522: Chapter 522 Converting Spiritual Energy Array

The Yungui Inn occupied a vast area, offering a quiet retreat amidst the hustle and bustle.

The defensive Formation at the main gate was of a high level, and clearly, the fees were not cheap.

Daoist Xuanming requested four adjacent courtyards.

"We will rest in Wanxiang City for one day tomorrow. Do not run around."

Daoist Xuanming stood before the moon gate of the courtyard, his hoarse voice carrying an unquestionable command: "The morning after tomorrow, we will use the city's teleportation Formation to head directly to the outer stronghold of the Tianji Pavilion."

After speaking, he turned and walked into his own courtyard, the heavy wooden door closing with a "bang."

Qingfeng and Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief.

The oppression along the journey had left them somewhat breathless.

The two entered their own courtyard, and not long after, Su Ming heard the sound of a window being pushed open from next door.

The young boy and girl were clearly unable to suppress their curiosity about this super-large city, and were peeking through the window crack, secretly observing the bustling streets outside.

Su Ming did not go to join in the excitement.

He pushed open the door to his own guest room and walked inside.

The room was elegantly furnished, and in the corner, there was even a censer burning calming spiritual incense.

But Su Ming's first reaction was not to rest.

He walked to the center of the room and took out eight Formation Flags carved with ancient patterns from his Storage Pouch.

He flicked his wrists.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

The eight Formation Flags transformed into eight streaks of light, precisely sinking into the eight positions of the room and disappearing beneath the floor tiles.

Subsequently, he quickly formed seals with his hands, and a dual-layered composite Formation for soundproofing and blocking Divine Sense detection instantly activated.

A faint ripple spread across the room, completely shielding everything from outside sounds and prying eyes.

After doing all this, Su Ming finally sat cross-legged on the bed.

Ying crawled out from his collar; it seemed to have been infected by the curiosity of Qingfeng and Mingyue next door, flapping its wings to fly to the windowsill.

Its golden pupils darted around, looking through the Formation light screen at the Cultivators flying on swords outside, occasionally emitting an extremely faint "chirp."

"Don't let it run around," Lin Yu's voice resonated in his Sea of Consciousness. "With its atavistic Bloodline, if it's spotted by someone with ulterior motives, it will be a big problem."

"This Disciple understands." Su Ming replied softly.

Then, he slowly closed his eyes, his hands forming a strange seal at his Dantian.

His mind sank completely into his Dantian in an instant.

Passing over the deep lake of spiritual power, crossing through the seven hundred and fifty circulating Array Talismans.

His consciousness made direct contact with the square seal quietly floating deep within his Dantian.

That was his ultimate trump card, where he had imprinted ten thousand years of ancient Formation principles in the Ancient Path Secret Realm.

In this Central Plains where everything required bargaining chips, he had to quickly convert the power within this True Seal into a blade he could truly hold in his hand.

A small portion of the calming incense in the censer had burned away, and green smoke curled up within the sealed guest room.

Su Ming sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes tightly closed.

Deep in his Dantian, the border guarding true seal slowly appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.

Those ancient Array Patterns on the surface of the True Seal, complex enough to cause dizziness, began to light up with a faint blue luster as his Divine Sense probed them.

As the luster flowed, the endless vitality of the towering ancient trees in the Secret Realm's Ancient Path and the natural perfection beneath the stone paths unfolded in his mind like a painting.

He did not covet those grand killing Formations or illusion Formations.

Su Ming's goal was very clear.

Spirit Locking, Conversion, and Introduction.

These were the three cornerstones for surviving in the Central Plains.

"The path on the left is incorrect."

Lin Yu's soul body hovered in front of the bed, the faint, ghostly light illuminating his thin face, making it appear to flicker.

The section of Array Patterns that Su Ming had outlined in his Sea of Consciousness dissipated accordingly.

"That section of Array Patterns was used in ancient times to extract the fire Qi of the earth's veins."

Lin Yu's speaking speed was half a beat slower than usual, his gaze fixed on the spiritual power trajectories in the void that only the master and Disciple could see.

"You are trying to extract from Low-Grade Spirit Stones right now; if you use such a violent method, the Spirit Stones will explode directly in the Formation eye. Not only will the Spiritual Qi dissipate, but the defensive Formation of this inn will also be alerted."

