The newcomer was none other than Zhuo Bufan, the Dao-Preaching disciple from the mountaintop earlier!
At that moment, Zhuo Bufan wore a smile as he looked at Yuan Shan and said, “Junior Brother is confused. The sect’s laws and commands are strict, and internal strife is strictly forbidden. If there is a dispute, one may go to the Law Pavilion to file a suit, or go to Martial Arts Peak to present a challenge and duel. If people privately fight and cause serious injury or death, how the Law Pavilion’s enforcement disciples will handle it—surely I need not say more?”
Yuan Shan broke out in cold sweat and said hurriedly, “Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother Zhuo. Junior Brother was momentarily impulsive—truly just momentarily impulsive! Junior Brother will take his leave now!” With that, he left hastily with the two Miscellaneous Duties Disciples of the Pill Meridian beside him.
Seeing Yuan Shan and the others flee in disarray, Zhuo Bufan turned back to Liang Yan and the others, his smiling face making one feel as if bathed in spring breeze. He asked, “I haven’t yet asked this junior brother’s honorable name?”
Liang Yan saw that he had no airs at all and couldn’t help feeling a trace of goodwill. He chuckled, “Senior Brother Zhuo is too polite. My name is Liang Yan.”
Zhuo Bufan nodded. “So it’s Junior Brother Liang. Just now I observed Junior Brother Liang, with only second-layer Qi Refining cultivation, fighting three people alone without being at a disadvantage. It seems you applied the way of formations?”
Liang Yan’s heart thumped, and he thought: ‘This person’s eyesight is really too sharp.’ On the surface he still said calmly, “Senior Brother Zhuo indeed has wise eyes like a torch. I admire you!”
Zhuo Bufan smiled. “Junior Brother need not be suspicious. Although I am not from the Formation Meridian, I am quite fond of the way of formations. Just now I saw that Junior Brother’s methods seemed to treat Yuan Shan and the other two as part of a grand formation, their three auras linked together, forming a grand formation among themselves?”
Liang Yan knew there was nothing left to hide and simply said, “Correct. I used those three as formation flags and formed the Three Talents Thick Earth Formation. Although it was called a formation, it actually did not have the true subtle functions of a formation. It only slightly guided the three’s attacks, making them contradict one another. Moreover, if those three had slightly higher cultivation or understood a little of the way of formations, my method would not have worked.”
After hearing him out, Zhuo Bufan confirmed his own guess and seemed quite shocked. He muttered to himself, “Formations can not only be set up by oneself, but can also use enemies to form formations. So that’s how it is, so that’s how it is.”
Liang Yan saw his sudden flash of understanding but did not know what he was thinking and did not find it convenient to interrupt. After a while, Zhuo Bufan came back to himself, cupped his fists toward Liang Yan with slight apology, and said, “Thank you, Junior Brother, for emptying your bag to tell me. I live on Green Bamboo Peak. Perhaps we will have a chance to exchange ideas later.” After speaking, he gave Liang Yan a meaningful look and took his leave.
For a time, only the three from the Formation Meridian were left in the bamboo forest.
Liang Yan glanced at Sun Qianli and said, “Let’s carry Brother Li back first.”
Li Dali had been heavily injured earlier, and on top of that had suffered emotional frustration, so he had already passed out. Sun Qianli nodded silently. He and Liang Yan carried the unconscious Li Dali between them, one on the left and one on the right, toward the dormitory of the Formation Meridian Miscellaneous Duties Disciples.
By the time they had settled Li Dali in his room, it was already evening. The two examined him carefully and found that although his injuries were heavy, they had not harmed his root. Only his mental state had been greatly shaken, which was why he was unconscious. Both then felt relieved. Sun Qianli glanced at Liang Yan and said, “Brother Liang hides his depth well. He was already at the peak of the second layer of Qi Refining. It’s laughable that we previously called ourselves senior brothers. I hope Brother Liang won’t take offense.”
Liang Yan only smiled faintly. “Brother Sun is too polite. Under heaven, how many people have no secrets? We all understand without saying it; we are much the same.”
A barely visible flash of surprise passed through Sun Qianli’s eyes. Then he pretended to be puzzled and said, “Oh? I wonder what Brother Liang is referring to?”
Liang Yan waved his hand. “I was just talking nonsense. Brother Sun need not take it seriously. Since Li Dali is not seriously hurt, I’ll go back to my room and rest.” After saying this, Liang Yan turned and left, heading to his own room.
Sun Qianli stared at Liang Yan’s back, eyes slightly narrowed. No one knew what he was thinking.
