Heaven's Formula

Li glanced at him, turned around and walked out of the hall, disappearing into the night.

A trace of uneasiness arose in Xia Fan's heart.

This back figure is really in line with the flag that never returns.

Should I go with her?

But the other party is a demon, with rich experience in night action, and I am not good at flying over walls, so I am afraid it will be difficult to keep up with the other party's pace.

Sitting and waiting is easy to think too much, so just boil a pot of tea first and distract yourself.

Xia Fan went into the kitchen and rummaged for a while, and found a fairly clean porcelain jar. As soon as he went out, he saw a dark shadow in the hall!

His hand trembled, and the jar nearly fell.

"you……"

The black shadow turned around, it was Li who took off his bamboo hat. "I'm back. Why do you look like a ghost?"

"It's too fast!"

"Didn't you tell me to come back quickly?" Li rolled his eyes, "As expected, human beings are fickle."

Xia Fan decided to stand up straight and be beaten, "Then... what's going on outside?"

"It's nothing." Li's eyes suddenly became a little erratic, and he replied with a lack of interest after a while, "It's just what you humans love to do—slaughtering your own kind."

Chapter 48 The first lesson

Humans... slaughtering humans?

Xia Fan didn't ask her what she saw.

He only felt repulsion and habituation from the other party's eyes.

——The fox demon doesn't want to elaborate on this issue.

Realizing this, Xia Fan could only suppress the doubts in his heart.

……

Early the next morning, Wei Wushuang had already changed into his alchemist uniform, and appeared at the door of Xia Fan's residence in good spirits.

"Today is the first class for the first batch of new alchemists, we can't be late!"

"I know, I know," Xia Fan yawned and walked out of the gate.In order to make up for the time spent on entraining qi, he sat up until two or three in the morning last night before going to bed. Now that he is a civil servant working from six to five, he really can't adapt.

It was not long after dawn at this time, and the sky was still light blue. After a night of filtering, the smell of firewood in the air has faded a lot.

The heat of the summer season is also diluted by the sea, and the morning breeze that rolls across the street is covered with a trace of coolness. If you take a deep breath, you can even taste a little salty.

If there is no such thing as burning salt, Jinxia City may also be a good place to live.

But not far from the courtyard wall, Xia Fan saw something unusual: I saw many people wearing official government uniforms walking back and forth along the street, as if they were searching for something, while the common people stayed far away Yes, pointing to the wall and whispering.

Xia Fan followed the latter's gaze to glance around twice, and soon landed on a touch of brown.

Common sense told him that it was the trace of dried blood.

"It's just what you humans love to do."

What Li said last night suddenly appeared in his mind.

Could this be the source of yesterday's screams?

"Did you hear any abnormal noise yesterday?" He asked Wei Wushuang.

"No, I went to bed very early, and it was dawn when I opened my eyes." The fellow patted his head, "Did something happen?"

He really is a carefree rich second generation... Xia Fan recounted what he heard, but omitted the part about the fox demon.

"So that's what it is," Wei Wushuang was stunned, and then frowned again, "I guess... probably the gang did it."

"Gang?"

"Well, Jinxia City is no different than Fenghua County. It has more people and more forces. When I came here to do business, I was blocked by them, and I only got out after paying some money. As for the specific gangs here, I don't know exactly."

Xia Fan nodded, and turned his gaze back to the bloodstain.

Obviously, this was a hunt that lasted for a long time, blood was scattered along the street, and there should be more than one victim.

After walking hundreds of meters towards the Privy Council, there were suddenly many more people watching, and a dozen or so yamen servants even surrounded a large courtyard of private houses to prevent everyone from approaching.

Obviously this is the source of the case.

"I remember that the Privy Council can also participate in handling the case?" Xia Fan asked in a low voice.

"That's right, but it's only limited to the evil incident. This matter has nothing to do with us." Wei Wushuang also lowered his voice.

“How come you see?”

"Look," he pointed to a pile of iron objects at the entrance of the courtyard, "they should be the murder weapon found by the government, and it's still stained with blood. I've never heard that Xie Chong can wield knives and sticks."

It sounds like it does.

There were a few swords in the pile of iron, but more hoes, shovels, and kitchen knives—it was clear that the attackers had the upper hand in weapons.

Xia Fan also noticed that the yamen servants kept carrying out the corpses from the courtyard. Through the human wall, he could vaguely see some strange icons embroidered on the clothes of the corpses.

It seemed to be a white flower.

And the shape of the petals... made him feel familiar.

Wei Wushuang may have guessed correctly, this incident should be just an ordinary murder.

The only thing that bothered him was that after the officials noticed the black alchemist robes on both of them, they all leaned inward, making the wall closer, as if they were not civil servants of Qiguo, but Like the murder suspect.

