Chapter 113: Reflection

Wen Xu was in no hurry to enter the Back Mountain Secret Realm to cultivate. His master had said that one’s first entry into the Back Mountain Secret Realm yielded the greatest benefits. Having only recently reached Foundation Establishment, his cultivation was stable, but he was still adjusting to his techniques and sword forms. Thus, he had been focusing primarily on practicing the sword lately.

Indeed, Wen Xu had resolved to practice the sword in earnest. Although the Stacked Array Technique was excellent, there was no denying it was too easy for opponents to exploit. He was trying to improve it, of course, but that was not something that could be achieved overnight. Most importantly, after reaching Foundation Establishment, his horizons had suddenly broadened. His life no longer consisted solely of seeking revenge after reaching Golden Core; there were also the Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, and even Body Integration and Tribulation Transcendence stages that lay beyond.

He had a very long life ahead of him. A mortal’s lifespan was a mere century, whereas he now possessed two hundred years of life. Wen Xu could clearly feel that he was no longer the person he used to be.

When he was in the Mortal Realm, he had studied and sought official rank with desperate urgency, wanting to fulfill his adoptive father’s expectations. Before his adoptive father passed away, he had never once thought about how he would live his own life after passing the imperial examinations. Similarly, after arriving in the cultivation world, he had quickly found a goal to strive toward: he wanted to reach Golden Core as soon as possible and return to the Mortal Realm for revenge.

But what about after that? Wen Xu had never thought about it before, but now, he began to.

“Hurry, hurry, hurry! It’s my turn, my turn!”

Chen Zui carried his saber on his back. His hair and beard had grown long again; without Bian Chunzhou to nag him, he was always too lazy to groom himself. Having just stepped off the flying sword, his beard and eyebrows were blown into a complete mess, making him look like a vagrant who hadn’t bathed in a year. He brushed at himself with rare distaste. “No one is fighting you for it. You were clearly the one who pushed me onto it just now.”

Bian Chunzhou was already stepping onto the flying sword. “I’m not listening, I’m not listening! Wen Xuxu, let’s go!”

How should one put it? With Wen Xu, a “blind man,” steering the sword, it was a case of one being brave enough to fly and the other brave enough to ride. After two large laps around an unnamed, desolate peak on Yonglu Mountain, Wen Xu’s spiritual energy was already half depleted.

Flying on a sword consumed far more spiritual energy than he had imagined. Carrying passengers did not actually make much of a difference, but since he had only just learned to fly, carrying two people was a bit of a strain. Of course, Foundation Establishment cultivators could fly through the air, and swords were merely the most common vehicle. In truth, there were all sorts of options. Conventional ones included sabers, weapons, hairpins, and the like, while unconventional ones included… wine gourds, leaves, cutting boards, and so on. It was said that some culinary cultivators even traveled by flying in giant woks.

Thanks to his spiritual root, Wen Xu could already ride the wind at the Foundation Establishment Stage. However, because he had to draw force out of thin air, it consumed more than twice the spiritual energy of flying on a sword.

“What’s wrong? Is it that I’m…”

Bian Chunzhou covered his mouth and shook his head. “How should I put it? Wen Xuxu, you’re so reliable. Ever since we met in the Poyun Secret Realm, I’ve suddenly felt this… well, this sense of gratification, like watching my own son finally grow up.”

Wen Xu had noticed that Chunzhou loved playing the father figure and never grew tired of it. “I’m older than both you and Chen Zui.”

Bian Chunzhou immediately pouted. “It’s only by a few months. Don’t sweat the details.” Speaking of which, his hands began to itch again. He really couldn’t be blamed; Chen Zui’s hair and beard were simply too wild. If Chen Zui were to go out adventuring alone in the future, they might not even recognize him if they met face-to-face.

“Impossible. Even if you don’t recognize me, I’ll definitely recognize you.” Chen Zui had taken a liking to thinking lately, and he spoke with sound reasoning.

