Bearing (Part 1)
Mu Yu stepped closer to the wall. “Well, we’ll just have to figure it out ourselves. Eighty-one characters that can be interpreted differently depending on the order you read them and changes whenever I’m close to figuring out one meaning, changing the meaning again. Sounds like fun. Wait…”
“How is the text concealing its true meaning on its own? Does it have a life?” Xiaoshuai blurted.
“How do I comprehend it if not like this? Flashing characters that expand and deflate…” Mu Yu retreated to the centre of the cauldron and stared at the characters. “The characters change depending on my position, flashing or dimming just like stars…”
Mu Yu started deducing a pattern based on his movements. “I get it now.”
“I don’t. What’s the trick?”
“If you purposely try to read the text, it’ll change at any given moment. Whenever I change my line of sight, they change. In other words, every step I take, they will change methodically to confuse me. Conversely, I can force them to play to my footsteps. For instance, standing at the centre of this eight trigrams design depicts the text one way. If I hope to gentle wind position now” – Mu Yu hoped to gentle wind position – “then the text takes on a specific format.”
“I get it now! Since there are eighty-one formats, there are only eighty-one possibilities regardless of how we move. As long as we follow the system, we can control what format surfaces depending on our timing and step. Tsk, tsk, I’m too profound for these games.”
“I’m pretty sure the subject in your last sentence should’ve been me?” Mu Yu rubbed Xiaoshuai’s head.
“Nah, I’m brighter than you. I’m taking the reins now. Next one is northwest, bound mountain.”
“It’s northeast, shaking thunder…”
“Next one is east, radiant fire.”
“You mean southeast, open marsh.”
“Would you die if you followed my commands?”
“You bet.”
Mu Yu suddenly noticed how nice it was to be free of the edgy attitude bloodlust energy imposed on him. Verbal tirades with Xiaoshuai were entertaining once again.
Xiaoshuai’s instructions were not exactly wrong since there was more than one way of deducing the text as mentioned. Mu Yu merely needed to follow his method as he noticed a familiar phenomenon that reminded him of when he entered Formation Sect and climbed Celestial Staircase. He, therefore, speculated that the cauldron and formation palace might share the same origins.
By the time Mu Yu made it to the wall, he had figured out all of the text.
“Mu Yu, my instructions have helped you work out what the text says, right?” asked Xiaoshuai, eating an apple.
“Your instructions? Ahaha, yeah, buddy, yeah.”
Formations activated in his eyes, Mu Yu pressed his hands together, spawning the eighty-one characters in green from his hands, lining them up in a specific order in the air, each character resonating with the cauldron. Each character then cloned itself, criss-crossing with each other similarly to a line of stars. Mu Yu transferred golden energy from his finger to the closest character, reflecting the green light of the character to the subsequent character and so on, eventually reflecting onto the text on the wall. All of the text on the green link shone successfully.
Mu Yu sat down to commence linking the text together, unaware that the jade piece carrying his Soul Fixing Formation in his cosmos sleeve flashed. The soul inside gently released an unidentified qi.
***
Unlike the glitz and glamour of Mystic Rainbow Peak, Yao Wuji grappled with dark clouds in his mind. Cai Lie, who stood behind Yao Wuji, in contrast, did not have a care in the world, though he was privy to the oppressive atmosphere in the sect.
“Shifu… Are… you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Yao Wuji spun around and, in a monotone voice, queried, “What are you doing here instead of training?”
“Should we do something about this situation?”
“Do what?” questioned Yao Wuji, trying his best to hide his emotions.
“Shifu, shouldn’t we punish Shi Dengtian for betraying our sect? At the very least, we must stop his mutiny!”
“How dare you address your uncle by his name?! Have you lost your manners while I was away?!”
“Shifu, he’s not worthy of being my uncle. H-”
Smack!
Eyes in shock, Cai Lie fumed, “Why? Why did you hit me, Shifu?!”
That was the first time Yao Wuji ever hit Cai Lie as Cai Lie was a prodigy, and it was his personality that granted him his prodigious abilities.
“The next time I hear you criticising him, it won’t be just a slap!”
“I’ll speak facts any day, all day!” Cai Lie stomped his way down the mountain but stopped after a couple of steps. “Shifu, that isn’t what you truly think, is it?”
“Go reflect on yourself. Don’t leave your place until you reach Spirit Severing Realm Fourth Layer!”
“I refuse to be a coward.”
“Stop right there! Where are you going?!” blustered Yao Wuji, stopping Cai Lie as he knew his disciple would endanger himself to tackle Shi Dengtian.
Cai Lie spun around. “Repentance. Cliff. To. Reflect. On. Myself.”
“I’ll take you there.”
Yao Wuji grabbed Cai Lie and flew his disciple to the steep mountain surrounded by cliff faces. Each of the caverns found certain distances apart were where disciples had to spend time when told to reflect on themselves. Right below Repentance Cliff was the prison Ku Mu was once held.
“That cave. Go.”
“Shifu, be careful. I can’t afford to lose you,” Cai Lie softly said through his teeth.
“I don’t need you to tell me what to do!”
Yao Wuji activated the cavern’s seal to trap Cai Lie inside. Upon flying to the top of the mountain, Daoist Yun Dan was already waiting at the stone table under the pine tree.
“What has happened the last few days?” Daoist Yun Dan inquired with a sigh, looking haggard and tired.
“I have said all that needs to be said.”
“We grew up together. I can tell you’re hiding something from me.”
“What makes you think you know me?”
Daoist Yun Dan froze. “What do you mean?”
Daoist Yun Dan vividly recalled Yao Wuji backing him yesterday when the others were trying to force him to abdicate, yet Yao Wuji’s tone did a one-eighty turn overnight.
“It’s just finally dawned on me that our reputation has been hammered into the ground. You didn’t help in any capacity when Uncle Yuan De and I were attacked. You’re supposed to be a patriarch, yet you never fulfilled he role.”
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