Chapter 317: The Net is Complete |
Lu Jun crouched on the ground, his divine sense extending like threads into the earth, muttering incantations under his breath, "Qian is three solid lines, Kun is six broken lines... The spiritual energy here spirals left and stagnates, it should be the conflict between the earth and metal energies..."
Time passed, breath by breath.
Ten breaths.
Sweat beaded on Lu Jun's forehead. He discovered that the flow of spiritual energy underground was extremely chaotic, as if a tangled mess of threads were knotted together. No matter how he tried to deduce it using the Five Elements cycle of generation and restraint, he couldn't find the crucial starting thread.
Twenty breaths.
Lu Jun's hands began to tremble. He felt the scorching gazes of the surrounding trainees, the pressure causing his originally clear train of thought to become tangled.
"Wrong... Why would the wood energy flow backwards here? This defies formation principles..." Lu Jun gritted his teeth, trying to forcefully inject spiritual energy to sort it out.
"Ding—!"
The last grain of sand fell through the hourglass in Su Ming's hand.
Lu Jun stood up, his face pale, somewhat unwilling to accept defeat as he argued, "It's because the formation structure you set up is too bizarre, completely violating convention..."
"Bizarre?" Su Ming cut him off. "Will demon beasts discuss convention with you? When the Earth-Devouring Insects underground gnaw on the earth, do they do it according to the Five Elements cycle of generation?"
Su Ming didn't bother with him further and walked straight to the node.
"Watch closely."
Su Ming didn't even use his divine sense to probe. He merely glanced at the standard-issue "Spirit Response Compass" in his hand. On the compass, among the three lights representing the spiritual energy circuits, the middle yellow light was flashing at a frantic frequency.
"Yellow light flashing urgently, three short, one long." Su Ming spoke rapidly. "Cross-reference the fault table. This indicates a severed or corroded formation vein."
He didn't bother deducing any spiritual energy flow. He directly pulled a special shovel from the tool kit at his waist and, aiming at the location indicated by the yellow light, dug through the frozen soil with two sharp *crack-crack* sounds.
The exposed formation vein indeed showed a clear, charred break.
Su Ming took out spiritual ink from his spirit bag and redrew the runes.
*Click.*
Su Ming reached back, swiped his hand over the runes on the formation stake, and injected a weak stream of spiritual energy to restart it.
*Hum.*
The yellow light on the compass instantly went out. A green light lit up, steady and constant.
The entire process, smooth and flowing like clouds and water, took only seven breaths.
Dead silence fell all around, broken only by the howl of the wind and snow.
Lu Jun's mouth hung open as he stared at the compass with its steady green light, his face a mask of utter disbelief.
All his previous struggles with the Five Elements cycle and spiritual energy clashes seemed so pale and powerless before that simple *click* sound.
"This... this is..."
"This is what a 'Net Protector' should do."
Su Ming brushed the dirt from his hands and stood up, his gaze sweeping across the entire group.
"The 'application' of formations lies in precision, proficiency, and speed. Restlessness is a major taboo, and thinking oneself clever is a path to death."
He walked up to Lu Jun, his tone softening slightly but carrying even more authority. "Fellow Daoist Lu, your formation skills are indeed good. If we were doing research in a sect meditation room, I might not be your match. But here, at Iron Wall Pass, the formation that saves lives is the good formation. I hope everyone remembers, what you will maintain in the future is not just a pile of inanimate objects, but the lives of your comrades behind you."
Lu Jun's face flushed red then paled white, finally lowering his proud head and giving Su Ming a deep, respectful bow.
"I have been taught."
This bow was not a tribute to cultivation level, but to that professionalism and pragmatism forged in the crucible of life and death.
...
After the practical demonstration, the atmosphere inside the training shed completely changed.
No one questioned Su Ming's seemingly crude "Fool-Proof" teaching method anymore. On the contrary, everyone acted as if they had discovered a new continent, hungrily absorbing the "mnemonics," "charts," and "fault tables" Su Ming taught.
They discovered that this method, which discarded obscure theory, though crude, was damn effective!
Even a sword cultivator who knew nothing about formations could, by simply memorizing a few mnemonics, complete the setup of a node within half the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
Efficiency was improving at an unprecedented rate.
What followed was the gathering of resources.
The first batch of accelerated training lasted only ten days, and already five individuals with excellent comprehension—including that Lu Jun—could independently complete simple setups and daily maintenance.
The news spread back to the various defense zones. The originally hesitant battalion and squad leaders could no longer sit still.
Who wouldn't want an extra layer of protection for their defense zone? Who wouldn't want their own "Su Ming" who could repair formations at any time?
Thus, requests and petitions flew in like snowflakes. Some impatient squad leaders even directly blocked the entrance to the Bing-7 Defense Zone, carrying whole crates of spirit wine and demon beast meat.
The Military Merit figure in Su Ming's identity token began to jump wildly.
According to the rules Su Ming set, each defense zone wanting to send trainees to learn had to pay a "tuition fee" ranging from 300 to 500 points.
This amount was a mere drop in the bucket for the wealthy battalion and squad leaders, who paid with remarkable cheerfulness.
From the first batch of eight defense zones, this alone brought in approximately 3,000 points.
In addition to the "technical usage" fees paid by the defense zones, the "teaching and instruction" merit promised by Elder Mo—that 20,000-point Military Merit quota—had also been officially recorded by the Merit Calculation Bureau. It would be verified and issued upon the successful completion of this teaching cycle.
This huge reward, like sweet rain dangling before his eyes, made Su Ming's spirit tremble with excitement.
Late at night, Stone Hut Number Seven in Bing-7.
Su Ming sat cross-legged on the stone bed, his divine sense probing into his identity token.
Looking at the number that had already broken through the 40,000 mark, even with his level of composure, his breathing couldn't help but quicken a little.
Over forty thousand points.
Only the final step remained before obtaining that bottle of "Earth Vein Spirit Milk" that could repair his Dao foundation.
More importantly, that 20,000-point "teaching merit," not yet received but as good as guaranteed, allowed him to clearly see the dawn of reaching his goal.
As for the extra Military Merit, he planned to exchange it for two Foundation Establishment Pills.
"Master, at this rate, in another half a month at most, I should be able to gather 50,000 Military Merit," Su Ming said within his Consciousness Sea, a trace of barely suppressed excitement in his tone.
"Calm, stay calm."
Lin Yu's voice was still lazy, but Su Ming could hear the approval within it. "You've earned the Military Merit, but these connections are the real prize. Look now, with these twenty-some trainees scattered out, that's twenty-some nodes. From now on, if even a single screw in the formations at Iron Wall Pass goes loose, the first person they'll think of is you, their 'Founding Ancestor.'"
Su Ming gave a slight nod.
Indeed, this invisible network of connections was more precious than the Military Merit.
It meant he was no longer fighting alone at Iron Wall Pass, but possessed influence that crossed the barriers of defense zones.
He stood up and pushed open the heavy stone window.
Outside, the night was deep, the wind and snow relentless.
In the distant defense zones, faint, dark blue lights could be seen flowing beneath the surface—signs of the "Spirit Response Spider Web" in operation.
Looking at these scattered, twinkling lights, a sense of accomplishment welled up in Su Ming's heart.
The howling wind and snow seemed to foretell that the peaceful days of teaching and accumulation might not last much longer.