79 Chapter 79 (2/2)
After the 'training montage' was over, they all returned to the dorms to talk. They had all increased their mastery in their techniques, but they still needed to do more. There was still about a month left before the time was up, they could still level up their masteries and get better. Due to spending so much time with people with the same mindset everyone started slowly thinking as a unit, the petty squabbles between the purebloods and the side families were shoved to the side while everyone concentrated on the future of the Zhang family.
At this time Zhang Dong was not in the vicinity of the Zhang Clan, he was on a tall mountain experiencing an increase in power. The lightning energies in him were a lot more chaotic this time which caused a huge explosion. Any creature in the vicinity would get electrocuted as the cultivator in white hovered in the air slightly. Yes, he was hovering this was an early sign of a cultivator getting close to the nascent soul level as experts of that caliber didn't require flying swords anymore.
He couldn't fly just yet though, as you required a lot more juice to do that without a flying sword to hold you up. Matt was only at the late stage now, but he could give anyone at the pinnacle of the core formation a run for their money due to his immortal grade cultivation method. He was frowning though, looking at his opened palm on which the blue lightning energy was forming.
”Damn, it took me a whole damn month to finally get through to the late stage...”
He noticed a serious decline in his advancement speed, it still was swifter than any other cultivators, but it would take him at least a year to get to the great circle at this rate.
”Guess cultivating more won't make that much of a difference, but every bit counts... maybe I should try getting some new skills, the guys should be back with the spirit stones by now.”
He had a minor amount of points left, not enough to do anything with them. He wanted to get enough to upgrade to that golden lightning art, but he needed a million for that, and he didn't think he would be able to gather that many spirit stones from the sales. The clan blew through all of the resources that they had stashed behind, so there wouldn't be much more. What was left was hunting beasts, gathering points from his students, or just cultivating more as even one percent more in the cultivation art made him slightly stronger.
He looked through the wanted lists, but since his last hunt, most of the criminals were laying low. People were afraid of the strange cultivator that was hunting core formation criminals, so most of the evil cultivators decided to hide and wait it out. All of them had long life spans, so waiting a couple of years wasn't that hard. Matt, on the other hand, didn't have much time left, so spending time on a needle in a haystack was out of the question.
*Heh, wonder if that guy actually followed my instructions...”
He got a bit curious as he returned back to the Zhang clan, a month had passed and he saw his disciples progressing in their skills a bit. There wasn't a big change though as the focus was teamwork and formations instead of cultivation arts. When he arrived, no one noticed him as he was hiding his aura. He peeked at the youths that were training and could hear them singing the tune that he butchered a bit.
*Haha, they are really doing it.*
Matt was holding his hand to his mouth, trying not to burst out into laughter. Soon enough he was spotted by some people, the small floating land didn't really have many places where a white-haired buff dude could hide. He came out of hiding, which caused everyone to take notice and stop with the training. Everyone gave him a proper bow, they were all wearing the gear that he made which made them look like a small army of Chūnibyōs.
*Well... I got myself an army of edgy teenagers, who can stop me now?*
He nodded at the people, telling them if they could show him the fruits of their labor. They demonstrated the formation techniques, some of the youths were quite nervous while looking at their patriarch which caused some fumbles here and there but somehow they pulled through. The giant two hundred people formation needed some work though, he told them to form the water serpent one so that he could test the formation's power.
Matt watched as the crowd worked together like an almost well-oiled machine, they quickly got into their designated spots and started forming the large water serpent. It was quite huge, larger than his avatar form with the many cultivators floating around in its spirit energy body. They were all in the lotus position, with the strongest member that was Zhang Zhi in the snakes head acting as the core. He was controlling the giant thing, the snake gave out a roar that blew the Patriarch's hair a bit.
”Well then, give me all you've got.”
Matt produced his lightning shield, setting it up in front of the snake. He was quite used to the technique now so he was even able to layer the barriers together. He made it so that the first one was the weakest starting off at the foundation establishment lower level, all up to the late stage of the core formation. He wanted to see how far the attack would breach in, hoping that it would at least get through the early core formation level.
The snake opened its mouth, he could see the sharp watery fangs protruding. A large water ball was forming in that maw, he could see the spiritual energy getting sucked in from the surroundings like a whirlpool, then a bright blue beam of light was fired off towards the shields. The cultivators inside the battle formation grimaced from the skill usage, the attack draining them of their spiritual energy.
The beam attack hit the shield, going through the first three barriers without a problem stopping briefly on the fourth one before blasting through it as well. When it hit the fifth one it stopped though, this one was the early stage of core formation. The beam continued as the snake kept at with the attack, the people within giving their best to not disappoint the Patriarch. Due to this, you could see some of the youths passing out and flopping out of the formation due to spiritual energy depletion.
After seeing that, Zhang Dong wanted to stop the test but he noticed the determination in their eyes. The attack continued and the shield finally started to show cracks and with a resounding boom, it shattered to pieces. The attack hit the next barrier, but before it could do any more damage the formation started breaking and it collapsed due to too many cultivators tiring themselves out.
”Okay that's enough, you did well. It can be used as a trump card, you just need to keep the formation more stable.”
Zhang Dong nodded while trying to give his clan people a pep talk. The youths seamed invigorated as he saw some of them smiling while panting, probably proud of their monthly achievement.
”But don't get cocky, there is still much more work to be done.”
He ended it on a serious note, time was of the essence and there wasn't much more left as the last month started ticking down.
Had fun writing this silly chapter, so early release probably next one will take longer to release, enjoy xD
It's is highly advised to listen to this song while reading.