Courtyard House: Starting with handing over the keys, the state helps me abuse birds.

"I don't know," the old mathematician said with a wry smile. "It could take months, it could take years, it could take a lifetime."

Duan Chengyi remained silent.

After a long while, he nodded.

"Okay. I'll take care of the venue and equipment. As for the time, do your best. The country can wait."

He stood up and his gaze swept over everyone present.

"Everyone, I don't need to explain the importance of this blueprint. If it can be developed, the cultivation speed across the country can double. What does that mean? It means that our country can cultivate more powerful individuals, that our national defense capabilities can be elevated to a new level, and that our international standing can be more secure."

He paused, his voice becoming serious.

"Please help me, everyone."

A dozen or so people stood up and said in unison, "We guarantee to complete the mission!"

The research has begun.

The site was chosen in the basement of the research institute, covering more than 100 square meters, and was shielded with special materials on all sides to prevent energy leakage.

The first batch of measuring instruments was delivered and filled half the room.

The old mathematician's surname was Chen, and everyone called him Old Chen. He would spread out the drawings on the table and sit there all day long, staring at those symbols and lines.

The physicist with thick glasses was surnamed Zhou, or Engineer Zhou. He was responsible for building the testing platform and, according to the dimensions on the blueprints, using special materials, arranging the prototype of the spirit-gathering array.

The young scholar, surnamed Lin, had just returned from abroad, specializing in quantum physics. He was responsible for recording the data; those sophisticated instruments operated 24 hours a day, recording every second of change.

There are also several engineering experts responsible for solving practical problems—if there aren't enough materials, they coordinate; if the equipment breaks down, they repair it; if there aren't enough spaces, they apply for them.

On the first day, the spirit-gathering array was set up.

Following the blueprints, Engineer Zhou laid out the special materials one by one on the ground, forming a complex pattern. In the center of the pattern was a test energy detector.

Elder Chen placed the cultivation crystal at the core of the array.

Everyone held their breath, staring at the numbers on the energy detector.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

The numbers remain unchanged.

Old Chen frowned: "That's not right. According to the blueprints, it should have an effect."

Lin checked the instruments and confirmed they were working properly. Engineer Zhou checked the array again and confirmed it was set up correctly.

Nothing has changed.

Old Chen thought for a moment and said, "It might be a crystallization problem. Let's try a different one."

I replaced it with another one, but there was still no change.

Replace the third, fourth, fifth...

For an entire day, we tried more than a dozen arrangements and changed seven or eight crystals, but the Spirit Gathering Array didn't react at all.

That evening, Old Chen sat at his table, staring at the blueprint without saying a word.

Engineer Zhou walked over and handed him a cup of tea.

"Old Chen, don't rush. If this thing were so easy to research, it wouldn't be worth so many of us working on it together."

Old Chen took the tea but didn't drink it; he just held it in his hand.

"Old Zhou, tell me, where did this thing come from?"

After a moment of silence, Engineer Zhou said, "Director Duan said it was given by that person."

"That..." Old Chen murmured, "Who exactly is that young man?"

"I don't know," Engineer Zhou shook his head. "But Director Duan said that everything he gave us is genuine. The deep mineral exploration technology from before was verified by the expert group; it's decades more advanced than ours. This blueprint is definitely genuine too. It's just that we haven't found a way to access it yet."

Old Chen nodded and finished his tea in one gulp.

"continue."

---

The second day, the third day, the fourth day...

The spirit-gathering array still didn't respond.

Old Chen dissected almost every symbol on the blueprints and tried every possible permutation and combination. Engineer Zhou changed several materials and adjusted the dimensions multiple times. Lin recorded tens of thousands of sets of data and analyzed them countless times, but still couldn't find a pattern.

On the fifth night, Old Chen fell asleep on the table. When he woke up, he found himself covered with a military overcoat.

Engineer Zhou sat beside him, his eyes red, still looking at the blueprints.

"Old Zhou, what time is it?"

"Three o'clock in the morning."

Old Chen sat up and rubbed his eyes: "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I can't sleep," Zhou said with a wry smile. "Those symbols keep running through my head, even with my eyes closed."

Old Chen paused for a moment, then said, "Me too."

He stood up, walked to the wall, and looked at the drawing pasted on it.

"Old Zhou, do you think we're overcomplicating things?"

Engineer Zhou was taken aback: "What do you mean?"

Pointing to a symbol on the drawing, Mr. Chen said, "I always thought this symbol was some kind of mathematical symbol, representing a kind of operation. But what if it isn't?"

Engineer Zhou walked over and stared at the symbol.

"Then what is it?"

Old Chen thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it's just a marker. Like the punctuation marks we use when writing, they're not for calculations, they just tell you to pause here."

Zhou's eyes slowly brightened.

