129: Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array

Fang Huai, Haozi, the Shopkeeper, and the Assistant—the four of them arrived together at a remote area far from the [Thousand Formations Pavilion].

Each person held a Memory Loss Talisman, their expressions tense, constantly glancing around.

The Shopkeeper said, “To show our sincerity, I will first have my son use the Memory Loss Talisman.”

The Assistant nodded, then pressed the Memory Loss Talisman onto his glabella.

The Talismanic Incantation disappeared, and a tag reading [Memory Decay (Gray)] appeared on the Assistant.

[Memory Decay: After Ten Breaths, memories from the past Twelve Hours will be forgotten and cannot be recovered.]

After Ten Breaths, the Assistant looked confused, scratched his head, and asked, “How did I get here?”

The Shopkeeper immediately said, “Come on, let's each use the Memory Loss Talisman. Within Ten Breaths, run in different directions to avoid seeing each other's faces.”

Haozi nodded, but Fang Huai spoke up again: “Give your Assistant another Memory Loss Talisman.”

The Shopkeeper slapped his head and said, “That was careless of me.”

He immediately handed a new Memory Loss Talisman to the Assistant.

What a good father, using two Memory Loss Talismans consecutively without fear of damaging his son's mind.

But thinking about it, the Shopkeeper's action was not entirely unreasonable.

The Shopkeeper looked only seventy, still in his prime, with a chance to break through to Foundation Establishment.

His son looked over fifty, and only managed the Qi Refining Fifth Layer with his father's support. He was clearly mediocre and unlikely to achieve Foundation Establishment in this life.

From this perspective, it was a wise move to use his son to earn more money, and then start a new life once he achieved Foundation Establishment.

The Assistant had clearly experienced this kind of situation many times; he didn't say a single word of refusal and reached out to catch the Memory Loss Talisman.

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

As the Shopkeeper finished counting down, the four people simultaneously affixed the Memory Loss Talismans to their glabella, activated the Talismanic Incantation, and quickly ran in four different directions.

Quick, they must find someone quickly!

Fang Huai unleashed his Divine Sense, detecting the nearest Cultivator.

He quickly found an Early Stage Qi Refining Cultivator and transferred the [Memory Decay] tag over.

A Few Breaths later, that Cultivator suddenly looked confused, standing frozen and bewildered.

He scratched his head and said, “What's going on? Why am I here? What did I do today? Why do I feel like I've been hit by a Memory Loss Spell?”

...Fang Huai applied the Light Body Technique, quickly leaving the area, and opened his palm in a corner.

In his palm was the Jade Tablet storing the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array, and a sound storage talisman containing Fang Huai's own recorded voice—

“After absorbing the information in the Jade Tablet, do not tell anyone.”

The sound storage talisman was useless now, so Fang Huai immediately destroyed it.

At the same time, he immersed his mind into the Jade Tablet.

As the Jade Tablet turned into powder, the method for setting up the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array and the required Materials were imprinted in his Sea of Consciousness.

Hundred-Year Fine Gold, Yin-Corroding Wood, Mysterious Female Pearl, Blood Spirit Water, Heavenly Dragon Sand, Cloud Crystal Stone, Fire Spirit Crystal, cinnabar... one Mid-Grade Five Elements Spirit Stone of each type?

The other Materials were fine, but the Mid-Grade Five Elements Spirit Stone was another type of Contraband, which would take him some effort to acquire.

Sanxian City stipulated that only Foundation Establishment Cultivators or above from the Deng Family could possess Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

Anyone entering the city must exchange the Mid-Grade Spirit Stones on their person for Low-Grade Spirit Stones, likely as a precaution against Formations like the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array.

Entrance to the Baiya Bazaar.

Fang Huai, who had changed his appearance, poured a small bag of Spirit Stones into his hand and announced loudly, “Is anyone short on Spirit Stones?”

The scene was the same, no one responded, and Fang Huai strode into the bazaar just the same.

Sensing a familiar figure not far away, the corner of Fang Huai's mouth lifted... Compared to Magic Arrays that can be set up directly using Formation Talismans, the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array, which is set up using Materials, has a failure rate.

To be safe, besides the Five Elements Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, Fang Huai bought three sets of Formation Materials.

