239: Chapter 239 Spiritual Essence Fusion Array, Killing Array Advancement

Lu Changyuan placed the Spirit Marrow in front of Su Qingli—she had just finished recording a new piece of data on the Receiving Formation.

The Haiyuan Clan's main force was shifting eastward again—the degree of deviation was nearly half of what it was yesterday.

She set her charcoal pencil beside the monitoring log—looking down at the Spirit Marrow.

It was the size of a fist—translucent—the speed at which the blue-white light flickered was as slow as the breathing of a sleeping person.

"Fuse it into the core of the Killing Array." Lu Changyuan pushed the Spirit Marrow half an inch toward her. "It's your plan—you do it."

Su Qingli gently touched the surface of the Spirit Marrow with her fingertip.

The spot she touched was the tiny mark left by Mo Lao's silver needle earlier—the blue-white cold light on the cross-section of the mark was brighter than the surface.

She withdrew her fingertip—she had already mapped out the first draft of the plan in her mind.

"No grinding into powder. If the Spirit Marrow is ground into powder, the spiritual energy won't decrease—but the duration of the spiritual energy release will shrink from decades to less than a few months.

It would be equivalent to turning a strategic resource that could last for decades into a disposable consumable. That would be a waste of a heavenly treasure."

She picked up the Spirit Marrow—looking at it against the cold light stone lamp on the ceiling of the Formation Affairs Room.

After the light passed through the Spirit Marrow, it turned into a beam of extremely faint, diffused blue-white light—the light spot fell onto the workbench—illuminating the stacked, layered wiring on the old Formation blueprints that were piled on the table, which were invisible from the front.

"My plan—embed the Spirit Marrow in its entirety into the center of the three main Formation bases at the core of the Killing Array—replacing the core filler of the original Spirit Stone slot.

The Spirit Marrow won't directly touch the Formation paths—it will be at the very center of the main Formation base—every time the Formation path generates Sword Qi threads, it will absorb a tiny amount of spiritual energy from the surface of the Spirit Marrow.

A tiny amount—less than one ten-thousandth of the total Spirit Marrow.

But the spiritual energy density of the Spirit Marrow itself is over a thousand times that of a standard Spirit Stone—the tiny amount absorbed and converted into the Sword Qi threads—each Sword Qi thread will be nearly twenty percent thicker than before, and its toughness will increase by at least thirty percent."

"How long for the refining?"

"Two days. Within two days—no one can enter the Formation Affairs Room.

When the Formation paths are re-fusing, they are extremely sensitive to external spiritual energy fluctuations—if a second person walks around in the Formation Affairs Room, the Formation will mark them as a foreign object—and the Fusion will be interrupted.

The cost of starting over—all three main Formation bases will be scrapped."

"Leng Feng."

Leng Feng stepped in from the doorway—his sword was already drawn and held in his right hand. Su Qingli glanced at him—but said nothing.

"From now on—the Formation Affairs Room is closed. Leng Feng will guard outside the door for forty-eight hours.

Unless Su Qingli opens the door herself—anyone who approaches within twenty steps of the Formation Affairs Room—stop them.

If you can't stop them—use your sword. People from the Royal Capital Fleet, the Inspectorate, or even our own people from Blue Moon Island—it's all the same."

Lu Changyuan walked out of the Formation Affairs Room—stopped at the door—and tilted his head to look at Su Qingli. "As for Mo Lao—I will go talk to him."

Su Qingli closed the door of the Formation Affairs Room from the inside.

Once the door was closed—only the cold light stone lamp overhead and the dozen or so faint monitoring light spots on the Receiving Formation plate remained in the Formation Affairs Room.

She kicked the rattan stool into the corner—she didn't plan on sitting for these forty-eight hours.

Then she placed the Spirit Marrow in the very center of the workbench—and began dismantling the three main Formation bases at the core of the Killing Array.

Each main Formation base was about the size of a palm—made of standard, blue-black third-order Formation base material—the surface Array Patterns were densely packed into nearly twenty layers.

Between the layers, there was a filler layer less than half a rice grain thick—the filler was a mixture of old sand and seashell powder.

Old sand content—twenty percent. It was a standard military Formation formula.

The heat dissipation efficiency of old sand was nearly thirty percent higher than new sand—but the spiritual energy conductivity was nearly fifteen percent lower than new sand.

Twenty percent was the compromise value—sufficient for heat dissipation, and the conductivity loss was within an acceptable range.

The process of dismantling the Formation bases was extremely slow.

Su Qingli first removed the main Formation bases one by one from the Formation eye connection slots—after removing each one, she immediately sealed the Formation path interface with soft leather—to prevent the residual spiritual energy of the old Formation paths from leaking and affecting the Fusion of the new paths.

Dismantling the first one took nearly half an hour—by the time she reached the third one, her fingers were so sore she couldn't pinch the soft leather—she wrapped the soft leather around her fingertips and continued to seal it.

After all three main Formation bases were removed—they were lined up on the workbench. The next problem was the ratio of old sand.

The spiritual energy density of the Spirit Marrow itself was too high—when the Formation paths absorbed spiritual energy from the surface of the Spirit Marrow, a large amount of heat would be generated simultaneously.

If there was too little old sand—heat dissipation would be insufficient—the core temperature of the Killing Array would spike during continuous combat.

If there was too much old sand—the spiritual energy conductivity would drop too much—and the high-density advantage of the Spirit Marrow would be offset by the low conductivity of the old sand.

Su Qingli calculated repeatedly on the charcoal paper for nearly an hour.

In the end—she put down the pencil—and looked at the numbers on the paper.

The numbers said the optimal content of old sand should be between ten and fifteen percent.

But she wasn't sure if it was eleven percent or fifteen percent—the difference in heat dissipation between the two would only manifest after more than half an hour of continuous combat.

She didn't have enough data to make this judgment.

She stood up—pushed open the door of the Formation Affairs Room—and said to Leng Feng at the door: "I'm going to see Mo Lao. I'll be back soon."

Leng Feng nodded—inserted his sword back into the crack of the stone slab at the door—the blade vertical—the hilt facing upward.

Su Qingli rode a horse—and rode for nearly half an hour from Blue Moon Island to the logistics area of the fortress.

The evening twilight dyed the outer walls of the stone house at the foot of the mountain a very faint orange—the Array Patterns of the miniature warning Formation on the door of Mo Lao's stone house reflected a very faint spiritual light in the twilight.

She stood outside the door for less than five breaths—the door opened a crack.

After entering, she stated the problem—it took less than thirty breaths.

The twenty percent old sand content needed to be changed—after the Spirit Marrow replaced the Spirit Stone slot filler, the heat dissipation conditions had changed—the optimal value was between ten and fifteen percent—but she couldn't distinguish between them.

Mo Lao listened—but said nothing.

He stood up from the rattan chair—walked to the workbench—and used his finger to point at the old sand content next to the third Formation base on the Formation base filler ratio diagram Su Qingli had drawn—with a charcoal pencil, he erased the "half" in "fifteen percent"—and changed it to "ten percent."

Old sand content—changed from twenty percent—to ten percent.

Then he added a sentence next to this number. Ten percent old sand plus five percent Spirit Marrow debris—the debris was ground from the edges cut off.

After finishing writing, he put the charcoal pencil back on the workbench—returned to the rattan chair—and continued flipping through the ancient Formation rubbings in his hand.

From beginning to end, he only said two words: "Try it."

Su Qingli folded the modified ratio diagram—put it in her sleeve—and returned to the Formation Affairs Room.

On the way, she kept thinking about why Mo Lao had changed it to ten percent—she thought for nearly forty breaths—and realized it.

During the Formation path Fusion process, the Spirit Marrow would seep a tiny amount of Spirit Marrow debris into the filler layer of the Formation base.

These debris were themselves a better heat-conducting medium than old sand—because the spiritual energy flow of the Spirit Marrow carried its own cooling properties.

Therefore, it didn't need fifteen percent old sand to assist with heat dissipation—the Spirit Marrow itself was dissipating heat.

Ten percent old sand was enough—the saved five percent replaced with Spirit Marrow debris—both conductivity and heat dissipation were improved simultaneously.

Back in the Formation Affairs Room—the door closed again.

