"Alright, stop pledging your resolve here." Lin Yu broke the somewhat solemn atmosphere. "Since you've decided to wear that hat, you'd better carry yourself like someone who deserves it."
"Starting tomorrow, put aside all those messy miscellaneous studies of yours."
"Besides cultivating the 'Like Water Art' and nurturing your Dao foundation, the rest of your time, you will dedicate yourself to studying formations for me, your teacher."
"You are now the 'Heir of the Shen Family.' If you can't even lay out a decent ancient formation, you'll be slapping the Grand Elder in the face. By then, forget about the Soul-Nurturing Wood Pith—he might just slap you back into your mother's womb with a single hand."
As soon as Su Ming heard this, his face instantly fell. "Master, I still have to study? Your disciple's brain nearly exploded these past few days just trying to establish my Foundation."
"Less nonsense." Lin Yu said irritably. "One more skill never weighs anyone down. Besides, do you think those things were given away for free? When you eat someone's food, your mouth goes soft; when you take someone's gift, your hand goes short. Get the hell to sleep. Wake up at the Mao hour tomorrow and start memorizing your texts."
Su Ming let out a howl of anguish and threw himself onto the stone bed.
But he wasn't truly complaining.
He turned onto his side, looking at the Xuantian Ring on his finger. In the dim lamplight, the ring glowed with a warm, matte luster.
He knew what his master had gone through tonight.
Facing the scrutiny of a Nascent Soul mighty figure, risking the danger of having his soul scattered to the winds, his master didn't run. Instead, he fought to secure the greatest possible benefits for him.
Behind those joking words lay a gamble with his life.
Su Ming closed his eyes, pulled the blanket higher, and covered half his face.
"Master."
"Hm?"
"Thank you."
"...What for?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to say it."
Within the ring, Lin Yu didn't speak anymore.
He stared at the faint, golden halo on his soul body—the brand of the Heavenly Dao oath.
He remembered every single oath he had sworn, crystal clear.
First: never harm the Cloud Hidden Sect. Second: never harm its disciples. Third: never leak its secrets. Fourth: never break this promise.
He wouldn't have done any of those things anyway. So swearing this oath cost him nothing.
This oath bound his freedom, but it also gave him a foundation to stand on in this world.
This wasn't a shackle. This was... an account to himself.
He suddenly smiled, a very faint one.
"Brat, you're getting better and better at being sentimental..."
He turned around, floated back to the center of the Spirit Gathering Array, and sat cross-legged.
His soul body was still weak, but he felt an unprecedented sense of stability.
"But this is good too."
He muttered to himself. "Be smart, live long. I'll be able to... slack off for a few more years."
......
The next morning, the sky was just barely light. The wind at Gazing Star Cliff was still biting cold.
Su Ming changed into that brand-new purple True Disciple robe and walked out of the cave dwelling on Gazing Star Cliff.
The old pine on Gazing Star Cliff still stood tall and straight, and the broken stones by the cliff's edge hadn't shifted a single inch.
After establishing his Foundation, his five senses had become exceptionally clear. The mountain breeze was no longer just a current of air. He could distinguish the sharp, metallic energy carried from distant Sword Peaks, and he could also smell the faint aroma of medicine drifting from Pill Cauldron Peak.
He made his way to the main hall of Formation Peak, Star Pivot Hall.
The two stone qilin in front of the hall no longer looked like lifeless objects to him. The evil-suppressing runes carved into them were faintly connected to the earth veins, forming a miniature cycle that constantly inhaled and exhaled the world's spiritual energy.
He took a deep breath and stepped into the hall.
Inside Star Pivot Hall, sandalwood incense curled upwards.
This incense was no ordinary product. It was called 'Mind-Calming Incense,' something only cultivators above the Golden Core realm could afford. A single breath of it felt like a small, icy hand smoothing out the agitation in one's soul.
The hall was spacious, its dome like a miniature starry sky, with countless points of light slowly drifting and spinning.
On the central meditation cushion, Xuanheng Zhenren sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his aura deep and long, perfectly merged with the rhythm of the entire hall.
Su Ming stopped three zhang from the hall's center, bowed, and performed a salute. "Disciple Su Ming pays respects to Master."
Xuanheng slowly opened his eyes. Those eyes were as still as an ancient well, his gaze falling upon Su Ming.
"Your Foundation Establishment is stable?"
"Thanks to Master's boundless grace, it is already stable." Su Ming replied, his voice steady.
Xuanheng gave a slight nod and uttered a single word. "Sit."
Su Ming sat down as instructed, his back straight, his hands naturally resting on his knees, the picture of a docile disciple awaiting instruction.
"Now that you have established your Foundation, your vision can no longer be limited to the petty scuffles of the Qi Refining stage."
Xuanheng didn't waste any words and cut straight to the point. "During the Qi Refining stage, formation techniques emphasized 'inscribing.' Using spiritual power as a knife to carve runes and attract heaven and earth's spiritual energy. This is like copying a drawing from a model. You can form a formation, but you know the 'how' without understanding the 'why.'"
Su Ming nodded slightly, but in his heart, he recalled his master Lin Yu's metaphor: the Qi Refining stage was about filling in the blanks, placing fixed runes into fixed positions; the Foundation Establishment stage was about starting to learn how to solve application problems.
"After establishing your Foundation, the path of formations emphasizes 'momentum.'"
Xuanheng raised his hand and lightly tapped his fingertip in the air.
There was no fluctuation of spiritual energy, but Su Ming keenly felt that the airflow in the hall had changed. The originally calm air, like a lake surface after a stone had been tossed in, rippled with invisible rings.
"This is 'momentum.'" Xuanheng looked at Su Ming. "Tell me, if you were to set up a formation with this momentum, how would you do it?"
This was a test.
Su Ming's heart tightened. He knew that this was not just a question; it was Xuanheng weighing the true quality of this "True Disciple." He had to pass this test brilliantly, but not too monstrously.
"Nine parts truth, one part falsehood."
Lin Yu's teaching flashed through his mind.
Su Ming thought for a moment. He didn't answer directly, but instead extended his right hand.
A ball of deep blue water spiritual energy materialized in his palm. It wasn't static, but slowly spun like a living thing.
"'Momentum,' as Master indicates, your disciple understands as 'flow.'"
Su Ming spoke, his voice calm and steady. "Since the air flows like a wave, it cannot be forcefully blocked. If I were to set up a formation, I would follow the direction of these ripples. I would inscribe the 'Guide' rune at the wave's crest, and the 'Store' rune at its trough."
As he spoke, the ball of water in his palm began to deform.
The water on the outer edge accelerated, spinning along with the airflow, while at the center, the water moved extremely slowly, as if forming a deep, bottomless vortex.
"Use movement to counteract movement, borrow force to strike a blow."
Su Ming looked at the water in his hand. "If one were to forcefully use the 'Control' rune to block this momentum, it would be like building a dam in a flood. Though it might hold for a while, the pressure would accumulate at the formation's nodes. Once it collapses, it would be a complete breach. It would be better to guide it, like dredging a river channel, to give this momentum a place to vent, letting it flow according to your disciple's will."
A flicker of surprise passed through Xuanheng's eyes.
He had assumed Su Ming would answer how to use runes to suppress and solidify this fluctuation—the common failing of most formation masters, who love to control and command heaven and earth's spiritual energy to bow to their will.
But Su Ming's answer was 'compliance' and 'guidance.'
This line of thinking didn't seem like something a fresh Foundation Establishment brat could have, but rather, like something a grizzled veteran who had crawled and scrambled through heaven and earth for a hundred years.
