Chapter 557: Letting Go of the Obsession with Control

Hua Changxi's strangeness was not only clear to Duan Jishan, but also noticed by many of the thousand-man and hundred-man commanders on the plaza.

There was no other reason; the flaws were simply too glaring.

First, military formation drills, even for three-man teams, were arranged in advance; there was no possibility of joining them rashly.

Yet this person had brazenly hidden in the corner to spy, as if unaware that this was a taboo.

In the Zhu Que Army, even the most reclusive soldiers would not appear alone on the edge of the Martial Arts Plaza.

There was no other reason; this was a place for formation drills, and acting alone was an anomaly in itself.

Second, in her conversation with Hall Master Duan Jishan, she referred to herself as "I."

In the Zhu Que Army, the hierarchy was clear; when facing the Hall Master, one only referred to oneself as a subordinate or a general, with no exceptions.

Third, she didn't recognize Battalion Commander Qin, nor did she recognize Ye Liyue or Yan Guichen—these two were Ten-Thousand-Man Commanders; anyone who had spent any time in the Zhu Que Army could not possibly be ignorant of them.

These flaws all pointed to the same conclusion: this person was extremely unfamiliar with the rules and personnel of the Zhu Que Army.

Logically speaking, based on this alone, Duan Jishan could have taken her in for questioning, but he didn't.

Because beneath these flaws, this person was also wrapped in too many baffling mysteries.

First of all, this person was too calm; there wasn't a shred of guilt on her.

An "outsider" who had infiltrated Lingguang Hall, stopped by the Hall Master in public, and scrutinized by ten thousand gazes, yet she could remain calm and composed, without the slightest panic.

Secondly, she was well-versed in the operation of the hundred-man formation, and the cultivation technique she used was the authentic "Zhu Que Divine Art," without the slightest deviation.

Finally, and the most unfathomable point—she was too righteous.

Whether she was thrown out by the formation or trying to make Duan Jishan change his arrangement, every move she made carried a sense of entitlement, as if it were only natural for everyone to coordinate with her.

Had there been spies in the Zhu Que Army?

Of course.

Even now, the Hall Masters and managers could not guarantee that there were no eyes and ears from other forces in the army.

But this person before them gave a contradictory feeling—she seemed both familiar with the Zhu Que Army and yet knew very little about it.

If she really were a spy, she was far too... unprofessional.

Because of this sense of contradiction in Hua Changxi, Duan Jishan and the generals present tacitly chose silence.

Did Hua Changxi know that her appearance, wearing a mask and acting suspiciously, looked very strange and abrupt on the Martial Arts Plaza?

Of course she knew.

Did she sense the scrutiny of Duan Jishan and the others?

Of course she sensed it.

But she chose to ignore it.

One reason was that she really wanted to participate in the formation drills.

Another was that she also wanted to see how Duan Jishan and the others would respond.

After Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen were named by Duan Jishan, they realized his intention after a moment of thought.

The Hall Master's move was clearly to use them to probe this suspicious person of unknown background at close range.

By acting as training partners, even if this person had any schemes or posed a sudden danger, with their strength, they could not only nip any hidden danger in the bud but definitely prevent the danger from escalating.

Thus, the two walked toward Hua Changxi with smiles.

As they approached, Ye Liyue calmly looked at the Zhu Que soldier wearing the mask, a seemingly warm smile curling at the corners of her mouth.

"I don't seem to have seen you before?"

Hua Changxi's gaze swept over Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen, a faint light flashing in her eyes.

Both were in the Spirit Platform Realm!

Duan Jishan arranged two Spirit Platform Realm cultivators to be her training partners; she knew without thinking that they wanted to probe her.

Hua Changxi didn't have time to play games with them and said directly, "You don't need to doubt my identity; I am the Hall Master's person."

As soon as these words were spoken, the air seemed to stagnate for a moment.

Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen felt a shock in their hearts, and even Duan Jishan, who had been secretly observing not far away, had a flash of undisguised shock in his eyes.

Ye Liyue quickly suppressed the ripples in her heart, stabilized her mind, and asked gently, "How should we address you?"

Hua Changxi thought for a moment: "Call me Xiao Hua."

Xiao Hua???

Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen's eyelids twitched uncontrollably at the same time; thinking of the rumors from the outside world, they didn't dare to continue asking.

Hua Changxi looked at them: "How should I address you?"

Ye Liyue took a deep breath and followed her lead: "... Just call me Xiao Ye."

Yan Guichen, standing to the side, had no choice but to follow helplessly: "Xiao Yan."

Hua Changxi nodded and decided as if it were only natural: "Good, we know each other now, so... shall we start training?"

In just a few sentences, the initiative had been taken away.

Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen looked at each other, both seeing a sense of absurdity in the other's eyes, but they ultimately nodded in compliance.

Seeing that they agreed, Hua Changxi turned around without ceremony and walked toward the area for three-man formation drills.

Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen subconsciously looked back at Duan Jishan, and seeing that he didn't say anything, they hurried to catch up with Hua Changxi.

After the three stood in their formation positions, Hua Changxi turned around, her face hidden behind the mask, but her expression was extremely solemn.

"Although I am a person arranged by the Hall Master, you don't need to have any concerns. Train as you usually do, and coordinate as you usually do. Do you understand?"

These words were spoken righteously and resoundingly, not at all like a "newcomer" who had just arrived, but rather like a supervisor on a secret inspection.

Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen looked at each other again, the sense of absurdity in their hearts growing even stronger, but they couldn't find any fault, so they could only nod in unison: "Of course."

"Very good." Hua Changxi waved her hand decisively, "Then let's begin."

The three-man formation was the most basic "pin"-shaped attack and defense formation.

The spiritual power of the three needed to circulate at a specific frequency to form a miniature closed loop of spiritual power, borrowing strength and covering for each other.

"Form up!"

Ye Liyue stood to Hua Changxi's left rear, and Yan Guichen to the right rear.

As soon as they stood still, Hua Changxi felt two distinct spiritual power fluctuations coming from behind—Ye Liyue's spiritual power was as dense as silk, carrying a lingering resilience; Yan Guichen's was as sharp as a blade, clean and neat without a trace of redundancy.

Hua Changxi took a deep breath and mobilized her spiritual power, attempting to connect these two forces.

But as soon as she exerted force, Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen frowned almost simultaneously.

Hua Changxi's spiritual power was too strong.

Not just ordinarily strong, but the kind that was overwhelming and pervasive.

When she tried to merge their spiritual power, she subconsciously used her own spiritual power to "wrap" them, as if she wanted to bring the entire three-man formation under her control.

"Bang~"

Amidst the muffled sound of spiritual power clashing, the three-man formation collapsed before it could even take shape.

Ye Liyue took a step back to stabilize her figure, and Yan Guichen didn't move at all, but spiritual energy surged around his body.

Hua Changxi stood frozen, unable to figure out where the problem lay.

"Again!"

"Bang~"

"Again!"

"Bang~"

Ten times they formed the three-man formation, and ten times they failed.

Not to mention Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen, who were doubting their lives, even the Zhu Que soldiers in other formations were extremely shocked.

This failure rate had broken records.

Duan Jishan walked over and looked at Hua Changxi: "What were you thinking when you formed the formation?"

Hua Changxi's eyes were full of confusion: "I wasn't thinking anything?"

Duan Jishan was speechless for a moment: "You say you weren't thinking anything, but you were constantly trying to control Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen."

Hearing this, a "boom" went off in Hua Changxi's brain, as if she had been struck by lightning.

When practicing the hundred-man formation in the Flame Mountain, there were too many problems, so she couldn't capture every anomaly carefully.

Now, with the three-man formation, the problem was exposed more thoroughly, and with the correction from Duan Jishan, a bystander, she finally grasped the core problem.

Yes, she had been thinking, and it was a habitual "thinking" of wanting to control the situation.

This control over the outside world had already been integrated into her bones and blood, so natural that she couldn't even notice it.

Hua Changxi replayed the moment she was sent flying in her mind repeatedly.

It wasn't that her spiritual power was insufficient, nor that her steps were wrong; it was that she was still "thinking."

She was thinking about how to merge, how to synchronize, and how to make herself a part of the formation.

But the more she "thought," the more she wanted to control, and the more she was separated from the other two by a barrier.

The fear of losing herself that she had always harbored was, in essence, a fear of losing control!!!

Why was she afraid of losing control?

Or rather, why did she think she could control everything? Why did she not allow anything to go out of control?

After this doubt arose in her mind, Hua Changxi's heart jumped, and she suddenly realized how narcissistic she was—actually wanting to control everything!

Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen looked at Hua Changxi, who was motionless, and looked at each other; they didn't urge her, didn't show impatience, they just... waited.

Hua Changxi looked at the two, seeing that they didn't judge, didn't expect, and didn't even hint that "you should be able to do it," and suddenly understood something.

The reason she failed before was because she had been "trying."

Trying to imitate, trying to synchronize, trying to suppress herself, trying to become "we."

But the military formation never asked for "trying."

The military formation asked for—letting go.

Not forcing herself to forget "I," but simply not needing to remember "I" at all.

Just like a drop of water falling into a river, it doesn't think "I want to become the river"; it just follows the direction of the current and naturally becomes a part of the river.

And every attempt she made before was like a person on the shore desperately trying to jump into the river, forgetting that they were already in the water.

"Again."

Hua Changxi stood up and walked back into the formation.

This time, she didn't deliberately perceive Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen's spiritual power, didn't deliberately adjust her steps, and didn't even think about the words "form up."

She just stood there.

Standing like a rock.

Her breathing was her own breathing, her heartbeat was her own heartbeat, and her spiritual power flowed quietly in her meridians, not catering, not resisting, not deliberately merging, and not deliberately holding back.