The first night.

Su Qingli pried open all the filler layers of the three main Formation bases on the workbench—the mixture of old sand and seashell powder was carefully scraped off.

When scraping, her wrists were suspended in mid-air—the depth of every stroke was consistent—she couldn't scrape the Formation paths.

After all the old filler was cleared away—the central grooves of the three Formation bases were revealed.

The shape of the groove was a very regular circle—about an inch in diameter—and less than half an inch deep.

It was originally filled with the core filler of the Spirit Stone slot—she dug out the old filler—and polished the bottom of the groove with extremely fine sandpaper until it was smooth—smooth enough to reflect the reflection of the cold light stone lamp.

Then she placed the Spirit Marrow beside the groove—and used a spiritual energy blade to cut off three small pieces from the edge of the Spirit Marrow.

Three small pieces—each about the size of a thumb fingernail—and the thickness was less than one-fifth of a rice grain.

She ground the cut-off edges and debris into extremely fine powder with a mortar—according to Mo Lao's ratio—and remixed it with the old sand and seashell powder.

Ten percent old sand—five percent Spirit Marrow debris—forty-five percent seashell powder—the rest was new sand.

The new filler ratio—both conductivity and heat dissipation rates were improved by nearly forty percent compared to the old plan.

The three small pieces of Spirit Marrow were embedded into the central grooves of the three main Formation bases.

After being embedded—the blue-white cold light of the Spirit Marrow permeated outward from the center of the Formation base along the Formation paths layer by layer.

The speed of permeation was extremely slow—each layer took nearly half an hour to permeate.

Twenty layers—it would take nearly ten hours to permeate completely.

Su Qingli watched the Formation bases—recording the permeation progress on paper with a charcoal pencil every half an hour.

First layer—the outer Formation paths turned from blue-black to a very faint blue-white.

Second layer—the blue-white pushed inward for nearly half an inch.

Third layer—the permeation speed suddenly slowed down—the Formation path density of the third layer was nearly twice as high as the first two layers—the resistance was greater when the Spirit Marrow's spiritual energy squeezed through the dense Formation paths.

Su Qingli marked a triangle next to the third layer—reminding herself to focus on testing the Sword Qi thread generation speed of this layer after refining.

The second night.

The Formation path permeation of the three main Formation bases was completed.

The blue-black surface of the Formation base—all twenty layers of Formation paths had turned into a very faint blue-white—the color was exactly the same as the cold light of the Spirit Marrow.

Su Qingli re-installed the three Formation bases back into the Killing Array eye connection slots—the installation process was in strict reverse order to the dismantling—installing the third one first, then the second, and finally the first.

After each one was installed—she tested the Sword Qi thread generation reaction corresponding to that Formation eye on the Receiving Formation separately.

The first one—the Sword Qi thread generation speed was nearly twenty percent faster than before.

The second one—the same as the first.

The third one—the color flashed a very faint blue-white when the Sword Qi threads were generated—and then stabilized.

The third one was the one where Mo Lao had changed the old sand content on the filler ratio diagram.

She had mixed the filler according to the ratio Mo Lao had changed, ten percent old sand plus five percent Spirit Marrow debris—the effect was better than the first two.

On the first two, the color of the Sword Qi threads transitioned from silver-gray to blue-white only after generation—on the third one, it was blue-white from the moment of generation.

Su Qingli recorded this point on the charcoal paper—the handwriting was very small—written next to the third Formation base number—and drew an upward arrow.

The third day at dawn—before the sky was bright.

The three main Formation bases were connected to the total Formation path of the Killing Array simultaneously.

Su Qingli stood in front of the Receiving Formation—her fingers hovered over the Formation button that would start the entire array—and she paused for about five breaths.

This was the most critical step.

The spiritual energy output frequency of the three new Formation bases had to be completely synchronized—even if one deviated by less than half a breath—the three Formation bases would interfere with each other—the resulting Formation path oscillation could crack at least thirty percent of the twenty layers of Formation paths within a stick of incense.

Su Qingli pressed the Formation button.

The three main Formation bases lit up simultaneously.

