The Formidable Formation

Hu Feng, with his hands clasped behind his back, slowly advanced towards the formation ahead.

Everyone knew that when it came to formations, more people did not necessarily mean greater efficacy.

Formations primarily relied on the clear intercommunication of qi, smooth and unobstructed operation, seamless connection between segments, and ideally, agile adaptability and swift reactions.

While adding more people provided extra strength, it also introduced more links into the chain, making communication and coordination increasingly difficult.

Furthermore, with the intricate shifts and layered transmissions inherent to formations, once a hundred people were involved, an increased number of participants only rendered the formation more unwieldy and ineffective.

Consequently, formations in this world typically consisted of fewer than ten people for small arrays, and several dozen for medium arrays; these two types were the most frequently used in ordinary combat.

Large formations of over a hundred people, apart from their application in military strategies and pitched battles, were rarely seen in other contexts. Even when deployed, their effectiveness was generally mediocre.

This was especially true when confronting a lone master several cultivation levels higher. The power of a multi-person formation could not be fully unleashed, instead revealing its cumbersome and clumsy drawbacks.

Having battled on the front lines for decades, Hu Feng naturally understood this principle. Therefore, today, he intended to give his young clan nephew a proper lesson.

His imposing aura slowly condensed with each step, pressing down upon the few individuals directly facing him within the opposing formation.

This was a common tactic when engaging multi-person formations. Although numerous and vibrant in spirit, only a handful of people directly confronted the enemy. By intimidating these few, one could disrupt the formation’s qi flow and immediately gain the upper hand.

After decades of conflict, Hu Feng had mastered these minor tactics. However, this time, things were entirely different.

‘Hm?’

The moment his aura pressed forward, he felt as though the qi of the hundred individuals opposite him had been completely linked by a special technique. They supported each other, as stable as mountains, and even his formidable aura could not shake them.

‘Quite interesting.’

Hu Feng’s brow subtly arched as he inwardly acknowledged that the young lady of the Bai family indeed possessed extraordinary talent, even in the way of formations.

However—

He abruptly stomped his foot on the ground. His previously slow advance transformed into a sudden burst of speed, charging directly into the heart of the opposing formation.

If he couldn’t overwhelm them with aura, he would crush them head-on!

He had absolute confidence.

Two burly men, one tall and one short, stepped forward to meet him.

Hu Feng vaguely remembered these two. One had just led the shout, “We can’t disgrace Madam Bai!” The other had a shifty-eyed look and was laughing the most boisterously.

‘Traitors who bite the hand that feeds them deserve a lesson!’

Hu Feng clenched his fist and threw a punch, putting three-tenths of his strength into this initial strike.

However, the two men simply raised their hands, both throwing punches in an attempt to meet him head-on.

‘Courting death!’

Hu Feng felt a flicker of anger and added more force, instantly increasing his power to five-tenths. He knew that even with the formation distributing the impact, and even if he ultimately held back, this punch would still leave both men bedridden for at least three to five days!

“Boom!”

The force of their fists collided.

Yet, they remained— completely unmoving?

Hu Feng was momentarily stunned.

He could feel that the power of his punch had not diminished. However, upon impact with the opposition, it had been channeled, dispersed, and fragmented into countless streams by their qi, ultimately being shared among every person in the grand formation.

‘This formation…’

His heart skipped a beat. Realizing that this formation was indeed formidable, Hu Feng was about to change his tactics when, unexpectedly, the man in front of him suddenly dodged aside. Subsequently, two more figures emerged from either side, one from the left and one from the right, each striking at him with their palms.

“Get out of the way!”

Hu Feng’s focus sharpened, his earlier arrogance completely gone. Two immense surges of qi erupted from him.

This time, he used eight-tenths of his strength!

The two figures seemed unable to withstand the force and immediately retreated. However, in the next instant, four or five more figures surged out from various directions.

None of them engaged him in prolonged combat. They would strike once, then immediately retreat and vanish back into the formation, regardless of the outcome, refusing to expose themselves.

Every strike Hu Feng unleashed was dispersed layer by layer, completely nullified, without any discernible effect.

For a moment, Hu Feng felt as though he had fallen into a spider’s web, being entangled layer by layer, his strength slowly being drained.

