Chapter 519 - 489: Minor Achievement in Tier 3 Array Dao

Chapter 519: Chapter 489: Minor Achievement in Tier 3 Array Dao

Life at Skeleton Ridge was quieter than Li Yuan had anticipated.

The various Golden Core Cultivators maintained a tacit understanding, only probing each other’s auras from time to time.

But these were only probes; no one was willing to be the first to break the stalemate. The daily affairs of the outpost were handled by the Foundation Establishment disciples, leaving Li Yuan’s schedule to consist of nothing but cultivating, patrolling, and more cultivating.

With so much free time on his hands, Li Yuan began to wonder how he could best use it.

’The Array Dao is the most worthwhile skill to focus on right now.’ His proficiency in the Array Dao was at Tier Three, but it was still a ways off from reaching Minor Achievement. The thirty-percent proficiency boost from the Array Rhythm trait in his equipment slot was always active, but without practical research and array-laying exercises, relying solely on the passive bonus made progress far too slow.

Li Yuan took out his Primordial Yang Sect Token and used Contribution Points to redeem several array codices.

By that afternoon, the jade slips were in his hands.

Li Yuan inspected them one by one.

There were five jade slips, each a codex expounding on a different aspect of the Array Dao.

As he picked up the third jade slip, his three-foot-range perception triggered.

A green light.

[Equippable Item Detected: Array Codex (Complete)]

[Trait Preview: Glimmer of Array Principles (Green)]

[Effect: Increases the speed of understanding the foundational principles of arrays by fifty percent. Makes it easier to gain insight into the hidden connections between Array Patterns.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Study the Array Dao for thirty consecutive days.]

’A green trait. The effect is a perfect match for what I need right now.’

He temporarily unequipped "Comprehensive Understanding of Artifacts" from his equipment slot and replaced it with the array codex.

[Equipped: Array Codex (Complete)]

[Glimmer of Array Principles (Green) Is Now in Effect]

The moment the green light flowed into his equipment slot, Li Yuan once again opened the jade slip in his hand.

The change was immediate.

The logic behind the Array Patterns in the jade slip, which had previously required painstaking deliberation to comprehend, now seemed much more transparent. It wasn’t that he could understand everything at a glance. Instead, as he read, subtle insights would spontaneously surface, and what was once a blurry outline suddenly sharpened into focus.

With the intuitive judgment of the Array Rhythm trait stacked on top of the increased comprehension speed from Glimmer of Array Principles, his efficiency in studying the array codices was on a whole other level.

Li Yuan read through all five jade slips, then went to an open area on the outpost’s perimeter to begin practicing array-laying.

On his fourth day of standing guard at the outpost.

A Late-stage Foundation Establishment disciple from the Primordial Yang Sect delivered a communication jade slip from Zhou Mingyuan.

Li Yuan took the jade slip and infused it with his Spiritual Power.

Zhou Mingyuan’s voice emerged from the jade slip. "Li Dao You, I hear you’ve been studying arrays lately?"

Li Yuan sent back an affirmative reply, and another message came through the slip.

"I have heard of your accomplishments in arrays before, Li Dao You. Now that you’re at the Golden Core realm, are you able to set up a Tier Three Array?"

Li Yuan replied simply: "I can."

That afternoon, Zhou Mingyuan came to Skeleton Ridge in person.

Inside the outpost’s stone house, Zhou Mingyuan sat across the stone table, his expression several shades graver than when they had last met.

"The situation at Skeleton Ridge is more of a stalemate than I anticipated," Zhou Mingyuan said, getting straight to the point.

Li Yuan said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"Originally, I just wanted to ask you to hold down the fort here, Li Dao You. But since your mastery of the Array Dao is sufficient to deploy a Tier Three Array, I’d like to propose a new arrangement."

Zhou Mingyuan took a scroll of blueprints from his storage bag and spread it out on the stone table.

The blueprint showed the overall structure of an array formation. It consisted of three nested layers: the outer layer was an Investigation Array, the middle an Early Warning Array, and the inner a protective array. All three shared a single Spiritual Power circuit, allowing them to work in tandem, linked together by the core of the formation.

"A Tier Three Middle Grade composite investigation and defense array," Zhou Mingyuan said, pointing at the blueprint. "Once this array is laid, any fluctuations in Spiritual Power within a several-mile radius of Skeleton Ridge will be captured and relayed in real time to the array’s controller. Simultaneously, the inner protective array can activate automatically when under attack, providing the cultivators inside the outpost with a defensive buffer of at least fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes is enough time for me to get to Skeleton Ridge from the Sect," Zhou Mingyuan said, looking up at Li Yuan. "The Sect will provide all the blueprints and materials for the array. I’ll also send three Foundation Establishment Array Masters to assist you. Li Dao You will be in command."

