Climbing Celestial Staircase
“Thirty-six floating, orbiting, coming and going shaky steps, great. The first step is moving in the ‘character’ pattern, jolting and speeding up for two steps before resetting. I can’t see any pattern to the movements of the others. Flying and jumping is a no go. Thirty-six steps, unevenly spaced steps… Ah, I get it now. This is an eight trigrams formation all jumbled up, and Formation Palace is supposed to be the yin yang symbol at the centre…”
The eight sides of eight trigrams consisted of thirty-six uneven lines. Only when viewed from the top could one see the eight trigrams formation the steps formed. That being said, its true form was only visible transiently. That was the window for one to climb the stairs. Some of the steps were hidden during the time the steps were lined up as an eight trigrams to conceal its true appearance, nevertheless. Thence, it required the disciple to be able to envision where the concealed steps were in order to ascend.
Despite having figured out the trick to the staircase, Mu Yu still couldn’t work out how to cross the distance. He was at “receptive” position. Receptive figure comprised of six lines, with the centre being vacant. Mu Yu was on the first step to the left. The next step up ahead wasn’t part of “receptive” figure but “arousing” figure. Due to the varying heights of the steps, it was confusing to read the figures.
“Besides the three steps for ‘receptive’ figure, there are broken lines in almost every figure. ‘Receptive’ figure has three missing parts. ‘Arousing’, ‘abysmal’ and ‘keeping still’ all have two breaks. ‘Joyous’, ‘clinging’ and ‘gentle’ figures have one broken line. Only ‘creative’ figure is complete. I’m pretty sure I need to make use of the spaces in the breaks to cross the huge gaps. This isn’t asking me to climb the stairs but to climb the gaps. All right, now I need to figure out how the steps will be arranged to climb this thing. I have Dad teaching me eight trigrams to make this easy.”
Mu Yu jumped to the left. Upon landing on whatever robust platform it was, the surroundings changed. Once his awareness was restored, he was standing on another step. The step beneath him, therefore, had to be where he was standing before. He didn’t feel any hindrances on the jump or landing.
“Already?” Zhuge Xiaosheng didn’t expect Mu Yu to figure out the formation so soon.
“I told you all he was a genius,” remarked Greater Heaven Caster Lu.
“It’s called a fluke, but flukes only happened once,” Situ Yangtian commented.
“Situ Yangtian, you took four hours and fifteen minutes to figure it out. I know you’re jealous; you can be honest,” jibed Greater Heaven Caster Lu.
“The positions of the steps are constantly changing. If he can’t visualise, he’ll bruise his face. Like a maze, there are many paths, but only one route is correct. I took four hours, yes; however, I reached the top in only fifteen steps. How many steps did you take, big man?” Situ Yangtian ribbed.
Lu Deyi solved the riddle and climbed the staircase faster than Situ Yangtian. Nevertheless, he took seventeen steps. Indeed, different paths equated to a different number of steps required to reach the top. The less steps taken suggested the more thorough one’s comprehension of formation arts was.
“Your point? Feng Mu has only taken one step so far?”
“You think he could finish it in twelve steps as Patriarch did?”
“Who’s to say he can’t do it in twelve or fifteen steps?”
Mu Yu’s second jump landed him on the fourth step from the bottom. As such, completing it in twelve steps would’ve been challenging.
“I’m getting fed up with this. I have to stop and calculate the next step every darn time because the steps keep bloody changing. My original deduction has gone out the window.”
“Have you noticed the weird line up of spiritual qi? It’s not the entire formation that’s changing each time. It’s odd and even,” Xiaoshuai popped out and pointed out.
“The odd and even figures are switching? Odd and even… Odd and even… If I keep going the way I’m going, it’s going to take sixteen steps in total to climb the remaining thirty-two steps. If I add the time it takes me to deduce each step, it’s going to take, at least, two hours. Screw that! Let’s analyse this again…”
Mu Yu jumped back to the start.
“What are you doing?! You’re supposed to climb up, not down!” Greater Heaven Caster Lu cried, jumping to his feet.
“Genius disciple, pfft. What an idiot, hahaha,” ridiculed Situ Yangtian.
“Wait…” Zhuge Xiaosheng noticed something.
“What’s the matter?”
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