Zhuge Lan did not reply, seeming to hear nothing. His eyes occasionally flashed with heterochromatic pupils. At this moment, he was solely focused on the array diagram in his hands; no one else existed around him.
"Once he enters this state, he becomes oblivious to everything in the outside world," Dongfang Bai explained. "Have you heard of using the Seven-Star Lamp to extend life?"
"I've heard of it... but wasn't that a failure? And it seems to be just a legend."
Dongfang Bai shook his head. "A failure? That one wasn't a failure. All the data I have shows that the Zhuge Liang of that era did not fail; he succeeded."
"Ah?"
Lin Xiao felt his knowledge from books, TV shows, and movies had been in vain. How could it have succeeded?
"Failure is merely what the secular world perceives as failure... Let me ask another question." Dongfang Bai pointed at Zhuge Lan, who was setting up the array, and asked, "How old do you think he is now?"
"Around your age, Senior Dongfang?" Lin Xiao couldn't tell. Judging someone's age by their appearance was too difficult for people like them.
"He's about your age."
Dongfang Bai said.
"What?"
Lin Xiao was more surprised than anyone.
At his age, to reach such a level, he didn't believe anyone else could achieve it. It wasn't because he thought highly of his own talent, but rather, it was a realistic fact that there could only be one Lin Xiao in this world.
He knew that his current cultivation was largely due to being a member of the Lin family.
If he had a different bloodline, he definitely wouldn't have been able to achieve this.
"Formations are different from martial arts," Dongfang Bai lowered his voice, trying not to disturb Zhuge Lan. "In martial arts, differences in talent naturally lead to varying speeds of progress. For instance, your cultivation speed is unmatched by anyone else in the world."
"But formations are different. Formations are more difficult than martial arts, requiring more knowledge. A qualified array master who studies the Five Elements and Bagua needs more time and experience than we martial artists. Dongfang Bai said, his gaze admiring the formation being meticulously laid out. "Look, this array is almost perfect, with not a single iota of deviation, not a sliver of error."
"I... can't quite understand it."
Lin Xiao scratched his head. He indeed knew little about these esoteric arts like Qimen Dunjia and Bagua. These were the domains of mystics, and he had never studied them. Simply looking at it made him feel it was quite difficult.
"It's right that you don't understand. If you did, then truly, there would be no need for old fellows like us to live," Dongfang Bai said irritably. "But you can understand what I said, right? This formation is perfect, not almost perfect, but utterly perfect."
"Hmm... can a person truly achieve perfection?"
Lin Xiao didn't understand. Humans were bound to make mistakes. To achieve perfection required exquisite skill, extreme concentration, and even a certain degree of luck. Otherwise, how could perfection be attained?
"He can, but we can't," Dongfang Bai stated bluntly. "And you, do you think he could achieve this if he were only of your age?"