Chapter 67
Baek-Cheong rolled around on the bed, unable to contain her joy.
Her small chest swelled with so much excitement that she couldn’t stay still.
Holding the Jinmun Formation Diagram with both hands, she once again stared intently at the geometric Formation glyphs densely written inside.
‘No matter how I look at it, it’s a dead ringer for the Spell Thousand Character Classic.’
At first, it just looked like a string of ancient characters with no discernible meaning.
But upon realizing that it shared the same principles as the Spell Thousand Character Classic, the thousands of esoteric Formation glyphs appeared to her as a single language, each harboring its own unique attribute and property.
A round Formation Glyph that embraced something, a Formation Glyph that extended outward, a Formation Glyph that firmly anchored in place.
The Formation glyphs of the Jinmun Formation Diagram were clearly characters meant to manifest specific phenomena.
“Still, if I jump to conclusions too hastily, I might end up in trouble again.”
Baek-Cheong let out a deep breath and calmed her excitement.
She sat in the Lotus Position and began her verification process in earnest.
Drawing up her energy, she manifested one of the most basic Formation glyphs from the Jinmun Formation Diagram.
The moment the Formation Glyph took shape through her energy arrived.
She could sense a certain feeling from the Formation Glyph.
A cold, flexibly undulating sensation.
“Water Element.”
Memorizing the property of the Formation Glyph, she proceeded to manifest the next one.
This time, a dynamic sensation of warming up and trying to expand outward was conveyed.
“Fire Element.”
She tried manifesting another Formation Glyph with a complex shape.
This time, she felt a stifling sensation as the energy failed to extend outward, instead clumping and binding tightly in place.
“A property that binds and captures energy.”
After a few rounds of verification, her guess solidified into certainty.
Every single Formation Glyph in the Jinmun Formation Diagram was a character containing the providence of heaven and Earth, implying a specific property.
“One Formation Glyph contains one property, and combining the Formation glyphs according to the rules completes a Formation.”
Consonants and vowels gather to form words, and words weave together to form sentences.
Arranging the Formation glyphs by a specific rule would finally manifest a single Formation.
They possessed special power on their own, but were too weak to manifest independently.
‘The problem is that I don’t know the rules, that is, how to construct a Formation.’
The reason the Dao Friends of the Nameless Forum treated the Jinmun Formation Diagram as Dead Stock seemed to be because they couldn’t manifest formations with it.
Tracing the outer shape of the Formation glyphs all day long was nothing more than a meaningless waste of effort.
“So this is why Formation masters just memorize Formation formulas whole.”
However, Baek-Cheong had an overwhelming advantage that no Formation Master in the Cultivation World could possess.
It was the memory of the Spell Thousand Character Classic, which she had read and internalized during her childhood in her past life until the pages wore out.
“What was the most important thing when casting a spell in the Spell Thousand Character Classic…”
Baek-Cheong utilized the memory that had become crystal clear since she became a Cultivator.
Simply stringing characters together randomly definitely did not complete a spell.
Each character had to be assigned a clear role.
The Source that draws in power.
The Main Body sets the direction for the power to extend.
The Boundary that confines the effect so it doesn’t leak out.
The Anchor that holds the center so the entire structure doesn’t collapse.
When these four roles were properly positioned
Only then would a single spell - no, a Formation - be completed.
‘There’s a high chance the Formation Structure is similar.’
Baek-Cheong spread a blank sheet of paper on the table and picked up a brush.
She selected four Formation glyphs she found in the Jinmun Formation Diagram and carefully drew them on the blank paper.
Source, Main Body, Boundary, Anchor.
It was an extremely simple composition.
The purpose was incredibly modest as well.
To gather the surrounding Spiritual Energy of Heaven and Earth into a narrow space the size of a palm.
It was a basic and rudimentary Spiritual Energy Condensing Formation, almost embarrassing to even call a Spirit Gathering Formation.
‘If this fails, I’ll just remain a stupid sucker who blew a High-Grade Spirit Stone, and if it succeeds, I’ll be accomplishing something even the Dao Friends of the Nameless Forum couldn’t do.’
Chewing her lip, Baek-Cheong infused energy into the first Formation Glyph, which signified the Source.
But nothing happened.
The ink on the paper was merely a dead trace.
It did not trigger any spiritual reaction.
“…Was the energy lacking?”
This time, she drastically increased the amount of energy and pushed it in forcefully.
But the result was the same.
The Formation glyphs remained unresponsive on the paper.
“In the Spell Thousand Character Classic, the spell would just be cast if you shouted it out loud…”
Baek-Cheong set down the brush and rested her chin on her hand.
The Mysteries of Formations were fundamentally different from voice-activated spells.
She pondered for a long time, searching for the cause.
‘Could it be that the property held by the Formation Glyph and the property of the spiritual energy I’m flowing into it have to match perfectly?’
Since she had ignorantly poured Five Elements Qi into the Origin Glyph, which had a Water Element property, it was only natural that there was no reaction.
It seemed to be a structure that would only react if the energy was infused by exactly matching the unique Elemental Energy of each Formation Glyph.
“If my thought is correct, a lot of people must have gotten stuck here and given up.”
For a Cultivator with a Single Spirit Root or dual spirit roots, activating other Formation glyphs that didn’t match their own attribute was fundamentally impossible.
However, a Five Elements Spirit Root Holder could handle the Five Elements Qi, so such tricky restrictions couldn’t hold them back.
‘Let’s give it a try.’
Baek-Cheong once again focused her Divine Sense on the Formation glyphs on the blank paper.
Clear and cold Water-attribute Qi into the Water-Attribute Origin Glyph.
Wood Elemental Energy, which suppresses the tendency to expand outward, into the Main Body Glyph that possessed a gathering property.
Metal Elemental Energy, which firmly condenses the outer wall into the Boundary Glyph.
Finally, Earth-attribute Qi, which heavily weighed down the Formation, flowed into the Anchor Glyph.
Using her vast Divine Sense, she divided the Five Elements Qi and flowed it precisely into the Formation glyphs on the blank paper.
Paaat!
In that instant, a soft light bloomed from Baek-Cheong’s fingertips.
At first, it was a very faint and fragile streak of light.
But as each Formation Glyph on the paper lit up and awakened one by one, an invisible flow formed, connecting their energies together.
Finally, a small Formation the size of a palm took shape, emitting a pale light.
Soon after, the spiritual energy scattered around the room acted as if drawn by a magnet.
She could see it being sucked into the Formation to the point where it could be felt with her Spiritual Perception.
“…Wow.”
Baek-Cheong let out an exclamation without realizing it.
The inner space of the crude Formation glyphs she had just roughly scribbled with ink was filling up with a greater Amount of Spiritual Energy than the outside.
“I did it.”
Only then did she relax, letting out the stale breath she had been holding.
She stared blankly at the glowing Formation glyphs before bursting into a chuckle.
“Puhuhu.”
It was the Jinmun Formation Diagram that had rolled around as Dead Stock in the Nameless Forum and been mocked, and she had succeeded in handling the esoteric Formation glyphs that countless Dao Friends had given up on and thrown away.
“But I won, didn’t I?”
Basking in her joy, Baek-Cheong hugged the Jinmun Formation Diagram to her chest.
The Spirit Gathering Formation she had just created was at a level of being completely useless.
However, the fact that she had understood the fundamental language structure of formations was what mattered.
“In a way, is it similar to coding?”
Learning or using a completed Formation would certainly be more convenient.
But if she just knew how to handle the Language of Formations, she could deploy an infinite variety of formations, so it was bound to be better in the long run.
“But…”
Baek-Cheong slowly lowered the Jinmun Formation Diagram from her embrace.
It absolutely wasn’t because she was sick of it or found it bothersome.
It was to prove herself to that obnoxious Dao Friend (33.3) who had giggled while mocking her as a Sucker.
She carefully stashed the Jinmun Formation Diagram in her Storage Platform and logged into the Nameless Forum.
Rummaging through the Chat Board, she found the post written by Dao Friend (33.3).
『Dao Friend (33.3): Earlier, some stupid Sucker Dao Friend bought the Jinmun Formation Diagram for 1 High-Grade Spirit Stone lol.』
Dozens of replies were hanging off the post.
[Dao Friend (833.7): What’s the Jinmun Formation Diagram? Is it something you eat.]
[Dao Friend (22.21): That bizarre Formation Introduction Manual that’s been floating around the Marketplace for hundreds of years?]
└Dao Friend (33.3): Yeah, it’s completely useless trash, but some Sucker blindly trusted the Nameless Pavilion and snapped it up lol.
└Dao Friend (78.3): Blowing a whole High-Grade Spirit Stone on it, how pathetic.
└Dao Friend (22.938): But who’s the Sucker, Dao Friend?
└Dao Friend (33.3): Dao Friend (913.14), the one who sold the Heaven-Defying Pill a while ago.
└Dao Friend (22.938): Guess they made a lot of spirit stones and wanted to donate to the Nameless Pavilion.
Baek-Cheong leisurely appreciated the replies of the Dao Friends mocking her.
Then, lightly stretching her body, she focused her Divine Sense to leave a reply.
[Dao Friend (913.14): Thanks for yielding it to me. I’m putting it to very good use thanks to you.]
There was no need for long, pathetic explanations or evidence.
A single concise reply was enough.
└Dao Friend (33.3): ???
└Dao Friend (33.3): No way, right? You’re just talking nonsense, right?
└Dao Friend (33.3): How could you possibly learn that?
└Dao Friend (33.3): You said you were in Qi Condensation! You said you were in Qi Condensation!!!
Just as expected, replies attached themselves furiously to her comment.
But Baek-Cheong did not answer the replies.
“Forum browsing is a Secret Art.”
Making them die of curiosity.