177: Chapter 177 A Silent End, The Array Master's Farewell (2)

The Old Formation Master walked back from the Outer Port reef wall to the Formation Affairs Room. When he entered, he leaned his formation ruler against the stone floor—tapping it with every step.

He stopped when he reached the Receiving Formation. He watched the fluctuation on the Receiving Formation Plate that cycled once every forty breaths—he watched for about ten breaths.

Then, he switched the formation ruler from his right hand to his left—using his right hand to gauge the amplitude of the fluctuation above the Receiving Formation. His movements were slow—his fingers moved from the crest to the trough, a distance of less than two inches.

"Two thousand zhang—" He lowered his hand. He rubbed his fingers against his sleeve—wiping off the Spirit Stone dust clinging to his fingertips. "This depth is not a sea beast. The spiritual power fluctuation of a sea beast would not have such a stable frequency—the heartbeat of a sea beast changes with seawater temperature and water pressure. This frequency is as steady as a bell."

Su Qingli adjusted the sensitivity of the Receiving Formation up by half a notch. The signal became clearer—the pattern displayed on the Formation Plate changed from one circle to one and a half.

Besides the stable frequency—the amplitude of the fluctuation was also slowly increasing. It was not a jumpy, erratic change—but rather, the amplitude increased by a minute amount every ten cycles. The increase was so small it was almost impossible to measure—but the experience Su Qingli had accumulated in the temporary live lines on Xuangui Island allowed her to notice this change.

"It is accelerating." She made a rubbing of the waveform on the Formation Plate—and pressed it onto the stone table next to the boundary suppression stele.

The Old Formation Master watched the fluctuation for a final three breaths. Then, he tucked the formation ruler into his sleeve—and turned to walk out.

"Where are you going?" Lu Changyuan stood at the doorway of the Formation Affairs Room. He had rushed back from the fortress half an hour ago—and had come directly to the Formation Affairs Room after locking the wooden box of the Old Seal Bid Case into a hidden compartment in the Lords Mansion.

"I'm leaving." The Old Formation Master stopped at the doorway—without looking back. His hand rested on the handle of the formation ruler—the old leather cord on the handle had been polished smooth by his palm. "The inspection mission for the Ministry of War is not yet finished—there are still three old formation bases on the periphery of the Dragon Burial Trench that haven't been checked."

He walked out of the Formation Affairs Room—crossing the Outer Port trestle bridge, and walked to the edge of the Pier. Moored at the Pier was his own small sampan that he had brought from Broken Star Reef—the bottom of the sampan was worn with a layer of extremely fine scratches from the magnetic sand of Broken Star Reef. He pushed the sampan into the water—as he pushed, he leaned on the trestle bridge planks with his formation ruler to support the weight of his body.

Lu Changyuan followed him to the Pier. The morning mist on the sea surface had already dispersed from the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench—the induction formation pieces at the easternmost end of the outer side of the Ring Reef were completely invisible in the morning light. Only the faint, lingering glow of Array Patterns occasionally flashing on the reef wall were traces of signals being exchanged between the induction formation pieces and the boundary suppression stele.

The Old Formation Master stood on the sampan—and plunged the oar into the water. Before plunging it in, he patted the gunwale of the sampan with his hand—the pat was very light, as if he were patting an old object that had accompanied him for a long time. Then, he looked up at Lu Changyuan.

"Beneath that red circle—" He sank the oar half a foot into the water. As the blade sliced through the water surface, it made a very low sound of wet wood cutting into seawater. "Three years ago, when I inspected the formation bases, I felt something was wrong. The old formation bases on the periphery of the Dragon Burial Trench—the supply of spiritual power had been cut off for the most part, but the residual channels of the ancient formation veins underground were still leaking spiritual power. Three years ago, the leaked spiritual power was scattered—a little here, a little there, with no fixed frequency. Now—" He pointed his oar toward the Dragon Burial Trench. Seawater on the blade dripped down along the oar shaft—dripping into the cabin of the sampan. "The signal received by your induction formation—once every forty breaths, the frequency is stable. This is not a natural leak. Someone is activating it from that end."

