Chapter 169 — The Holy Sovereign's Penchant

The Teleportation Divine Art is in truth a divine art founded upon the arts of calculation: for a different direction, a different destination, a different distance, a different space, one must reckon a different ordering and rule among the runes. Every time a teleportation point is established, a vast amount of computation is required. Computation — and what is meant by "operation"?

Operation is the sequence, the evolution, the transformation, the law of rune formations; only when there are sequences, evolutions, and transformative laws of rune formations does "calculation" exist.

The abacus is the most elementary form of all computation: the shifting of the upper beads and the lower beads represents the simplest formation sequence.

To refine the Teleportation Divine Art into a treasure is to drive the reckoning by the rune-changes and formation-changes branded into the treasure; it is ten thousand times more complex than reckoning with the upper and lower beads of an abacus, and may be regarded as a vast, three-dimensional abacus of heterogeneous construction. If one would wield this divine art on one's own, one must be able to adjust the algorithm at any time and in any place, and to seek out the secret of teleportation from amid runes of every chaotic complexity. With only ten volumes of the Calculation Classics, there was no deriving a formula of such complexity.

And so Shen Mu felt that he needed more profound texts on the arts of calculation before he could ever wholly master the Teleportation Divine Art. "The profound Calculation Classics — the Array Origin Hall of the Grand Academy ought to teach them. The Array Origin Hall teaches formations, and formations require the reckoning of the arts of calculation.

Perhaps the Dao Sect has such Calculation Classics as well, and loftier ones. .

.

" Shen Mu suddenly thought of Lin Xuan, the Daozi of the Dao Sect.

When Lin Xuan Daozi executed One Point Piercing the Vast Motion, and Yin and Yang Repeating Within the Two Modes, he had brought to bear techniques of calculation of the most intricate kind. Yin and Yang Repeating Within the Two Modes required an immense amount of calculation; without a powerful capacity for reckoning, it would be well-nigh impossible to compute the changes of one's moves within so short a time, and to compute the exact position of Shen Mu's weakness. "Without profound Calculation Classics, there is no way I can master the Teleportation Divine Art now.

As it is, I know the how but not the why. Better to refine a teleportation treasure first.

" Shen Mu steadied his heart and gave himself wholly to refining the treasure. Whether one refines a teleportation banner or a teleportation robe, cloth is needed; he had only a single set of brocade robes left about him, so he could only start with the brocade. And to refine his own Six-Winged Golden Silkworm brocade into a teleportation robe, he would first have to draw out thread — to pull several dozen strands of golden silkworm silk from the garment, to weave formation patterns with that silk within the robe, and to brand runes upon it with yuan qi.

From childhood he had studied tailoring under Grandma Zhu, and had even dabbled in embroidery; this was no difficulty for him. "Tell me — can the Holy Cult Master leave Shenglin Mountain by his own strength?

" The three Cult-Guarding Heavenly Kings had not yet left Shenglin Mountain, precisely so that Shen Mu should not be stranded in this place. The three elders looked toward the Floating Light Hall.

Heavenly King Lu, stroking a wisp of goatee on his chin, said, "Refining a teleportation treasure is no simple matter. Our Holy Cult's teleportation methods might well be called the most headache-inducing of all divine arts. " Heavenly King Yu nodded, deeply in accord: "The teleportation methods demand far too much of the arts of calculation.

Without a fine mastery of calculation, one can hardly learn them. The Holy Cult Master is still young; he should have little attainment in the arts of calculation.

" "Let him ponder it for a few days.

One who does not know difficulty does not know progress. To advance knowing the difficulty — that is the heart of one who seeks the Dao, who seeks learning. " Heavenly King Shi, the most steady and grave of them, said, "The Holy Cult Master has met too few setbacks. He rose to the seat of Holy Cult Master with fair winds the whole way; without trials he cannot grow.

This too is the Patriarch's intention. " The other two Cult-Guarding Heavenly Kings nodded again and again and said, "Shall we manufacture a setback or two for him ourselves?

" "No need.

This time, his pondering of the teleportation method will be setback enough to teach him what setback means. The Patriarch's meaning is this: when he finds he cannot leave this place, then we shall give him a teleportation banner. " Heavenly King Shi smiled faintly.

"Every gesture of the Patriarch carries deep meaning. How hard a divine art the Teleportation Divine Art is to learn, you two know as well as I.

For what did the Patriarch leave him here to study the Teleportation Divine Art? " Heavenly King Lu and Heavenly King Yu's eyes lit up, and together they clapped their hands and cried out at the brilliance of it. Of those who could master the teleportation method and refine it into a treasure, there were not many in the whole Youmo Cult.

Even the Holy Maiden of the previous generation, Si Youyou, had never learned it; her attainments in the arts of calculation were not high. The Patriarch's thought was this: let Shen Mu go to the Floating Light Hall to study the Teleportation Divine Art, and by the time Shen Mu discovered that the Teleportation Divine Art required the very highest attainments in the arts of calculation, ten-odd days would likely have passed. Then ten-odd days more, and Shen Mu would discover that he could not refine this divine art at all, and could refine only a teleportation treasure.

Ten-odd days more, and Shen Mu would discover that he could not refine even a treasure.

In this way the unruly temper of this young Holy Cult Master would be worn down a little; he would learn the height of heaven and the depth of the earth, and would no longer be so lawless and reckless, so ignorant of the height of heaven and the depth of the earth. By then, Shen Mu would settle his heart and first comprehend the Great Unification cultivation method of the Heavenly Holy Cult. Then the three Heavenly Kings would appear in the guise of elders and give this young cult master a teleportation banner; the Holy Cult Master would leave Shenglin Mountain smoothly, and all would be rejoicing.

This was the deep meaning of the Patriarch's keeping Shen Mu on Shenglin Mountain to ponder the Teleportation Divine Art. Heavenly King Yu said gravely, "What in the end has happened to Heavenly King Qian?

Have you two received any word? " Heavenly King Shi and Heavenly King Lu shook their heads.

Heavenly King Shi said, "I fear Brother Qian has already met with misfortune. He was the warmest-hearted of us all, and this time, of all times, he did not come.

Most likely the enemy struck at him, seeking to learn the location of our cult's headquarters, to learn who our cult master is. With his temper, he would never have spoken. .

.

" Heavenly King Lu's heart skipped.

"Brother Qian's cultivation was so high. . . " "However high one's cultivation, there is always someone higher.

" Heavenly King Shi said in a low voice, "The first-rank great officials of the imperial court are all existences on the level of cult masters; nor do the Dao Sect and the Great Thunderclap Temple lack such peak experts.

Other sects, other great houses, have hidden experts as well.