"Good, good!" Seeing Cao Yun's performance, Chief Instructor Peng was satisfied. It was rather rare for outer disciples to use the 'The Turtle Swims Through the Canals' method. Indeed, they only had free trainings during their first year. After that, they used most of their time outside the sect. And during their third year, they could not get any help from the instructors. Thus, if they didn't reach 6th-grade Mortal during their first year, they had no way of even attempting this training.
In fact, Chief Instructor Peng had also proposed this training method to both Sun Liao and Mei Hua. Both of them had declined. They were not that interested in gaining more strength. And as they had array formations and alchemy respectively to advance their cultivation, they really didn't need it.
When Cao Yun was done, Chief Instructor Peng came to him and handed him a stone. It was ten times bigger than a small spirit stone and more than twice the size of a medium stone. The stone itself was a very dark blue, similar to a night sky.
"This is a high spirit stone as a reward for completing 'The Turtle Swims Through the Canals'. It's not the kind of stone that you can easily get. I'd say that even in the Wubei Merit Market, it's pretty rare. The Qi is at least a hundred times richer than in a small spirit stone and five times richer than in a medium one. And its quality is way purer, you almost have no impurity within. This will help you as you won't have to condense it much when you absorb it."
In the 6th-grade Mortal stage, the point of the cultivation was both to absorb enough Qi to fill the Lower Dantian until it naturally overflowed in the entire body and to balance its properties. To achieve the first goal, condensing Qi was great as it allowed to absorb even more of it in the same volume, but it wasn't necessary. However, the more Qi a 6th-Mortal absorbed, the easier the next stages would be, but it wouldn't impact the next realm that much. On the other hand, balancing the five elements within one's Qi was essential for the next realm.
The Qi in the Lower Dantian had to be rich in Water element without breaking the balance. The Lower Dantian itself was linked to the Fire element as it was believed to be where Jing was turned into Qi by fire. Having too much Water element could extinguish this fire and limit the amount of Qi the body would produce. But having too little Water element would make it impossible to cross to the Spirit Warrior realm later. This was one of the reasons why alchemists were so popular.
Balancing out your own Qi could prove quite difficult, but alchemists could easily determine your imbalances and provide you with the perfect pill. So right now, Cao Yun decided on his two main goals. He needed the array formations to understand his fourth star, but also to increase the amount of Qi he could absorb. There also existed array formations meant to alter the elements in the Qi of the environment, that could be useful in this stage. On the other hand, alchemy was extremely useful to balance out his Qi himself, or even refine pills to help him in both absorbing and balancing Qi.
Hence, Cao Yun would use most of his time into reaching 5-star Earth into these two occupations. Moreover, he had to admit that he had developed a great interest in them both. They had many aspects in common which he also found in cultivation and martial arts. In martial arts, he was more enticed by the prospect of learning new things and not the fights themselves. He had found this same excitement in these two occupations. Also, they were extremely well respected and rather rare, this would give him an edge and maybe a way to gather information more easily. He would also gain more opportunities, and he had not forgotten what Xiao Xuefeng had told him. There was probably a connection between the murderers of his family and the Imperial City. He had no interest in becoming as talented as Sun Liao or Mei Hua since he probably would need to devote all his time to only one occupation to do so. Ultimately, it would be enough for him to be average in both occupations to supplement his training.
With the high spirit stone in hand, he quickly understood that using it to power a Seamless Qi Vortex array formation was a waste. He had read about much stronger array formations. The best one was probably the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation. This was a 5-star Earth array formation. Cao Yun had read about it in the 'Sixty-Four Tribulations of Earth'. It was a rather easy array formation to set up for its rank and it had a similar goal as the Qi Vortex array formation. As its name could suggest, its main goal was to gather Qi and condense it around the cultivators inside the array formation. It would also filter the surrounding Qi and gather more of its Water aspect within the array formation.
