“Disciple, what are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for… ‘accidents’.” Su Ming’s voice was terrifyingly calm.

“Since they want me to die in an ‘accident’, then I’ll search through all the ‘accidents’ in the sect’s history, find their methods, find their flaws!”

His fingers swiftly swept across rows of jade slips.

*”Report on the Explosion Accident of Spirit Gathering Array No. 3 in the Pill Cauldron Peak Medicinal Garden, Year 37 of Jingyou”*… Rejected, energy overload.

*”Record of the Furnace Formation Rampage Accident in the Vessel Hall, Year 2 of Chengping, and the Severe Injuries of Three Disciples”*… Rejected, material degradation.

*”Investigation Archives on the Failure of the Heavenly Sword Peak Trial Sword Platform’s Defense Formation, Jiazi Year of Yuanfeng”*…

Su Ming’s hand suddenly stopped!

His gaze locked onto this yellowed, century-old archive!

He slowly pulled out the jade slip and probed it with his divine sense.

A line of ancient script entered his mind.

“…Upon investigation, the defense formation’s failure was not due to combat damage. The root cause was that the ‘Hyacinth Crystal’ used in the formation plate’s core and the ‘Solidification Green Jade’ in the auxiliary formation, under specific high-intensity spiritual energy impact, produced a ‘Reverse Spiritual Energy Resonance’, causing the formation to instantly collapse…”

Wind!

Solidify!

Reverse Spiritual Energy Resonance!

These words, like lightning, instantly illuminated Su Ming’s mind!

He whipped his head around to look at the “Flowing Wind Escape Formation” blueprint on the table!

The core “Wind Flow” circuit!

The flanking “Solidification” rune!

Lin Yu’s soul sense also reacted instantly!

“I understand!”

“I understand, disciple!”

Lin Yu’s soul sense carried a trace of ecstatic joy and lingering fear at having seen through the scheme!

“This trap has two layers!”

“The first layer is the trap on the blueprint! That tiny, fatal conflict node!”

“And the second layer, the most vicious one, is the materials!”

“According to standard sect procedure, the formation base for the ‘Flowing Wind Escape Formation’ should use gentle ‘Moonlight Stone’. But what if, the materials they provide you are that extremely rare, yet still technically meeting third-tier formation standards, ‘Hyacinth Crystal’?”

“The blueprint trap, plus the material trap, a double insurance!”

“Even if you are exceptionally talented and discover the problem on the blueprint and correct it. As long as you use the ‘Hyacinth Crystal’ they provided, the formation plate will still explode!”

“So poisonous! What a ruthless, interlocking scheme!”

Su Ming’s breathing almost stopped.

Slowly, he placed that century-old archive back in its original spot.

The color drained from his face.

Su Ming felt a wave of icy, lingering fear, but even more so, a sense of provoked anger. He had been living carefully within the sect, yet he still couldn’t escape schemes.

“Master! What do we do!”

“Calm down! Disciple, the more critical the moment, the calmer you must be!”

Lin Yu’s soul sense forcibly suppressed his own panic and began operating at high speed.

Damn! There are so many old schemers in the cultivation world! Luckily, my disciple is clever! We must handle this wave steadily, we need to scheme back, and also keep ourselves clean!

He rapidly calculated in his heart, but his voice spoke with a steady tone, “Disciple, this matter has significant implications. If we directly report it to the sect, we might protect ourselves.”

Su Ming took a deep breath, his divine sense sweeping over the formation diagram concealing murderous intent, quickly responding in his mind.

“Master, we cannot.”

His voice had already regained its composure.

“If we directly expose it, we have no proof. The other party, since they could tamper with the blueprint issued by the Formation Bureau, must hold a fairly high position and definitely have foundations within the sect. If we rashly speak out, not only will we fail to harm them in the slightest, we will instead thoroughly alert them, letting them know we have seen through the trap.”

Su Ming’s brain operated at lightning speed, the massive amounts of data he had seen in the Accounting Office flowing like a river of stars.

His gaze once again fell upon that century-old archive.

A flash of sharp light appeared in his eyes.

