Chapter 62: Formation Arts

Chapter 62: Formation Arts

I smiled upon seeing Liuxiang, receiving a light smile of my own from him. Stepping aside, I let Liuxiang walk in, closing the doors behind as I walked in.

“Thanks for coming so quickly. I’d actually expected you to be busy and take some time, if not just refuse,” I said, watching Liuxiang’s eyes lightly run across my room before returning to me.

“Surely senior jests. After what this one had read in that letter, how could this one not rush here? This one has already seen these exploding pills in work before at Taizhou. To be able to improve upon them would provide for a great weapon.”

I grinned in reply, happy to have the excitement for drugnade 2.0 shared.

“Forgive me for prying Senior, but are those the obfuscation formation Senior had asked this one about?” Liuxiang asked, his eyes turning towards the papers with the barely functional formation stuck on my walls.

“Ah yeah. I tried my best, but I doubt it’s anywhere near good enough. I tested and felt it worked well enough for my purposes, so after some trial and error I decided to stick to this one.”

Liuxiang nodded, walking closer as he touched one of the slips. “Senior has imprinted the characters, but this one can note a lack of understanding of the Eight trigrams.”

“Eight trigrams?” I asked curiously.

“Senior isn't aware?” Liuxiang asked in surprise.

I shook my head. I felt as if I’d heard about something similar, but that was far from actually understanding what he was talking about.

“Very well. Would it be okay if this one redoes the formation?” Liuxiang asked.

“I’d be extremely grateful if you did.”

Liuxiang walked up, extended his hand. A pulse of Qi had the slips of paper peeling off the walls and flying into his hand. Nearly folding them, he ran his hand across the papers, erasing the characters from them.

“If this one could have a brush,” Liuxiang said and I walked over, handing my brush. Taking a seat, Liuxiang set the papers on the ground and began to write.

“Senior should surely know of Yin and Yang, and of the five elements?” Liuxiang asked, and I nodded.

“Fire, Wood, Earth, Water and Metal right?” I said out loud.

“Indeed. Those form the basis of the world within which we live. Yet the cycle of Yin and Yang is not limited to purely those. There are eight principles, upon which the cycle of Yin and Yang depends. The formation arts are based upon these, and this one formation, is the formation of Wind,” Liuxiang said, his hand gliding on his page smoothly.

I marvelled at the beautiful writing and the uniform spread of Qi placed within each slip of paper. It was quite good, something even my untrained eyes could see. Explore the labyrinthine roots of this substance at Nøv€lß¡n

“What would the eight principles be?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

“The first and foremost are the Heavens, or the Sky above. The source of all within this Earth, the heavens represent creation in its whole. After the heavens, is Lake, or Marsh. Then there is Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain, and lastly, the Earth. These eight form the eight pillars for our reality, at the crown of which remains the heavens, the origin and end of all.”

“I do hope you know the risks that come with carrying a weapon with Gu in it? I trust you enough to know you won’t misuse it, but I’d still just like to remind you,” I said, looking at Liuxiang.

“Senior need not worry. This one does not intend to use this weapon at all, unless it is a matter of life and death, if even then.”

I nodded, as my smile began to return. “In that case, shall we start then?”

Liuxiang nodded, as the two of us sat together with my notes and began to discuss ideas. Time flew past, as I felt a strange sense of satisfaction. For the first time ever, I could share some of my ideas and theories with someone else. There was still much that I couldn’t share, unless I taught them english, but even just this was enough to make me feel really happy.

I smiled, and relished the few hours of joy, as I shared my love for discovering and exploring with someone else.

***

Sunlight faded, as I bid Liuxiang farewell. Time had passed in a blur as the two of us had bounced back ideas for the outer casing, the respecting formation arts and the mechanisms of the drugnade 2.0.

There was still much to be done even now, as we’d barely started but the legs of our project had started to form, and I was a lot more knowledgeable about the workings of formations now than I was a few hours ago.

I stood at my gate, sensing two sources of familiar Qi walking closer towards me. Sheldon walked in with Labby lying on his back, her Qi subdued and dim.

“Had fun?” I asked Labby, who let out a tired squeak instead of replying, as my two spirits walked in.

Labby felt exhausted, and I let her have her rest. Whatever she had gone off to, and done, it had helped her settle down. The constant rumbling of her Qi ever since my tribulation had finally settled down, as if she’d found her peace with something. I smiled, feeling a little melancholic at watching my little baby rat growing up on her own.

Sheldon paused as he turned to look at me, words touching my mind briefly.

“Saw. Broken. Cycle?”

I nodded in reply. “I did, and I have a lot of questions. Something I’ll need to think over in the Inner World as I cultivate.”

“Chirp!” Sheldon replied, dumping Labby onto the ground as the turtle walked into his little sectioned off pool, swimming within it.

I realised how one section of my room must look, dug in with a pool of water with a lotus in it, and covered in plants and spirit herbs growing. The herbs had slowly but surely begun growing on the walls too as nature began spreading from that section.

I’d need a section of the spirit herb garden so that it doesn’t spread beyond the little area it was in right now. Truly, the work never ended.

I felt fur on my feet and looked down to see Nyan rubbing against me, with a scroll in his mouth. I bent down, petting the little cat as I handed him his two pills and took the scroll from his mouth.

I opened the message, and looked within, reading the contents as a smile covered my face, followed by surprise.

Su Lin, Granny and the rest had reached Taizhou.