Chapter 50: Azure Cloud (28)

Teacher Mu sat before a sand table, a mirror by his hand. Through the mirror, he watched the tiny figures pacing back and forth inside one of the houses. Zhang Duixue had already begun breaking the array by force. Knowing some array principles, he found a weak spot in the spiritual power and slashed at it with his sword, his movements startlingly fierce.

Yue Qianxun was trapped in a corner, prostrate on the ground with his bottom in the air, studying the flow of spiritual power. Although their methods differed, these two could be considered diligent.

Stroking his beard, he turned to the other side. There were two more sitting side by side on the roof, affectionate and romantic, chests pressed together as they whispered sweet nothings. Seeing them getting closer and closer, as if their lips were about to touch, Teacher Mu couldn’t bear it anymore. He tossed a lightning talisman into the house on the sand table. Immediately, a thunderous boom rang out, a bolt from the blue sky, nearly knocking the pair of lovebirds off the roof.

Someone beside him laughed heartily. “Oh my, easy there.”

Amidst the rustling forest leaves, Dean Xu swayed with a wine pot in hand. He sat to the side, watching in the mirror as He Tingtong and Fu Fengyan tumbled off the roof, two dusty figures looking up at the sky with bewildered expressions.

“You ate so much of their food, yet you still strike so heavily.” Dean Xu took a secret sip of wine. “Well, Old Mu, which one have you taken a fancy to?”

“It’s too early to say. None of them have broken the array; they’re all just flirting.” Teacher Mu maintained his unkempt appearance. He frowned at the two sticking together like glutinous rice balls, wishing he could insert an array between them to tear them apart.

However, Fu Fengyan was clutching He Tingtong’s arm tightly, giving him no chance. Hand in hand, the two ran into the house.

“Aren’t you too busy for your feet to touch the ground? Why did you think of coming to find me today?” Teacher Mu snatched the wine gourd, poured himself a small cup, and took a sip. “You old rascal really know how to enjoy life; you even managed to get Ice Spring Nectar.”

“Classes have officially started, so I won’t be idle for much longer. Unlike you, who can still lie down and bask in the sun.” Dean Xu stroked his beard and asked in a low voice, “How is your injury recovering?”

“Rest assured, living another hundred or eighty years won’t be a problem.” Teacher Mu tilted his head back and squinted, his grizzled hair looking like a patch of weeds. “And you? Still not planning to pick a couple of students to teach?”

“Aren’t they all my students?” Dean Xu chuckled. “I opened Azure Cloud Academy; this old man has students all over the world!”

Teacher Mu: “…”

He rolled his eyes and turned to look at the four brats in the array. Focusing his gaze, he saw Zhang Duixue had already broken an opening in the array, so he hurried to add another layer.

Dean Xu: “He has a close relationship with that boy from the Xie family.”

“From the Yuanchen Palace? How did he end up learning the sword?” Teacher Mu frowned. In his life, he hated the Yuanchen Palace the most, and sword cultivators second most. Zhang Duixue coming from the Yuanchen Palace and learning the sword was practically stepping on his landmines. Pass.

“This kid has good talent and a quick mind, but his aura isn’t quite right.” Teacher Mu pointed at Yue Qianxun. “Why is he so wicked, with a hint of demonic qi? Feels like he’ll deceive his master and destroy his ancestors when he grows up.”

The mirror turned again, shifting back to the sticky pair who were still cuddling, making one’s eyes hurt just looking at them.

“Look at you, what kind of crooked melons and cracked dates have you recruited!” Teacher Mu was exasperated. He raised his hand, summoning wind and rain, lightning and thunder. Tables, chairs, and benches flew wildly inside the house. Then he saw the tall one, as if frightened, lift his leg and sit on the shorter one’s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck in the process.

Dean Xu: “…Pfft!”

Wine sprayed all over Teacher Mu’s face.

Teacher Mu wiped the wine off his face and said grumpily, “Get lost.”

