Capítulo 12: 12.A mansion for the old ghost
When Madam Ming saw the plans, she raised an eyebrow toward Yao Lei. The plans were sound but they were far beyond his expertise.
Madam Ming rolled her eyes.
"Fine, I'll help you. However, you'll watch the whole time and learn. I'll be asking questions."
Yao Lei brought out a large piece of Jade.
Madam Ming knitted her brows, seemingly worried that this child had stolen this piece of valuable Jade.
"I've spent all my spirit stones on this."
Madam Ming was shaken.
"Everything?"
Yao Lei nodded. "Everything."
Having enough money at hand was a crucial thing for cultivators. When a cultivator had enough spirit stones, they could get something the moment they needed it. Walking around broke was a huge risk. If he encountered any problems in cultivation, he now had to let it fester without solving it.
Madam Ming clicked his tongue at the foolish boy and invited him inside.
Once they were inside, Yao Lei cast an illusion spell to project his design.
"Hmm. There is a confusion formation, illusion formation, energy trapping formation, and most importantly, a miniaturization formation."
Normally a formation this complex would have astronomical energy costs. However, the artifact is built to handle no material. Since Yin apparitions themselves were energy beings, that meant everything could be illusory. There is no need to waste energy trying to entrap real objects. Energy increase brought forth by complexity had been somehow balanced through the loss of function.
It was a heaven for yin apparitions. Confusion formation is a formation when its victims walk into the edge, they unknowingly turn back, ending up where they were a second ago. When paired with an illusion formation, it's possible to trigger a scene change every time confusion formation is activated. It is as if the things that are enclosed within the formation are standing in a landscape that they can explore. Since Ghostly Yin Qi isn't dissipating into the air, or dispelled by natural phenomena, the ghosts inside don't have to disappear and reappear. That allows them to exist for far longer than Yin apparitions that weren't supported by such a system.
Old Zhou would be fine as long as Yao Lei puts a certain amount of spiritual energy in every day.
Madam Ming put the Jade onto a platform. She performed a technique to enhance and focus her vision. She picked up the tiny Qi scalpel on the desk with her miniaturized hands. The desk had a miniaturization formation on it. It affected everything but the object on the platform.
Her tiny hands went to work. She chiseled away at the Jade with both hands. She turned the platform of Jade with her pinky finger kaput chiseling. It was a mesmerizing sight. She telepathically lifted the pulverized spirit stone dust. She melted the dust and applied it to the Jade like a paste.
She melted gold and turned it into circles that kept the spirit stone-filled sigils in place.
She suddenly heard a rumbling.
She quickly picked the jade up and ran out of the building. She then chucked the jade into the dirt. She worriedly stared at the sky. The clouds swirled twice and then disappeared.
Madam Ming sighed in relief.
"Brat, we almost made a low-tier heavenly treasure."
Yao Lei was confused.
"Isn't that a good thing?"
Madam Ming shook her head.
"Not if you want every powerful cultivator in the vicinity to try and secure it for their juniors."
The Namjin mountain sect was a righteous sect. That meant they wouldn't stoop to robbery unless it was worth it. They had to save face and keep up the appearances. They couldn't just steal everything like monkeys.
Yao Lei dug out the artifact from the ground. It looked mesmerizing. Yao Lei lifted his head and locked eyes with Madam Ming. You owe me one kid. Let's see how this turns out. Order your ghost to enter the artifact.
Yao Lei requested old Zhou to enter the artifact. The first illusion it saw was that of an inn. This was Yao Lei's memories of the inn he had stayed in. It was almost complete because Yao Lei had to look for cursed objects first before the whole operation back at the inn.
Zhou admired the scenery. This was the place that made it feel most comfortable.
The ghost left the artifact to thank Yao Lei. The exit was really obvious. That was because the artifact wasn't a prison or a seal. It was a home.
"Go into the artifact and test the walls, please."
"Please release some Yin Qi inside. "
After stress testing the device, Madam Ming took the artifact and performed a spell on it.
"It's leaking a minuscule amount of energy here. I guess that flaw prevented it from becoming a heavenly treasure. You don't want it to ascend and cause you trouble."
Yao Lei vigorously nodded. The boy would do anything to keep himself safe.
Madam Ming smiled. "You owe me so, I'm going to have you study until you puke blood."
Yao Lei was already at the pinnacle of what he could do without properly knowing algebra and chemistry. These mortal practices laid the foundation for spiritual arts too. Because everything was governed by the same laws.
Madam Ming had high hopes for the boy.
He was a fast learner.
He could take in the raw knowledge through mental arts but there was a difference between comprehending and knowing. He had to be able to do algebra in his head to become a grand artificer.
Chemistry covered the understanding of materials. It too was a foundational subject for any artificer work.
Yao Lei hung the piece of Jade that held Zhou's home from his neck. He was happy. He did right by the old man Zhou.
Hao Shun sat on his formation and cultivated. He was far from restructuring the body realm. He was just a middle-stage Qi acclimation realm cultivator. That meant he had to keep his body rich with Qi to establish the best foundation. One had to have a body that had no problems housing spiritual energy to properly cultivate.
Every one of his servants left. He couldn't trust anyone after what happened. He would often brew tea for himself, wash the dishes, and prepare food. He was doing what servants were supposed to do to help him be more focused on cultivation. However, Hao Shun welcomed it. It reminded him of home.
Unlike Yao Lei, Hao Shun had good memories of home. He would remember them and smile during trying times. He shuddered to think what he would do without them.
He suddenly got homesick. He brought some spirit stones together and posted a mission in the mission hall.
[Foundation establishment level expert required. Bodyguard job.
payment. Forty middle-grade spirit stones. The details are to be discussed face to face.]
Hao Shun's call for a Foundation establishment-level expert caught the attention of a cultivator known as Liang Qian. When Haoo shun met the guy Liang Qian rejected the job. The reason was, that if the disciple of the sect leader escaped or got hurt, he would find himself at the mean end of a sword.
"Man, I knew it was too good to be true."
"I refuse."
"It's too risky for me."
Every interested disciple eventually rejected Hao Shun to his face. Hao Shun wasn't officially imprisoned. However, he was imprisoned by circumstance. Hao Shun was valuable. If he got out, he risked getting assassinated.
Hao Shun, understanding that there was no escape, started crying in the courtyard. Sect master saw it while flying through the sky. He landed and asked Hao Shun what was wrong with him.
Hao Shun failed to utter a word. It was as if he had swallowed his tongue. The Holy Light Venerable rolled his eyes and put his finger on Hao Shun's forehead.
"So you missed your family. You should've said so."
This gave thrice exalted holy light venerable to check up on Yao Lei too. Did that boy break out of the implanted ideas or did he fall into the deep end, becoming a Namjin mountain sect fanatic?
He told Hao Shun to prepare. He was going to visit the Sootshacks village with the two of them.
The next day, The sect leader showed up at the artificer's hall. Madam Ming, all the artificer disciples, and Yao Lei immediately kowtowed in front of the sect leader. He was having an emotional breakdown. His exalted excellence was here! In all his glory no less!
"Ahh!"
Yao Lei exhaled a pious sigh.
His majestic appearance was breathtaking. Yao Lei wasn't worthy of standing in his presence.
His Majesty, Holy Light Venerable shamelessly puffed his chest. This shameless adult had a big ego on him. He was extremely proud of the fact he was being praised by people.
Suddenly, Holy Light Venerable's eyes locked onto a certain jade artifact. It was almost perfect except for a single flaw. He was smart enough to realize the flaw was there to prevent the birth of a heavenly treasure.
He squinted at Madam Ming. Why did this woman intentionally make a worse artifact?
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