Reborn As An Extra In A Cultivation World

Tomorrow morning was calmer than usual. Maybe it was because they were tired, or that Ye Tian had come to the class with me, so they let him go for the day. It doesn't really matter. As to why I ended up walking with him? It all started after I knocked on the door to a Cave…

"Iyana, wake up. You are going to be late for the lesson!"

I pounded on the formation to ring the bell, and eventually, the cave entrance opened.

"Holy cow, are you alright? You look like-"

"Not. A. Single. Word."

"Sure. You look like you have returned back to whatever age you were in your past life."

"..."

"I didn't know you could use it on three dots too."

"Haa, whatever. Just don't be too loud."

"Will you tell me what happened? I may help."

"This is nothing. It's that just my Qi is drained from doing Double Compression."

"Did you breakthrough? That was fast."

"No. I will next week. I don't have to hurry."

"Wait, if you weren't compressing your Qi, what were you compressing?"

"I was working on a formation. The main purpose is to gather Yin Qi, but I compressed another shrouding formation into it. To hide the Yin Qi Gathering Formation."

"Just say incorporated, then. Tch, such a drama queen."

"What did you say?"

"Oh, is that Ye Tian I see on the horizon? I had something to ask him, I better get going." 

"Tch, he got away."

.

.

.

That was how I used Ye Tian as my getaway card. Somehow, we walked to class together, leading to our current situation. I parted ways with him once we reached the auditorium, but that was to be expected. He, as the protagonist, would sit all the way back, and I, as the extra, an exemplary young master, would sit on the very first row. 

Honestly, I didn't have much interest in formations except the runes, so this class was not for me. Since talisman-making also made use of runes, these two lessons would be very boring for me. 

'I didn't feel this way since high school. Stay strong, students!' 

After a while, Iyana also arrived at the auditorium. Although she looked slightly better than when I first saw her, she still looked haggard. She sat next to me and leaned on the table.

'Oi oi, you are not even in the back seats; don't sleep in a class!' 

Unfortunately, she ignored my pleading gaze and even brought out a pillow. Even my veins on my head popped. Wouldn't the instructor be angry? The instructor came down as if he was just waiting for that. He was wearing a dark blue robe with black-and-white patterns on it. I could recognise some of the patterns as runes. 

"Ahem, silence!" He made it known that he had arrived, to those who were not paying attention. "I am Instructor Heavensway. I will be in charge of your formation making lessons, and rune expertise."

'Such a grand name, I hope he lives up to it.'

"Before we start our lesson, there are a few things we must take care of. First of all, the sleeping young lady is in the first row. If I remember correctly, you would be Iyana Jiang, right?"

"..."

'How fast did she fall asleep!'

"Ahem." I intervened. "I apologise to the Instructor on her behalf. She worked hard these past few days with her cultivation and barely got any sleep. Because of her roots, it's appropriate that she cultivates at night; thus, she doesn't have a chance to rest. The instructor is kind, I hope you won't hold it against her."

"Since Seventh Young Master Lin comes forward like this, I will not say anything this time. But remember to inform her that I expect a written apology with her understanding of the 'Formations and Their Place In Nature' Scripture. She must prepare before the next lesson."

-"Gasp!"

-"That thick book with such heavy content? Can she finish it in a week?"

'Ah, her face-slapping moment, right…'

"Of course, I will remind her later on." 'She could answer that in her sleep anyway.'

"Then, with that out of the way, the other matter I must press on are the ones without a Formation Disk. I'm a person who thinks practice makes perfect, so you will set up formations in this lesson. I know not everyone has a Formation Disk, so I prepared one for you to use during our lessons. But you can use yours if you have one."

A Formation Disk would hold patterns of Runes for ease of putting together a formation. The most basic ones could hold up to 9 Rune Patterns while the exemplary ones could hold up to realise a staggering 729 Rune Patterns. Such a Formation Disk was the renowned 81 Heavenly Cycles Formation Banner, which was not a disk like the ones we had but a Banner that could store formations as well. Storing a formation individually was something common, but housing several formations together was an incredible feat. This banner could hold 81 formations and/or 729 Rune Patterns. It was the prized artefact of Wang Clan's Ancestor, which he took with himself when he ascended. 

"The Formation Disks only hold the Rune , so I want you to set up a gathering formation. What you gather does not matter, as setting up a formation will be enough, but I will rate you depending on what you gather."

'Then why say it doesn't matter? Also, what a cheapskate…'

As the Instructor explained how to use the Formation Disk and how one could expand on even a single rune to create a formation, I thought about what to gather. I could gather about anything, from dust to the air's moisture to even the environment's Qi. 

As I pondered, I felt a surge of Qi to my side. The Qi converged around an oval metallic plate, and a chilling breeze hit my face. Above the epicentre of the disk, an ice shard materialised from the amp Qi. The one responsible for this? It was none other than Iyana, who had just put this formation half-asleep. 

"This!"

Instructor Heavensway exclaimed suddenly and started to analyse the formation. It was a Yin-Qi gathering formation made from just the Rune Pattern. The scathing cold from the coagulated Yin was nothing for a Golden Core True Person, so he stood at the centre of the formation and felt how the Yin-Qi moved, traced over the connection points of runes, and played with the amount of sustenance the formation received. As it was only made of a single Rune Pattern, the formation had no real self-sustenance. It used a bit of the Qi it gathered, but the real energy source was the spirit stone embedded in the Formation Disk, which was quickly depleting. 

"Such efficiency! How did she make it?"

Even though he was excited, Instructor Heavensway quickly reined himself and was once again the poised, high and mighty Golden Core True Person. 

"Ahem, very good. As I said, it doesn't matter what you gather as long as you can put up a formation. You have a stick of incense time. (15 minutes in-universe)

-"That's too short!"

-"So quick…"

-"Good good good! I was looking for a challenge anyway."

'Are you an old man? What kind of response is that?'

Since Iyana had already overperformed, I didn't hesitate anymore and put up a formation that gathered Lightning Qi. It wasn't as efficient as hers or as easy to put up. The Lightning Qi it gathered also didn't meet my requirements to cultivate, so I couldn't even cultivate after that. Having nothing to do, I watched the others put their formations. 

Cerys put a formation that gathered the heat around it. It was quite inefficient and emitted most of the heat gathered outside. Then I turned my gaze to Ye Tian. He was waiting with his hand holding his chin, deep in thought. He stood still for a long time before finally weaving the patterns together. Before long, he completed his formation. The Rune Patterns coalesced and made more refined runes of which exponentially boosted the capabilities of the formation. Ultimately, he made a highly efficient 5-Elemental Qi Gathering Formation. 

He ended up getting full marks thanks to it though. I could hear the murmurs of the peanut gallery from behind, but I paid them no heed. They would be back to underestimating that guy the next lesson anyway. 

'It gets boring after some point, you know?'

Anyway, the lesson ended with only a quarter of the class being able to put up a formation and even those were barely able to gather any Qi. Even some nobles who had seen formation plates and flags at their grasp all their life were not able to put up a formation by themselves, really disappointing.

'This is why there wasn't a 7th Prominent clan all this time. When these "noble" clans see the Prominent Clans, they see an unsurpassable wall. They are content with being the head of a chicken or the tail of a dragon. The lack of Divine Beasts to mate with is a good reason too, though.'