Chapter 153 - 105: Lively Exchange

Chapter 153: Chapter 105: Lively Exchange

In the Jade Altar Temple.

Led by Master Shen, Li Yinsheng and Shangguan Ling’Er entered a small building in a corner of the Jade Altar Temple. Li Yinsheng noticed that Daoists seemed to prefer living in the more secluded areas of their respective Daoist Temples, likely for the peace and quiet that facilitated their cultivation. As she guided them along the way, Master Shen felt a very peculiar mix of emotions.

Even though she had long accepted that the Deputy Temple Master of Xuanzhen Temple was a Daoist prodigy barely in his twenties, an unshakable sense of absurdity filled her heart. To think that the handsome young man in her portrait, highly coveted by many female cultivators of Dual Cultivation, was actually a Daoist patriarch! At the same time, she could not help but wonder what Yue He and Yu Luan—the two who had once claimed they were willing to "take in" Li Yinsheng—were thinking right now. Of course, she was only curious. Even with a thousand times more courage, she would never dare to actually ask them.

"Senior, one of our Ancestor Masters is currently in seclusion perfecting an Array Map. Ancestor Master Yanming and Ancestor Master Yanqing are waiting," Master Shen said, bowing at the door.

Li Yinsheng nodded and led Shangguan Ling’Er upstairs. Although the small building had a Third Layer, the two waiting auras were on the second floor. As Li Yinsheng brought Shangguan Ling’Er up, he paused in slight surprise.

The two Ancestor Masters of the Jade Altar Temple before him were both female cultivators. They looked to be in their early thirties. One wore a pure black Daoist Robe, while the other wore pure white. They sat side by side, radiating a quiet and elegant grace.

Li Yinsheng instinctively wanted to sweep his Divine Sense over them. It wasn’t out of impoliteness, but rather because the scene before him far exceeded his expectations. Although the two Daoists in front of him wore contrasting colors, their faces were exactly identical! Seeing two perfectly matched, elegant faces side by side—both exuding the aura of True Cultivators—how could he not be astonished?

He wondered what profound Magic or Array could allow someone to manifest such an identical clone. He even suspected that the person before him was actually a Grand Daoist suppressing their aura, whose Flesh Body and Soul were temporarily separated, making them appear as two individuals to the naked eye. This was why his first reaction was to investigate with his Divine Sense.

However, he quickly stopped himself and refrained from actually probing them. After all, among cultivators, using Divine Sense to inspect someone upon first meeting was highly discourteous.

Just then, he felt a majestic wave of Divine Sense surge past him, unabashedly sweeping toward the two women. Li Yinsheng’s eyelid twitched. He knew he shouldn’t have brought Shangguan along.

A hint of surprise flashed through the eyes of Yanming and Yanqing simultaneously. They released their Divine Senses in unison, merging them into a single, exponentially stronger force that forcefully deflected Shangguan Ling’Er’s probe.

"Spiritual Phoenix Daoist..." the Daoist in white started.

"...what a formidable Divine Sense," the Daoist in black finished.

Shangguan Ling’Er was also full of surprise. "You two... are both Daoists? Are you twins?!"

Although her Divine Sense had just been repelled, the slight difference in their auras when they exerted their power confirmed that they were indeed independent individuals. They were just incredibly similar, not some sort of clone or Soul Emergence. Of course, her Divine Sense was repelled mainly because she harbored no ill intent. Otherwise, with her Divine Sense bordering on that of an Imperial Decree Daoist, if she had forcefully crushed down on them, the sisters would have been completely unable to resist even with their combined strength.

Li Yinsheng was just as surprised. Twins were not uncommon, but he had truly never heard of a pair of twins who had both managed to become Daoists.

"I am Yanming, the elder sister," the Daoist in white admitted.

"I am Yanqing, the younger sister," the Daoist in black followed.

Then, they spoke simultaneously, their voices overlapping, "Fellow Daoists, please have a seat."

Li Yinsheng sat on the cushion in front of Yanming. "Fellow Daoists, please excuse the offense just now. My friend meant no harm; she was simply too surprised."

"It does not matter," Yanming said, though she made no movement.

Yanqing remained silent but gently shook her head.

"Twins cultivating to become Daoists together?" Shangguan Ling’Er sat down beside Li Yinsheng, clicking her tongue in wonder. "I’ve never seen such a rare thing even in the Dharma Veins. You two Fellow Daoists have quite the Karma Technique."