"you mean……"

"We've been trying to understand it using mathematical thinking, but what if it's not mathematics at all?" Old Chen said, his voice growing faster. "What if it just tells you to put a piece of material here, a piece of material there, and arrange them in this order?"

Engineer Zhou slapped his thigh: "That's right! Why do we need to study its principles? As long as we can replicate it and it works, isn't that enough?"

Old Chen also got excited: "Yes! Let's not worry about why, let's just get it spinning!"

The two immediately got to work, reinterpreting the lines and markings on the blueprints according to the symbols.

This time, they stopped thinking about what the symbols represented and simply treated them as instructions to "put a piece of material here".

At five o'clock in the morning, the new spirit-gathering array was set up.

Old Chen took a deep breath and placed the cultivation crystal at the core of the array.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the energy detector.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

The numbers started jumping.

It was very faint, but it was definitely pulsating.

From 0.01 to 0.02, from 0.02 to 0.03, it climbed up little by little.

Old Chen's hands were trembling.

"It's done...it's done..."

When the number climbed to 0.1, a faint glow began to appear in the center of the spirit-gathering array.

It was very faint, but clearly visible in the dimly lit basement.

Engineer Zhou plopped down on the ground, panting heavily.

Lin stared at the instruments, her eyes reddening.

Several engineering experts stood aside, laughing like children.

Old Chen walked to the Spirit Gathering Array, squatted down, and looked at the glowing lines.

"So that's how it is..." he murmured, "So that's how it is..."

He turned around, looked at Engineer Zhou, looked at Lin, and looked at the engineering experts.

"We did it."

---

On the morning of the seventh day, Duan Chengyi rushed over.

He went into the basement and saw Old Chen and the others sitting together, each with a smile on their face. On the table next to them was a thick stack of reports.

"Did it work?" he asked.

Old Chen stood up and handed him the report.

"We've succeeded. We've found a way to make the Spirit Gathering Array work."

Duan Chengyi took the report, flipped through a few pages, and then looked up at the spirit-gathering array that was emitting a faint glow.

"What's the principle behind it?"

Old Chen shook his head: "We haven't fully figured out the principle yet. But we've found a pattern—as long as we follow this specific arrangement, use these materials, and place the crystals on top, it will work. As for why, we need to study it for a longer period of time."

Duan Chengyi nodded and put the report away.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Old Chen waved his hand: "It's not hard work. It's our blessing to be able to do something for the country."

A young engineering expert nearby chimed in, "Director Duan, Old Chen has barely slept these past few days, and so has Engineer Zhou; their eyes are bloodshot from exhaustion."

Duan Chengyi looked at Old Chen and saw that his hair was whiter and his eye sockets were deeper, but the light in his eyes was brighter than before.

"Old Chen..."

Old Chen interrupted him: "Director Duan, don't talk about that. This is too important. We just did what we were supposed to do."

He pointed to the glowing spirit-gathering array and said, "This array can currently support five people cultivating at a time. If we have enough materials and a large enough space, we can expand it. Once we figure out its workings, we might actually be able to mass-produce it."

Duan Chengyi took a deep breath and bowed to them.

"Thank you all."

Old Chen quickly helped him up: "Director Duan, what are you doing...?"

Duan Chengyi straightened up and looked at them.

"No one will forget the contributions you have made."

That afternoon, Duan Chengyi returned to the courtyard house.

He went into the backyard and knocked on Xie Weihong's door.

Xie Weihong was cultivating when she opened her eyes and looked at him.

"You've figured it out?"

Duan Chengyi nodded, a smile on his face.

"It's out. Elder Chen and the others worked tirelessly for seven days and seven nights and finally found a way to make the Spirit Gathering Array work. Although they haven't fully understood the principle yet, it's already usable."

He handed the report to Xie Weihong.

Xie Weihong took it, flipped through a few pages, and a slight smile appeared on her lips.

"good."

Duan Chengyi looked at him and asked, "Wei Hong, this thing... can it really double the cultivation speed?"

Xie Weihong nodded.

"The current version offers about double the performance. Once they've fully explored it, it can go even higher."

Duan Chengyi took a deep breath.

"Then...then our country..."

"It will get stronger and stronger." Xie Weihong handed the report back to him. "The first batch of spirit-gathering arrays will be given to those three hundred students first. Let them cultivate even faster."

Duan Chengyi nodded vigorously.

"I'll arrange it right away."

He turned to leave, but Xie Weihong suddenly spoke up.

"Uncle Duan."

Duan Chengyi turned around.

Xie Weihong looked out the window and saw people being carried onto stretchers in the courtyard.

"How's Sha Zhu doing lately?"

Duan Chengyi paused for a moment, then said, "He... seems like a different person. He's incredibly dedicated to training, and he's unaffected by any amount of torture. Yi Zhonghai and the others say he's gone mad."

Xie Weihong smiled.

"He's not crazy. Let him continue."