Chapter 64: Transmuting Myself into a King; I Am the King!

"You think I'm toying with you? It's a bit hard to explain, but never mind, I'll let you experience it firsthand."

Zhang Zhiwei reached out and made a grabbing motion: "Innate governs the celestial sphere, encompassing the changes of the heavens; transform myself into the king, and I am the king!"

In the plot, those few stubborn old fools from Mount Wudang spent their entire lives obsessed with these words, yet they never figured anything out.

However, after being invaded by the portentous Qi formation within the Strange Array, he, Zhang Zhiwei, comprehended his own Five Elements and Eight Trigrams and arrived at his very own understanding.

In an instant, sparks burst forth in the air, growing rapidly against the wind and spreading outward until the entire sparring arena seemed to have been ignited by flames!

The icicles on the ground and the incoming ice spears all vanished into nothingness amidst these flames, turning into a majestic column of steam that rose into the sky.

For a moment, the entire sparring arena was shrouded in thick mist, hazy and indistinct like a stage using dry ice.

Outside the sparring arena, an uproar ensued.

"What's going on? Suddenly it's ice and fire, a dual heaven of ice and fire?"

"Innate governs the celestial sphere, encompassing the changes of the heavens; transform myself into the king—Senior Brother Zhang is so domineering!"

"Wait a minute, that flame just now was cast by Senior Brother Zhang, right? Is this fire sorcery or a warlock's spell? I'm getting a bit confused!"

"Never mind all that, with such a huge commotion, I hope that kid from the Zhuge family doesn't get burned to death!"

"You're worrying about things that are none of your business. With so many senior experts around, how could anything go wrong?"

...

In fact, the group of seniors in the spectator seats were also quite astonished.

However, without entering the Qimen formation, it was hard to discern its profound mysteries. These people were merely surprised that Zhang Zhiwei knew Qimen sorcery and could create such a massive commotion, showing no small amount of cultivation.

Yet, upon second thought, they felt there was nothing particularly shocking about it; after all, Daoist traditions naturally included the path of sorcery.

It was just that this kid named Zhang Zhiwei had a rather mischievous sense of humor—clearly possessing superior sorcery skills, he had pretended not to know any, only to suddenly erupt and scare the wits out of the Zhuge family kid.

That Zhuge kid was also rather foolish; stepping onto the stage without even considering how miserably the previous contenders had fared!

One was beaten to tears, another was dangled like a chicken, and a third was beaten into a bloody mess. Did he really think the person up there was some kind of pushover? He'd be lucky to walk away with his skin intact!

...

Meanwhile, inside the sparring arena.

Zhuge Yunhui stared in a daze at the flames surrounding him left and right.

These flames seemed to possess a spiritual awareness; although they swept across the entire arena and dispersed the icy shards, they deliberately avoided burning him, leaving a clear space around him.

The roaring flames cast a fiery red glow across Zhuge Yunhui's face as he blankly stared at Zhang Zhiwei's feet, a monstrous storm churning in his heart.

"Impossible! Zhang Zhiwei should originally have been positioned at the *Kun* palace, which represents the Earth element. But the instant he reached out and grabbed, the earthly plate suddenly accelerated in a bizarre manner, and the *Li* palace, representing the Fire element, shifted right beneath his feet."

"That shouldn't happen. According to the solar terms' changes within the Qimen chart I calculated, the one that should have shifted to his feet was the *Dui* palace. Why did it suddenly accelerate, and by such a huge margin? The calculation method of my Wuhou Qimen cannot possibly be wrong."

"The feeling just now was more as if some external force had nudged the Qimen formation, instantly accelerating the rate of change of the solar terms by many times, which is why the *Li* palace shifted beneath Zhang Zhiwei's feet in a fraction of a second!"

"Yet, the fixing of the Qimen formation is a decree of Heaven, and all changes must follow the natural laws of the solar terms. Although natural laws change constantly, they still leave traces to follow; it's impossible to shift by this much all at once."

"Solar terms represent time within the Qimen formation. If applied to the outside world, what just happened would be equivalent to me blinking and suddenly arriving at tomorrow. This is definitely not a natural rule!"

At that moment, a chaotic jumble of thoughts flooded Zhuge Yunhui's mind. Startled by his own realization, his lips trembled as he stammered:

"You... just now, you influenced the flow of time within the Qimen chart, forcibly altering the variables?!"

Zhang Zhiwei coughed heavily a few times and nodded, "That's right!"

"Impossible! This is the decree of Heaven; how can the decree of Heaven be artificially interfered with? You must have used an illusion technique on me just now, right? It has to be that! You blinded my eyes and made me perceive things incorrectly. Judging from the sorcery you just used, your mastery of Qimen Dunjia is higher than mine, and you must have used the *Qian*-style illusion to affect me. It has to be that!"

Zhuge Yunhui wore a frenzied expression; unwilling to believe the truth, he latched onto a seemingly rational excuse.

"Ahem, ahem!"

