Transcending Evolution Chapter 7: Viewing Diagrams
The two people talked quietly; although they were separated by more than 10 meters, they were not afraid that they would be overheard by the apprentices.
But since Gu Yue’s cultivation had risen, his five senses had become sharper, and he could even hear the sound of insects crawling around a few metres away. Qin Xue and Aunt Mei’s conversation was clearly heard.
“What? Uncle Qin was plotted against, and so heavily injured? And on top of that, there are still people wanting to attack the martial school?” Since his parents had went missing, Gu Yue had experienced the coldness of human nature; these few years, the number of people who had made him feel truly thankful had slowly dwindled; however, Chu Han’s Martial School was undoubtedly among the remaining few who he did appreciate.
Gu Yue was stunned; he had really been too oblivious and hadn’t noticed that the school had been so badly affected.
Truthfully, he could not be blamed. His job in the school was only to clean; since the practice rooms were in the VIP area, he didn’t have the necessary level to go in and notice the changes.
Normally, he would be very busy. If he was not secretly practicing martial arts, then he would be working part-time on the weekends; how could he have the time to bother about other things? Not being able to find any changes in the martial school was a matter of course.
“Arrays…could there be some sort of problem with the Array Method?” His father, Gu Feng Chang, had a rule: all kindness received must be paid back in kind. Since he had been taught by the school, he begun to think of ways to help them. “How about going to find Teacher Lin? She is also an Array Master; surely the problems of the arrays are not difficult for her to solve?”
After a bit of deliberation, the only Array Master he could think of was just one Professor Lin Hai Xin. However, when he thought of the school’s circ.u.mstances, Gu Yue hesitated.
He was just an ordinary student; he hadn’t even attended more than a few rune cla.s.ses. There was a high chance Professor Lin did not even know who he was. In addition, she would have the risk the wrath of the Vice President of the Array Masters a.s.sociation to help the school; Gu Yue believed he did not have face enough to ask her for this favour.
“Hey, isn’t it just an array? My own knowledge on arrays shouldn’t be that little, and since my spirit has just been boosted by leaps and bounds, it should be possible for me to just reset the array, right?”
Having made up his mind, Gu Yue suddenly walked over and bowed, before saying: “My lady, Aunt Mei.”
“Hm?” Qin Xue frowned, exuding a trace of coldness, with an obvious slight of unhappiness. She usually stayed in the VIP area and did not pay the first floor apprentices much attention. Naturally, she would definitely not pay any to Gu Yue, a simple part-time handyman, either.
“My lady, this one is a part-timer known as Gu Yue. He is a junior high school student, that is employed by the courtyard manager to a.s.sist in jobs around the school.” Aunt Mei’s beautiful eyes glanced at Gu Yue while she introduced him. Although Aunt Mei was slightly annoyed at Gu Yue for not being worldly, even daring to interrupt the conversation now, she still calmly introduced him.
“You are Gu Yue?” Her frosty face warmed slightly as she nodded. “I’ve heard of you. How are you? Are you fine, working in the martial school?”
“I must thank Uncle Qin and my lady for looking after me.” Gu Yue respectfully thanked them.
“No need to find me or Aunt Mei just to thank us; after all, our relationship can only be considered as employer and employee. Please do not be too courteous.” Although Qin Xue’s face was cold, her words were warm.
“There is a little matter that I came to ask my lady’s help for.” Gu Yue knew she was just being courteous; if he really believed her, then he would be a fool. However, he also had a plan. Although it was a sneaky plan, it also required a thick and shameless face to pull off.
“Hmm? Speak!” Qin Xue’s eyebrow raised slightly as she commanded.
“I recently self-studied some of the runes involving arrays; but because my family is too poor, I had no chance to practice. I heard that for the members of the martial school, there were a variety of outstanding methods that one could use. May I go in and watch?” Gu Yue tentatively asked.
“You self-studied runes?” Aunt Mei found it to be quite ridiculous and fiercely glared at Gu Yue as she coldly said that. Array Methods were profound beyond belief; even if there was the guidance of a teacher, it was difficult to be successful. Yet this Gu Yue actually said that he had self-studied the runes? Even Qin Xue’s face frosted slightly, as if she completely designed to argue with him.
“Indeed, I have!” Gu Yue embarra.s.sedly said. Aunt Mei’s eyes had been fierce to warn him of such a foolish course of action; there was even a little sense of coercion in her tone. However, Gu Yue’s momentum had reached it’s maximum; how could he listen this little warning?
A trace of colour appeared on Qin Xue’s face; it appeared his words had somehow affected her.
“Your cultivation is only Body Refining Stage Two? You have not even cultivated to a level where you can produce True Yuan, and cannot even make rune inscriptions, and yet you still want to talk about learning Array Methods? Since her warning was ignored, Aunt Mei was slightly angry and sneered as she said: “The array room is a forbidden room for a reason. You think anyone can just walk in?”
“One does not necessarily have to have True Yuan to study the Array Method, correct?” Gu Yue only responded with an indifferent smile.
