Chapter 264: Bamboo Slips Formation
Translator: GodBrandy Editor: Kurisu
Nowadays, posts inside group chats needed to have clickbait titles and good introductions to pique someone’s interest.
And since this news satisfied the mentioned above conditions, Lu Tianyou became curious and clicked the link.
Then, he saw a row of pictures.
These pictures portrayed a logistics company transporting some vehicles. Altogether, there were nine trucks transporting cars. On each of these trucks were five cars with different models and brands. The pictures were very clear; therefore, you could see that those cars were all luxury cars.
However, these luxury cars weren’t the most eye-catching thing. Unexpectedly, three trucks were carrying a flashy hand-guided tractor, a small excavator, and a heavy bulldozer.
These three vehicles really stood out of from the rest and were very dazzling to the eye.
There was also a simple description attached to this news. From the look of it, these luxury cars were just disposable goods bought by a mysterious man in the Jiangnan area. And amongst them, there were also those hand-guided tractor, excavator, and bulldozer...
Lu Tianyou was temporarily at a loss. Then, he immediately thought of Song Shuhang’s hand-guided tractor and all those certificates of roadworthiness that fell on the ground when the tractor overturned.
"What a pity, they already have an investor!" Lu Tianyou secretly heaved a sigh.
It seemed that this mysterious investor bought that hand-guided tractor and the luxury cars so that Song Shuhang and his friend could further develop this technology by testing it on those vehicles...
As they said, knowledge is power. Science and technology are indeed a huge source of wealth!
Lu Tianyou secretly put his phone away. He thought that it would be better not to tell his father about this. Otherwise, Old Lu might get depressed and lock himself up in his room, refusing to come out.
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Behind Song Shuhang’s house, in a small bamboo grove. It was Papa Song that had brought these water bamboos here from the mountains. A few years ago, Papa Song would happily come here every day to prune and take care of these water bamboos.
But after a while, he got bored and decided to let things run their course. Luckily, these water bamboos were very tenacious and beautifully grew even without someone taking care of them.
"Which one should I chop?" Song Shuhang asked. He was very curious as to how Soft Feather was planning to turn these ordinary bamboos into a defensive formation.
"Let me see." Soft Feather closed her eyes, and when she opened them a second later, her pupils were shining like diamonds.
Is this a spell? Or maybe it’s the innate skill of her Eye Aperture? Or perhaps it’s the power of her ‘contact lenses’?
After gazing at the grove for a while, Soft Feather pointed at a luxuriant bamboo and said, "That’s the one. That bamboo has the highest amount of wood-type energy!"
Song Shuhang nodded and raised Broken Tyrant. Afterward, he slashed once and cut the bamboo down.
"What now?" Song Shuhang asked.
Soft Feather said, "Senior, give me the saber."
Song Shuhang passed Broken Tyrant to her—this blade was the best treasure of the Moon Saber Sect. But after Song Shuhang took it, it had been reduced to a tool used to cut green onions and bamboos… it seemed it was being treated as an ordinary kitchen knife these days.
Soft Feather took Broken Tyrant and quickly slashed.
"Swish, swish, swish!" Saber light flashed, and the twigs of the bamboo were quickly cut off. Afterward, the bamboo itself was cut into many bamboo splits that had the same size of those bamboo slips used in ancient times as writing material.
Soon after, Soft Feather’s pupils changed once more as she chose twenty bamboo splits from the pile.
"Alright, these twenty bamboo splits will suffice," Soft Feather said, self-satisfied. "Let’s return to your room and arrange the formation."
Song Shuhang took the broom and swept those pieces of bamboo on the ground into a corner.
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After returning to the room, Soft Feather took out the writing brush made from monster beast’s fur and a special ink made of mixed materials from her purse and started to write some characters on the bamboo slips.
"Right, should I look the other way?" Song Shuhang asked.
In the world of cultivators, cultivation techniques and the likes were highly guarded, and learning a cultivation technique in secret was considered taboo.
"Senior, no need. I created this formation by modifying a very common defensive formation. It’s not a very high-level technique; therefore, there is no need for you to look the other way," Soft Feather replied.
Since he had her permission, Song Shuhang didn’t stand on ceremony and carefully looked at Soft Feather writing those characters on the bamboo slips—he had no intention of secretly learning this formation; he was just curious about how defensive formations were created!
While watching Soft Feather write, Song Shuhang noticed that the tip of the pen lightly glittered at every stroke. The reason for this was the usage of true qi plus the special ink while writing. The tip of the brush was like a blade, carving a character on the bamboo slips with each stroke. The special ink also merged with the bamboo slips.
It was somewhat similar to when he was drawing the 雷 character in the center of his palm with qi and blood energy to use the ‘Lightning Palm’. In this case, that special ink could carry the strength of true qi and merge it with the wood-type aura inside the bamboo slips, giving birth to the defensive formation.
After all, a defensive formation was different from his ‘Lightning Palm’. The power inside needed to last for a long time, and you had to make sure that the true qi infused in the characters wouldn’t lose its strength too quickly.
There were more than 200 characters in total, enough for a small essay. All these characters completely filled the twenty slips which were linked together, forming a roll of bamboo slips.
"Done!" Soft Feather blew on the bamboo slips, her face satisfied.
