Chapter 391 - 378: Array: Tier 3 Entry-Level

Chapter 391: Chapter 378: Array: Tier 3 Entry-Level

Inside the stone chamber, all arrays were active.

Li Yuan sat cross-legged on a cushion, his eyes closed in concentration. Within his Sea of Divine Sense, five Divine Sense Lines, like nimble carving knives, meticulously peeled apart and dismantled the intercepted, encrypted Demonic Qi resonance.

The Spiritual Power from his Demon Essence Skill flowed in a specific, reversed trajectory through his meridians, coordinating with the Divine Sense Lines to reduce the chaotic bundle of fluctuations back into its rawest information.

An hour later, the decryption was complete.

The message was brief, containing only a set of coordinates and a single directive: *Profound Nether’s old cache. Retrieve at once to aid Core Formation.*

The coordinates pointed to Mozhou.

Li Yuan opened his eyes, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.

’The Dark Abyss Association is arranging for an important figure to undergo Core Formation in the Ghost Mist Forest, and they need treasures to assist the process. It makes sense that this cache was left behind by the Profound Nether Sect. But the location is what doesn’t add up.’

’The person undergoing Core Formation is a Demon Cultivator, so the treasures must be aligned with the Demon Dao. Yet, the Profound Nether Sect’s territories were clearly divided back then—Liangzhou was Demon Vein territory, and Mozhou was Profound Vein territory. Why would a priceless Demon Dao treasure be hidden in the heart of the Profound Vein’s stronghold?’

Li Yuan stood and put away the jade slip. ’Since the Dark Abyss Association has already issued the order, someone will be heading to Mozhou to retrieve the treasure soon. I don’t know if they have access to a shortcut like a Teleportation Array, but getting a head start is crucial.’

About fifteen minutes later, he slipped into the underground cavern beneath the limestone plateau.

Instead of teleporting to Mozhou immediately, Li Yuan walked to the central stone platform and crouched.

After his recent deep dive into Tier Three Array theory, combined with his experience optimizing the directional circuit, his attainments in Arrays had settled at the absolute peak of Tier Two Perfection. Before heading to Mozhou, he decided to try calibrating the node to Yunzhou one more time.

Five Divine Sense Lines sank into the stone platform, slicing precisely into the second positioning layer.

Li Yuan further narrowed the previously set directional arc, compressing it into the shape of a needle. He injected Spiritual Power, which thrust violently into the depths of space along this incredibly fine circuit.

A few breaths later, the spatial fluctuations sent back an exceptionally clear signal.

The precise spatial coordinates of the destination node were finally locked: southern Yunzhou, deep beneath the Southern Border Mountain Range.

But just as the connection was about to stabilize, the Space Crystal Stone in the center of the Array Hub emitted a faint cracking sound. The spatial fold patterns within it flickered erratically, unable to withstand such a high-intensity, precise penetration.

The tunnel shook violently, threatening to collapse at any moment.

Li Yuan immediately cut off the Spiritual Power output. The Crystal Stone’s humming subsided.

’The current Space Crystal Stone’s quality is more than sufficient for teleporting to the Stone Wilderness in Mozhou, but its purity is a step too low to connect to the farther, more complex Yunzhou node. If I force the teleportation, I’ll most likely get dragged into spatial turbulence.’

’I’ll have to shelve the Yunzhou node for now.’

He readjusted the positioning layer’s circuit back toward Mozhou.

He took out twenty Mid-grade Spirit Stones from his storage bag and embedded them in the Energy Slots around the stone platform. White light flared, and space warped.

Upon landing, a familiar, dry, cold wind carrying gray-white gravel blew against his face.

「Mozhou, the Stone Wilderness.」

Li Yuan ascended from the underground stone chamber to the surface. Activating his full concealment technique, his figure merged completely with the dead, silent wasteland.

The coordinates in the intel were nearly thirty miles from the Stone Wilderness node.