‘I can’t let this continue!’

Hu Feng was a decisive man. Realizing his momentary lapse in judgment had led him to underestimate this formation, he immediately struck out with several palms, scattering the people in front of him, intending to retreat.

However, he suddenly realized that during their brief entanglement, his own qi had, at some unknown point, become firmly locked with that of the grand formation.

As his momentum dropped and he tried to retreat, it immediately triggered a spontaneous change in the formation.

“Boom!”

A figure burst out from behind him, blocking his escape.

“Scram!”

Hu Feng’s brows furrowed deeply. Disregarding everything else, he unleashed a full-powered palm strike, intending to break through the formation. At precisely that moment, the figure also launched a punch upward.

The instant their forces met, Hu Feng’s entire body violently shuddered.

The opposing force, though chaotic, uncontrolled, and riddled with countless flaws, possessed one undeniable quality: it was genuinely powerful.

So powerful, in fact, that it was beyond his ability to resist.

If it had landed squarely, his old bones would surely land him in bed for at least ten days to half a month!

‘Not good!’

“Boom!”

Most of the punch’s force shot into the air, creating a thunderous boom, and then a fierce wind swept across the entire training ground.

Only a small portion of the force collided with Hu Feng’s palm strike.

Thud, thud, thud, thud—

Hu Feng stumbled back dozens of steps before stamping his foot to finally steady himself.

Hu Hai, on the other side, did not pursue. His face alternated between pale and flushed as he stood there in a daze. It was a while before he recovered his senses.

His gaze subtly darted to the side of the field, where the pebbles that had been at the lady’s feet were now gone.

He cast a grateful look at Madam Bai, then stepped forward and bowed to his clan uncle.

“Uncle—”

The rest of his sentence caught in his throat. He didn’t know what to say next. Should he apologize, claiming he got carried away in the fight and almost injured him? Given his uncle’s temperament, he would surely find opportunities to give him a good beating later.

Hu Feng, meanwhile, had also finally recovered. He looked at his somewhat uneasy nephew, his expression shifting several times before settling into a wry smile.

“Hm, well done. I was overconfident just now. You’ve trained well, truly well…”

He raised a hand, patting his nephew’s shoulder, then turned to Yang Xuan, a look of emotion on his face. “Gate Master, if this formation is already like this in its nascent stage, what will it be like once they’re proficient?”

“That, I truly do not know—”

Yang Xuan shook his head. “This formation was actually adapted by Yuan’er from an original wondrous array. That original array was said to allow thirty-six Houtian masters to combine their strength and unleash an attack comparable to a Xiantian master’s full power. As for this one— Yuan’er?”

He looked at Bai Yuan with an inquiring gaze.

“This formation naturally cannot achieve that,” Bai Yuan stated calmly. “Even with one hundred and eight people working together and fully proficient, at most, it can only simultaneously suppress two or three Houtian Grand Completion level experts. Its power is merely passable. Its greater purpose is to help them adapt to the formation’s changes and the flow of qi.”

‘Merely passable…’

Hearing this assessment, Hu Feng’s lips twitched. Yet, looking at the serene Bai Yuan, he suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness. If those words had come from anyone else, they might be called posturing. But from her, they could only be described as… self-evident.

Though she had not managed to cross into the Xiantian realm, at her peak, she could effortlessly suppress the combined strength of two Houtian Grand Completion masters with just her fists and palms. Although she had abandoned her cultivation and restarted, her insight remained. For her, the power of this formation was indeed merely passable.

A slight sense of grievance filled his heart, but turning to look at his nephew and the group of vibrant young people behind him, his mood quickly improved.

Regardless, the acquisition of this formation for their gate was ultimately a joyous occasion. Once they mastered it and spread its use, the future of their gate was truly promising.

Even Bai Yuan, whether willingly or not, sincerely or not, would now have to dedicate her wisdom and talent to the gate’s service.

With this thought, he felt greatly relieved and no longer dwelled on Bai Yuan’s attitude. He praised the formation to Yang Xuan at length and heartily encouraged everyone to continue their efforts before returning alone.

His figure, which had seemed somewhat heavy upon his arrival, now appeared much lighter.