Chapter 96: The Nine Yang Flower

  "The mountain rain is coming, the wind is full of buildings." San San Zhenren listened to Lin Fan's report and thought for a moment: "Lin Fan, when you went to Donghai Jiao Island to see Chengfeng Zhenren last time, did you go to a place called Longmen Island for sightseeing?"

  Lin Fan was taken aback and asked, "What's the point of this?" Lin Fan replied, "Chengfeng Zhenren mentioned it before, but it's a thousand miles away from Jiao Island. It's said that the island has a mild climate and is home to many spiritual beasts. There are also volcanic hot springs on the island."

  "Is anyone living there?"

  Lin Fan shook his head: "Cheng Feng Zhenren said that he originally planned to move to Longmen Island, but after observing it, he found that the volcano on this island was dormant and not erupting, so he didn't make the trip."

  "Lin Fan, I'm going out for a few months, take this thing to play with." San San Zhenren threw over a package.

  Lin Fan opened the cloth package, a black thread: "It's an embroidery needle again."

  "This is a small embroidery needle." San San Zhen Ren said: "Practice diligently, don't be lazy."

  Lin Fanxiao smiled bitterly: "Master, this time going to Beizhou, I had a fight with Yu Fenglei, but I couldn't even take out my needle, let alone practice it."

  San San Zhen Ren looked at Lin Fan and pondered for a moment before saying, "Lin Fan, it's now the time when the Nine Yang Flower is in full bloom. Go to Tai Qing Mountain and find me a ten-petaled Nine Yang Flower. You have two hours."

  "The boss, the reason why the nine-sun flower is called nine-sun flower is because it has nine petals. Also, the nine-sun flower blooms during the day and closes at night, so there's a 'yang' character in its name."

  "Remember, you must not touch the petals. If you touch them, they will fall off. You only have one chance."

  "Why?" Lin Fan asked.

  Thirty-three true men fell towards the kitchen by the side of the main hall, came back soon, and threw ten grains of rice on the table: "Which grain is incomplete?"

  Lin Fan pointed with one finger: "This grain." Only it was half a grain.

  The three true men nodded, their left hands scooped up the rice and then tossed a handful of rice onto the table, sweeping it with one hand: "Which grain is incomplete?"

  Lin Fan's true energy flowed through his eyes as he quickly pointed: "This one."

  The three fairies swooped down and spread the rice on a stone table: "Which grain?"

  Lin Fan's luck was changing, his true energy was subtle, but everything he saw was a blur of white flowers. San San Zhen Ren said: "Too slow, use the Tian Mang Xin Fa to calm your mind and scatter the rice grains."

  Lin was puzzled and grabbed a handful of rice to throw upwards, but there wasn't any. He grabbed another handful, and then another, before scooping up half a grain with one hand.

  San San nodded: "Tian Mang's heart method observes the overall situation, and the mind enters the subtleties. At your current level, you can't find the Ten-Petaled Nine Yang Flower. When you can find the Ten-Petaled Nine Yang Flower on Taicheng Mountain in two hours at night, you won't need to practice the Embroidery Needle anymore."

  "So I found it today?" Lin Fan asked.

  "You can go try." Sanzhen True Person replied.

  Lin Fan said: "What if there is no Ten-leaf Nine Yang Flower on Taicheng Mountain?"

  "Taiqing Mountain has a ten-petaled Jiuyang flower every year. If someone picks it, that's your bad luck. You'll have to practice embroidery needles for another year and try again next year."

  Lin Fan was puzzled: "Master, you clearly haven't practiced the Tianmang Heart Method before, so how do you know that the key to manipulating the Tianmang Heart Method is to take a broad view and observe the subtleties?"

  "It's written on the cloth bag your grandfather gave you."

  "I haven't written it yet, I can only observe the subtleties for now and cannot see the whole picture. Master Zong, how did you know..."

  San San Zhen Ren impatiently waved his hand: "Your sect master is a rare talent that appears once in ten thousand years, don't bother me with this. I'm preparing things, leaving the day after tomorrow, you only have two nights to do it." San San Zhen Ren was being unreasonable again.

