Please call me Huanxian

Chapter 223 This Gift is a Rare Gift

Upon hearing that it was a monk from the Daning Dynasty who came to visit, the four of them did not neglect the guest and invited him into the main hall of the guest house to sit down.

They introduced themselves to each other and exchanged polite greetings.

Zhuang Yixie explained, "Like all of you, I also escorted children on a painful journey. I arrived at Donglai Market five days ago, but was stumped by a question from the Market Affairs Office. I have been delayed until now and had no choice but to hire a few market brokers to keep an eye on the monks from the Three-Story Tower who came into the market with children. I am lucky enough to have waited for a monk from our Daning Dynasty."

Take out the purple gold token to prove your identity and gain trust.

Several people already understood the other party's intention and came to them for help.

Song Shuqian asked, "Brother Zhuang, are you the only one escorting us? Where are the other companions?"

Zhuang Yixie put away the sign, smiled bitterly, and sighed, "There were six of us escorting together. After entering the Wuxian Mountain Region, we were divided into three groups. Alas, there were too many hardships. One group walked into the Sunken Wasteland and disappeared. They sent out a distress signal.

“The Sitian Palace sent people to investigate and confirmed that they were besieged by a group of monsters and were completely wiped out.

"The other group wasn't much better. They lost two children who needed care at the Solitary Tree Bridge. The two Daoists blamed each other and returned to their respective sects in anger. Now only Daoist Fellow Xue and I are left to escort them."

Song Shuqian extended his hand to offer him a cup of tea. He said that one might encounter all kinds of dangers on the road, but it was rare to see people suffer as miserably as Zhuang Daoyou and his friends.

He himself almost gave up halfway, so he had to keep going.

Nan Baolin said, "What problem did the Fangwu Pavilion give you? Can you bring it out so that we can discuss it together?"

Zhuang Yixie put down the teacup that had been used to wet his lips and asked curiously, "According to the broker's description, you two entered the Fangwu Pavilion today, and within a cup of tea, Manager Hu warmly escorted you out the door. It seems that you didn't encounter any difficulties at all?"

He took out a roll of blueprints.

Nan Baolin also guessed that it was Brother Xu who made the effort, and nodded, "We have already got the customs clearance certificate back, and we can leave at any time."

We are just casual acquaintances, there is no need to be intimate and talk about what connections we have made.

He himself is still confused.

Within the scope permitted by the rules, the towns and villages on the border of Jianshan Kingdom use strange but not too difficult problems to delay the journey of monks from other dynasties for up to twenty days. This is a kind of training that is tacitly accepted by the ancestral holy land.

When the time comes, the market will stamp and sign the pass.

It is said that failure to pass the "hardening" will have an impact on the results of the training, and no one can say for sure.

You cannot seek help from the sect yet, otherwise you will not be able to pass the ancestral temple's self-examination in the future. However, it is okay to ask for help from other monks who are on the same arduous path.

Zhuang Yixie spread out the rice paper on the table, which was a scroll with densely drawn battle formation diagrams.

Song Shuqian frowned and asked, "Fellow Daoist Zhuang, are you proficient in formations?"

With such a complicated battle formation, there was no need for him and Lao Nan to get involved.

It all depends on the methods of the formation master Meng Caiqin, but they have never been able to see through Brother Xu's abilities.

Zhuang Yixie observed the expressions of the others and said, "I only know the basics of formations. Fellow Daoist Xue who is with me is good at formations. The Fangwu Pavilion gave us five questions at that time, namely, weapons, pills, talismans, formations, and plants, for us to choose from. After discussion, we chose this formation question.

"Who would have thought that it was a calculation problem to fill in the incomplete formation diagram of the 'Jiaoxiu' of the Seven Stars of the Eastern Blue Dragon in the 'Twenty-Eight Constellations Forbidden God Formation'. It was too cunning. This problem alone would not exceed the third level of difficulty, but it belongs to the category of the fifth level formation.

"Fellow Daoist Xue has been calculating day and night these days, but there is still little progress. I can only think of ways to seek help from other fellow Daoists and try to leave as soon as possible."

Xu Yuanchang glanced at the dazzlingly complex formation diagram and found that it was quite similar to the formation diagram that Zhao Jun asked him to calculate. It seemed to be from the same source. By combining the Nine Palaces, number arrays, and number series, he could quickly find the traps, identify the wrong numbers and correct them. Subsequent calculations were not difficult for him.

