"I dunno. Have you discussed it with Great Elder Luo yet?"

"Not yet…"

There was a flurry of activity as everyone sought to a.n.a.lyze the Spirit Diagrams that I had managed to trigger a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars. Earlier, I had arrived on the plaza with the others, and I succeeded in triggering a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars. Communing with them, I was able to project the hidden Spirit Diagrams into the open like a holographic projector. And now tech-adepts of the Adeptus Mechanicus…uh, I mean technicians of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect were bustling about, setting up hi-tech equipment such as screens, hololiths, digital auspexes and long-range vox-receivers.

The blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers selected by Sect Leader Zi Shou De had also gathered on the site to observe the Spirit Diagrams beamed onto the screen.

"Oh…so there is this way too…I never thought of it."

One of the Great Elders nodded, bemused, as he stroked his white beard. He stared at the Spirit Diagram that was now projected and recorded on the screen. The river was flowing gently, fish and marine plants rustling within its tranquil depths.

"In the past, we believed that only the person who was able to trigger a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars would understand the Spirit Diagrams concealed within. We never thought to have him share his experience and discuss it with us for conclusions. We thought those who weren"t able to trigger a response would be completely useless in deciphering the mysteries of the Spirit Diagrams, since they weren"t able to open up a pathway into communing with the Spirit Engraved Pillars."

In other words, the people who communed with the Spirit Engraved Pillars in thhe past were considered special, and they were supposedly the only ones who would ever be able to understand the mysteries within. What arrogance.

Shaking my head inwardly, I took a deep breath and suppressed my weariness with a smile. "No, I don"t believe that. Everyone should have a fair chance at studying it. Sure, perhaps not everyone can trigger a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars, but that doesn"t mean only those who can will be able to a.n.a.lyze the mysteries."

Even someone who could trigger a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars like me was unable to fully comprehend the intracies and designs behind the Spirit Engraved Pillars and the Spirit Diagrams within. Never mind me. Apparently Liang Shao Yang was still unable to truly understand the Celestial Sealing Demon Diagram or whatever he saw when communing with the Spirit Engraved Pillar with the demons on it. That didn"t change the fact that Liang Shao Yang did indeed see the Celestial Sealing Demon Diagram, however.

I wasn"t clear with the details, but from what I heard, Liang Shao Yang did not dare to spend long periods of time to commune with the Spirit Engraved Pillar and comprehend the mysteries it guarded. The demons would have attacked his spirit consciousness and hurt him psychically. It was a different a.s.sault from the demonic ent.i.ty dwelling beneath the plaza, but still a very real threat nonetheless. My point, though, was that whether it was me or Liang Shao Yang, just because we saw the Spirit Diagrams, didn"t mean we comprehended them, or would be the only ones who could understand them. Similarly, just because other people weren"t able to trigger a response from the Spirit Engraved Pillars and commune with them didn"t mean they would never be able to comprehend them.

Teamwork. If I joined a collaborative effort with other people and sought their help, they might be able to spot what I missed and fill in the gaps for me, while I kept the Spirit Diagrams activated long enough for them to study it.

Sensing a st.u.r.dy sensation from my Snow Aegis, I glanced down at it and studied the glow. True to his word, Sect Leader Zi had upgraded the spiritual defense of my Snow Aegis and now I could barely feel the demonic ent.i.ty below my feet, his psychic tendrils and spiritual invasion rendered uselss by the invisible spiritual barrier that my Snow Aegis erected over me. I couldn"t help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that I could stick around for longer than last time.

I was still wary of sticking around in the plaza for too long, though. I wasn"t the type to take unnecessary risks.

Behind me, the Great Elders and First Elder Hai Mo were discussing with Tang Qi Hong and a group of young inner sect disciples, which included Zi Xiao Ji and Lian Rou.

"The aquatic environment filled with marine life must mean something. Perhaps water is life. That might be the hidden meaning."

"Yet the aquatic environment is always changing. The fishes are always changing – do you notice how they"re different from a minute ago?"

"Could this be the pa.s.sage of time?"

"Maybe…the lives of the fish and plants are causing the ture core of the Spirit Diagram to always be in flux. It is constantly changing the energy of the internal Spirit Lines. But that"s normal, isn"t it? For all Spirit Diagrams."

"That"s right. These changes often happen whenever the Spirit Diagram functions alongside the corresponding Spirit Arts. These changes and flux are what grants the Spirit Diagram its power and its own individual soul!"

"That"s why Spirit Diagrams are perceived to be living objects."

