Chapter 370 - 358: Teleportation Network

Chapter 370: Chapter 358: Teleportation Network

Li Yuan didn’t leave in a hurry. Instead, he turned and walked back into the great hall.

He walked a full circle, carefully examining the four walls of the great hall. He confirmed the entire building had only this single floor—no secret doors, no hidden compartments, and no passages to other spaces.

The great hall’s sole purpose, it seemed, was to house the giant mist Array at its center.

The Array Patterns densely carved into the walls were all supportive in nature, used to stabilize the Array’s operation, guide the flow of Spiritual Power, and prevent the mist from concentrating too heavily within the hall. Beneath the stone floor tiles, in addition to the traps and Defense Array he had previously detected, was an extremely precise network of Spiritual Power conduits that channeled external energy to the Array’s core.

However, most of the pipes in that conduit network were broken or blocked, and the residual Spiritual Power was almost negligible.

In the four corners of the hall, Li Yuan found many scattered, broken Magical Artifacts.

Flying swords, dharma discs, protective Jade Pendants, Spirit Light Mirrors—the variety was complex, and the quality was inconsistent. The vast majority had already lost their Spiritual Mechanism, reduced to scrap metal and stone, but their base materials still held value. After being dismantled, they could be used as materials for Arrays.

He crouched down, inspecting the broken Magical Artifacts one by one. Confirming they triggered no response, he swept them all into his storage bag.

After clearing away the Magical Artifact debris, Li Yuan’s gaze fell upon the stone wall on the west side of the hall.

That stone wall was different from the other three.

The other three walls were carved with auxiliary Array Patterns, their function clear and structure orderly. But the markings on the western stone wall were clearly not Array Patterns. They formed a picture.

Li Yuan walked closer.

The picture was enormous, covering almost the entire stone wall. But the erosion of time had blurred most of the lines, leaving only the deepest-carved main lines and a few key notations still recognizable.

Li Yuan swept his Divine Sense slowly across the stone wall’s surface, recording every remaining line and symbol.

As the information pieced itself together in his mind, he recognized the nature of the drawing.

It was a partial diagram of a large, inter-regional spatial teleportation network.

Several teleportation nodes were marked on the map with thick lines, each with tiny written annotations carved next to it. Although most of the notes were illegible, the text beside four of the nodes was preserved with enough clarity.

Liangzhou. Yunzhou. Mozhou. Jingzhou.

The teleportation nodes of the four provinces were connected by thick lines, forming the skeleton of a vast teleportation network. Each province also had several branch nodes, extending from the main trunks like tree branches.

Li Yuan’s gaze lingered for a moment on the branch nodes in Mozhou.

The marked location of one of the nodes was a near-perfect match for the coordinates of the ancient Teleportation Array he had previously repaired in Mozhou.

This map recorded the Teleportation Array network established by the Profound Nether Sect back in its day.

Li Yuan’s eyes continued to scan downward.

Within the markings for the Liangzhou region, one node caught his attention.

That node wasn’t labeled with a specific place name, only marked with a special symbol. Next to it, two words were carved: Deeper Level.

The node’s location was described very briefly, but extrapolating from the relative coordinates, it was located not far from his market.

A hidden teleportation node that no one had discovered.

Li Yuan firmly committed the node’s location to memory.

At the very bottom of the stone wall, several more lines of tiny text were carved. Most of it had flaked off, leaving only two legible sentences.

"An Upper Array can activate a Lower Array, unrestricted by clearance."

"A Lower Array teleporting to an Upper Array requires verification, or it will be repelled."

A high-clearance Teleportation Array could teleport directly to a low-clearance one without permission, but not the other way around.

And judging by its special marker, the clearance level of that hidden node beneath the Ghost Mist Forest was likely extremely high.

Li Yuan stood before the stone wall for a long time, finishing his recording of all the discernible information.

He then took out a blank jade slip and painstakingly carved a complete rubbing of the partial map into it, stroke by stroke. He restored even the lines that were blurry but still left a trace, as best he could.

After finishing all this, Li Yuan took one last look around the great hall.

The mist Array in the center was still running with a low hum, its dim Jade Beads faintly shimmering. The dispersing mist seeped out from between the Array Patterns, as if the entire hall were breathing slowly.

He turned and walked toward the corridor.

Stopping at the corridor’s entrance, Li Yuan took out several Array Stones and an Array Flag from his storage bag. He then set up a new Concealment Array in the same spot where the Restriction had originally been.

