Chapter 64: The Peculiarity
"This isn't meant for casual amusement."
Old Kui appeared at some unknown point, speaking softly. Then he glanced at Mister Zhuang, hesitated briefly, and added,
"At least, not for normal people."
Mister Zhuang frowned slightly. "You've seen this kind of cultivation art before?"
Old Kui shook his head. "I've seen stranger ones, but none as strange as this…"
"I've encountered techniques where bottlenecks appear in spirit stones, spiritual roots, spiritual materials, meridians, or bloodlines, even ones that demand killing men, slaying beasts, slaughtering demonic cultivators, or require the blood, vitality, spiritual power, or Divine-Sense of living beings as a guide. But one where the bottleneck lies in a puzzle formation within the Sea of Consciousness—that's a first."
Old Kui added faintly, "Such ancient, obscure arts are only found in those old, fossilized sects of yours."
Mister Zhuang let out a quiet sigh. "That's troublesome."
"I told you long ago, there's no need to be so eccentric, picking obscure cultivation arts no one studies. Mo Hua's spiritual root is already poor. Now that he's practicing something so rare, his progress will be dragged down severely." Old Kui's tone carried a trace of reproach.
"One must see things through to the end," Mister Zhuang replied evenly. "I'll find a way."
"What way? Don't forget, you can't remain in this place for long." Old Kui's gaze turned cold.
"I'll at least teach him how to dispel formations, so he can comprehend and unravel the mystery puzzle formation within his Sea of Consciousness on his own," said Mister Zhuang. "With Mo Hua's comprehension, it shouldn't take too long. After that… everything will depend on his fate."
"And those two Bai children? You're just going to ignore them?"
"Taking them as registered disciples was already an exception. I can't accept them as personal disciples. My junior sister's mind is far too scheming, she's been plotting against me all her life. I won't let her have her way in everything."
Old Kui snorted. "True enough. You've always had poor judgment when it comes to choosing disciples… and cultivation arts."
Mister Zhuang was about to snap back but stopped himself, realizing Old Kui wasn't wrong. He swallowed the retort silently.
...
After receiving the jade slip from Mister Zhuang, Mo Hua eagerly began studying it.
"Formations are derived from the principles of Heaven and Earth, depicting the myriad phenomena, capable of altering Heaven and reshaping Earth, wielding powers unfathomable even to gods and ghosts.
To understand the Dao of Heaven and Earth and the logic of formations—one can both create and dispel them.
A formation consists of formation mediums, runes, cores, and eyes. Destroying its medium or eye is called 'breaking the formation'; reversing its runes and core—this is called 'dispelling the formation.'
All things bear cycles of restraint and generation—so too do formation runes. Yin and yang counter each other; the Three Talents oppose; the Four Symbols restrain; among the Five Elements—metal restrains wood, wood restrains earth, earth restrains water, water restrains fire, and fire restrains metal…"
The jade slip contained an endless amount of information on dispelling formations, detailed and exhaustive.
Mo Hua seemed to understand some parts, but when he thought deeper, confusion returned. As he frowned in thought, Bai Zisheng peeked over curiously.
"Huh? Why are you reading a book on dispelling formations?"
"Teacher told me to."
"Oh."
"Do you know how to dispel formations?" Mo Hua asked.
"A little, but I'm not especially good at it."
A little was still more than nothing.
Mo Hua humbly pointed to a section in the text. "What's the difference between breaking and dispelling a formation?"
Bai Zisheng didn't hold back and explained,
"Breaking a formation usually means using brute force, destroying the formation's medium or the eye that fuels it. Without the medium, the formation collapses; without the eye, it can't function. Once those are gone, the formation naturally fails…"
"Dispelling a formation, though—that's trickier. It relies on understanding how the formation runes interact. You draw counter-runes to neutralize the original ones; once the runes are canceled, the formation dissolves. Generally, only formation masters can do that."
"You're saying you don't understand how to dispel one?" Bai Zisheng asked after explaining.
"No," Mo Hua said shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just… don't quite understand the difference between the formation eye, the core, and the medium…"
"Whaaat?" Bai Zisheng exclaimed. "You don't even know that?"
Mo Hua countered calmly, "If I knew, why would I ask you? If I don't ask, how will you have the chance to show off how much you know?"
Bai Zisheng stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That actually… makes sense."
Then, seeing his sister Bai Zixi smiling faintly nearby, he realized something and cried out, "Wait, that's not right! I can't just teach you for free!"
"I'll bring you beef tomorrow."
Bai Zisheng snorted. "Do you take me for that kind of man? I'm a direct descendant of the Bai Clan, a Heaven's chosen, how could I be swayed by a single plate of beef?"
"Two plates?"
"…Deal."
"So, what's the difference between the formation eye, the medium, and the core?"
Satisfied, Bai Zisheng explained: "The formation eye is the heart of the formation—it provides the spiritual power that drives it. For a single formation, the eye is often a spirit-gathering rune; for complex formations made up of many smaller ones, the eye becomes a spirit-gathering array. The stronger the formation, the greater the spiritual energy it needs. Some sects even use entire spirit ore veins as the power source for their guardian arrays…"
"The formation core is the hub—the framework of the formation. This involves a lot of structure: round heaven and square earth, the Two Principles, Four Symbols, and Eight Trigrams. Different types of runes must be drawn in the proper positions; otherwise, the formation won't function."
"Different lineages and traditions have their own ways of arranging cores—too complex for us to understand now. With our current experience, we can't possibly dispel a formation through its core."
"The formation medium is simply the carrier—things like paper, stone tablets, bronze, iron, or wood that bear the runes. Once you draw the formation on them, they become mediums. Even spiritual tools with attached formations count as mediums."
Seeing Mo Hua's half-confused expression, Bai Zisheng gave an example:
"Put simply—the formation eye is like the heart, the core is the main arteries, and the runes are the veins. Spiritual power flows from the heart through the main arteries, then through the smaller veins to circulate through the body."
After his long explanation, Bai Zisheng felt thirsty. Mo Hua personally poured him a cup of tea.
"These… are pretty basic formation concepts, right?" Mo Hua asked hesitantly.
"Pretty much. In the Bai Clan, this is considered common knowledge for formation learners," Bai Zisheng replied smugly.
Good thing Mo Hua had asked him first—otherwise, he'd have been embarrassed to trouble Mister Zhuang with such beginner questions.
"I'll bring a pot of osmanthus wine tomorrow."
"Mhm!" Bai Zisheng's eyes lit up, nodding eagerly.
Mo Hua continued asking more questions—about how formations were typically dispelled, broken, and the various schools of core design.
Before they knew it, night had fallen. Mo Hua packed up his things and bid farewell to Bai Zisheng and Bai Zixi.
"Mo Hua," Bai Zisheng called after him, looking solemn. "Don't forget the most important thing…"
"What is it?" Mo Hua turned curiously.
"The beef—make sure it's spicy!"
Bai Zisheng's face was deadly serious.
(End of Chapter)