Chapter 78
It had been ten days since she holed up in the Pill Refining Room with the Five Elements Golems.
And Baek-Cheong had finally reached the realm of her dreams.
The simultaneous execution of Pill Refining through golems and forum surfing.
[This is what you call true easy mode.]
For the first few days, she had no leeway to divert her Divine Sense to the Nameless Forum while simultaneously controlling the five golems and managing the Pill Refining process.
However, repeatedly concocting the same pill allowed her to get used to the golems' movements, and by the tenth day, she could divide her Divine Sense - allocating one part to the golems and the other to the Nameless Forum - without disrupting the Pill Refining.
[I knew it was a good idea to stick to making the Inscribed Spirit Gathering Pill.]
Other pills had different processes, meaning she would have to relearn the golems' movements from scratch.
The intensity of trimming the medicinal herbs, the delicate pacing of Fire Control, the concentration of the essence.
Because the required process varied for each pill, becoming skilled in one did not mean it would apply to the rest.
If she got needlessly greedy and ended up breaking a golem, she could be scolded by her uncle, so she planned to make only the Inscribed Spirit Gathering Pill for the time being.
As a result, the scene inside the Pill Refining Room became quite bizarre.
Baek-Cheong was half-lying on a flat wooden bench placed in a corner of the Pill Refining Room.
Fiddling with a jade bottle in one hand and just lying there blankly, she looked no different from a lazy vagabond.
“Pfft, hehe.”
In reality, she was giggling while completely absorbed in the Nameless Forum, and beside her, the five golems were moving without rest.
When Cheong-Roe trimmed the herbs, Jeok-Roe lit the fire in the pill furnace, Heuk-Roe adjusted the Fire Control, Geum-Roe stabilized the medicinal ingredients, and Baek-Roe filtered out the impurities.
“Now this is cultivation.”
A rare spectacle was unfolding where an Alchemist lay flat on her back, commanding five golems to concoct pills.
The fortunate thing was that no one was watching.
If Yak-seon had seen this sight, he would have flown into a rage, calling it blasphemous.
“As long as I don’t get caught, it’s fine.”
Baek-Cheong simply enjoyed the Nameless Forum while relishing her easy mode.
* * *
A few more days passed like that.
On the table, twenty jade bottles, each containing three Inscribed Spirit Gathering Pills, were lined up.
Stacking the jade bottles neatly onto her Storage Platform, Baek-Cheong nodded in satisfaction.
[With this, I can post picture threads 60 times.]
The Spiritual Energy Emission of a single Inscribed Spirit Gathering Pill is equivalent to the spiritual energy consumption of one picture post, so stockpiling them is useful at any time.
The lack of spiritual energy caused by the size of the picture posts could be somewhat resolved by deploying a Spirit Gathering Formation.
[Anyway, thanks to the Golem Pill Refining, the discussion topics just keep coming.]
Meanwhile, the aftermath of the Golem Pill Refining had yet to settle down in the Nameless Forum.
Even though a few days had passed since she uploaded the picture post, related threads continued to pop up endlessly.
“Fellow Daoist (83.177): If they are golems that handle the five elements, Formation Deployment should theoretically be possible too.”
[Since the Five Elements Golems each harbor a single element, as long as they are positioned correctly, they could function as Formation cores.]
└Fellow Daoist (888.32): Using golems as Formation cores is a brilliant idea.
└Fellow Daoist (899.1): There would be room for a Mobile Formation.
└Fellow Daoist (46.111): As long as you can calculate the Myriad Changes, yeah.
“Oh?”
Baek-Cheong slightly raised her body from the bench.
Fellow Daoist (83.177)'s original post was an assumption bordering on a shitpost.
However, she thought it was an excellent idea.
[The Five Elements Golems as Formation cores…]
She recalled the limitations of deploying a Formation using only the Five Elements Banner.
The Five Elements Banner consisted entirely of five pieces of Five-Colored Cloth.
Source, Main Body, Boundary, Anchor.
If she assigned those four roles to the five pieces of cloth, there was only one spare left.
She couldn’t deny feeling a lack of space to place the Formation Glyphs, but if she utilized the Five Elements Golems as Formation cores, the number of places to arrange the Formation Glyphs would instantly increase by five.
[Besides, golems can move.]
Above all, Fellow Daoist (899.1)'s reply was the decisive factor.
If the Formation cores were not fixed but moving golems, she could move the Formation even more freely than with the Five Elements Banner.
On top of that, since it was a Formation deployed using Formation Glyphs, she could freely change the Formation itself.
“I have to try this.”
Baek-Cheong exited the Nameless Forum and sprang up from the bench.
