Speaking of the Stellar Chessboard, the Lunar Fairy frowned deeply, clearly troubled.
She wasn't speaking specifically to Zheng Fa, but rather to Nishang Yuanjun, explaining, "This Great Cosmic Stellar Formation originated in High Antiquity, its power is unfathomable. If one rashly enters, even Water Mother wouldn't be able to escape..."
How is Lady Water Mother doing these days?
"Nishang Yuanjun asked anxiously."
The Lunar Fairy and the Azure Maiden exchanged a glance, hesitated for a long time before speaking, "Because we practice Divine Way Method, we have a connection with the Water Mother. She should... be out of danger."
That being said, not being in mortal danger, doesn't mean there are no problems.
The problem is actually quite significant.
Zheng Fa thought for a moment, then decided not to worry about the Water Mother. The Grand Array of Heavenly Stars had teleportation capabilities, so he might be able to return without relying on the Water Mother.
It's likely that the two Lunar Fairy shared the same goal: even if the Water Mother encountered problems, as long as they controlled the Grand Array of Heavenly Stars, they could escape from the Chaos.
If you want to save the Water Mother, you need to understand this great formation even more thoroughly.
Nishang Yuanjun seemed to have figured it out as well, and asked, "What is the purpose of this grand formation? What is this chessboard? And what are its rules?"
Her eagerness made the Lunar Fairy shake her head, but she patiently explained:
"This Grand Array of Heavenly Stars is based on stars, and its primary function is to kill enemies and trap people. The Water Mother is trapped within it."
"According to my calculations, even with just this one remnant formation, Golden Immortal wouldn't be able to escape, Grand Unity Golden Immortal... might have a sliver of hope."
The Lunar Fairy spoke conservatively, suggesting she didn't understand the strength of Grand Unity Golden Immortal. She sighed again, saying, "That's why I'm waiting for Nine Nether."
She glanced at Zheng Fa, but didn't say much, continuing, "But the greatest function of this great formation is actually to teleport and transform Chaos into Stellar Power."
Transforming Chaos?
He could understand teleportation; he had experienced it before when he came here from the Jade Pool Immortal Realm.
Can transform Chaos...
This is no small matter.
Speaking of which, Zheng Fa has also gained some understanding of Spiritual Qi.
Previously, he thought Chaos and Spiritual Qi were two different things, but now it's different. In his current understanding, Chaos is unregulated Spiritual Qi, while Spiritual Qi is regulated, partial, and knowable Chaos.
Spiritual Qi originates from Chaos. Thus, the Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, three gives birth to all things, and then returns to Chaos, in an endless cycle. This is what causes the tides of Spiritual Qi in the Xuanwei Realm.
The function of the Grand Array of Heavenly Stars is something to ponder.
" The Stellar Power is actually a special kind of Spiritual Qi, possibly the most ancient Spiritual Qi in the Xuanwei." The Lunar Fairy paused, then gave an example, "Don't we rely on the Stellar Power when we cultivate the Grotto-Heaven Method?"
Zheng Fa was startled, and only then did he realize what was happening.
When the Nishang Yuanjun taught him the Grotto-Heaven Method, she told him that once the Grotto-Heaven Method was completed, it would draw upon the Stellar Power.
The greatest benefit of the Stellar Power is that it allows the cave to grow.
He hadn't paid much attention to it before, but now he understood—this Stellar Power probably came from the Remnant Grand Array of Heavenly Stars deep within the Chaos.
"Lord Supreme Yin, why do you say that the Stellar Power is the most ancient Spiritual Qi?"
" Spiritual Qi is something that we Golden Immortal Way cultivate in the Chaos," said the Lunar Fairy, Golden Immortal herself, offering her own understanding of this matter. "But what about before we attained the Dao? Or rather, before the Dao Venerable became Golden Immortal? Where did Spiritual Qi come from then?"
The Spiritual Qi of Xuanwei does indeed mostly come from the Golden Immortal Way Fruit—essentially, they are the ones analyzing Chaos and then channeling it into Xuanwei and the myriad realms.
But the Lunar Fairy asked a question that made Zheng Fa suddenly realize something: Where does the most primordial Spiritual Qi come from?
"This isn't something I figured out myself, but rather what the Water Mother said," the Lunar Fairy continued. "This Grand Array of Heavenly Stars is probably the orthodox system of the High Antiquity world. In other words, a complete Grand Array of Heavenly Stars can control which Spiritual Qi Xuanwei can receive, and that's why it has the prestige of the Ancient Heavenly Court."
"It was precisely because of this idea that the Water Mother felt this grand formation was enough for her to achieve the Grand Luo."
So, the Grand Array of Heavenly Stars... is even more powerful than Zheng Fa imagined.
The teleportation ability is enough to allow the Heavenly Court to quickly conquer all the heavens, but this is not the greatest function of this formation.
The most powerful thing was the two words spoken by the Lunar Fairy: "Orthodox".
