“Did you come up with this?” Xuanheng asked.

“Your disciple figured it out while repairing those scrapped formation plates in the Repair Hall.”

Su Ming kept his expression unchanged as he redirected the credit toward “practice makes perfect.” “Back then, the materials were poor, and spirit stones were scarce. Going head-on wasn’t an option, so I had to find ways to cut corners—letting the formations borrow power on their own.”

“Cut corners…”

Xuanheng savored those two words, and the corner of his mouth—rarely ever seen to move—curved into an extremely faint arc.

“The great path is simple, and all paths lead to the same destination.”

Xuanheng gave a slight nod, no longer concealing the admiration in his eyes. “So many people spend their entire lives studying formations, always focused on thickening the formation walls, compacting the spiritual energy, yet they forget the original purpose of a formation—to borrow the power of heaven and earth. These two words of yours, ‘cut corners,’ actually align with a trace of the Dao’s essence.”

Inside the ring, Lin Yu clicked his tongue twice. “See? That’s the art of language. What was originally a miserly tactic from the ‘Way of Survival’—saving on spiritual energy and money—once someone reinterprets it, it instantly becomes grand and elevated.”

Su Ming replied in his mind, “The Master taught well.”

Xuanheng withdrew his hand, and the air currents in the great hall returned to stillness.

Without a single superfluous word, Xuanheng looked calmly at Su Ming and directly asked, “Earlier, at Spirit Beast Peak, you repaired the incubation formation at the Cold Pool. Its formation cores were one earthly fire and one profound ice—water and fire clashing. The previous Formation Master used the ‘Suppress’ principle to forcefully restrain them. Why did it keep failing?”

This question cut straight to the core of how Su Ming had resolved Lei Hu’s dilemma.

Su Ming pondered for a moment, organizing his words, then replied, “In answer, Master, blocking is not as good as guiding. The forces of earthly fire and profound ice are both grand powers of heaven and earth. Forcibly suppressing them only allows them to accumulate greater strength. When they erupt, the backlash is even more violent. What your disciple did back then was merely borrowing the concept of Taiji’s two polarities.”

“Your disciple arranged eighteen formation flags at the nodes of the earth veins and the Cold Pool, drawing the earthly fire energy to flow clockwise, forming the Yang fish; and drawing the profound ice energy to flow counterclockwise, condensing into the Yin fish. The two connected head to tail, each supporting the other, creating a dynamic equilibrium. Thus, instead of clashing, they nurtured each other and stabilized the formation.”

After hearing this, Xuanheng’s face still showed no expression. He simply posed a second question.

“You’ve had the most contact with the Border Defense Great Formation at Iron Wall Pass. Its core is the ‘Big Dipper Seven Stars Demon Sealing,’ but after ten thousand years of repairs, it’s become chaotic and mixed. If I asked you to increase its operational efficiency by thirty percent without damaging the main pathways, where would you start?”

This question was far broader and far trickier than the previous one.

Su Ming’s brow furrowed slightly.

He closed his eyes, and in his mind, the vast and complex formation diagram emerged. Countless nodes, countless flows of spiritual energy, countless new and old runes tangled together like a mess of hemp.

If it were before, he might have started from the most severely damaged nodes, patching them up bit by bit.

But now, he had the Border Defense True Seal, and a deeper understanding.

“In answer, Master, your disciple would not start from any specific node.” Su Ming opened his eyes, his gaze clear.

Xuanheng’s brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

Su Ming continued, “Your disciple would first establish a set of standards.”

“Standards?”

“Yes. Your disciple would spend three months recording the wear rate of all the formation’s runes, the spiritual energy transmission efficiency, and the linkage reactions with surrounding nodes—documenting everything in a complete database.”

“Then, your disciple would create a ‘Standardized Maintenance Manual.’ All common faults would be classified into different levels, each with a corresponding repair plan, and specify the material standards and time standards for each repair. Every disciple responsible for maintenance would work like a craftsman in the Repair Hall—following the diagrams and doing their assigned tasks.”

“That way, most low-level, repetitive problems would no longer require high-ranking Formation Masters to waste their mental energy. We would only need to focus on the truly core problems that can’t be solved by standards.”

“The improvement in efficiency doesn’t come from how fast repairs are done, but from… making sure everyone knows what they need to do, and can do it well.”

These words were the experience he had summarized from the Repair Hall and Iron Wall Pass, carrying a strong flavor of pragmatism.

Xuanheng listened quietly, without interrupting.

Only after Su Ming had finished did he slowly speak, posing a third and final question.

“Your ‘Spirit Response Spider Web’ is quite novel. It doesn’t rely on spiritual energy, only on resonance for communication. But its flaws are also obvious—it’s easily interfered with, and the transmission distance is limited. If you were to have it cover the entire Cloud Hidden Sect mountain range, how would you go about it?”

Su Ming’s heart tightened.

This question went straight to the core weakness of his early warning system.

He was silent for a moment, as if weighing his options.

Finally, he raised his head, meeting Xuanheng’s gaze, and said frankly, “In answer, Master, your disciple… cannot do it.” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

A glimmer of surprise finally flickered in Xuanheng’s eyes.

Su Ming did not avoid his gaze and continued to explain, “Your disciple’s ‘Spirit Response Spider Web’ is essentially a shortcut. It uses the finest vibrations transmitted through the earth, like tapping on the surface of water and relying on ripples to convey information. This method works within a small range, but once the scope expands to the entire Cloud Hidden Sect mountain range, the terrain, earth veins, and the spiritual energy fluctuations of the mountain-protecting formation along the way all become enormous sources of interference.”

“It’s like trying to judge a distant situation on a lake in a violent storm by relying on the ripples from a single fallen leaf—it’s completely impossible.”

“The only method your disciple can think of is not to improve it, but… to abandon it.”

“Abandon it?”

“Yes.” Su Ming nodded. “Instead, research a communication formation based on ‘Void Anchors.’ Bury subsidiary formations at key nodes on each peak, using the void as a medium to transmit spiritual sense directly from point to point. This way, almost all physical and spiritual energy interference can be ignored.”

“But this requires an extremely deep understanding of spatial formations. Your disciple is still far from that level.”

Having said this, Su Ming lowered his eyes and said no more.

He knew that his answer might seem heretical, or even presumptuous. But he didn’t want to pretend to understand in front of his Master.

If he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t do it.

A long silence fell over Star Pivot Hall.

Only the starlight on the dome continued to flow slowly.

After who knows how long, Xuanheng’s voice rang out again, his tone betraying neither pleasure nor displeasure.

“Your thinking is passable, and your foundation is solid enough. But your insight is still stuck at the level of ‘technique.’ Your understanding of the ‘Dao’ remains shallow.”

He flicked his finger, and a smooth, white jade slip flew steadily in front of Su Ming.

“Your Master has a reading list here. Take it back and study it slowly. If you don’t understand something, you can ask your Third Senior Brother. If he doesn’t understand either, then come ask me.”