Trouble Strikes at the Bamboo Grove Residence

Autumn passed, spring returned; spring came, autumn went. In the blink of an eye, Luo Yu had graduated from university.

During these four years of cultivation, Luo Yu and Qin Yue had explored many wondrous realms and experienced extraordinary adventures. Their horizons and temperaments had broadened greatly, and they had lost all interest in formal studies. To acquire knowledge, reading on his own was far more efficient. Moreover, Luo Yu's painting skills had reached impressive heights: he created with ease and confidence, his brush never faltering, and his compositions were not only ingenious but also imbued with an indescribable liveliness and charm that won universal acclaim from his mentors.

With his family’s consent, Luo Yu decided not to pursue further studies, but to devote himself wholeheartedly to cultivation. This made things rather difficult for Father Chu at the university: Luo Yu's professors would visit him in droves, trying to persuade him to let his son continue his studies—after all, learning is a lifelong journey, and a diploma would only add luster to his achievements. More titles would also increase the value of his artworks!

Meanwhile, Old Master Luo, unable to endure the furtive behavior of Father Chu and the vampire in his presence, simply gave his blessing to their relationship. Qin Yue seized the opportunity to drop another bombshell on the old man, hitching a ride on Father Chu’s coattails and reducing the old man to tears. Now the two old folks and the young couples all lived together happily, save for the occasional minor disagreement or friction.

In his final year before graduation, Luo Yu succeeded in improving the teleportation array.

He went to the secret passage, dismantled the entire hall and door panel, and brought them back to the ancient formation, then dug a cave similar to the secret passage as a laboratory and began testing the array.

Thanks to his own experience with teleportation and some research online, he had a rough idea of what to do and identified the reasons for the array's failure: first, the mana magnetic disruption and the target point's magnetic wave frequency were inconsistent, failing to achieve magnetic resonance; second, after the spatial tear, the "tension" at the edges was not stabilized, resulting in an unstable black hole.

Comparing this to himself, Luo Yu realized that his own magnetic waves were unique, able to stabilize the edges of spatial rifts—perhaps his own feathers were special, or why else could only phoenixes teleport while other divine birds could not? Perhaps there were peculiar magical factors in his energy field… If he added a magnetic wave generator with a few of his own feathers inside to the base of the array, wouldn't that work—no, no! He couldn't bear to pluck his own beautiful feathers, each one too precious to lose!

In the end, Luo Yu went to the Blood Rose Castle and plucked a few feathers from Huang Yu, putting them to good use; using the ancient formation as a template, he also crafted a set of runes capable of generating their own power, replacing the need for spirit stones. At last, the legendary ancient teleportation array shone again in Luo Yu’s hands.

The pair of teleportation arrays were inscribed on portable disks, allowing them to be moved as needed. One was placed at the Moonview Cottage, the other on the balcony of the Luo family home. This delighted Father Chu and the old master to no end: after dinner each night, one would use the array to visit his fairy grandchildren and teach the ginseng dolls about life; the other would romance the vampire with mountain strolls and boating excursions.

The ginseng dolls and Luo Ling in the array were often taken by Luo Li to gain experience, and by now had all reached Foundation Establishment. As a naturally formed spiritual being, Luo Ling had no gender or inherited traits, but perhaps due to some chick imprinting, after taking physical form, bore an uncanny resemblance to Luo Yu. The old master was utterly besotted with this grandchild: “Just like little Yu as a child! My granddaughter is now too busy bullying others to cling to me as before—how lonely for an old man! But with the teleportation array, I can bring my little grandchild home whenever I wish!”

On this fine day, all seven members of the Luo family were planting spirit fruits with the ginseng dolls at the cottage. These seeds, gifts from Sun Wuming, included golden honey melons, jade grapes, celestial pomegranates, and more—a whole sackful. They planned to plant them all, brew their own spirit wine, and had even set up a formation on the mountain to raise tender, delicious spirit birds and beasts, determined to elevate their quality of life.