"The two of us possess a special Root Device," Yanming said.

"We prosper together, and we suffer together," Yanqing added to finish the thought.

Li Yinsheng realized something. "So, is your peculiar way of speaking also a result of your Root Device?"

Shangguan Ling’Er also wore a look of sudden realization.

Yanming immediately shook her head. "No, we simply like doing it. It’s a habit we developed since childhood."

"Mhm," Yanqing nodded. "We’re just used to speaking this way. If you two Fellow Daoists find it awkward, we can speak normally."

Li Yinsheng and Shangguan Ling’Er fell silent simultaneously. Li Yinsheng rubbed his temples. Weren’t Daoist patriarchs supposed to be the foundational pillars and profound heritage of their respective Daoist Temples? Why was the eccentricity rate so high! It was one thing for the Sword Cultivators of Cangfeng Temple to be a pair of oddballs obsessed with sparring, but why were these two Array Cultivators also abnormal!

Li Yinsheng finally managed to forcefully suppress his urge to complain. After exchanging a few simple pleasantries, they got straight to the point. The two Daoists had invited him over to exchange insights on Arrays. His true objective was merely to purchase some Array Books to increase the Chess Soul’s knowledge reserves, but since he was already here, discussing the Dao with two Array Cultivators would definitely be beneficial. As for buying Array Dao Books, that could wait until after their discussion.

Yanming and Yanqing, on the other hand, had slightly different motives for inviting Li Yinsheng. Their primary goal was to befriend this incredibly talented Fellow Daoist; discussing the Array Dao was just an excuse. After all, according to Meng Yu’s earlier report, while Li Yinsheng possessed considerable talent in Arrays, he was not an Array Cultivator. He had only dabbled in it out of interest a few months ago. The sisters had merely capitalized on his interest, proposing a discussion on the Array Dao as a pretext to invite him to the Jade Altar Temple.

Thus, as the discussion began, both sisters tacitly started with very superficial concepts—things that wouldn’t even be too difficult for the Direct Disciples of their temple. In their estimation, no matter how much talent Li Yinsheng had in Arrays, if he had only studied them out of interest for a few months, this would be the absolute limit of his proficiency.

But then, they quickly realized that the man before them seemed to possess an understanding of the Array Dao that rivaled their own. When they first kept the discussion at the level of Direct Disciples, Li Yinsheng conversed with them cheerfully. When they raised the content to the level of Stewards, Li Yinsheng still conversed with them cheerfully. When they pushed even further, elevating the discussion to a level closely approaching that of Daoists, Li Yinsheng continued to debate and exchange ideas with them flawlessly.

Was this what they called just being "interested" in the Array Dao? He was a bona fide Array Cultivator!

Having confirmed that Li Yinsheng’s expertise was very likely on par with their own, the two sisters grew visibly excited and began to engage him in a true, profound Dao discussion. They even brought up problems they had yet to figure out themselves. Things went very smoothly at first. The three freely expressed their views, and Li Yinsheng’s unique perspective and deep foundational knowledge helped resolve many of their long-standing confusions.

However, as the debate deepened, disagreements inevitably arose between Li Yinsheng and the sisters. After all, many problems had no standard answers, only differing approaches—and sometimes, Li Yinsheng’s logic simply did not align with theirs.

Sitting off to the side, Shangguan Ling’Er had initially expected to be extremely bored. She didn’t cultivate the Array Dao, so she wouldn’t understand a thing anyway. But she soon realized something was off. During the day of the first session, the topics they discussed seemed fairly superficial, and she could actually follow along a little. By nightfall, however, the concepts became significantly more profound, and she could only grasp a tiny fraction of it—yet the three of them continued chatting with great enthusiasm. By the time they resumed their discussion after meditating and resting on the second day, she had completely lost the thread and had no choice but to meditate and cultivate on her own.

When the second day’s discussion dragged into the night, Li Yinsheng and the two Daoists, Yanming and Yanqing, were already enjoying themselves immensely, their tone growing noticeably more familiar. If not for the presence of outsiders, Shangguan Ling’Er would have been yawning out of sheer boredom. But when the discussion resumed on the third day, her interest was instantly piqued—because Li Yinsheng and the sisters began to argue. Though she had no idea what specific intricacies they were fighting over, the argument was escalating rapidly. Her eyes immediately lit up.