Overhearing the discussion between the young and the old, I couldn"t help but smile. The younger generation were fully of vitality, searching for fresh, creative ways and innovative interpretations of ancient texts, formulating new ideas and conceptions, but sometimes they tended to be too impulsive and liberal with their interpretations. The older generation, on the other hand, despite being more rigid and stubbornly set in their ways, were able to rein the former"s impulsive streak in while providing invaluable knowledge and advice with their wealth of experience and wisdom. Having the two groups working in concert proved to be a brilliant idea.

Credit went to Sect Leader Zi, because it was only through his efforts that this was made possible. He also stepped in to meditate conflicts between the two groups as well as encouraged flexibility and discussion rather than have one group shut out the other totally. I could see why he was the sect leader.

Tang Qi Hong observed the flowing water and took note of several of the patterns. Turning to Elder Hai Mo, she discussed her hypothesis with him.

"I think I understand now. The Heavenly Nine Winding River Diagram on the inside is one with the enormous body of water on the outside. The changes in the water will cause the core Heavenly Nine Winding River Diagram to constantly change as well. If I cannot understand the connection between the two, particularly the way they interact with each other, then I probably won"t be able to truly comprehend the Spirit Diagram."

Elder Hai thought for a moment, and then nodded.

"You"re right, there"s definitely a connection between the two. A mutual dependency…an ecosystem, perhaps? Maybe we"re looking at the Spirit Diagram from the wrong angle. We"ve always been a.s.suming that they are separated into two parts – the core and the outer layer. What if they are not meant to be separate, but exist as a single, coherent ecosystem?"

"Ah…!" Tang Qi Hong"s eyes lit up and she nodded enthusiastically. "You"re right! I didn"t think of that!"

Stepping in, I observed the Spirit Diagram more intensely and picked out a pattern. Elder Hai was right…if he didn"t mention his opinion, I would never have noticed it. Getting excited when I spotted the connection, I hurried over and flashed my tablet toward them. On the holographic screen, a single line was lit up, marked in blue.

"Look! These two Spirit Lines are actually one line! When the line outside moves, the line inside also moves in accordance as well! They are actually one Spirit Line, not two! That"s why, if you stimulate the Spirit Line outside, it will naturally cause changes in the inside as well! You"re right, it"s a single ecosystem!"

Taking a deep breath, I a.n.a.lyzed the spiritual metaphor and tried to concretize the image into words.

"Just like in a living ecosystem…if the water is affected, the fish and the aquatic plants living in the water will be affected as well. Like, um, pollution. If toxic material is dumped into the water, the fish and plants will die too!"

Tang Qi Hong winced. "Could you use a less macabre metaphor?"

"Sorry." Looked like I had delved too much into ecocriticism under one of my literature professors. "Um, how about this? If the water is clean and filled with more oxygen, it would help the plants and fish become fresher and stronger. And if it"s clear enough for sunlight to pa.s.s through, then the plants inside can photosynthesize better."

Now I was bulls.h.i.tting with my limited environmental science knowledge, but no one knew.

"Hmm…I guess." Tang Qi Hong nodded, convinced. "That might be the secret to it! We should record this down!"

"Already did." I waved my tablet at her.

"Sounds good. At this rate, we"ll be able to make a breakthrough."

The project leader, Sect Leader Zi, was personally supervising the research and he looked pleased with our progress.

We had been working on this for nine days now, arguing, coming up with hypotheses, poking holes in each other"s theories and figuring out new stuff. There were also attempts to replicate the Spirit Diagram, and even though none of them had been successful, I had the feeling we were getting closer to the finished article.

Honestly, having a group help out was excellent. We had come a lot further and achieved this much in a much shorter time than if I were to sit here and meditate on my own. h.e.l.l, I doubted I would be able to figure anything by myself.

Staring at the glowing Spirit Diagram that was projected by the Spirit Engraved Pillar with water motifs – the first one I triggered a response in – I wondered if I would finally be able to replicate the Spirit Diagram on a tablet.

Well, one thing at a time. For now, I should focus on completing the current step first before jumping ahead to the next. Pulling my thoughts together, I tried to recall the discussions we had so far and apply them to the Spirit Diagram that was currently swirling above us, filled with life and vitality. As the Great Elders noted, the Spirit Diagram had its own soul.

And now our job was to find out how to recreate that soul.

*

While we were focused on researching and studying the Heavenly Nine Winding River Spirit Diagram, Lang Xie was occupied with matters of his own. He was standing outside the Will"o Wisp Forest, silently watching the Blood Blades training within.