He glanced at the water mirror again, only feeling his teeth ache. “In broad daylight, damaging public morals! I advise you to quickly issue a new rule: no romance allowed in Azure Cloud Academy!”

Dean Xu waved his hand. “Oh my, they’re just a bunch of lively teenagers. A little romance is harmless; it won’t destroy the world. Let them be.”

Teacher Mu: “…”

Inside the house, He Tingtong was pressed into the chair, almost unable to catch his breath. Fu Fengyan was really not light, yet this big guy just loved to stick to him forcefully, burying his furry head in his neck and mumbling, “Someone is watching.”

“Of course someone is watching here. Don’t forget Teacher Mu wants to select students; he certainly has to watch our performance in the array.” He Tingtong held onto the chair to prevent them both from tipping over. Just now, during the thunder and lightning, Fu Fengyan had raised his hand to forcefully break the array with spiritual power. He Tingtong had grabbed his hand, and this person just went with the flow and fell, wishing he could ball himself up and stuff himself into He Tingtong’s arms.

In his dozen lives, He Tingtong had never seen anyone so clingy. Moving with difficulty, he whispered, “Do you want to learn arrays?”

Fu Fengyan stared wide-eyed. Many voices and dense prohibitions floated in his mind; he indeed couldn’t learn arrays. However, since he had already run away, he wasn’t afraid of violating this rule.

After hesitating for a good while, Fu Fengyan nodded heavily. “I want to learn from you.”

Just as He Tingtong was about to agree, he heard the other party change his tune smoothly and decisively, “Master!”

He Tingtong shuddered and leaned back. The chair legs, which weren’t very sturdy to begin with, collapsed under the unbearable weight, and the two fell in a heap.

Dust rose everywhere. Lying on the ground, He Tingtong said in exasperation, “You are expelled from the sect!”

Fu Fengyan: “…Woo.”

Although the apprenticeship failed, He Tingtong was indeed a very patient guide. He led Fu Fengyan around the courtyard, seemingly taking a walk, but actually teaching him how to distinguish the flow of spiritual power in the array and pinpoint the array core.

“What sword cultivators do most often is break arrays by force, finding the array core to cut off the flow of spiritual power, thereby destroying the entire grand array. If encountering a small array, this is indeed fast, accurate, and ruthless, allowing for a quick escape.” He Tingtong’s gaze drifted to the side, giving Fu Fengyan a subtle look. “How many array cores do you see?”

Fu Fengyan’s eyes darted around, seeing scattered spiritual power like tangled threads, making him dizzy.

“Too messy.”

“Look like this.” He Tingtong crossed his hands, framing a box in front of Fu Fengyan’s eyes. “Observe grid by grid. No matter how huge and precise the array is, it is composed of small arrays. Seeing the big picture from the small details, flaws can be found even in the most difficult arrays.”

Fu Fengyan looked at the dense array techniques in mid-air, like a veil of gauze. Through the array techniques, he could see the bamboo forest in the distance and the two old men drinking happily within it.

He Tingtong’s voice sounded by his ear, “See the flaw?”

Fu Fengyan nodded. “Saw it. It’s very obvious.”

Inside the bamboo forest, Dean Xu and Teacher Mu suddenly shivered in unison.

“Why does it feel a bit strange?” Teacher Mu scratched the back of his head and looked at the water mirror. “Oho, finally willing to move.”

He Tingtong walked a circle around the courtyard with Fu Fengyan. “If you encounter a large array, attacking the array core might not break it; instead, it will expose your position. Moreover, all array masters know that the array core is the lifeline of an array. Some cunning array masters will layer arrays on top of the array core or directly set up a killing array, making it impossible to guard against.”

The two passed through a courtyard gate, and the scene before them suddenly changed. Behind them was a white wall, and in front was a tangle of tree vines. He Tingtong reached out and brushed them aside, taking Fu Fengyan into a side courtyard in the blink of an eye. In the courtyard, Zhang Duixue was hung upside down in mid-air by a spirit-binding lock, bouncing up and down with his waist bent.

“Look.” He Tingtong picked up a sword from the ground. “Brother Zhang must have tried to break the array by force and got tricked by the binding array on the fake core.”

Zhang Duixue: “Wuwuwuwu!”

He Tingtong looked at his companion right in front of him. Just as he lifted his foot, he slowly retracted it. Casting a stone to ask for directions, as expected, Zhang Duixue’s bound shadow, seemingly within reach, vanished in an instant.

“Especially this kind controlled by someone behind the scenes; it’s the hardest to break.” He Tingtong sighed. “This kind of array core will constantly change. Relying solely on breaking the array is useless. The most direct method is to find the sand table and capture the caster.”

Fu Fengyan silently reported the location, “Teacher Mu and Dean Xu, they are drinking in the southeast.”

“This is Azure Cloud Academy; we can’t beat up the teachers.” He Tingtong observed left and right, then led Fu Fengyan to a small side room and winked. “But we can use some crooked methods without alerting them.”

“Hey, what are those two doing sneaking around?” Teacher Mu craned his neck, watching the two fooling around as they entered the side room. Suddenly, Fu Fengyan moved his hand, the water mirror went black, and the image disappeared.

This was Teacher Mu’s residence. As a place where an array master lived, it was naturally full of array inscriptions. To see the students’ movements better, every mirror, puddle, and even water droplet on the leaves in the courtyard served as a mirror for projection, capable of projecting everyone’s movements clearly.

The side room was small and narrow, containing only a mirror and two cups of water. Now that all three viewpoints had been removed and the doors and windows tightly shut, not a single trace of a person could be seen.

He Tingtong drew on the ground. “This array is something I created after researching for many years. I call it the Reverse Solution Array.”

A strange little array the size of a palm was drawn on the ground. With a circle inside and all array formations pointing outward, at first glance, it looked like a hedgehog with its quills up.

Fu Fengyan peered from the side, observing this array technique carefully.

“It will be a bit slow to use for dissolving arrays. For an array cage like the academy’s, it might need to run for ten days or half a month to fully unravel.” He Tingtong clapped his hands. “But it’s just about right for opening a dog hole.”

Fu Fengyan watched as the array technique merged into the overall array inscriptions, then quickly messed up the orderly array formations. Like a cat’s paw suddenly reaching into neatly laid silk threads and pulling out a loose end, the loose end was agitated larger and larger. Spiritual power was disrupted, forming a hole the size of a fingernail on the ground.

“Here.” He Tingtong knocked on the floor and smiled proudly. “This is solid ground here; it’s unlocked.”

Fu Fengyan let out a “Wow,” “Amazing!”

He Tingtong wiped away the errant array inscription and curled his finger at Fu Fengyan. “Come, I’ll teach you how to draw it.”

Two heads buried together, amidst sounds of amazement.

Thus passed a night. Early the next morning, Qin Tan held his morning class. He glanced over casually and noticed six people missing.

He hit hard; it was possible they were injured and asked for leave, or too tired to make it in time.

Two hours later, two latecomers arrived, still missing four people.

Four hours later, Su Tan reminded him, “Those four are from the same courtyard. Did something happen to them? Especially Xiao Xue; he always comes earliest and leaves latest.”

Qin Tan: “Would I not know?”

Frowning, he finished teaching the morning class and asked the students casually after school. The few youths looked at each other. “Indeed haven’t seen them. Were they detained by the Langhuan Pavilion side?”

“I saw them heading toward the Langhuan Pavilion yesterday, saying they were going to learn arrays. Could it be they didn’t return all night?”

Knowing the location, Qin Tan weighed the sword in his hand and strode off.

Su Tan: “What are you doing?”

Qin Tan’s face was dark as water. “Daring to snatch students from this seat, do they want to die? I’m going to snatch them back right now!”