Then, she extinguished the fire in the pill furnace and gathered the golems.
She was in the middle of Pill Refining, but since they were just herbs for making Spirit Gathering Pills, it wasn’t a waste.
.
.
.
She arrived at her personal Training Ground located behind her Abode.
She took out the Five Elements Banner and the Five Elements Golems from her Storage Platform.
Cheong-Roe, Jeok-Roe, Geum-Roe, Baek-Roe, Heuk-Roe.
She arranged the five golems in a regular pentagon.
[First, let’s grant Formation Glyphs to the Five Elements Golems to make them Formation cores.]
She extended her Divine Sense into five strands and connected them to the Five Elements Golems.
Then, she tried to grant them the roles of Formation Glyphs.
“It’s not working…”
However, the Formation Glyphs did not react.
With the Five Elements Banner, she could infuse energy directly into the cloth.
When she sent Elemental Energy and a Directional Role into the Five-Colored Cloth, the Formation Glyph would activate immediately.
But there was no way to transmit her energy to the Five Elements Golems.
[I didn’t think of this.]
Since the golems' bodies were made of elemental wood, it was possible for them to handle Elemental Energy on their own.
However, that was the golems operating their inherent energy, which was different from her sending a Formation Glyph into them.
To activate a Formation Glyph, Elemental Energy and a Directional Role had to be contained together, but since there was no way to transmit such energy to the golems, granting them a Formation Glyph was impossible in the first place.
[I need a way to implant the Formation Glyphs into the golems.]
Baek-Cheong examined the Five Elements Golems and pondered a method.
[Could I carve them directly onto the golems?]
Even if she carved them, it would be meaningless if they didn’t contain energy.
And it would be inefficient since it would fix a single Formation Glyph in place.
[What if I used talismans…]
The Talisman Crafting Art was a technique of imbuing spiritual energy into the tip of a brush to carve patterns onto paper.
The principle of containing energy and fixing its form onto a material.
Formation Glyphs and Talisman Patterns were different systems, but the core concept of trapping energy in a form and imbuing it into a material was the same.
[What if I use the Talisman Crafting Art to make the Formation Glyphs like talismans and attach them to the golems?]
She rummaged through her Storage Platform and took out cinnabar and Talisman Paper.
Since she frequently used Cleansing Talismans, these were things she carried around.
She laid out five sheets of Talisman Paper and dipped her brush in cinnabar.
Then, she recalled the Formation Glyphs she had learned from the Jinmun Formation Diagram.
Gathering Wood Elemental Energy at the tip of the brush, she began to draw a Formation Glyph on the Talisman Paper.
The energy was supposed to flow without obstruction and seep into the Talisman Paper along the cinnabar lines, but…
Slip.
Unlike regular talismans, Formation Glyphs had complex patterns, and because she had to imbue the directionality of the energy as well, they couldn’t be finished with a single brushstroke.
Only on her fourth attempt did the Formation Glyph on the Talisman Paper emit a faint glow.
“It works!”
She immediately completed the remaining four sheets in order.
Main Body, Boundary, Anchor, and support.
She crafted each Formation Glyph to match the energy of its corresponding element.
She attached the talismans inscribed with the Formation Glyphs to the chests of the Five Elements Golems one by one.
Source to Cheong-Roe, Main Body to Jeok-Roe, Boundary to Geum-Roe, Anchor to Heuk-Roe, and support to Baek-Roe.
[Now, if the golems operate their Elemental Energy, the Formation Glyphs on the talismans should awaken.]
She extended her Divine Sense and connected it to the five golems.
She commanded them to emit the energy of their respective elements.
A blue-green light came from Cheong-Roe’s chest, a red light from Jeok-Roe, a golden light from Geum-Roe, a white light from Baek-Roe, and a black light from Heuk-Roe.
The energy from their elemental wood bodies flowed through the Talisman Paper, awakening the Formation Glyphs.
The five golems stood in place, exuding their respective elements and establishing the Foundation of the Formation.
[They’re functioning as Formation cores!]
The five golems were deploying the Five Elements Formation.
But at the same time, she saw a limitation.
The Formation Glyphs carved on the talismans were fixed.
Once the talismans were crafted, their roles were set in stone, so she couldn’t bring changes to the Formation using only the talismans.
[The golems can only serve as the Foundation of the Formation.]
In that case, she just needed to create variations using the Five Elements Banner.
It was a method where the golems laid the groundwork for the Formation, and the Five Elements Banner freely changed the Formation’s effects.
[Let’s try it right now.]
Baek-Cheong picked up the Five Elements Banner she had set on the ground.
She sent the corresponding Elemental Energy and Directional Role into each piece of the Five-Colored Cloth.
