table. In such a neat and simplistic house, this messy state of the table stood out like a sore thumb.

He was naturally not the only one to have noticed this as well.

"Is Formation Master Beimu in the midst of something?" General Nanbai Zhaoyu asked while looking at the bamboo tokens.

"I am indeed in the midst of something," Formation Master Beimu let out a faint smile. "Though to be exact, it should be Fei'er who is in the midst of it."

Upon hearing this, Lady Beimu who was standing behind her involuntarily tensed up a little.

"Oh? Lady Beimu is in the midst of it?" General Nanbai Zhaoyu asked again, as if in confirmation.

"This is a table top formation, something that is used to simulate actual formations, just on a smaller scale," Formation Master Beimu explained. "Fei'er's task is to find the core of the formation, and she has to do it by the end of tomorrow."

"These bamboo tokens are actually part of a formation?" General Nanbai Zhaoyu's eyes lit up in surprise.

Behind him, Lu Tianzi similarly had his thoughts about the bamboo tokens take a 180 degrees turn. He had thought that it was just a messy table, who would have known that it was actually the scaled down version of a formation?

How fascinating!

As for the Fei'er whom Formation Master Beimu was talking about, it should be that Lady Beimu from before. Which meant her name should be Beimu Fei.

Could it be that she was a formation master then?

Even if she was not an official formation master yet, considering that she was capable of dabbling with the table top formation, she should still be an aspiring formation master!

Lu Tianzi might know how to set a few formations, but that was only limited to simple energy gathering and concealing formations.

That was far from enough for him to call himself a formation master.

True formation masters were not only able to set up formations that were far more complex and intricate, but were also able to break formations in a systematic manner instead of bruteforcing through them.

If given sufficient time to prepare, formation masters were also able to set up powerful formations that could allow them to fend off opponents far above their level!

This immediately piqued Lu Tianzi's interest, as he stared hard at the arrangement of the bamboo tokens on the table, trying to figure out just what it was about.

If he managed to glean just a small amount of insights from examining it, then at least this trip would not have been made in vain!

"I truly have no talent in the art of formations," General Nanbai Zhaoyu laughed. "No matter how I look at it, it just does not make any sense to me!"

"General Nanbai is too humble," Formation Master Beimu shook her head. "Everyone has their own strengths. In terms of individual strength, I am just as helpless when compared to General Nanbai. Fei'er is born with great fortune, and has managed to peer into the complexity of the art of formations despite her young age. That is something that I am thankful about."

"Hahaha! Formation Master Beimu has a point! Everyone has their own strengths indeed!" General Nanbai Zhaoyu laughed out in satisfaction before pointing to his back. "It is just like with this kid's young age, you would never be able to imagine that he is an inscription master of his own right!"

Formation Master Beimu's eyes flickered in surprise.

"This young man is an inscription master?" she could not help but turn her attention towards Lu Tianzi.

"I am not exaggerating one bit," General Nanbai Zhaoyu nodded. "My father is the one who discovered his talent. Back in Bluenight City, he can be considered quite a famous character!"

"Is that so?" Formation Master Beimu carefully scrutinised Lu Tianzi from head to toe. "The art of formations and the art of inscriptions have always been closely linked. Considering that he is already accomplished in one field, perhaps he might have some talent in the art of formations as well?"

Seeing how intrigued Formation Master Beimu was, Beimu Fei frowned from behind her.

Both she and Lu Tianzi were members of the younger generation. Even though they were specialised in two different fields, Formation Master Beimu was actually showing this much interest in the other party.

Thus, she could not help but start feeling competitive.

"As a city on the far outskirts of the Scarlet Moon Kingdom, how can the level of expertise within Bluenight City ever be compared to that of Scarlet Moon City?" Beimu Fei remarked in a bitter manner. "Even if he could be considered as a capable inscription master in Bluenight City, it is likely that he is only subpar when placed alongside the inscription masters of Scarlet Moon City!"

When General Nanbai Zhaoyu and Formation Master Beimu heard her remarks, they did not mind it too much.

Instead, both of them simultaneously let out a smile.

Despite their current disposition, both of them had been young before. They naturally understood the prideful and brash nature that young geniuses possessed.

In fact, not just young geniuses, but even members of the older generation might start feeling competitive under the right circumstances.

"Young man, may I know what your name is?" Formation Master Beimu ignored Beimu Fei's remarks and directly addressed Lu Tianzi.

"Eh?" Lu Tianzi looked up in surprise.

While General Nanbai Zhaoyu and Formation Master Beimu were talking, Lu Tianzi had been concentrating hard, trying to figure out the intricacies of the table top formation.

When he felt Formation Master Beimu suddenly turn her attention towards him, his focus was instantly broken, causing him to be momentarily at a loss.

"Tch!" Beimu Fei unreservedly let out a loud click of her tongue.

The young man was already this flustered just because Formation Master Beimu spoke to him. How could he ever amount to anything great?

"Formation Master Beimu is asking for your name," General Nanbai Zhaoyu reminded him.

"My apologies for being distracted," Lu Tianzi quickly apologised. "My name is Nanlu Tianzi."

"Don't worry about it, Nanlu Tianzi. I am not offended," Formation Master Beimu smiled amiably. "It seems that you are quite interested in the table top formation?"

She had naturally noticed that Lu Tianzi's sight had not left the table ever since the start.

"I am quite interested in it indeed," Lu Tianzi admitted. "Unfortunately, my understanding of the art of formations is too shallow, and it is impossible for me to glean any form of insights from it."

Beimu Fei subconsciously let out a triumphant smile upon hearing that.

But of course!

This table top formation had been set by Formation Master Beimu as a test for her.

How would a layman like him ever be able to see through it?

"It is natural since this is your first time seeing it," Formation Master Beimu shook her head gently. "However, given your foundation in the art of inscriptions, you should be able to understand it better if you use that as a basis. Why don't you try again? This time, try to think of the formation as a larger version of an inscription array."

"Think of the formation as a larger version of an inscription array?" Lu Tianzi was a little taken aback by the suggestion.

However, it was not impossible to think of it that way either.

Inscription arrays were constructed by connecting multiple inscription runes, while formations were built by connecting multiple formation flags.

If he thought of it that way, they seemed to share some similarities?

"I understand," Lu Tianzi nodded and turned his eyes back to the table top formation.

"Don't be so hasty to start," Formation Master Beimu stopped him immediately. "If you are in the mood to, what do you say about having a little competition with our Fei'er over here?"