He didn’t use a conventional flight spell. ’The Spiritual Qi here is incredibly thin,’ he thought. ’Flying for a long time would consume a massive amount of Spiritual Power, and it would be easy to leave a visible trail in the gloomy sky.’

’Teleportation Skill.’

His figure vanished, reappearing a hundred feet away in the next instant. Then he vanished and reappeared again.

The Golden Core-level perspective he had experienced thanks to the Profound Nether Bead seemed to have etched a topological map of the spatial network into his mind. Now, whenever he used the Teleportation Skill, he no longer had to deliberately sense the weak points in space. Instead, he moved as if by instinct, gliding along the very grain of space itself.

After over a hundred consecutive teleportations, his Spiritual Power consumption was a full thirty percent lower than before, and his landing points were perfectly precise.

A little over an hour later, Li Yuan stopped before a low, rocky hill.

The hill was grayish-brown and heavily weathered, indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain. But his unique perception, tied to the Earth Veins, pierced its outer shell, clearly revealing a man-made cave within.

Li Yuan walked to a smooth stone face at the foot of the hill and placed his palm against it.

’No using a brute-force spatial strike to break through the wall,’ he thought. ’That’s an amateur move, and it’s the easiest way to trigger an internal self-destruct Restriction.’

His Divine Sense Line permeated the stone wall, making contact with the first layer of the Restriction.

’A classic Profound Nether Sect spatial lock. And not just one layer, but three nested layers, each with its Array Patterns hidden within folded spatial interlayers.’

Li Yuan didn’t back down. On the contrary, a flicker of intense focus appeared in his eyes.

’Breaking a multi-dimensional, nested Restriction like this is the perfect opportunity to test what I’ve learned about Array theory.’

’First layer: the Spiritual Power conduction layer.’ He sent a minuscule stream of Spiritual Power flowing in reverse, precisely locking up the three key nodes in the Array Pattern’s circulation. The surface of the stone wall rippled like water, and the outermost defense collapsed.

’Second layer: the spatial folding layer.’ The Array Patterns here shifted constantly within three-dimensional space. Li Yuan drew on his understanding of spatial Magic, and his five Divine Sense Lines moved like a locksmith’s picks, weaving in sync through the folded seams. In an instant, they found the ever-shifting "keyhole" and pierced it in one go.

’Third layer: the destructive counterattack layer.’ One wrong move, and the entire cave would collapse inward.

Li Yuan controlled his Spiritual Power with microscopic precision, following the veins of the Array Pattern to peel it away from the stone wall, bit by bit.

CLICK.

An extremely faint cracking sound came from within the stone wall.

A gap just wide enough for one person to pass through silently slid open on the seamless stone wall.

Li Yuan slipped inside.

The cave was not large, only about twenty feet square. There was no musty smell in the air, a clear sign of the Restriction’s perfect seal.

In the center of the cave was a stone platform, upon which sat a small, black, square box made of a material that was neither metal nor wood.

Other than the box, there was nothing else.

Li Yuan stepped forward. After confirming the box wasn’t trapped, he opened it.

A thumb-sized black orb lay quietly inside the box. Its surface had no luster, seeming to devour the very light around it. Just from being near, he could feel an incredibly pure and supremely domineering Demonic Qi circulating within.

The instant his fingertip touched the Demon Bead, a panel appeared.

[Equippable Item Detected: Demon Qi Pill Platform Core (Complete)]

[Trait Preview: Demon Pill Providence (Purple)]

[Effect: When undergoing Demonic Qi Core Formation, success rate is increased by 50%. After successful Core Formation, you may shatter the core and attempt again once. If you do, the quality of the new core will be increased by 20%.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Forge a Demon Qi Golden Core]

A purple light flashed before his eyes.

Li Yuan stared at the text on the panel, his breath catching for a moment.

’A purple-tier trait.’

’A fifty-percent increase in success rate, plus an absolute guarantee of one do-over, and it even increases the quality by twenty percent on the second try!’