The Array’s function wasn’t to seal, but to conceal.

Anyone approaching this corridor from the outside would only perceive a solid rock wall, unaware of the space behind it.

Once the array was in place, Li Yuan used the Earth Escape Technique to merge into the rock. He returned the way he came to the cliff face, then circled around the base of the cliff and back to the edge of the Ghost Mist Forest.

He kept the triple-layered concealment active the entire time.

「By the time he returned to the market, it was nearly dusk.」

Inside the stone house, with the door and windows sealed shut, Li Yuan took the spoils from his storage bag one by one, laying them out on the table to take inventory.

Three jade slips: Netherworld Lock Array, Void-Rending Slash, and a commentary on the foundational theories of Tier Three Arrays.

One rubbing of the teleportation network, inscribed on a separate jade slip.

A number of broken Magical Artifacts: seven flying swords, three dharma discs, over ten protective Jade Pendants, two Spirit Light Mirrors, and some unidentifiable miscellaneous parts.

Li Yuan sorted the broken Magical Artifacts and piled them in a corner of the table. Although their Spiritual Mechanism was gone, their base materials could be dismantled and used as supplementary materials for Arrays, saving him a procurement fee.

He picked up the jade slips for the Netherworld Lock Array and Void-Rending Slash, weighing them in his hand.

Two legacies, one for offense and one for trapping. Extremely practical.

Void-Rending Slash was a spatial Magic, to boot. The first piece of the puzzle for making his Teleportation Stone permanent was now in his possession.

But one puzzle piece was not enough. The condition for making the Teleportation Stone permanent was to master two spatial Magic techniques and bring them to Perfection.

Void-Rending Slash was the first.

He still needed a second.

Li Yuan thought of the Teleportation Skill on the chamber of commerce’s trade list, priced at eight hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones.

He sat in his chair for a moment, then stood up, left the stone house, and headed straight for the chamber of commerce’s temporary shop in the eastern district.

Xu Zhang was in the back of the shop sorting through accounts. When he saw Li Yuan approach, he quickly stood up to greet him.

"What can I help you with, Pavilion Master Li?"

"The Teleportation Skill," Li Yuan said, getting straight to the point. "The spatial Magic on your list priced at eight hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones. I want to buy it."

Xu Zhang’s expression changed slightly.

"Pavilion Master Li, that’s not a low price."

"I know."

Xu Zhang paused in thought for a moment, then retrieved a jade slip sealed with three layers of Spiritual Light from the depths of his storage bag and presented it with both hands.

"The Teleportation Skill. Short-range spatial displacement. After casting, you can perform a spatial jump of several to several dozen yards in an extremely short time. However, the consumption is immense, and there is a short cooldown period after each use."

Li Yuan took the jade slip, briefly swept the introductory overview of the Cultivation Technique with his Divine Sense, and confirmed it was correct.

"Eight hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones," Xu Zhang quoted the price.

Li Yuan turned his storage bag upside down.

The recent surplus from the Fire Evil Stone production, his daily savings of Spirit Stones, plus a portion of what he’d confiscated from Demon Cultivators, was barely enough to make the full amount.

Eight hundred Mid-grade Spirit Stones were stacked on the counter, forming a small mountain.

After Xu Zhang finished counting, he erased the ownership mark on the jade slip and officially handed it over.

"You’re very generous, Pavilion Master Li," Xu Zhang said with a smile. "This Magic is considered a rarity even in Jingzhou. It must be fate that you were able to acquire it."

Li Yuan didn’t say much, just put away the jade slip and turned to leave.

Back in the stone house, he placed the jade slip for the Teleportation Skill and the one for Void-Rending Slash side by side on the table.

Two spatial Magic techniques.

Void-Rending Slash, a spatial attack. Teleportation Skill, spatial movement.

Both puzzle pieces for the permanent Teleportation Stone were now collected.

But the condition didn’t just require mastering them; it required reaching Perfection. Bringing two spatial Magic techniques from introduction to Perfection would require a great deal of time and energy.

He then sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, closed his eyes, and began to organize his cultivation plan for the future.

’I’ll have to practice Void-Rending Slash and the Teleportation Skill in parallel. I need to find time to test the Netherworld Lock Array. I have to read through the commentary on Tier Three Array theory as soon as possible. I need to scout the location of the hidden teleportation node in person. And I still haven’t gathered all the materials for my Lifebound Spiritual Artifact.’