Chapter 11: The Formations

He Songning brought the two to a small cottage. The sword descended slowly, a ripple of spiritual energy sweeping away a layer of dust as it neared the ground.

"This is Miss Zora's residence," He Songning said, angling his body slightly back. His tone was like frost—seemingly his permanent state. "Head south for the Manshan Hall to dine. Suit yourselves."

Zora nodded: "Thank you."

She stepped off the sword and turned back to Vane. Understanding her immediately, Vane untied the pack, took out her bundle of clothes, and handed it to her. Zora took it.

Once the guide left, she pushed open the door. The room was tidy and clean, fully equipped with bedding and tea sets.

Zora walked out of the cottage. Outside was a pebble path. The December Sect was filled with a majestic, invisible spiritual energy that surged everywhere. Even if the naked eye could not see it, a mortal's body would feel refreshed with every breath, bringing clarity to both heart and mind.

She stood still, looking up for the sun to tell her directions, but she couldn't find it even after staring for a long time.

"Are you new here?" A voice came from her left. A figure in bright yellow approached from the distance.

Zora locked eyes with the newcomer—someone wearing a vibrant dress and a strange, glowing object wrapped around their head.

The other person smiled: "I'm Yiling Ke."

"Zora."

Zora stared at the flickering, hat-like object on the girl's head. It blinked on and off, much like a faulty lamp from her original world.

"Uh...

cough

. Wait a second." Yiling Ke pressed a fist to her chin and cleared her throat pretentiously. She turned away, pulled the object off her head, and gave it a shake. The 'hat' instantly turned into a strip of fabric. One side looked like ordinary cloth, while the other was covered in intricate, meandering runes.

Her hair fell to her waist, her brows curved like crescent moons. She straightened herself up, tucked the fabric strip away, and said, "I've been here for a month. Finally, another living soul."

"A month?"

"You came up from the Cloud Stairway, right? The stairway opens every five years. But the more common way into the sect is the talent assessment every ten years. That method only takes those with exceptional roots, so people with no spiritual roots or mediocre talent come to climb the stairway."

She paused, then added, "Or those who can't wait ten years. The earlier you start cultivating, the better. Most people here are in their teens or twenties."

Zora: "..."

Zora: "When was the last talent assessment?"

Yiling Ke: "A year ago."

So the next one wouldn't be for nine years. In the end, one still had to climb the stairway. Zora fell silent, thinking that perhaps Vane just had poor luck. After all, she had transmigrated based on the timing of his peril.

"Where are you going? Shall we go together?" Yiling Ke initiated a party invite.

"Manshan Hall. I'm a bit hungry."

"Let's go, let's go."

As they walked, Yiling Ke did most of the talking, spilling her life story in no time.

Every sect accepted formation masters, but the most famous was Drunkard’s Bay, much like the December Sect was famous for its sword cultivators. Everyone successful in Yiling Ke's family had gone to Drunkard’s Bay, including her sister. Unfortunately, her own math skills were so poor she had to settle for the Formation Gate of the December Sect.

She had passed the talent assessment a year ago but had insisted on staying home for a year before coming. Her family had been formation masters for generations—formations and talismans were essentially one family. That past year, her entire family had basically mobilized to give her private tutoring while sighing in despair, eventually ending in fits of thunderous rage.

Math? Zora, who didn't have much of an education herself, thought about it but said nothing.

"Look, I carry a booklet of our famous ancestors' portraits with me every day for protection."

Zora looked down. From the first page to the last, the people in the booklet looked like ethereal immortals. The first old man had drooping corners of his eyes and a bald head. The second middle-aged woman looked solemn and wore a bamboo hat. The third woman had down-turned lips and thinning hair.

After looking through it, Zora summarized: "None of them are smiling."

"They're portraits, after all." Yiling Ke chuckled and tucked the booklet away, noticing the newly met girl watching her. Zora's eyes were clear and pure. Yiling Ke couldn't help but feel a sense of liking toward her, thinking her luck was good for not running into anyone troublesome.

Outside the Manshan Hall, it was quiet. Only a boy stood tall by the door. His high ponytail made his profile look even sharper. His dark pupils moved slightly, turning toward them in an instant. He started to speak but immediately pursed his lips and fell silent upon seeing a stranger.

Zora gave a nod as a greeting and bypassed him, walking straight into the hall. Yiling Ke didn't notice at first, but after a few steps inside, she realized the black-clad boy was following behind them at a fixed distance, like a shadow.

