bookbashuk Chapter 4 Reverse Derivation of the Qiong Guan Formation? Imagining the Qiong Guan Formation
Chapter 4 Reverse Derivation of the Qiong Guan Formation? Imagining the Qiong Guan Formation
For the past two days, the entire office of the Grand Apostle has been brightly lit.
Fu Xuan, together with General Yao Guang of Yu Que, made a meticulous modification to the Qiong Guan Formation—the newly added "Reverse Qiong Guan Formation" can use a specific person as an anchor point to deduce a certain possibility of their future.
At this moment, the battlefield was ablaze with light, like a galaxy hanging upside down, with special effects running non-stop as if they were free.
Fu Xuan looked at Qing Yuan. Yesterday's farce of "spending all of Qing Que's savings" made everyone even more convinced that this person must be the future Qing Que.
Therefore, in addition to Qingyuan, Qingque herself must be present as an anchor for each simulation.
For this first simulation, Fu Xuan decided to personally participate—as Qing Que's superior and the person who knew her best, he could not only glimpse some clues about the future, but also distinguish between truth and falsehood.
"I'll leave the matters outside the formation to Lord Yao Guang," Fu Xuan said to the communication jade artifact.
She took a deep breath, stepped towards the core of the formation, and casually snatched the half-eaten string of Qiongshi bird from Qingyuan's hand, throwing it outside the formation.
"Oh no! My midnight snack!" Qingyuan exclaimed.
"Irrelevant things will interfere with the accuracy of the deduction." Fu Xuan's expression remained unchanged as he pulled Qing Yuan into the formation as well. "You come in too."
A great light shone forth, engulfing the three people.
When their vision cleared, Qingyuan and Fu Xuanren found themselves transformed into semi-transparent phantoms, standing in a spacious office hall—the layout of the Taibu Si (Imperial Statute Bureau), but with slightly different furnishings and a more solemn feel.
"This is... the Grand Diviner's Office?" Qingque looked around and muttered, "Not surprising, after all, doing divination with the Grand Diviner is mostly about work..."
Curious, she took a few steps closer and found many unfamiliar fortune tellers busy inside the hall.
Her gaze swept across the room and locked onto a diviner from the Vidyadhara tribe who was secretly yawning and whose eyes were wandering—his demeanor clearly indicated that he was a "kindred spirit."
Qingque leaned closer and whispered, "Hey, still working so late? Have you seen the Grand Diviner?"
The diviner turned his head upon hearing the sound, and the moment he saw the blue sparrow, his face turned deathly pale.
"I'm so sorry, Lord Taibu! I'll go organize the data right away!" He hurriedly bowed and fled back to his workstation. He sat up straight and began to write furiously, his pen trembling slightly.
Qingque froze on the spot, slowly turned around, and looked at the semi-transparent Fu Xuan behind her: "Grand Diviner, don't scare me... why are you still transparent?"
Fu Xuan stared at the panicked diviner and slowly shook his head: "In this future scene, there is no 'I' (the One) present, so we can only appear as observers."
"Huh? That can't be right!" Qingque scratched her head. "Given our connection, how could you not be in the future scenario? And why was he so scared when he didn't see you?"
"Because what he saw was 'you'." Although Fu Xuan's heart was in turmoil, he still spoke calmly, "You, Qing Que, in the future, are—"
"Grand...Grand Diviner?!" Qingque's eyes widened, her voice trembling. "Even if the sky of the Grand Diviner's Office collapses, it's not my place to hold it up!"
"Let's move around and see," Fu Xuan gently nudged her, "Perhaps we can glean some clues related to Luofu."
Qingque forced herself to walk around the office. She had just rounded a row of bookshelves when she suddenly froze—
An invisible force took over her movements, and a faint golden light appeared around her. A phantom image of a spirit bird materialized on her shoulder.
"Don't panic." Fu Xuan's voice rang out from the side. "This has triggered a 'key fragment' in Qing Yuan's memory, which should be the manifestation of her obsession."
Let's wait and see.
"You guys dug up my 'Memory Cone' to recreate it, of course you're going to recreate the story inside the cone!" Qingyuan complained from the side, arms crossed.
"Where did that light cone come from?" Fu Xuan pressed.
"It was pre-programmed!"
"Where does this come from in the existing setting?"
"...My memories." Qingyuan paused.
"That's right." Fu Xuan nodded. "I advise you to take less of those Chaos Physicians' potions. If you continue like this, you might mistake the whole world for a game."
"I ate Star Jade! A ticket formed from the power of pioneering! Can you guys stop making things up?"
"The Chaos Physician's medicine isn't always... never mind." Fu Xuan wasn't going to argue with Qing Yuan anymore, after all, the other party's cognition was currently abnormal.
As the three argued, the "Tai Bu Qing Que" in the picture was wrapped in a golden scroll of light.
