Chapter 72 72 Summer Night It seemed as if even time slowed down at this moment...
The first year of the spiritual revival, Friday afternoon, August 1, Longyuan Academy Treasure Pavilion.
There were not many students left at Longyuan Academy during the summer vacation, but the teachers and students on the road all looked very confident about the future.
The vigorous energy that washed over Ning Changkong made him feel as if he was in another world; even his limbs, which had been cold from excessive bloodletting, began to feel a little warm.
It really felt like a lifetime ago. Ning Changkong stood in front of the Treasure Pavilion. The last time he came here was because Gu Minghui was attracted by Yinglong's aura and reported that the first grader had entered the forbidden area of the school.
The last time he came here, the academy promised him that he could take any treasure from the first floor of the treasure house. At that time, he was still seriously injured and it was his second senior brother who brought him here in a wheelchair.
Yue Jingting, who was standing beside him at the entrance of the treasure house, also recalled this incident. Yue Jingting tilted his head and glanced at him, his eyes dark.
The two of them followed the footsteps of the owner of the Treasure Pavilion and came to the basement of the Treasure Pavilion, where there was a large dark room specially provided for drawing formations.
"Let's first determine the location and outline today." Ning Changkong measured the size of the basement and said casually, "You should still do most of the work, and let me draw the eye of the array."
The original array eye was used to activate the Yinglong aura in Gu Minghui's body, but now it is no longer necessary, so he has to reconsider how to design this part.
Yue Jingting was already using the special ink to write a draft on the ground. He hesitated for a moment, but still asked the question he had been wanting to ask since he received the task:
"A formation of this scale requires a huge amount of energy to activate. I'm afraid even if we fill this room with spirit stones it still wouldn't be enough."
If only energy was needed, Ning Changkong sighed. What does it matter if this basement is filled with spiritual stones? As long as it works, he can pull all the spiritual stones in the warehouse of Tiangong Technology and burn them!
He couldn't help but recall the night of the Lantern Festival, when, under the power of the Phoenix, bright flames of life lit up on the chests of the black-robed believers.
It seems that the purpose of extracting the life fire of believers in batches at that time was to obtain the energy needed to open the formation.
Probably because Phoenix had to manually control the formation to activate it, the energy input part of this large formation was particularly complicated. Until now, he had not completely cracked it and could only copy it one to one.
What I’m afraid of is that... this part of the black box does not require a large amount of spiritual power, but a large amount of life energy.
Ning Changkong just said calmly:
"Don't worry, there will always be a way out when you get to the mountain."
The first year of Reiki Recovery, Saturday night, August 2, Jinwuyuan.
"What are you doing..." Ning Changkong crossed his arms, pursed his lips helplessly, and was a little speechless.
Chi Zhaoming, who was standing at the door, smiled and lifted the watermelon in his hand, and followed him inside: "You use Lang Ning and Xiao Yue as free labor every day, and I'm here to help you support them."
Ning Changkong turned around and saw two people carrying watermelons following Chi Zhaoming closely with brisk steps. Zuo Langning still maintained a cold expression, but Yue Jingting could no longer help but curl his lips.
Bai Xian took the things from the guest, and started moving the tables and chairs out, preparing to eat watermelon in the backyard.
Chi Zhaoming and Ning Changkong found a corner to relax, using the excuse of chatting about work.
Watching the four children carrying things back and forth, Chi Zhaoming said comfortably, "It's really cool here, several degrees lower than outside."
"Nonsense, this is an illusion. The temperature can be whatever I want it to be." Ning Changkong ruthlessly brought the topic back to business: "Any news about Li Bo?"
Chi Zhaoming put his hands behind his back and said calmly, "We don't talk about work after get off work. I asked Xiao Du to send you the materials analyzed by the Intelligence Department. What else do you want?"
"...Now we can only wait for him to make a move. We are too passive." Ning Changkong rubbed his dry eyes and said in a low voice.
"There's no point in worrying, it's better to relax." Chi Zhaoming tilted his head to look at him, "According to the analysis of the Intelligence Department, if he really wants to make a big move, it's unlikely that he will do it in China. Instead of fighting with his old friends in China, it's better to find a small country with weak cultivators to start with."
"If Li Bo goes overseas, the defense pressure on the local Foreign Affairs Bureau will be reduced. We can then take action and slowly deal with him."
