Chapter 2696 - 2688: Not a Mild Temper

Chapter 2696: Chapter 2688: Not a Mild Temper

Elder Dianjing waited willingly, but Yi Jue didn’t want to be too rude. Although she wasn’t very adept at social etiquette, Elder Dianjing was not only famous, but also about fourteen hundred years older than her.

Yi Jue didn’t care much about people just older than her, but the other party, like her, is someone with outstanding achievements in specific fields; even out of mutual admiration, she felt it necessary to respect such a senior.

Elder Dianjing is quite straightforward in his actions. Seeing Yi Jue and Feng Jun come out, without any preamble, he directly spoke up, "Where’s the new modified array diagram? Let me have a look."

Feng Jun pursed his lips, glanced at him suspiciously, thinking to himself, not even a greeting... where are your manners?

Elder Cang Jing knew his temperament, and promptly explained, "Elder Dianjing is passionate about formations and not adept at social interactions."

The disciples of the Formation Path pursed their lips wryly; having their elder evaluated this way really felt a bit awkward, but there was no choice, Cang Jing was also an elder, and... no one wanted any conflict with White Pebble Beach.

Elder Dianjing paused for a bit, then raised his hand in a half-hearted salute, "Greetings to you both, fellow cultivators... is the array diagram impressive?"

Well, Feng Jun was at a loss too. He had seen numerous professionals like this and knew that such a approach was not intentional. Moreover... he was truly a senior; if he were a junior, Feng Jun might have fussed, but he’d overlook things for a senior.

So he took out the modified formation, handed it to Yi Jue, and softly reminded, "Discuss the benefit issues for me."

He didn’t want much communication with this person, not just because he ignored etiquette, but because he knew the quirks of such people. If he insisted on contesting, he might be seen as "provoking" by the other party.

It’s predictable what a high-ranking, rigid cultivator might do if they feel provoked by a junior.

To ensure smooth communication between both parties, he decided not to take the risk.

Of course, his words were also a subtle indication: I don’t really like this person’s behavior habits.

However, Elder Dianjing didn’t bother thinking so much—not that he didn’t understand thinking but he’s too lazy to do so. He bluntly expressed, "Benefit issues... what’s the big deal? Let’s discuss the formation first."

Several disciples of the Formation Path rolled their eyes collectively. While Elder Dianjing is remarkable, his style is also unparalleled.

Yi Jue didn’t care about these—she too wasn’t accustomed to such formalities. She took the formation Feng Jun handed over, glanced at it herself, and then paused, "Oh? Such significant modifications again... I’ll deduce it first."

She had just taken out the signing chips when Elder Dianjing grew anxious, "Don’t, let’s look at it together. What’s the point of deducing alone?"

"Oh?" Yi Jue paused, handing over the array diagram, "Then let’s view it together, don’t block the way!"

That’s how the communication between two socially inept individuals unfolded.

Witnessing this, Feng Jun couldn’t help but roll his eyes, but knowing Yi Jue genuinely liked handling things this way, he didn’t fuss about it... do as you please, I’ll simply watch from the sidelines.

Right afterward, Elder Dianjing quipped, "Though there are many changes, the ideas are excellent... the design really spoils it."

The disciples of Formation Path, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but glance at Feng Jun—they were aware of his bad temper.

Feng Jun silently looked up at the sky—faced with individuals like this, what could he do?

However, Elder Dianjing isn’t just a critic—he was prompted to complain due to the poor design of the array, otherwise, he’d speak less even if the design needed criticism.

Then, his eyes brightened, pointing at a specific point, "This modification... what’s the rationale behind it?"

Feng Jun didn’t want to engage, but Yi Jue reprimanded, "You’re blocking me, move your hand!"

Other cultivators struggled to suppress their laughs, looking at the surrounding crowd: is this... the communication among geniuses?

Elder Dianjing instinctively withdrew his hand and looked at Feng Jun—he at least knew the array diagram came from him, "You’re Feng Xiaoyou, right? What’s the thought behind this design?"

You’re only realizing I’m Feng Xiaoyou now? Feng Jun felt indescribable at this moment, but fortunately, the question was posed reasonably. He pondered before responding, "It should be... the circuit for energy dissipation and recycling."

This was the Guardian’s improvement idea. In fact, techniques for energy recovery and reuse have only recently emerged in the Earth Realm. He observed and applied them dynamically; even the Jing Ling of Mars hadn’t considered this.

Elder Dianjing paused, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, "This is... calculated so finely?"

Although this term is somewhat novel, everyone understood its meaning roughly just by hearing it, and someone couldn’t help but mutter softly, "Recycle? Is this picking up rags?"

It’s really not intentional mockery; the cultivators in this realm have such simple cognition—so many good things, what is there to recycle?

Items used by high-rank practitioners can be picked up and used by lower-level cultivators, items used by lower-level cultivators can be picked up and used by mortals, rags are not really waste, they just lower the level of usage, but cultivators above Golden Core rarely use others’ leftovers.

But upon hearing this, before the formation path’s cultivators could speak, the true immortal from the artifact refining path was the first to object, "What nonsense are you talking about? You can still extract good things from rags; our artifact refining path is precisely good at this."

To be honest, it’s really the artifact refining path. Of all the practitioners in Tianqin, only those of this type have a deep understanding of material recycling.

"Don’t speak if you don’t understand," Elder Dianjing also chimed in, "Energy recycling will be a system, adding this step is indeed a clever idea because it allows energy to be recycled multiple times... however, the design methods really don’t reveal the true purpose."

Another critique... Feng Jun didn’t even have the interest to roll his eyes anymore and just lit a cigarette on his own—say whatever you want, as long as you’re happy.

Elder Dianjing didn’t let him wait long. After pondering for about ten seconds, he raised the next question, "What’s going on here?"

"Can you not point randomly?" The response came from Yi Jue’s impatient voice, Feng Jun didn’t utter a sound.

Elder Dianjing casually glanced at her, paid no mind, and then looked towards Feng Jun, "Would you kindly explain a bit, Feng Xiaoyou?"

Feng Jun nodded, exhaled a smoke ring, then slowly expressed, "I can certainly explain, but when you’re commenting, could you not criticize the design methods continually? I’m amateurish at formation design; there’s no need to repeat it over and over, right?"

Upon hearing his words, Elder Dianjing was taken aback and instinctively responded, "You design it poorly, and others can’t mention it? It’s really a betrayal of this ingenious idea."

"I am indeed good at conceptualizing," Feng Jun rolled his eyes again, not wanting to speak further with this fellow. He understood the other’s feelings, like being harsh with someone who has potential, but... I’m not your anything, nor am I addicted to abuse.

It was like Elder Dianjing didn’t hear him, paused for half a minute, and seeing Feng Jun say nothing, turned his head and stared directly at him.

Feng Jun really wanted to meet his gaze, but thinking of this person’s temperament, he couldn’t bother, so he puffed his cigarette, eyes looking around but deliberately not at the formation path’s elder.

Elder Dianjing stared at him for about ten seconds, then unexpectedly burst into an amused laugh, "Annoyed at my scolding? Xiaoyou has quite the temper."

Feng Jun replied expressionlessly, "Even my sect seniors wouldn’t scold me without reason."

That’s merely your sect elders! Elder Dianjing felt a bit disdainful in his heart; he had high self-regard. But recalling the admonishments during their trip, he found it somewhat amusing and chuckled as he replied, "I scold you because you did poorly; is this without reason?"

"It is," Feng Jun nodded decisively with self-assurance, "Let me emphasize again; I’m not proficient in formations, I’m good at ideas. Since this is an exchange, it’s about learning from each other’s strengths, absorbing others’ strengths to compensate for one’s weaknesses..."

"Why doesn’t the senior consider compensating for his own weaknesses but instead keeps staring at others’ weaknesses? What kind of mindset is this?"

"Uh," Elder Dianjing was momentarily at a loss for words; he hadn’t contemplated this question before. He had scolded countless people in the formation path; even the path master avoided him when possible, so he believed he had the right to reprimand anyone who studied formations.

Of course, he wasn’t trying to elevate himself by belittling others—he truly didn’t need to use such methods to elevate himself.

His intention was to enhance others’ levels as much as possible by reprimanding, and how much the person could comprehend was up to them—in reality, for earnest array masters, his reprimand was more useful than teaching.

Even outside the formation path, after being reprimanded by him, array masters would often feel grateful—being reprimanded by Elder Dianjing significantly improved their level and was in itself an honor.

So he didn’t have ill intentions in reprimanding Feng Jun, not even real criticism, just complaints—honestly, the other’s clumsy formation skills didn’t merit his criticism.

Upon hearing the other’s righteous statement, he was initially stunned, then casually nodded, "Alright, I get it, let’s continue the previous topic."

He truly didn’t intend to apologize—he just didn’t have that awareness. To him, nothing besides formations was worth noticing.

You dislike my comments? Then I won’t comment; you’re not my disciple, why should I care about good or bad?

But Feng Jun saw his nonchalant response, knowing this guy wasn’t taking it to heart, and at the moment, it was both irritating and amusing—such scholar-type talents... interacting with them is really challenging, neither seriousness nor laxity works.

"That’s the energy leakage curvature channel, which can effectively enhance the contact area of the transformed energy... Elder Dianjing, if you continue to reprimand my inadequacies in formation design, I will also critique your ideas."