Naked Sword ArtNaked Sword Art
[ Inscription Club ]
"Long Wang, you're here. I was starting to think that you weren't coming in today," Xue Li said when she saw Xiao Fang walk in.
"Sorry I'm late. I got held up in class again," Xiao Fang said apologetically as he scratched the back of his neck.
"It's alright. Like I said yesterday. Club meetings are optional, you can come and go whenever you like."
Suddenly, a few girls started to recognize Xiao Fang then they started to approach him.
"Hey, you're Long Wang, right? Did you really win Supreme Elder Song's Phoenix Jade Hairpin?" The girls asked.
Xiao Fang knew that the rumors were quickly spreading, but just how quickly was it spreading? He knew he couldn't keep hiding the fact that he had it, so he calmly nodded.
"Mn, that's me."
"So cool, can I see it?" The girls said as they got even closer to him.
'What a headache,' Xiao Fang thought.
Xue Li suddenly lashed out at them the moment she saw one of them touching him.
"Who do you think you are touching? If you want to remain members of this Club, you will not give Big Brother Long Wang a hard time while he's here," Xue Li scolded them.
"We only wish to study with him. Can't we do that?" One girl claimed.
"Ah, that..." Xue Li paused as she looked back at Xiao Fang.
She knew it wasn't her place to decide who he studied with, so she waited for his reply.
"I appreciate the offer, but I already have a study partner. I've been keeping her waiting for long enough, so if you'll excuse me," Xiao Fang said before walking off.
Worried that the girls would still bother him after she left, she gave Xiao Fang and Bai Fan access to her grandmother's private room on the first floor. Since her mother rarely came to the Inscription Club, she didn't think there would be anything to worry about.
Xue Li assured them that it was okay to use her mother's private study space, so after she left, Xiao Fang lifted his blindfolds up to his forehead as he finally opened his eyes. Bai Fan's expression made a subtle changed when she saw his violet eyes. However, she was able to suppress her urges with relative ease since he wasn't looking at her, and his eyes weren't glowing the way they usually did when he wanted to Dual Cultivate with someone.
Xiao Fang walked around, looking at all the available books on the shelves. There were just as many books in this room as there were in the entire first floor. However, all the books here were study material for how to make certain Formations, not Inscriptions.
"Who knew Formation could have so many applications," Xiao Fang said his thoughts as he browsed around.
Although they were all too advanced for him, he still found them extremely interesting to look at. When he eventually found a book he really liked, he took it off the shelf then started to read it.
Noticing him reading something, Bai Fan curiously asked,
"What are you reading?"
"It's a book on Concealment Formations," he replied. "According to this, there are several types of concealment formations that can be used to hide animate and inanimate objects," Xiao Fang replied.
He hadn't even explained a fraction of what he read so far, because he was so engrossed in what he was reading. Although, anyone learning what he was learning for the first time would have a similar reaction.
"What is this circle thing here," she asked as she pointed at the page.
It was the most recurring thing she saw in every demonstration, so she assumed it was something significant.
"Every Formation starts with a ring. The inscriptions you put into the ring is what creates the Formation," Xiao Fang explained before following the instructions in the book to give her a demonstration.
Small blue lights appeared on the tip of his fingers as he began to spread them apart. At the same time, he rotated his wrist and extended his arm out in front of him. Suddenly, a blue ring of Spirit Qi shot out from his hand, but stopped only a few feet in front of him.
"Woah, where did you learn how to do that?" Bai Fan asked in shock.
"It was in one of the books I read while I was browsing through the shelves," he said.
Although it was true that he saw a book on it while he was browsing through the shelves, the truth was that he actually learned it from Xiao Hei.
What Xiao Fang didn't know was that it would normally take cultivators a few months to learn, but being in the Profound Spirit realm allowed him to have exceptional control of his own Qi.
As Xiao Fang continued to read, he started to get ideas.
'Xue Li told me to master all 69 Inscriptions before attempting any Formations, but looking at the inscriptions used in this book, it seems I only need to know a handful of them to pull it off,' Xiao Fang thought.
After going through the entire book once, Xiao Fang went back to the first few chapters to find the most basic Concealment Formation he could find. He eventually found one that only used 3 different inscriptions. The most convenient thing about them was that the same 3 inscriptions were used for all the other types of Concealment Formations in the book.
"Good, I will start with this one," Xiao Fang said to himself.
Bai Fan continued to watch him as he suddenly took out the Inscription Book that Ru Ji gave him the other day.
"Bai Fan, can you get me a few of those papers over there."
"Ah, sure," she said before quickly bringing some over for him.
The papers here were not ordinary paper, but special inscription paper only used by inscriptionists. Although they could be bought in the marketplace for a few merit points each, they were free to any member of the Inscription Club.
As he began to practice, he explained to Bai Fan what he was doing. Interested in making a Formation herself, Bai Fan joined along.