Ning Changkong slowly exhaled, somewhat concerned about Chi Zhaoming's meaningful words: "Director Chi knew him back then?"
Chi Zhaoming looked towards the four people in the yard who were laughing and playing while moving things, and said calmly, "We are from the same generation. We were both very famous back then, so it's natural that we know each other."
"He loved to preach his bullshit theories back then and didn't treat ordinary people as human beings. I had several fights with him over this."
"But at that time, we were surrounded by practitioners, and he was very kind to everyone, especially to those with good talents. You may not believe it, but at that time... I admired him very much."
Chi Zhaoming whispered, "Before Xiao Yue's spiritual roots were opened, he was extremely nervous, fearing that he was not gifted enough. If you ask me, this has something to do with Li Bo's family."
Ning Changkong couldn't help but recall what his second senior brother had said to him, and his eyes turned to Yue Jingting who was holding a knife and looking at the watermelon at a loss.
Yue Jingting can tolerate Lin Jinsong unconditionally, regardless of his talent or achievements. So what does Li Bo think of Yue Jingting?
"I just said that Xiaoyue was too nervous, I didn't say what Li Bo thought." Chi Zhaoming seemed to see through what he was thinking and said calmly: "Human emotions are very complicated."
Ning Changkong didn't notice that he relaxed a little.
Chi Zhaoming patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry too much. When the enemy comes, we will fight him with our soldiers. When the water comes, we will block it with earth. At least the 'Spiritual Spear' project team has made good progress. Now we have our own spiritual long-range weapons and defensive means."
He said seriously, "People in the executive department said that they see you going on missions all over China every day, and asked me if Phoenix can clone itself. Take care of yourself and don't get too tired."
Feng Huang had to take care of the demon clan's official business, and Chi Zhaoming didn't expect him to spend too much energy on the education of Gu Minghui and others, but the reality was far from his expectations.
Chi Zhaoming simply couldn't imagine how Feng Huang squeezed out the energy and time to take care of so many things while still holding on to Li's clues and tracking them down all the way.
"It's not your turn to worry about the affairs of our generation," he promised seriously.
Ning Changkong was still thinking about how to get the Alien Bureau to go abroad to enforce the law. When Chi Zhaoming said this, he was immediately at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "Stop treating me like a child."
He had just said something similar to Gu Minghui not long ago.
"How can you not be a child? You are the youngest among all the people here." Chi Zhaoming glared, "Others only know you as the Phoenix and treat you as an elder. Don't really forget how old you are!"
I really forgot when classmate Xiaolin’s birthday was…
Chu Qingge reminded: "February 28th."
She is an adult now, eighteen and a half years old, Ning Changkong muttered in his heart.
The backyard had been cleaned up by now. Zuo Langning also cooperated by using her icy inner force to freeze the watermelon, and even considerately left a less icy one for Ning Changkong.
Seeing that Director Chi and the teacher came over and sat down, Su Yunyao couldn't wait to stuff the cut ice watermelon into her mouth. She ate the watermelon in her hand in a lightning speed until only the rind was left. After spitting out the watermelon seeds in her mouth, the little fox shouted happily: "Ice watermelon is what we must eat in summer!"
Wen Qingsheng complained: "Don't you have too much to eat in the summer?"
Gu Minghui's eyes lit up: "This way of eating is amazing, I want it too!"
Yan Xiaoling silently took out the towel that she had prepared long ago, held the little fox down and wiped her chin, then threw the remaining two to Gu Minghui and Wen Qingsheng.
Several elders smiled. Ning Changkong ate his watermelon comfortably. His stomach was still not feeling well, so Bai Xian watched him and didn't let him eat too much.
Gu Minghui swallowed the watermelon in his mouth and said vaguely: "Speaking of which, I always feel that there is something strange."
Yan Xiaoling tilted her head: "Is it because it's too cool?"
Wen Qingsheng thought: "It must be the cicada, because the cicada's chirping sound is missing."
Su Yunyao stole a glance at his teacher and said with certainty, "It's a star."
Indeed, such a clear starry sky cannot be seen in the city. Ning Changkong looked up. Moreover, the distribution of these stars was different from modern records.
Bai Xian waved his hand, and the courtyard was immediately filled with the sound of cicadas chirping. He said unhappily, "You can have the cicada chirping, but forget about the other two."
