I'm Feng Aotian—And I’m Running Away from My Wedding - Chapter 41

Li Baiying still remembered how she felt when she first heard about formations.

Back then, she had just begun her cultivation journey and hadn’t even memorized a single basic chant before being forced to read piles of books.

These included foundational texts on the five elemental arts, such as talisman drawing, artifact forging, beast taming, alchemy, and formations.

But the moment she laid eyes on them, she protested to her mother, “I don’t like learning these!”

Even after being compelled to read through an entire collection, she remained uninterested. Aside from being able to answer questions during surprise quizzes, she never used the knowledge in daily life and promptly returned it all to her instructors.

As time passed, Li Anqing stopped pushing her and instead gathered a wide range of cultivation books tailored to her interests. Li Baiying devoured these with fervor.

To her back then, cultivation was the sole goal. Breaking through to higher realms, acquiring more powerful magical artifacts, and defeating stronger opponents were the directions she relentlessly pursued.

Now, everything was completely different.

From the moment she witnessed the destruction of her family, she no longer had the luxury of choice or willfulness.

“Even though I don’t know how, I can learn,” she firmly assured the voice in her head. “I learn things quickly.”

“Very well, then I’ll teach you,” Hong Wang agreed readily, gesturing for her to move under the shade of a nearby tree and carefully observe an inconspicuous gray stone.

“Hold it in your hand. What do you feel?”

Following the instruction, Li Baiying did so.

Strangely, the moment she clasped the stone in her palm, a surge of cold energy burst forth, making her shiver.

“This is the most unremarkable corner of a formation’s foundation. Start by learning how to decipher it, step by step, until you can replicate it exactly. Once you do, I’ll tell you where the second layer of the formation is,” the voice in her head said leisurely.

“Understood.”

Li Baiying sat cross-legged, enveloping the ordinary roadside stone with her spiritual sense, immersing herself in contemplation.

At first, she couldn’t grasp the essence and ended up with freezing hands and feet, forcing her to pause and regulate her breathing before continuing.

Gradually, however, she discovered that the surface of the stone was inscribed with a series of obscure, cryptic characters. When combined, they miraculously unleashed a powerful force.

She broke off a tree branch to use as a brush and began repeatedly attempting to replicate the characters in the soil.

Oddly, no matter how well she thought she had memorized them, she would always forget a stroke or a dot during replication, resulting in a noticeable discrepancy from the original formation symbols on the stone.

“Why can’t I remember it?” she murmured to herself.

This time, Hong Wang remained silent, as if testing her ability to solve the problem on her own.

But Li Baiying had always been tenacious. If one attempt didn’t work, she would try ten, twenty, even a hundred times, until she mastered it flawlessly.

So, over the next half-day, she used the ground as her canvas, constantly organizing the chaotic thoughts in her mind, nearly forgetting to eat or rest.

In the end, it was Qin Yixiao’s aroma of grilled fish that snapped her out of her trance.

“Time to eat,” the other said without questioning the circumstances, quietly handing her a piece of tender fish.

“Thank you.” Li Baiying took a big bite, feeling her hungry stomach immediately respond to the food. She couldn’t help but devour it eagerly. “So delicious.”

Only after she had devoured the grilled fish like a whirlwind did she remember she hadn’t explained the situation to the other person. Hurriedly, she said,

“If we want to proceed further, we need to break through the formation. I haven’t studied it much before, my understanding is only theoretical. Now I have to start learning from scratch.”

“Are you saying there are formation runes on that stone?”

Qin Yixiao picked it up and examined it closely. “Did you sense it with your spiritual awareness?”

“Yes, there’s a layer of text on it, but I can’t grasp its meaning at all.”

“These runes are related to cold. The main formation behind them is likely capable of freezing people into ice sculptures.”

Qin Yixiao suddenly spoke up.

“You know formations!” Li Baiying’s eyes lit up, and she shifted closer to her. “Please teach me.”

“I only know a little.”

Unable to resist her eager gaze, Qin Yixiao laid the stone flat in her palm and patiently began explaining.

…

“Let me try again.”

After grasping the general meaning of the formation runes, Li Baiying nodded in sudden understanding. She calmed her mind once more and enveloped the unremarkable stone with her spiritual awareness.

This time, the icy sensation surged over her again. Unafraid, she opened her mind to carefully perceive it.

Every rune in the formation had its unique purpose. If there were any superfluous strokes, it would be a mistake on the part of the formation’s creator. However, on this stone, there were no such superfluous strokes, not even the slightest flaw could be found.

“The person who set up this formation must have considerable expertise in formations.”

Qin Yixiao concluded with these words.

“No matter how skilled they were, their achievements are meant to be surpassed by later generations. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

Li Baiying was not at all intimidated by the seemingly flawless formation before her. Like a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, she found the challenge of the impossible exhilarating.

If she could seize this opportunity to go from knowing nothing about formations to becoming a formation master, it would be her destiny.

After five or six more attempts, she finally managed to replicate the runes on the stone exactly.

“Rustle…”

The moment she finished drawing the characters on the soil with a branch, a chilling aura spread, and the temperature in the air dropped by several degrees.

But the phenomenon lasted less than ten seconds. A gentle breeze swept by, disrupting the characters on the ground and bringing it to an end.

“You need to carve the formation on something that won’t easily change.”

At this point, the hidden consciousness in her mind, Hong Wang, finally spoke.

“Understood.”

Li Baiying replied brightly. With a sidelong glance, she walked toward a nearby tree trunk.

This time, her movements were much faster. Crimson demonic power gathered at her fingertips as she carved inch by inch into the bark, leaving marks of varying depths.

Though she was still a novice, the formation she drew was impressive enough to inspire awe.

The moment it was completed, an unprecedented chill spread, forcing her to take a step back to avoid its sharp edge.

“Is this the power of formations?”

Li Baiying stared at the tree trunk now coated in a thick layer of ice crystals, exclaiming in amazement.

“You’ve only just begun, junior.”

The woman snorted lightly. “Once a truly powerful formation is activated, it can not only blot out the sky and cover the earth but also annihilate all living beings within its range.”

“That incredible?!”

“That is a killing array.” Hong Wang fell silent for a moment, her tone lowering. “You must understand, once you begin taking lives, you will attract karma. And karma is the most terrifying existence on the path of cultivation. Therefore, it is enough to study defensive arrays, do not touch killing arrays.”

“I understand, Ancestor.”

“…” The other party did not speak, only letting out a soft sigh in her mind.