611: Chapter 611 This door won't be open today.

Su Ming extended his left hand and handed over a notebook he had prepared long ago.

It was a "Notes on the Peripheral Array Patterns Structure of the Boundary Gate Division" that he had casually compiled while deducing the missing parts of the Boundary Gate just moments ago.

Of course, only thirty percent of the content in these notes was real; the remaining seventy percent was a "confusing maze" he had pieced together using some plausible-sounding but complex circuits.

"What is this?" Luo Feng instinctively took the notebook.

"The array foundation of this Stargazing Platform seems to be completely connected to the Great Yan Earth Vein Map above." Su Ming looked at Luo Feng with sincere eyes. "My deduction here has hit a Bottleneck. Senior Brother, you arrived just in time; I need you to use the experience you just gained from unlocking the seventh-layer circuit to help me reverse-engineer this peripheral array foundation."

This move of "knowledge management" could be said to have manipulated Luo Feng's thoughts to the extreme.

Luo Feng only glanced down at the notebook, and his entire being was instantly frozen in place as if cast with a binding spell.

"Wonderful..."

Luo Feng's eyes went straight instantly, and he began to mumble unconsciously, "This energy backflow design... directing the excess violent Spiritual Pressure directly into the depths of the earth vein to dissipate? Wait..."

His brows suddenly furrowed, and he pointed to a circuit in the notes, "Why is there a nested drainage variant here? This technique looks very familiar. Junior Martial Brother, where did you learn this technique?"

Su Ming remained calm and composed as he answered indifferently, "I saw it earlier in the upper Guixu Hall, from the burnt manuscript pages left by Emperor Yan Wuji. I thought it could be applied here."

Inside the xuantian ring, Lin Yu could not help but let out a burst of stifled laughter.

"You kid, your ability to lie is truly becoming more and more perfect." Lin Yu clicked his tongue in wonder. "Without blushing or skipping a beat, you attribute your own deduction results to a dead man. If Emperor Yan Wuji knew about this in the afterlife, he would likely be so angry that he'd rise from the grave to settle accounts with you."

Luo Feng suspected nothing. He immediately hugged the notebook, sat down on the edge of the Stargazing Platform, pulled out a charcoal pen, and began to calculate and deduce frantically.

"Leave it to me! You do your thing. I will tear this peripheral array foundation apart within half an hour!" Luo Feng shouted without even lifting his head.

Su Ming nodded slightly and turned to walk back to the stone carving of the "Spirit Court Boundary Path".

With Luo Feng nearby to attract fire and conquer the peripheral array foundation, Su Ming could finally free up all his energy to secretly organize the missing parts of the Boundary Gate core. The two, one outside and one inside, began their respective Formation analysis in this ancient ruin, at an unknown depth underground.

Time passed bit by bit.

Su Ming's expression, however, grew increasingly heavy. As the deduction deepened, he finally calculated clearly just how great a price was needed to completely complete this Boundary Gate leading to the Spirit Race.

"Three hundred and twelve rune gaps," Su Ming calculated silently in his heart. "And these gaps correspond to the highest-level Formation Domains."

He must Master the practical ability of at least three types of high-level runes.

The first type is the "Void Realm" rune. Only by mastering spatial folding and anchor point stability can one ensure that the Boundary Gate will not collapse when opened.

The second type is the "Law filtering" rune. The underlying Laws of the Spirit Realm and the Human Realm are inevitably different. Without this filtering net, once a Cultivator of the Human Race steps in, their Physical Body and spiritual power would be instantly assimilated and dissolved by the foreign Laws.

The third type, and also the most difficult one—the "Living Soul Protection" rune. When crossing the Boundary Gate, the Physical Body can rely on Magic Treasure to resist, but what about the Divine Soul? In the violent spatial turbulence, only a Living Soul Protection Formation can ensure the Soul is not torn apart.

"The one thousand and eighty Basic Runes I currently Master, although they encompass the theoretical foundations of these three types..." Su Ming sighed and said to Lin Yu in his heart, "But I have never truly practiced them. Let alone using the logic of the Spirit Realm's Laws to depict them."

Between theory and practice lies a chasm called "Life and Death".

Just as Su Ming fell into deep thought and the deduction reached an impasse.

"Chirp—"

A sharp, warning-filled screech suddenly came from the edge of the Stargazing Platform!

That was the cry of the shadow!

Su Ming turned his head abruptly. He saw that the shadow had jumped to a piece of Void Realm at the very edge of the Stargazing Platform at some point. Its body was pressed extremely low, and its black feathers stood up like steel needles. Its pair of golden pupils stared fixedly at the empty Void Realm in front of it, and a low threat sound like facing a natural enemy emanated from its throat.

Su Ming immediately activated his "Micro-Observation" vision to look.

In the Void Realm that the shadow was facing, there existed a tiny spatial rift! This rift was a hundred times thinner than a hair; if not for the shadow's innate keen intuition, Su Ming would never have been able to detect it.

And at this moment, a faint breath was seeping out from that rift.

"So cold..."

Su Ming only felt a sharp pain in his Divine Sense. That breath was cold and dead, carrying a chilling sense of despair.

"This kind of breath... is similar to the Yin Qi in the Ghost Domain." Su Ming's brows locked tightly. "But the purity is too high, and it is even more ancient and desolate than the Yin Qi of the Ghost Domain."

"Don't go near it!"

Lin Yu's voice suddenly exploded in Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness, carrying unprecedented severity.

"That is a leakage phenomenon caused by the incompleteness of the Formation when the Boundary Gate has not yet been activated." Lin Yu's soul body rolled violently in the ring. "What does this mean? It means the Laws of the Spirit Realm have produced an extremely terrifying repulsion with the Laws of the world on our side! The Laws of the two realms are like water and fire, incompatible, and are clashing frantically behind that rift!"

Lin Yu took a deep breath, and his tone was icy as he drew a conclusion: "Kid, listen well. In the current incomplete state of this Boundary Gate, if you dare to forcibly open it using the three-in-one method, the violent Law clash will instantly tear you, bones and Divine Soul alike, into fragments smaller than dust!"

Su Ming fell silent.

He stood before that tiny spatial rift, letting the cold breath brush against his cheeks. He did not make a decision immediately but closed his eyes, forcing all his restlessness and unwillingness deep into his heart. A moment later, he opened his eyes, his gaze having returned to its usual calmness.

The worst result: forcibly opening the Boundary Gate, under the clash of Laws, death and Soul dissipation. Even if one were lucky enough to step into the Spirit Realm, there is no return for those who enter; the probability of being smashed to pieces or captured alive is extremely high.

And what trump cards could he bring out? The broken border guarding true seal, which requires consuming half of his Origin to activate; Lin Yu in the xuantian ring; a Mystic Shadow Crow that had just awakened; and his own attainments in the Dao of Formations.

Not enough. Far from enough. These trump cards, in the face of the grand gamble of crossing two realms and confronting unknown crises, appeared too thin.

"Hoo..."

Su Ming let out a long breath of turbid air. His body, originally tensed because of the jade token and the Formation, slowly relaxed. He turned his head and looked at Luo Feng not far away, who was still sitting on the ground, hugging that half-true, half-false notebook, scratching his ears and cheeks, and lost in a feverish deduction.

"This Senior Brother Luo Feng is a pure Formation fanatic," Su Ming said to Lin Yu in his heart, his tone calm. "He knows nothing about the Spirit Race and has absolutely no concept of the dangers behind the Boundary Gate. He only sees the beauty of the Formation but fails to see the abyss behind the chains."

Su Ming withdrew his gaze, his eyes becoming cold and clear like water once again.

The Opportunity was right before his eyes, but he chose to retreat. The essence of The Way of Cautious Survival never lies in avoidance, but in knowing when to give up those temptations that one simply cannot swallow.

"Master, I have already memorized the coordinates of the Boundary Gate, and the jade token is also in my hands," Su Ming made his decision in the Sea of Consciousness. "This gate will not be opened today. When I find a way to complete the Void Realm and Law filtering runes, and when my trump cards are thick enough, I will come back."

He stepped towards Luo Feng, wind rising beneath his feet, his tone returning to its usual gentleness.

"Senior Brother, this peripheral array foundation is too complex, and I see that the space seems a bit unstable," Su Ming patted Luo Feng's shoulder and said in an unquestionable tone. "Today's gains are already enough; we must immediately withdraw from the Lantai Secret Garden."

Luo Feng looked up blankly, still clutching the charcoal pen tightly, his face full of unwillingness. But under Su Ming's calm yet irrefutable gaze, he finally sighed dejectedly.

"Let's go, back to the Sect." Su Ming turned around and strode towards the dark gold stairs.