Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The newcomer was a big, old man in a gray robe. It looked like he hadn’t washed his robe for a long time. There was a lot of dirt on his pant legs.
Then Jiang Chen looked at his face. He looked as though he was in a hurry, with an untrimmed beard and bloodshot eyes, a bit abnormal.
He walked to the end of the Lost Soul. There was nothing but a cliff and walls of the mountain.
However, Jiang Chen saw him jumping up and flying to the stone wall on the opposite side with something in his hand that looked like a compass.
Jiang Chen recognized what that was, since he had one as well in his previous life.
It was a formation disk, an indispensable instrument for deploying and cracking tactical formations.
Jiang Chen didn’t need it for his formation of flying swords because its sphere of influence was only twenty yards and he already had four tactic pennants.
However, if he had to deploy a tactical formation with a sphere of influence over the whole city, it would be easy to make mistakes with only himself to rely on.
A tactical formation with a sphere of influence of three thousand feet required at least hundreds of five-element tactic pennants. It mattered not only where, but also how, these tactic pennants were put.
That was why a formation disk was so important.
Since the Natural Law School was one of the top ten sects, they certainly had a great tactical formation deployed to protect the mountains. That was definitely a huge project.
Jiang Chen was bored, so he watched the old man mumbling to himself with the formation disk in his hand.
Soon, the stone wall started to radiate. Many texts and images that formed a hollow circle appeared.
Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches?
Besides being powerful and having a vast sphere of influence, a great tactical formation had to last for a long time, decades at the least.
As time passed, there could be all kinds of problems, so it required maintenance.
What Jiang Chen saw was the core of the deployment of the tactical formation and the creator’s train of thought so that other people could understand how it worked to improve it.
It was normal to write tactical formations in ten stems and twelve branches.
It didn’t take long for Jiang Chen to figure out the problem, while the old man had been driven to his wit’s end. He became more and more anxious.
His name was Mo Xu, a grand supreme elder of the Natural Law School. He was appointed to maintain the great formation of the mountain protection since he was an expert in tactical formations.
This was a significant job. The great formation of the mountain protection decided the survival or downfall of the Natural Law School.
Recently, Mo Xu had found there was something wrong with the great formation of the mountain protection. It was losing power like a patient with a chronic disease.
Mo Xu had to take it seriously. He started to investigate the problem, and he was given a good scare.
The problem was much more severe than he had thought. The formation was almost close to complete collapse. He checked every part, but only became even more desperate.
There were flaws when the ancestors deployed the great formation of mountain protection and the problem didn’t show up until today. And it’s my turn to take the responsibility!
Mo Xu was nervous about it. Whatever the cause was, if the formation went wrong under his supervision, he would have a big problem.
But what can I do?
Mo Xu’s heart sank down to the depths as he looked into the formation. He felt helpless.
Suddenly, Mo Xu heard a voice. Not until then did he recall he saw a disciple there when he came in.
“Senior, why are you standing there and doing nothing? There is a deviation in South Wu and East Chou and a dislocation between Ding and Jia. Just fix them.”
“Wouldn’t that be easy, huh! There is no solution. It’ll crash if I make any changes,” Mo Xu answered unconsciously.
Then he looked back. As he expected, Jiang Chen was young. Instantly his facial expression became unreadable.
“There’s no solution? Fine, I have nothing to do anyway. Let me help you. Do what I say and I guarantee the problem will be resolved.” Jiang Chen behaved like he hadn’t noticed Mo Xu’s expression. He said, “Move East Chou downward.”
Mo Xu hesitated for a while and finally decided to follow his instruction. It was better to fight a losing battle than do nothing.
At the beginning, Mo Xu was very worried. He was afraid of the possible repercussions. But little by little, he understood what Jiang Chen meant and figured out the key to the problem. He was totally stunned.
In the end, Mo Xu stepped back, full of expectation. Then he saw the Heavenly Stems and the Earthly Branches start to function smoothly.
“My young friend!” Mo Xu ran up to Jiang Chen, extremely excited. He was about to say something when he saw the formation diagram on the stone wall was wrong again.
“Ah? Wasn’t the problem resolved? Why is this happening?” Mo Xu didn’t understand why.
“This is only a part of the great formation. The whole formation has gone wrong. Of course we can’t resolve all the problems with only one small change,” Jiang Chen said.
Mo Xu was extremely excited when heard this. He was sure that Jiang Chen knew tactical formations well, but he was also wondering how Jiang Chen was so skilled at tactical formations at such a young age.
He had so many questions that he started to frown and size Jiang Chen up. He said, “Are you a junior disciple? Why are you here under solitary confinement?”
“I committed crimes,” Jiang Chen said.
“What kind of crimes?”
Jiang Chen glanced at him and told him the whole story of the Profound Theory Palace.
“That’s it? You were brought to the Lost Soul to serve solitary confinement for such an insignificant affair?” Even though Mo Xu wasn’t that knowledgable, he knew it was unusual. Jiang Chen must have offended someone.
“Anyway, that was the verdict of the unprejudiced Hall of Penal Law.”
“Why didn’t you appeal against the decision of the Hall of Penal Law and apply for a fair trial?” Mo Xu was puzzled.
The right to fair trial was a rule of the Hall of Penal Law. A disciple who wasn’t satisfied with the verdict could appeal for a fair trial and prove his innocence.
“I don’t have any backup. Even if I win the fair trial, what can I do? People will still judge me at will.”
“I’ll help you,” Mo Xu said without any hesitation.
“Senior, how is your status in the school?” Jiang Chen looked at him doubtfully.
Mo Xu felt offended. He was obsessed with tactical formations and knew nothing about what was going on in the school, but he knew his own value and importance in the Natural Law School.
He was a grand supreme elder. This identity was more than enough to protect Jiang Chen.
“Just go ahead. If you win, but the Hall of Penal Law doesn’t stop going against you, I’ll tear it down!”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course!”
“Then I can just walk out of here?” Jiang Chen pointed at the entrance of the Lost Soul, looking at Mo Xu.
“Go ahead, go ahead. I am thinking about what you just said.”
There were no guards at the Lost Soul, unlike the other places for solitary confinement. The punishment was severe if a disciple walked out of a place meant for solitary confinement.
Jiang Chen dared to leave because he had his own thoughts. That Elder Mo talked unclearly. Of course Jiang Chen wouldn’t believe him so easily.
But, he had a formation disk and was in charge of the maintenance of the great formation of the mountain protection of the Natural Law School. He couldn’t just be an average elder.
So Jiang Chen returned to his place honestly.
On his way back, the disciples that saw him acted like they’d seen a ghost.
When he entered his room, he found there was a strong odor of medicine. His expression immediately changed. At that moment, a pretty maid came up to him.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” he asked.
“I’m the princess’s personal maid. I’m here to take care of Meng Hao.”
“Meng Hao? What happened to him?” Jiang Chen asked.
The maid couldn’t bear to talk about it, so she led Jiang Chen to the bed.
Jiang Chen turned pale. Meng Hao was severely injured. He had been badly beaten. Half of his bones were broken and he had massive internal bleeding. His face was black and blue, and he was still in coma.
“What happened?”
“The day you left for the Lost Soul, Zheng Ping brought his people here. He claimed that Meng Hao had stolen from him, so he broke in to search the room. Then he gave Meng Hao a rough beating.”
“This is obviously revenge. Didn’t the school interfere?”
“Meng Hao isn’t a disciple of the Natural Law School.”
Oh yeah, Meng Hao was only Jiang Chen’s attendant. He would have died here without Wen Xin’s help.