One month.

Su Ming calculated quickly in his heart.

Now, he held the spirit stones earned from the Spiritual Plant Garden, plus the income from selling the Red Essence Copper just now. Resources were not lacking for the moment. One month’s time, combined with the Like Water Art and his Master’s guidance, was enough for him to push his cultivation to the peak of the seventh layer of Qi Refining, and he could even attempt to touch the threshold of the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

Moreover, during this period, he could also initially master a few high-level rune combinations from the Ancient Analysis of Formation Lines.

By the time he paid respects to the Golden Core elder, with cultivation and skills to rely on, he would at least not appear too shabby, and could also be more confident in striving for some core inheritances.

Thinking of this, Su Ming bowed solemnly: “Then I’ll trouble you, Senior Brother. For this month, I, Su Ming, will definitely close my door to visitors, diligently study the path of formations, and live up to the elder’s expectations.”

With the main business concluded, Luo Feng did not immediately get up to take his leave.

He sat on the stone stool, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the rim of the tea cup, the unshakeable worry between his brows resurfacing.

After hesitating for a moment, as if he had made some decision, he turned his wrist and took out a semi-transparent formation plate.

“Junior Brother.” Luo Feng’s voice was a bit dry, “Actually, my visit this time, besides apologizing, also has a request… concerning the final hurdle of this ‘Nine Palaces Soul-Locking Formation’—the ‘Soul-Suppressing Core’.”

Su Ming’s gaze fell upon the formation plate.

This was an unfinished formation plate, carved entirely from warm, gentle “Soul-Nourishing Jade.” But at the center of the formation plate, there was an extremely obvious vortex of spiritual energy, violent and chaotic.

“This formation needs to use ‘Soul-Nourishing Jade’ as the base, to inscribe the ‘Nine Palaces Soul-Suppressing Lines’.” Luo Feng pointed at that vortex, his brow tightly furrowed, “But the problem is, Soul-Nourishing Jade has a gentle, nourishing nature; while the Soul-Suppressing Lines need to draw upon the Yin murderous aura power from the Northern Mang Ghost Domain, which is focused on suppression. Their attributes are completely opposite.”

“I’ve tried seventeen types of harmonizing runes, even used the ‘Material Purification Method’ you taught me before to treat the Soul-Nourishing Jade, but I still cannot completely resolve this conflict.”

Luo Feng sighed, his eyes full of defeat, “Once the murderous aura enters the jade, the Soul-Nourishing Jade instinctively repels it, causing continuous damage to the formation plate. According to current projections, this formation plate will collapse on its own due to internal conflict in at most three years.”

A three-year collapse was undoubtedly a failed product for a grand formation intended to suppress a Yin vein for a hundred years.

Su Ming took the formation plate but did not speak immediately.

He held his breath and concentrated, closed his eyes slightly, and the Like Water Art within him quietly circulated.

“Master, activate ‘Observation Micro’.”

“Alright, ten spirit stones, please.” In the Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu’s voice sounded.

The next moment, the world before Su Ming’s eyes changed.

The formation plate was no longer a solid object but transformed into countless flowing lines.

With the assistance of Lin Yu’s soul power, he clearly saw that within the internal structure of the Soul-Nourishing Jade, the gentle white soul power and the cold black murderous aura were like water and oil, clearly separated.

Luo Feng forcibly used runes to bind them together, but at the contact surface between the two, intense repulsion reactions were constantly occurring, as if countless tiny explosions were continuously tearing the formation plate’s internal structure apart.

This was not a problem that could be solved by runes at all. This was a conflict of physical properties.

Su Ming exited the “Observation Micro” state, gently placed the formation plate back on the table, and shook his head: “Senior Brother, forgive my bluntness. This is not due to insufficient attainment in formations on your part, but rather that you’ve walked the path too narrowly.”

“Walked the path too narrowly?” Luo Feng was stunned.

Su Ming did not answer directly, but asked in his heart: “Master, how do you solve this kind of ‘oil-water separation’ situation over there?”

Lin Yu lazily yawned: “Simple. Since oil and water don’t mix, then don’t let them come into direct contact. Add a middle layer, make a ‘sandwich’ structure. Or use a surfactant… oh no, there’s no surfactant here. Then use physical isolation.”

“If you treat the conflict as ‘momentum’, forcibly harmonizing it is like rowing upstream.” Lin Yu’s voice in Su Ming’s mind became a bit more serious, “Why not… act according to the momentum?”

