Xiang Fan returned to his hut carrying a heavy pile of books. With a thud, the books piled up like a small mountain on the table. The old table creaked in protest, as if it might fall apart at any moment.
"Introduction to Formation Techniques," "Four Thousand Examples of Formation Pattern Drawing," "The Flow and Blockage of Spiritual Energy..." He muttered the titles as he flipped through the covers, like a hungry hunter eagerly inspecting his trophy. His eyes gleamed with excitement, as if these books held secrets that could revolutionize the world of cultivation.
"These should be enough for me to figure out the principle of the array pattern, right?" He muttered to himself, lit the dim spiritual lamp beside the table, took out a roll of rice paper and a brush, and flipped through the books on the table with a rustling sound.
Xiang Fan flipped open "Introduction to Formation Techniques," spread out a sheet of rice paper, and with a brush, traced the spiritual patterns of the Sutra Repository from his memory. His movements were so deft that one wondered if he'd switched professions and become a painter. Lines snaked across the paper, sometimes smooth, sometimes complex. His gaze was focused, his brow furrowed, and it felt as if the very air in the room had frozen.
Soon, the tabletop was covered with messy sketches. Crumpled clumps of rice paper lay scattered on the floor, as if it had been raining. Xiang Fan's fingers and the backs of his hands were stained with ink, and his cuffs were rubbed to a mess, making him look more like a hapless worker who had escaped from a dyeing factory.
"If these lines are used to detect cultivation... then this should be the center of the formation, right?" He stared at the center of the pattern, frowning and circling it a few times. "These connecting points... could they be spiritual energy fluctuation recognition devices?"
He muttered to himself, completely lost in his own world. Every time he tried to perfect the pattern, he would find a new problem, then angrily crumple up the rice paper and throw it to the ground, making a "plop plop plop" sound, as if the paper balls were the culprit.
"This should be the key node... If I can disrupt the transmission path of spiritual energy, will the formation pattern in the Sutra Library not be able to recognize my cultivation level?" An idea suddenly popped up in his mind, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes. He casually opened "The Flow and Blockage of Spiritual Energy" and wrote and drew on the rice paper while reading.
The small lamp beside the table cast a faint glow, and Xiang Fan's shadow was reflected on the wall, gesturing with excitement as he considered various possibilities. He suddenly slammed the table. "Yes! Spiritual energy flows in from here, but if I use a jammer to bypass it...will the formation misjudge my cultivation level?"
He raised his head and rubbed his eyes, feeling his thoughts clearer than ever before. "A jammer... yes, I need a jammer!" His eyes lit up, his voice filled with uncontrollable excitement. He snapped the book shut and began rummaging around for tools.
He opened a drawer and dug out a few spirit stone fragments from a pile of spare parts. He also dragged out a pile of broken spiritual energy tubes from the corner of the wall. His movements were as fast as a fanatic searching for treasure, and he kept muttering: "Spiritual interference... Spiritual interference... Maybe this tube can be used?"
The whole room was filled with the sound of "ping pong pong" and Xiang Fan's excited mumbling. He was completely immersed in his own experiments, his face covered in a mixture of ink and sweat, looking like a weirdo who had just been fished out of an inkwell.
Xiang Fan searched the entire hut, dragging every usable item onto the table. It was littered with all sorts of strange objects: a spiritual artifact so worn it was barely recognizable, a length of bent wire, a few dull fragments of spiritual ore, and a discarded spiritual energy bead he'd found somewhere. Looking at this jumble of materials, he sighed, scratched his head, and said self-deprecatingly, "Though the materials are a bit shabby, I'll have to make do with what I have."
He rolled up his sleeves and began to work. He first carefully ground the spiritual ore into a fine powder. This process took a long time, leaving him completely covered in dust. Then, he spread the powder evenly on the metal wire and tentatively inserted the spiritual energy bead into the groove of the worn spiritual weapon, connecting them with the metal wire.
While tinkering, he muttered to himself, "As long as I can disrupt the flow of spiritual energy, it will be considered a success. But please don't blow it up, otherwise my little house will probably go up to the sky."
A few hours later, a small "psychic jammer" finally took shape. Palm-sized, it looked like a work of art, haphazardly assembled from scraps. Its surface was pockmarked with pits, and faint auras flickered from time to time, giving it an air of danger.
Xiang Fan stared at it for a few seconds, swallowed, and carefully flipped the switch. With a click, the small device hummed, and then with a bang, black smoke billowed out.
"Ouch!" Xiang Fan jumped back in shock, nearly tripping over a chair. He waved his hands, trying to disperse the thick smoke, coughing and mumbling with a dusty face, "That thing was really fierce! It almost killed me."
He patted his chest, calmed his frightened spirit, and forced himself to comfort himself: "It's okay, it's okay, it will be fine after a few adjustments... At worst, if it is discovered, I will say it is a new type of incense burner!"
Despite all the talk, he diligently readjusted the jammer's internals. This time, he was even more cautious, his fingers gently fiddling with the contact points of the psychic orb, his movements as gentle as if he were caressing a rare antique. After several attempts, the jammer finally stopped smoking and instead emitted a steady hum.
Xiang Fan stared at the flashing light for a moment, then burst into laughter. He covered his chest with one hand, gripped the jammer with the other, and shouted excitedly, "It worked! This time it definitely worked!"
He placed the jammer back on the table, carefully wiped his hands with a rag, and looked up at the pile of books on the table and the drafts on the floor, a satisfied smile on his face. He lowered his head and carefully examined the small device in his hand, as if it were some kind of peerless artifact.
"If my calculations are correct, this thing should be able to deceive the formations in the Sutra Repository." His gaze gradually became firm, and the corners of his mouth raised slightly, revealing a somewhat smug smile. "Tomorrow... I'll try to see if I can borrow the 'Spiritual Sky Thirty-Six Sword Styles'."
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