This kind of exclusion made Xia Fan give up the idea of ​​going to find out.

The sun had just climbed over the wall when they arrived at the Privy Council Mansion, and the two walked into the inner hall of Zhiwei Hall with the six o'clock chime. There were already four people waiting for them in the spacious room.

Obviously these four people plus the two of them are the first batch of new alchemists mentioned by the reception officer.

"Flower picker?" A woman asked in surprise.

Xia Fan took a closer look and found that the other party was actually Luo You'er.

As soon as these words came out, the eyes of the other three people suddenly became strange.

"No, what does flower picker mean?"

"Sneaking into an unmarried woman's boudoir is usually a flower picker."

"That's an exam!" He quickly argued, "And I'm not targeting people, the source of the spiritual fire is my goal! Don't you and your senior sister agree on this!"

"Well, it's okay to change it to a soil thief, right?" Luo You'er said with reason.

Xia Fan decided to give up arguing.

"Hmph, what a boring farce." Another handsome man in a fancy dress looked away and found a seat by himself.

"My name is Shangguancai, I came here from Shangyuan City." The woman beside Luo Youer came over generously and said, "It's the first time we meet, please take care of me."

Renamed... Xia Fan couldn't help but look at her twice.

With straight bangs and a single ponytail, he is neither tall nor short, with freckles on his face, a slightly collapsed nose bridge, an ordinary appearance, and no obvious jewelry on his body, and he doesn't look like he was born in a famous family.

The only bright spot is her pair of eyebrows and eyes.

The tall willow leaf eyebrows and slightly raised eyes give people a heroic feeling.

"Yue Feng, from Suzhou." The last person briefly introduced.

Compared with the noble young man before, this man's clothes were much more casual. He didn't even wear a crown, but just tied his hair in a bun with strips of cloth, showing a chic and comfortable look.

It's just that Xia Fan noticed that his forearm, which was exposed outside the alchemist's uniform because he was standing with his chest folded, was quite thick, the knuckles on the back of his hand were raised high, and there were many scars, which undoubtedly had been tempered for a long time.

"I'm Xia Fan, and this is my fellow villager, Wei Wushuang. We are both from Fenghua County." Xia Fan showed a "friendly" smile. No matter what, these alchemists are colleagues he will need to get along with for a long time in the future. Good relationships can never go wrong.

"Oh, you're all here?" At this moment, an old man with half-white hair and about fifty years old walked in—even though he was older than this era, his footsteps were invisible. Not at all sluggish, and his voice is full of energy. "That's right, no fool joined the Privy Council this time. Sit down, everyone. My surname is Zhang Mingya. You can call me Zhang Shi, Zhang Jiaoxi, or Zhang Master, but don't call me Mr. Zhang. Do you understand? You don’t need to call yourself a disciple, I’m just teaching you as part of my job, there’s no teacher-student relationship to speak of. If you remember, please answer this old man!”

It took a long time for everyone to react, and they continued, "I will remember."

Is this the behavior style of Liupin Wendao?Xia Fan was very surprised in his heart. The master-student relationship was to some extent comparable to blood relationship. It was not uncommon for teachers and students to form factions from generation to generation. How could he not care at all?

"Very good, don't forget that you are alchemists of the Privy Council, improving your strength is more important than any etiquette." Mrs. Zhang nodded in satisfaction, "In this lesson, what I want to teach you is how to further understand your own qi. He flipped through a small notebook, "The alchemists I've named come to the stage."

Chapter 49 Mind

finally come!

It's not cheap master's experience and quack tricks, but the systematic teaching of alchemy in this era!

Xia Fan gathered his spirits and raised his ears expectantly—Master Zhang called out Luo Youer's name first, and then inserted his gold medal into a groove on the wall behind him.

With a soft "click", a one-meter-square dark cabinet appeared on the wall.

Everyone couldn't help exclaiming, they didn't expect such a mystery to be hidden in the seemingly empty inner hall.

Xia Fan's eyes were attracted by the items in the dark cabinet.

—It was a beautiful bronze vessel.

It is almost half a meter high, and the bottom is similar to a three-pronged goblet, but the cup is longer and cannot be grasped with one hand.An octagonal roulette is placed horizontally above it, and a small square box is hung on each side.There is a beam in the middle of the roulette connected to the central cup, and a long golden needle is hanging from the top.

Aside from its unclear purpose, it is an exquisite work of art just by looking at its shape: from the corner of the cup to the body of the cup, it is covered with reliefs, and the roulette is hollowed out. Its volume is several times larger than that of the lower half, but a little No top-heavy feeling either.If it is unearthed in later generations, it will definitely be a work of the town hall level.

"This is a spiritual altar, which is used to measure the heart of alchemists. I think it is not the first time some children from aristocratic families have seen it." Mr. Zhang introduced.

