A Failure's hopeful Journey

You Xi Wang and the group walked towards the spirit energy fluctuations in the east. To ensure safety, he let out the wolves. He instructed Maya, "If you find anything weird, you will not engage in the situation. Monitor and report back, okay? Use little spirit energy and stay within 100 meters."

Maya nodded and then ran away with her siblings in a formation. The wolves handled recon and scout. They could not attack or explore on their own. This restriction was placed not because of their strength but to lower the risk factor. The team of humans also walked in a formation with the snipers in the center as the spears and swords formed an outer circle around them. The gunners were at the four corners. This formation was called the moving castle. It was specially crafted by Madison Midnight with the skill set of the team in her mind. 

The formation was unique. Four gunners guarding the corners of each direction. You Xi Wang was also a gunner, and he was leading them to the east guarding the respective corner. The other three guarded the rest of the three directions. The formation was distributed in three layers. The middle was forming a triangle with one spearman and swordswoman side by side. The snipers were placed in the center. Hercules and Neo were also in the center. This was done to allow them to rush in case of an accident. They would rush out from the formation to respond in any direction.

The team was wearing sunglasses to avoid the natural blinding effect. This was a normal precaution one would take in deserts or ice lands to avoid losing direction and other things. The team has been walking for four hours and the landscape was still not changing. They were not circulating their spirit energy but relied on their physique. The time passed quickly as they all kept talking while they walked. 

You Xi Wang had a stopwatch counter running in his Holo-phone. He checked and said, "This is not very good for us."

It was not only him with the stopwatch. The others had done the same thing. The team stopped and called back the wolves as well. As they rested, they discussed how to increase their travel efficiency. 

Hercules said, "If only we had a lev bike or something." sighed the muscular man. Neo nodded beside him. The whole team felt a little depressed. You Zhichi looked at her brother and said, "Bro, I learned from the master, an array called levitation control. In ancient times, people used this array to travel on their weapons. How wonderful would it be if we could have those things now, no?"

Illahi exclaimed, "Huh, for real? Why did the world advance and forgot the ancient things?"

Fenny chuckled as she spoke up, "Not that we forgot, but those old methods look crude to people so they developed something elegant. The weapons used for traveling are like mag-lavs we use now. But we have no magnetic field here."

Snow sighed and spoke, "How nice if the two rods, You Xi Wang held could fly?"

You Xi Wang was sitting not far, and he was struck by lightning when he heard these words. He couldn't help but rush and hugged Snow. Then he spun her around in a circle. The girl was struck in a daze and so was everyone else. You Xi Wang put down the crimson-faced girl in his arms and yelled, "Snow, you are a genius. Haha haha..." he started laughing like maniacs.

He walked up to Yuki and spoke before the girl could say anything, "Love, do you still have those spare Katana's?" his voice was as soft as silk. How could Yuki even stay focused when her boyfriend called her in such a manner?

She hummed and bowed her head to look at the ground. She asked nothing and took out at least 30 swords from her space ring. She would carry spare swords to practice her skills. She did not use her spirit weapon until it was a real battle because she believed that showing her weapon to everyone is not a good thing. Her Katana will only be taken out when she is battling or alone. 

You Xi Wang knew this habit of hers that is why he asked her for the swords. As soon as she took out the swords You Xi Wang kissed her cheeks and picked up a sword from the ground, ignoring the bulging eyes of mostly everyone. He then took out an engraving pen from his space ring. He closed his eyes to adjust his mental state. 

You Zhichi saw this situation and asked everyone to back off some distance. Her brother was going to engrave a spirit array on the blade. He needed a tranquil surrounding where no one disturbed him. You Xi Wang was a talent as he was helped by the system and recently he had gained some insights into arrays. 

He was just a step away from stepping into a Grade 2 array master. You Xi Wang controlled some of his spirit energy to channel through his body and concentrate on the tip of the engraving pen. The tip of the pen shone with golden color. You Xi Wang slowly touched the tip of the pen to the surface of the blade. Then slowly he engraved the array on the blade. 

Every stroke of the pen was clear and firm. You Xi Wang understood one thing when he was comprehending the array knowledge Animus passed on to him. Whenever you set up an array, either with spirit stones or with an engraving pen, always be calm and confident. This mindset will not let your array fail in the middle. A wrong or faulty array would never work. 

The boy engraved a complicated rune on the blade. The process lasted for 30 minutes. His forehead was covered with sweat. He was a little tired mentally. The spirit energy control required to engrave an array rune is very taxing on the brain. Constant flow of spirit energy at a uniform rate, even experts would be tired. You Xi Wang was a rookie in his first attempt to engrave a top first grade array. 

He was now in the last step of completing the array. A drop of sweat dripped from his forehead to the corner of his eye. The boy couldn't help but blink his eyes as his hand move downward. The line he wanted to engrave diverted from its path. The sword trembled violently and You Xi Wang retreated tens of meters and controlled the wind energy to form a shield around him and the others. 

The team members also saw this, and they retreated a little more. The trembling sword was now emitting strong spirit energy fluctuations, and suddenly it exploded. The explosion force turned the prices into deadly shrapnels flying randomly in the void. Thankfully the team retreated while You Xi Wang cast a spirit shield around him otherwise they could have gotten hurt. 

You Zhichi rushed towards her brother. The others followed her in an instant. The Heavenly maiden spoke anxiously, "Gougou, are you alright?" she touch You Xi Wang's face and checked him. 

You Xi Wang said sheepishly, "Hehehe, sweat got in my eye and then the last stroke deviated from the original path." although he laughed as if nothing big happened but in his heart he was aware, that one moment of delay could have taken away his life.

He sat up and said, "Calm down, or you will become the heavenly hag. Let me review the whole process. I will make it work just fine the next time." 

Without waiting for her response, he closed his eyes and sat down in the lotus position.

Fenny clicked her tongue and said, "Big sister Zhichi, is it just me or this brat is acting a little too cocky today? First hugged, senior sister snow, then coaxed and kissed Pukey. Now calling you a hag. I will give him a good lashing, later. Trying to be smart with this big momma, humph. Only I can be the hooligan in this team."

She was very annoyed when she saw You Xi Wang acting roguishly. The others only shook their heads in helplessness. They all have come to an understanding that these five people are weirdos. You Zhichi just smiled. She has watched these two grow up and knew that none of them was lesser than each other in being naughty.

The team also sat down at a distance. Some gossiped while some meditated. You Xi Wang sat down in comprehension for an hour. Then, he opened his eyes and without wasting a moment he picked up a sword from the lot and engraved an array rune. This time Maya sat down beside him. She decided in her heart to cast a gust of cold wind lest a drop of sweat created such a dangerous situation again. 

This time You Xi Wang took 20 minutes to carve the array. The time difference was approximately ten minutes lesser than before. The boy carefully drew the last stroke connecting the whole rune like a circuit, and the spirit energy gushed inside the sword. The sword which was placed on the ground levitated. 

The team has been watching from the sidelines cheered You Xi Wang. 

"Yeah, captain, you rock!!"

"Hurray, baby Wang."

"Way to go, bro Wang."

You Xi Wang did not waste time to celebrate and took out a jade price from his space ring and engraved an array rune on it. After ten minutes the jade piece and the sword resonated and the ruin carved over them emitted a glow. You Xi Wang moved his hand, and the sword moved in the same direction. 

He turned to his team and said, "Now you can applause." His tone was cheeky. Fenny couldn't help it anymore and ran up to him and kicked his shin.