Transcending Dreams 3 - Chapter 4

William dragged his finger across the floor, shuffling on his knees to the side when his arms didn’t have enough reach to complete the formation. It was a position that no self-respecting cultivator would put himself in, but as he had learned on the ‘Wheel of Death’ in the Abyss, he had no pride… apparently.

He honestly didn’t care because he was too engrossed in successfully completing the lightning barrier formation for the first time after nearly fifty tries. After each failure, he had to stomp on the floor to remove the depressions before he could try again.

Calling Elder Yu and asking for paper and ink would easily fix the tedious issue. However, William didn’t want to make it easier.

He was self-aware that while he was ‘lucky,’ that didn’t always mean good luck. Unwanted situations pulled him in without warning, and he lacked supplies. It had worked out so far, but he feared this would worsen as his Luck attribute increased.

Eventually, William would encounter something from which he could not escape if this continued, which is why he preferred indenting formations into the floor with his finger.

If he could successfully make formations in such a crude manner, he could use the environment in the future instead of relying on a controlled method, like paper and ink.

William connected the depression he was making on the floor with another he made near the start. He smiled widely at his accomplishment and slowly backed away from the completed formation covering over half the floor space.

It would have been far easier to pick a simpler formation to draw, but his Qi prevented all those from being an option. He had tried for hours to return his Qi to a neutral state, to no avail, leaving him to deal with a mix of Lightning and Thunder Qi.

William eventually went with the flow, picking a formation that would be compatible with his Qi after that, even if the formation was more advanced than it should be for his novice level.

The lightning barrier formation was not designed for such a large surface area. Its purpose was to protect small valuables and such because of the high intensity of power required to activate it.

However, William had no choice in the matter since he was working with his fingers and the floors. It’s not like he could miniaturize the formation, which would have required smaller fingers.

He knelt to touch the edge of the formation, circulating his Qi while asserting his control over it for what was to come. An array over five times smaller than this required a hundred and fifty Spiritual Energy to fill, and this array would need exponentially more.

William pressed his lips together when the formation tried to empty his spiritual pathways. He kept tight control over it and monitored precisely how much was leaving his body and, more importantly, whether it would take all his Qi.

His eye twitched in irritation when there seemed to be no sign of stopping when well over fifty percent of his Qi capacity was emptied. He observed the formation and estimated it would get dangerously close to emptying him.

William kept supplying Qi for a few more seconds—fully prepared to break the connection. Thankfully, it wasn’t necessary.

The formation pulsed a bright gold, making him back away immediately.

[-1750 Spiritual Energy]

After nearly two days of failures and restarts, he finally created a complex formation and activated it—all from scratch.

William couldn’t stop a smile from spreading cheek to cheek as he stared at the glowing formation. It didn’t look special right now, but its defense capability only showed when something was trying to breach the formation.

He looked around the sparse room, devoid of almost everything except a table and a desk. There was no way he would test the formation with his body or anything in his spatial stones, so the chair would have to do.

It didn’t seem too expensive, so Elder Yu shouldn’t care much… shouldn’t.

William picked up the chair, studying it closely to ensure he didn’t miss any detail that might change it from disposable to invaluable. It didn’t seem like it.

“Young Master!” The door swung open to reveal Mei Lingxi. “I came with gifts! I heard you had a tough—” She paused, staring at the chair he had cocked back in his hand. “What are you doing?”

“Uh, testing something,” William slowly lowered the chair and changed the subject. “What brings you here, Sister Lingxi?”

“What’s this?” Mei Lingxi ignored him and pointed at the glowing formation. However, her following sentence made her question redundant. “A lightning barrier formation? Young Master, you already finished studying the notes I gave you on formations?!?”

“I did read all of it, though my practical knowledge is still lacking,” William admitted sheepishly.

“If you could create this, I’m sure the other formations would be a breeze,” Mei Lingxi praised with a smile, though it dimmed a bit as she continued. “I have to ask why you did this on the floor… and at such an exaggerated size.”

“It’s better practice,” William shrugged. “If I can create it like this, I will be able to repeat it in most other situations.”

Mei Lingxi looked at him with gleaming eyes. “An admirable attitude, Young Master! The gifts I brought are even more fitting than they were before!”

He looked at the neatly packed boxes in Mei Lingxi’s hands for the first time. His nose caught a familiar scent that made him swallow audibly. “Is that Brother Xu’s cooking?”

“An apology from your Sister Wang,” Mei Lingxi smiled brightly. “She was worried sick when we got news that you were lost on your mission. Sister Wang wanted to come with me, but Elder Yu said otherwise, so she sent these with me instead.”

“Sister Xiaoling is forgiven,” William blurted out, barely able to stop himself from licking his lips. “Let’s eat first!”

Mei Lingxi snickered as she placed the boxes on the lone table in the room. “I think you’ll like the dish you choose, Young Master. I tasted the Azure Dragon’s Breath Rice yesterday, and it was exquisite, both in taste and benefit.”

William opened the boxes one by one, revealing five dishes that begged to be eaten. Mei Lingxi’s words broke through his fantasy of gobbling all of it simultaneously. “Wait, the dish I choose? As in, I can’t eat all of them?”

“Chef Xu gave explicit instructions that would mean death,” Mei Lingxi said apologetically.

“… I don’t think I have ever been more disappointed,” he muttered as he stared blankly at the offered dishes. “This Dragon’s Breath Rice, what benefit did it give you?”

“I felt a significant increase in my Qi, and my bottleneck disappeared. I can enter the Core Formation Realm anytime I wish.”

William blinked in shock and turned to face Mei Lingxi, activating the system’s basic status at the same time—something he kept turned off with people he was friendly with.

[Name: Mei Lingxi | Level: 199]

“Congratulations, Sister Lingxi!” He was ecstatic that she was going to become stronger.

“Thank you,” Mei Lingxi smirked. “Though I feel you’re more happy that you will have a subordinate in the Core Formation Realm.”

“… Anyway, why not advance right now?” William deflected the teasing accusation.

“I don’t feel it’s the right time.”

Mei Lingxi looked so confident in her reply that he could only nod in agreement. He reminded himself that she did what felt best, and it always worked for her. Maybe that would be helpful to him, too.

If something like the Azure Dragon’s Breath Rice was a choice, surely the other dishes were equivalents.

“Sister Lingxi, do you know what the other dishes are?”

“Unfortunately, no, Young Master.”

“I see… which one do you think I should choose?”