Wei Yuan galloped through the mountain ranges on horseback, pausing now and then to take out a formation compass and carefully calculate the geomantic flow of earthly qi before picking a direction and pressing on.
From the sky, he appeared to be circling endlessly through the peaks, each circuit drawing smaller than the last.
Suddenly, Wei Yuan pulled on the reins and turned his head. Bao Yun was soaring toward him like a heavenly phoenix, descending right before him. "What brought you here?"
Wei Yuan said, "A sudden whim. As it happened, I gathered all the spiritual materials, so I came back to look for a place to lay down a formation. This doesn't require my true body, so my actual self remains at the Northern Mountain Gate."
"What sort of formation?" Bao Yun asked, curious.
Wei Yuan took out two sheets of jade paper and handed them over. "A formation given to me by True Monarch Zhu Yan, essentially an upgraded version of the Reincarnation Furnace. Before now, I hadn't gathered all the immortal materials, but I finally obtained the last of them."
After looking them over, Bao Yun frowned with difficulty. "Formations aren't my forte. I'm afraid Eldest Senior Sister or Master Feng would need to handle this."
"No matter. I can manage it myself, and I'm already close to locating the formation core. It's just that this avatar's cultivation is modest, with much weaker perception and divine sense, so it takes grinding, painstaking effort to search step by step."
"Then I'll accompany you."
Wei Yuan dismounted, leaving the spiritual horse to wait at the foot of the mountain, and flew into the peaks alongside Bao Yun. Just then, a gentle voice suddenly rang out beside their ears: "Come this way."
Wei Yuan froze. The voice sounded somewhat like True Monarch Huangyun, yet True Monarch Huangyun had entered reincarnation long ago. How could she still linger in Qingming?
Bao Yun was startled as well. "That sounded like Grandmaster!"
The two flew in the direction indicated by the voice. Moments later, they arrived beneath a towering, sky-scraping tree. Looking at the hundred-zhang-tall giant, Wei Yuan was momentarily dumbfounded. A divine tree of such scale had appeared in Qingming, and he had known nothing of it.
The giant tree's branches and leaves swayed, and the rustling foliage produced the very same voice: "My spirituality has only just awakened, and with it, the memory of Grandmaster's final instructions. Before Grandmaster's true spirit dispersed, she enlightened me, helping me attain the Dao while entrusting me with a task. When I caught sight of those two formation diagrams just now, I knew the time had come."
"You mean the Turtle-Snake Immortal Refining Diagram?"
"Indeed. Originally, I had no memory of this matter at all. Only upon seeing the formation diagrams did all of her instructions suddenly return to me. In ancient times, this formation was called the Xuanwu Immortal Refining Formation. After successive modifications by later generations, it became the two separate diagrams of today."
Wei Yuan turned to Bao Yun in astonishment.
Bao Yun nodded gently. "This is one of the methods senior mighty figures often employ: hiding things in emptiness. It triggers and brings back all memories only at a specific time, or upon encountering a particular person or event. This prevents other mighty figures from uncovering and disrupting their arrangements. Ever since ancient times, immortals have placed pieces upon the board, laying down countless hidden lines and contingency measures right up to the present day. An Immortal Ancestor of my Bao family once said that the First Generation Human Sovereign seemed to have laid down a hidden move that remains undiscovered even now."
As Wei Yuan reflected on the causes and effects, the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. He had obtained this diagram because he had slain the youngest son of the Worthy Prince of the Left—a son who had supposedly been the prince's very foundation for attaining the Dao. Then, because Wei Yuan had consistently refined the corpses of the Liao Clan using the Reincarnation Furnace, True Monarch Zhu Yan had bestowed the Turtle-Snake Immortal Refining Diagram upon him.
Yet tracing it back further, the Reincarnation Furnace was modeled after the Creation Pool. And the Creation Pool had been seized when Wei Yuan ambushed that otherworldly Scenery Command cultivator. At the time, Wei Yuan had no idea who would come; he had merely guessed that an assassin was on the way.
That otherworldly Scenery Command cultivator had already reached the late stage, his cultivation no less formidable than True Monarch Huangyun's. Coming from that mysterious otherworldly faction, he should logically have been beyond divination or calculation.
The more Wei Yuan dwelled on it, the more it felt like an impenetrable tangle. Knowing his cultivation fell short, he could only set the matter aside for now.