Su Ming’s eyes flashed. He dipped his finger in the tea water and drew a circle on the stone table.

“Senior Brother Luo, you’ve been trying to make the Soul-Nourishing Jade ‘accommodate’ the murderous aura, or make the murderous aura ‘adapt’ to the Soul-Nourishing Jade. This is like trying to wrap fire in paper, it will naturally burn through.”

Luo Feng frowned: “Then, in Junior Brother’s opinion?”

“Divide and rule, with the Void as the boundary.”

Su Ming’s finger drew an S-shaped curve in the middle of the circle, like a Tai Chi diagram.

“Make the Soul-Nourishing Jade into a ‘sandwich structure’.” Su Ming said while gesturing in the air, “The outer layer still inscribes the Soul-Suppressing Lines, drawing the murderous aura, focusing on attack; the inner layer uses gentle materials like ‘Moisture Stone’ as a buffer, nourishing the soul power, focusing on protection.”

At this point, Su Ming paused and looked at Luo Feng, “The most crucial part is, between the inner and outer layers, don’t use any runes to connect them. Instead, use ‘Void Stone Powder’ to outline an extremely thin ‘Void Buffer Zone’.”

“Void Buffer Zone?” Luo Feng’s pupils contracted sharply.

“That’s right.” Su Ming’s voice was calm, “Let the two forces circulate and flow within the formation plate without contacting each other, yet transmit the pressure of ‘momentum’ through the Void Zone. The murderous aura presses against the Void, the Void squeezes the inner layer, the inner layer rebounds under pressure, nourishing the soul power.”

Su Ming pointed at the water-stain Tai Chi diagram on the table: “Just like Tai Chi, Yin contains Yang, Yang contains Yin, but the boundary between Yin and Yang is clear, only then can it last long without decay.”

The courtyard fell into deathly silence.

Luo Feng stared at the water-stain diagram on the table, his entire person as if petrified.

The look in his eyes changed from initial confusion to shock, and finally transformed into deep bewilderment and struggle.

“This… this is no longer purely a formation…” Luo Feng muttered to himself, his voice trembling slightly, “This is almost a fusion of ‘artifact forging’ and ‘formation laying’! And this line of thinking… is too ‘clever’! Even somewhat… heretical!”

As a genius of Formation Peak, the education Luo Feng received was always “using formations to control objects.” Formations were noble, runes were omnipotent, materials were merely servants carrying the runes. If materials were disobedient, then use higher-level runes to suppress them.

But the solution Su Ming proposed was to admit the powerlessness of runes and instead utilize the structural properties of the materials themselves to circumvent the problem.

In the eyes of traditional formation masters, this was simply “taking shortcuts,” it was a “heretical path.”

“Formations should use runes to control all things. How can we change the fundamental structure due to material limitations?” Luo Feng suddenly looked up, a flash of resistance in his eyes, “If it’s like this, wouldn’t it make us formation masters seem incompetent?”

This was the fundamental difference in their philosophies. Luo Feng pursued the “purity of the Dao,” while Su Ming pursued “solving the problem.”

Facing Luo Feng’s question, Su Ming’s expression remained unchanged. He just calmly asked in return:

“Senior Brother, why do formations exist?”

Luo Feng was taken aback and instinctively answered: “Naturally to gather the power of heaven and earth to achieve the desired goal.”

“Then if the powers of heaven and earth themselves conflict, and the formation forcibly gathers them, causing the formation plate to collapse, does this count as ‘achieving the desired goal’ or ‘creating disaster’?”

Su Ming pointed at that unstable formation plate. His tone was light, but each word struck like a hammer, “The purpose of this formation is ‘soul suppression,’ to protect the peace of an area. If, in pursuit of the ‘purity’ of formation Dao, it causes the formation plate to decay prematurely, souls cannot be suppressed, and the common people suffer harm instead, wouldn’t that be putting the cart before the horse?”

Su Ming stood up, looking at the last trace of sunset in the sky: “My method may be ‘clumsy,’ may be ‘clever,’ perhaps even unworthy of refined discussion. But it can make this formation plate operate stably for ten, twenty years, truly accomplishing the effect of ‘soul suppression’.”

He turned his head, looking directly into Luo Feng’s eyes: “Senior Brother, the means serve the purpose. Isn’t this the fundamental purpose of formations?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep