Chapter 202 - 196: Gathering Evil Array
That afternoon, after finishing his lesson with Han Qing, Li Yuan headed out to the loose cultivators’ gathering area to restock on cinnabar.
The stall area was even more crowded than it had been a few days ago. News of the Primordial Yang Sect’s disciple recruitment continued to spread, and Loose Cultivators flocking in from all over packed the area. Even the open ground outside the stone railings was now covered with makeshift stalls on coarse cloth.
Li Yuan strolled along the rows of stalls, stopping at one selling cinnabar and mineral powders. He selected two portions of good-quality cinnabar and paid with Spirit Stones.
As he continued on his way, he passed a stall he hadn’t noticed before.
The stall owner was a Cultivator in his sixties with a gaunt face and pure white temples, his cultivation at the Qi Refining Sixth Level. On the coarse cloth before him lay only three items: two unlabeled bottles of pills and a beast-hide booklet meticulously wrapped in Oil Paper.
A few words were written on the beast-hide booklet’s Oil Paper cover: Gathering Evil Array.
Li Yuan’s pace slowed.
’Gathering Evil Array. An Array that gathers Evil Qi.’
He squatted down, picked up the beast-hide booklet, and flipped through a couple of pages.
The contents weren’t complicated.
The Gathering Evil Array was a Tier One Low Grade functional Array. Once deployed, it could continuously gather Evil Qi from the surrounding environment and concentrate it at the Array Hub. Its coverage was vast, slowly drawing in all Evil Qi within a hundred-zhang radius.
For most Cultivators, Evil Qi was something to be avoided at all costs. The Gathering Evil Array collected this Evil Qi into a single spot, effectively creating a dangerous area with an extremely high concentration of it.
Hardly anyone would buy such an Array.
But Li Yuan was different.
His Evil Qi Affinity meant that Evil Qi had almost no negative effect on him. His Evil Qi Body Tempering converted Evil Qi into nourishment for tempering his physical body. And the cultivation of his Iron Wall Body Refining Skill required vast amounts of Evil Qi.
Previously, when he went to the Ghost Mist Forest to gather Evil Qi, the round trip took the better part of a day, and the amount of Evil Qi he could bring back each time was limited.
If he could set up a Gathering Evil Array in a place with abundant Evil Qi, drawing it all in from the surroundings, it would be like creating a personal training ground with a continuous supply.
’No more running back and forth. I could just cultivate directly inside the Array.’
"How much for this?" Li Yuan asked, raising the booklet toward the stall owner.
The old Cultivator lifted his cloudy eyes for a glance.
"Gathering Evil Array. Twenty-five Spirit Stones, firm."
"Alright."
He set down the Spirit Stones and tucked the booklet into his storage bag.
Li Yuan stood up and took another walk around the stall area.
Deploying the Gathering Evil Array required materials. The booklet provided a list: eight Array Foundation Stones, a quantity of Conductive Spirit Sand, and one Nascent Soul Stone for the Array Hub.
Array Foundation Stones were the most common Array material and were sold at the ore stalls in the loose cultivators’ gathering area for one Spirit Stone apiece. Conductive Spirit Sand wasn’t expensive either, at three Spirit Stones per bag.
The Nascent Soul Stone was a bit more troublesome. The item itself contained Evil Qi and wasn’t commonly found at ordinary ore stalls.
Li Yuan searched the entire stall area and finally found them at a stall specializing in yin-attribute materials. They cost fifteen Spirit Stones each, and he bought three in total.
After returning to his courtyard, Li Yuan unrolled the beast-hide booklet for the Gathering Evil Array, spread it across his table, and read it carefully from start to finish twice.
The Array Map wasn’t complicated. Eight Array Foundation Stones were to be placed at specific locations and intervals, with Conductive Spirit Sand used to draw connecting lines on the ground, linking the eight nodes into a network. The Nascent Soul Stone would be placed at the Array Hub, serving as the core of the entire Array.
The key to setting up the Array lay in the path of the conductive lines and the sequence of Spiritual Power infusion. The transfer of Spiritual Power between the eight nodes had to form a stable, closed circuit, which was somewhat similar to the nine-pattern closed structure of a Spirit Gathering Array talisman.
His permanent trait, [Array Dao Foundations], was always active, increasing his proficiency gain by fifty percent when setting up Arrays. Combined with the precision in Spiritual Power control he’d gained from reaching Great Success in the Talisman Making Skill, the technical difficulty of this Array wasn’t too high for Li Yuan.
The problem was the location.
The Gathering Evil Array’s coverage was not small. Furthermore, once activated, the Array would continuously gather Evil Qi, causing the concentration near the Array Hub to grow increasingly higher.
Setting up Arrays privately was forbidden within Yunyang Market; one had to apply to the Primordial Yang Sect for permission.
Never mind an Array like the Gathering Evil Array, which created a hazardous zone; even setting up an ordinary Spirit Gathering Array privately within the market was against the rules.
