Chapter 457 — Blossoms Dazzle the Eyes
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
She had said she did not care whether she ranked first or third, yet she could not help her curiosity. In the Western Lands she was called an Array Master, first in the Western Lands in the array arts; but when she looked at the whole world, whether she was first she dared not claim. Still, having held first place for so many years, she had in her a competitive heart.
Shen Mu was the cult master of the Nether Demon Cult, a man of wide experience and broad knowledge, and she was rather eager to see who the world's first and second, as named by Shen Mu, might be.
"In truth, Sister Yiyi does not know this, but I too come from Huangxu's foremost family in the array arts."
Shen Mu's face was earnest. "The one who is first under heaven in arrays is my family's Blind Grandfather."
He Yiyi's dark, glossy eyes went wide. Huangxu's foremost family of the array arts? The one first under heaven in arrays is a blind old man?
"Has Cult Master Shen perhaps misunderstood something about the array arts?"
He Yiyi said calmly, "Arrays are the way of calculation. The simplest, such as the Nine Palaces Array, with Kan, Kun, Zhen, Xun, the center, Qian, Dui, Gen, and Li, stands for nine numbers, none repeated, which together make forty-five. Somewhat harder is the Eight Trigrams Array, advancing from base eight to base sixty-four, its transformations endless. Harder still are the Five Elements Array and the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Array: base five, base eight, base sixty-four. Harder yet are the Taiji Array and the Wuji Array, where the circle can never be exhausted; the array's workings are calculated with the utmost refinement, and still they have flaws. A blind old man—how much attainment can he have in the arts of calculation?"
Shen Mu said gravely, "Sister, look into my eyes."
He Yiyi, puzzled at his meaning, studied his eyes closely, and could not help but be shaken to the heart.
In the eyes of this big boy, ring upon ring of array patterns were slowly taking shape, evolving into the first heaven; the numerical transformations hidden within those patterns left her unwittingly intoxicated, lost in the boy's eyes.
Before she could fathom the numerical transformations in Shen Mu's pupils, a second heaven was already forming, and the numerical transformations this heaven involved were more complex still, more profound.
Then came the third heaven, the fourth heaven; and when it reached the fifth heaven, Jingxiao Heaven, the array transformations in Shen Mu's eyes finally ceased.
One heaven to a layer of the eye—the attainment in calculation contained in this was enough to make one gasp in wonder!
At Shen Mu's present cultivation, he could drive the Nine Heavens Eye-Gazing Art only as far as Jingxiao Heaven; yet the changes in his eyes had not stopped. A great sun, point of light upon point of light, star upon star, was born within his eyes: the great sun hidden deep within, the host of stars blazing forth, turned into a river of stars revolving around that sun.
In the main hall, the hundred-odd heads of Juncheng's great clans and mighty houses looked at one another.
By now He Yiyi had all but pressed her face to Shen Mu's; the two gazed into each other's eyes, and Array Master He Yiyi looked into Shen Mu's eyes as a sweetheart gazes deep into her lover's, her heart in sweet confusion.
"Ahem, ahem!" An old woman, her hair white with age, coughed again and again, meaning to remind their city lord.
Only then did He Yiyi come to herself, and her pretty face flushed crimson; she hastily stepped back, composed her features, and said, "This Blind Grandfather is indeed worthy to be called the world's foremost master of arrays. I am ashamed to think myself his equal."