It wasn't lighting up layer by layer from the outer ring to the inner ring—it started from the position of the Spirit Marrow in the center—the blue-white cold light spread from the very center of the Formation base to the ends of every layer of the twenty-layer Formation paths simultaneously.

The spreading speed was nearly thirty percent faster than the old Formation bases—during the spreading process, the blue-white light on the Formation paths was completely synchronized—none were ahead or behind.

Three rings of light jumped outward from the center of the Formation base with the same rhythm—and then stabilized.

Su Qingli began the limit test.

Test plan: Simultaneously trigger the sixteen Sword Qi streaks on the outer ring, the Sword Qi net on the entire middle layer, and the Sword Net on the inner ring—all three Formation paths running at full power simultaneously.

Under the same conditions, the old Formation bases—after running continuously for half an hour, the temperature of the core Formation base would start to rise—after one hour, the temperature would rise by nearly fifteen percent—and the Sword Qi threads would start to show intermittent breakage.

She turned on the test timer on the Receiving Formation—and started all three Formation paths simultaneously.

The sixteen Formation eyes on the front of the reef wall sprayed out Sword Qi threads simultaneously.

The new Sword Qi threads—the color changed from silver-gray to a very faint blue-white.

Not pure white—it was the blue-toned shade at the junction of blue and white—exactly the same as the cold light emitted when the Spirit Marrow flickered in the box.

The diameter of the Sword Qi threads—the data measured on the observation array plate was nearly twenty percent thicker than the old Sword Qi threads.

But at the same time they were thicker—the rotation speed of the Sword Qi threads in the air did not decrease.

The rotation speed remained unchanged—meaning the toughness of the Sword Qi threads was sufficient to withstand the additional air resistance brought by the thicker body.

A stick of incense passed. The core Formation base temperature—was less than five percent higher than usual.

Half an hour passed. The core Formation base temperature—compared to the temperature rise of the old Formation bases over the same duration—was nearly half lower.

The old Sword Qi threads started to show very faint vibrations after continuous combat for half an hour—the vibrations would accumulate to a certain number of times and then break.

The new Sword Qi threads—at the half-hour mark, the vibration amplitude was less than one-third of the old Sword Qi threads.

One hour passed. The Sword Qi threads did not break.

Two hours—full power—the new Sword Qi threads still did not break.

The blue-white light rotated outside the reef wall—every single Sword Qi thread traced its assigned arc completely—no vibration, no breakage, no attenuation.

Su Qingli recorded all the test data in the monitoring log—and then wrote the brand-new operating parameters of the three main Formation bases on a separate piece of paper.

On the bottom line of the paper—she wrote: "Core Formation base temperature rise is less than fifty percent of the old Formation base. Sword Qi threads ran continuously for two hours—no breakage."

She placed the paper on Lu Changyuan's nautical chart table.

Lu Changyuan picked up the paper—glanced at the data—and then placed the paper in the center of the nautical chart table.

"This plan—you thought of it alone?"

Su Qingli's fingers pressed on the rattan stool—the broken rattan on the stool bounced slightly under her fingertips.

"The plan wasn't something I thought of alone. The day before yesterday, Mo Lao came to the Formation Affairs Room and took a look—he looked for about a stick of incense.

He didn't say anything—he just used a charcoal pencil to change a number next to the filler ratio of the third Formation base.

The old sand content was changed from twenty percent to ten percent—plus five percent Spirit Marrow debris.

The color of the Sword Qi threads of the third Formation base was different from the first two—the first two transitioned to blue-white after generation—the third one was blue-white from the moment of generation.

The number he changed—made the third Formation base more stable than the first two."

Lu Changyuan looked at the real-time projection of the newly lit blue-white Sword Qi threads on the Formation Plate—the Sword Qi threads were rotating quietly two or three miles outside the reef wall—the light color mixed with the salt frost brought by the sea breeze in the air—giving off a very faint silver-blue.

"He is already helping." He flipped over the test paper Su Qingli had written—and wrote a line on the back: Third Formation base—Mo Lao's modification—ten percent old sand plus five percent Spirit Marrow debris—effect is better than the standard ratio.

Then he folded the paper—and put it into the inner pocket of his sleeve.

"He just hasn't decided yet whether he wants to stay."