But how should one put it? Seeing him like this made both Bian Chunzhou and Wen Xu feel very uncomfortable. The former found it incredibly… awkward, while the latter purely regretted speaking up in the first place.

“What if I disguise myself?”

Chen Zui thought for a moment. “If you use spiritual energy, I’ll be able to recognize you.”

Bian Chunzhou was astonished. “You can already distinguish other people’s spiritual energy? Wasn’t it said that for a cultivator to develop a divine sense capable of clearly distinguishing another’s spiritual energy, they had to be at least at the Nascent Soul stage?”

Chen Zui shook his head. “Of your spiritual energies, one is water and fire, and the other is wind. You won’t find another pair like that on the entirety of Yonglu Mountain. Do I even need to distinguish them?”

Wen Xu & Bian Chunzhou: Is it our fault for having unusual spiritual roots?!

“Besides, he always keeps his eyes covered. The entire cultivation world is about to find out that Yonglu Mountain’s Little Grand-Uncle Master is a blind man with a blindfold. When you two go out in the future, you’ll definitely be easier to recognize than me.” Chen Zui thought to himself, I’m actually the one who’s easiest to disguise.

“I can take it off,” Wen Xu suddenly said. “The blindfold is only to let others know that I cannot see.”

Chen Zui had a sudden realization. “Oh, I see. In that case, you’re still very easy to recognize.”

Bian Chunzhou finally couldn’t take it anymore and asked, “Is this what you’ve been spending your time thinking about lately?”

“Of course not just this. I also thought about…” Chen Zui rattled on, speaking at length for once. “That’s about it. I’m very good at thinking now, aren’t I?”

Wen Xu: I hate my big mouth!

“Hahaha, please stop! Wen Xuxu is about to fly away on his sword just to escape you!” Bian Chunzhou slapped his thigh, tears practically spurting from his eyes. “Tell you what, I’ll give you an arithmetic problem. If you solve it, I’ll admit you’re good at thinking.”

Chen Zui took the bait immediately. “Go ahead.”

Bian Chunzhou immediately posed a classic, simple chicken-and-rabbit problem^[1]. “Alright, my Gongshang Bistro recently added spicy diced rabbit and spicy diced chicken to the menu. Since the ingredients require rabbits and chickens, I placed a daily delivery order with the Breeding Peak. They are delivered in a single cage. There are thirty-five heads at the top, and ninety-four feet at the bottom. So, here is the question: how many rabbits and how many chickens are there in total?”

Chen Zui: Slowly breaking down.jpg

“What kind of question is this? What’s the point? Wouldn’t it be easier to just open the cage and count them? Why do you have to…”

Bian Chunzhou snorted softly. “Wen Xuxu, your turn.”

“It’s simple. There are twelve rabbits and twenty-three chickens in total.” Wen Xu was not particularly proficient in arithmetic, but simple calculations were no problem for him. After all, arithmetic was part of the imperial examinations.

“Ding! Correct, though unfortunately there is no prize.” Bian Chunzhou reached out and poked his friend surnamed Chen, who was already halfway to a mental breakdown. “See? Using your brain isn’t the same as observing. Thinking allows you to bypass the step of physical observation.”

Chen Zui blinked hard. “How did you calculate that?”

He couldn’t help but count it out on the ground using a brute-force method, only to find that it was actually correct. So this is what thinking is? But this was far too difficult. If this was the only way to advance to Foundation Establishment, he would never be able to reach it in his entire life.

Chen Zui stared at the saber leaning against the table, then suddenly remembered. “Were you trying to say the other day that thinking isn’t my strong suit?”

Wen Xu covered his face. “…You finally realized.”

“Then what should I do?” Chen Zui thought about it gloomily. In the end, he picked up his saber and walked away. “Whatever. I’m going to practice my saber to cool my head. You two keep playing with the flying sword.”

With that, he walked away.

Bian Chunzhou couldn’t help but sigh. “Do you think he’ll still be thinking about that chicken-and-rabbit problem before he cultivates tonight? And when he can’t figure it out, he’ll curse me for being crazy?”