Luo You'er looked it over carefully, "There is indeed something called Lingtai in the Luo family's Youzhou mansion, but it doesn't look so beautiful, and only disciples approved by the master are allowed to touch it."

"Heh, little girl, your so-called beauty is worth nothing. The preciousness of the Lingtai lies in the materials used. Casting the base like this is purely a show off. In my opinion, it is unnecessary at all." He opened his mouth. Depreciating the creation that can be called a work of art to nothing, "Come, stretch out your hand to hold the cup, and then guide the air into the cup, just like you usually fill the wooden sword with air."

Luo You'er was stunned for a moment, "But this is something made of gold and iron..."

In terms of affinity for qi, living things are greater than dead things, and dead things are in between, which is why alchemists usually wear wooden swords.

"That's just the outer shell, so the old man said that the quality of the Lingtai depends on the internal materials. Well, stop talking nonsense, let you do it as a snapshot!"

Luo You'er was so frightened that she shrank her neck, and quickly stretched out her hand.

After about a few minutes, Xia Fan saw the golden needle on the top of the altar slowly shaking.

After turning left and right twice, it finally points in the direction of Sunda.

At the same time, a piece of talisman paper floated up in Xunwei's box, and the two approached each other, half suspended in the air, as if being pulled by an invisible force.

"Okay, this is your xinxing. Go down."

Luo You'er returned to her seat with a dazed expression, obviously not quite understanding what happened just now.

"Excuse me Zhang...Master," Xia Fan raised his hand habitually and asked, "What exactly does this character refer to?"

Master Zhang squinted at him, frowning slightly.

The sudden silence made the atmosphere in the room tense.

Wei Wushuang at the side gave him several winks, probably wanting him to apologize quickly.

After a while, Mrs. Zhang changed his normal attitude and said with a big smile, "Hahahaha...very good, this is what studying should be like!"

"Some of you come from aristocratic families, some come from scattered schools, and you know different things. Do I have to ask you every time if you understand this, and if that will work? No matter what the occasion is, just ask questions , this is not the Sixth Department of the imperial court, don't bring in the atmosphere from the outside!"

"Listen well, nature determines whether a person can perceive the existence of qi, and xinxing determines which type of alchemy a person is better at using. The former is innate and cannot be changed; the latter is different from person to person and will be affected by many factors. Together, they make a complete person!"

"For example, that little girl—" Mrs. Zhang pointed at Luo You'er sharply, "she is timid, not confident in herself, and dare not ask questions in public even if she doesn't understand. I think it's only when people When driven, she will take action—even if the action is not what she expects. What is this like, isn't it just like the wind that is elusive and disperses when it encounters resistance?"

Luo Youer was dumbfounded.

Xia Fan was equally astonished, thinking of the scene when Luo Qingqing forced her to smell her body, it was really similar to what the other party said.

"But this wind can also be divided into breeze and hurricane," the woman who called herself Shangguancai interjected, "Since they all belong to the genus Sunda, how can we determine which type the tester belongs to?"

"I knew that you would fall into this misunderstanding." Mrs. Zhang raised his beard, as if he had been prepared to say, "Do you think it is a bad thing to have a temper like the wind? Timidity means caution in reverse, and it can be avoided if you are not confident. Arrogant and complacent——Cultivation is both self-cultivation and mind-cultivation. There has never been a perfect mind in this world. Carrying forward your own advantages and overcoming your own shortcomings will always be the most important theme on the way of practice. When you can retract freely , of course it can be destroyed by a hurricane while the wind is blowing!"

Shangguan Cai was stunned for a moment, then cupped his hands and said, "I've been taught."

The teacher in the privy office is still a little level...Xia Fan thought to himself, in terms of organization and eloquence, he was several levels higher than his cheap master.

"Spells are born from the heart, so the nature of your mind determines which type of alchemy you are better at using." The other party continued, "Of course, this does not mean that you cannot use other alchemy, but learning it will get twice the result with half the effort, and the effect is not as good as that of the heart and nature. In addition, even if it is a spell with the same attribute as yourself, different people will have great differences in casting it - it depends on proficiency, understanding ability and personal perception, so you don't need to be greedy, rather than know everything , it’s better to use a certain alchemy technique to the extreme.”

"When you cooperate with other alchemists to eliminate evil spirits, don't forget to introduce your hexagram attributes and the most commonly used alchemy. No one can cover everything. The correct way to deal with it is to cooperate with each other and use each other's strengths. The genius I have seen There are so many of them, and the headstrong ones usually don't live long."

"Then next one, Yue Feng."

The remaining four people took the stage one by one, and the results were: Yue Feng, belonging to Gen.

Shangguan Cai belongs to Li.