As night came to a finish, day once again came to the lands.

But in a certain room inside the mansion of the Aasmany Clan’s North Yin Peak, a girl sat in the lotus position on top of her bed. If it was not for the slight rise and fall of her chest, people might have thought of her as an exquisite doll.

When the sun light shimmered into the room, her eyelids trembled before it slowly opened, revealing a pair of calm eyes.

But even if her eyes reflected her calmness, a bitterness and helplessness which only she knew exist within her heart.

‘Even though I knew cultivation would slow by a large margin after the seed outline materializes, this is still quite troubling.’

Thinking back to her cultivation last night, the helplessness within her heart increases.

That night, she noticed that she could barely do any progress in her cultivation. Ever since the outline has solidified, the seed seemed to have turned into a bottomless pit of Yin and Yang Qi, absorbing a tremendous amount of energy yet barely showed any progress.

Even though she knew that cultivation would slow down after breaking through each stage from the books she has read, the huge difference between the two stage of the Yin-Yang Circulation Technique left her helpless. Even if the seed’s only changed slightly, she would be satisfied. But no change seemed to have happened even after she cultivated for a whole night, leaving her bitter and helpless.

But moments later, she quickly cleared the feelings within her heart and as it became calm once again before proceeding to think of her next plans.

Because her cultivation has slowed down, finding something else to assist in improving her cultivation speed is a must. Even though she might have the patience to slowly cultivate, the world would not wait for her and others would improve faster than her, which is not something she is willing to accept.

No matter how calm she might be, she still has her own pride, which is one of the things she is not willing to let go easily.

As she contemplated her future plans, she remembered about the piece of memory which was opened the day before. Hence, she once again closed her eyes and meditated, submerging her mind into her sea of memories.

As she once again examined the piece of memory, she found a certain information which aroused her interest.

Yin-Yang Field Formation

Once she took a clear look at the formation’s information, she could not help but smile inwardly. This formation could be said as the answer to her cultivation predicament.

Yin-Yang Field Formation, just like its name, turns the energy inside the formation into Yin and Yang energy and increases the absorption of those energy from the surroundings.

Even though the effect could be said as simple, the uses of it are astounding. Yin and Yang energy could be found almost anywhere, but to find it in an abundant amount, that itself is a rare occurrence. But to find a location abundant of both Yin and Yang energy, that itself is almost impossible.

Knowing the preciousness of this formation, Yvette’s face turned serious as she told herself to not easily reveal it.

With that thought, she examined the details of the formation.

But after looking through it, she realized that this formation is not easily learned. Even after she tried to force herself to understand the words, she received no understanding, instead, she felt a piercing headache, as if telling her that she is straining her mind.

With no sign of comprehending the formation, she could only sigh and open her eyes, leaving the formation for another time.

At that moment, a knock suddenly came from her door that was followed by an unfamiliar voice.

“Mistress Yvette, have you woken up?”

Hearing the voice of a stranger, the first thing that came into her mind was the tutor which her parents were talking about. But still having a suspicion within her heart, she asked.

“Yes, may I know who you might be?”

“My name is Nastaran, a formation tutor your mother assigned for you. May I come in?”

Without replying, she approached the door and opened it before finally saying lightly, “Please.” Nastaran, after giving a short “Thank you.” Proceeded into the room as Yvette closed the doors.

Inside, Nastaran kept on examining the inside of the room until Yvette returned and gestured her to sit on the floor before sitting in front of her.

“Forgive me for the poor accommodation.”

“It’s not a problem. Is there anything you would like to ask before we start the lesson?”

As if expecting those words, Yvette asked without pondering for long.

“Have you seen Daiyu, my handmaiden? She has long black hair and violet eyes.”

At those unexpected questions, Nastaran made a face as if she did not expect those question before finally answering.

“When I arrived, I believe I saw an old servant bringing a girl who looked like that away.”

Once she finished, she glanced towards Yvette, trying to see any change in her expression. Even though she could not see any change in her composure, she noticed how Yvette’s expression, that was rather stiff before, slightly relaxed, to the point that it was almost unnoticeable if it was not for her sharp eyes.

At that, Nastaran could not help but to internally praise Yvette inside her heart, but worried that she might become arrogant and conceited, she kept her praises to herself. But whether it was a praise for her almost unreadable expression or for the care she held towards her handmaiden, only she knows.

“If that is all you need to ask, then we shall now start your lessons.”

“Yes, teacher.”

At those words, Nastaran faintly smiled before continuing.

“First, let us go outside, staying inside a room all day is not good even for a cultivator.”

Saying that, she stood up and walked out of the room while Yvette quietly followed behind her.

As they moved through the mansion, each servant that they saw them bowed and politely greeted, “Mistress Yvette.” Before continuing on their way, and each time, Yvette would give a silent nod as she followed behind Nastaran.

At her action, whether she noticed or not, Nastaran simply kept on leading Yvette to a place.

Once they arrived, Yvette realized that this place is actually the garden in which she practiced in before. But before she could examine her surroundings, Nastaran beaconed her over.