She seemed to have received some message, her brows furrowed slightly, and as she walked forward, she raised her hand and gestured—a pink divination compass appeared beside her, its pointer turning gently.
Fu Xuan glanced at the divination results: "Is it just ordinary divination for discovery? What a pity."
Just then, two hushed conversations drifted on the wind:
"I heard that the Grand Diviner wasn't always this serious..."
"Yes, it's said that after that catastrophe... in order to save Luofu from near destruction, the legendary 'General Fu Xuan'..."
The words suddenly became indistinct.
Fu Xuan's pupils contracted slightly.
Although becoming a general was her long-held aspiration, the words "catastrophe" and "near destruction" struck her with a sudden tightness in her chest.
The "Grand Diviner Qingque" in the picture seemed to have heard the discussion. He turned around and looked at the source of the voice. His tone was calm but carried an unquestionable authority: "Now that your official duties are finished, you should go back as soon as possible."
Instead of wasting time here, why not play a couple of rounds of Jade Cards to refresh your mind?
"Yes! Thank you, Grand Diviner!"
The two diviners, as if granted a pardon, hurriedly left.
The segment will pause here.
Fu Xuan's illusory figure grabbed Qing Que's cheek: "What time is it? You're still thinking about that jade tablet! The Divine Lord has already fallen into your hands, yet you still don't strive for advancement?"
"Oh dear! My Lord, that was Qing Yuanqian's 'good deed,' why are you accusing me!" Qing Que cried out in pain.
Fu Xuan naturally knew, but looking at Qing Yuan's miserable appearance with the Abundance Flower on her head and the Calamity Flame occasionally bursting out, she simply couldn't bring herself to do it.
Anyway... they're essentially the same person, so it doesn't matter who you pin the blame on.
"As the Grand Diviner, is this how you manage your duties?" Fu Xuan released his grip, glaring at her. "Letting your subordinates leave early, who will deal with the backlog of work?"
Qingque rubbed her face and muttered softly, "Well, it must be because I've had less official business lately that I allowed them to leave... Doesn't that make me seem considerate of my subordinates and humane?"
Fu Xuan said no more, pointing vaguely into the distance: "Come with me to the Grand Diviner's office. Since it's a key scene, there might still be clues."
---
The moment Qingque stepped into the office, she lost control of her body once again.
This time, she was forced to sit on that large and heavy diviner's throne.
On the jade table in front of him, piles of jade slips, documents, and star charts almost covered the edge of the table.
At the very top, spread out, is a complex and detailed "Luofu Immortal Ship Full-Area Deployment Spiritual Pivot Map".
No...no!
The blue sparrow wailed inwardly, but its hands moved on their own.
With his left hand, he reviews daily official documents, while with his right hand, he sketches on a star map.
Her gaze was forced to focus on the dense array of operational nodes: the defensive barrier of the Star Chariot Sea core area needed to be synchronized and calibrated with the Pill Cauldron Medicine Mist Array, and seventy-two additional sensing talismans needed to be installed around Suiyuan...
Every decision requires massive computational simulations.
Qingque felt like her head was overloaded, burning hot and about to smoke.
Those complex geographical parameters, spiritual energy flow paths, and nested array points were like countless needles piercing her mind—a massive amount of calculations and official documents were combining in the most brutal way, forcing her to understand, calculate, and annotate.
Sweat dripped from his forehead.
My wrists are sore from writing continuously.
The back and waist become stiff from sitting for long periods of time.
What's even more terrifying is the despair of "out-of-body experience"—she clearly senses all the exhaustion and tedium, yet has no control over even blinking.
Let me go back... let me go back to playing cards... let me lie in the corner of the library and sleep until the end of time...
This is absolutely inhuman! What terrible things did I do in the future to deserve this kind of torture?!
After an unknown amount of time, when the last defensive node was calibrated, Qingque heard herself whispering:
"The redeployment of the Immortal Ship's defenses is basically complete... This time it should be able to..."
Before she could finish speaking, the force controlling her suddenly loosened.
Immediately afterwards, an irresistible wave of exhaustion washed over her. "Tai Bu Qing Que" leaned forward, her forehead gently resting on the cool jade table, and thus—remaining seated—fell into a deep sleep.
Sleeping...asleep?! Qingque almost cried tears of joy.
But the next second, her consciousness was dragged back into that darkness.
In her dream, she found herself sleeping. Sleeping in a dream?
Shouldn't we be playing cards? This is so unlike Qingque!
"Why are you slacking off again—"
Tai Bu Qingque was suddenly "awakened".
Fu Xuan walked in, his gaze falling on the files on the table that had all been processed, and he paused for a moment.
"Huh? All of this... has already been taken care of?"
She walked to Qingque's side, stretched out her hands, and gently pressed her knuckles against Qingque's temples, turning them left and right—a familiar, affectionate reprimanding gesture that Fu Xuan often used.
