Mythical Three Kingdoms

”Let’s go with this one.” Sima Yi didn’t bother to waste his breath, opting to pick something first.

”This is a fragmented scroll. I am currently studying it, working with my master at the time. Are you sure you want this?” A flash of cunning passed through Zhuge Liang’s eyes. He mistakenly underestimated Sima Yi’s threshold, got blocked by the opponent’s insistence, but Zhuge Liang definitely wouldn’t let him have it easy.

”A fragmented scroll is fine.” Sima Yi was indifferent; fragmented scrolls are better because once completed, they are more suited to his needs and closer to what he wanted.

”Alright then, I’ll dictate it to you orally. Don’t expect to see a written version.” Zhuge Liang feigned helplessness; Sima Yi expressed understanding, then dragged Zhuge Liang away.

Finding a barren part of the camp, Zhuge Liang began dictating. Although Sima Yi had never encountered such a thing, under Hu Zhao’s guidance, his foundation was very solid, enabling him to discern truth from falsehood.

”How profound! No wonder it’s one of the ultimate military formations. Just its transformations alone are enough to drive someone mad. There are so many special effects.” Sima Yi grew more excited with each word, memorizing slowly in his heart, planning to practice with Cao Zhen later.

”The first half of the deductions is basically sound; what’s next is the theory of infinite changes. More people working with me would be good.” Zhuge Liang recited with a blank expression. This military formation was designed based on Li Youu’s teachings and his own resources, recently stuck, using it to fool Sima Yi seemed a good idea.

”Uh, that’s it? I feel there should be dozens more variations.” Sima Yi was eagerly listening when suddenly Zhuge Liang stopped speaking.

”This is a fragmented scroll. The contents above are just the beginning. Explaining it this way would take about a month, and there are further theories to impart. Did you think this is easy to learn?” Zhuge Liang was visibly displeased.

Sima Yi expressed understanding, taking his time to fill in his lacking knowledge.

Though Zhuge Liang had intentions of having Sima Yi help and perhaps take credit, he did not actually deceive Sima Yi with this knowledge.

It’s worth noting that Zhuge Liang’s knowledge of military formations draws heavily from three people: Li Youu’s infinite changes based on Celestial Lock, Chen Xi’s Unity with its core of nesting, and Guo Jia’s foundational rules based on Qimen Dunjia.

Li Youu’s teachings need no further explanation, being what Zhuge Liang learned most thoroughly. Although Guo Jia understands military formations, his level of command and dispatch is too poor to manipulate this kind of thing — he understands the rules but can’t apply them, making it more a set of evolutionary rules for military formations.

As for Chen Xi’s formations, they conflict entirely with Li Youu’s teachings. The reason is simple: their paths are completely opposite. Zhuge Liang’s understanding of the broad far exceeds his grasp of unity, leading to Chen Xi’s formations being purely theoretical for Zhuge Liang.

”Marquis Chen seemed to have said to teach Zhongda what he couldn’t grasp; best to pass Unity to Zhongda. Given it contradicts my military formation concepts, what result Zhongda might achieve by merging Ultimate Change theory with Unity’s concepts is unknown.” Zhuge Liang, expressionless, began explaining to Sima Yi.

In the following days, Sima Yi made daily trips to Zhuge Liang. Both were free, so Sima Yi rose early, bringing tea, pastries, and breakfast for Zhuge Liang, respectfully preparing to learn Ultimate Xuanxiang from Zhuge Liang.

Learning quickly would also free him from being constrained by Zhuge Liang.

Considering him someone with intelligence almost on par with his own, serving tea and pastries, breakfast early in the morning before he woke up — Zhuge Liang acknowledged Sima Yi’s sincerity in study, despite his schemenous deeds.

Thus, after consuming Sima Yi’s tea and pastries, Zhuge Liang began to explain in detail. Initially planning only to impart Chen Xi’s teachings, he now decided to share all his knowledge, seeing Sima Yi’s earnestness.

”Any questions?” Zhuge Liang inquired calmly about an hour later, knowing it was time to pause, as one earlier point remained challenging even for Zhuge Liang due to two conflicting aspects.

”Today’s teaching completely conflicts with yesterday’s.” Sima Yi took a deep breath, capable of enduring such things.

”Yes, there is a conflict, but that’s normal.” Zhuge Liang spoke nonchalantly.

”Theories that are completely contradictory — you wouldn’t...” Sima Yi looked at Zhuge Liang with a difficult expression, suspecting if he was indeed being taught.

Honestly, Sima Yi truly sought to learn despite his displeasure towards Zhuge Liang; he didn’t mind temporarily pausing their rivalry if Zhuge Liang taught him genuinely and would even pay half the respects of a mentor to Zhuge Liang.

For Sima Yi, whose resentment towards Zhuge Liang reached the sky, respectfully approaching to learn was already recognizing his own deficiencies. However, if, even with such respect, Zhuge Liang deceptively taught him, Sima Yi absolutely could not tolerate it.

Considering Sima Yi’s pride and talent, coming to such lengths already granted Zhuge Liang enough respect. If he complied to this level and Zhuge Liang still refused to teach, Sima Yi truly would have misjudged him.

”Zhongda, you’re too impatient.” Zhuge Liang’s expression shifted upon hearing Sima Yi’s words. He then sighed, instructing someone to find Wei Yan.

Zhuge Liang silently took out the previously prepared materials, demonstrating to Sima Yi on a stone platform. When Wei Yan arrived, injecting some Inner Qi, the military formation revealed its true effect.

”...” Sima Yi opened his mouth, but seeing Zhuge Liang erase the military formation on the wooden platform and reconfigure another entirely different formation based on yesterday’s Eight Formation Diagram, both were utterly contradictory in their rules.

At that moment, Sima Yi truly felt what it meant that in this vast world, wonders shall never cease; two completely different, even conflicting rules were both correct.

”Yesterday, I explained exhaustive change methods; today, I’m teaching you methods of returning all change to unity. These two methods could be considered the largest schools of thought at present.” Zhuge Liang sighed; he truly didn’t hold back.

”It’s a problem of my own mindset.” Sima Yi said after a long silence.

”Were it not for my understanding that both are true, I’d have doubted as well.” Zhuge Liang began slowly, speaking truthfully; he did indeed doubt them back in the day.