  The characteristics of the Tianmang Heart Method are numerous, and the more there are, the stronger they become, but the difficulty of control increases accordingly. Using the divided heart method to control multiple points at once is impossible for the Tianmang Heart Method. Therefore, Lin Fan has grasped the first characteristic of the Tianmang Heart Method: observing the subtleties of the mind. Every change in the embroidery needle can be felt. The second step is to observe the overall situation.

  ……

  At night, Lin Fan stayed in the sky above Taicheng Mountain, looking at the white flowers all over the mountain. The Jiuyang flower would close its petals into a ball after entering the night, and the Jiuyang flower was just a wildflower. It was the right season, and there were countless ones all over the mountain. Taicheng Mountain was not small in area. Lin Fan's heart observed and scanned, nine, still nine, still nine... Half an hour later, Lin Fan had observed a hundred flowers with his heart, all of which had nine petals. And these hundred flowers were only one-thousandth of the Jiuyang flowers on Taicheng Mountain.

  It's impossible to find out without cheating, besides, whether there are ten petals of Jiuyang flower or not is still unknown. Lin Fan's mind moved slightly, and he flew to Qingyuan Mountain, the disciple guarding the gate was familiar with Lin Fan, the two whispered a few words, and the disciple guarding the gate went into Qingyuan Mountain and pulled out Bai Mu.

  Bai Mu and Lin Fan flew towards Mount Tai Qing, after listening he nodded: "The Qingyuan Sect's array formation first emphasizes the overall view, including the array eye, shape, position, foot and so on. For example, the array of Mount Tai Qing, it is impossible for one person to see through with the naked eye, assuming we can see three-tenths with our eyes, while the unseen seven-tenths have movement, then the three-tenths will change. We observe the three-tenths and know the ten-tenths. Observe a point and understand the whole face, observe the array position to know the entire array. But the Jiuyang flower is an inanimate object, one point changes while others do not, it's hard to see the overall situation from one point."

  "Is there a way?"

  "Formation, array!" As he spoke, they arrived above the Taiqing Mountain. Bai Mu deployed the nine black and yellow cold ice flags towards the nine directions. The black and yellow flags unfolded, a gentle breeze blew, sweeping away the nine Yang flowers.

  Lin Fan watched with great interest, recalling Gu Yan's epiphany in the Purple Bamboo Forest. He borrowed momentum to move. Bai Mu was probing with the wind, and the difference between blowing ten petals and nine petals was slight. However, these required the assistance of Xuanbing Cold Ice Flag to feed back regional information to Bai Mu. After half an hour, Bai Mu put away the Xuan Huang Cold Ice Flag: "Close your eyes, no cheating allowed."

  Lin Fan closed his eyes.

  Bai Mu flew to three areas according to his previous perception, searched for a while, and returned to Lin Fan's side: "Not one, there are three ten-petaled nine-yang flowers on the top of Tai Qing Mountain."

  "Three?"

  White Shepherd held one in each hand: "I deliberately picked two for you to compare."

  "......" Lin Fan looked at Bai Mu with a smile, a black line on his head: "Then there's only one left?"

  Bai Mu furrowed his brow: "Three flowers, two have been picked, so there should still be five."

  "Bai Mu, you're too unscrupulous. I dragged you out in the middle of the night just because you have a comprehensive view of the formation, teach me some insights."

  Bai Mu smiled, but then looked puzzled: "This Tian Mang Heart Method seems to be a heart method tailored for a specific weapon. As for swordsmanship, you first have the sword and then comprehend the heart method of wielding that sword. You said this Tian Mang Heart Method might have been left behind by your parents, which means that your parents may already be deceased, leaving behind a weapon and recording the usage heart method on fabric. This also means that San San Zhen Ren might know the location of this weapon and very likely knew your parents, or even knew about the Tian Mang Heart Method."

  "Yes, that's what I think. My master is just talking nonsense, and it's over. He clearly knows I don't believe his nonsense, but he still insists on talking nonsense, completely playing tricks." Lin said: "Also, thank you very much for telling me the bad news that my parents are both dead."