Chapter 308: Chapter Fifty-One: The Inverted Eight Trigram Odd Gate Array

Brother Qian Chen asked a maid to inform the ship's proprietor, then returned to the third-deck cabin, retrieved the three-legged small stove, and saw a pool of ash on the floor. He casually pointed, drawing the ash into the river.

"Someone indeed walked into the trap—good thing I deliberately left the Eight Scenery Stove here!"

Brother Qian Chen had calculated that when Zhang Zhang Huaien and Zhixia left the cabin, anyone secretly watching them would notice his own disappearance from the adjacent room—and the most conspicuous object in his room was this three-legged stove. So he casually set a killing trap.

Unexpectedly, it wasn't the remaining two assassins who took the bait.

This meant another faction had also taken notice of Zhang Zhang Huaien and Zhixia.

Brother Qian Chen carried the stove up to the fourth deck and saw that the lower three decks had stirred scattered cultivators, who emerged from their cabins—though some, unwilling to invite trouble, locked themselves inside.

Brother Qian Chen saw Yuan Hao producing several small banners, already performing rites to refine them.

He continuously scattered powdered spirit jade into fine grains, flinging them onto the banners, while simultaneously casting talismanic seals to alter the array patterns on the banners.

"These people truly have some distinction—they actually understand array techniques…" Brother Qian Chen thought silently.

Among the Three Pure Ones of the Daoist sect, only the Shangqing lineage excelled in arrays—but Yan, my senior brother, was a sword fanatic, following the path of the weapon cultivator's primordial sword embryo, not the array cultivator's sword array path.

In truth, array techniques were one of Brother Qian Chen's least proficient external arts.

Elixir, weapon, talisman, array—the four external arts.

Brother Qian Chen's elixir craft received the Supreme Truth's direct transmission; he could already refine five-transformation Golden Core pills, worthy of being called the foremost Daoist under the Primordial Spirit realm. His weapon crafting and talisman painting also showed achievement: his primordial flying sword and the Crimson Script Divine Talisman both reached the Yang Shen realm, having forged magic treasure -grade primordial sword embryos and third-rank divine talismans.

Only array techniques eluded him—he grasped them poorly. Aside from feng shui arrays, using the Art of Observing Qi to perceive celestial and terrestrial feng shui formations and set arrays, he had barely entered the threshold. Everything else remained outside.

Yuan Hao's forty-one array banners were a fusion of weapon crafting and array techniques, using magical artifacts to establish arrays.

"This set of restrictions is a common Eight Trigram Law Seal—ah! Judging by the talisman patterns, it's the Golden Lock Eight Trigram Law Seal. His full array technique is the Inverted Eight Trigram Array. Though it still follows the Eight Gates' rotation, it can arbitrarily invert the Eight Gates. When an intruder breaks the Life Gate, flipping life and death adds immense peril."

"Don't think it's merely the inversion principle—it's far more mysterious. Eight out of ten array masters cannot even shift gate positions."

"Though the inversion of the Eight Gates leaves traces, calculating the inverted changes beneath layers of concealment is extremely difficult… If I were to… ah! I could add the Odd Gate method beyond inversion. Concealing Jia within Yi, Bing, and Ding, one wishing to escape through the Life Gate must pass through three correct gates in succession."

"That multiplies the difficulty by over three hundred times!"

Brother Qian Chen casually calculated—and indeed, he could only deduce the Inverted Eight Trigram Array to sixty-four banners, 4,320 variations, up to the level of the Inverted Odd Gate Eight Trigram Array.

Moreover, each time the Eight Gates inverted and the array rearranged, it required a full incense stick's time.

If someone could break through eight correct gates within one incense stick's time, they could open the Life Gate and destroy Brother Qian Chen's array.

Clearly, he had no talent whatsoever in array techniques.

True array prodigies, after years of study, could at least extend the Inverted Eight Trigram Array to the Three Odd and Six Yi level—adding the Six Yi beyond Yi, Bing, and Ding: Wu (Jia Zi), Ji (Jia Xu), Geng (Jia Shen), Xin (Jia Wu), Ren (Jia Chen), Gui (Jia Yin).

The Six Yi divide Jia, causing "Jia" to vanish and split into the Six Yi.

Unless all six gates are broken simultaneously, the Life Gate remains sealed! The array's variations multiply by over ten thousand. And the change time for Three Odd and Six Yi shrinks to one-third of an incense stick!

This raises a single-person-breaking array to requiring at least six people acting in unison.

Of course, if someone with array cultivation equal to the arranger entered the array—say, Brother Qian Chen himself, trapped within the "Inverted Odd Gate, Six Yi Divided Jia Eight Trigram Array"—he could use magical artifacts to stabilize the Three Odd changes, calculate the Six Yi's positions, and simultaneously deploy six artifacts to shatter the banner gates within one-third of an incense stick, forcibly breaking the array.

But the Inverted Eight Trigram Array used by Yuan Hao's group was simpler: anyone with even basic array knowledge could break it under suitable conditions.