“Master, I remember the *’Accident Archive from the Jiazi Year of Yuanfeng’* recorded the ‘Reverse Spiritual Energy Resonance’ triggered by ‘Hyacinth Crystal’ and a specific structure.”

“Since the other party has set this double-layered killing trap, they must have calculated that I would use the ‘special materials’ they provided.”

“Why don’t we… turn the tables?”

“Make the ‘explosion’ they prepared become a ‘reasonable, verifiable’ early failure?”

Lin Yu grew excited.

“Yes! Let’s do just that! We’ll add some ‘superfluous detail’ on a few unimportant auxiliary circuits, then fiddle a bit with that damn stone, make it ‘fatigue and retire’ before reaching the critical point!”

“When the formation fizzles out, we’ll then ‘accidentally’ ‘drop’ that century-old archive at the scene… hehehe.”

Lin Yu was thrilled.

This disciple truly has inherited my teachings! Steady, yet with a touch of slick operation!

…

Over the next two days, Su Ming’s daily routine didn’t change at all.

He still went to the Accounting Office every morning to organize ledgers, and in the afternoon, he buried himself in the archives, publicly claiming to be researching the ancient mysteries of the “Flowing Wind Escape Formation”.

His face wore just the right amount of distress and exhaustion, as if crushed by the weight of this daunting task.

During this time, he visited the materials warehouse.

The one responsible for distributing the materials was precisely a trusted subordinate of Steward Sun.

That disciple handed him a sealed jade box with a fake smile.

“Junior Brother Su, Steward Sun said this task is of great importance, so he specially applied for this batch of high-grade materials transferred from the inner treasury for you. You mustn’t mess it up.”

Su Ming opened the jade box. Inside lay several crystal-clear crystals emitting a faint breeze-like aura.

They were precisely Hyacinth Crystals.

Su Ming sneered inwardly, but on the surface, he showed a flattered and grateful expression.

“Thank you, Senior Brother. Please convey my thanks to Steward Sun.”

No one knew that that night, within the formation-shrouded room of Courtyard Ding-Qi.

Under Lin Yu’s guidance, Su Ming used a wisp of spiritual energy so faint it was almost imperceptible, like an invisible embroidery needle, to leave an undetectable hidden flaw inside that most critical Hyacinth Crystal.

This hidden flaw had no effect under low spiritual energy operation.

But once the spiritual energy reached a certain critical value, it would instantly disintegrate, causing the entire crystal’s energy structure to completely collapse.

Three days later, the main hall of the Maintenance Department.

The atmosphere today was completely different from usual.

The hall was crowded, almost all the menial post disciples had stopped their work and gathered around, ready to watch a good show.

Chen Ping sat high at the head seat, his expression calm, revealing neither joy nor anger.

Steward Sun stood to the side, a barely noticeable cold smile playing on his lips. Deep in his eyes was undisguised anticipation and malice.

He was anticipating that loud explosion.

Anticipating that eyesore of a menial disciple turning into a pile of flesh and blood under everyone’s watch.

At high noon, Su Ming, holding the repaired formation plate, slowly walked into the main hall.

His face was pale, his eyes sunken, his steps even seemed somewhat unsteady, as if these three days had exhausted all his mental energy.

He respectfully placed the formation plate on the verification platform in the center of the hall.

“Senior Brother Chen, Senior Brother Sun.”

“This disciple has not failed in his mission. The repair is complete according to the blueprint.”

Steward Sun glanced at the formation plate, then looked at Su Ming’s seemingly on-the-verge-of-collapse appearance. The smile on his lips grew wider.

“Not bad, you’ve worked hard.”

“Begin then. Let everyone also open their eyes and see how our Maintenance Department’s ‘prodigy’ repairs an ancient third-tier formation.”

His words were filled with the meaning of setting someone up with excessive praise.

Su Ming didn’t speak. He just silently walked to the verification platform, took a deep breath, and according to procedure, placed his hand on the formation plate’s activation rune.

He slowly began injecting spiritual energy.

*Hum—*

On the formation plate, a cyan radiance suddenly lit up, rippling outwards like water.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep