39: Chapter 39 Studying Array Formations, Refining Array Foundations, Ancient Teleportation Appears

Foundation Establishment is not a task that can be accomplished overnight.

Ye Qing knew deeply that to build an unparalleled Dao Foundation, he needed to adjust his state to the absolute Peak, and even more importantly, he had to fulfill every condition required for Foundation Establishment one by one.

Among these, the Formation aspect was the most critical.

Foundation Establishment is an act of defying the heavens; drawing upon Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi will inevitably cause anomalies.

Without a Formation to conceal it, going into secluded cultivation in the perilous Black Water Swamp would be no different than lighting a fire in the dead of night—seeking one's own death.

His knowledge of Formation Dao was currently limited to the theoretical level, having only caught a glimpse of the path through "Overview of Formation Principles" and the Formation diagram of the "Triangle Rock Formation" in the Library Pavilion.

He knew that it worked but not why it worked, let alone how to set one up himself.

"I need to find a complete Formation Legacy for concealment and defense suitable for the Foundation Establishment Stage, or at least a top-tier composite Formation for the Qi Refining Stage that I can deduce and optimize to make usable."

Ye Qing set his goal, and his subsequent actions now had a focus.

He changed his appearance again, disguising himself as a down-and-out itinerant merchant traveling around to collect miscellaneous goods.

He controlled his aura to Qi Refining Level 4, and hung several bulging bundles—which were actually filled with gravel and weeds—at his waist, blending into Blackwater Market.

He did not go to Baicao Pavilion again, but instead wandered through the more chaotic and peripheral areas of the market, specifically looking for stalls selling ancient books, Incomplete Manuals, and Jade Slips of unknown origin, keeping an eye out for anything related to Formations.

At the same time, he kept his ears pricked, collecting snippets of information regarding "Formations," "Formation Master," "Relic Restrictions," and even "ancient teleportation array."

After several days, his harvest was meager.

Formation Legacies were precious, and even in a chaotic place like the Black Water Swamp, they rarely appeared.

The few Formation books he occasionally saw were either outrageously shallow or so tattered that they were reduced to mere fragments, holding no value.

However, at a stall selling "ancient relics," he managed to pick up a palm-sized, broken turtle shell for the low price of a few Spirit Stones.

It was neither metal nor jade, felt cool to the touch, and was covered in charred burn marks.

On the turtle shell, a few incomplete runes were carved in extremely ancient Seal script, along with a short, blurred diagram of spiritual power circulation routes.

Ye Qing had not held out much hope, but when his fingertips brushed over the charred burn marks on the turtle shell, a faint sensation carrying the meaning of "Seal" and "Protection" actually came from the space within his body.

"This turtle shell... does it seem to have once been the core Formation Base for some defensive or sealing Formation?

After enduring lightning, fire, or the erosion of time, its spirituality is greatly damaged, but the material is special, and it retains a trace of the true intent of the Formation Dao."

His heart stirred, and he bought the turtle shell.

Even if he couldn't repair it, its material and the residual Formation intent might be absorbed by the space, enhancing his understanding of "Seal" and "Protection" type Formations.

One day, he was rummaging through an old book stall belonging to an old Cultivator in a corner of the market.

The stall owner was a drowsy old man with white hair, whose cultivation was only at the Qi Refining Third Layer.

Most of the items on the stall were miscellaneous books on common folktales and geography, and the occasional low-grade Cultivation Technique or Spell formula was also crude and unbearable.

Ye Qing was about to leave, but his gaze swept to the bottom layer of the stall, which was weighed down by several thick volumes with severely worn covers and curled corners.

He casually pulled one out, brushed off the dust, and saw "miscellaneous notes on earth vein geomancy (Hand-copied Edition)" written on the cover in faded ink.

