He had previously bided his time in studying the Natural Laws of Qilin. Going through a few pages for two hours every day, he definitely wasn’t in a hurry.
He did the research on formations for the sake of the Temple of Autumn.
Coming from the Temple of Autumn, petty people often found out about where he came from. Unable to defeat him, they would direct their anger on the temple instead.
The followers of the Temple of Autumn were followers of Buddhist austerities. They were untrained and would not be able to withstand a single attack from a martial art master.
He did not want any harm to befall upon the followers of the Temple of Autumn, but it was impossible to station a Grandmaster to guard the temple at all times. Formations were the best solution he could come up with.
With the knowledge from his past life intact and the intellect that he has collected in this life, formations would not be a problem if he can master the Omniscient Mirror.
He was in no rush in his studies. This was partly due to the fact that he would never succeed if he hurried, but it was also because the Public House had already stationed a Grandmaster to guard the Temple of Autumn. Furthermore, nobody dared to lay a hand on the Temple of Autumn, whether it be the enemies he made as of late, or both the Temple of Tempest and the Ren Public House.
If the Temple of Tempest dared to lay a finger on any of the followers of the Temple of Autumn, Chu Li would develop a thirst for vengeance. Since his levitation skills were better than the others, neither the Temple of Tempest nor the Ren Public House would be able to subdue him. They dared not to make a move before Chu Li was dealt with. If they wanted to kill someone, Chu Li had to go first.
Ever since seeing Tai Hua Valley’s formation, he had been intrigued by it, unable to wait for the moment when he can fully grasp it, controlling such a mysterious force.
Three days passed, and finally, Chu Li showed up.
Xue Ling and Su Ru were in the Glory’s Will courtyard. And with them was Siao Qi, wearing a white gown that was waving from a light breeze.
She couldn’t help but laugh after receiving the report from Su Ru. It was hard to imagine Chu Li, who usually weighed his actions, doing something like that.
She wasn’t too worried, as Chu Li always handled matters with propriety. She only came by every day to take a casual look and discussed about the Imperial Residence of Prince An’s Envoys.
Chu Li opened the gates and stepped into the coursctyard. Sitting in the pagoda, the three ladies turned their heads towards him, their eyes clear as water.
Siao Qi calmly looked at him.
Su Ru’s face was contorted with anger. With quick, graceful strides, she ran to meet Chu Li, and proclaimed loudly, “You are such a rascal, Chu Li!”
“What happened, Chief?” Chu Li asked, a smile forming on his face.
“You tell me!” Su Ru glared at him. “You said it’d only take two hours, y-you really overdid it this time!”
With a closed fist salute, Chu Li formed a smile on his face. “I got too obsessed and got carried away. Time just kind of slipped away!”
He dug out the Natural Laws of Qilin book: “How long had I been studying?”
“You don’t have an idea?” Su Ru snatched away the secret manual in one fell swoop. Still visibly angry, she scoffed. “Don’t tell me you haven’t had anything to eat or drink.”
A coy smile hung on Chu Li’s face. “I was in the woods ahead, and just came to moments ago… Oh, Xue Ling, prepare some porridge for me.”
“Okay,” Xue Ling replied curtly. Stifling a smile with pursed lips, she hurried into the kitchen.
“You hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for three days and three nights, but you’re still doing fine?” Siao Qi asked.
She noticed that Chu Li had a radiant glow to him, his cheeks rosy. He seemed like someone who had a comfortable time, rather than a man who hadn’t feed himself for three days and three nights.
“Lady Siao Qi never comes here for no reason, so did something happen?” Chu Li strolled over to the pagoda and settled himself down.
Su Ru glared at him and followed suit.
Siao Qi asked, “Have you started understanding the formation?”
Chu Li smiled. “Just a little! I’ll reform the Glory’s Will in the next two days and I’ll see how it’ll turn out.”
“We’ll see,” Siao Qi said, “A problem arose because of the Envoys of the Imperial Residence of Prince An. An Imperial Maid who was responsible of teaching etiquette was enticed by Prince An and wanted to kill Sister Siao Shi.”
“How petty of Prince An to use tricks like this.”
“If Sister Siao Shi was killed, then Imperial Maid’s son would become the Scribe of the Imperial Residence.”
“Imperial Maid…” Chu Li murmured as he took a sip from the tea that Xue Ling had served him, “Impressive!”
The Imperial Maid are unlike other people in the Imperial Residence. Even if she really did kill Siao Shi, her family would not be involved in the investigation as they would not dare to cross the Royal Household. Her son would be unaffected by the incident and once the dust settled, Prince An would quietly usher him into the Imperial Residence with everyone none the wiser.
“Thinking about how to deal with her is troublesome,” Siao Qi furrowed her brows, “We can’t do anything to her, since she never made a move. However, we can’t just keep an eye on her, it’s hard to find a good balance.”