Su Ming opened his eyes.

He looked at his right index finger, where a trace of unstable spiritual power fluctuation still lingered at the fingertip.

This was already the twelfth failure.

If he were in the Northern Territory, he could absorb Spiritual Qi to his heart's content.

But in this Central Plains, the worst outcome was that the Spirit Stones would be ruined; not only would he be unable to recover his spiritual power, but he would also attract unnecessary prying.

And the best outcome would be to exchange the fewest Spirit Stones for the greatest gain in spiritual power.

He still had a few intact Medium-Grade Spirit Stones hidden in his sleeve, which were for emergencies and must never be wasted on testing.

"Under the thirty-fifth stone slab of the Ancient Path, there is a section of buffer patterns."

Su Ming raised his eyes and looked at Lin Yu.

"That section of patterns can smooth out turbulent spiritual power. If I graft it between the Spirit Locking Array and the Introduction Array, would it work?"

Lin Yu did not answer immediately.

His soul body paused in mid-air for three breaths.

A faint halo rippled from the edge of his soul body.

"It is worth a try," Lin Yu's voice lowered. "But you need to use an 'Introduction' Array Talisman as a bridge."

Su Ming closed his eyes again.

In his Sea of Consciousness, the seven hundred and fifty Array Talismans lit up like stars.

He skillfully extracted the "Introduction" Array Talisman from among them, stripped away the excess edges, leaving only the core guiding force, and carefully embedded it between those three modules.

The prototype of the Formation Plate gradually became complete in his mind.

There were no breakpoints and no blockages.

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes and took out five Low-Grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Pouch.

He placed the Spirit Stones on the bed in front of him in a pentagonal position.

His index finger slightly curled, and a sliver of extremely fine azure spiritual power overflowed from his fingertip, weaving between the five Spirit Stones like pulling silk from a cocoon.

The spiritual power threads intertwined, finally forming a palm-sized miniature Spirit Gathering Array in the center of the Spirit Stones.

"Chirp."

Ying, which had been dozing on the windowsill, was attracted by the commotion here.

It flapped its wings and flew over, landing on the edge of the bed.

The little guy tilted its head, its golden pupils staring at the Spirit Stones that were beginning to emit a faint glow, and it couldn't help but extend its sharp claws, wanting to touch the glowing spiritual power thread.

Su Ming extended his left hand and gently tapped it on the head with the back of his finger.

"Don't touch."

Ying aggrievedly retracted its claws, its feathers slightly ruffled, but it still obediently retreated to the side, only using its eyes to look curiously.

Su Ming collected his mind, formed seals with his hands, and closed his eyes, sinking into the operation of the Ruoshui Art.

The first wisp of spiritual power was extracted from the Low-Grade Spirit Stone directly in front of him.

The moment that wisp of Spiritual Qi left the Spirit Stone, it immediately struggled violently, as if summoned by the Laws of this world, wanting to dissipate into the air.

But the Array Patterns of the Spirit Locking Array instantly lit up, like an invisible net, catching it tightly.

Immediately after, the conversion module began to operate, and that wisp of Spiritual Qi was forcibly smoothed and compressed.

Finally, following the bridge of the "Introduction" Array Talisman, it slid into Su Ming's Meridians silently, like a drop of water into a pool.

There was no dissipation, no backlash.

Su Ming's breathing became steady and long.

One by one, the Low-Grade Spirit Stones lost their luster at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually turning into gray-white powder.

One hour later.

The last Spirit Stone turned into fly ash.

Su Ming opened his eyes and let out a long breath of slightly warm, turbid air.

"It worked."

He clenched his fist, feeling the trace of increased spiritual power foundation in his Dantian.

Lin Yu floated down, looking at the bed full of gray-white powder.

"How is the efficiency?"

"Only fifty percent of what it was in the Northern Territory," Su Ming furrowed his brows slightly.

"Too much spiritual power is lost during the Formation conversion process. If I want to reach my original Cultivation speed, the Spirit Stones consumed will be twice that of the Northern Territory."

After listening, Lin Yu responded: "It's passable; make do with it for now."