This time, the training was a little different. A few of the Blood Blades were actually practicing with their battle-automata, having completed their Spirit Engravings on their battle puppets and binding the mechanical warriors to their will.

"Sire."

Shen Cha appeared from the shadows and knelt respectfully before Lang Xie, who only gave him the most cursory of glances.

"How is the situation outside?"

"…" Shen Cha closed his eyes for a moment. Then he opened them, and spoke up, his voice m.u.f.fled by his mask. "Divine Shadow Sect is making their move. They have been raiding our shipments and trying to intercept our Spirit Artifact cargoes. Fortunately, the Imperial Guard mobilized and beat them back, but we sustained quite a few losses."

Lang Xie"s eyes darkened, but his expression remained unchanged. Even so, a bloodthirsty aura seemed to emanate silently from him, saturating the forest with his bloodl.u.s.t. Even Shen Cha shuddered at the force of it.

"I see," the vice-commander of the Blood Blades said quietly. "So they really intend to declare war on us."

"Yes." Shen Cha nodded in confirmation. "They are preparing for total war, and from our intelligence, they have mustered a formidable number of troops. About a five hundred men, at least. Not only that, they are calling upon old alliances and gathering other sects to side with them in the upcoming conflict. This will no longer be a war between two sects, but between several."

"We will not involve other sects in our own matter," Lang Xie declared fiercely. Shen Cha merely nodded, but did not object. Instead, he moved on to the next report.

"Many of our foreign amba.s.sadors have also been attacked as they travel in and out of Tushan City. It appears that Divine Shadow Sect has stationed troops outside Tushan City as well. We"ve been rooting them out, but they have proven to be…elusive. We only managed to eradicate three cells so far, but I believe there are at least twelve others."

"It"s best if we stop our amba.s.sadors and officials from venturing outside for the moment." Lang Xie sighed. "And the students too. We"ll have to stop them from leaving Tushan City, even if it"s to go to school. I"ll discuss this matter with Sect Leader Zi."

"Yes, sire."

"I also need to request him to put a stop to inner sect and outer sect disciples going outside to look for Spirit Materials, and halt the flow of Spirit Artifacts into our branches outside Tushan City." Lang Xie turned to look at Shen Cha. "I"ll a.s.sign you more squads. Patrol the city and even Water Margin Town to track down as many Divine Shadow Sect bases. Not just here, but also outside Tushan City. Destroy them all."

"Roger that, sire."

"We"ll destroy these bases and force them to keep sending more people over, to drain their resources and whittle down their numbers a little at a time." Lang Xie was almost murmuring to himself. Shen Cha stared at him.

"Wouldn"t they launch an all-out attack eventually?"

"Yes, they would. Even so, I feel as if they are provoking us. But we must not fall for their provocations." Lang Xie sighed heavily. "It will not be easy for us to attack the Divine Shadow Sect"s headquarters. We can only force them to come to us. I want to make use of defender"s advantage in Tushan City."

"I concur."

Lang Xie and Shen Cha spun around, only to see Sect Lady Zi Da Ji strolling toward them. She raised a hand to forestall them from formally greeting her, and then waved for them to continue the discussion.

"I think it"s a good plan. I would much rather preserve our home ground advantage than attempt to invade their headquarters and end up walking into a trap. No doubt the Divine Shadow Sect will have some nasty surprises waiting for us if we do. I have no doubt that their headquarters will be heavily guarded and b.o.o.by-trapped."

Lang Xie looked grim. "The Divine Shadow Sect is renowned for being able to kill anyone in every kind of circ.u.mstances, and they have trained to operate in complex terrains and making use of it to their advantage. We"ll have to stay on high alert if we want to prevent ourselves from losing any more of our sect members."

"If we continually destroy their bases, we"ll force them to act eventually while whittling down their numbers at the same time," Sect Lady Da Ji pointed out. "I think your plan is a good and practical one."

"Thank you for the praise." Lang Xie bowed his head. "But I"ll also devise counterattack strategies and preemptive strikes to speed up the process."

"My husband is in talks with the royal family and the Imperial Guard, but it seems they don"t want to get involved in conflicts and disputes between martial arts sects. We might have to resolve this matter ourselves."

"In other words, prepare for the worst case scenario, huh?" Lang Xie muttered under his breath, but he had already antic.i.p.ated that. Sect Lady Da Ji nodded.

"That"s right. I"ll be counting on you, Lang Xie."

"You can count on me, my lady."