It was the perfect array formation for Cao Yun's purpose. Technically, he was still only a 2-star Earth array formation master, so this was a bit difficult for him. However, he had trained a lot with Sun Liao and he only needed to be able to set up this array formation at one specific spot. With Sun Liao's help, he was confident in his ability to be able to replicate it. Thus, he decided to ask his friend for assistance.
When the training day was finally over, he went to talk with Sun Liao who was as tired as everyone else.
"Brother Sun, I need your help with a 5-star Earth array formation. Are you free tomorrow?"
"You still have enough energy to think about array formations?!" Sun Liao's face was extremely pale. In fact, Cao Yun was the only one full of energy. Usually, he was as exhausted as his fellow first-years. However, his body had achieved the state of 'Unquenchable Vessel'. The exhilarating feeling had completely erased his fatigue for the day. In the next few hours, he would still feel full of vigor.
"But that's really a good timing. I wanted to talk to you as well." He spoke in a smaller voice, almost whispering. "I think I know who the demonic cultivator who helped Lu Meihan is."
Cao Yun got taken by surprise. He knew that his friend was discreetly looking for the culprit, but he didn't think that he would get the answer so soon. Suppressing his surprise, he also started to whisper. "Are you sure?"
"No, but I'm very confident. I just have to check a few things. Given that my master is absent, I was wondering whether I should wait or not to expose him. I mean, if I'm wrong... But I just have to make sure I'm right."
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"Well, the only one I still trust in the Wubei Sect's upper echelon is Chief Elder Baishen. If you really think you know who he is, we should probably go to her." Cao Yun wanted to get answers, but he also did not want to put his friends in danger.
"Are you sure? You don't want to confront him yourself?"
"Knowing Chief Elder Baishen, she should accept to let me interrogate him."
"But what if he's killed as soon as the truth is exposed?"
This was a very credible possibility, as even Lu Meihan had been killed while Xiao Xuefeng was present.
"We'll just have to ask her to stay absolutely discreet about this. Brother Sun, I trust her. There's no need for us to risk our lives too much."
Xiao Xuefeng was not in the Wubei Sect, so the situation was more dangerous than ever. However, if he had been alone, Cao Yun would have probably tried to take care of it. But he wasn't ready to put his friends in harm's way for his own vendetta.
"We'll meet each other at the array formation pavilion tomorrow morning."
Sun Liao nodded and they both left the training grounds.
-
In the same chamber as always, Mo Zi was kneeling in front of his hidden master.
"Master, I did everything as you asked. Sun Liao should be exposing his findings to Chen Guo by now."
"Good work, Mo Zi. I knew I wasn't mistaken in choosing you as my disciple." A small metallic disc floated in the air toward Mo Zi. "This is the array formation I talked to you about. It's 5-star Human. However, with a weak Mortal Warrior cultivation, the array formation will only be activated at around ten percent of its actual strength. It also won't last for very long, one hour at most. But if you're prepared, you should be able to pull it off without much trouble."
Array formations could be engraved on plates. Such a plate was carved by an array formation master but it could be then used by anyone. Only a Mortal Warrior could activate such a plate by sending his own Qi within. But as the array formation could not be perfectly harmonized with the outside world, it would be temporary and would mainly depend on the strength of the user. The more Qi they used, the more stable the deployed array formation would be. Lesser cultivators could still use a part of its power by using another array formation to extract Qi from an exterior source such as a spirit stone. However, it was really not optimal at all.
"Thank you, Master. I won't disappoint you, I swear."
"If you're successful, we should be able to get rid of all the loose ends for now. However, remember!" Mo Zi felt an intense glare on him even though he couldn't see his master's face. "I won't risk decades of work just to save you. You're a good disciple, but not that good."
Mo Zi was sincerely terrified. "I understand, Master. If I fail, you won't have to do anything, I'll end my own life."
"It's good that you know what's proper. On the other hand, if you're successful, I won't be stingy." After the array formation plate, two high spirit stones flew in the air toward Mo Zi.