Zhang Zhiwei coughed a couple of times and said, "You think this is hard to believe? Come on, considering you guided me through Qimen earlier, I'll accompany you to the end and demonstrate it once more. Watch your current footing closely, and look carefully!"

Zhuge Yunhui was startled, then immediately activated his ancestral Qimen visualization mental technique, piercing through every minute change within the formation in exhaustive detail.

"I am currently in the *Zhen* palace!" Zhuge Yunhui declared.

"Indeed, you are in the *Zhen* palace. Now, try using the *Zhen*-style thunder technique on me!" Zhang Zhiwei instructed.

"Alright!" Zhuge Yunhui formed hand seals: "*Zhen*-style, Thunder!"

"Crackle, crackle, crackle..."

Lightning erupted around Zhuge Yunhui's body.

At that moment, Zhang Zhiwei also moved. With a casual wave of his hand, he gave a light flick.

In an instant, the lightning came quickly and went even faster. Before Zhuge Yunhui could fully execute his spell, the lightning vanished entirely.

Zhuge Yunhui was dumbfounded: "Wh—what's going on? How did you interrupt my spell?"

"Cough, cough, cough..." Zhang Zhiwei coughed. "Take a look at your feet!"

Zhuge Yunhui instinctively looked down, and what he saw startled him immensely: he was actually standing in the *Li* palace, while his original position at the *Zhen* palace had shifted far away from him.

"You actually..."

Zhuge Yunhui wore a look of utter horror, feeling his worldview shattered. He collapsed limply to the ground, muttering to himself:

"With a wave of your hand, just a casual wave... you moved my earthly plate... Within the Qimen formation I set up, you shifted my chart..."

"Want to know why?" Zhang Zhiwei's voice was somewhat hoarse.

Hearing this, Zhuge Yunhui, who had just been in a state of despair and blankness, suddenly shuddered. He deep-bowed with an excited expression and said:

"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother Zhang!"

"The Great Dao is simple: Innate governs the celestial sphere, encompassing the changes of the heavens—these ten words encompass everything!" Zhang Zhiwei said.

"Innate governs the celestial sphere, encompassing the changes of the heavens..."

Zhuge Yunhui repeated those words blankly many times. After pondering for a long time, he bowed deeply once more and pleaded:

"This junior is dull-witted; I beg Senior Brother Zhang to resolve my doubts!"

Seeing the nearly frenzied thirst for knowledge hidden beneath Zhuge Yunhui's pleading gaze, Zhang Zhiwei realized that if he didn't explain thoroughly, he would likely be relentlessly pestered.

Moreover, Zhang Zhiwei was not someone stingy with guidance. Between knowing something and being able to achieve it lay a chasm as wide as heaven and earth, so there was no harm in speaking freely.

He thumped his chest and asked with a slightly raspy voice:

"Zhuge Yunhui, do you... truly understand yourself?"

Zhuge Yunhui was stunned. "I wonder which aspect of understanding Senior Brother is referring to?"

"Which aspect?" Zhang Zhiwei smiled. "When I say understanding, I don't mean things like personality traits, but rather *xing* and *ming*—nature and life, the soul and the physical body!"

Zhuge Yunhui replied, "If Senior Brother is referring to the *xing* and *ming* of dual cultivation, then indeed I don't understand much. Because to a warlock, cultivation of *xing* and *ming* is far less important than understanding Qimen Dunjia!"

"Is that so?" Zhang Zhiwei tilted his head. "Who told you that?"

"It has been so since ancient times!" Zhuge Yunhui answered as if it were only natural.

Zhang Zhiwei chuckled: "That's why warlocks like you are rather laughable. Each of you strives to know astronomy above and geography below, seeking to master every variable in the world. Yet in the end, you cannot even understand or master your own nature and life. If you cannot even master yourself, how can you dare speak of mastering heaven and earth? In the end, it's just viewing flowers in a mirror or scooping the moon out of the water with a bamboo basket!"

"Mastering yourself... mastering heaven and earth... flowers in a mirror... scooping the moon with a bamboo basket..."

Zhuge Yunhui kept repeating Zhang Zhiwei's words, then stared at him with burning eyes:

"Senior Brother Zhang, I am untalented and foolish; I cannot comprehend what connection there is between one's own nature and life and Qimen Dunjia. I have never seen any powerful warlock who excelled in both nature and life, nor have I ever seen any Daoist from the Quanzhen Dragon Gate sect—who exclusively cultivate nature and life—possess heaven-defying sorcery skills. Senior Brother Zhang, please enlighten me! Please resolve my doubts!"

You'll be meeting such a Daoist soon enough. Too bad the Quanzhen lineage lives in seclusion and nobody came to this gathering; otherwise, exchanging pointers would have been even more interesting... Zhang Zhiwei inwardly lamented this pity, shook his head, and said:

"We've reached this point, yet you still don't understand the relationship between them, completely incapable of drawing inferences from one instance. Are you studying rigid literary essays? Fine, fine, then I will explain it to you from the very beginning!"