He is already very experienced.

From overhearing the conversation between Song Shuqian and Zhuang Yixie, I learned that Zhuang Yixie was working in the Dao Palace of Yuanyang County.

He had an idea. The descendants of the Zhushan Chang family, whom Elder Chang had asked him to find, were located in Yuanyang County.

Taking out a pen and paper, Xu Yuanchang used his own unique method to organize the array diagram into the nine palaces, number arrays, number series, matrices and linear equations. He deliberately used some variations of worm script and cloud seal script as symbols to deceive people.

Try to complicate simple things and mystify complex things.

The truth is not easily passed on, and art is not sold at a low price.

Always be on guard against others.

The hall was completely silent, and everyone tiptoed around to watch Master Xu's performance.

Song Shuqian recognized the meaning of a few worm-script and cloud-script symbols, representing the Five Elements and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, but he could not understand the others. Those crooked tadpole characters were too profound and mysterious.

I was immediately filled with awe. Although we were both Taoists, he was really inferior to me.

Meng Caiqin pulled Nan Baolin, who had a confused look in his eyes, aside and said, "If you don't understand, don't take up a good spot."

She was surprised but also felt it was natural. Fellow Daoist Xu was truly omnipotent. He could even directly figure out the incomplete battle formation diagram which was so complicated that she couldn't figure it out for a while.

Think about how along the way, Brother Xu humbly said that he didn't understand the formation and asked her to do more work.

No wonder Miss Xianfeng always says “The young master is so bad”.

It turns out that he is a bad guy who likes to harm his own people.

She recognized the arrangement of the nine palaces, number arrays, and number series, but they were quite different from what she knew. She couldn't understand the overall calculation ideas. Moreover, Brother Xu wrote like a god and had already written half a page in a flash. Didn't he need to think or deduce at all?
Xu Yuanchang spent two quarters of an hour finding the two erroneous numbers on the formation diagram and directly marked them on the diagram in small letters to correct them.

He seemed to have eyes behind his back and noticed the surprise on Zhuang Yixie's face.

It seems that Fellow Daoist Xue, who worked day and night, also found these two mistakes. I wonder how much time it took him?
Xu Yuanchang put down his brush, put a few sheets of manuscript paper into his bag, rubbed his wrist, and said, "I am itching to see the prey. I will make you laugh at me, but I will show you my ugliness. I will show you my ugliness."

Zhuang Yixie clasped his fists and pleaded, "Fellow Daoist Xu, could you spare five days to help me complete the calculation of the formation diagram? I am willing to give you a crystal stone as a reward, and I will definitely repay you in the future."

He showed his sincerity, a crystal stone worth ten thousand coins and a favor.

It is impossible to ask for help without any words. An expert can tell whether there is any help or not by just extending a hand. He immediately placed his hopes on the mysterious Xu Daoyou, and he could use his resources to make friends with capable people, which was a good thing that killed two birds with one stone.

Xu Yuanchang replied, "You are too polite, Mr. Zhuang. I need to discuss the next itinerary with my companions first."

It is only natural to get paid for hard work, and there is no need to be embarrassed about talking about money.

He could earn tens of thousands of coins by solving a formation diagram, and he hoped that there would be more such good things.

As your cultivation level improves, making money becomes easier.

Meng Caiqin said firmly: "Yiyi and I will stay and wait for you for five days so as not to delay the journey later." She added with a sly smile: "You have to let me help you calculate the formation diagram together. I won't give you a single spirit coin as compensation."

Her purpose was obvious: she wanted to steal someone else's skills blatantly.

Song Shuqian laughed and said, "I am alone and I am not afraid of wasting time. I must stay to accompany Brother Xu. If Brother Xu insists on giving me half of the reward, I can only accept it with reluctance."

Nan Baolin replied, "There is such a good thing. Count me in and the other half of the reward will be mine."

Meng Caiqin scolded with a smile: "You two should stop causing trouble and making Fellow Daoist Zhuang laugh."

Zhuang Yixie was very envious of the harmony between the four of them.

There were twelve of them when they set out, full of high spirits. However, before they had completed half of the hard journey, more than half of them were killed, and two of them turned against each other and ran away. Only four of them were left stranded in Donglai Market, feeling gloomy and depressed.

