170: Chapter 170 Deciphering the Fragmented Map: Reusing an Old Formation (3)

The wind rose on the Pier. The sea breeze blew from east to west, pulling the row of signal flags along the walkway toward the west.

The Old Formation Master stepped off the boat. As he disembarked, he leaned on his array ruler against the wooden planks of the Pier, tapping it against the wood with every step he took.

He stopped at the third step and looked up at the outer wall of the black fortress behind the Pier.

The city wall was embedded with dense Array Patterns that extended from the base of the wall to the top, the edges of each pattern reflecting a faint metallic luster in the sunlight.

"The defensive Formation of your fortress—" He lifted his array ruler from the Pier and traced an arc in the air with its tip, pointing at the Array Patterns on the city wall.

"The spiritual power supply for the Formation base is skewed. The spiritual power output of the third segment of the left wing's array pulse is nearly twenty percent lower than the corresponding segment on the right wing—the array pulse branched off when it passed through the old drainage ditch beneath the inner city."

He tucked the array ruler into his sleeve. "But that is none of my business—I am here to inspect the Formation bases on the periphery of the Dragon Burial Trench."

That evening, Lu Changyuan locked the Spirit Stone box into his Storage Pouch in his temporary quarters in the side chamber of the Central Army's main tent.

The public treasury's account had bounced back from less than two thousand Spirit Stones after the conscription order to nearly fourteen thousand now.

Coupled with the military's long-term monthly payments and the civilian prepayments from Jubao Pavilion, Blue Moon Island's account now had enough turnover for nearly four months.

He tightened the opening of the Storage Pouch and then took out the fragmented map that had been folded by the Old Formation Master from his sleeve.

The fragmented map was folded into three, making it only half the size of his palm.

He unfolded the map, and the edges of the animal skin curled up.

He pressed his finger against one of the corners, right on the tiny circle that the Old Formation Master had drawn with the tip of his array ruler outside the red circle.

The trace of the small circle was almost invisible on the animal skin; it could only be seen as a very faint scratch by looking at it at an angle under the moonlight.

When the Old Formation Master drew this circle, he had not applied force with the broken end of his array ruler; he had merely grazed the surface of the animal skin.

The graze mark extended less than half a finger's width from the outer edge of the red circle, pointing toward Blue Moon Island.

He folded the fragmented map back up and picked up another nautical chart from the table.

The nautical chart was a detailed map of Blue Moon Island and the surrounding waters, drawn by Su Qingli, marking the island's earth vein orientation and the distribution of the island's defensive Formation bases.

He placed the fragmented map next to the nautical chart, side by side.

The orientation of the ancient array pulses on the fragmented map and the orientation of the earth veins of Blue Moon Island on the nautical chart—the segment extending from the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench toward the shallow waters on the west side—were aligned.

He studied them for about three breaths, then put both maps away.

There was a knock at the cabin door—the rhythm was that of Commander Cai.

Lu Changyuan opened the door. Commander Cai stood outside, holding a pipe. There was no fire in the bowl, but he still held it in his mouth.

"That Old Formation Master—" Commander Cai took the pipe from his mouth. "He has been squatting on the Pier for half an hour. He's squatting by the boardwalk, using that broken ruler of his to measure the distance between the wooden piles of the Pier."

"Let him measure."

"He also asked when you are returning to Blue Moon Island. He said he would like to hitch a ride—the old Formation bases he is inspecting are on the periphery of the Dragon Burial Trench, and Blue Moon Island happens to be on the route."

Lu Changyuan glanced toward the Pier outside the porthole. Under the moonlight, a thin, small figure was squatting by the boardwalk.

Beside the figure sat a very dim oil lamp—its light could only illuminate an area of less than three feet around his feet.

He squatted there with his array ruler across his knees, his right hand feeling the grain of the wooden piles of the boardwalk.

"We set sail tomorrow morning." Lu Changyuan closed the cabin door and picked up paper and pen from the table.

He wrote a brief message to Commander Tie Zhan, informing him that he would first return to Blue Moon Island to handle the renovation of the Formation bases and would return to the fortress in about three or four days.

At the end of the message, he added: The Old Formation Master has been stranded at Broken Star Reef for a month—I am bringing him along to Blue Moon Island to check the Formation bases.

He sent the message and then put away the nautical chart.

Outside the porthole, the Old Formation Master stood up from the boardwalk. His knees paused briefly as he stood—his knees had stiffened from squatting for too long.

He picked up the oil lamp. The light shone on his face, making the red bloodshot lines on his face appear slightly faded under the glow.

He carried the oil lamp toward the ship, leaning on his array ruler against the wooden planks of the Pier with every step, tapping it once each time.

The tapping sound could not travel far in the night breeze of the Pier—it was blown away by the sea breeze by the third tap.

It was early morning when the fleet sailed into the Outer Port of Blue Moon Island.

The morning light spread from east to west, washing over the Ring Reef. The Geng Metal Sword Intent Killing Array patterns embedded in the reef shimmered with a faint, dark golden luster in the morning light.

The Array Patterns extended from the base of the reef to its top, the edges of every pattern cut extremely sharp, as if they had been carved directly into the rock with a sword tip.

The seawater on the outer side of the reef was receding. After the tide went out, the lowest circle of the Array Patterns was revealed, their surfaces covered with a layer of barnacle shells diluted by the seawater.

The Old Formation Master stood at the bow of the ship. He had not spoken a word since the moment the fleet turned into the waterway surrounding the Ring Reef.

His eyes were fixed on the Array Patterns on the reef, scanning from the far left of the reef to the far right.

The scan was not fast—he paused for a moment at the turns of the Array Patterns.

Then he pulled the array ruler from his sleeve and traced an arc in the air with the broken end, aiming at the Array Patterns on the reef.

The traced arc moved from the base of the reef to the top, its path completely overlapping with the actual orientation of the Array Patterns.

The ship docked. Lu Changyuan jumped down from the deck—the height from the deck to the Pier was about three feet.

Su Qingli stood at the end of the Pier, wearing the Black Tortoise True Ring Armor, the armor plates shimmering with a faint, dark golden luster in the morning light.

The armor plates were the ones bestowed by Commander Tie Zhan—the size of a fingernail, connected by dark golden threads, with micro-Array Patterns engraved on the surface.

She wore a grey-blue work robe over it, with stains of a mixture of array ink and spiritual sand on the cuffs.

Standing behind her was Leng Feng, with the Blue Moon Grand Commander's seal tied to his waist, the dark blue sea-pattern stone reflecting light in the morning sun.

The Old Formation Master stepped off the boat. As he disembarked, he leaned on his array ruler against the wooden planks of the Pier—tapping it once.

After the tap, he stopped. He did not look at Su Qingli, nor did he look at Leng Feng. He was looking at the circle of Geng Metal Sword Intent Killing Array patterns embedded in the reef of the Outer Port.

He studied them for about five breaths, then turned to look at Lu Changyuan.

"Who laid this Killing Array?"

"The Array Patterns were drawn by Su Qingli—" Lu Changyuan tilted his chin half an inch toward Su Qingli. "The Sword Intent was left by a Golden Core Sword Immortal from the Heavenly Star Sect. The two things are layered together."