He kowtowed before taking them. "This disciple thanks Master."
-
In the morning of the next day, Cao Yun went to the array formation pavilion. Being used to it, he naturally went into Sun Liao's training room. They had spent a lot of time in here when Sun Liao helped Cao Yun with his study of array formations.
"Brother Chen, you're very early!" Sun Liao was still a bit weak after yesterday's training. On the other hand, Cao Yun felt quite refreshed. Obtaining an 'Unquenchable Vessel' body was almost like breaking through and it definitely energized him a lot.
"Well, that's a really important matter after all. Maybe you need some more rest though..."
Sun Liao gulped down the cup of tea he had before him. "Not at all! Who do you think I am?" He tried to put up a strong front but his sleepy eyes betrayed him. "But you had something to discuss, right? Why don't you go ahead while I'm... organizing my thoughts."
Cao Yun suppressed a small laugh. Ren Chao was always honest to a fault, but Sun Liao could never admit when he was weak or in a bad situation.
"Fine. After receiving a high spirit stone by Chief Instructor Peng, I've tried to think of a better array formation than a Qi Vortex. After some considerations, I think a Tidal Gathering Mist array formation would be perfect, don't you think?"
"Indeed. To use this high spirit stone to its fullest and get ready to break through to 7th-grade Mortal, that's the best possible array formation. And it's not that difficult to set up in fact. Do you know where you want to set it up?"
"Yes. I'll put it right where I was setting up my Qi Vortex array formation. Here's a map. I also drew how I set up my previous array formation." Cao Yun put a hand-drawn map on the desk in front of Sun Liao. He had perfectly reproduced every detail of the small basin where he was used to cultivating. Superimposed were the positions of all the array flags he had positioned.
Sun Liao was still waking up, but he truly was a genius. By glaring at the map for a few breaths, he already had a good idea about the location.
"I must admit that your array formation is pretty good. If you want my opinion, you should be close to a 4-star Earth array formation master already." He took a brush and drew some figures on the map. "That's the perfect spot to put the Gate of Sky. Here you could arrange the Master Palace and connect it to the Wind Palace through the Gate of Sky. Here is the ideal way to place your high spirit stone." Sun Liao kept going and created a thorough map for the Tidal Gathering Mist array formation.
He then gave back the map to Cao Yun. The boy was clearly impressed by Sun Liao's aptitude. Even though he was dead tired, he effortlessly gave him great indications on a 5-star Earth array formation. Using his 'Shen Visualization', he imagined how it would look in real life. In a short time, he quickly understood that these indications were breathtaking. Even without understanding all the subtleties of this array formation, it was obvious to Cao Yun that these indications would help him setting it up. He wouldn't be able to achieve a Pristine array formation though, not to mention a Seamless one. In fact, he would probably only set up a 70 to 80% array formation. With a bit of training however, he could maybe push it to a Perfect array formation.
"Thank you, Brother Sun. This will be a huge help."
"No problem. It's just an insignificant thing." Sun Liao waved his hand as if this array formation was nothing much, despite being 5-star Earth. "If you're trying to set it up this afternoon, I could come and help you a bit. I don't think I can cultivate today after all..."
As the tea was beginning to do its work on Sun Liao's mind, he stood up.
"But now that that's out of the way, I'd like to talk about the reason why I called you here. As I told you, I investigated the man who set up the array formations around the Coiling Silk Faction residence. After a few weeks of subtly questioning a lot of them, I'm certain that this is either Lü Bai or Meng Hanyi. I wasn't able to talk with Lü Bai yet. However Meng Hanyi's craft seems a bit too different. He could be trying to hide his signature, but Lü Bai seems way more suspicious. I investigated the dates when he was in and out of the Wubei Sect and it perfectly matches several key events. For example, the day you saw him in the Coiling Silk Faction, or the day Luduo Bu was freed from the Devil's Jail. There are many coincidences such as these."