She was just there.

And then—

Spiritual power naturally overflowed, gently touching the spiritual power on both sides, without rejection, without collision, just like two streams quietly converging between rock crevices.

No repulsive force.

The three-man formation was complete.

Hua Changxi opened her eyes slightly, a faint light flashing in them.

She felt it.

Not feeling Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen's spiritual power, but feeling an unprecedented "looseness."

That looseness was not slackness, but... no longer being tense.

No longer holding onto the thought of "I must merge," no longer holding onto the fear of "I cannot lose myself," no longer holding onto the obsession of "I must do it."

She was just standing there, and the formation accepted her.

Ye Liyue and Yan Guichen looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.

This person wearing a mask had finally found the way to the military formation.

Not by gritting her teeth and charging, not by forcibly suppressing, but by—letting go.

Hua Changxi stood in the three-man formation, feeling the spiritual power flowing steadily between the three like a tide. She didn't smile, didn't rejoice; she knew that the three-man formation was just the beginning.

Ten-man formations, hundred-man formations, thousand-man formations, ten-thousand-man formations... every layer of formation was a deeper level of "letting go."

And she had just learned how to loosen that tightly clenched hand.

"Continue."

In the subsequent formations, Hua Changxi kept practicing how to "let go" of her desire for control.

From noon to dusk, from dusk to nightfall, and from nightfall to the stars filling the sky.

Hua Changxi, Ye Liyue, and Yan Guichen practiced the same three-man formation repeatedly in a corner of the Martial Arts Plaza.

Once, twice, three times...

Forgetting oneself is not erasing the self, but in that instant, letting "my" feelings, "my" judgments, and "my" habits all give way to "we."

Giving way to the point where no thinking, no understanding, and no knowing why is needed—the body itself will make the correct response.

But Hua Changxi's combat experience to date had all been as a "single person."

She was accustomed to controlling the rhythm and making the best decisions at critical moments; these made her a powerful individual soldier, but were fatal obstacles to merging into a collective.

It wasn't that she wasn't strong enough; it was that she was too strong.

Strong enough that she wanted to fill every gap, smooth out every fluctuation, and control every uncertainty.

But the military formation precisely required her to abandon this control.

Outside the Martial Arts Plaza, Duan Jishan had been silently observing the three's training. At this moment, another person was beside him—the Hall Master of the Logistics Department, Yun You.

Duan Jishan looked at the field and spoke in a low voice: "That person said she is the Hall Master's person; what do you think?"

Yun You's gaze did not move: "The Hall Master has indeed returned."

Duan Jishan paused: "That person said her name is Xiao Hua... could she be..."

Yun You shook her head: "I don't know."

Late that night, Hua Changxi, who had finished training, sent a message to Duan Jishan, mentioning Xiao Hua's situation and telling him not to worry about anything and to train her strictly.

After seeing the message, Duan Jishan's mouth twitched.

Was the timing of this message too coincidental? So coincidental that it was undisguised; this was clearly betting that he wouldn't dare to ask or expose her.

The next day, training continued.

Duan Jishan saw that the three-man formation of Hua Changxi, Ye Liyue, and Yan Guichen was already operating seamlessly, with no stagnation in the flow of spiritual power, as if they were one, and he nodded slightly: "Since you are familiar with the three-man formation, let's start training the ten-man formation."

As soon as he finished speaking, some of the thousand-man and hundred-man commanders who were quietly lined up nearby couldn't hold back and stepped forward one after another, volunteering.

"Hall Master, I'll do it!"

"Hall Master, I can do it too!"

For a time, there were many who were eager to try.

It wasn't that these thousand-man and hundred-man commanders wanted to use this opportunity to curry favor with this confidant of the Hall Master.

The reason they were so enthusiastic was purely out of an irrepressible curiosity.

They really wanted to feel for themselves just how "un-carvable" this Xiao Hua wearing a mask was.

Duan Jishan ignored them with an expressionless face and raised his hand to point out the seven strongest thousand-man commanders present.

They had to be strong; with Xiao Hua in the formation, they had to be able to withstand being thrown, and if they weren't strong, they would easily get hurt.

Sure enough, in the subsequent training, the ten-man formation with Xiao Hua staged all kinds of fancy wrestling.

Those thousand-man and hundred-man commanders who weren't chosen looked at Yan Guichen and the others being thrown out of the formation with a look of relief.

They practiced the ten-man formation for three whole days before the oppressive feeling of Hua Changxi wanting to control everything lessened, and the formation could barely take shape.

Duan Jishan did not let Hua Changxi start practicing the hundred-man formation, but let Ye Liyue and the others continue to accompany her in practicing the ten-man formation.

He saw that Xiao Hua's biggest problem was that she found it difficult to merge with others.

This problem can only be solved bit by bit through the repeated grinding and coordination of the military formations.