Eight Trigrams Map
Lu Deyi came in all smiles. “Mu Yu, Village Chief Bu has always dreamt of being an author, so he asked me to cast a few illusion formations. I carved said formations onto the highest-grade talismans and then bound them. What do you think?”
Thanks to the new knowledge Village Chief Bu gleaned, he had added details, such as formations, weapon descriptions, wars of colour and so forth, turning the story into one that even cultivators were likely to believed.
“Old Lu, did you draw my apparition?” Xiashuai ran over to innocently tug at Lu Deyi’s hand. Previously, Xiaoshuai wanted Village Chief Bu to write “Fearless Heroic Chronicles of Xiaoshuai” for himself, but Village Chief Bu convinced him that including it in Mu Yu’s story would be better.
“Of course. We even included how you conquered the corpses at Desert Eagle Palace, though most of it was my imagination. If you want to make amendments, I can do so.”
“Good, then…”
There was no point trying to stop Village Chief Bu. Besides, if somebody felt your story was worth documenting, who would not be happy?
Taking the incomplete novel back from Mu Yu, Village Chief Bu said, “You came back at the right time. I wanted to discuss the cultivation world’s affairs with you.”
Formation Sect was placed under Village Chief Bu’s command after his predictions turned out to be true one after another. Since he knew what he was doing, he was also given a team whenever he went out to spread rumours.
“Mu Yu, do you know what they’re saying now?”
“Come on. Just spill the beans already,” urged Xiaoshuai, tugging Village Chief Bu’s beard.
Village Chief Bu pinched Xiaoshuai’s cheek. “Slow down. Your obliteration of Ghost Gate and Secular World Sect, as well as the attack on Celestial Star Sect, has led to rumours that Secular World Sect sided with Celestial Star Sect after Celestial Star Sect and Ghost Gate butted heads. They claim that Ghost Gate wiped out both of their nemeses. There are also people saying Life and Death Sect had a hand in it. Earth Sovereign Sect and Mystic Spirit Sect have started fighting owing to the elemental demons. Jade Sect decided to go after Ghost Gate to avenge Secular World Sect…”
“Is nobody going to dispel the rumours?” Xiaoshuai asked.
“This is why I say that your deception skills aren’t up to scratch yet.”
Xiaoshuai curled his lips, much to Mu Yu’s amusement.
“The aim was to stir the pot. The rumours wouldn’t have been convincing prior to the chaos. Thanks to the mystery component, people are buying into whatever they hear. The other five can’t quell the rumours even if they try at this point; they’ll only give the impression that they’re trying to censor information now,” Mu Yu enlightened.
Village Chief Bu relished a nip of tea. “Mu Yu hit the nail on the head. Cultivators’ trust in the eight great sects have swayed, giving more weight to the nine mystic immortals…”
After listening Village Chief Bu’s report of recent events, Mu Yu nodded. “Thanks to Third Heaven Palace refusing to reveal themselves, we can seize the initiative. Our next step is to assemble all ultimate immortals at Ultimate Immortals Monument, then.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Mm… Since Third Heaven Palace are ceaselessly trying to delay the contest, we shall spread the terms and conditions for how to activate the monument. We only need two thirds of the ultimate immortals gathered there to carry out the contest. Once we decide on a date, it’s Pill Cauldron Sect’s turn to start spreading the word.”
“How is Pill Cauldron Sect going to help after they suffered such a devastating blow?” inquired Xiaoshuai.
“Regardless of how hard the hit they took was, a tier seven alchemist is still a tier seven alchemist.”
“What is the date going to be, then?”
“How about 8th October, two months from now?” proposed Village Chief Bu.
“Why 8th October? Is there some special significant to it?” Xiaoshuai queried.
“I chose it at random, hehehe.”
Mu Yu was confident Village Chief Bu did not actually choose the date at random but selected it based on what he had learnt from the information collected. Moreover, Village Chief Bu accounted for many factors, including the best time to spread the word, the time it would take for cultivators to feel convinced and the time it’d take for Third Heaven Palace to react.
“Grandpa Village Chief, we now have an Ascension Realm Ninth Layer adept from Life and Death Sect here. How much have you heard about them recently?”
“Hmm… Given Life and Death Sect is similar to Ghost Gate, it shouldn’t be surprising if they have an equivalent of Twins Corpse Field. Now that Ghost Gate is out of commission, Life and Death Sect would strengthen their defences of their equivalent, so it should be harder to eradicate them than it was to defeat Ghost Gate. On another note, something has caught my attention.” Village Chief Bu grabbed a map that was drawn up using formations, so the components on it resembled their real life counterparts, trees swaying and so forth. He shrunk the map as he ran his hand along it and then tapped a few spots with his finger, leaving marks behind. “What do you see when you connect these red dots?”
Xiaoshuai exclaimed, “A big cake!”
Mu Yu clobbered Xiaoshuai over the head and took a closer look. “An eight trigrams diagram.”
“Precisely.” Village Chief Bu expanded, “Having studied Celestial Staircase for several days, I inadvertently pictured the eight trigrams diagram on the map and noticed that these places were lined up systematically in addition to being places you had been to. When I connected them, I discovered they were set out after the eight trigrams diagram.”