Immortal Martial Saint, something's wrong with my entry.

"Whatever you say goes."

"Then I want more..."

Seeing Bai Ze's endless chatter, Li Youan couldn't help but laugh; this divine beast was far too unrefined.

"Brother Bai."

"Um?"

Bai Ze was puzzled when he heard Li Youan interrupt him.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm lamenting that you, my divine beast, are becoming less and less like a divine beast."

"Tch, this is the normal one. What you've seen are mythical beasts from storybooks that have already manifested themselves in front of people, but I am the real one."

Seeing Bai Ze's indignant expression, Li Youan gave him a perfunctory response.

"Okay, okay, whatever you say is right."

Upon seeing Li Youan's attitude, Bai Ze immediately became displeased.

"Come on, today I'll show you what a mythical beast really is."

As he spoke, Bai Ze had already reached the center of the water. "Watch closely."

Bai Ze conjured two hands with his spiritual energy, saying, "Give me your array plate and array flags, and I'll show you what it means to set up an array."

With a gentle wave of his hands, Bai Ze sent several small jade array flags and a dozen array plates flying through the air and hovering in front of him.

His conjured hands, with their ten fingers, plucked the strings of a musical instrument, and a dozen or so fine threads of elemental energy, almost invisible to the naked eye, spread from his fingertips, precisely connecting to each array plate.

The next instant, his hands suddenly parted to the sides.

"Whoosh whoosh-!"

The array plates and flags transformed into several shooting stars, rapidly shooting out in all directions and stopping at several specific locations above the water's surface.

The moment they reached their positions, the threads of energy completely disappeared into the air, and a flash of light appeared between the array plates. A gentle yet extremely resilient binding force instantly enveloped the entire array.

"Look, the simplest spirit-trapping array can be activated in a single breath." Bai Ze concealed his hands, his aura remaining unchanged.

Li Youan stood in the Spirit-Trapping Array, unable to make any other movements except for breathing and looking around with his eyes.

Feeling the binding force on his body, Li Youan's eyes gleamed with wonder. "Is this a divine beast? Such a simple formation can unleash such power."

In Bai Ze's ears, there were no words, only a simple "woo-woo" sound.

Bai Ze lightly touched the water's surface with his right foot, and Li Youan felt the binding force on his body instantly disappear.

"You handle things so effortlessly, that's so cool."

"Hmph, don't be obsessed with me, I'm just a legend."

Although Li Youan also relied on his vital energy to control the array plate, he couldn't achieve Bai Ze's naturalness at all. Bai Ze's technique was far faster than his own.

More importantly, this method of using energy threads to guide the formation greatly improves the speed of formation setup, the precise location of the array plates, and the concealment of the manipulation.

"Thank you very much. Your method is indeed very ingenious, but the control over the energy threads requires an extremely high level of skill."

Li Youan praised him from the bottom of his heart.

"It's just talent plus some practice makes perfect." Bai Ze gathered all the array plates and flags around him.

"Come on, try it now. Start by controlling an array plate or array flag. Condense your vital energy into threads, connect them to the array plate, and send it to the location ten feet away."

As Bai Ze spoke, he controlled a formation flag, which flew to the water surface ten zhang away and remained there.

Glancing at the direction of the array flags, Li Youjing calmed down, concentrated her mind, and mobilized the vital energy in her body, attempting to condense a thin and stable thread of vital energy from her fingertips.

However, this operation is not easy for him now. His vital energy dissipates very easily after leaving his body. Previously, with Bai Ze's help, he could roughly condense it into a line the thickness of a rope. Now, he needs to make it as fine as a silk thread, which is very challenging.

Furthermore, maintaining this shape and extending it in terms of thickness requires extremely strong control and concentration.

On the first attempt, the vital energy barely condensed into a thread at the fingertips before dissipating.

On the second attempt, the vital energy thread dissipated as soon as it left the body by half a foot.

……

On the tenth attempt, the device successfully separated from the body, but failed when connecting to the array plate.

Eleventh attempt...

Bai Ze stood on Li Youan's shoulder, patiently giving him instructions.

"Don't be impatient, take it slow, don't expect to succeed in one go, it's a process."

"Don't release too much energy at once. The key to this process is 'condensation' and 'resilience.' Imagine your energy as a flexible thread, with one end starting from your fingertips and the other end connected to the array plate..."

Li Youan took a deep breath and calmed his mind. He had survived such a difficult life in his previous life, so this was just a small matter. He could cultivate now, so he should be happy and patient.

Despite repeated attempts and failures, Li Youan remained undeterred. His hair was plastered to his skin, and sweat dripped from his temples, but his expression remained focused, without the slightest sign of relaxation.

A cup of tea.

A stick of incense.

Time passed slowly.

Li Youan remained focused on the energy threads on his fingers. After an hour, he was finally able to barely control a hair-thin, slightly undulating energy thread, "dragging" an array plate to its designated location.

Although the whole process was as slow as a snail's pace and we were more than a foot away from the final position, it was still a huge improvement.

"Very good. To be able to persist to this extent on your first practice session, it seems you have quite a talent for controlling your energy."

Bai Ze watched as Li Youan completed the first transfer of the array plate and praised him from the side.

"Your next task is to practice repeatedly. You can start by strengthening yourself by increasing the length, number, speed, and stability of the threads. Once you can simultaneously and stably control three energy threads quickly and successfully set up the most basic triangular formation, I will teach you the next step."

"Thank you for your guidance!"

Li Youan bowed respectfully to Bai Ze. Through the practice just now, Li Youan had already felt that Bai Ze's basic method of array formation would bring about a qualitative leap in his understanding of array formations.

Although Bai Ze hadn't yet had Li Youan start practicing the composite formation, Li Youan still shared some insights with him regarding the connection of the energy nodes, formation fusion, hand seals, and release techniques of the composite formation.

The two chatted until the best time for the Night Feather Flower to bloom was approaching before ending their conversation.

Li Youan checked the time; there were still about ten minutes left. He sat cross-legged to recover his internal energy. After adjusting himself, he would occasionally condense a thin thread at his fingertips, which didn't extend much but just twisted flexibly.

Bai Ze, of course, noticed the subtle movements of Li Youan's fingertips and nodded in satisfaction. One must have this kind of tenacity and focus, cherishing every minute, in order to succeed.

Li Youan was completely immersed in cultivating the Yuan Qi threads and did not notice that in the dense bamboo forest in the distance, a pair of monkey eyes that were darting around were staring intently at him through the gaps in the bamboo leaves.

The little monkey had been observing Li Youan for some time. Under the interference of Bai Ze's illusion, the little monkey could only see Li Youan concentrating on practicing the formation and did not notice anything else unusual.

The little monkey scratched its cheek with its paw, turned and left silently, disappearing into the depths of the forest with a few leaps. After meeting up with the other monkeys, it chirped a few words, and then one of the monkeys in the group left, speeding towards Ghost Howl Gorge.