Li Yuan needed a place outside the market.
’It had to have abundant Evil Qi, be outside of anyone’s jurisdiction, and not be too far from the market.’
Ghost Mist Forest.
That forest, perennially shrouded in dense fog and Evil Qi, had the highest concentration of Evil Qi in the entire region. If the Array were set up there, its gathering effect would be even better. Moreover, the Ghost Mist Forest didn’t fall under any power’s jurisdiction, so no one would care what kind of Array he deployed within it.
It was over half a day’s journey from Yunyang Market. Not close, but acceptable. Once the Array was set up, he would no longer have to wander the forest searching for areas with high Evil Qi concentration; he could just sit and cultivate near the Array Hub.
Li Yuan put away the booklet and materials, but he didn’t leave in a hurry.
’First, I’ll finish the talisman-making tasks I have.’
He spread out a sheet of talisman paper and picked up his brush.
Heart-lock Talisman.
His permanent trait, [Spiritual Essence Refinement], made the Spirit Patterns extremely stable; the Spiritual Power in every brushstroke was distributed perfectly. Li Yuan had drawn the Spirit Pattern structure for the Heart-lock Talisman countless times since he’d first started, and his accumulated proficiency had been steadily increasing.
One, two, three.
Each one was of exceptionally high quality.
As he drew the fifth talisman, the feeling at the final stroke was different from the previous four.
It wasn’t that it felt better, but that he no longer needed to be conscious of it. The entire process of drawing the Heart-lock Talisman’s six Spirit Patterns, from the first stroke to the last, felt like a physical instinct, completed without conscious thought.
[Talisman: Heart-lock Talisman - Proficient (0/800)]
Li Yuan set down his brush and switched to the Concealing Breath Talisman.
The path of the Concealment Pattern for the Concealing Breath Talisman was different from that of the Heart-lock Talisman, but the required precision of Spiritual Power control was fundamentally the same. After he’d drawn a few, the same feeling returned.
[Talisman: Concealing Breath Talisman - Proficient (0/800)]
Both types of Talismans had reached the Proficient level.
Alternating between different types of Talismans had always been the most effective way to increase his overall proficiency in the Talisman Making Skill. Each new Talisman he mastered gave his total proficiency a significant boost.
Li Yuan stacked the finished products and put away his brush.
That evening, he sat cross-legged on his bed board and began circulating the Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill.
Spiritual Qi surged into his body. Pure Spiritual Power expelled impurities as it condensed and sank into his Dantian. The Spiritual Essence condensation from the Spirit Absorption Pill increased his cultivation speed by fifty percent, while the Spiritual Power advancement from the Realm-Breaking Pill stacked on another twenty percent.
The dual spirit-blood cultivation effect of the Blood Coagulation Pill allowed his Qi Blood to circulate in sync with his Spiritual Power. His permanent trait, [Eternal Qi Blood], made this circulation as steady as a rock.
One cycle, two cycles, three cycles.
His Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill had been advancing slowly since he reached the Great Success stage. The core of this Cultivation Technique was to harmonize the different attributes of Spiritual Power within his meridians. It allowed the Spiritual Power of the Fire, Water, Earth, Metal, and Wood Elements to coexist peacefully within the same meridian, without clashing.
At the Great Success stage, he had already achieved a state of non-conflict. When he switched between different attributes of Spiritual Power in his meridians, there was no sense of repulsion, and both the conversion speed and the associated loss were minimal.
But a lack of conflict did not equate to fusion.
When the Spiritual Power circulated in his meridians, even though the different elements no longer repelled each other, they still kept to their own paths. The Fire Element followed its course, and the Water Element followed its own; they were like well water and river water, never mixing.
The process of advancing from Great Success to Perfection was a journey from non-conflict to true coexistence.
It wasn’t about fusing them into one, but allowing different attributes of Spiritual Power to exist simultaneously within the same section of a meridian, like streams of cold and hot water flowing together in the same river without mixing.
After completing the fourth cycle, Li Yuan slowly opened his eyes. Perfection.
[Cultivation Technique: Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill - Perfection (3200/3200)]
Li Yuan opened his eyes and circulated his energy for one more cycle to feel the difference.
After the Hundred Veins Returning to Origin Skill reached Perfection, the most noticeable change was the speed of his Spiritual Power Attribute conversion. Previously, switching from the Fire Element to the Water Element required a minuscule transition period, but now that transition had all but vanished. The Spiritual Power in his meridians could switch attributes instantly, with no transition time whatsoever.
This was a huge boon for his Talisman Making. When drawing Talismans of different attributes, he had to switch Spiritual Power Attributes frequently. Now that he had reached Perfection, the loss incurred from switching dropped to zero, boosting his efficiency yet again.
It was also beneficial for combat. When casting different elemental Magic in succession, he no longer needed to wait for the Spiritual Power to convert, allowing for a seamless flow between spells.