He plunged the oar into the water—and the sampan left the shore. After the sampan sailed outside the periphery of the Ring Reef, the Old Formation Master did not look back again. His escape light was not from a flying sword—it was a standard Ministry of War propulsion formation attached to the bottom of the sampan, with the Array Patterns emitting a very faint, greyish-white light at the bottom of the boat. The sampan headed southeast—that was the direction of the periphery of the Dragon Burial Trench. The escape light disappeared into the sea mist outside the Ring Reef—the last bit of greyish-white was swallowed by the mist and then became completely invisible.

Su Qingli stood at the doorway of the Formation Affairs Room—holding the rubbing record of the Receiving Formation in her hand. The forty-breath cycle fluctuation on the record was still continuing—after the Old Formation Master left, the amplitude of the fluctuation increased by another minute amount.

She turned the rubbing record over to the back—the back showed the complete waveform diagram of the Receiving Formation Plate. On the waveform diagram, besides that forty-breath main fluctuation—in the gaps between the crests and troughs of the main fluctuation, there were at least two extremely weak secondary fluctuations. The amplitude of the secondary fluctuations was less than one-tenth of the main fluctuation—but the frequency was of the same origin as the main fluctuation. Same origin meant they came from the same direction but not the same point.

She called Gu He over.

Gu He walked over from the direction of the shed in the reef area—as he walked, a black iron medicine gourd hung at his waist, swaying gently with his movements. When he reached the doorway of the Formation Affairs Room, he stopped—and took a look at the rubbing record in Su Qingli's hand.

"Have your Spirit Mouse—" Su Qingli turned the rubbing record to the front—pointing at the forty-breath cycle main fluctuation pattern. "Smell this."

Gu He took the Spirit-Seeking Mouse out of his sleeve.

Gu He took the Spirit-Seeking Mouse out of his sleeve. The Spirit Mouse curled into a ball in his palm—its nose sniffing toward the direction of the Dragon Burial Trench. The sniffing action was different from usual—usually, when the Spirit Mouse smelled things, its nose would probe forward, and the tip of its nose would draw small circles in the air. Now, its nose was pointing straight toward the Dragon Burial Trench—motionless, with the fine hairs on the tip of its nose all standing straight forward.

Gu He placed the Spirit Mouse next to the Receiving Formation Plate. The forty-breath cycle main fluctuation on the Formation Plate was spreading outward from the center of the Plate—the waveform was clearest when it spread to the third Array Pattern. The moment the Spirit Mouse's nose touched the surface of the Formation Plate—the entire mouse's fur bristled. The grey fur on its back instantly stood up from being pressed tight against its skin—the raised fur stood up hair by hair, the tips reflecting a very faint silver-grey layer under the light in the Formation Affairs Room. It bounced off the Formation Plate—the force of the bounce was so great that it sprang out of Gu He's palm. It flipped in the air—its four legs kicking wildly, its tail whipped straight—and then it fell to the ground. It landed in the corner of the stone wall of the Formation Affairs Room—it lay on its side on the ground, kicking its four legs in the same direction twice before turning over.

Then it began to bite Gu He's fingers.

Gu He squatted down—and reached his hand out in front of it. The Spirit Mouse bit down on his right index finger—the force of the bite was greater than ever before. Its upper and lower incisors embedded into the flesh of Gu He's fingertip—the depth of the bite was nearly double what it was during routine medicine testing. Blood was drawn from the fingertip—beads of blood seeped out from between the teeth, flowing down along the joint lines of Gu He's finger. Gu He did not shake it off. He used his left hand to press down on the Spirit Mouse's back—covering its entire body with his palm. The Spirit Mouse's spine vibrated in his palm.