In addition to that, there were the Five Elements Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

When Sanxian City collected Mid-Grade Spirit Stones from Cultivators entering the city, the exchange rate was one to one hundred, but when Fang Huai exchanged Low-Grade Spirit Stones for Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, the rate was one to two hundred.

Dark, truly dark!

Sure enough, selling Contraband Goods was the fastest way to earn Spirit Stones.

Besides purchasing Formation Materials, Fang Huai cleared out useless Spiritual Artifacts, Formations, Spirit Medicine, and Spiritual Items. He also bought several Lightning Protection Magical Artifacts and dozens of Lightning Protection Talismans.

After the transactions, Fang Huai still had a surplus of three thousand two hundred and fourteen Low-Grade Spirit Stones in his Storage Pouch... While it was still early, Fang Huai transformed into Fang Shui and entered the Mu Hua Spiritual Vein.

After confirming no one was around, he used the Quicksand Technique to bore into the Hidden Magic Array he had previously set up, submerging himself above the underground Water Attribute Spiritual Vein.

After meditating and regulating his breathing for Half an Hour, he took out the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array Materials and cautiously set them up step by step according to the information in the Jade Tablet.

“First, use cinnabar to outline the Five-Pointed Star Pattern, place the Hundred-Year Fine Gold, Yin-Corroding Wood, Cloud Crystal Stone, Mysterious Female Pearl, and Fire Spirit Crystal in order at the five formation eyes, and pour the spiritual liquid mixed from Blood Spirit Water and Heavenly Dragon Sand onto the cinnabar...”

The previous steps went smoothly, but when it came to the final step of Formation completion, the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array flashed several times, then emitted a sizzling sound.

Instantly, violent power erupted from the Formation, and the Materials on the five Formation Bases instantly turned into dust.

“Just one last step!”

Fang Huai angrily slapped his thigh; this set of Materials cost him nearly two thousand Spirit Stones. How could he not feel heartache!

The operational steps were fine, and the Materials were fine; the reason for failure was likely his State of Mind.

He had expended too much Mental Effort in the past few days implementing the plan, resulting in insufficient Mental Energy, which prevented him from resonating with the Formation.

“In just over ten days, I will be going to treat Deng Qingyang's Poison Sac for the last time. I must complete the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array setup before then.”

Thinking of this, Fang Huai felt irritable.

Returning to the Hidden Space beneath the Purification Bureau, he asked Li Zhu to demonstrate Wu Yue's progress in cultivating the Disguise Technique.

Sure enough, Wu Yue still hadn't mastered it.

Li Zhu grumbled, “This son must take after his father; he is hopelessly clumsy. He still can't even learn the most basic facial disguise.”

Fang Huai was already irritable, and seeing Li Zhu subtly mock him, anger immediately flared up.

He thoroughly scolded Li Zhu, grabbed the base of her tail, and swung her around several times until she begged for mercy before finally putting her down.

Surprisingly, after this outburst, his State of Mind actually improved significantly... That night, the Yun Family Sisters had dinner with Fang Huai.

Seeing Fang Huai's furrowed brow, the Yun Family Sisters dared not speak. After Fang Huai returned to his room, Yun Hui cautiously sat down beside him.

“Husband, do you have something on your mind?”

“Indeed, there is something troubling me.”

“Can you tell me about it?”

“No!”

Yun Hui smiled and said, “If Husband doesn't want to say, then I won't ask, but I have a way to alleviate some of your worries.”

Fang Huai frowned and asked, “You have a way? What way?”

Yun Hui got up and sat in Fang Huai's lap, wrapping her arms around his chest and saying, “A woman is like water; water holds all things and can also dissolve worries.

Let me help you dissolve your worries, Husband.”

Having said that, she lightly raised her hand, extinguishing the candle in the room.

----

After several nights of Worry Dissolution, Fang Huai's State of Mind indeed became much more peaceful.

With only three days left until his next trip to the City Lord's Mansion, Fang Huai sat cross-legged atop the Water Attribute Spiritual Vein, regulated his breathing for several hours, and began setting up the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array again.

The steps were the same, the technique was the same, but the difference was that this time his State of Mind was as calm as water.

This time, the Five Elements Reverse Spirit Array was successful.