The ink above the bamboo slips was glittering and looked beautiful, just like a work of art.
"It’s done already?" Song Shuhang asked. He wished he could keep watching for some more time.
"Yes. Now, we just need to activate it. However, these bamboo slips only have enough energy to maintain the defensive formation for around two days. Therefore, you should consider moving Venerable White to another location within these two days." Sof Feather replied.
Song Shuhang immediately heaved a sigh of relief. "Two days are enough. Venerable White should finish his meditation before the formation loses its strength."
As long as Senior White wasn’t planning to come out of secluded meditation and say— Oh! What a good weather today. It’s perfect for closing up! —after which he would be closing up again for another year, it would be all fine!
"I see. I’ll activate the formation then!" Soft Feather held her two forefingers in front of her chest and started to chant the incantation silently, lightly shouting at the end, "Bamboo Slips Formation, activate!"
When she shouted, the bamboo slips spread on the table were suddenly lifted by an invisible force, starting to float in front of Soft Feather. Afterward, a ray of light linked them up one by one; it was a beautiful scene.
"Go!" Soft Feather pointed at Venerable White who was lying on the bed.
The bamboo slips scattered and formed a circle around Venerable White’s body.
"Done. Now, even if Senior White were to accidentally release his ‘illusory reality’, it wouldn’t affect those outside the circle formed by the bamboo slips." Soft Feather clapped her hands.
Song Shuhang also secretly heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Soft Feather, you were really of great help this time!"
"Hehe. You’re welcome, Senior." Soft Feather’s eyes narrowed as she smiled.
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Time quickly passed by; it was already noon.
This afternoon’s meal was very sumptuous. It was even more sumptuous than yesterday’s meal when Old Lu had come to visit them.
"Shuhang, Yu Rouzi, the meal is ready," Mama Song shouted.
After Song Shuhang brought Soft Feather to the dining table, everyone took their respective seats.
"Eh? Didn’t your friend got up?" Mama Song slightly furrowed her brows as she asked.
"He got up. However, he still felt sleepy and is taking his time. He’ll come once he’s done combing his hair and washing his face!" Song Shuhang said with a smile.
Mama Song nodded and concentrated her attention on Soft Feather… compared to that Song Bai, Soft Feather was more likely to attract Mama Song’s attention.
After the meal was served, Song Shuhang quickly started to eat. It looked as though he hadn’t eaten anything for days!
In a little more than thirty seconds, he had already finished eating.
"Ma, I’m done here. I’ll go call my friend," Song Shuhang said.
"Was there a need to eat so quickly?" Mama Song opened her eyes wide—what was he doing? Eating so quickly and leaving the girl at the table alone?!
Luckily, Soft Feather and Mama Song already chatted for a long time this morning. Therefore, even after Song Shuhang left, she wasn’t embarrassed.
Song Shuhang quickly returned to his room.
Soon after...
A calm-looking Venerable White came out of the room.
Long black hair scattered behind his back, and he was so beautiful that he look liked an immortal that had come out of a picture. Right now, there was still a faint feeling of weariness on his face.
"Uncle, Auntie. It’s pretty embarrassing, but I just got up. I troubled you quite a bit for the past few days." The man named ‘Song Bai’ went into the dining room and made a hollow laugh.
Papa Song said with a laugh, "It’s alright. You’re Shuhang’s friend, you can consider this place as your home."
Mama Song also got up and gave a bowl of rice to ‘Song Bai’. "No need to be shy. What about Shuhang?"
"Thank you, Auntie. Shuhang returned to his room. He said he had something to do. Hehehe." Song Bai took the bowl of rice and laughed—but his smile seemed a little forced.
The nearby Soft Feather hid her face. She was trying best not to laugh...
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After the meal was over...
Zhao Yaya helped Mama Song bring the tableware in the kitchen, while Song Bai and Soft Feather returned to Shuhang’s room.
After returning to the room, Soft Feather jumped on the bed and loudly laughed.
Venerable White was still happily meditating.
‘Song Bai’ took off the brooch-like object on his chest, ending the illusion and assuming Song Shuhang’s appearance once more.
After laughing for a while, Soft Feather raised her head and mimicked Song Shuhang’s appearance and tone from when he took the bowl of rice. "Thank you, Auntie. Shuhang returned to his room. He said he had something to do. Hehehe… Senior Song, how did it feel to call your mother ‘auntie’?"
"..." Song Shuhang.
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At this time, on another side, in the luxurious compartment on a train.
Gao Moumou had a dumbfounded look on his face as he was reclining against the seat. His adorable girlfriend Yayi was lying in his arms and was already sleeping.
"What are you guys doing here?!" Gao Moumou lowered his voice and said with his teeth clenched in anger.
At this time, two people of mixed blood were standing beside him.
One was the childhood friend that Gao Moumou didn’t want to acknowledge—Zhuge Yue.
The other was the best friend he wanted to break relations with—Zhuge Zhongyang.
"Ahahaha, did you really think you could escape me just by changing your phone number? Gao Moumou, you’re so naive!" Zhuge Yue said, self-satisfied.
The nearby Zhuge Zhongyang added, "Gao Moumou, it’s time! I’ve already booked tickets for you and your classmates; we’re heading toward the East China Sea!"