After seeing off the sect masters of the Five Great Immortal Sects, Emperor Xia heard his Old Ancestor's summons, calling him to the forbidden grounds because he had an important matter to discuss.
"Old Ancestor, what is the matter?" Emperor Xia arrived at the forbidden grounds and bowed respectfully to him.
After waiting for a long time without receiving any response, Emperor Xia cautiously peeked upward.
When he lifted his head, he was met with the Old Ancestor's forced, chilling smile, and he subconsciously stumbled back a few paces.
"I hear you were urging Yun Zhi earlier to give me a beating?"
Emperor Xia was utterly shocked. The Imperial Palace was enveloped in an immortal formation, and only he and Yun Zhi had been present in that room. How on earth did the Old Ancestor know?!
"Nonsense! I was the one who set up the immortal formation—of course I can listen in whenever and however I please!"
"Brat, it looks like I didn't beat you enough when you were little!" The Old Ancestor stretched out a massive hand, snatched Emperor Xia up, and hauled him into the depths of the forbidden grounds.
"O-Old Ancestor, go easy on me! You watched me grow up! If you strike my body, it'll hurt your heart!"
"Rest assured, my heart is as hard as iron!"
Before long, shrill, wretched screams echoed from the forbidden grounds.
No wonder rumors circulated through the Imperial Palace claiming an unkillable, ominous entity was suppressed within the forbidden grounds, constantly ground down by the formation and shrieking in agony.
Of course, a few eunuchs and palace maids whispered that the cries might actually be coming from Emperor Xia, but such speculation was treasonously disrespectful and never allowed to spread.
Even if it had spread, people would likely have dismissed it as a wild rumor.
***
"Brother Lu, do you want to learn a new spell? Senior Brother Ji Hongwen is offering to teach." Lu Yang was practicing swordplay in a crisp white martial outfit when Man Gu came looking for him, accompanied by Meng Jingzhou.
"I was dragged along by Man Gu too," Meng Jingzhou explained with a grin. Why pass up a chance to learn another spell?
"Why did Senior Brother Ji Hongwen suddenly think of teaching us spells?" Lu Yang asked, puzzled.
Ji Hongwen was the eldest disciple of the Confucian cultivator Fourth Elder, skilled in the Dao of painting, with cultivation on par with Senior Brother Dai Bufan's.
"Oh, it's like this," Man Gu explained. "I feel that combat for a Confucian cultivator should be more elegant. Swinging a giant iron hammer the way I do isn't how a proper Confucian cultivator should fight, so I wanted to learn some refined spells."
Lu Yang stared at Man Gu in disbelief, thoroughly amazed.
Could Man Gu truly be breaking through the curse the Immortal Fairy had laid on the Barbarian clan? Truly worthy of celebration, truly worthy of celebration!
"Besides, I sent my hammer to Li Haoran to be upgraded, so I can't practice hammer techniques for a while anyway. Might as well find something else to do.
"So I went to Senior Brother Ji and asked if he could teach me a Confucian spell or two. He said yes. I asked if I could bring the two of you along, and he agreed to that as well. So here I am, finding you and Brother Meng."
Lu Yang nodded. "Thoughtful of you."
Man Gu quickly said, "Brother Lu, don't mention it! By staying around you and Brother Meng, I've learned so many principles. I'm just stealing a sheep along the way—getting Senior Brother Ji to teach you two while he teaches me."
Meng Jingzhou patted Man Gu on the shoulder. "The idiom is 'pushing the boat along with the current.'"
"Brother Meng is truly knowledgeable after all."
Meng Jingzhou: "..."
The three of them arrived at a bamboo grove. Senior Brother Ji Hongwen was dozing in a pavilion, but the moment they stepped into the grove, he woke up.
Lu Yang shook his head. His sleep quality was nowhere near the Immortal Fairy's.
Even now, the Immortal Fairy was still fast asleep, resting deeply and soundly.
"You're here?" Senior Brother Ji greeted them with a smile.
"Greetings, Senior Brother Ji!" The three cupped their fists and spoke in unison.
Senior Brother Ji adopted a solemn expression. "Junior Brother Man Gu asked me to teach him a Confucian spell, and of course I have no objection. However, Confucian spells have always been notoriously difficult to master, and there's no guarantee you will learn them. All three of you are geniuses, so I hope that even if you can't learn it, you won't become disheartened."