What made his heart pound was the trait’s name: Demon Pill Providence.

’I have another trait, "Pill Platform Providence."’

’The effect of Pill Platform Providence is: You can choose to increase the difficulty of Core Formation and lower its quality, but upon success, you get to form a second core.’

’Until now, I’d planned to take the safe route—use pure Spiritual Power for Core Formation and rely on the safety net from Pill Platform Providence to guarantee a steady outcome.’

’But now, the appearance of Demon Pill Providence has completely upended my entire strategy for Core Formation.’

’If I combine these two traits...’

Li Yuan rapidly ran through the scenario in his mind.

’For the first Core Formation, I’ll forsake Spiritual Power and form a core directly with Demonic Qi!’

’I’ll activate Pill Platform Providence to intentionally increase the difficulty. The penalty will reduce the success rate by thirty percent.’

’But Demon Pill Providence provides a massive fifty-percent success rate bonus for Demonic Qi Core Formation! That not only cancels out the penalty but gives me a net twenty-percent boost to my success rate.’

’And once this Demon Qi Golden Core is formed, I’ll have fulfilled the condition for Pill Platform Providence and earned the chance to form a second core.’

’At that point, with one Demon Qi Golden Core already inside me, I can try to use that Skill to form a Spiritual Power Golden Core, merging them into one.’

’Pill Platform Providence only says I can form another core after a successful attempt; it doesn’t specify that the first one has to be a Spiritual Power core.’

’And even if I can’t merge the two cores, or if the grade of the Demon Pill isn’t high enough, it doesn’t matter.’

’I can shatter the Demon Pill and try Core Formation again. Then, when I form the Spirit Pill, without the suppression from Pill Platform Providence, I might be able to directly form a Top-grade Golden Core, and then form a Demon Pill after that.’

’It’s as if each of the two traits gives me one Core Formation attempt, for a total of three attempts.’

’As for the risk of my aura being exposed?’

’Non-existent. My concealment technique can perfectly hide even the Demonic Qi of a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator, let alone a fully contained Golden Core. Whether it’s Spiritual Qi or Demonic Qi, as long as I don’t want it to be, outsiders won’t be able to detect a thing.’

’The only bottleneck is the environment.’

’Spiritual Qi Core Formation requires a Spirit Vein, and Demonic Qi Core Formation likewise requires a location that can provide a massive amount of Demonic Qi.’

’Although there’s a large, sealed Spirit Vein beneath Mozhou, it’s pure Spiritual Power, not Demonic Qi. Forcibly absorbing Spiritual Power to forge a Demon Qi Golden Core would be suicide.’

’Where can I find a place so rich in Demonic Qi?’

Li Yuan closed the lid on the box containing the Demon Qi Pill Platform Core and carefully tucked it into the deepest corner of his storage bag.

’I can figure out the environment problem later. If worse comes to worst, I’ll just raid one of the Dark Abyss Association’s strongholds. With this treasure in hand, the potential of my Core Formation has been raised to a whole new level.’

The moment he put the box away, two successive ripples spread through his Sea of Divine Sense.

Two notifications popped up on his panel.

[Teleportation Skill: Proficient (0/800)]

The more than one hundred consecutive, high-stress teleportations from the Stone Wilderness, combined with the lingering Golden Core-level spatial perspective in his mind, had finally, through the trial of breaking the restriction, pushed this spatial Magic to the Proficient level.

But that wasn’t all.

The process of breaking the three-dimensional nested spatial lock wasn’t just practical application; it was a perfect validation of his recent studies into Tier Three Array theory.

Repairing the Teleportation Array’s conduction and positioning layers, reconstructing folded space, and just now, the meticulous, thread-by-thread dismantling of the Restriction... all of that accumulated experience reached a critical point.

The panel refreshed again.

[Array Attainments: Tier Three (Initiate)]

Li Yuan stood in the dim cave and clenched his fist.

’Tier Three.’