Xu Yuanchang laughed and agreed to Meng Caiqin's small condition, saying: "Brother Daoist Meng, it's exactly what I want, you two... go wherever you want, don't interfere with the business between me and Brother Daoist Meng."

This caused a round of laughter and scolding from the two men, and the matter was settled like that.

Nan Baolin and Song Shuqian accompanied Zhuang Yixie in the hall to drink tea and chat. When they talked about friends they were familiar with, the politeness and awkwardness gradually disappeared and the atmosphere became harmonious and close. They were all sociable and cheerful people, and they talked a lot afterwards, feeling that they had met too late.

Xu Yuanchang and Meng Caiqin moved to the side hall. They needed a quiet environment to calculate the formation diagram.

Three children were studying or playing in the backyard, looked after by Liu Xianfeng.

By the time it was getting dark, Xu Yuanchang had already finished half of the calculation, but he didn't write it all down. According to his estimate, it would take at most two days, so why would it take five days?

Time is precious and he can't stay here too long.

Meng Caiqin, who was left to learn from others, was in the side hall, facing a pile of manuscript paper and a battle formation diagram with 30% of the correct results filled in, thinking hard, writing, drawing, and calculating repeatedly.

When I passed the hall, it was empty.

When they arrived at the backyard, Liu Xianfeng said that Nan Baolin and the other two had gone to the street to drink, and would bring back food for the little ones later.

Nan Wenxiu was reading a book in the pavilion, shaking his head, while Meng Yiyi was in the room with the door closed, doing something unknown.

Zeng Shanlang practiced the boxing and body movements of Xuanjishu tirelessly. Each move was a combination of hardness and softness, and he fought with great vigor and vitality. After finishing a set of moves, he put away his fists and bowed to the Taoist priest to ask for advice.

Xu Yuanchang then asked the young man to practice the thirteen moves of Xuanji swordsmanship, and according to the set of words recorded in the jade slips left by Zeng Wanglou, he instructed him that in order to achieve "rotating the two poles, and being soft, steady and agile", he must practice the basics hard, first being able to "control the release and retract the fist and sword freely", and then seeking change and innovation, and so on.

At present he can still give some "guidance", but later he will let the boy figure it out on his own.

Being the future master, he felt both a headache and a relief.

He himself doesn't know the secrets of martial arts.

The few skills that he is good at are difficult for the child to learn, which makes him anxious, so he just lets things take their course.

The next evening, Xu Yuanchang put down his brush, pounded his back and rubbed his forehead, and seemed to be "exhausting" his brain and energy. He explained to Meng Caiqin who was copying the formation diagram: "I have solved similar formation diagrams before, and it took a lot of effort. Otherwise, it would have taken a few more days."

Meng Caiqin copied for herself a complex and incomplete formation diagram and all of Daoyou Xu's algorithmic steps.

She could understand some of it and leave it for later to slowly ponder and verify.

Stealing someone's skills in person can only be done when the two people are familiar with each other and have the other party's tacit consent.

Meng Caiqin was in a good mood and laughed as she revealed:

"I remember someone once said, don't understand the formation?"

"Someone studied for a while, but unfortunately, due to other reasons, he could not become a formation master, so he gave up."

Xu Yuanchang walked towards the door and said, "Later, I learned to become a formation breaker. It's always good to have one more skill."

Meng Caiqin was surprised and then realized that he was following the path of a formation-breaking master.

It's normal that she can't understand some of the calculations.

The array breaker specializes in the art of breaking calculations and has an advantage over the formation master in this respect.

She has no prejudice against the Formation Breaker, and they can strengthen communication in the future.

The two of them came to the main hall, where Zhuang Yixie was also there. He was surprised when he got the solved formation diagram.

He spread it out on the table and looked at it for a while, then said "Please wait a moment", hurried out of the door and sent a message, asking his companions to come and check whether the solved formation diagram was correct. This matter was related to the success or failure of the hard work, and he could not afford to be careless.

After a cup of tea, a woman in blue walked into the open door of the guest house.

"celery!"

"Silly Ni!"

The woman in blue and Meng Caiqin called out each other's nicknames at the same time.

Meng Caiqin smiled happily, walked up to the woman and rolled her eyes, saying, "Didn't you say you wouldn't participate in the Kuxin Road training? Now that I've caught you in the act, how can you still argue? I didn't expect you to be such a Xue Chunni. I misjudged you."

