Chapter 27 A Surprise
1938 Words
The imprinting of the formation pattern must be finished at one fling. No pause was allowed. Any pause would lead to failure. Now, Lin Tian only drew three-fifths of the martial integrating formation pattern but he was nearly running out of his energy. He had never anticipated the situation before. A foreboding welled up in his heart.
Lin Tian gritted his teeth, stayed more focused and moved his right hand faster.
"Hum!"
His energy fluctuated violently and his soul power became more turbulent. The ink on Lin Tian's right hand flew to the blank scroll. The fine and mysterious grains were drawn. Gradually, Lin Tian had a layer of sweat on his forehead. His face was turning pale slowly.
"Whoosh!"
A noise sounded in Lin Tian's ears. His right hand slightly shivered and then stopped.
Lin Tian felt a bit helpless and heaved a sigh.
"I failed."
He gave a bitter smile inwardly.
However, within an instant, Lin Tian's face became decisive and persistent again.
From the very beginning, he knew that it was not easy to cultivate the formation techniques. The third step was much more difficult than the second one. A failure was expected.
"Drawing with ordinary ink is still subtly different from drawing with the pigmented ink."
Lin Tian muttered to himself.
Without continuing to imprint, Lin Tian paused and started to think quietly.
The failure was not attributed to his unfamiliarity with the formation pattern but the insufficiency of energy. Because his energy was exhausted, he had to stop imprinting the formation pattern, which directly resulted in his failure.
"That is, his energy volume is the only issue for now."
Lin Tian said inwardly.
He couldn't increase his energy volume within a short time. After thinking for a moment, Lin Tian figured out a solution. That was, he could try his best to practice Siji Scriptures when the stars hung in the sky and started imprinting the formation pattern when his energy volume surpassed the peak transitorily.
It was midnight now. Lin Tian immediately started to practice Siji Scriptures.
Instantly, the dazzling starlight shone from the sky on Lin Tian through the roof. It went into his body quickly. Thereafter, as time passed, the sound of wind and thunder sounded in Lin Tian's body gradually. His energy was recovered bit by bit, as if a wind dragon and a thunder dragon were roaring.
Within a blink of an eye, an hour passed.
Now, Lin Tian's energy volume reached the highest level since he started cultivating. Meanwhile, he opened his eyes.
"It's the moment!"
His energy was rolling within his body. Lin Tian swung his hand and then the pigmented ink just flew over from a vessel nearby and gathered on his right hand. With his eyes glistening, he moved his five fingers. For the moment, the ink splashed and a line appeared on the scroll and extended with his movements.
The first line was finished quickly!
Lin Tian was not happy and still stayed highly attentive. He moved his fingers. The second line appeared. After taking a perfect turn, it started to bend and wind as a wavy line. As for the drawing of the formation pattern, Lin Tian had been quite proficient. It was insufficiency of energy only that led to his previous failure.
"Hum!"
With a click, the third line was finished!
By now, Lin Tian didn't feel that his energy was exhausted, which meant that the solution really worked!
"Continue!"
He muttered inwardly.
His eyes glittered. In his mind, the trends of the lines showed up perfectly. Then, his right hand moved swiftly as if it were conscious. Every drop of pigmented ink was imprinted on the positions where it should be imprinted.
Half a quarter later, the fourth line was finished!
At the moment, Lin Tian had a feeling again that his energy was to be exhausted. By estimate, his energy had been used by five-seventh.
"I can do this!"
Lin Tian gritted his teeth.
He moved his right hand faster and stared at the scroll very hard. His energy and soul power were dancing together.
The fifth line was finished!
"A bit more! Only a bit more!"
His energy was running out. When he had the last line to draw, Lin Tian clenched his teeth and started to practice Siji Scriptures forcibly while drawing the formation pattern to absorb the power of stars to replenish his energy. This was a risky move. Multitasking was prone to cause errors in drawing the formation pattern.
However, Lin Tian still made it.
Without any errors!
"It's almost done. Almost done. Come on! Come on!"
"Hum!"
With a shimmer of glow, the attic became slightly bright but it only lasted for a moment. After a breath, the glow quickly went somber.
The scroll was placed on the board of the attic. In the middle of the unfolded scroll, a formation pattern whose diameter was one inch or so was imprinted. The formation pattern consisted of six basic lines. Every line was exquisite like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing, which appeared extraordinarily otherworldly and contained faint energy.
"I made it!"
Lin Tian gave a delighted look.
This was the martial integrating formation pattern! A finished martial integrating formation pattern!
Lin Tian took a deep breath and held back his excitement because he still had the last thing to do. Of course, it was quite easy, which was more or less as easy as making the blank scroll. He put his right hand above the martial integrating formation pattern. Instantly, a rush of fierce sword intent went out of his right hand.
He exerted Wind-startling Swordsmanship, the medium combat craft of body cultivation!
As to Wind-startling Swordsmanship, Lin Tian had cultivated the Destructive Sword to big attainment. Now, practicing this sword technique, he struck the condensed sword Qi at the scroll below. Actually, Wind-startling Swordsmanship was quite scary but now, when the sword Qi landed on the scroll, it was directly absorbed by the martial integrating formation pattern in the center.
"Fantastic!"
Lin Tian said inwardly.
After comprehending the knowledge of those formation patterns in his mind, he had anticipated such a situation. That being said, when he really saw it happen, he was surprised uncontrollably and felt awed by the mystery and power of the formation master. It turned out that the formation pattern imprinted by a formation master could be so amazing!
He put his right hand above the scroll and gave off more sword Qi.
"Hum!"
Suddenly, a shimmer of twilight glowed in his right palm.
Lin Tian lowered his head and found in astonishment that the sword pattern in his right palm was glowing!
"This is..."
Lin Tian was slightly surprised.
The sword pattern was created when the mysterious iron sword was integrated into his body. He was a bit astounded at first and thereafter, he didn't pay much attention to it anymore. Unexpectedly, it was glowing automatically now.
"Hum!"
The sword pattern slightly flickered and diffused the light.
For the moment, a dull sword chirp sounded.
Lin Tian found in shock that the sword Qi of the first sword technique of Wind-startling Swordsmanship was reinforced by more than one time!
"This..."
Staring at the scene, Lin Tian was deeply thrilled.
Through the sword pattern in his right palm, the sword Qi he struck became so much more powerful, which astonished him a lot. He suddenly had a guess. If he exerted the sword method without using anything, would the sword pattern in his right palm turn into an intangible sword, which could reinforce the sword Qi struck by him?
"Actually, when I practiced Wind-startling Swordsmanship, I used a branch. The first time I struck the Destructive Sword at the enemy, I also used a branch. The two branches were both used as the weapon. Hence, at that time, the sword pattern didn't make any response. Now, I have nothing in my hand so the sword pattern moves."
While muttering to himself, Lin Tian found his guess was very likely to be true.
Then, Lin Tian fetched a stick to do an experiment and the result turned out to be as he expected. When he exerted the sword method barehanded, it showed much more power than when he held a stick.
"This..."
Lin Tian couldn't help feeling excited.
Holding no sword turned out to be better than holding a sword. What a surprise!
Lin Tian took a deep breath and held back his excitement. He fixed his eyes on the martial integrating formation pattern scroll and realized that the martial integrating formation pattern in the middle of the scroll had been finished. It was done unknowingly. So, a martial integrating formation pattern scroll of the medium combat craft of body cultivation was made by him!
Lin Tian couldn't help grinning. Two happy events came one after the other.
"I shall take a rest first and then continue refining!"
Lin Tian said inwardly.
...
Time fleeted and another five days passed.
"Hum!"
In the attic, the faint silver light glittered. Lin Tian practiced the first sword technique of Wind-startling Swordsmanship. He reached out his right hand with his palm facing down. Instantly, a dozen streaks of sword Qi appeared and went into the newly made martial integrating formation pattern under the right palm. After a while, with a clang, the sword Qi hummed. Lin Tian withdrew his right hand.
By now, all the materials had been used up. Lin Tian made three martial integrating formation pattern scrolls of the medium combat craft of body cultivation! Staring at the three finished martial integrating formation pattern scrolls, Lin Tian had a strong sense of achievement uncontrollably. He spent eleven days in total! It took him eleven days to achieve so much from a layman of formation harnessing techniques.
He deserved to be proud of himself!
Of course, he was proud only rather than complacent.
Conceit made one lag behind. He knew that well.
"I shall rest for half a day and then go to Treasure Trading Pavilion!"
Lin Tian's eyes sparkled.
It was early in the morning now. After putting away the three martial integrating formation pattern scrolls of the medium combat craft of body cultivation, Lin Tian got out of the attic and lay in bed. Having worked so hard over the past eleven days, he was so exhausted.
He didn't get up until noon.
The fierce sun was hanging in the sky. Lin Tian woke up and grabbed a bite. He put on the prepared black cloak and walked out of the Martial Institution stealthily. Without much delay, Lin Tian arrived at Treasure Trading Pavilion shortly and headed to a room in the direction of the auction hall. The door of the room wrote three words -- Treasure Appraisal Hall.
Lin Tian entered the room and saw a middle-aged man.
Now, the middle-aged man certainly saw Lin Tian. Just like the sales assistant Lin Tian met a dozen days ago, the middle-aged man was also a bit astonished to see Lin Tian's weird attire. However, compared with the sales assistant, the middle-aged man was more professional, whose eyes only glittered a bit.
"Do you have any treasure to be evaluated?"
Standing up, the middle-aged man gave a professional smile.
Lin Tian nodded, took out three scrolls of his arms and put them on the desk ahead.
The middle-aged man was a bit confused. He picked up one of the scrolls and glanced at it. Yet, the casual glance instantly made him shocked. When he turned his gaze to Lin Tian again, his eyes were full of awe, "Are you a formation master?"
- Writer