Yiling Ke: "?" She didn't speak up easily.

Different foods were placed on different tables, covered by baskets with small formations. When opened, the food was as fresh as if it had just come out of the pot—steaming and fragrant. They wanted different things, so they separated.

From the corner of her eye, Yiling Ke saw the boy, who carried an aura like a blade, following Zora as a matter of course. Zora pointed at the dishes: "This, and this."

The boy’s face looked like that of a favored son of heaven, without a hint of servility, yet his behavior was exactly like that of a servant. Whatever she pointed to, he picked up. If she ordered four dishes, he held a plate in each hand and balanced another on each forearm. He was incredibly steady and smooth. At first, he frowned as if unpracticed, but by the time Zora brought over two bowls of white rice, he seemed to have mastered the technique instantly.

Zora chose a table and sat down. The four dishes were placed gently on the tabletop. Yiling Ke, carrying her noodles, shuffled over and sat slowly beside Zora. She glanced at Vane, then at Zora, and asked an obvious question: "You two know each other?"

"Mhm," Zora said. "He is my servant."

Yiling Ke: "??"

Only then did Vane curl his lips, lowering his eyes with a slight nod: "Vane."

He was smiling, and though his eyes held little emotion, he hid it perfectly. From the outside, he looked like a high-spirited youth without a single shadow or dark thought. In the original story, he had maintained this facade to build his image as a genius cultivator and become a world-renowned figure.

Yiling Ke nodded blankly: "Yiling Ke."

Zora buried her head in her food after she spoke, ignoring the bizarre atmosphere between them. Yiling Ke hesitated to speak to Zora; seeing her so focused on eating made it hard to interrupt. Her mind was racing with curiosity about why Zora would bring a servant into the sect—especially one who clearly looked like he wasn't meant for a lowly position. From the first impression, Zora seemed quite naive; wasn't she afraid of him turning on her later? He didn't look like an obedient type.

Under the gaze of the boy who was eating methodically across from them, Yiling Ke forced a smile: "Zora, you're truly kind-hearted. Such deep master-servant devotion."

Zora said honestly: "It's not that deep yet."

The goal was for it to be deep. Vane discreetly lifted his eyes to look at Zora for a moment.

Yiling Ke: "..."

After the meal, Yiling Ke said she had to go complete her formations and hurried away. Zora and Vane returned together, naturally heading to Zora's cottage first.

Vane said: "I saw that person who called himself a Shu family member near our quarters."

Zora thought for a moment: "Who?"

"..." Vane explained, "The one who vanished on the stairway."

"He found others to help him. He likely intends to cause us trouble. The Sword Gate recruitment is coming up; they seem to be beating up people they dislike in secret, making them unable to walk or participate."

Zora had no thoughts on the matter and gave an "Oh."

Silence fell. Vane waited for a moment, glanced at the unmoved girl, and withdrew his gaze. After another quiet stretch, as they neared her residence, he looked at her again and said, "If they come to cause you trouble..."

Zora: "Hit them back."

"There are five or six of them."

"Hit them back."

"They say they carry low-tier spiritual tools."

"..."

Zora stopped and stared straight at him. Seeing her staring, Vane suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

Zora: "You're sleeping with me."

His body tensed for a second before he realized she meant it the same way they had at the inn in Brookside Town.

Zora returned to the cottage while Vane went to get the necessary items. In the room, she searched through the supplies provided for every room: a bottle of wound medicine, a bottle of fasting pills, and some soft fabric.

Zora spent the entire afternoon in the room. She sent Vane out to wander for a while. He returned and drew a simple small-scale map, placed it in Zora’s dressing table after it dried.

When the moon hung on the branches and the night breeze blew, rustling footsteps indeed came from outside the house. Zora drew her blade, but Vane suddenly pressed his hand over hers, whispering, "Don't kill anyone. At least not yet."

"Mhm."

Bang!

The door was kicked open. Just as the intruder was about to speak, someone launched a diagonal kick to his face, sending him instantly to the ground. A sickening crunch suggested his nose had been displaced.

"Ugh... Arghhh!"

Shu Liang backed away in horror. He saw the girl, who should have been asleep, stepping out into the moonlight. Her eyes, which looked harmless during the day, held a hint of heartlessness in the dark.

"You... you..." Shu Liang glanced at the four men following him and steadied himself, laughing, "How did you know I was coming to teach you a lesson? Did your little lover secretly tell you?"