"I’ll say it again! The child Array and the mother Array absolutely cannot use the Hexagram Connection method! I know it’s the most stable approach, but what happens if you need to add a new child Array later?" Li Yinsheng yelled, slamming his hand on the table.

"Are we supposed to listen to you and use a Dual-Reverse Restriction to connect the mother Array into the child Array?" Yanqing glared back at him. "Li, have you ever heard the phrase ’turning heaven and earth upside down’?!"

"As long as it works, who cares? Plus, if needed, you can add new child Arrays to the overall structure later on! Isn’t that infinitely better than your garbage Hexagram Connection method? Every time you modify an Array, it’s virtually the same as tearing it down and rebuilding it from scratch!" Li Yinsheng retorted.

"What’s wrong with striving for perfection?!" Yanming flushed with anger. "Your method has no systematic foundation! Sure, it might be useful, but it’s completely unorthodox!"

"Using our method, any Mother-Child Array can achieve perfect unity! How can an Evil Dao like yours even compare?" Yanqing joined in.

"What perfect unity?! You’re literally just treating all the child Arrays and mother Arrays as a single Grand Array and building them at the same time! That entirely defeats the original purpose of a Mother-Child Array in the first place!" Li Yinsheng criticized.

"And what about you?! Your Evil Dao method completely suffocates the ultimate potential of the Mother-Child Array!" Yanming reprimanded furiously.

"Why does a mere Mother-Child Array need a high ceiling? The whole point of constructing one is purely for the convenience of future modifications! If you want a high ceiling, just switch to an Elemental Union Array Formation! High-cost, time-consuming Arrays like that are the ones that should be pursuing maximum potential!"

"We are talking about the Mother-Child Array!" Yanqing raised her voice.

"And I’m saying the Mother-Child Array doesn’t need a high ceiling! Are! You! Deaf?!" Li Yinsheng shouted back, his voice even louder than hers.

"When our Jade Altar Temple does an Array Formation—whether it’s a Mother-Child Array or an Elemental Union Array—we strive for perfection and pursue the highest potential!" Yanming slammed the table furiously, while Yanqing nodded vehemently in agreement.

Watching from the sidelines, Shangguan Ling’Er was thoroughly captivated. This was her first time seeing Li Yinsheng’s emotions fluctuate so wildly. It was so incredibly entertaining. If it weren’t highly inappropriate for the setting, she would have loved to munch on some sunflower seeds while watching the show. Even though she didn’t understand the Array Dao, the argument was wonderfully lively!

Shangguan Ling’Er cheered inwardly, "Fight! Fight!" eager to fan the flames.

Enraged, Yanqing suddenly sprang to her feet and seized Li Yinsheng by the wrist. "Arguing like this will get us nowhere! Let’s have an Array duel!"

Shangguan Ling’Er arched a brow.

"I’ve spent all my energy researching the foundations of the Array Dao! I haven’t had the time to learn that many actual Arrays yet!" Li Yinsheng’s momentum faltered slightly, but he refused to show weakness.

"Then let’s have a Magical Combat duel instead! We have to compete today! I cannot stand you anymore!" Yanqing gripped his wrist tightly, her face flushed red with fury.

"That’s right, we have to compete today!" Yanming also stood up. "The Jade Altar Temple happens to have a millennium-old Grand Array that has run into some problems, and we are currently figuring out how to repair it.

"We’ll go repair it together! If our method proves more effective, you have to admit that you’re an unorthodox amateur, take us as your masters, and relearn the Array Dao!"

Yanqing added, "Conversely, if we lose, we sisters will admit our skills are inferior, and you can name whatever condition you want!"

"You’re on!" Li Yinsheng agreed without hesitation.

Yanming seized Li Yinsheng’s other wrist. Pinning him between them on the left and right, the two sisters looked at Shangguan Ling’Er and spoke simultaneously. "Spiritual Phoenix Daoist, please bear witness for us!"

"Huh?" Shangguan Ling’Er let out a confused noise.

Ignoring her reaction, the two sisters dragged Li Yinsheng out the door. "Let’s go! We’re heading to the Moonlight Spirit Refining Array right now!"

With Li Yinsheng’s Cultivation, a simple shake of his arms would have been enough to send them flying, yet he didn’t hesitate in the slightest, taking long strides as he departed with them. Watching the trio’s backs disappear around the corner, Shangguan Ling’Er finally snapped out of her daze. She abruptly sprang up, transforming into a streak of Five-Colored Escape Light as she chased after them.