That meant having eight people enter simultaneously!

As long as each entered one gate, someone would inevitably breach the Life Gate—before the Four Deadly Gates could trap and kill the entrants, the array's transformation could be shattered.

Even if they failed to break it in time and four people were killed by the Four Deadly Gates, the four in the Four Auspicious Gates would all survive.

Thus, they paid a certain cost but destroyed the array.

Of course, with Yuan Hao and his group's cultivation level, entrants needed at least the Penetrating Law realm—otherwise, no matter how many came, they were just meat.

"Beyond the Three Odd and Six Yi, there are Nine Palaces Flying Stars, Purple Micro Destiny, Yin-Yang Five Phases, Three Talents Four Symbols, Six Harmonies Northern Dipper—countless variations! Eight Trigrams become Eight Gates, the Eight Gates invert, inversion becomes Odd Gate, Odd Gate hides the Six Yi… I can only deduce up to Odd Gate!" Brother Qian Chen sighed: "After all, I'm a liberal arts student!"

Brother Qian Chen stopped watching Yuan Hao and the others modify the array patterns…

What use was watching? He was worse than Brother Qian Chen! He was merely pushing the Eight Trigram Array's celestial qi entirely into the Xun trigram, summoning a gale—and setting up the most basic Flowing Wind Array, yet still modifying the array banners…

Under these conditions, simply activating one variation of the Inverted Eight Trigram Array sufficed…

Moreover, his primary modification was Xun trigram, using wind to accelerate—fine, but the ship sailed upon the great river, where Kan trigram was the main trigram. Kan as master, Xun as guest: wind upon water was one of the Eight Trigram Array's sixty-four variations—the "Brother Huan"!

This variation was called Wind-Water Brother Huan Array.

Adding the inversion principle could flip master and guest, reversing wind and water's positions: water above wind, wind below water—this became Jing trigram. Applied to the ship, it became the Wind-Jing Sinking Ship variation, enabling the vessel to sink beneath the water and travel.

Controlling gales circling the ship to displace river water, using the water to conceal its escape.

Thus, speed on the surface increased, and in emergencies, the ship could sink beneath the water—speed and maneuverability far surpassed the mere Flowing Wind Array.

Brother Qian Chen ceased watching the glaring errors in their array changes, for he realized Yuan Hao's array cultivation was even lower than he'd imagined. They weren't modifying the Eight Trigram Array's setup to use the other seven trigrams to assist the Flowing Wind Array.

They had dismantled the Eight Trigram Array banners, altered the attributes of several banners not primarily wind-based, and merely assembled eight banners to set up a simple Summon Wind Array.

It was a foolish method, but foolish methods had their merits.

At least the array's variations were greatly simplified—or rather, had no variations at all. Losing some control capability, it gained stability in return. Though it reduced the celestial qi the array could harness, given their low array cultivation, they couldn't precisely manipulate the Eight Gates anyway—efficiency wouldn't be much lower.

Brother Qian Chen had no intention of giving them advice; it was their mission, and he was merely here to watch the show. If the ship moved too fast and missed the pursuers, there'd be no spectacle!

Moreover, Brother Qian Chen didn't believe Sun En truly wanted to kill Zhang Zhang Huaien—if he did, could they even have reached here?

He was a Primordial Spirit True Immortal, one of the greatest under heaven.

A single Yansheng spell would turn their corpses into pus!

Most likely, Sun En didn't care about this so-called evidence—or even if the whole world knew Sun En was rebelling, what of it? The Master Sima family, if sensible, would help conceal it to avoid losing too much face.

If they weren't sensible, the southeast would no longer belong to Great Jin!

"Honored guest! The proprietor awaits you upstairs!" A maid bowed gracefully and led Brother Qian Chen up to the fifth deck. Along the way, Brother Qian Chen saw Zhixia was helpless with living people, so he called him and Zhang Zhang Huaien along.

After passing through cabin doors guarded by several retainers, they reached a large cabin. The maid entered first to report, then emerged to invite the three inside.

"My fellow Daoists, you've made quite a commotion! Killing on my ship is too much!" The ship's owner appeared no older than twenty, his skin dark, lacking the frail elegance of a noble scion—he looked like a sailor worn down by wind and rain.

A scar marred his face, somewhat fearsome, yet his bright, resolute eyes added a touch of scholarly grace.

Brother Qian Chen said: "Master, you're mistaken! We didn't seek to kill—others sought to kill us; we merely struck first to survive!"

"Oh?" The proprietor's expression shifted; he suddenly turned to gaze intently at Zhang Zhang Huaien beside him, his demeanor deepening.

"The ship's proprietor has already recognized us!" Brother Qian Chen smiled.

The proprietor drew a deep breath and sighed: "I didn't pay attention, and now I've drawn such a huge trouble. All the southeast is hunting you; those of us who sail the waters pay close attention to regional news—how could we not know you?"

He pointed at Zhang Zhang Huaien: "The imperial court's envoy dispatched to the southeast to inspect noble families, rank them, and add evaluations—Zhang Zhang Zhongzheng!"

