Very excited, Old Mo looked through that stack of paper carefully.
It was really interesting that he showed various expressions when reading--sometimes he frowned, sometimes was shocked with eyes wide open, and sometimes scratched his head.
However, only upon one glance at the paper, Young Man already felt a little dizzy. She definitely knew nothing about all of those spiritual tattoo formations on the paper.
Turning around and looking at Lin Xun who stood aside, Young Man couldn’t help but ask, “Can these really solve the problem?”
Lin thought for a moment and said, “We’ll know it after we try. There should be no problem.”
Anyway, the success was not absolute, so Lin could not promise it.
Most importantly, he was not sure whether Old Mo could bring all he had drawn into effect.
A seductive smile emerged around Young Man’s rosy lips. Blinking watery eyes, she said, “Well, handsome boy, if you fail, I will not spare you.”
Threat as it might sound like, Lin could still feel his heart pounding for the way she said this sentence. Lin took a deep breath and asked with a smile, “What if I succeed? How are you gonna repay me?”
“What about pledging to marry you?” Young Man gently bit her lip and couldn’t be sexier.
“Not realistic. I want another reward,” Lin Xun said flatly. It was clear that he was not carried away by her beauty. He knew that the charming beauty was flirting with him.
Contracting her brows slightly, Young Man said in a pathetic way, “Am I not beautiful? How can you be so cruel to reject my good intention? What else do you want? Do you need me to bring 17 or 18 beauties here to accompany you?”
Hearing this, Lin was speechless. He then said with a bitter smile, “Can we have a serious talk?”
Young Man grew unhappier, “Are you saying I’m not serious? What a hard-hearted bastard! I must have exactly misjudged you.”
Now Lin Xun was completely at his wits’ end. But fortunately, Old Mo suddenly raised his head at the moment, with surprisingly bloodshot eyes, frowning. He said fretfully, pointing at one spiritual tattoo formation on the paper, “Among the five spiritual tattoo formations you have given, this Gullies & Shadows Spiritual Formation is clearly incongruous. What is on earth the use of it?”
Privately, Lin Xun sighed with relief. Then he, directly ignoring Young Man’s soppy look, began discussing with Old Mo.
“This spiritual tattoo formation is composed of thirty-six wind-attribute spiritual tattoos and seventy-two soil-attribute spiritual tattoos. Though seeming like a huge psychedelic spiritual tattoo formation, it can be combined with Green Wood Spiritual Formation if used on a spiritual furnace to form a new spiritual tattoo formation….”
Lin talked calmly and fast.
Old Mo listened very carefully. As Lin explained, Old Mo came to understand suddenly.
He quickly asked, “What about the Gold-smashing Spiritual Formation here?”
“Very simple. It’s a supplement to the Golden-flame Spiritual Formation. The two spiritual tattoo formations are of the same attribute, which means only the power generated by the integration of the two can form a distant connection with the other spiritual tattoo formations….”
“I see. How comes it that I’ve never thought of this?! Isn’t this the simplest truth when it comes to merging spiritual tattoo formations?” In a flash, Old Mo clapped on his thigh, feeling both upset and amazed.
“No, there is still something wrong here.”
“What? You don’t even understand this? Don’t forget that no spiritual tattoo formation exists alone. On the contrary, the formations attract or repel each other on account of their attributes. Take this Serpentine Flaming-ice Spiritual Formation as an example….”
“Damn it. It should work like this! How come I never thought of it before?”
“Pretty normal. What you have been thinking is the integration, thus you neglect all those kinds of marvellous changes happening when combining the spiritual tattoo formations which repel each other.”
The heated discussion over the spiritual tattoos on that stack of paper carried on between the old man and the lad. All words that came out of their mouths were intricate and obscure terms in the field of spiritual tattoos.
Young Man was in a daze. Seeing the lad explaining in high spirit while Old Mo listening humbly aside, she felt that everything in front of her was unreal.
When did Old Mo, this uppity old guy, become so modest? And it was in front of a lad. This was so unbelievable.
Conceited as Old Mo was, you had to acknowledge that he did have real talents and he was truly one of the top spiritual tattoo masters in the world.
Had it not been by coincidence that Old Mo was forced to stay here by the Bloodthirsty Camp with special means, he could be capable enough to enter the imperial Green-deer School to serve as one respected teacher!
Besides, Old Mo did have a very special relationship with the Green-deer School.
A senior spiritual tattooist as Old Mo was, he should condescend to consult a thirteen-or-fourteen-year-old lad at this moment. It was really hard for Young Man to believe it.
She even felt, at present, that Lin Xun was like an unbeknown master while Old Mo was rather… ignorant.
It was a strange and absurd feeling, but it created an ineffable shock to her.
Where did this kid come from? And why did he have such incredible capabilities?