She would have made prompt decisions but had been having second thoughts on this incident.
Care had to be taken when treading around the Royal Household and Prince An’s toes. Prevention was the best form of action, but the status of being the Imperial Maid meant that the usual forms of punishment couldn’t be used on her. Prince An was waiting for an opportunity to get something on us.
“Poison. That’s the only way. Do we not know how to?” a sly smile formed on Chu Li’s lips.
Siao Qi sighed, “We can’t kill her.”
Rin nodded in agreement. They wouldn’t be in such a pinch if it was that easy.
“Just hang her by a thread and put her in bed. We could say that she’s not accustomed to the new climate, and caught a bad bug. Keep her alive a few days, then put her down.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Siao Qi said, “It’ll need to be executed flawlessly so that Prince An doesn’t notice.”
“Elder Guo should be cunning enough.” Chu Li couldn’t help smirking as he said that.
Guo Mulin’s medical skill was a notch above others. If he could save lives, he could certainly end them as well. Making someone seriously ill was child’s play to him.
“Alright, then it’s decided.” Siao Qi nodded.
——
Under the setting sun, Chu Li, Xue Ling and Su Ru left the courtyards with shovels in their hands. Together, they set off for the woods.
Chu Li marked seven trees and dug them out, then one by one planted them on the marks that he had made on the ground. With the Scripture of Life and Death on his hands, the trees were not affected in any way.
After breakfast on the second day, Su Ru went on her usual routine, leaving the Stargazing Tower and went looking for Chu Li.
The Glory’s Will Courtyard was in an expanse of woods on the island. She had been going through the forest with a carefree skip to her walk. But after a while, she realized something was amiss. The dense forest muddled her. She couldn’t find her way to the Glory’s Will Courtyard.
She lightly hoisted herself up on top of the canopy. Meeting her eyes was greenery as far as the eye could see. It was like she was in the middle of a forest instead of being on Guardian of the Jade Island. Amongst the endless horizon of trees, she couldn’t help but feel like she was at a loss.
Upon reaching the ground, she used her levitation skill to walk but gave up after thirty minutes. It seemed that this was the power of formations, and indeed, it was mysterious.
“Chu Li!” Su Ru shouted at the top of her lungs.
It was dead quiet, not even a whisper of the wind could be heard.
As she was about to call out for the second time, Chu Li suddenly appeared in front her. “What do you think of the formation, Chief?” he laughed.
“Hurry up and get me out of here!” Su Ru exclaimed.
Chu Li guided her by the scuff and stepped forward. A bright light shone in front of Su Ru. She could see the familiar gate in front of her. She had reached the entrance of the Glory Will’s Courtyard.
Chu Li opened the gate and entered, laughing as he walked. “I reckon the formation worked well?”
“It’s okay!” Su Ru scoffed.
With the seven trees arranged in such a manner, it had a surprisingly strong power. Truly, it was magical.
He did not need to hide the Glory’s Will Courtyard’s existence anymore as nobody can enter it.
Xue Ling stepped forward and smiled, “Chief, I’ve also tried to cut the trees down. No matter how I tried, it was impossible.”
“You can’t chop it off with blades?” Su Ru looked at Chu Li.
“The power that the formation accumulated have exceeded all imaginations,” Chu Li shook his head, “Unless there is an Enlightened Master.”
“I can’t believe that the formation… Hey, how about you set it up for the entire island?” Su Ru smiled, “Then we don’t need to use Protectors anymore. Lady Siao Qi didn’t like them in the first place!”
Chu Li smiled. “Isn’t that too big of a change?”
Once the Guardian of the Jade Island used the formation, the whole Chong Ming Town would catch wind of it, then the entire Great Ji Dynasty would know that the Public House had mastered the formation.
“It’s difficult for you to cover this up even if you wanted to,” Su Ru said, “Someone will be bound to find out.”
“Alright then, I’ll set it up after a few days.”
“Why do you need to wait for a few days?”
“I have something up, so I need to leave.”
“…Alright then. Oh yeah, Lady Siao Qi is still hiding two formation books. Would you like to take a look?”
“Of course!” Chu Li exclaimed happily.
The Natural Laws of Qilin had allowed him to grasp the basics of the formation, but the laws of the formation were complex, so it would be beneficial to learn more about it.
“I’ll bring it over tomorrow!” Su Ru smiled.
“I’ll take a look at it once I come back in a few days,” Chu Li smiled.
He was looking forward to it and decided that he would immediately go to Tai Hua Valley. He wanted to see what formation the Tai Hua Valley used. He also prepared some Concentration Talismans for Chen Ying.
As the power of the spirit creature was strong, the blood Talisman would also work for a longer period of time, as well as the power of the talisman. He officially named this blood talisman the Concentration Talisman.