He pointed at Zhixia: "The hero who roams border prefectures, slaying demons and exterminating monsters—Master Zhixia!"

When he turned to Brother Qian Chen, he fell silent: "Forgive my limited knowledge—I don't know your origins."

Brother Qian Chen smiled: "Master's knowledge is vast; I am merely obscure, my Dao name Master Yucheng."

"So you're Master Master Yucheng! I'm Xu Yang of the Xu family!" The ship's proprietor bowed, unsure whether he truly believed Brother Qian Chen's explanation. Zhang Zhang Huaien exclaimed: "So you're from Hedong Xu!"

"Stop, stop, stop! … The Xu family may be a northern clan, likely siding with the court—but their stance is none of my concern. I just want to run my business peacefully, offending no one!"

"So don't expect me to help you!"

"Still, guests are guests—I carried you, that's my bad luck. When the pursuers arrive, fight as you must, kill as you must. But if you have even a shred of guest-host courtesy, don't drag this ship into it."

Zhixia bowed: "According to Jianghu customs, misfortune does not burden bystanders—we naturally won't…"

Brother Qian Chen raised his hand to stop him: "Business is business. We need this ship—how much?"

The ship's proprietor Xu Yang perked up, praising: "Finally, someone who understands the rules! Too many in the Central Plains don't understand rules—or have their own twisted ones. Better than overseas! I'll sell you the ship, and this matter is done with me. But the price isn't cheap—it includes compensation for all these passengers, plus the entire crew… Business rules: urgency demands premium pricing! Add risk, reputation, cargo…"

"All told, five thousand shi of spirit grain!"

"Or two thousand square shi of spirit jade, one thousand talismans from the Three Mountains!"

Zhixia, hearing the number, slammed the table: "That much? You're robbing us!"

Brother Qian Chen signaled him to calm down: "The price is fair… and you won't have to pay."

"If you want credit, given the risk of lending to you, I'll triple it!"

Even Zhang Zhang Huaien's face darkened; he slammed the table again, furious: "Triple? When did interest rates get this high? Fifteen thousand shi of spirit grain—that's how many salaries of two thousand shi?"

"Gentlemen, you're being hunted—I lend you money, risking what? If you all die, who do I collect from? If you had collateral or guarantors, I'd lend nine and demand thirteen back!"

"But you're clean as a whistle. Frankly, even if you survive, I may not recover my capital when I come to collect! Collection costs too!"

Brother Qian Chen smiled: "No need. The interest makes sense—but we pay cash."

"Cash?" Xu Yang was slightly startled. He glanced at the astonished Zhixia and Zhang Zhang Huaien, then fixed his gaze on Brother Qian Chen—he knew Brother Qian Chen was the real master. Born into a great clan, he was obsessed with commerce, running trade caravans between Central Plains and overseas, highly skilled in reading people.

But no matter how he looked, he couldn't fathom Brother Qian Chen's background.

Brother Qian Chen pulled out several jade vials and began pricing them. Xu Yang opened one, sniffed slightly—a wisp of elixir qi entered his nostrils. Brother Qian Chen immediately discerned his true nature: by elixir discernment, Xu Yang was a skilled elixir master.

Better than Zhen Daoist and Old Huo.

"Grain-Grain Grain Grain Grain Grain Bigu Pills… refined from Purple-Striped Dragon Tooth Rice, extremely pure. Such quality Grain-Grain Grain Grain Grain Grain Bigu Pills contain refined essence and abundant spiritual energy, sufficient for daily cultivation. One pill sustains a Penetrating Law cultivator's physical cultivation for three months—worth one hundred shi of spirit grain!"

"Here are fifty!" Brother Qian Chen handed over five jade vials.

Xu Yang inspected each, then slammed the table, stowing the vials: "Done! The ship is yours!"

With Brother Qian Chen's elixir craft, refining these Grain-Grain Grain Grain Grain Grain Bigu Pills consumed only five shi of Purple-Striped Dragon Tooth Rice. The price difference between Purple-Striped Dragon Tooth Rice and ordinary yellow rice was about a hundredfold.

That meant five thousand shi of yellow rice was worth only fifty shi of Purple-Striped Dragon Tooth Rice.

Ordinary elixir masters, wanting to refine high-quality, impurity-free Grain-Grain Grain Grain Grain Grain Bigu Pills, needed roughly one shi of spirit grain per pill.

Thus, their values were roughly equivalent!

But Xu Yang deliberately overlooked the elixir master's labor cost and the fact that Purple-Striped Dragon Tooth Rice was priceless and scarce—its actual value likely higher. This deal earned him at least five such ships!

Yet Brother Qian Chen, through his skill, created tenfold value—and didn't care about this small gain.

The two reached an agreeable deal.

Zhixia and Zhang Zhang Huaien watched, dumbfounded: for the sake of two strangers, Brother Qian Chen had spent a fortune to buy a large ship?

They now understood why Brother Qian Chen and Princess Sixteen were friends.

Rich? Friend indeed.