Wen Xu silently took a sip of the spiritual spring water on the table. “He will only curse you, not me.”

“Aiya, look at you, Wen Xuxu! You’ve actually gone bad too!” Bian Chunzhou stood up with a clap of hands. “I don’t care. We’re good friends, aren’t we supposed to share our troubles?”

Speaking of sharing troubles, a flash of helplessness crossed Wen Xu’s face. Ever since Sect Master Gu had “filially presented” the Shadow Retention Stone from the Five Sects Conference secret realm tournament to his master, his master had become completely obsessed with watching Divine Venerable Wushan’s… well, those who knew understood. Not only that, but his master insisted on dragging him along to watch it together. Wen Xu valued his dignity highly. After being forced to watch it a few times, he finally couldn’t take it anymore and decided to hide in the Back Mountain Secret Realm.

How should one put it? If Divine Venerable Wushan ever found out, he would probably carry his sword up Yonglu Mountain himself to fight his master to the death.

“Wen Xuxu, what are you thinking about? You look so conflicted.”

Wen Xu touched his face, trying to calm his expression. “Nothing. What have you been busy with lately?”

“Your way of changing the subject is so clumsy,” Bian Chunzhou chuckled. “You know I have a Water-Fire Spiritual Root, so I’m in no hurry to reach Foundation Establishment. The experiences of those who came before don’t really apply to me, which is why I’ve been working on a Base Station for Transmission Talismans lately.”

“A Base Station? What does that mean?”

Bian Chunzhou had actually had this idea for a long time, but he had been too short on Spirit Stones to do anything about it until now. “Back when we took our first mission and Chen Zuizui and I were trapped in Biyu Tower, I thought to myself: I want to make a Transmission Talisman that won’t be affected by formations or cultivation levels. As long as I’m on the Hengze Continent, even if I’m trapped in a barrier set up by a Nascent Soul True Monarch, I’ll still be able to send out a Transmission Talisman to call for help.”

Wen Xu didn’t study talismans, but he knew without a second thought that this would be difficult, perhaps even extremely so.

“Of course I know it’s hard. If I only rely on talismans, bypassing the barriers of cultivation level would be as difficult as ascending to heaven unless I use rare, precious materials. So I thought, why not build a Base Station? Look at this…”

Bian Chunzhou’s idea was simple. A Transmission Talisman was like a disposable cell phone. Modern cell phone communication relied on wireless electromagnetic waves, which could be strong or weak depending on terrain and weather. But with a base station, the signal would be boosted. By the same logic, Transmission Talismans could work the same way.

His initial idea was to ask his master, Daoist Ruoshui, to use Yonglu Mountain as the center to set up a pilot project. This would, of course, burn through a lot of Spirit Stones, but how could anyone run experiments without consuming materials? Fortunately, his hotpot restaurant was making a good profit, which was just enough to sustain the initial trials.

“I see. Your Base Station actually borrows your master’s Soul Transformation cultivation level to temporarily send the Transmission Talisman out.”

Bian Chunzhou nodded, then shook his head. “Yes and no. It is borrowing power, but my ideal state is to borrow it perfectly, not just get a temporary, unstable signal.”

It did indeed sound extremely difficult. “So, is there anything I can do to help?”

“Actually, yes. Now that you’ve reached Foundation Establishment, you can trap me first, and I’ll see if I can send a…” Bian Chunzhou pulled out his prototype. “Who should I call for help? I get the feeling Chen Zuizui won’t be talking to me anytime soon.”

Bian Chunzhou had plenty of good friends in the sect, but he had his pride, too. Besides, secrets lead to success^[2]; if he publicized it before the thing was even built, it would only make things harder.

He preferred to keep a low profile and make his fortune quietly, so: “I’ve got it! I can call Lin Congcong for help! He’ll definitely think I’m just playing a prank on him!”

Wen Xu: …Why do I remember the two of you getting along pretty well?