Painting of the Nine Immortals

Chapter 216: Learning

Translator: Tatienne Editor: Rundi

Fate is the most difficult concept to grasp.

The present may be glorious, but in the next second, all might crumble.

At the same time, the previous second may be filled with worrisome thoughts, but in the next moment, life may reach its highlight.

Ling Xian’s life was like this. Both the Immortal Trap and the trip back to the nine continents were troubling thoughts that saturated his mind for years.

But now, he has coincidentally met the Immortal of Ancient Arrays and even acquired his inheritance. The two things that caused him a great headache were now solvable.

Though the solutions won’t be implementable right this second, in time, Ling Xian will be able to crush these obstacles and continue his journey with an uplifting mood. He has acquired the inheritance from Feng Qing Ming after all.

Feng Qing Ming, the Pioneer of the Ancient Arrays!

With ancient arrays, nobody has more knowledge than him. Any problems that are related to arrays are insignificant in his eyes.

Now that Ling Xian has inherited all his knowledge and experience, all his problems can be solved.

At this very moment, the Painting of the Nine Immortals was dead silent.

The Petal of Enlightenment was lying lazily on the Mount of the Healing Soul, greedily inhaling spiritual energy in pure enjoyment.

The Keeper of Land and Sea was standing shoulder to shoulder with Feng Qing Ming on the peak of the Mount of the Healing Soul. Staring at Ling Xian, who was sitting in a lotus position at the bottom of the mountain, they were oozing with gratification.

“He is not a bad seed. The four prohibition spells indicate that his ancient majestic blood is very powerful. It also means his natural talent is at a frightening point,” Feng Qing Ming exclaimed.

“That is true. Liao Cang Qiong, that old man, sure had some sharp eyes. This young man has principles, natural talent, and is reliable. He really is the only one we can count on to achieve that important mission.” The Keeper of Land and Sea was very satisfied with Ling Xian as well.

“Yes, the mission not only concerns your life and mine, but it also concerns the common people. I hope he can carry the burden.” Feng Qing Ming sighed. He has returned to the cold-boned sage he was before. The shameless and dreadful looking old man has long disappeared.

“I am certain that he can carry the weight.”

The Untainted said softly. Her voice was gentle but full of confidence towards Ling Xian.

“It seems like your highness trusts him greatly.” Feng Qing Ming grinned. Peering down at Ling Xian, who was fully immersed in the process of enlightenment, he said, “We may not be much help to him other than teaching him everything we know, we can only aid him in paving out a path through bramble and thistle until he finally reaches the peak.”

“It seems like I need to find the time to pass down my knowledge as well.” The Untainted parted her lips.

“Your highness, you have yet to do so?” Feng Qing Ming was startled.

“I am not as shameless as you. To chase after someone who rejected you.” The Untainted curled up the corner of her lips, displaying a very faint smile.

“Hehe, I was testing him. If Ling Xian accepted me as a Master right away, I definitely would not have passed down my inheritance to him.” Feng Qing Ming cunningly smiled. Being very aware of the fact that his actions were a little embarrassing, he quickly changed the subject, “’You highness’ cultivation surpasses ancient and modern cultivators. In the entire Taoism community, you are one of the top powerhouses. You should quickly pass down your knowledge to the young man and help him improve his cultivation.”

“I will find the time to pass it all down to him. It’s been tens and thousands of years. Without a successor, I have forgotten all of my glorious and earth-shattering achievements.” The Untainted appeared to be shy under the spotlight. But very quickly, her expression was replaced with high anticipation.

The anticipation of Ling Xian mastering her unparalleled techniques and skills, paving out a bloody path and becoming the hero of the universe!

“You may have forgotten, but I have not. Back in the days when you and I had our first battle, I remember clearly I was defeated before we even had 100 rebuttals. It is not hard to imagine how powerful your capabilities are.” Feng Qing Ming sighed. Remembering the fight from a long time ago, shock still lingered in his mind.

“That was because I gave you no opportunity to set up arrays. If you had the chance, the possibility of you winning was 50 percent,” the Untainted said out of humbleness. Gazing at the quietly sitting Ling Xian, she appeared more and more hopeful.

“Ling Xian, I really am looking forward to the moment when you recreate my unparalleled technique.”

…

Currently, Ling Xian was sitting still in a lotus position, unmoving like a tall mountain.

He was attempting to understand Feng Qing Ming’s supreme inheritance through meditation.

Every single array Feng Qing Ming had created was as mysterious as the ocean, profound and vast. Like the starry sky, the knowledge associated with each array was endless.

Even Feng Qing Ming, the Pioneer of Ancient Arrays, cannot make the claim that he understands arrays to an extreme level. However, on the path of arrays, he did achieve enough enlightenment that nobody can compare themselves to him.

Due to this reason, his inheritance contained the highest level of knowledge regarding arrays that anyone has ever seen. This alone was enough to make any master of arrays crazy.

Ancient characters appeared in Ling Xian’s brain one by one. Each one of them enlarged and brightened. Contained within each character was the properties and philosophies behind each array, profound knowledge that most masters of arrays never get the chance to understand in their entire lives.

However, Ling Xian was fortunate enough to have each concept replaying itself in his brain, saving him a lifetime of hard work and obstacles.

If other masters of arrays, who worked and fought their entire lives to study these arrays, found out about this, they would be puking blood.

“An ancient array can be manipulated by the mind and the heart. An ancient array can be altered in the mind of the master.”

Ling Xian shut his eyes tightly as he repetitively recited these words. Even though he did not feel like he fully understood the fundamental meaning of it all due to his inexperience, for every passing minute, he became more and more aware of the basics of setting arrays.

To put it simply, arrays work by using various ingredients, abstruse and mystery matters to create products that can be used to attack, defend, and support. Every array can transform into thousands of different forms. Even the devil cannot correctly predict what happens with an array.

Powerful masters of arrays can fight against hundreds solo.

Feng Qing Ming is the strongest of them all. Before becoming an Immortal, he used the Immortal Trap to restrict real immortals before using an offensive array to kill them. This event alone determined him to be a horrifying character.

For this reason, masters of arrays are most suitable for group fights. They normally end up in high positions in controlling forces and are figures nobody wants to anger.

In the Taoism community, their positions are considered to be more prestigious than alchemists.

“An array is deceitful, is mystifying, is spiritual. An array can be used freely and is unpredictable.”

Ling Xian focused intensely and studied hard. After all, this is the inheritance from Feng Qing Ming. This vast amount of knowledge cannot be grasped in one day or one night. Even Ling Xian, whose ability to be enlightened is high, cannot achieve this feat.

Time passed little by little. Two months passed just like that.

Ling Xian suddenly opened his eyes as he woke up from his enlightenment. He exclaimed, “The art of arrays sure is profound and inscrutable. After studying it for so long, I am only starting to scratch the surface.”

Luckily, no other masters of arrays are around. If they heard what he was saying now, they would go insane from jealousy.

The knowledge surrounding arrays is bottomless and extremely difficult to comprehend. To have used only two months to understand the surface of array’s general principles required a shocking amount of savviness!

Even for Feng Qing Ming, he spent half a year learning the very fundamentals of arrays when Ling Xian merely needed two months. How would this not cause envy amongst the array community?

Just as Ling Xian was about to ask Feng Qing Ming about a concept he has been having trouble with, he frowned. He felt someone in the external world attacking the defense spell he set.

“Your highness, Immortal Feng, I have something to attend to. Goodbye.”

After bidding his farewells to the two immortals, who were at the peak of the mountain, he disappeared from the Painting of the Nine Immortals in a flash.