Right now, even the way Young Man looked at Lin had changed; and her eyes were full of amazement, appreciation and curiosity. It was hard to say how things would turn out once a woman grew some intense curiosity about a man.
…
An hour later, when Lin felt his mouth parched and tongue scorched, a cup of tea was instantly served in front of him by a slender fair hand.
He turned his head. Seeing it was Young Man, he burst into laughing, “Do you still remember what I said on the way you brought me here. Only mature and bright women are able to take good care of people. This cup of tea is exactly a proof.”
Then, he drank up the tea with a comfortable look on his face.
With a spit, Young Man gave Lin a ferocious stare and said, “What a glib-tongued boy! How dare you flirt with me! Be careful that I’ll mar you little face next time. I’ll see which girl will still like you!”
Lin sighed, “I am not afraid of disfigurement. I am afraid that you are not willing to let this happen.”
Young Man burst into a laugh and thumbed up to him, “Well, I do have seen a lot of romantic lads, each with a different way of flirting with girls. But you are the most shameless.”
Lin Xun explained seriously, “I just flirt with elder sisters like you.”
Aside them, catching sight of their flirting, Old Mo couldn’t restrain his inner annoyance and said, “Young Man, can you not disturb us?”
“Oh”, Young Man gave Lin a provocative wink, saying, “Lad, I will discuss with you about flirting with elder sister later. Hope you don’t flinch at that time!”
Then she turned around and left.
“This woman is just a disaster!” Old Mo muttered a curse.
“Well, I think she is very kind, and much better than those temperamental and naive girls,” Lin Xun sighed.
…
In one austere stone house of the Bloodthirsty Camp.
Sitting upright in front of the desk, Shu Sanqi was wiping an old dark-silver armour. A rare tenderness showed on his sturdy dark face.
That was Wolf Fang, his armor with spiritual tattoos, which had accompanied him in battles for decades. But he hadn’t worn it for decades.
It was because Shu Sanqi had left the battlefield for decades.
“Old buddy, someday I will wear you and enter the battlefield again. I’m sure!” Determined, Shu Sanqi gently put away his armor.
At this point, a hot figure in red pushed the door open, and directly sat down at the desk with a single lift of the leg, saying in a drowsy and enchanting way, “Still awake, Chief Shu? Are you waiting for me?”
No doubt, it was Young Man.
Shu Sanqi cast a sharp glance at her. She soon stood up and the lazy look vanished.
“What’s up?” And then Shu asked.
Young Man gave a light sigh, and her coquetry and sexiness disappeared at the same time. There was a hint of rare loneliness and coldness in her calm look.
It took a while before she awaked from her emotions and said, “I come here for a boy. It’s for Old Mo’s project. You know what it means if he succeeds.”
Shu Sanqi squinted his eyes and said, “Is that Lin Xun?”
Young Man was not surprised. Were it not for Shu Sanqi when she took Lin away, she might not have been able to get away from Young Ke.
“Yes, it’s him. Do you know where he is from?” Young Man asked.
“Heiyao Shrine sent him here.” Shu Sanqi was silent for a long time.
There was an imperceptible change on Young Man’s look.
“Go ahead. In the Bloodthirsty Camp, everyone must obey orders! But I will make an exception,” Shu Sanqi gave a categorical answer.
…
It was 3 a.m. in the morning.
Old Mo buried himself in a pile of paper, untiringly studying the spiritual tattoo formations on the paper.
In the meanwhile, Lin Xun sat in a chair, letting his mind wander.
The idea he used to help Old Mo tonight was definitely not from himself, but from Master Lu. Lin Xun clearly remembered that every time Master Lu taught him spiritual tattoo formations, Master Lu would cite some examples.
There were some problems related to Ziying Battleship among the examples.
It was when Master Lu was explaining a complicated high-level spiritual tattoo formation that he suddenly spoke of Ziying Battleship. Regardless of whether Lin Xun could understand it, Master Lu said dismissively, “Those imperial spiritual tattooists are just idiots. They have spent hundreds of years, but only improve Ziying Battleship to such an unbearable state. It’s just a shame for them to be spiritual tattooists.”
The spiritual tattoo formation of Ziying Battleship was used as an example when Master Lu spoke. In his opinion, Ziying Battleship, the most famous classic small-sized battleship of the empire, was good for nothing. What was more, Master Lu even said proudly that were it he that revised its design, the Ziying Battleship wouldn’t only have had such limited power.
At that time, Lin was very young and didn’t understand all of this. But after what had happened tonight, he suddenly realized that all he had learnt about spiritual tattoos from Master Lu over these years turned out to be so profound!
Why had Master Lu never talked about it?
Lin couldn’t figure it out.
Just as he buried himself in thoughts, Young Man came in like a wind and announced directly, “Lin Xun, from today on, you don’t need to go back to Camp 39!”