"I know I can." Sect Lady Da Ji smiled. Then noticing the troubled expression on Shen Cha"s face (even though he was wearing a mask, so I a.s.sume she detected him by the disturbance in his qi), she continued. "Don"t worry. I don"t think Divine Shadow Sect will fight us to the death. The sect itself has been split into several factions, and I"m sure that apart from Liang Yang Zu, none of the other leaders would be willing to throw away everything and risk their lives to take revenge for someone who isn"t their son. Even Liang Yang Zu isn"t insane enough to sacrifice Divine Shadow Sect just for his one son."

"Revenge for Liang Yang Zu"s son is only an excuse," Lang Xie said coldly. "Their true motive is to conquer Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and plunder all of our resources, master blacksmiths and Spirit Engravers for their own ends. That"s why they sent Liang Shao Yang to infiltrate our sect and grab the leadership. Now that the subtle approach had failed, they are resorting to the more direct approach. It was only a matter of time."

"That"s right. But when they come, we"ll be ready for them." Sect Leady Da Ji turned toward the Will"o Wisp Forest and noticed the army of battle-automata dueling each other and other Blood Blades. "I see you"ve finally implemented the battle-automata component into the official Blood Blades training regimen."

"It was First Elder Hai Mo"s idea," Lang Xie admitted. "He had the foresight to see what a formidable fighting force they would be." He paused for a moment, a hint of a smile curving over his weathered face. "I heard it was that boy Fei Wu who brought these battle-automata back to the sect."

"That"s right," Sect Lady Da Ji confirmed with a smile. "That boy is really full of surprises. He found these battle-automata in the Nascent Soul Stage pract.i.tioner"s tomb and brought all of them back. A fortuitous timing, to be honest. I never thought we would be using them so soon after the Blood Blades have finished imprinting their own Spirit Diagrams on them and programming them as their personal battle puppets."

"Yeah. Elder Zhao was considerate enough to leave a few for me, but it"ll take me a while to engrave my personal Spirit Diagrams into them." Lang Xie coughed, almost in embarra.s.sment. Spirit Engraving wasn"t his forte, after all.

"That is fine. You have more important matters to tend to."

"Thank you." Lang Xie glanced at the battle-automata, his usually unreadable expression having a hint of warmth. "We really have to protect that boy, don"t we? He"s turning out to be a promising spark for the future of our sect."

"My husband and I certainly have high hopes for him," Sect Lady Da Ji agreed. Lang Xie turned toward her.

"Is Fei Wu still researching the Spirit Diagrams at the Spirit Engraved Pillars right now?"

"Yes. Why?" Lady Da Ji frowned. Lang Xie took a deep breath.

"When he has time to spare, ask him to come see me. As I said before, I want to train him. Helping out with Spirit Engraving is good and all, but he needs to improve his combat capabilities as quickly as possible."

Glancing into the distance, Lang Xie clenched his fists.

"After all, the boy won"t be able to contribute to our sect if he"s killed by Divine Shadow Sect."

"Certainly." Sect Lady Da Ji turned away. "I"ll pa.s.s on the message."

As she took her leave, Lang Xie turned toward the waiting Shen Cha.

"That will be all. I"ll be counting on you."

"Yes, sire." Shen Cha bowed, and then disappeared into the shadows.

*

Back at the plaza, I was focusing on the Spirit Diagram that was beaming from the Spirit Engraved Pillar. We were doing this one at a time, because it never paid to be too greedy and too impatient.

"Elder Hai and Qi Hong are right. They are linked. Everything is all linked! It"s one gigantic ecosystem…"

The fishes were swimming closer to me now…or was it an illusion? I couldn"t tell. They were getting bigger, drawing closer…

"??"

Bubbles were around me. For a moment, I found myself surrounded by algae, weeds and aquatic plants. A single fish sped toward me, its jaws open, and then it swam past me.

I turned around, surprised by its proximity, but the fish was already far behind me, darting across the water like a plane.

Then I realized that I was no longer on the plaza. All the others were gone, Tang Qi Hong, Elder Hai, Sect Leader Zi…everyone.

"…eh?"

When did I get underwater? No, was this an illusion? I was hallucinating, right? This was probably a mental illusion that the Spirit Engraved Pillar cast on me.

But it had never done this before.

What should I do? Maybe this is the next stage in the communion process…a necessary stage for me to comprehend the true meaning of the Spirit Diagram…of the Heavenly Nine Winding River Diagram!

Excitement bubbled inside me and I glanced around, trying to find clues, or anything that might help me understand what was going on.

That excitement, however, was replaced by fear and tension when I realized I couldn"t breathe.

"Ugh…!"

Gasping as water filled my lungs, I thrashed about in the water, my oxygen-deprived brain slowly shutting down…