The blue-clothed woman had very thin lips, and she sneered, "Do you think I want to waste time on a boring road, rushing on the road foolishly? It's because no one came, so my family asked me to take the blame."

The woman's eyes were full of suspicion. She looked Meng Caiqin up and down, and her tone was full of serious distrust: "In less than two days, Meng Caiqin, can you solve the 'Jiao Su' residual formation diagram? I will write the word Xue upside down."

"Ha, you've hit a wall but you won't turn back. Today I'll let you see how powerful I am."

Meng Caiqin changed her usual calm temperament and took on a lot of responsibilities in front of her friend. She winked at the smiling Xu Daoyou. She was going to set a trap for her friend.

Zhuang Yixie interrupted and shouted, "So you two know each other. If I had asked Fellow Daoist Xue to come forward, I wouldn't have to spend an extra crystal stone..."

Nan Baolin interrupted with a laugh, "Brother Zhuang, it's too late for you to regret. You've made the purchase and you won't be owed on credit. Caiqin, why don't you invite your friend into the hall to sit down and have some tea."

After two days, the three monks with similar personalities had become very familiar with each other.

Of course he couldn't let Zhuang Yixie ruin the show.

Meng Caiqin took the woman in green and introduced her with a smile: "Xue Chunni, my friend."

After introducing Nan Baolin and the other two, they walked into the hall. Meng Caiqin slapped the solved formation diagram in front of her friend with great momentum and said, "Silly Ni, write your character Xue upside down."

Aren’t friends meant to be played with for fun?
The woman in green took out a pen and paper, stared at the formation diagram with a frown, and immersed herself in calculating the numbers she filled in.

Zhuang Yixie enthusiastically took the initiative and said, "Have some tea, have some tea. Thank you for your hard work, Brother Xu. We are both disciples of the Taoist school. I have not yet asked Brother Xu which Taoist temple he practices in? I am a monk from the Dengxian Temple."

Xu Yuanchang had a sincere smile on his face. He had a connection with Dengxian Temple and had made the acquaintance of a Taoist priest from Dengxian Temple. However, he should not be stingy with the reward he deserved. He said, "I am a casual cultivator and currently work as a monster catcher in Qingping County. If you have time in the future, Taoist Zhuang will be in Qingping County when he travels there. Please say hello to me. I will accompany you and show my hospitality."

"sure."

Zhuang Yi smiled and said politely: "Friend Xu, if you arrive in Yuanyang County in the future, you must let me know."

They talked, drank tea, and exchanged ideas, it was quite lively.

Half an hour later, the woman in green put down her brush and looked at Meng Caiqin in shock.

"That's impossible. How can you calculate so quickly? Have you learned from Master Zhong before? Or have you seen the complete formation diagram?"

"Xue Chunni, you can doubt my character, but you can't doubt my level of formation skills. Are you convinced? Remember to call me Senior Sister from now on."

"Senior Sister Meng, please teach me the process of deduction. There are too many traps in this formation. How did you crack it?"

"Master Zhong said you are too stupid. You want to run before you learn to walk. Wait until you have a solid foundation."

As a senior sister, Meng Caiqin cherishes the hard-won opportunity to show off and teach her friends a lesson.

As for how long the paper can cover the fire, that depends on how long it is.

The woman in green did not retaliate, but kept asking her various questions with an open mind, as if she would not leave if she was not taught. She was determined to stay there.

Zhuang Yixie readily took out a crystal stone and handed it to Xu Yuanchang.

The trouble is solved, I feel relaxed and can finally set off tomorrow.

Xu Yuanchang made a special trip to Jiyue Tower and took out a pair of spiritual wood vases he brought out from the Huajian Secret Realm as a gift to thank the shopkeeper Jiang Quan for his generous help.

Jiang Quan had never seen such an exquisite and unique bottle. The material was thousand-year-old jujube wood, and the carving was exquisite, but it turned out to be a magical instrument that was a waste of resources. Which prodigal son was so generous that he could make such a bottle?

When I heard that the pair of bottles came from a foreign land in the flower world and was obtained by Brother Xu by chance.

Suddenly I felt different.

Scarcity makes things valuable, and he couldn't refuse this gift.

Whether you display it for yourself or give it as a gift to your elders, it is a unique treasure.

This brother is particular about people.

……

(End of this chapter)