Before the words fully left his mouth, a black shadow dropped from above behind the five men. In an instant, three of them were down. Shu Liang ate a mouthful of dirt on the ground, his eyes burning with resentment: "Stop! ...!"

His head was stepped on, his face forcibly buried into the soil. For some reason, they seemed no different from mortals, and they didn't use any spiritual tools.

"Bold thieves! How dare you use your position to bully others!"

Yiling Ke, living nearby, heard the commotion. Thinking ill-intentioned people had infiltrated—after all, the Cloud Stairway was different from the talent assessment, and many were of mediocre talent, so the sect wouldn't pay much attention—she rushed in shouting. Her combat power was low, so she blindly threw a scroll imprinted with a formation toward the "thieves."

Refocusing her eyes, she saw her newly made friend and the servant standing together under the moonlight like bullies, with several "corpses" lying at their feet.

Zora was startled by Yiling Ke's sudden shout, her eyes widening for an instant. Vane first glanced at the startled Zora, then turned to stare at the formation scroll.

The scroll lacked momentum and landed with a

plop

between the two parties. The moment it touched the ground, a complex orange circular formation suddenly flared out!

...Then it shivered and contracted. Then it flared out with a

vwoom

! ...Then it weakly contracted. Then it flared out again!

Vwoom! ...Vwoom! ...Vwoom!

The three of them stared at the formation, silent amidst the buzzing sounds. On the fourth pulse, Vane leaned over and whispered to Zora: "He's about to suffocate."

"Oh." Zora lifted her foot.

Shu Liang finally jerked his head up, breathing heavily, his face covered in dust.

That dog definitely waited until I was about to suffocate before reminding her!

Shu Liang fumed but didn't dare speak again.

Yiling Ke's eyes were as dead as a still pond. In the suffocating atmosphere, Zora stepped forward unbothered and picked up the buzzing scroll. The moment it was picked up, it extinguished immediately, losing all its struggle.

She walked up to Yiling Ke. "Your thing."

Yiling Ke took it stiffly.

"You came to help me?"

Yiling Ke nodded stiffly.

"Thank you," Zora paused. "Do you have enemies?"

"...What?"

Vane cut in timely, stepping forward with a smile: "Thank you for the help, Miss Yi. If you ever need assistance in the future, just ask."

The normal social etiquette finally pulled Yiling Ke's mind back. She waved her hands frantically: "No need, no need! I'll be going now!" She sprinted away.

Zora watched her departing back. Once the intruders fled—the unconscious ones being kicked awake by Vane—they scrambled away, terrified by the boy's shadowed, malicious gaze now that his facade had dropped.

The boy pushed the door open and entered. Zora had lit a candle and was sitting on the edge of the bed applying ointment to her knees, her trouser legs rolled up to reveal her calves and feet. In the candlelight, they were as fair as jade, appearing to glow with a faint, soft light.

Vane immediately averted his eyes: "Sorry."

"?" In Zora's original world, she wore clothes that exposed her arms and legs all summer; she couldn't comprehend the logic of modesty regarding limbs in a split second. Furthermore, she dealt with corpses all the time. Vane hadn't shown any discreet shyness along the way.

The boy paused, also realizing something was off. In the Demon Realm, corpses were everywhere; flesh was more disgusting than pork. He had long lost any sense of "modesty" regarding what shouldn't be seen. Previously, he had only looked away out of practiced etiquette, so as not to make her feel uncomfortable.

Vane stared at the carved patterns on the door, his lips pressed tight.

The old injuries from the Cloud Stairway had just been treated with the ointment from the room. Zora paid him no mind, crudely smearing it over her wounds. While the boy was still pondering his sudden sprout of shame—how his practiced, indifferent etiquette had just now turned into a genuine feeling of 'I shouldn't be looking'—the girl finished, pulled the covers over her, and fell asleep instantly.

Vane: "..."

He blew out the candle, closed the window, and lay on the floor beside the bed as usual. When she turned over, a strand of black hair fell over the edge of the bed. Vane looked at that strand of hair and recalled the cool, smooth sensation against his fingers when he combed it.

After a moment, the boy withdrew his gaze and stared at the ceiling. A bit later, in the quiet darkness, he suddenly reached out to check if the hairpin, hair ribbons, and wooden comb were still on him. Finding them all safe against his chest, he closed his eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep.