One Qi Chaoyang

Chapter 31: On the Formation

Zhao Fuyun looked at Xun Lanyin, who stood up from the chair, full of vigor and vitality, and a bit self-satisfied.

He was a little frightened in his heart. To be honest, he was not very enthusiastic about exploring secret caves because he felt that the probability of falling and dying in those places was too high.

If Xun Lanyin hadn't come, he would not have been able to go to the cave alone.

"I wonder what this opportunity Master Xun mentioned is?" Zhao Fuyun asked carefully.

"It turns out there's another world beneath the foggy river." Xun Lanyin stretched out her index finger, squinted her eyes, pointed at the stars on the other side of the mountain and said.

"How did you find out?" Zhao Fuyun asked.

"Of course it was obtained by Yan Cha Mi Si." Xun Lanyin turned to look at him, but there seemed to be another meaning in her eyes, as if asking: "What do you mean by asking this?"

Zhao Fuyun asked again: "Master Xun, have you confirmed who the cave belongs to?"

"No, and there is no need to confirm. Over tens of millions of years, practitioners have come and gone, lived and died. Today I occupy the cave, and tomorrow he comes again. The cave has always been there, but those who claim to be the owner of the cave have changed one after another." Xun Lanyin said.

Zhao Fuyun felt the ruthlessness of time from her words, and felt that cultivators were just passers-by in this world.

"So, Master Xun, did you discover the way to enter the cave under the foggy river in that cave?" Zhao Fuyun said.

"I saw a painting on the jade bed inside. The traces were very faint. I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but then I thought about the terrain of the mountains in this area, combined with the theory of formations, and immediately understood that it was a formation diagram."

"Let's go and have a look with me."

After Xun Lanyin finished speaking, she pointed to the ground and a cloud emerged, wrapping her and Zhao Fuyun in it. Zhao Fuyun only felt that a powerful force wrapped around him, lifted him up, and headed towards the sky. He relaxed his body and let this force carry him to a high place.

After a while, they arrived at the top of the nearby mountain.

There are no trees on the top of the mountain, only a circle of bare rocks with some thatch growing in the cracks between them.

The night breeze blows on my face and body, and my whole mood becomes refreshed.

There is a moon tonight, and the moonlight is shining.

He saw the foggy river and the twinkling lights of the county town on the other side of the mountain.

"Look at the shapes of these mountains. They seem chaotic and disorderly." Xun Lanyin stretched out her hand and drew it in front of her: "In fact, they are indeed chaotic and disorderly."

Zhao Fuyun: "..."

"What have I ever taught you?"

"We must see order and patterns from disorder," Zhao Fuyun continued.

"Yes, you still remember what I taught you. Can you see the order of this terrain?" Xun Lanyin asked.

The fact that Xun Lanyin was able to become a Taoist formation master in Tiandu Mountain shows her strong formation skills.

Zhao Fuyun mobilized what he had learned and the various battle formations he had memorized, trying to compare them with the original.

"It is said in the formation manual that mountains are star positions, and rivers are lines that outline the formation. To observe the formation, one should observe its opening and detect its tail." These words flashed through Zhao Fuyun's mind.

Another scripture says: "If you look at the battle formation as if it is a cloud covering your eyes, you should clear away the clouds to see the sun."

After looking for a while, he couldn't find the corresponding constellations, so he tried to force the nine formations to fit.

"One Yuan begins, two yin and yang intertwine, three talents become catastrophe, four symbols are respected, five elements and five colors,..." He put various formations on, but he felt that nothing could fit. However, he understood that there must be some kind of formation hidden here.

He was thinking in his heart, but Xun Lanyin suddenly said: "Don't think about it, I haven't taught you."

"There is a strange door here, and behind the strange door is a cave. The formation is supported inside and cannot be seen from the outside." Xun Lanyin said.

Zhao Fuyun: "..."

"How did Master Xun know?" Zhao Fuyun asked back. He really wanted to know.

"The formation diagram I saw in there is a method to open it. If I am not mistaken, this cave is hidden in this river. And in that cave, the formation diagram I saw was a seven-star key that was inserted into a cloud. It was the Seven Stars Entering the Cloud Diagram..."

"Many people would think that the cloud pattern is the natural pattern of the jade bed, and it is indeed a natural pattern, but if we regard it as a river, then everything makes sense."

"Master Xun, is it possible that you are overthinking?" Zhao Fuyun couldn't help but interrupt her imagination.

"Hmph, what did you say? When we practice cultivation, we not only work hard to cultivate, but also to explore this world. Throughout the ages, how many people have opened up caves, and how many people have died in caves? Now that the opportunity is in front of us, how can we be afraid of difficulties? We need to make bold guesses!"

"Let's get ready. I'm going to set up a seven-star formation and gather the power of the seven stars to reflect it into the foggy river. Let's give it a try. If it really opens, do you want to go in?" Xun Lanyin said.

Zhao Fuyun shook his head and said, "Disciple will not go in. I will guard the exit outside for Master Xun."

"Hmph, you always kill people secretly, even your fellow disciples. Yet you shrink back in the face of such a great opportunity. It's really laughable." Xun Lanyin said unhappily.

Zhao Fuyun was slightly shocked. He was sure that no one knew about his murder, but how could Xun Lanyin know about it?
"Disciple, I don't know what Master Xun is talking about. Why kill fellow disciples? Disciples and fellow disciples are friendly, so we should take a step back if we can." Zhao Fuyun said.

Xun Lanyin glanced at him and said, "When we can no longer retreat, we should kill them to prevent future troubles, right?"

"I am frightened and don't know what Master Xun is talking about." Zhao Fuyun said in confusion.

"Haha, you once accused Xu Yajun of killing Liang Daozi in the courtyard. Although this was not recorded in the book, I happened to know it. Later, Xu Yajun was killed on his way to take office. When I heard it, I knew it was you who did it." Xun Lanyin said.

Zhao Fuyun's emotions were surging, but he said, "I know nothing about this matter."

"You don't have to be like this. You have to know that when you were sent to the mountain, it was your aunt who handed you to me personally, and it was me who sent you to the lower courtyard of Tiandu Mountain. You can be afraid of the rules of Tiandu Mountain, but you don't have to be afraid of me." Xun Lanyin's voice was no longer crisp, but there was a rare sense of tenderness in the wind.

Zhao Fuyun didn't know if the other party was trying to trick him or what, so he didn't dare to answer for a moment and just remained silent.

The two were speechless for a moment.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Let's talk about the opportunity here first. I happen to have a chessboard that I use to practice formations. It is made of star stones. I can use the chess pieces as the base to set up a seven-star formation and see if I can open this cave." Xun Lanyin said.

"Master Xun, do we need to invite more teachers here?" Zhao Fuyun reminded.

"We have to first confirm whether it really exists." Xun Lanyin said.

"Yes, we need to confirm it first. However, someone came to that cave today. Do we need to pay attention..." Zhao Fuyun asked.

"The two men today have entered the depths of the cave and seen how empty it is. Why would they come here?" Xun Lanyin said.

“If we really want to set up the formation, I think we can only do it when the sky is full of stars and the power of the stars is surging,” said Zhao Fuyun.

"You're right. I'll go make some preparations too. You stay here." After Xun Lanyin finished speaking, she exhaled a breath that turned into mist, which wrapped up the two of them. She rolled them up and carried them back to the courtyard with the wind. Then she rode away on the mist.

It didn't stop for even a moment.

(End of this chapter)