Opening it, he found it was not a Cultivation Technique, but rather the observational records of a Cultivator who called himself "Wandering Rogue," who had traveled across the Southern Wilderness, noting the trends of mountains and earth veins, nodes where Spiritual Qi gathered, and certain naturally formed terrains that were suspected to be related to Formations.

The language was colloquial, and the illustrations were crude, but the records were quite detailed, especially the descriptions of some special earth vein nodes, which faintly hinted at the principles of Formations.

Ye Qing's heart stirred, and he quickly flipped through the other volumes.

"Examination of Ancient Architectural Ruins in the Southern Wilderness," "A Brief Analysis of Common Elementary Runes and Earth Qi Connections," "On the Similarities and Differences Between Natural Formations and Artificial Formations"...

They were all similar handwritten notes.

The authors seemed to be the same person, or perhaps fellow Loose Cultivators interested in Formations and earth veins.

The content was not systematic, jumping from one topic to another, but it contained many profound insights.

In particular, the idea of combining Formations with heaven, earth, and nature, as well as earth vein Spiritual Qi, gave Ye Qing a lot of inspiration.

"The value of these notes lies not in specific Formation Legacies, but in providing another way to understand, learn, and even set up Formations according to local conditions.

For a Loose Cultivator like me who lacks a master and needs to explore on my own, this is exactly what I need."

He kept his composure and picked up these thick volumes along with the "miscellaneous notes on earth vein geomancy."

"Old man, how much for these travelogues and miscellanea?"

The white-haired old man raised his eyelids, glanced at them, and said lazily, "One Low-Grade Spirit Stone, take them all.

They take up space."

Ye Qing paid the Spirit Stone readily and tucked the books into the old bundle in his arms.

After leaving the book stall, he replenished some Materials for drawing Talismans in the market, as well as a large number of blank Jade Slips—he prepared to record the growth data of the spiritual plants in his space, his insights from deducing Spells, and even the valuable parts of these newly acquired miscellaneous notes, classifying them for future reference and deduction.

After the purchase was complete, Ye Qing did not linger, quickly leaving Blackwater Market and returning to a new secret stronghold in the deep mountains.

For the next period, he slowed down his monster-hunting activities and devoted most of his energy to the study, deduction, and preliminary practice of Formation knowledge.

During the day, he studied those miscellaneous notes and handbooks, combined with the Formation principles he had learned in the Library Pavilion and the residual Formation intent on that broken turtle shell, constructing and deducing the structure, spiritual power node layout, and rune connection methods of various Elementary Formations in his mind.

He paid special attention to "concealment" and "defense" type Formations, repeatedly pondering how to use the environment and earth vein Spiritual Qi to set up the most effective Formations with the least cost.

At night, he used his Divine Sense as a pen and spiritual power as ink to try to outline and combine the deduced Elementary Formation units in the Void Realm in front of him.

At first, it was just a simple combination of single Formation patterns like "Spirit Gathering," "Solidifying," and "Confusion," which had a very high failure rate and consumed a great deal of mental energy.

However, with the bonus of his Comprehension Ability from the space, the nourishment of his Divine Soul by the moonlight jade tree, and the "moonlight heart-clearing powder" to restore his Divine Sense, his progress speed was far beyond that of ordinary people.

Gradually, he was able to set up the simplest "Confusion Formation" within a few feet around him, which could last for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and could slightly interfere with the sense of direction of intruders.

Or he could set up a small "Spirit Solidifying Formation" to slightly increase the concentration and stability of Spiritual Qi in a local area.

One day, having a sudden inspiration, he took out the dark yellow incomplete map containing information about the "ancient teleportation array" and took out the newly acquired "Examination of Ancient Architectural Ruins in the Southern Wilderness" to study them in comparison.

The twisted runes on the incomplete map found some similarities in a crude illustration of "ancient astrological teleportation runes" on a page of the handbook.

And the basin terrain surrounded by mountains also faintly matched a certain landscape on the outskirts of "Dragonfall Abyss" described in the handbook.

"It seems that the 'ancient teleportation array' pointed to by the incomplete map is very likely located on the outskirts of Dragonfall Abyss and is related to the ancient 'Xingluo Sect.'

The Xingluo Sect is famous for its Formations and astrology; perhaps its teleportation array ruins will allow me to come into contact with more profound Formation knowledge, or even obtain a complete ancient Formation Legacy?"

Ye Qing thought to himself.

This was undoubtedly a long-term and dangerous goal, but it was worth paying attention to.

He carefully recorded the information from the incomplete map and the relevant records from the handbook into a blank Jade Slip and kept it properly.

Next, he took out some low-grade Materials obtained from hunting monsters that had been left behind after being purified by the space, such as the teeth of an Iron-Backed Wolf, the feathers of a Wind-Splitting Falcon, the scale fragments of a Wind-Gale Rhinoceros, and some low-grade Ores containing Five Elements attributes.

He wanted to try to refine a few of the most Elementary "Formation Bases" using these physical Materials as a foundation, combined with the Formation concepts he had deduced.

The so-called Formation Base is the physical carrier that bears Formation runes, communicates with the earth vein Spiritual Qi, and stabilizes the Formation structure.

It can be a Formation Flag, a Formation Plate, a stone tablet, or Ores and spiritual objects with specific attributes.

Ye Qing had no experience in refining Formation Flags or Formation Plates, so he started with the simplest things.

He chose a particularly hard Iron-Backed Wolf fang that contained metal Qi after purification, and used his Divine Sense as a carving knife and spiritual power as flame to try to carve a simplified version of the "Solidifying" Formation pattern on its surface.

The process was arduous; the material of the fang was hard, carving with Divine Sense was extremely strenuous, and the injection of spiritual power needed to be even and stable.

A slight carelessness would lead to failure and even damage the material.

After failing seven or eight times in a row and wasting several good wolf fangs, Ye Qing finally managed to carve a complete and stable "Solidifying" Formation pattern on a fang.

When the last stroke fell, the Formation pattern flashed with a faint light and began to operate by absorbing the thin Spiritual Qi around it; this fang seemed to become a bit heavier, emitting a stable aura.

"Success! The most rudimentary single 'Solidifying Formation Base'!"

Ye Qing's face showed joy.

Although it was only the most Elementary Formation Base, its significance was extraordinary.

This meant he had truly stepped over the threshold of practicing Formation Dao.

He pressed on, using the feathers of the Wind-Splitting Falcon to try to carve "Lightness" and "Swift Wind" Formation patterns, and using the scale fragments of the Wind-Gale Rhinoceros combined with earth-attribute Ores to try to carve "Thick Earth" and "Protection" Formation patterns.

The success rate was still not high, but every success deepened his understanding of material properties, Formation pattern structures, and spiritual power coordination.

When nearly half of the low-grade Materials on hand were consumed, he obtained three "Solidifying Formation Bases," two "Lightness Formation Bases," and one "Thick Earth Formation Base."

Although they were crude and had a single function, they were indeed usable Formation Bases.

"Based on these Formation Bases, combined with my understanding of earth vein Spiritual Qi and practice of setting up Formations in the Void Realm, I might be able to try to set up a simple, composite 'Yinling Protective Formation.'

The range doesn't need to be too large; it just needs to cover my place of secluded cultivation."

Ye Qing had a direction in his heart.

The Formation conditions required for Foundation Establishment were being built by him, bit by bit, with his own hands.

Growing steadily, without seeking help from outside.

Everything needed could be self-researched, self-created, and self-sufficient.

Inside his body, the sixty-five-zhang space had moonlight like silk, subtle wind swirls, lush spiritual plants, and flowing vitality, continuously providing nourishment.

His cultivation at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer was steadily advancing toward the Late Stage.

The path of Foundation Establishment for the Loose Cultivator Ye Qing was slowly being paved through solid knowledge accumulation and practice.