Chi Zhaoming also looked up and praised: "The illusion changes as one wishes, it is truly wonderful beyond words."
Ning Changkong glanced at the pile of watermelon rinds in front of him. The speed at which someone ate was comparable to that of Su Yunyao.
"It's just an illusion from the past." Bai Xian said casually.
Bai Xian waved his fan and looked up at the night sky: "The concentration of spiritual energy in the fantasy world is not as high as that in the real world. If it is not comfortable, who would live in the fantasy world every day?"
Gu Minghui asked in confusion: "But the concentration of spiritual energy in the illusions I have seen is quite high, almost the same as Penglai."
"I didn't explain it clearly." Bai Xian was still staring at the stars in a trance, and he said nostalgically, "Before the spiritual energy declined, the concentration of spiritual energy in this world was the highest. No demiplane or illusion could compare to it."
Ning Changkong tilted his head to look at him and asked curiously, "The illusion is for living happily, so what is the purpose of creating a demiplane?"
Bai Xian: "The main reason for a demiplane is because it is large. Some forces that were exiled or couldn't find a good place in the real world would empty their pockets to create a demiplane."
Chi Zhaoming and Ning Changkong looked at each other and remembered the ever-increasing concentration of spiritual energy in the world detected by the Alien Bureau.
It seems like we are really going back to the mythical era. Ning Changkong thought about it and reached out for the watermelon.
Bai Xian slapped his hand away, took the whole plate of watermelon in front of him, and reminded him to eat less. Ignoring the phoenix's resentful look, the white-haired bird demon continued the previous topic: "For example, the demon alliance built Penglai because they couldn't survive in the real world."
"Wow, the demons back then were so despicable." Gu Minghui muttered softly. Yan Xiaoling didn't even raise her eyelids, and grabbed the little fox who was about to fight back. Wen Qingsheng stuffed another piece of watermelon into Gu Minghui's plate, showing an expression that said "no matter how much you eat, your mouth can't be blocked."
The real ancestor of the demon race said disapprovingly, "It's pretty lame. Flying in the sky and running on the ground, before they developed intelligence, they were still in a relationship of predator and prey. After becoming spirits, they have to pretend to huddle together for warmth, creating a weird 'demon race'. Isn't it because they can't survive if they don't do this?"
After the old man spoke, the little fox immediately became depressed and vented his anger on the watermelon. Ning Changkong looked at him with amusement and motioned Bai Xian to bring her his plate of half-eaten watermelon and bring out the chessboard.
He had nothing to eat and was bored sitting there, so he decided to play chess. Chi Zhaoming rolled up his sleeves with great interest and wanted to play with him. Chi Ju's chess style was just like his fighting style, with great momentum and vigor, but at the same time, he also had a careful and detailed plan in the dark.
Ning Changkong was trying to figure out the chess game at first, but he had exhausted too much energy during the day and now he had a headache whenever he used his brain, so he secretly asked Chu Qingge to calculate the move with the highest chance of winning, and he followed it step by step.
Since he didn't need to play, he began to daydream. Gu Minghui asked the little fox who was eating watermelon with a sincere question, asking her if her body became fat, would it be reflected on humans.
Su Yunyao jumped up from his seat with a roar, ready to hit him. Yan Xiaoling stood between them as usual, and Wen Qingsheng... Wen Qingsheng quietly took a few pieces of watermelon from Su Yunyao and gave one to Yan Xiaoling out of consideration.
Zuo Langning despised her childhood friend's dressing style, while Yue Jingting was tidying up his old-fashioned plaid shirt without a care. Bai Xian, who thought he was an internet expert, took out his phone with great interest to teach this young man who often visited how to search for fashion tips.
The summer nights in Jinwu Garden were far from being sultry. The night breeze blew his long hair, bringing a hint of coolness. The cicadas chirped one after another, and the grass and trees swayed gently in the wind, adding a bit of vitality to the man-made fantasy.
The silhouette of the night sky from the mythical era casts soft moonlight over the quiet courtyard, as if even time has slowed down at this moment.
Chi Zhaoming knocked on the table in dissatisfaction: "It's your turn now."
Recovering from the chatter beside him, Ning Changkong smiled and twirled the chess pieces: "Here he comes."