Chapter 122: Stacked Spiritual Patterns

At the entrance of the stone hall, a giant robot three zhang tall strode in calmly, as a group of inner-disciple students stared in stunned silence.

The robot shone with silver light, its head flat with only two hollows, its body blocky yet its legs unusually slender, moving with surprising agility and no hint of clumsiness; crucially, a massive, pitch-black spiked club was stuck on its back.

“This is…”

Wang Yu’s eyes nearly popped out.

“You haven’t seen this new giant mechanical golem from Tian Gong Sect?”

This Jin Gang-type golem is forged entirely from rare materials, inscribed inside with five or six types of spiritual patterns—lightness, durability, and others—and its interior is spacious enough for the operator to hide within; it’s famously impervious to all attacks below Foundation Establishment.

But its price is astronomical—rumored to cost thirty thousand spirit stones. I can’t believe some wealthy family’s wastrel actually spent that much on one.” Beside him, Wan Shan spoke with envy and resentment.

Tian Gong Sect!

Thirty thousand spirit stones!

Hearing this, Wang Yu didn’t know whether to be shocked by Tian Gong Sect or by the golem’s outrageous price.

At that moment, the giant robot had already taken a few steps to the front row, when suddenly a small door opened in its abdomen and a clean-faced boy leapt out.

“Brother Li, Sister Yun.”

The boy had sharp features and a radiant expression; as soon as his feet touched the ground, he greeted Li Yan and Yun Caishang.

But the two of them, upon seeing the clean-faced boy, instantly turned pale.

“Brother Chen.”

Both immediately rose and bowed to the clean-faced boy.

“What brother? I told you—I’m the junior! Whoever calls me ‘brother’ again, I’ll lose my temper.” The clean-faced boy erupted in anger.

Li Yan and Yun Caishang could only exchange a wry smile.

“I’m truly fed up with you two. Every time we meet, you insist on reminding me how old I am—it drives me crazy.” The clean-faced boy grumbled, flicked his sleeve toward the giant golem, and a flash of white light erased the Jin Gang golem from sight.

Only then did the boy sit down casually on the central stone bench in the front row.

“Brother Wan, who is this…?”

Wang Yu, watching from afar, couldn’t help asking Wan Shan.

But Wan Shan, the moment he saw the clean-faced boy, was even more stunned than Wang Yu, and replied in disbelief:

“That’s apparently our Si Xiang Sect’s top true disciple, Master Chen Tianxing. He’s the true disciple closest to Golden Core—but I saw him years ago, and he looked like a young man. How has he become so young now?”

Hearing this, Wang Yu was startled and stared again at the clean-faced boy.

More inner-disciple students entered the stone hall, but no other true disciples appeared.

After a full quarter-hour, when the hall had gathered two hundred inner-disciple students, a group finally entered through a side door and ascended the stone platform.

There were four of them: at the front, an old man and a young girl, one male and one female; behind them, two Foundation Establishment cultivators dressed as Si Xiang Sect elders.

The old man at the front had a long face and sparse hair; the girl behind him looked fifteen or sixteen, with clear black-and-white eyes and an air of scholarly grace, like a neighbor’s elder sister.

The moment the four stepped onto the platform, silence fell over the entire hall.

A yellow-faced elder of the Si Xiang Sect stepped forward, cleared his throat, and said:

“I needn’t elaborate—my fellow disciples below surely know who stands behind me.”

Master Qi Miao’s magical arts are famed throughout the Wu Kingdom’s cultivation world; thus, I won’t waste words—please, Master Qi Miao, come forward and teach.”

My fellow disciples, listen quietly. If you have questions or don’t understand, do not interrupt. Violators will be expelled from the hall at best, or punished under sect rules at worst.”

The yellow-faced elder finished and stepped aside, yielding the place.

Behind him, the sparse-haired Master Qi Miao smiled faintly, stepped forward without ceremony, flicked his sleeve, and a swirl of silver light shot out, swirling in the air before transforming into a five-colored lotus platform.

Master Qi Miao stepped onto the lotus platform and sat cross-legged.

The five-colored lotus platform rose slowly, and from it came the old man’s weathered voice:

“I am Qi Miao. I entered the Dao at ten, began learning spells at thirteen, mastered thirty-one illusionary techniques by twenty-five, established my Foundation at thirty-five with twenty-eight entry-level spells, reached mid-Foundation Establishment at seventy-five with eighty-seven spells, and late-Foundation Establishment at one hundred fifteen with one hundred thirty-seven spells. I believe I have some modest mastery in the art of spells. Invited by your sect, I will not withhold my insights—I will openly share some of my understanding here. How much you grasp depends entirely on your own destiny.”

“I believe spells arise from Heaven, techniques from cultivation, and patterns from comprehension…”

Master Qi Miao’s voice was not loud, yet it reached every ear in the hall with perfect clarity.

Some opened their eyes, listening intently; some closed their eyes, absorbing slowly; others pulled out scrolls and furiously scribbled down every word.

Master Qi Miao’s teaching progressed clearly: from simple to complex, from general to specific, from illusionary techniques to entry-level spells, then to second-tier spells.

Wang Yu listened silently to the Qi Qi cultivation spell explanations, but when the lecture turned to Foundation Establishment second-tier spells, a glimmer of light flashed deep in his eyes—he activated his hyper-synchronization mode.

“...Second-tier spells, also called Foundation Establishment spells, are typically only usable by Foundation Establishment cultivators. But in reality, a Qi Qi disciple with naturally extraordinary spiritual sense—comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator—can also cast second-tier spells.”

“Because the essence of second-tier spells is actually the stacking or blending of illusionary techniques and entry-level spells, they are also called two-layer spiritual pattern spells.”

“If you still don’t understand, let me use the most common Qi Qi spell—the Six-Symbol Fire Spark Technique—as an example…”

As Master Qi Miao sat cross-legged on the lotus platform, he formed a hand seal and drew his finger through the air before him.

Six white orbs slowly emerged, then strangely clustered into a single, crude circle.

“Each orb represents one spiritual symbol. Six spiritual symbols form the Fire Spark Technique’s spiritual pattern.”

“If you treat one Fire Spark spiritual pattern as a single spiritual symbol, then combining six such patterns into a larger six-symbol Fire Spark diagram creates the simplest stacked spiritual pattern—the two-layer spiritual pattern that forms a second-tier spell.”

Master Qi Miao continued speaking without pausing, his finger drawing five more lines through the air.

Immediately, over thirty more white orbs appeared, forming five additional crude circles, stable and orderly.

Master Qi Miao merely gestured with his hand, rearranging the crude circles in the air—six circles separated, yet subtly reassembled into a larger circle.

Wang Yu watched the lotus platform, the intricate pattern of thirty-six white dots, memorizing every word the old man spoke while his hyper-mind rapidly analyzed it.

“Golden Core third-tier spells follow the same principle—third-tier spells are three-layer spiritual pattern spells. If we use the Fire Spark Technique again, this three-layer stacked pattern would be formed by combining six two-layer Fire Spark stacked patterns into a larger three-layer stacked pattern…” As Master Qi Miao spoke, he flicked his sleeve, and a dense swarm of white orbs surged forth, coalescing moments later into a colossal, intricate diagram in midair.