Li Shimin, like a drunkard, suddenly suggested a tour of Shenyang city after he had eaten and drunk his fill.
So, he dragged Chai Shao and Li Xiaogong along, with Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Jingde accompanying them.
Yuan Tiangang and Sun Simiao pulled Fang Er along to look at the round object that had fallen from the sky.
A warehouse near the construction shed was opened. It was empty, containing nothing but the round object.
The sphere was about five meters in diameter. To get it in, the intermediate floor between the first and second stories of the warehouse had to be removed.
"Young friend, are you sure this fell from the sky, and not some glazed pottery you fired in your workshop?"
The moment Yuan Tiangang saw the sphere, he suspected it was a fake.
Something that fell from the sky, something resembling glazed pottery, yet it didn't shatter. This was too incredible!
"Master Yuan, you jest. Do I have any reason to fake this?"
Fang Er looked at the sphere with a wry smile.
Yuan Tiangang pondered for a moment and felt that what Fang Er said made sense.
Although meteorites were rare, for Fang Er at this time, obtaining one was not difficult at all.
"Hiss~~!"
After Sun Simiao circled the sphere twice, he suddenly pointed at the metal rod piercing through it and said, "Fellow Daoist Yuan, quickly come and look at the patterns on this!"
Fang Er was startled and quickly joined Yuan Tiangang to examine the rod closely.
He discovered that at night, when the light was not sufficient, it was difficult to see clearly. Now, upon closer inspection, there were indeed some crooked patterns on the rod.
The patterns were very fine, like hair, and would be impossible to notice if one wasn't paying attention.
"Young friend, could you please fetch a magnifying glass?"
Sun Simiao, after looking for a long time without understanding, looked up and said to Fang Er. The magnifying glass was something Fang Er had made for him earlier, to assist with surgeries.
"Certainly, please wait a moment, both of you."
He left the warehouse, fetched three magnifying glasses, waited outside for a while, and then re-entered.
"Here, both Masters, use these to look."
Fang Er handed each of them a magnifying glass and kept the remaining one for himself, studying the patterns on the rod.
The rod was entirely black and incredibly smooth, it was unclear if this was due to friction and burning during its fall or if it was originally like this.
The patterns on it were golden and crooked. Where two patterns intersected, there were golden dots.
"What the heck??"
The more Fang Er looked, the more shocked he became.
"Why does this damn thing resemble the circuit boards I saw in my previous life?"
Suddenly, Yuan Tiangang slapped his thigh and shouted.
"A Qi Gathering Formation!"
Fang Er: "???"
"What is that? Where did a formation come from? Aren't those mystical things in Taoism all fake? With Yuan Tiangang's cultivation, he shouldn't be taking these things seriously, right?"
Seeing Fang Er's confused expression, Yuan Tiangang rolled his eyes at him.
"I can tell without even counting on my fingers that you are slandering me in your heart! Do you think those talismans and formations are all deceptions?"
Fang Er awkwardly nodded.
"Wrong!"
Yuan Tiangang negated Fang Er's guess with absolute certainty, then casually plucked a few glazed buttons from his clothes, spread his hand, and offered them to Fang Er.
"Look closely, how many buttons are there in total?"
"Six."
After Fang Er answered, Yuan Tiangang walked to the entrance of the warehouse, seemingly casually, and threw the buttons on the ground, then adjusted their positions with his foot.
Having done all this, he walked back to Fang Er and said, "Look again!"
Fang Er curiously glanced at him, then walked to the entrance and carefully examined the buttons on the ground.
The moment he looked, his entire demeanor changed.
"This is not scientific! There were clearly only six buttons just now, but now, there are eight!"
It was impossible that Yuan Tiangang had secretly taken two buttons and added them, as his padded jacket only had six buttons!
"Where did these two extra buttons come from?"
"No, wait, there are two more buttons on his trousers!"
Utterly bewildered, Fang Er returned to Yuan Tiangang's side and subconsciously reached for his lower garments.
"That's going too far, young friend!"
Yuan Tiangang quickly retreated, his face turning green.
"I'm already seventy or eighty years old, if I hadn't reacted quickly, Fang Er would have almost grabbed me."
Hearing Yuan Tiangang's exasperated tone, Fang Er instantly came to his senses and quickly explained.
"Master Yuan, you've misunderstood. This young one just wanted to see if the buttons on your trousers were still there."
"If you want to look, just say so. Must you be so hands-on? Do I still have any dignity?"
Although Yuan Tiangang was complaining, he still lifted the hem of his robe and revealed his waistband.
Two glazed buttons were intact and fastened to it.
"Hahaha, young friend, don't be anxious. Come, let me explain the reason."
Sun Simiao, seeing this, smiled and beckoned Fang Er from the doorway.
Fang Er, like a curious child, approached Sun Simiao. The old man then pulled out his hairpin and lightly drew it across the ground.
A miraculous thing happened: out of the eight buttons, two disappeared!
Fang Er rubbed his eyes in disbelief. He looked again, and there were still only six!
"What is this? What's going on?"
"This is called a formation, merely the simplest illusionary technique."
The patterns on the rod, like this illusionary technique, were all a type of formation in Taoism.
However, a Qi Gathering Formation was tens of thousands of times more difficult than this illusionary technique.
Yuan Tiangang's tone was extremely solemn. This formation was only mentioned in fragments in ancient texts, and the specific methods of its construction had been lost for thousands of years!