The giant tree spoke again: "A natural formation core lies within the mountain terrain here. You may go and see if it suits your needs."
Guided by the tree, Wei Yuan and Bao Yun arrived at the location of the core: a small, natural valley. Wei Yuan carefully surveyed the earthly qi and found that it was indeed naturally suited for laying down the Turtle-Snake Immortal Refining Formation.
Wei Yuan stared at the valley, remaining silent for a long time. Bao Yun asked, "What is it?"
"I remember this valley never existed here before, nor did the earthly qi run in this direction. Only after Grandmaster sat in meditation and passed away did the mountain terrain shift, giving rise to this valley."
Bao Yun fell silent for a good while before murmuring, "Grandmaster left behind this formation core, but she herself... likely entered reincarnation without any protection at all. There is no telling when she will awaken."
Her words brought a sudden realization to Wei Yuan. To alter the leylines and terrain, fashioning such a magnificent natural formation core, True Monarch Huangyun must have relinquished her entire lifetime of cultivation, entering the cycle of reincarnation with nothing more than a solitary speck of true spirit.
Who knew how many cycles of reincarnation she would have to endure before awakening to the karma of her past life? It was even possible she might never awaken at all.
An inexplicable weight settled upon Wei Yuan's heart. Without even realizing it, he had incurred another profound debt of kindness and affection.
The giant tree said, "Grandmaster left one more message for you."
Wei Yuan bowed toward the tree. "Please speak."
"Grandmaster said that when you achieve great things in the future, you may try fishing in the cycles of reincarnation to pull her out. Perhaps it will spare her some suffering."
"How does one fish in reincarnation?"
"Grandmaster did not say, and I do not know. Very well, the task Grandmaster entrusted to me is finished, and it is time for me to slumber. If spirituality ever stirs within me again one day, it will no longer be me."
Before Wei Yuan could reply, the tree's branches and leaves swayed as though bidding farewell. The surrounding vitality promptly went quiet. Specks of spiritual light dispersed into the mountains and earth, merging into Qingming.
Wei Yuan had no time to hold it back. The tree's spirituality had faded away, leaving behind not a single trace.
He stood there in a daze. Bao Yun first wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye, then tugged on Wei Yuan's sleeve. "Grandmaster was always cautious and meticulous. She arranged things this way out of fear that someone might interfere and prevent you from receiving this opportunity. It seems this fortune is extraordinarily important."
Wei Yuan let out a sigh, handed the diagrams to Bao Yun, and said, "I'll leave the setup of this formation to you. In a few days, I'll have all the materials delivered."
"Aren't you coming back yourself?"
"The Liao people refuse to let things rest, and I don't know when this war will end. It's a pity—last time, I came so close to killing the top general under the Worthy Prince of the Left, but she was too cunning and managed to slip away. If I had succeeded then, perhaps the war would already be over. Besides, with me pinned down at the Northern Mountain Gate, you will have the cover to quietly arrange the formation."
Bao Yun nodded. "You are practically confronting immortals now, so be extremely careful. Even with Immortal Monarch Yanshi at the Northern Mountain Gate, you cannot assume you can rest easy. Perhaps someday a trifling, insignificant matter will turn out to be a piece placed by an immortal, harboring deadly intent."
Wei Yuan said, "Have you forgotten that I am favored by karmic luck? Immortal chess moves like that won't easily claim my life. When I return to the Northern Mountain Gate, I will also consult the ancestral masters on methods for fishing in reincarnation, striving to awaken Grandmaster as soon as possible."
Bao Yun murmured softly, "Let us each do our utmost. If one fails to advance with fierce vigor, one remains nothing more than an insect caught in a spider's web—unable to break free, doomed to be devoured clean sooner or later."
Wei Yuan smiled. "Rest assured. Both of us formed our dharma idols before turning twenty. When it comes to fierce, vigorous progress, few under heaven can match us."
Bao Yun tapped his chest with a finger. "I am a dharma idol at twenty; you are a dharma idol at two hundred and twenty!"
Wei Yuan laughed heartily and instinctively moved to embrace her. But Bao Yun took a step back, saying, "Wait until your true body is here. I always feel awkward around these avatars of yours."
Wei Yuan could only nod. Bidding Bao Yun farewell, he withdrew his divine sense and returned to the Northern Mountain Gate.
Chapter 724