Life as a Rogue Cultivator

Chapter 277: Sect Leaders’ Token Formation Disk

The five Sect Leader tokens were fitted together in the way pieces of a formation disk would merge. The way they connected was a bit unusual, almost as if the five tokens had been meant to join from the very beginning.Could his own three tokens work the same way? If he added two more, would they form something like this formation disk?

While Liu Xiaolou was still thinking it over, the old man asked, “Well? Make any sense of it?”

Liu Xiaolou slid the key into the middle, pushing it where the umbrella handle should go. He looked up. “Should fit here… that ought to do it. The disk’ll open now.”

The old man pressed him, “Have you ever seen this formation disk before?”

Liu Xiaolou shook his head. “Never. Would you be willing to explain it? Oh, and I still don’t know your name, Senior.”

The old man stroked his beard. “I’m He, the lord of the Second Peak of Miao Feng Mountain. And you, boy, what’s your name?”

The old man stroked his beard. “I’m He,” he said. “Lordof the Second Peak of Miaofeng Mountain. And you… what’s your name, young fellow?”

From below the stone spike, He Taichang siad, “Uncle, his name's Li Mu.”

Peak Lord He thought for a moment, then suddenly frowned. “Last year some people from the Luofu Sect came to the Ten-Thousand Great Mountains looking for a formation master named Li Mu... that was you?”

Liu Xiaolou quickly replied, “I was just fortunate. A couple of years ago, the Luofu Sect invited me to refine their mountain-protecting grand formation, and I mentioned that I planned to come to the Ten-Thousand Great Mountains to search for spirit materials.”

Peak Lord He still looked unconvinced. “If that’s the case, you do have some skill. This formation disk is something I happened upon by chance. It must be at least a thousand years old, so I refined this formation key to go with it. The key turned out fine, but once the disk was set up, it didn’t do anything. Nothing happened.”

“Could you demonstrate it for me?” said Liu Xiaolou.

Peak Lord He didn’t hold anything back. He demonstrated on the spot, tossing the formation disk up toward the center stone spike. The disk opened like a short umbrella and began to spin at once. Its pointed tip angled downward and drove itself into a crack on the spike.

It kept spinning as it sank in. Chips of stone scattered off the umbrella-shaped surface and flew backward. In a short while, it had bored its way down.

Peak Lord He brought Liu Xiaolou up to the spike and had him look down through the crack. The disk had tunneled more than ten zhang deep before it stopped moving.

Calling the disk back into his hand, Peak Lord He said, “I’ve tried it many times. It’s always the same.”

“Senior,” Liu Xiaolou asked, “what exactly is the formation supposed to do?”

“Just activate the disk. Why’re you asking all these questions? If you can activate it, I’ll spare you. If you can’t... what use are you to me?”

Liu Xiaolou let out a sigh. “Senior, if you don’t tell me what this formation is meant to do, how am I supposed to figure out how to make it actually work? Maybe the way it’s being set up is wrong, or the activation method is off, or maybe it needs other spirit materials and should be rerefined. I need to understand its intended effect before I can do anything with it.”

Peak Lord He’s eyes flickered. He stared at Liu Xiaolou for a moment, then finally made up his mind. “Since you’re a formation master, tell me. What do you make of Miao Feng Mountain?”

Liu Xiaolou stood up on the stone spike. He slowly looked around. “It really is an auspicious place. There’s the stance of a tiger’s maw and a broken bridge, and the four gathered breaths make the land warm and full of life. The breeze rolls like a drum. Look at that ridge over there. That would be Phoenix Soaring over the Southern Mountains. And the pines and cypresses on this side stand in clusters, quiet and solitary at the highest point. That’s Turtle Back Facing the Sea. And... is that a waterfall I hear?”

Peak Lord He nodded. “That’s Thunder-Glow Falls, hidden behind the mountain.”

Liu Xiaolou nodded and continued, “The waterfall… it’s the spirit of the water. That means it’s hidden inside the Spirit-Treasured Mysterious Platform. This… this is a Great Completion Jade Realm formation!”

Peak Lord He smiled. “That matches what I saw.” Then asked, “You came over from the main peak. Did you see the herb fields on the Mysterious Platform?”

“I did.”

“Fields full of rare and extraordinary plants?”

“Yes.”

“And if it can sustain such spirit-filled fields, what does that tell us?”

“That the main peak is a blessed land?”

“It’s not quite a blessed land, but it really does have a spirit spring.”

“That alone is very rare.”

“He has it on the main peak. My Second Peak has even better terrain than his, so why don’t we have it?”

Liu Xiaolou had no answer. He looked around again and suddenly found it strange too.

Lord He answered his own question. “Because something is blocking it.” He lifted the Sect Leader’s formation disk in his hand. “This thing... it can break through whatever is stopping the spiritual energy and draw it out.”

Liu Xiaolou stared in surprise. “You mean it can open up the void?”

Peak Lord He said, “I don’t know if it’s the void or not. What I want is to open a spiritual spring on this Second Peak.”

Liu Xiaolou asked for the formation disk again, turning it over several times. “Senior,” he finally said, “is what you’re saying really true?”

Peak Lord He said, “You can probably tell that this disk is formed by merging five smaller disks. When I came by it, I got the records that came with it. How could they be wrong?'”

“Could it be that the Sect Leader’s tokens are incomplete? Maybe five pieces aren’t enough?”

“Three tokens are enough. Each additional piece improves the spiritual spring that opens, so the more the better. This formation disk already has five tokens, which is quite plenty.”

Liu Xiaolou pressed on. “Is that how the spiritual spring on the main peak was opened too?”

“Of course not,” Lord He said. “The Zhus were lucky. They arrived early and claimed a prime spot. But they know nothing about formations and have no idea about any of this.”

Liu Xiaolou nodded. “I can give it a try. If I’m lucky enough to get the formation disk working, Senior, I ask that you let me leave afterward. Is that acceptable?”

Peak Lord He agreed at once. “Deal.”

Liu Xiaolou had already figured it out. The old man was nothing special when it came to formations. Never mind whether there was something wrong with the disk itself. The spot he had chosen for the formation’s eye, the place where the disk was supposed to be set up, was completely wrong.

Put simply… the old man didn’t know how to set up a formation at all.

The correct location wasn’t this central stone spike. It was on the eastern side of the mountaintop, where three stone spikes stood together. That place fit the terrain’s natural flow far better.

Liu Xiaolou didn’t rush to offer help. “Senior He,” he said, “I’ll need time. Please leave the formation disk with me so I can study it. And... could you undo the Eightfold Restriction Cord? With these wrapped around me, I really can’t examine the disk properly. Also, is there a earth-fire vent here? I saw one in a stone cave on the main peak. If I need to adjust the formation disk or the disk key, having a earth-fire vent makes things much easier. Look here, this disk key is clearly refined in a rough state. Anyone can tell it’s because there wasn’t a earth-fire vent available.”

Master He said, “Look over the formation disk first. Once you understand it, we can talk about the rest.”

Liu Xiaolou didn’t push the matter. He added, “Is there anything to eat? I’m really starving, and your nephew beat me up pretty badly. I need to recover. If possible, I’d like some of those sticky rice cakes from the main peak.”

Lord He gave He Taichang a nod. Taichang didn’t look happy about it, but he obeyed and trudged off. Before long he came back with three sticky rice cakes and handed them to Liu Xiaolou. “Kid, hurry up and eat. Once you’re full, get back to work.”

Those rice cakes belonged to the Zhu family on the main peak, and He Taichang must have paid a good price to get them. Liu Xiaolou didn’t care what they cost. He took them and started chewing right away. Before long all three were gone. His spiritual energy rose, the medicine strong, and his internal injuries from He Taichang’s beating began to heal.

But only half the injuries healed. Most of the spiritual energy and medicinal power had been stolen away by those two Ghost Banyan seeds. Liu Xiaolou was left completely deflated and could only ask for more.

He Taichang told him to wait until tomorrow, and he obediently did.

Lord He sat nearby with his eyes closed, legs crossed in meditation. Liu Xiaolou knew that nothing he did could escape the man's notice. Mountain Lord Zhu held the main peak of Miao Feng Mountain thanks to his late-Foundation Establishment cultivation. If Lord He ruled the second peak, then what level had he reached?

Liu Xiaolou figured he was at least mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

He pretended to study the formation disk while quietly working out how he was going to escape this time.

...

Happy New Year, fellow cultivators! Here’s to 2026 bringing you breakthrough after breakthrough.