The family was happily busy when a skeletal phoenix suddenly burst from the teleportation array, flapping its bony wings and landing on the vampire’s shoulder, its beak rattling with a string of strange noises.

“Darling! Looks like we have a guest,” the vampire called to Luo Yu.

Luo Yu clapped his hands. “Are you sure they’re looking for me?”

The vampire shrugged. “Uncle Su.”

Luo Yu nodded and immediately crossed the teleportation array with Qin Yue, returning home.

Su Sangyi was a frequent visitor and well acquainted with the Luo family courtyard, so he came directly. Secretly astonished by the pair’s rapid cultivation progress, he refrained from asking directly—cultivators all have their secrets, and such matters are best left unspoken unless offered.

Not long after, a jade slip suddenly appeared in his bedroom, containing a short incantation and introducing the concept of a “spirit barrier.” It claimed that with persistent practice, one could avoid bottlenecks in cultivation. As soon as Su Sangyi finished reading with his divine sense, the jade slip self-destructed.

Greatly shocked, he immediately thought of Luo Yu and Qin Yue—who else could craft such a refined jade slip these days? Such a world-defying gift was hard to discuss outright, so this was the best method. Su Sangyi was deeply gratified: these children know gratitude and filial piety! Thus, they all tacitly agreed never to mention it.

Luo Yu and Qin Yue welcomed him into the house and served spirit tea. Seeing the anxious look on Su Sangyi’s face, Luo Yu asked, “Uncle, you haven’t visited for several months—what’s kept you busy?”

Su Sangyi’s handsome features grew pensive. “It’s a long story. If I cannot resolve it, a calamity may befall the Bamboo Grove Monastery. You may have heard: there is a forbidden ground behind the monastery, where a ferocious beast, Qiongqi, who once violated the heavenly laws, is sealed. It has been imprisoned for five thousand years, but now, somehow, it is on the verge of breaking free. I have examined the sealing formation many times but found nothing amiss, so I hoped you, Xiao Yu, could lend your aid.”

Luo Yu recognized the gravity of the situation—a rampaging beast could spell disaster, and this must be handled without delay.

He answered without hesitation, “Then let’s go right now! You can explain further on the way, Uncle!”

Su Sangyi agreed, “Excellent!”

Luo Yu quickly packed a few things, left a note for his family, and the three set out together.

On the way, Luo Yu asked curiously, “Qiongqi is also supposed to be an ancient divine beast—why is it called ferocious?”

Su Sangyi replied, “This creature is capricious, sometimes good, sometimes evil, and infamous for its ferocity and love of battle. Thus it is labeled a beast of ill omen.”

Luo Yu asked, “So what’s the story behind the Qiongqi sealed behind the monastery? Why wasn’t it simply slain?”

Su Sangyi explained, “That goes back five thousand years. Back then, there was a Qiongqi of unpredictable nature. Whenever it overheard an argument, it would eavesdrop until it understood the dispute, then bite off the nose of the person in the right, capture prey to give to the one in the wrong, and encourage them to commit more evil—such absurd antics were commonplace. Though it sometimes did good, like driving off wild beasts or devouring plagues for mortals, its evil deeds far outweighed the good. Descended from the ancient god of wind, it was eventually slain by Emperor Shun, himself a descendant of the ancient divine race. Upon hearing this, Qiongqi’s son sought revenge but was thwarted by the Heavenly Court. He rampaged through the heavens, but, outnumbered, was captured by many powerful cultivators. The Heavenly Emperor, moved by his filial piety, entrusted the beast to the Bamboo Grove Monastery, where it has been imprisoned ever since.”

Luo Yu thought: So this was an attempted break-in and murder, now sentenced to life imprisonment.

Qin Yue asked, “If it’s still alive after all this time, its cultivation must be formidable?”