"Once the array is complete, your stationing mission here will be considered finished."

Li Yuan looked at the array’s structure on the blueprint, his mind already made up.

’Besides, the act of laying an array is the most direct way to improve one’s mastery of the Array Dao.’

"Agreed."

Zhou Mingyuan breathed a sigh of relief. That very day, he arranged for the array materials and the three Foundation Establishment Array Masters to be sent to Skeleton Ridge.

The array materials filled an entire stone house. There were Array Flags, Array Discs, Array Hub Stones, Spiritual Power conducting wires, and Spirit Stones of various attributes. All were in ample supply, with grades ranging mostly from Tier Two High Grade to Tier Three Low Grade.

The three Foundation Establishment Array Masters were all Inner Sect Disciples of the Primordial Yang Sect. They had solid fundamentals, but their understanding of Tier Three Arrays was still quite limited.

Li Yuan spread the blueprint on the ground and explained the overall structure and the flow of the Spiritual Power circuits for each layer to the three Foundation Establishment Array Masters.

The three Foundation Establishment Array Masters nodded in understanding, then each took their assigned task and set to work.

The work of laying the array began in the open ground on the outpost’s perimeter.

Li Yuan personally surveyed the flow of the Earth Veins and the distribution of Spiritual Qi around Skeleton Ridge, making several adjustments to the array structure from the blueprint to account for the actual terrain. The blueprint’s design was an idealized version for flat ground; the real terrain’s undulations and the Earth Veins’ deviations all required correction during the array-laying process.

Li Yuan completed all of these adjustments by himself.

The intuitive judgment granted by his Array Rhythm trait played an immense role in this process. Whenever he inserted an Array Flag into a new node, the direction of the Spiritual Power connection between it and the surrounding nodes would automatically manifest in his mind. There was no need for repeated calculations or verification; his intuition had already provided the optimal adjustment.

The effect of Glimmer of Array Principles was also constantly at work. With every new node he established and every Spiritual Power circuit he calibrated, Li Yuan’s understanding of the foundational principles of Tier Three Arrays deepened.

In the course of laying the array, the three Foundation Establishment Array Masters frequently ran into problems.

Each time, Li Yuan would get to the heart of the matter with just a few words of guidance.

At first, the three Foundation Establishment Array Masters were somewhat reserved. But after discovering that Li Yuan’s pointers could precisely solve their problems every single time, their attitude quickly shifted from mere respect to profound gratitude.

The process of guiding others was, in itself, a form of learning.

Articulating knowledge one had already mastered required transforming vague intuition into clear logic. This process of transformation, in turn, deepened Li Yuan’s own understanding of array principles.

As time went on, the array-laying work steadily progressed.

On the twentieth day of laying the array.

Li Yuan was calibrating the final few auxiliary nodes of the inner protective array.

His right hand rested on the Array Hub Stone as his Spiritual Power completed a full cycle through the Array Pattern circuit. Every node in the circuit, every conducting wire, every twist and turn, appeared with perfect clarity in his perception.

This sense of clarity was completely different from anything he had felt before.

It didn’t come from the intuition of the Array Rhythm trait, nor the comprehension bonus from Glimmer of Array Principles. This was a sense of profound clarity that seemed to emanate from his very bones. The Array Patterns were no longer mere lines carved into stone, but the natural pathways for the flow of Spiritual Power. The nodes were no longer artificially placed anchors, but the inevitable points where Spiritual Qi was meant to converge.

In that instant, the foundational logic of the array became one with Li Yuan’s own perception of Spiritual Power.

The system panel popped up.

[Tier Three Array Dao: Proficient → Minor Achievement]

Immediately followed by a second notification.

[Permanence Condition for Array Rhythm (Blue) Has Been Met]

[Condition: Reach Minor Achievement in the Tier Three Array Dao]

[Array Rhythm (Blue) Is Now a Permanent Trait]

A brilliant blue light erupted in his sea of consciousness.

A series of images flooded into his mind, all pertaining to laying arrays on Spirit Veins.

’The hidden information from making it permanent.’

As the images faded, Li Yuan opened his eyes.

What settled in his mind was not just the specific technique for connecting an Array Hub to a Spirit Vein, but a deeper understanding of the hierarchical relationship between the Array Hub, the Spirit Vein, and the Earth Vein. This new comprehension filled a gap in his Array Dao cultivation, elevating his design philosophy for arrays from a two-dimensional plane to a three-dimensional space.