Man Gu was brimming with confidence in Lu Yang. "Brother Lu's magical talent is far above mine. He'll definitely master it!"
Senior Brother Ji chuckled and shook his head, thinking Man Gu was exaggerating far too much.
Aside from Eldest Senior Sister, who could guarantee they would master any spell they tried to learn?
"The spell I will be teaching you is called Drawing a Circle as a Prison.
"You must have all heard of this spell. By simply tracing a circle on the ground, you can confine your opponent within it. Combined with fierce, sharp attacks, the enemy will have nowhere to flee and will have no choice but to take your strikes head-on!"
The trio's eyes lit up. They hadn't expected it to be this technique. Drawing a Circle as a Prison was exceedingly famous.
Casually tracing a circle to trap the opponent—how graceful and untethered! It was a first-rate immortal art!
"Let me demonstrate."
Senior Brother Ji extended a finger, using his hand like a brush to lightly trace a circle around Lu Yang and the others. Immediately, the three realized they were blocked by an invisible barrier, unable to step outside.
Man Gu and Meng Jingzhou tried to smash through the barrier with brute force, to no avail.
Lu Yang tried using Shrinking the Earth to escape underground, but he slammed solidly into the ground, completely unsuccessful.
"Haha, this is Drawing a Circle as a Prison." Senior Brother Ji casually dismissed the circle.
"To master Drawing a Circle as a Prison, first, you must be able to draw a circle freehand; second, you must memorize the incantation."
Senior Brother Ji had the three of them draw circles. Their attempts were squiggly and wobbly, looking like a ring formed by a bunch of caterpillars.
"Look at what you drew. It looks like an egg," Meng Jingzhou mocked Lu Yang.
Lu Yang cast a sideways glance at Meng Jingzhou's drawing. "You're even worse than me. Yours looks like a tea egg."
"A tea egg is worth more than a plain egg."
"It's also more troublesome to make."
The focus of their argument gradually drifted far away from drawing.
"Practice more. For cultivators, controlling the body to draw is hardly difficult," Senior Brother Ji advised, and only then did Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou drop their pointless bickering.
Sure enough, just as Senior Brother Ji had said, as long as they consciously controlled their bodies, they could soon draw a circle freehand.
"Now I will pass down the incantation. Listen carefully: you must memorize not only the words, but also the tone of every single word!
"'Force may not enter, counsel may not oppose...'"
The three listened attentively, striving to commit every word and its tone to memory. After stumbling through several attempts, they finally memorized the entire passage.
"Finally, and this is the hardest part: you must thoroughly comprehend the incantation and naturally convert it into the circulation pathway of your internal spiritual energy before you can successfully cast the spell!"
Ji Hongwen warned them that they could not afford to be careless when learning Drawing a Circle as a Prison.
Man Gu silently recited the incantation and attempted to cast the spell, walking in circles around himself again and again, but never succeeded.
Meng Jingzhou fared better than Man Gu, likely possessing sharper comprehension. After trying numerous times, an invisible cage occasionally formed from a few of his circles, though the success rate was far too low to be used in actual combat for now.
"Don't be discouraged. When I learned this spell back then, I was already at the Golden Core stage, and even so, it took me five whole days to master it." Ji Hongwen said this so as not to demoralize them; in truth, he had mastered it in just two days.
"Let's see how Lu Yang is doing."
At that moment, Lu Yang had his eyes closed, the incantation echoing through his mind repeatedly. He imagined himself as the creator of the spell, wondering what kind of mindset had driven that person to devise it in the first place.
Lu Yang opened his eyes, their gaze bright and piercing.
"I've got it!" Lu Yang declared with immense confidence, completely calm and unhurried, like a martial master with fifty years of experience stepping onto a tournament stage, ready to vanquish powerful foes with casual ease.
Lu Yang's voice drew the attention of Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu. They stopped practicing to see how he would fare.
Could Lu Yang really succeed on his very first attempt?
Even Man Gu, who believed Brother Lu possessed astonishing magical talent, didn't think he could pull it off right away.
At least practice a few more times first!
Lu Yang mirrored Senior Brother Ji, extending his index finger and tracing a flawless, perfect circle around himself.
"Drawing a Circle as a Prison!"
Then, Lu Yang felt his surroundings shift.
It was dim and lightless, silent and still. Stone pillars enclosed him, and heavy earth loomed overhead.
This was an underground dungeon.
Lu Yang: "...So what I learned was drawing a dungeon?"
Chapter 206