Li Dali woke the next day looking listless, but he still came personally to thank Liang Yan. Liang Yan consoled him for a while. Although Li Dali nodded in agreement, Liang Yan could still see deep desolation in the depths of his eyes.
When Li Dali had taken his leave and gone, Liang Yan looked at the big man’s helpless back and couldn’t help thinking: ‘They say mortals are happier because of ignorance. But under all heaven, the strong are honored and the great Dao is heartless. If you are weak and powerless, one day others will bully you to your face, and you won’t even be able to protect that tiny bit of humble happiness of yours. My own personal experience is the best example.’
Liang Yan sighed inwardly: ‘All living beings suffer. Only by going against the current upward, and gaining great divine powers, can one obtain great freedom.’ Thinking of this, his heart toward the Dao became even more resolute.
Life seemed not to change much. The three still reported in front of the bamboo forest pavilion early in the morning, each collected the day’s tasks, and then went to work. As for Liang Yan, he still finished his tasks around noon, then went into the pavilion to study formations. Several more quiet days passed like this.
That night, Liang Yan sat cross-legged in meditation in his room. Suddenly he opened his eyes and muttered softly, “So you finally couldn’t hold back.”
At that moment, outside the courtyard, there was a person dressed in black night-travel clothes, furtively glancing behind him. After making sure there was no problem, he rushed off in one direction. Shortly after he left, Liang Yan’s figure appeared at the courtyard gate. Liang Yan’s eyes narrowed, and he quietly followed.
The black-clothed man turned left and right, his direction unstable, now east, now west. Liang Yan patiently followed behind. Having cultivated the Hooligan Art for a long time, his body and senses were different from ordinary people, so he could hang far behind without losing him, while not letting the black-clothed man discover him.
After the black-clothed man walked for about half a shichen, he suddenly stopped in an open stretch of woodland. He put his hands behind his back and sighed slowly, “We are all fellow senior and junior brothers. No need to hide. Come out.”
Hiding behind a tree, Liang Yan was slightly startled and wondered: ‘How did he discover me?’ But thinking this, he did not move, continuing to quietly observe from behind the tree.
The black-clothed man waited a while. Seeing no one answer, he turned around, stared at a certain spot, and said somewhat angrily, “What? Must I go and invite you myself?”
Liang Yan saw that the direction he was looking toward was not where he himself was at all. He understood and thought: ‘What a fox.’
Sure enough, the black-clothed man waited a little longer, and seeing that there was still no answer, he finally relaxed and turned to run toward a certain direction. This time he did not weave left and right, now east, now west, as before, but accelerated in one direction. After about the time of one stick of incense, the two arrived before a gray cliff face.
The black-clothed man felt his way east along the cliff face. After walking about several zhang, he reached out and brushed away the vines and vegetation on the cliff, revealing an utterly inconspicuous little cave, then stooped and slipped inside.
Although the cave looked small from outside, the inside was unexpectedly large. And it was not completely dark inside; there was a faint glimmer flashing deep within the cave. The black-clothed man walked inside as if driving a light cart on a familiar road, and before long arrived at the source of the light.
The pale yellow light shone on the black-clothed man’s face, revealing a long, narrow pockmarked face. Looking at his features, it was none other than Sun Qianli, a Miscellaneous Duties Disciple of the Formation Meridian!
At that moment his expression was somewhat stirred. In front of him was a spring mouth constantly gushing a small trickle. Looking closely, the spring water actually gave off a rich fluctuation of spiritual energy, and the pale yellow light was emitted from the spring mouth.
Sun Qianli took a deep breath and was about to reach into the spring mouth when he suddenly heard a voice in the darkness: “Eh? It’s actually a natural spirit spring.”
Sun Qianli’s pupils shrank. He hurriedly turned and retreated, looking toward the voice. There stood a gray-robed youth, tall and thin—it was Liang Yan.
“I didn’t expect Brother Liang had such a habit of tailing people.”
Liang Yan glanced at him and sighed slowly, “Senior Brother Sun has such cultivation. When Li Dali was in trouble earlier, why did you stand by with your hands in your sleeves?”
Just now, the spiritual power inside Sun Qianli had been stimulated by the vigorous spiritual energy of the spirit spring, and at this moment his true cultivation was revealed—it was actually the third layer of Qi Refining.
Sun Qianli’s face reddened. He did not answer, but instead asked Liang Yan, “When did you, and how did you, see through it?”
Liang Yan smiled. “Although Brother Sun looks thin, the qi and blood power within his body is vigorous. This cannot be hidden from me, Liang. A person like Brother Sun, even if he does hard labor, how could he be exhausted every day and need to return to his room before the sky has even darkened? Clearly it is because he stays up all night.”