"Blue Sparrow, you..."
The future Fu Xuan's voice was filled with complex emotions:
"Given such capabilities, why were you always unwilling to take on more responsibility before?"
Tai Bu Qingque said, "Ugh... Lord Fu Xuan, I understand..."
Fu Xuan sighed softly as the phantom slowly dissipated.
"Tai Bu Qing Que" was also startled awake from her light sleep. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and felt a little moisture on her fingertips.
She gazed at the mountain of official documents piled on her desk, remained silent for a moment, and whispered to herself:
"Next time... I'll definitely try harder."
Then, he continued reading his official documents...
The scene receded like the tide.
Qingque collapsed to the ground with a thud, her face pale and her eyes unfocused, as if she had just experienced torture.
"In my dreams... even while I'm sleeping... I get arrested by the Grand Diviner..."
She murmured incoherently, "I have to continue handling official business after waking up... Is this... is this the kind of life a human being can live...?"
Fu Xuan's illusory form had returned to solidity. She stood still for a moment, then looked at Qing Yuan with a solemn expression: "How much of the 'catastrophe' you mentioned earlier do you actually remember?"
Qingyuan clutched her head, her voice muffled: "That's fan fiction! It's just background story in the setting! I told you not to take it seriously—"
"Fu Qing." Jing Yuan approached at the right time and gently advised, "If she has indeed been taking the Chaos Physician's medicine for a long time to resist the demonic body, then those overly painful memories, along with related clues, will naturally be blurred or even buried by the medicine."
Since these are sensitive topics, Fu Qing, please stop pressuring her. Let Qiong Guanzhen reveal the truth in the end.
Upon hearing this, Qingyuan looked up, filled with grief and indignation: "What Chaos Physician! I am Wumingke, a pioneer!"
This is illegal detention and psychological torture! I want to get back to the train! I want to file a complaint!
"What do you wish to complain about?" Hua's calm voice rang out as she stepped out from the light and shadow. "I, the commander, will handle this personally."
Qingyuan paused for a moment: "Um... I think... the accommodation and food are alright."
These are the expenses for the past two days...
"Approved." Hua Qian replied crisply, "All your expenses during your stay in Luofu will be covered by the Immortal Boat Alliance."
"And what about me! Marshal, me!" Qingque, who had been lying on the ground looking utterly dejected, sprang up as if she had a sudden burst of energy upon hearing the word "reimbursement." "My ten million loan—"
"I am aware of this matter." Hua looked at Jingyuan. "The funds will be allocated from the special affairs fund of the Imperial Apothecary, and General Jingyuan will approve it."
"Yay—!!!" Qingque cheered, the despair that had accumulated during the previous simulation was instantly thrown to the winds.
On the other side, Fu Xuan was gently shaking Qing Yuan's shoulders, while Jing Yuan and Yan Qing tried their best to mediate.
"Think again! What exactly happened during that catastrophe? If you really can't remember the catastrophe, what about what happened after I became a general? You should have some recollection of that!"
She finally became a general, but it turned out she was just a background character, appearing only as a diviner, which made her very eager to join him.
"Master Taibu... when you stop being so obsessed with becoming a general, you will naturally become one..." Qingyuan was dizzy from being shaken.
Jing Yuan chuckled upon hearing this: "It seems that Miss Qingyuan, this 'future general,' is quite methodical in handling matters."
His gaze shifted to Qingque, who was about to slip away to collect her reimbursement, and his smile deepened:
"While the divine spirit may vary depending on its master's temperament, it's truly fascinating that the divine spirit can transform into such agile and swift forms in Qingyuan's hands. Miss Qingque—"
He drawled out his words.
"Would you like to try it now and see what it's like to control a powerful spirit?"
Qingque shook her head frantically, her head blurring into a blur: "No, no, no! General, I have a card game scheduled, I'll take my leave now—"
Fu Xuan stepped forward, blocking the way: "Controlling spirits is a trivial skill. With Qingque's intelligence, it's a piece of cake."
Since you are destined to be a diviner for the future, your most urgent task is to study the ways of governance under my guidance, so that you may properly manage all affairs, large and small, at Luofu Mountain in the future.
She reached out to pull Qingque.
"Come with me back to the Imperial Apostles' Office. You should learn how to review today's official documents."
In an instant, Qingque's mind flashed back to the mountain of files, the complex defense maps, and the endless calculations she had just performed...
"General—!!!"
She lunged forward, grabbing Jingyuan's leg tightly, tilting her face up, her eyes filled with a will to survive:
"General!! I suddenly... really, really want to try riding a Spirit!"
Jing Yuan looked down at the blue sparrow hanging on his leg, then looked up at Fu Xuan, who looked helpless, and Qing Yuan, who was watching the show with great interest. Finally, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The future of Luofu seems destined to be eventful.