“Today, I will be teaching you about Rune Formations, do you know what that is?”

At her question, Yvette pondered for a moment before answering.

“Rune Formation is type of formation which is formed by special Symbols connected by various lines placed in certain geometrical shapes that needs to be powered with any form of Qi or energy that can be engraved on items to form a formation.”

“It does, and it makes things easier for me to teach you.”

She said with a faint flicker of praise within her eyes as she pulled out a piece of wooden board from a pouch tied to her waist.

“This is a board made from the Spirit Tree, a tree that specialize in absorbing and storing spirit energy, making it one of the things in the world to have many important uses for formationists. With enhancement of spirit energy, Spirit Trees can quickly gain durability at each passing year, they are also not rare, making it a great practice material for beginner formationists. But because of its poor performance, it could only be used mostly as practice material and other miscellaneous uses. You might not have saw it being explained in the books, but this is quite obvious since many major powers wishes to have monopoly over formationists.”

Hearing her explanation, Yvette curiously examined the normal-looking piece of wooden board which Nastaran handed to her. Even after examining it multiple times, nothing seemed different from this board and other normal wooden board. But when she tried to apply pressure to the board, it was able to handle it with no trouble. And when she applied enough strength to break average wood in half, not a dent was shown on the wooden board.

“With your cultivation of early body refining, you would only be able to make a dent with all of your strength.”

Saying that, she once again took out another similar wooden board from her pouch before continuing.

“Wooden boards made using Spirit Trees are usually called Spirit Boards, but they are also called, albeit rarely, Training Boards by Formationists.”

Followed by those words, Nastaran lightly waved her fingers over the spirit board for a few moments. But when she lowered her hand, the surface of the spirit board was engraved with various kinds of symbols connected by various lines.

“This is what we call formation symbols. Once it is powered with Qi or other energies, it will show its effects.”

As she said those words, white string of light silently appeared on her hand which held the spirit board and quietly moved into the spirit board and covered the engraved lines and symbols.

Once all the symbols and lines were covered by the string of light, a faint luster appeared atop the board for a moment before receding. But not long after, a faint feeling of absorption came from the spirit board. Not giving a chance for Yvette to ponder over it, Nastaran explained.

“The formation I engraved is called Energy Gathering Formation. This is the most basic form of it and can only slowly pull in a miniscule amount of energy in a short range without storing them. The stronger forms can quickly pull in more energy in a wider area while also storing them at a prepared storage. Most cultivators use them to speed-up their cultivation speed, which makes these kinds of formation one of the most common, especially by cultivator clans, sects and academies.”

She then applied pressure on the spirit board, causing it to break. At a quick glance, inexperienced people would have thought that the spirit board was originally not that hard to break. But Yvette knew how tough the spirit board actually is, and from how not a hint of strain was shown on Nastaran’s hand, she realized that the only possible conclusion is that Nastaran’s cultivation is just that high, enough to easily break the spirit board.

“In the past, there was no such thing called a spirit board, making the learning of formations much more expensive, and even though formation training is still expensive, it was still far more expensive in the past. You would need numerous treasures to be used as training, and engrave the lines and symbols using your own power, which will require you a sufficient cultivation base before you can even start to practice making Rune Formations. But we cultivators have also improved by the age, so a certain cultivator in the past founded the Spirit Board and also invented an item which allowed cultivators with low cultivation to still be able to make rune formations.”

Once she finished, Nastaran once again reached towards her pouch, taking out an item which, at first glance, seemed to be a brush.

“This is an Engraving Pen, an item commonly used by beginner formationists with low cultivation bases.”

Saying that, she extended her hand towards Yvette with her palm open.

Atop Nastaran’s open palm, she saw an item which, as she expected, looked like a brush. But the head, instead of being filled with animal hairs, has a thin, sharp needle stuck into it. And all over the brush’s wooden handle, there are numerous symbols and lines engraved on it, showing that the brush has a formation applied to it.

Taken over by curiosity, Yvette took the engraving pen and examined it, especially the handle which has symbols engraved all it. But once she felt the wooden handle, she noticed that the material seemed quite familiar.

Even though both the engraving pen and spirit board was topics brought up in the books she read before, it is still much better to feel and examine to real thing up close.

Deep in thought, Yvette involuntarily glanced towards the remnants of the spirit board which Nastaran broke. At that moment, she finally realized what was so familiar about the wooden handle.

“It seems that you’ve realized. Yes, the wooden handle of the engraving pen is made out of the same material as the spirit board, wood of the spirit tree. But to be exact, spirit boards are made out of the trunks, while engraving pens from the branches.”

Hearing the confirmation from her teacher, Yvette finally stopped examining the engraving pen and looked towards Nastaran. Seeing that, she smiled lightly and took out a thin book out of her pouch.

“This is a list of basic symbols. You need to memorize them to the best of your abilities, while I will go leave to do something else and return later to check your progress, then we can continue to your next assignment.”

After handing the book to Yvette, Nastaran turned around and walked away as her body faded at each step, leaving Yvette who stared curiously at the direction Nastaran went.

Moments later, she opened the thin book and started to examine its contents.