Chapter 29: Returning to the Mountain, Optimizing the Spirit‑Gathering Formation!
There was Chen Qiang here as protector.
After one day and one night.
Xu Zhengyang and Yang Hong successfully fully absorbed the medicinal power of the Heart‑of‑Earth Spirit Nectar!
Now, the milk pool, originally still seventy percent full, had only a thin layer left, enough to submerge Xu Zhengyang’s ankles.
After Xu Zhengyang jumped out of the pool, he discovered that his body felt much lighter than before, and performing the Sky‑Riding Steps and Splitting‑Sky Palm martial techniques was much more effortless!
Besides that, the biggest change for Xu Zhengyang was that his martial‑path qi had increased from the original one inch through the body to now one foot three inches!
Martial‑path qi was the most direct way to judge a body‑cultivator’s strength.
Only with sufficiently refined bones and sturdy tendons
could one emit a more massive martial‑path qi!
“Not bad.”
Seeing Xu Zhengyang’s improvement, Chen Qiang nodded. “You only recently began refining the body, so the Heart‑of‑Earth Spirit Nectar works best for you. Now, your physique is at least ten times stronger than before!”
After Chen Qiang spoke, he glanced back at Yang Hong, somewhat regretful, and said, “Hong’er cultivated the body earlier, so the effect was relatively weaker. The same Heart‑of‑Earth Spirit Nectar only extended his martial‑path qi outward by seven inches.”
As he spoke,
Chen Qiang, seeing that everything on this outing had gone smoothly, let out a long breath and said, “Since that’s the case, you two clean up. We’ll return to the mountain now!”
“Yes, Uncle‑master (Master)!” Xu Zhengyang and Yang Hong spoke in unison.
No sooner had the words fallen than Yang Hong cooperatively spread his hands, and Xu Zhengyang waved his big hand.
Two cleansing techniques swept toward him and Yang Hong, wiping away all the filth from their bodies.
……
Three days later.
As soon as Chen Qiang returned with Xu Zhengyang and Yang Hong to Divine Mechanism Peak, he couldn’t wait and dove into the Fire Chamber on the first level of the Divine Mechanism Palace to refine supreme Blood Pills.
At this moment,
Pei Zhen had just finished his own tasks, so he called Xu Zhengyang to his side and inquired in detail about what he had seen and heard on this trip.
……
A moment later, when Pei Zhen heard that Xu Zhengyang had used a trigger‑type talisman as a warning, which actually worked to expose two hidden opponents using Divine‑Concealment Talismans,
he immediately interrupted Xu Zhengyang and said, “Show me the talisman you drew yourself.”
“Yes, Master.”
Xu Zhengyang said, handing Pei Zhen a Ground‑Spike Talisman that he had improved.
……
When Pei Zhen saw the rune that Xu Zhengyang had added between the talisman head and talisman core, he couldn’t help exclaiming, “Brilliant! Just by adding one rune between the talisman head and core, you transformed this powerful but short‑range Tier‑1 talisman into something wondrous, allowing it far broader applications…”
As he spoke,
Pei Zhen couldn’t help but sigh, “I have immersed myself in this path for nearly a hundred years, yet I’m still not as good as you who has only been at it three months.
“Looks like I’m truly getting old…”
“Master, your words humble me.”
Xu Zhengyang quickly responded, “The reason I could improve a Tier 1 talisman
is entirely because of the detailed annotations you provided at the back of Divine Mechanism Talisman Guide and Introduction to Formations, which allowed me to stand on the shoulders of giants!”
“Shoulders of giants?”
Pei Zhen couldn’t help but show a smile at the corner of his mouth upon hearing Xu Zhengyang’s praise, though he still waved it off and said, “How could your master be any kind of giant?”
As he spoke,
Pei Zhen turned his head and asked, “Since we’re on the topic, have you finished reading Introduction to Formations?”
“I’ve finished it,” Xu Zhengyang answered confidently.
Pei Zhen nodded and said, “Faster than I expected. In that case, let me test you.”
As he spoke,
Pei Zhen waved his large hand, and a piece of white paper three feet square appeared on the table.
Pei Zhen pointed at the formation diagram drawn on the paper and said to Xu Zhengyang, “This is a damaged Spirit‑Gathering Formation. Try completing it.”
To Xu Zhengyang, formation diagrams looked just like circuit diagrams in the world of cultivation.
With that way of thinking, as long as one understood the basic functions of each rune, let alone completing damaged diagrams, even optimizing formations was nothing more than a small task for Xu Zhengyang.
Because of this,
Xu Zhengyang directly took out a new piece of white paper from the Jade Gourd and said to Pei Zhen, “Master, I have some different thoughts about the Spirit‑Gathering Formation. There’s no real value in just completing this damaged diagram. Why don’t you take a look at my optimized Spirit‑Gathering Formation instead?”
Back when Xu Zhengyang was analyzing Introduction to Formations, he had discovered a problem.
That was the cultivators of this world were especially fond of the concept of “self‑sufficiency”.
No matter the type of formation, they would always add an “energy reserve” module to ensure the formation could function under any circumstances.
This logic was fine when applied to formations like trapping, killing, or illusion types.
But Spirit‑Gathering Formations were different.
Their purpose was to concentrate surrounding spiritual energy to increase local spiritual energy density, speeding up cultivation for cultivators.
So Spirit‑Gathering Formations could be powered directly by the spiritual energy of the spiritual vein beneath.
An “energy reserve” module in a Spirit‑Gathering Formation was completely unnecessary and redundant.
After all, if the spiritual vein beneath a Spirit‑Gathering Formation were exhausted,
even with a reserve, where would it draw spiritual energy from?
It was like installing a laptop battery on a desktop computer—clearly it could be powered directly through an outlet, yet this extra step was utterly pointless.
As a result, not only did it increase the cost of setting up the Spirit‑Gathering Formation unnecessarily, it also reduced its output efficiency.
According to Xu Zhengyang’s calculations, removing the self‑sustaining energy reserve module from the Spirit‑Gathering Formation would improve its effectiveness by at least 14%!
When Pei Zhen heard Xu Zhengyang say he wanted to optimize the Spirit‑Gathering Formation, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows.
He had intended to scold Xu Zhengyang for aiming too high.
But then, recalling all the surprises Xu Zhengyang had brought him in recent days, he finally changed his tone and said, “If what you say is true, and you really can optimize the Spirit‑Gathering Formation…”
At that point,
Pei Zhen glanced at Da Fei, who was sleeping on Xu Zhengyang’s shoulder, and said to him, “Then your master shall reward you with a Spirit Beast Pouch to help you raise this Fear‑Clawed Bear.”
Ordinary storage treasures could only store non‑living items and could be refined by virtually anyone—everyone in the cultivation world had one.
But Spirit Beast Pouches were different.
Storage treasures that could contain living creatures had to be at least Tier 2, and they were priceless and hard to find!
Upon hearing Pei Zhen’s words, Xu Zhengyang chuckled and immediately picked up his brush. “Then your disciple thanks Master in advance!”
In his previous life, Xu Zhengyang had created a 【Printer】 app for himself.
With this software, as long as Xu Zhengyang desired, not only could he imitate anyone’s handwriting, he could even draw the Mona Lisa with ease!
Because of this, when Pei Zhen saw Xu Zhengyang’s perfectly straight lines and meticulously crafted runes and symbols, he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, “Your technique… even I must admit I cannot match it!”