If Zheng Fa's understanding is correct, if the Grand Array of Heavenly Stars is completed, the types of Spiritual Qi in the Xuanwei Realm can even be controlled by this array—just like how the Nine Mountains Realm previously only had the Spiritual Qi corresponding to the Sun-Moon Bell, which greatly limited the Cultivation Method that could be practiced in the Nine Mountains Realm. For a period of time, the disciples in the Nine Mountains Realm could only cultivate Thunder Method.
To put it bluntly, you can only cultivate what the great formation allows you to cultivate; other Cultivation Method are completely useless.
The Stellar Power is actually Spiritual Qi that has been selected by the Heavenly Court.
Just as the Lunar Fairy said, only in this way could the glory of the Ancient Heavenly Court and even the Ancient Demon Court be established— the Spiritual Qi all came from them.
Compared to this function, the power of this formation is actually nothing.
Having understood this, Zheng Fa became even more interested in the Grand Array of Heavenly Stars.
He glanced at the thirty-six chess pieces behind him, and with a thought, sent a message to the Heavenly Emperor Body.
In the Nine Mountains Realm, the Heavenly Emperor Body found Senior Sister Zhang and told her about Zheng Fa's encounter, which made Senior Sister Zhang understand.
"You want me to use the Heavenly Derivation Array Disk to help deduce the chess game?" She nodded, seemingly very confident. "What are the rules of this chess game, or rather, this grand array?"
"The rules of this game are actually quite simple," the Lunar Fairy said to the Nishang Yuanjun. "Thirty-six planets are placed in the Chaos, allowing the great formation to operate at will. Once we find the life-giving gate of the formation, we can escape."
"That easy?"
"Nishang Yuanjun asked in surprise."
"Easy?" Azure Maiden gritted her teeth, glaring at Nishang Yuanjun, and asked, "Do you know how long it took us?"
"... We tried over 87,000 times!" Azure Maiden's voice was filled with a near-madness of collapse. "At most, at most the eighth attempt, after putting in eight stars, we still couldn't find the way out."
Nishang Yuanjun was so frightened that she dared not speak, but there was still some doubt on her face, as if she was wondering why this thing was so difficult.
"Fine, try it yourself."
Nishang Yuanjun wasn't afraid at all; on the contrary, she was quite eager to try.
Zheng Fa also understood that this was probably a small space created by the Lunar Fairy using the power of creation, specifically to simulate the Grand Array of Heavenly Stars.
With a flick of her finger, the Lunar Fairy sent two stars flying out, landing beside the Nishang Yuanjun.
They circled each other, facing each other, as if dancing a waltz.
"The Gate of Life is the very center of these planets. It is true for two, and for three... and for all thirty-six." The Lunar Fairy pointed to the very center of the line connecting the stars and explained, "Only from here can we pass through the great formation, enter or leave, until the formation is broken. If we are not at the Gate of Life, we will be affected by the formation, fall into Chaos, or even be suppressed."
"I understand!"
Nishang Yuanjun stood between the two planets, full of confidence.
Azure Maiden's lips curled into a smile, and she said, "Then let's put in the third one..."
As it turns out, Nishang Yuanjun knew absolutely nothing!
"This... this..."
After thirty-eight attempts, Nishang Yuanjun was ejected from the formation, her eyes glazed over, her voice trembling. "Why is it different every time?"
They are different, and it's almost impossible for them to be the same.
Zheng Fa understood it completely.
There seems to be a gravitational pull between these stars—I wonder if it's due to the spiritual talismans on them.
This leads to a major problem: this grand formation is a Chaos system.
The simplest example is the Three-Body Problem.
The biggest problem with Chaos systems in Mathematics is that they have no solution.
It's not that it can't be calculated, but that calculations are required for every step. In the Three-Body Problem, you can only calculate the positions of the three celestial bodies in the next second if you first calculate their positions in the previous second.
This leads to another problem.
Even the smallest change in initial values has a huge impact on the system, and it is almost impossible for the same situation to occur repeatedly.
Simply put, the only way to break this Grand Array of Heavenly Stars is through brute force calculation!
Three planets are already complicated enough; here are thirty-six stars...
To be honest, Zheng Fa was quite impressed that the Lunar Fairy and her companions were able to reach the level of eight stars—they were truly ruthless.
Nishang Yuanjun tried again for a while, but couldn't even get past the fourth star. She became completely dejected and lost all her previous confidence.
Zheng Fa watched from the side without saying a word.
On the one hand, he didn't actually have much confidence and wanted to observe the situation further.
On the other hand, he could certainly tell that the Lunar Fairy did not trust him much, and he was not the type to rush into things; he simply watched as the Nishang Yuanjun tried.
Seeing the dejected look on Nishang Yuanjun's face, Lunar Fairy also shook her head and said in a hoarse voice, "Actually, our reaching the eighth move was mostly due to luck, which is why I wanted to wait for Nine Nether to arrive so we could break this great formation directly."
That's quite true, because the irregularity of this ridiculous formation leads to one result—experience is useless.
Lunar Fairy and her ilk tried millions more times, they probably wouldn't be much different from a complete new recruit.
The two, Lunar Fairy, seemed to be working on a Mathematics problem that was impossible to solve even with their lives on the line. They hadn't gone crazy yet, truly worthy of being Golden Immortal.
To everyone's surprise, when Nishang Yuanjun heard this, her eyes lit up and she suddenly turned to look at Zheng Fa.
"Let Sect Leader Zheng come! Sect Leader Zheng can definitely do it!"
"..."
The Lunar Fairy looked at Zheng Fa, and while she didn't say anything negative, she frowned slightly, somewhat puzzled.
Azure Maiden was even more outspoken and straightforward, and somewhat annoyed. "If we can't do it, how do you know he can?"
Zheng Fa was also curious and looked at Nishang Yuanjun.
"Throughout the myriad realms, there is no difficulty that can stump Sect Leader Zheng!" The Nishang Yuanjun declared with absolute certainty, making Zheng Fa blush slightly. "If Sect Leader Zheng can't handle it, then no one can!"
"While both of you are intelligent and wise, compared to Sect Leader Zheng..."
Nishang Yuanjun didn't finish speaking, but everyone understood what she meant.
"..."
The two women, Lunar Fairy and Taiyin Fairy, looked at Zheng Fa Zheng Fa strangely, their expressions sending chills down his spine.
He didn't know how he ended up with such a die-hard fan...
"My lords, you may not know, but a few days ago, Sect Leader Zheng ventured alone into Leiyin Temple..."
Seemingly fearing that the two Lunar Fairy wouldn't believe her, Nishang Yuanjun began to recount the Great Luo Dharma Assembly. As a participant herself, her account inevitably gave the listeners a sense of being there.
More importantly, her words contained extra praise for Zheng Fa.
"At that time, Sect Leader Zheng sat on the lotus platform, coldly rebuking Thunderclap Temple's Buddhism as Outer Dao, and none of the Five Direction Buddhas could refute him..."
" The Pure Land has shattered, and even the Thunderclap Buddha Ancestor has suffered greatly!"
"Throughout history, Thunderclap Temple has never suffered such a great loss!"
The Nishang Yuanjun spoke with great passion, and Zheng Fa practically dug a four-bedroom apartment out of the sole of his shoe. However, the two Lunar Fairy of the Moon looked at Zheng Fa with much more serious expressions.
They didn't care about the Nine Mountains Sect Leader.
That could cause Thunderclap Temple to suffer a great loss... that would be extraordinary.
"Would Sect Leader Zheng be willing to give it a try?"
Zheng Fa nodded slightly and explained, "Your words greatly overestimate me. I can only say that I have done my best."
Having said that, he flew into the Chaos and nodded to the Lunar Fairy.
The Lunar Fairy was curious about what the Nishang Yuanjun said, and also held hope in her heart, so she threw out three planets on her first attempt.
Three planets began to orbit Zheng Fa, moving erratically.
Zheng Fa did not move, but simply observed their movement trajectory and the talismans on it at close range.
" Sect Leader Zheng, the very center is the Gate of Life!" Seeing that Zheng Fa didn't move, Nishang Yuanjun thought he didn't remember where the Gate of Life was, so she reminded him loudly.
Zheng Fa nodded slightly, but still didn't move, as if he were in a daze, and was bounced out by the Chaos.
"..."
Azure Maiden looked at Zheng Fa, opened her mouth, then looked at Nishang Yuanjun with a suspicious gaze, and whispered to Lunar Fairy, "Look, has Nishang been converted yet?"
The Lunar Fairy stared at Zheng Fa for a long time before shaking her head and sighing softly.
Azure Maiden was still somewhat puzzled and asked again, " Nishang doesn't seem to be lying, but... I understand now, could it be that she has romantic feelings for this Sect Leader Zheng?"
The Lunar Fairy's expression returned to calm as she said, "Regardless of whether it works or not, our primary goal is still to break this formation. Since this Sect Leader Zheng is incapable, we can only rely on ourselves."
Azure Maiden's face fell, clearly indicating she didn't want to struggle anymore, but she couldn't come up with any other solution.
Inside the Nine Mountains Sect, the Heavenly Emperor Body looked at the Heavenly Derivation Array Disk beside Senior Sister Zhang's hand.
Did you write it down?
What he needed to do was actually quite simple: collect as much information as possible about the characteristics, talismans, and interactions between these thirty-six planets, and input it into the Heavenly Derivation Array Disk so that Senior Sister Zhang could deduce the location of the Gate of Life.
In terms of computing power, Senior Sister Zhang's Heavenly Derivation Array Disk combines the essence of the Xuanwei and modern worlds, and its deductive ability is almost at the pinnacle of all the heavens and myriad worlds.
Zheng Fa couldn't remember all the stars at once, so he could only observe them part by part, record the data, and have the Heavenly Emperor Body relay it to Senior Sister Zhang.
He turned to look at the Lunar Fairy:
"Fairy, may I try again?"
"Try again?"
"Yes, let's try again, this time with a few more stars."
The Lunar Fairy glanced at him but didn't refuse, simply saying "okay."
After a while...
"Try again."
"..."
"Again."
"..."
"Again..."
Watching Zheng Fa enter the formation again and again without moving, Azure Maiden couldn't help but sigh, " Nishang isn't completely blind. This Sect Leader Zheng may be a bit slow, but he has a lot of perseverance."
(End of this chapter)