Transmigrated into a Grandpa, Embracing the Laid-Back Life-Chapter 139: Formation

An unprecedented sense of anxiety, like a creeping vine, coiled around Su Ming's heart, making his breathing somewhat difficult.

Su Ming refused to believe it was impossible. For the next several nights, he poured almost all his time into this tiny "Dust-Repelling Formation."

To avoid disturbing his roommates, he even moved his practice spot to the corner of the courtyard, next to an abandoned old well.

The runes were carved inaccurately.

The timing of spiritual energy injection was off.

The node connections were wrong.

Countless failures.

The bluestone slabs around the well platform were covered with his crooked, meandering green scratches, which would then fade and disappear with each failure.

Scattered nearby were piles of broken stones and rotten wood he had used as makeshift formation bases, only to be discarded in frustration.

The entire well platform was a mess he had created.

And the formation itself remained completely unresponsive.

One night, Zhang Meng got up to relieve himself and saw Su Ming squatting by the well, staring blankly at a pile of junk. Unable to hold back, he asked through a yawn.

"Brother Su, not sleeping in the middle of the night? What's the big deal with this pile of broken stones?"

Su Ming shook his head with a bitter smile.

"It's nothing. Couldn't sleep, just doodling."

"Doodling?" Zhang Meng leaned over for a look, scratching his head. "What you're drawing... is it ghostly scribbles?"

Su Ming had no retort.

Even Manager Zhao from the north room, stepping out one morning and seeing the mess at the well platform, couldn't help but frown and say, "Su Ming, this courtyard is where menials live, not a place for you to pile up garbage. Remember to clean it up."

Li Kai from the south room remained silent as ever.

But when he went out to fetch water, his gaze would linger on those broken stones and scratches for an extra moment.

Su Ming took in everyone's reactions, and the anxiety and pressure in his heart grew with each passing day.

He felt like a prisoner trapped in a maze, holding a blueprint of the exit but unable to find a single path leading out.

That night, he failed once again.

His spiritual energy dissipated at the final node; the stone slab before him didn't even flicker with the faintest glimmer.

Frustrated, Su Ming fiercely slammed the stone in his hand onto the ground.

With a sharp *crack*, the stone shattered into several pieces.

He slumped dejectedly against the cold edge of the well, looking up at the clear, cold moon in the night sky, his heart filled with defeat.

Could it be that I truly have no talent in this area?

Could it be that without a master's guidance, I can't even grasp the simplest entry-level formation?

He stared blankly at his own hands.

These hands could handle the most complex ledgers, could write analytical reports that even Elder Ma praised.

So why couldn't they even draw the simplest rune correctly?

Just as he was losing heart, a thought flashed through his mind.

The Accounting Office... the ledgers...

Heavenly Sword Peak!

He abruptly sat up straight!

He remembered that ledger detailing the material consumption of the Logistics Department of Heavenly Sword Peak!

It clearly recorded that the wear rate of the formation flags consumed by Heavenly Sword Peak disciples while practicing a certain sword formation was astonishingly consistent every single month!

No more, no less, exactly thirty percent!

Back then, he had simply thought it was a clumsy method of falsifying accounts, leaving behind an overly obvious pattern.

But now, he suddenly understood!

That perhaps... wasn't falsification at all!

What kind of precise control was that!

To be able to control the output of spiritual energy at the exact same level every single time, causing precisely thirty percent wear and tear on the formation flags—no more, no less!

This stood in stark contrast to his current situation, where his spiritual energy was sometimes strong, sometimes weak, completely uncontrollable!

Su Ming finally understood!

Setting up a formation wasn't about rote memorization of those runes and steps!

Its true core was that precise, down-to-the-millimeter control over one's own spiritual energy!

It was the soul's meticulous, nuanced perception of the flow of spiritual energy!

His current problem wasn't a lack of theoretical understanding; it was that his hands couldn't keep up with his brain!

That wisp of weak spiritual energy was like an untamed wild horse, completely ignoring his commands.

Tell it to go east, and it insisted on going west.

Tell it to stop, and it charged recklessly ahead.

Using such uncontrollable spiritual energy to set up a precise formation was no different from asking a drunkard to thread a needle!

"So... that's how it is."

Su Ming let out a long, slow breath, the anxiety and confusion in his heart swept clean away.

He looked at the mess surrounding the well platform and gave a self-mocking smile.

He had been on the wrong path from the very beginning.

He stood up, meticulously cleaning up the broken stones and wood chips, restoring the well platform to its original state.

Then, he walked back to his room.

This time, he didn't take out that jade slip, nor did he touch those stones again.

He sat cross-legged on his bed and slowly closed his eyes.

For now, he set aside those complex formations.

There was only one thing he needed to do now.

Tame the disobedient "wild horse" within his own body.

He calmed his mind and began to concentrate fully on circulating the "Greenwood Longevity Art."

He no longer pursued the speed of the cultivation method's circulation, nor did he obsess over the amount of spiritual energy absorbed.

He focused all his will on mastering control over that wisp of weak spiritual energy.

He tried to make that wisp of energy flow back and forth within one of his meridians.

At first, the energy still stumbled along, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.

He patiently repeated the process. Once, ten times, a hundred times.

Until that wisp of energy could, at a mere thought, flow smoothly from one end of the meridian to the other.

Then, he began to increase the difficulty.

He tried to make the spiritual energy stop at a specific node within the meridian.

Hold for one breath.

The energy trembled, uncontrollably surging forward.

Failure.

Try again.

Hold for half a breath.

The energy lost control again.

Failure. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

...

This was an even more tedious and grinding process than setting up the "Dust-Repelling Formation."

But Su Ming's heart was unprecedentedly calm.

He knew he had finally found the right direction this time.

This was the true "foundation."

This was the one correct, solid step leading to the path of formations.

While Su Ming was immersed in this tedious cultivation, he didn't notice.

The tightly shut door of the south room silently cracked open a sliver.

Li Kai's somewhat evasive eyes were peering through the crack, quietly watching the well platform in the courtyard that had been cleaned up so neatly.

His gaze lingered for a long time on an inconspicuous bluestone on the well's edge.

There, a failed, incomplete rune mark left behind by Su Ming.

Though fragmented, one could vaguely make out that it was the character for "Gathering."

A complex expression flashed in Li Kai's eyes.

Surprise, confusion, and a hint of... understanding born from shared hardship.

He watched silently for a while, then soundlessly... closed the door again.

The room once more sank into darkness and dead silence.