“Wow!”
When she set up a Defensive Formation based on the five elements, a colorful Barrier unfolded.
It felt as if she had deployed the Five Elements Shield as a defensive array.
[So far, so good.]
Baek-Cheong focused on the White Cloth and Black Cloth on the Five Elements Banner.
She recalled the Glyph Form of the Lightning Glyph she had learned from the Jinmun Formation Diagram.
[Lightning Dispersion, Illusionary Form, Remaining Essence.]
She sent the principles of the Lightning Glyph into the White Cloth and Black Cloth of the Five Elements Banner.
Metal Elemental Energy cleaved through space, drawing a thin line.
Water Elemental Energy instantly poured in along the line.
The two energies clashed at the center of the Five Elements Formation.
CRACK - !
A small bolt of lightning appeared and struck down in the middle of the Training Ground.
RUMBLE - !
Soon after, the sound of thunder following the lightning echoed out.
“Wow…”
Baek-Cheong’s eyes widened in the corner of the Training Ground.
She stared at the spot where the lightning had passed for a while.
A blackened scorch mark remained on the floor where the lightning had struck.
The five Five Elements Golems stood in place, and only the talisman papers attached to their chests burned to ashes and scattered.
“This actually works?”
She had succeeded in manifesting the Lightning Glyph as a Formation, something she hadn’t been able to deploy as a Formation before.
It was incomparably feeble compared to the lightning tribulation she had seen with her own eyes, but its nature was different.
“Phew… Hehe…”
But none of that mattered.
She had created lightning with a Formation.
That fact alone was enough.
“The name is… Five Elements Myriad Lightning Formation.”
A Formation that drops lightning bolts using the power of the five elements.
Since it was just a single bolt of lightning, One Lightning Formation would be more accurate, but…
[Myriad Lightning just sounds cooler.]
Pursuing coolness in naming was the true duty of a Cultivator.
Just as she felt a deep sense of pride in her small chest and was about to deploy the Five Elements Myriad Lightning Formation again,
“Cheong-A!”
Her father’s urgent voice rang out from outside the Training Ground.
And she noticed the presence of Divine Sense sweeping over her.
It was the Divine Sense of a Golden Core Cultivator, and though she could detect it thanks to her own vast Divine Sense, that wasn’t the important issue.
[I have to hide this!]
Baek-Cheong quickly gathered the Five Elements Golems into her Storage Platform and shoved the Five Elements Banner in as well.
However, there was nothing she could do about the scorch mark on the floor.
“Cheong-A, are you alright?!”
Worry was etched on Baek Mu-Jin’s face as he entered the Training Ground.
The dignity of a Clan Head who had reached the Golden Core stage was nowhere to be found; it was purely the face of a father checking on his daughter’s safety.
“Father, what’s wrong?”
“Did you not hear the sound of thunder nearby just now?”
Baek-Cheong opened her eyes wide.
“Thunder? I was practicing my Technique/Spell in the Training Ground… Maybe it came from outside?”
“Technique/Spell practice…”
Baek Mu-Jin chewed over his daughter’s words and looked around the Training Ground.
The blackened scorch mark on the floor and the energy that had yet to dissipate remained.
The Spiritual Perception of a Golden Core Cultivator could not be fooled.
It was faint, but it was unmistakably lightning energy.
“What is it?”
Baek-Cheong tilted her head, putting on an expression of complete ignorance.
However, he could see that her earlobes were slightly red.
It was obvious that his daughter was urgently trying to hide something.
As a father, he should interrogate her about it.
What it meant to handle lightning energy.
It was uncertain whether a Qi Condensation Stage body could handle it.
However, Baek Mu-Jin swallowed his words and did not press the issue.
“…I see.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing. It must have been a sound from outside.”
Baek Mu-Jin turned his head and left the Training Ground.
[Phew, I somehow got past that.]
Baek-Cheong breathed an inward sigh of relief at having successfully fooled her father.
And the thought of having narrowly escaped a crisis caused the corners of her mouth to creep up.
[Lightning energy…]
Meanwhile, Baek Mu-Jin walked away with a complicated expression on his face.
There was a story the Old Ancestor had told him in the past.
[It must be due to the unknown spiritual root nestled in Cheong-Yi’s Dantian.]
It could be dangerous if things went wrong, but he had no choice but to leave it be.
His profound worry overshadowed his helplessness, for he was unable to do anything despite having reached the Golden Core stage.
However, the situation wasn’t entirely hopeless.
[Perhaps the Old Ancestor and Mu-Yeong were right.]
In a few days, a true Great Cultivator on the verge of the Soul Formation stage
the Pacheon Sword Saint would be visiting.