Shi Feiyang's Formation was not entirely useless against the three Emei disciples, Ruan Zheng, Shentu Hong, and Zhuge Jingwo, but it came close.
When battling others with spells and formations, one should ordinarily use Qimen Dunjia. Qimen concerned military divination, with configurations specifically involving yang wood, yang metal, and the mutual subjugation of the Seven Killings.
Liuren was used to divine matters of everyday life, all the odds and ends, and was never intended to trap or kill people. Had Ruan Zheng been inside, he might have charged straight out with his Heavenly Jade Star Sand, which specialized in breaking demonic arts.
Yet everything in the world hinged on the words "the right fit." A thousand years ago, Old Man Withered Bamboo had already reached the end of his cultivation path. With no road ahead, he had searched every which way through Buddhism and Daoism.
Withered Bamboo Zen was the path he had found for himself, but without an orthodox Buddhist high monk to enlighten and guide him, all his efforts had only taken his cultivation farther astray.
Every sixty years, he underwent Reincarnation in the Central Land. On the surface, he could temper his heart in the Mortal World and accumulate merit. In truth, by Buddhist standards, all his efforts remained attached to appearances. What he cultivated was the blessings of humans and heavenly beings, and in the process, he created much more karmic entanglement and evil karma. Though his magical power grew year after year, his Dao Practice scarcely advanced.
Had he been cultivating correctly, with his magical power and divine abilities, why would he have needed to reincarnate every sixty years for hundreds upon thousands of years? He could have ascended after one or two lifetimes.
Buddhism taught that once one attained Srotāpanna, one would assuredly realize