Su Sangyi replied, “It has reached the Great Transcendence stage, with limitless longevity. But its powers have also been sealed, so now it possesses only the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator.”

Luo Yu was intrigued. “Why hasn’t it perished like the other divine beasts?”

Su Sangyi admitted, “That… even I do not know.”

Riding clouds, the three soon arrived at the Bamboo Grove Monastery and proceeded straight to the forbidden valley behind the mountain. Passing through a barrier, they entered a secluded gorge, surrounded on all sides by mountains, with only a narrow path leading in. In the center of the valley was a grand formation enclosing four ancient, dark golden pillars. Each pillar was bound with dozens of thick black chains, all intricately inscribed and forged with care.

The interwoven chains formed a heavy net, binding a monstrous beast: ten meters long, with a protruding muzzle, savage fangs, the face of a wolf with a lion’s mane, massive shoulders like an ox, the hindquarters of a tiger, a thick, bushy tail like a fox, and a pair of huge wings sprouting from its back. Its face bore blood-red tiger stripes that extended across its body, giving it a wild and fearsome look. Clearly, after centuries of confinement, it had lost all fat, its powerful muscles standing out in bold relief, its presence fierce and intimidating. Seeing the newcomers, it narrowed its eyes, scanning them before fixing a wolfish gaze on Su Sangyi, watching like a predator sizing up prey.

Luo Yu silently admired the imposing beast: how powerful! Truly worthy of its ancient lineage—no other spirit beast could compare. If only he could take it home as a guardian beast and ride it through the mountains—how awe-inspiring that would be!

Lost in such fantasies, Luo Yu stepped forward to inspect the formation. The beast, sensing his intent, immediately erupted in fury, letting out a thunderous roar that made the entire array tremble and forced Luo Yu back two steps. Why did that sound so much like a dog’s bark? Was it somehow related to wolves or dogs?

Qiongqi, seeing Luo Yu’s alarm, flashed a mocking glint in its eyes and howled again at the sky.

Undeterred, Luo Yu carefully approached to examine the array, but Qiongqi was determined to disrupt him, flapping its wings or barking incessantly, causing the formation’s runes to flicker wildly and making inspection nearly impossible.

The standoff lasted three days. Qiongqi grew ever more agitated and violent. Although Luo Yu still had not identified the flaw in the formation, he sensed trouble brewing: as the beast’s frenzy mounted, the sealing array consumed increasingly vast amounts of spiritual energy, gradually outstripping supply. At this rate, it would not be long before Qiongqi broke free.

Luo Yu reported to Su Sangyi, “Uncle, this is bad! The array… is running out of spiritual energy!”

Su Sangyi was shocked. “How can this be? The Bamboo Grove Monastery is rich in spiritual energy; cultivation has never been difficult. How could the array be lacking?”

Luo Yu considered this. “There’s enough for cultivation, but this grand array consumes so much more—it’s not enough.”

Su Sangyi said, “So the formation itself is sound, but the spiritual energy is insufficient.”

Luo Yu nodded. “That seems to be the case.”

Su Sangyi grew anxious. “This array was set by ancient masters; to avoid the trouble of replacing spirit stones, it was designed to draw directly from the ambient energy… but now it cannot be altered. Xiao Yu, can you set up a new formation, powered by spirit stones, to reinforce the seal?”

Luo Yu thought for a moment. “I have a way—it doesn’t require spirit stones or drawing from the ambient energy; it can generate its own power. If I set it up quickly, it should run continuously. The only question is whether we have enough time…”

Su Sangyi was overjoyed. “Xiao Yu, your mastery of formations is already so profound! Hurry—begin at once!”

Hearing this, Qiongqi in the array went nearly mad, rampaging even harder. Luo Yu dared not delay, immediately taking out his materials and beginning to craft a new array disk.

Author’s Note: Writer’s block these past few days! T.T

Writer’s block is so painful~

Best Friend’s Cultivation Chronicles 83—Update complete!