Sun Qianli nodded. “Since you’ve discovered it, I have nothing to hide. Hmph! The other day it was not that I was unwilling to help Li Dali. Truly, the other party had a background and backer that cannot be easily provoked.”
Then, somewhat resentfully, he added, “That Li Dali is blockheaded. He doesn’t realize that in the cultivation world, strength is honored. If one can cultivate successfully, what kind of woman can’t one have? With low strength, anyone can step on your head. If I had acted, I would have exposed my strength, and then it would inevitably attract probing from interested people. Wang Yuan, the Miscellaneous Duties steward of the Formation Meridian, secretly withheld our spirit stones and pills. A little inquiry would reveal it. Ask, how could an ordinary first-layer Qi Refining disciple advance to the third layer without the aid of spirit stones and pills?”
After hearing this, Liang Yan secretly nodded. This person’s caution was not without reason. As for saying he had no secrets other than this spirit spring, Liang Yan did not believe it. At least, the ability to hide one’s cultivation was absolutely not something a low-level disciple possessed; he must have other treasures on him. Liang Yan himself also carried important treasures, so of course he understood Sun Qianli’s cautious mentality.
Seeing him silent, Sun Qianli thought he had other ideas. Although he himself was at the third layer of Qi Refining, he had seen Liang Yan fight before and secretly thought he had no absolute confidence in winning if they fought. So he probed, “Brother Liang already knows about this. How should we handle it? Must we fight fiercely over this spirit spring?”
After hearing this, Liang Yan immediately said, “That won’t be necessary. It’s just that this spirit spring is truly extremely useful to me as well. Why don’t we use it together?”
Sun Qianli nodded and said, “As they say, whoever sees it has a share—that is only right. How about this: from now on, on odd days—one, three, five—the spring belongs to you, and on even days—two, four, six—it belongs to me. How about it?”
Liang Yan shook his head and smiled. “No need for such trouble. I know a Spirit-Guiding Formation that can split the spirit spring’s spiritual energy into two and channel it elsewhere. This spring’s spiritual energy is abundant enough for the two of us to cultivate at the same time.”
Sun Qianli said in pleasant surprise, “Oh? There is actually such a formation? That’s wonderful.”
“It’s just that some of the materials needed to set up the formation are not so easy to obtain.” As he spoke, Liang Yan listed the materials needed for the Spirit-Guiding Formation one by one.
After hearing this, Sun Qianli immediately said, “Brother Liang, rest assured. You just handle setting up the grand formation; as for the materials, leave them to me.”
After some discussion and agreement, they decided that tonight Sun Qianli would cultivate here first. Liang Yan carefully inspected the surroundings, then returned to the dormitory.
The next evening, Sun Qianli indeed brought the formation materials to the cave. Seeing such efficiency, Liang Yan couldn’t help looking at him with new eyes, thinking inwardly: ‘This person is definitely not just an ordinary Miscellaneous Duties Disciple.’
Liang Yan took the materials and quickly set up the formation in the cave. Soon, the spiritual energy inside the spirit spring was split into two by the grand Spirit-Guiding Formation and channeled respectively to the eastern and western sides of the cave. In the darkness, Liang Yan and Sun Qianli each sat on one side and began to cultivate.
Liang Yan closed his eyes and circulated his art, feeling the vigorous spiritual energy surging from the spirit spring. All the acupoints in his body unconsciously felt comfortable. He thought joyfully: ‘With such an abundant supply of spiritual energy, this is even more efficient than directly cultivating with spirit stones. I believe before long, I can break through to the third layer of Qi Refining.’
Just as he was secretly delighted, a trace of strange purple suddenly appeared in the thin stream of spiritual energy water from the spirit spring and darted into Liang Yan’s body. As soon as it entered, he felt as if his whole body had fallen into an ice cellar, the chill piercing through him. He could not help opening his eyes and looking at the spirit spring in confusion.
After quite a while, just as Liang Yan was silently doubting whether it had been an illusion, another trace of purple emerged from the spirit spring. It was extremely fast and shot into his body in an instant. That bone-piercing chill struck him again. Liang Yan was greatly alarmed and hurriedly stopped circulating his art and stood up, instinctively looking toward Sun Qianli.
Although the cave was dark, Liang Yan’s six senses were sharp, and he could still see Sun Qianli by the faint light of the spirit spring. Sun Qianli was sitting with closed eyes and circulating his art, like an old monk entering meditation, without the slightest unusual sign.
‘Strange!’ Liang Yan was greatly puzzled. ‘Could it be that only I can feel it?’