The next day, in the Accounting Office.

Manager Liu Tong noticed Su Ming looked a bit pale and, assuming he was overworked, didn’t assign him any heavy tasks.

Su Ming was happy to have the leisure.

He didn’t go look at the regular ledgers.

Instead, he went straight into the deepest archive room of the Accounting Office.

What was piled up here were all old, outdated files that no one cared about.

He carefully searched through the dust-covered shelves.

Finally, he found what he was looking for.

—”List of Low-Level Formation Maintenance and Material Replacements for Each Peak.”

This was precisely the “messy accounts” of Formation Peak that he had previously organized.

He carefully unrolled a scroll detailing the maintenance list for the “Dust-Repelling Formation of Medicine Plot Ding.”

The list recorded in detail:

“Third day of the seventh month, Jiazi Year, Medicine Plot Ding, ‘Three Powers Dust-Repelling Formation,’ the spiritual energy of the formation flag at the southwest ‘Kun’ position has attenuated, replaced with one low-grade earth-attribute spirit stone.”

“Fifteenth day of the seventh month, Jiazi Year, Medicine Plot Ding, ‘Three Powers Dust-Repelling Formation,’ the core rune of the formation core is worn, re-engraved with the ‘Gathering’ character rune by Formation Peak disciple Li Changqing.”

Su Ming compared these records one by one with the content he saw in the jade slip last night.

The “Basic Overview of Formations” mentioned that the “Three Powers Dust-Repelling Formation” uses the positioning of the Three Powers of Heaven, Earth, and Man, and requires drawing upon the earth’s qi as its foundation. Therefore, the “Kun” position requires an earth-attribute spirit stone.

This perfectly matched the record on the list!

So that’s how it is!

A light of excitement burst forth in Su Ming’s eyes.

This was no longer dry theory.

This was the combination of theory and practice!

In the following days, during the daytime, Su Ming treated each formation maintenance list in the Accounting Office as a textbook to study.

He compared them with the principles in the “Overview,” reverse-engineering every detail in those lists.

Why does the illumination formation need yang-attribute spirit stones?

Why must the formation flags of the dust-repelling formation be made from rootless wood?

Why must the energy core of patrol puppets be activated using wood struck by lightning?

One by one, the “common knowledge” that puzzled ordinary menial disciples became formation principles that could be disassembled and understood in his eyes.

His brain, like a precise machine, operated frantically.

And at night, he would put what he learned during the day into practice.

……

Su Ming sat cross-legged on his hard plank bed, without lighting a lamp.

Moonlight filtered through the window paper, casting a patch of cold silver frost on the floor.

His fingertip unconsciously rubbed the Xuantian ring.

The ring was cool to the touch, yet smooth and warm.

But no matter how he urged his divine sense, he could only feel Lin Yu’s soul body, as faint as a candle flame in the wind, quietly suspended in the center of the Spirit Gathering Array, showing no signs of awakening.

A sense of loneliness surged over him like a tide.

Over this past month, he seemed to have adapted to sect life, moving with ease in the Accounting Office.

But he knew clearly in his heart that every step he took was like walking on thin ice.

The stability of the Accounting Office was Elder Ma’s favor, and also something he had exchanged with his far-above-average mathematical ability.

But this stability was too fragile.

It was built on the foundation of his “usefulness.”

Once he lost this value, or if the Accounting Office no longer needed him, he could be discarded like a worn-out shoe at any moment.

He must possess power that truly belonged to him.

“Master…”

Su Ming murmured softly in his heart.

“If you were here, you would surely be able to resolve my doubts.”

“Where should one even begin with the path of formations?”

He gathered his focus and once again pressed that old jade slip to his forehead.

This time, he didn’t try to be greedy for more. Instead, he concentrated all his spirit on the simplest formation recorded in the jade slip.

—”Dust-Repelling Formation.”

As the name implied, this formation had only one function.

Clearing away dust.

This was an entry-level formation used by formation apprentices to practice their touch and perceive the flow of spiritual energy.

Su Ming took a deep breath.

He fished out from under his bed a few smooth pebbles he had picked from the back mountain during the day, and a small pinch of dry wood shavings.

Following the pattern in the jade slip, he arranged three pebbles on the floorboards in front of him in the shape of a triangle.

Next, he extended his index finger, mobilized the wisp of spiritual energy within his body that was finer than a strand of hair, and gathered it at his fingertip.

Holding his breath, he imitated the strokes of the rune in the jade slip, slowly inscribing it on the cold stone floor.

First stroke, starting the momentum.

Spiritual energy seeped from his fingertip, leaving a barely perceptible, faintly glowing blue trace on the ground.

Success!

Joy surged in Su Ming’s heart.

However, just as he was about to draw the second turning stroke, the spiritual energy at his fingertip suddenly trembled and instantly dissipated.

The blue light on the ground vanished along with it, as if it had never appeared.

Failure.

Su Ming was not discouraged.

He mobilized his spiritual energy again and started over.

Starting momentum, turning…

“Snap.”

A soft sound.

The spiritual energy lost control again, breaking at the turning point.

Again!

“Snap.”

Broke again.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Su Ming’s forehead.

He discovered a problem he had never considered before.

Copying a rune in his mind and drawing it out with spiritual energy by hand were two completely different things!

His hand seemed to have a mind of its own.

Every turn, every pause, had a subtle yet fatal deviation from the standard pattern in the jade slip.

What he drew was not a rune at all, just a glowing scribble.

“Calm the heart, focus the spirit.”

Su Ming forced himself to calm down.

He closed his eyes and visualized the form of that “Gathering” character rune in his mind hundreds of times.

After confirming every detail was memorized thoroughly, he opened his eyes again.

This time, he drew extremely slowly, extremely steadily.

The spiritual energy at his fingertip, like a docile little snake, slowly slithered across the ground.

One stroke, two strokes, three strokes…

Success!

A complete, albeit somewhat crooked, “Gathering” character rune finally appeared in the center of the three pebbles!

Although the glow was dim, as if it could extinguish at any moment, it had ultimately taken form!

Su Ming was ecstatic.

He hurriedly followed the final step in the jade slip, gently sprinkling that small pinch of wood shavings onto the center of the rune.

Then, he waited nervously.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Ten breaths passed.

Nothing happened.

The wood shavings were still just those wood shavings.

The dust in the corner of the room still rested quietly in place, paying no heed to the “masterpiece” he had drawn.

After flickering a few times, the glow of that rune finally exhausted its last trace of spiritual energy and completely extinguished.

Failed again.

Su Ming stood frozen in place, the joy on his face slowly solidifying.

Where was the problem?

Su Ming replayed the entire process in his mind over and over again.

Three Powers Positioning, correct.

Rune inscription, although ugly, was complete overall.

The guiding material was also placed.

But why was there no change in the spiritual energy flow?

The theory seemed to correspond, but actual hands-on practice left him completely clueless.

For the first time, Su Ming felt that his proud “comprehension” was so pale and powerless before the path of formations.

The jade slip only recorded “what it is” and “how to do it.”

But it did not record the most crucial “why.”

Why must this rune be drawn this way?

Why must the spiritual energy pause at that node?

Why must the three stones be arranged at that angle?

These required a master’s verbal instruction, required guidance through soul perception.

And these were precisely what the jade slip could not give him.

Self-study had reached a deadlock.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep