Nightfall

Ning Que stood among the stones in the mountain and valley, feeling that aura. He clutched his chest and frowned slightly, not speaking out for a long time. And it seemed that dozens of hard-headed pebbles were stuck in his chest at this time and were about to reach the top of his throat. Blocked by those stones, he felt panicky and uncomfortable and could not say anything.

Previously, he failed to understand Mo Shanshan’s words “Stone Array Tactics are stones”. When these stones with different shapes came into his view and blocked his chest and abdomen completely, he realized that the so-called Stone Array Tactics was the uncomfortableness between his chest and abdomen. And the uncomfortableness finally changed into stones and made people unhappy.

Stones were the most common but most unusual things in the world. For thousands of years, it existed quietly in the world. Grass grew on it but was only something extrinsic. Stones could crack but was still stone afterward. Even if stones were changed into gravels after weathering, it was still the reincarnation of stone. Its body was so strong and pure as if there would never be any change within it.

Ning Que looked at tens of millions of stones stuffed in between heaven and earth. He could not help but think of Master Yan Se’s words. Pavilions and terraces would be blown apart by wind and rain, but stones kept silent and unchanged for a millennium. Stones seemed to be impure but were pure to the extreme in nature.

Everything in the world had its own aura, namely the primordial Qi. It could also apply to jade and gold. Only stone was the most silent and low-key, for its strong aura was converged deep inside its body and never emitted wantonly. So for cultivators, it was difficult to perceive the existence of stones and even more difficult to control them.

He thought that these stones had laid quietly at the bottom of the lake, in mountains and ridges for countless of years and cultivated their own aura but did not let the others know. Ning Que suddenly understood something.

According to Devil’s Doctrine’s cultivation method, one absorbed the natural aura in his body and recreated his own world inside. It was a great desecration and disrespect of the Haotian doctrine. So it was called the devil.

Were the stones in this Great Blockage Formation similar to those unpopular people using the Devil’s Doctrine cultivation method?

Wasn’t this stubbornness across heaven and earth a silent revolt towards Haotian?

…

…

When one reached the top of the talisman tactical array cultivation, he would have a sympathetic response.

Mo Shanshan was addicted to Talisman Taoism as well as tactical arrays. She felt the wonderful magic of this Great Blockage Formation and found that she suddenly seemed to have become a silent little underwater stone with a millennium of history among them.

Because of the aura of the Great Blockage Formation, exhaustion appeared on her pale cheeks. But she did not care about the pain in her body but look at her surroundings focused. She looked at those scattered rocks and thought of the hidden secrets among them intently.

Ning Que looked at her furrowed brows. He shook his head, and then said, “There is a certain attitude hidden in these stones. I think that the only person who has the guts to set up the Great Blockage Formation, could only be Great Divine Priest of Light who entered the Wilderness to preach but eventually betrayed Haotian and set up Devil’s Doctrine.”

Mo Shanshan looked up to reveal surprise and puzzledness on her beautiful and slightly round cheeks. After a short moment, she understood that since it was the Front Gate of Devil’s Doctrine, the sublime being who set up the Great Blockage Formation would, of course, have a relationship with Devil’s Doctrine.

She believed in Ning Que’s reasoning. Although she felt it somewhat regrettable that such a beautiful and magical big tactical array was created by the people in the Devil’s Doctrine, she did not consider too much and was quickly immersed in the stones in the mountain and the valley once again.

At the bottom of the lake was dry gravel and lying in the wilderness were numerous stones. Such a scene could not be called beautiful. But in the eyes of the Calligraphy Addict, they were superbly beautiful and contained a great wisdom that made her heart palpitate.

“How do we set up Stone Array Tactics in the heart?”

She watched the numerous stones lying between heaven and earth with an intoxicated expression, murmuring. “That person used thousands of acres of lake water and covered the sharpness of Stone Array Tactics with the softness of the lake water. When the cover tactical array was opened, the lake water descended naturally and the Great Blockage Formation reappeared in the world. This kind of craft is really wonderful.”

Ning Que had suffered a lot since childhood. Although he could write well, he could not make a good poem and had no aesthetic taste. In the face of stones in the mountain, he really could not see anything beautiful or some wonderful crafts. He only felt the stones in his thorax and abdomen which were about to emit from his throat. He was so uncomfortable, he was in a hurry to find ways to leave or go in. He watched Mo Shanshan’s intoxicated expression. He still interrupted her very unpleasantly, though he was somewhat unwilling to do so, “Since this big tactical array was so powerful, can we still go in?”

It was said that the Calligraphy Addict had a quiet and pure nature. But since she was a Calligraphy Addict, she completely forgot others when being addicted to something. She had even forgotten her own injuries and was not so easy to rouse. As a result, she did not hear Ning Que’s words and said sadly, “… this Great Blockage Formation was actually destroyed once. Now probably only a part of it remained. What a pity! I really want to know what it looks like when the intact Great Blockage Formation opened in those years. Is there anyone who can make it reappear in the world?”

She was very sad, but Ning Que felt somewhat happy upon listening to that. He thought they would have been dead already if not so. So he casually comforted her. “We should look for a way to go in first. In the future, you can learn more about the tactical array. It won’t be difficult for you to make it reappear.”

Mo Shanshan kept silent and no one knew what she was thinking. Her slightly thin and slender eyelashes gently winked and she opened her thin lips slightly after a short moment. She looked at Ning Que and said seriously. “Brother XIII, you’re right. There are very few people in the world who can see the Stone Array Tactics. Since I have seen and got some enlightenment, I’ll find ways to make it reappear in the world in the future. If I don’t cultivate hard, they’ll really disappear. I’ll be responsible for it then.”

Ning Que did not expect that his random sentence actually made her take the initiative to take on such a heavy responsibility. There were always intermittents for the heritage in the cultivation world. If someone could regain this magical big tactical array, it would, of course, be a good thing. But he felt somewhat worried if such an important task would affect her mental state in cultivation. So he became silent for the moment.

Suddenly he thought of a problem.

Only one part of these stones in the mountain was so powerful. How invincible were they when intact? This legendary tactical array called Stone Array Tactics could actually make Calligraphy Addict so fascinated and leave a name in the West-Hill scriptures. How could its foundation actually be destroyed? Who exactly had the ability to ruin such a big tactical array back then?

Thinking of this question, he looked at an ordinary stone in front of him. He squatted slowly and stretched out his fingers to gently strike the two mosses on the stone. As his fingertips moved, the mosses fell down, revealing the deep nicks inside it.

Those nicks were clear sword marks, covered by the lake water and mosses for decades.

Ning Que turned around and looked elsewhere. He found that there were similar line-shape mosses on some stones in this Great Blockage Formation. Presumably, there were similar sword marks under those line-shape mosses.

There were two sword marks on the stone, concise and even a bit rough. They lay on the left side and the right side, but revealed unmatched toughness. Many years later, the mosses attached to the sword marks and formed a word.

Ning Que touched them with his fingertips, feeling the residual thin aura in the sword marks. It was clear that these simple and powerful sword marks had directly destroyed the foundation of the Great Blockage Formation.

The aura in the sword marks was very familiar and close, as it was the same aura that had led him to this verdant valley a few days ago. But the latter was a lot weaker and should only be the remnant of the former.

Then he noticed that some stones’ sections were too smooth. It was obvious that they had been cut. When he found three pieces and put them together, it turned out that a piece of stone was cut into three pieces by two sword strokes.

The three pieces came together as a whole along the smooth sword marks and emitted a few floating specks of dust from the cracks. The remaining aura also became much denser.

Ning Que silently looked at the sword marks on the stones in front of him, as if once again seeing that cedar with a kind of tenacious vitality on the top of Snow-capped Peak. Accumulated snow of a thousand years could not bend it. It was proud and powerful but maintained a sense of imperiousness. It overlooked the common people but disdained the skies.

Many years ago, the aura of that person breaking the formation was very similar to that of the Great Blockage Formation. Both of them were so stubborn, unwilling and full of edges. However, they were varied in essence after a thorough examination.

The Great Divine Priest of Light, who had set up the Devil’s Doctrine a thousand years ago, had locked his unwillingness and resentfulness inside the stones when establishing the Great Blockage Formation. So the stones laid between heaven and earth in a silent posture and expressed its attitude and strength to the sky with silence and edges.

Decades ago, the aura left by the formation-breaking person’s sword marks passed on much brighter and clearer messages. Although silent, he did not bind himself and blindly enjoyed his release, so freely and easily. When he felt slightly dissatisfied, he would straighten his waist and stab the other with a sword. He did not speak out for he disdained to do so. Once he opened his mouth, he must let the whole world know.

…

…

How to set up Stone Array Tactics?

Mo Shanshan said that only a thousand acres of lake water could make it.

Ning Que looked at the sword marks on the stones and knew there were other answers many years ago.

Decades ago, still in this verdant valley, a thousand acres of lake water silently laid here.

Suddenly a gust of wind appeared and the Front Gate tactical array of Devil’s Doctrine opened, making the whole lake water empty. As the water fell down, the stones appeared.

As the stone appeared, the Stone Array Tactics also appeared across heaven and earth, blocking the worldly roads.

A scholar in turquoise robes rode on a little donkey walking on the road.

Suddenly the front road was blocked and the stones in the mountain and the valley made him unhappy and annoyed.

So he pulled out the official sword on his waist and cut this legendary Great Blockage Formation into ashes.

And then he rode a black donkey and continued to scold and walk on. With a lighted face and joyous eyes, he felt rather pleased.

How to set up Stone Array Tactics?

With the Great Spirit in his heart.

…

…

Decades later, Ning Que kneeled down in front of the sword marks on the stones and respectfully kowtowed three times.

The familiar aura on the sword marks was condensed into a mountain in his sense of perception. This mountain was high but not steep, similar to the back mountain of the academy. Suddenly, he felt a slight soreness in his eyes and infinite emotions welling in his heart.

Such a figure was really worthy of Second Brother’s lifetime of worship, for Mistress Jian to think of for the rest of her life, and for Ning Que to feel proud of from his knees to the faintly tingling top of his head.