“Oh? Aunt Mei was stunned; she begun to believe that Gu Yue could be an exception. “Seeing as you are so confident, why not tell us, how many array patterns can you possibly have seen, and how many can you remember?”
“I’ve seen a few; if they are conventional array patterns, it should not be too difficult for me.” Gu Yue proudly smiled. The importance of the Array Patterns to the Array Method was the equivalent of martial arts to a warrior; the number of mastered Array Patterns was the true determining factor of how strong an Array Division truly was. If one did not know any Array Patterns, even the strongest Array Master would not be able to use the Array Method.
Gu Yue was very interested in the runes of the Array Method, but Array Patterns were too esoteric; at his very best, he could barely understand them. However, his greatest a.s.set was the runes and Array Method brought by the mysterious disk. Amongst them, although the Array method was broad and profound, it also gave him a great deal of confidence.
“Aiya, that mouth of yours is pretty big for a little rascal!” Qin Xue shook her head and continued: “The road of the Array Method is long and profound. Since you are interested in it, work hard! When you become a formal Array Master, then maybe this martial school will help you out.”
“If such a day really comes, then my lady must definitely remember this!” Gu Yue said as he laughed. “Also…about the Array Pattern room…?”
“Well, originally, the Array Pattern Room is indeed only for the internal staff of the martial school. Outsiders cannot go in, but you can be barely considered to be part of the martial school staff, so I suppose there is nothing wrong with you going in to have a look. Whatever! Aunt Mei, go accompany him to look at it!” Qin Xue grunted indifferently.
“Miss…This…This is not according to the rules!” Aunt Mei anxiously said.
“Just bringing him to take a look, where is the harm? Anyway, the Array Pattern Room was only closed off to prevent tampering, he is only of a Body Refining martial artist; even if he wants to damage the Array Pattern Room, he cannot do it!” Qin Xue’s face flashed with colour as she off-handedly spoke.
“Fine!” Aunt Mei’s face was one of reluctance; although she wasn’t familiar with Gu Yue, she still understood his circ.u.mstances. From her point of view, he was a failing student; how would he be able to acquire any knowledge of the Array Method? Even if he managed to get to the Array Pattern Room, what could he understand?
Following Aunt Mei into the back courtyard was like entering another world; the layout of the courtyard was very elegant, and although it was not magnificent, everything matched in terms of design. It was rather unlike a martial school, but more like a leisure club. It made one feel like not wanting to leave.
Although Gu Yue had been working in the martial school for two years, this was the first time he had entered this place.
‘The first floor is for leisure and entertainment, the second floor is for flesh refinement and bone strengthening, like gravity rooms and quenching rooms…the third floor is for martial cultivation. Any contests are usually held here as well, and upstairs are rooms for the tired to rest in.”
Seeing that Gu Yue was very interested, Aunt Mei casually pointed out the building, before continuing: “If you want, I can give you a card. When there is nothing going on, then you can also enter and have a look around.”
“Forget it. The cost of the VIP area is too high, I can’t afford it for now.” Gu Yue shook his head. Privacy; this was the evolution of the new world. Living in elegance, leisure and entertainment; it was no wonder so many people liked to practice martial arts.
However, as they travelled, Gu Yue saw a problem; the VIP area was quite deserted. Occasionally, one could see personnel of the martial school, but most of the facilities were empty and there were very few real customers. It looked like with the arrays themselves no longer functioning, it really affected the school.
“The original cultivating rooms are underground. Follow me!” Aunt Mei shook her head as she said. “The access card that you can get will only let you see, not use the Arrays.”
Gu Yue was not really focused on what Aunt Mei was saying; the mysteries of the Array Method in his head were not little and to try and learn how to use them was really a problem! Since his understanding and strength had boosted, if he could not do anything with it, then wouldn’t he become a laughing stock?
Soon, the pair arrived at the underground practice room. What he saw was a wide underground s.p.a.ce, with several small rooms arranged in a ring around the area. At a simple glance, they amounted to no less than 23 rooms.
Aunt Mei wanted to test Gu Yue’s Array Method, so she said: “This is the original practice room. Every door is a different practice room. As for the Array Pattern Room, it is one of these rooms.”
“This place really is good.” Gu Yue randomly opened a door, glanced around then retreated, before saying: “This should be the array pillar of Combat?"
“Hey, how did you know?” Aunt Mei watched Gu Yue, stupefied. She obviously had not said anything about the type of room it was, and each practice room’s layout was obviously different. However, this type of room generally had a rune circuit engraved onto each pillar. Pillars together made up an array. However, the similarity of the column posts was quite little. How had Gu Yue known?
“If I can’t even see the Array Technique, how can I learn the Array Method?” Gu Yue stood confidently in the doorway of the practice room door. He had roughly determined the usage of the Array Method. There was no reason as to how he did. He just instinctively did it.
In the eyes of a normal person, the Array Method was complex and mysterious. If one looked at an Array arranged by someone else, it would look like a group of tangled, chaotic rubbish, with no way to understand at all.
However, in the eyes of Gu Yue, every rune, every pattern had a specific meaning and placing, like a language. It’s materials, layout techniques, structural layout; everything was left bared before him, like how it was hand arranged.