Lan Ting was feeling deeply unsure about her teaching skills. She had heard that Lu Yang entered the Wendaozong as the top student, and his talent in spells was truly exceptional. For example, his previous performance with the Shape-Form Fist had proven this; it was a skill that transformed the ordinary into something extraordinary.
But why did her teaching lead to such results? Did she teach incorrectly? That didn’t seem right. Her senior sister had taught her in this way, and she had taught Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu the same way without any issues. Could it be that she underestimated Lu Yang's talent? Did someone with such extraordinary abilities require special teaching methods?
Along with her doubts, she also felt guilty. Lu Yang was wholeheartedly studying her talismans, completely unaware that a talented talisman master was struggling with self-doubt because of her teaching: "Is there a talisman that can make other talismans invisible? Then my invisibility talisman would disappear."
Meng Jingzhou thought for a moment and replied, "I find it hard to imagine why someone would want to create such a talisman."
Feeling down, Lu Yang finished getting dressed and continued practicing drawing the invisibility talisman, but the results were the same as before; his body would become invisible while his clothes remained visible, or vice versa.
On the other hand, Man Gu was drawing more and more neatly, which made Lan Ting feel a sense of achievement.
Meng Jingzhou laughed at Lu Yang, "Haha, give it up! You’ll never draw a proper invisibility talisman."
Lu Yang got angry, pinched the invisibility talisman between his fingers, and pressed it to Meng Jingzhou's forehead: "Hey, you little monster, take this talisman!"
Meng Jingzhou's body vanished, but his clothes remained.
Not wanting to back down, he pulled out his own invisibility talisman and aimed it at Lu Yang: "Daoist, don’t think you’re the only one who can draw talismans!"
Lu Yang also had a talisman pressed to his forehead, making both his body and clothes completely disappear.
The two of them were playfully attacking each other with invisibility talismans, exchanging blows without any real aggression.
Man Gu, sandwiched between them, focused on drawing talismans, completely ignoring the two.
"I’m done." Man Gu proudly picked up a stack of successful invisibility talismans. After continuous practice, his success rate had nearly reached 100%.
Meng Jingzhou and Man Gu successfully completed their training.
Lu Yang also successfully completed his training with the invisibility talisman drawn by Lan Ting.
"By the way, Lan Ting, do you know how to set up the Reverse Longevity Array?" Lu Yang asked, wondering if someone was secretly using the Reverse Longevity Talismans to set up the array, but hadn’t finished yet.
If that was the case, then once they found a dozen or so Reverse Longevity Talismans, it would be easy to figure out the positions of the other talismans based on where the Reverse Longevity Talismans were placed.
Lan Ting nodded and used her spiritual energy to outline a very detailed array in the air, with thousands of nodes: "The Reverse Longevity Array is large and has many nodes. If the person setting it up has only a few people, considering they need to place the talismans in secret spots, they wouldn’t be able to finish it in a short time."
"Got it, then please watch the shop for us. We three will go out and see if we can help with anything," Lu Yang said.
"Ah? Me, watch the shop?" Lan Ting felt a bit uneasy. In the Moon Laurel Immortal Palace, she always followed her senior sister’s arrangements and didn’t have much say. Now, being left in charge of such a large shop made her feel uncertain.
"It’ll be fine, nothing will happen. If something comes up, you can decide for yourself," Lu Yang said without any concern and left.
After Lu Yang and the others left, Lan Ting felt restless about temporarily taking over such a big shop.
"Let me set up a Gathering Spirit Array," Lan Ting muttered to herself, looking for something to do.
The Gathering Spirit Array was a basic formation for cultivators. She noticed that there wasn’t one in the barbecue shop and wondered how Lu Yang and the others practiced.
"Everyone lives on the second floor, so I’ll set it up there."
The Gathering Spirit Array was the most basic formation, and Lan Ting set it up with ease. She took out spirit stones from her identity jade pendant and arranged them according to what she learned in class.
"I’ll also set up a Focus Array to help everyone enter a cultivation state quickly."
"And a Soundproof Array to keep things quieter."
Lan Ting was careful in her work. Considering that the Gathering Spirit Array worked too well and might attract other cultivators' attention, she also set up a formation to block spiritual energy fluctuations.
"Now it’s foolproof," Lan Ting felt satisfied with her attention to detail.
"Hello, is anyone there?" A voice came from downstairs, startling Lan Ting. It sounded like a woman.
Lan Ting went downstairs and saw a fair-skinned woman standing at the door, seemingly debating whether to step inside.
"Hello, may I ask who you are…"
"I’m Wen Xiangyu, the owner of a tofu shop on Front Street. Is Little Lu in?" Wen Xiangyu's voice was gentle, making one feel warm inside.
"He’s out. Do you need something?" Lan Ting remembered that Lu Yang had mentioned something about finding Reverse Longevity Talismans.
"Ah, well, since the Spring Festival is coming, I wanted to collaborate with your barbecue shop for an event."
Lan Ting invited Wen Xiangyu in and served her tea: "What kind of event?"
"I don’t mean to brag, but my tofu shop usually has many customers, and during the Spring Festival, it gets even busier."
"I was thinking, could we set up an event where customers who buy tofu from my shop get a discount at your place, and vice versa?"
"And maybe have a lucky draw and some masks."
"Masks?"
Wen Xiangyu took out a few square masks that looked soft and white, like pieces of tofu.
"These are made based on the mascot of my tofu shop, and they sell very well."
Lan Ting thought about it and felt that Wen Xiangyu's idea was good; it would benefit the barbecue shop without any downsides. Remembering that Lu Yang had said she could make decisions while watching the shop, she agreed.
Seeing Lan Ting agree with her idea, Wen Xiangyu was very happy, and the two women began discussing various details of the event, from the prizes for the lucky draw to the concept of gravity.
"There’s an invisible force that pulls everything in the world, and Lu Yang agrees with my view, naming this force gravity…"
"However, Lu Yang believes this invisible force occurs naturally, while I think someone has set up a huge formation to attract us."
"Oh right, you don’t know about formations. Let me tell you, formations are very interesting. This book, 'True Understanding of Formations,' explains formations in a simple and easy-to-understand way…"
Wen Xiangyu came with gratitude for Lu Yang, but left with her mind full of principles of formations.
After seeing off Wen Xiangyu, Lan Ting noticed a ghost in the corner threading skewers and an idea popped into her head.
If she wanted to teach Lu Yang well, shouldn’t she learn his way of thinking?
For example, she could design an automatic barbecue formation based on formations like the Floating Array and Gathering Fire Array?
Hmm, that sounds like a pretty good idea.
(The End of This Chapter)