Formations Expert

Ryker stared at the bandit leader warily, ready to make a move at any moment. He was sure the guy hadn't noticed him until his strike was just about to land, but he had managed to dodge, anyways, and the movement was so swift he couldn't even register it. Although he was just testing the waters with that strike, he had a feeling that these bandits wouldn't be intimidated into retreating, this time...

"Don't feel like talking? I assumed you showed yourself to say something, but perhaps it was simply to surrender?" the young man that Ryker presumed to be their leader said. Though, he was probably much older than he looked; when speaking with Meiling about some of the characteristics of the different cultivation realms, she had said that past the Golden Core realm, one's lifespan was greatly increased, and cultivators began aging much slower.

If that was the case, then the man in front of him must have reached the Golden Core realm at a pretty young age, looking to be only in his twenties...

"You're Gao Shun?" Ryker asked, to which Gao Shun clicked his tongue, slashing in front of him with his fingertips and sending another beam of sword qi straight at Ryker's neck. Ryker's eyes widened in surprise as he leaned back to dodge under the blade of qi, the sharp projectile whistling just above his face before shooting past him and slicing a tree in half.

"Watch your tone, peasant," Gao Shun said, holding his hands behind his back and looking at Ryker with a face full of disgust, "You'll address me as 'Lord' Gao Shun, when speaking to me."

Ryker just grimaced, standing back upright as the sundered tree behind him fell to the ground with a crash. This guy was a head case!

"Alright... 'Lord' Gao Shun," he started tentatively, watching out for any more sudden attacks, "Why are you attacking this village, anyway?"

He was ready for the blade of sword qi, this time, jumping to the side as it tore through the ground, before eventually dissipating a short ways away.

"You dare question me?" Gao Shun asked with a faint smirk, moving his hand to rest behind his back, once more. Ryker could feel a vein popping on his forehead; this guy was just messing with him, now!

Gao Shun looked back, gesturing with his chin for Haoran and Lanfen to continue onward.

"Find your way to the village. I'll handle this commoner."

He turned back to face Ryker with a smug grin as the other bandits marched past to carry out his orders. Ryker could only watch them go, not daring to give Gao Shun an opening. There was still a lot of things he hadn't seen in this world, but he instinctively felt that even those slashes Gao Shun made with just his fingers were enough to tear him a new one.

"So? Why attack the village? Actually, why are you even a bandit?" he asked, staring at Gao Shun curiously and resting the Sturdy Iron Cudgel across his shoulders. This time he easily sidestepped the incoming qi blade, grinning as it whizzed past.

"Hmph, at least you learn, quickly."

Gao Shun lowered his hand, though this time, he materialized a longsword made of some kind of dark metal, with glittering, gold patterns snaking along the blade.

"Why?" he said, lazily raising the sword in front of him, "Because those fools at my old sect couldn't appreciate my genius, and chased me out to this godsforsaken place. So I simply took my rightful place as ruler of this area. As for why this village... well, I was just thinking that it's an eyesore."

"So, what, they kicked you out 'cause you're an asshole?"

Ryker quickly jumped out of the way as an even stronger blade of sword qi shot past him, this time leaving several fallen trees and a large gash in the ground in its wake. Gao Shun frowned at seeing him emerge unscathed once more, narrowing his eyes, dangerously.

"That's four times, now, that you've avoided my attack. Are you really only in the Foundation Establishment realm?"

"Like I'd tell you."

Ryker grinned, thinking it was lucky that he'd taken these past few days to push his cultivation. He'd only broken through to the fourth level of Foundation Establishment last night, and that was only after consuming all of his remaining Foundation Establishment Pills. What Bestie had said was right; cultivation was really a never ending struggle.

If she found out he was thinking this, she would cry for the rest of the ordinary cultivators struggling, out there...

"You're rather relaxed, considering the others are on their way to destroy your precious village. Are you so confident in this array?" Gao Shun asked, rubbing his chin and looking around, curiously. Ryker just nodded, smiling broadly.

"Heh, I don't think they'll be finding their way through, any time soon. And you won't, either."

When Mini C was setting up the array, he had used one of the most basic illusion arrays detailed in the formations primer. But, extrapolating from the theories outlined in the book and combining them with his own theories on how the array could work, he was - with Bestie's help - able to create an array formation that was much more robust and effective than what the book had described.

Instead of one large formation around the village, it was split into several smaller ones, all of them laid out along the perimeter. However, the keys of each formation, which were what controlled the illusions inside, were all linked together with some enchantment trickery from Mini C, and enchanted to teleport to random locations within the array at random intervals. As long as one key remained, the other arrays would hold.

Adding on to that, each key was also enchanted with a self-regeneration spell, which would pull in surrounding mana to restore them to their undamaged states, as long as the enchantment wasn't broken.

Unless the bandits could find all of the ever-moving keys in each array and destroy them all before any of them could regenerate, they wouldn't be breaking this formation.

Gao Shun nodded and gave a low hum in appreciation, apparently seeing something he was impressed by in the illusion array.

"Indeed, I'll admit this array is much more sophisticated than I initially thought. But the fact that you're here means it isn't foolproof?"

He smiled as Ryker tightened his grip on his weapon, walking around to his side with relaxed steps.

"And if it turns out I really can't dispel the illusion... I can always just destroy this entire area?"

Ryker clicked his tongue. There *was* one issue with the array: it would only last for an hour, after he activated it. Although they had a large amount of materials from robbing the Great Void Sect disciples, it of course wasn't enough to create any sort of permanent formation.

And if Gao Shun really could just level this entire section of the forest... there was no way for him to stop that.

"Well, I'll take care of you before it becomes a problem. After that, your lackeys shouldn't be an issue," he said, lowering his staff into a spear-like stance. Gao Shun just scoffed, raising his sword to be at the ready, as well.

"Quite arrogant, for a peasant. We'll see how long that lasts."

The two of them stared each other down, waiting to see who would take the first move...