Starting as a Talisman Master

Chapter 78 Array Master (Sixth Update)

At this moment, Lu Chi's small courtyard made of bluestone was completely silent.

He had already removed his disguise from a dense forest dozens of miles away, and then used a concealment technique to quietly return to the courtyard. He was sitting upright on a futon in the quiet room, with a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.

Before truly entering the late stage of Qi Refining, he did not want the Luo and Shen families to see his true strength too early.

This disguise today is precisely to prevent future troubles.

As a result, even if the Shen and Luo families realized that Ge Jiuzhang had disappeared, all they would find out was that he had fled Qingque Mountain in a panic because his enemies were approaching.

In the short term, it's unlikely that he will be suspected.

As for Ge Jiuzhang's past background and claims, even if some of them are hard to distinguish as true or false, they are no longer of any importance.

Thanks to the profound mystery of the "Hidden Shadow Transformation Record," none of the cultivators present today noticed the flaw. Even if the two families realized it later, they would at most assume that Ge Jiuzhang, sensing the unfavorable situation, had absconded with his savings.

The beginning and end are clean.

Lu Chi composed himself and turned his gaze to the several bulging storage bags in front of him.

Next, it was time to take stock of the wealth of this late-stage Qi Refining array master and his three followers.

Last night, after returning to the courtyard, he dealt with Han Jingxing and the other man, but did not rush to check the spoils. Instead, he sneaked to Ge Jiuzhang's residence to see if the other party had any other contacts or was hiding any other tricks.

Lu Chi took the first step and picked up the storage bags of the three mid-stage Qi Refining followers. With his nascent divine sense, he wiped away the faint remaining marks on them and poured out all the contents.

Looking at the scattered pile of things on the ground, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

Aside from two dimly lit mid-grade magic artifacts, a few ordinary cultivation manuals, and some miscellaneous items, the three of them had only a mere two hundred spirit stones in total.

"So poor?"

A strange feeling arose in Lu Chi's heart.

Three cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, engaged in murder for money, their wealth was truly meager.

This inevitably lowered his expectations for Ge Jiuzhang's storage bag.

Could it be that these desperate criminals hid most of their wealth elsewhere beforehand?

However, when he went to Ge Jiuzhang's residence to set up the disguise, he clearly searched carefully but did not find any hidden compartments or cellars.

With some doubt, Lu Chi picked up Ge Jiuzhang's storage bag embroidered with dark patterns.

"Splash!"

A dazzling burst of spiritual light poured out, and a rich spiritual energy instantly filled the entire quiet room.

Lu Chi's gaze was instantly drawn to the neatly stacked piles of shimmering spirit stones.

Using the keen perception of the nascent divine sense, a quick scan revealed exactly one thousand low-grade spirit stones!

Good guy!

Lu Chi took a deep breath and felt it was absolutely necessary to take back his earlier complaint about being poor.

This murder and robbery really made them a windfall!

After calming himself down, Lu Chi then took out the remaining items from Ge Jiuzhang's storage bag one by one.

Besides the eye-catching pile of spirit stones, several other items soon appeared on the ground.

Three mid-grade magic artifacts with considerable spiritual energy, several jade bottles containing pills, several well-preserved spiritual plants, several pieces of ore gleaming with spiritual light, and some miscellaneous items.

Looking to the side, there were several sets of neatly folded clothes, and two jade slips that felt warm to the touch.

Lu Chi glanced around, intending to continue examining the items, but suddenly paused amidst the pile of miscellaneous items.

"The Order to Listen to the Tide?"

He raised his hand and took the jade pendant into his palm. After seeing the patterns on it, he immediately understood.

It seems that the Listening to the Tide Gathering is indeed a hiding place for many cultivators who have undergone tribulations.

Lu Chi immediately examined the three magical artifacts. They were of excellent quality, and one of them happened to be an ancient sword with a chilling aura.

Last night's battle saw his repeatedly refined low-grade flying sword clash head-on with the Fiery Short Blade of a Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator, leaving it severely damaged and unable to withstand the strain.

With this mid-grade flying sword in hand, he could fill the gap in his offensive magical artifacts.

The other two ritual implements are a bronze mirror and a short knife.

That magic mirror seems to be quite good at defense; keeping it in my hand can be used for self-protection.

As for the short sword, although it is of little use to him at present, it is not useless either. He can use it to study the principles of weapon forging in the future, which will also add some depth to his knowledge.

After casually burning the clothes with his fingertip fire, Lu Chi's gaze finally fell on the most important part of this inventory: the two jade slips lying quietly on the table.

He picked up the first jade slip, placed it on his forehead, and probed it with his mind.

The jade slip contains a cultivation technique that Ge Jiuzhang practiced during his lifetime, called the "Thick Earth Condensing Evil Technique".

Lu Chi glanced at it and found that it was actually a method that directly led to the foundation building stage, even more profound than the "Mysterious Origin Foundation Building Technique" that Han Jingxing had given him before.

According to the description in "Thick Earth Condensing Evil Technique", if one cultivates this method, one can condense a [spiritual foundation].

In the common knowledge of the cultivation world, the foundation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is classified according to quality. Although the spiritual foundation ranks second to last, it is an invaluable treasure for rogue cultivators who lack resources and whose lineage has been severed.

However, Lu Chi himself cultivated the extraordinary "Taiyuan Xuanshui Scripture," so he naturally looked down on such a technique. He only memorized the secret technique called "Huagu Shayin Needle" and carefully put it away.

He took a deep breath and placed the last jade slip on his forehead.

The moment his mind probed into the depths, an undisguised smile finally appeared in Lu Chi's eyes.

This jade slip is densely filled with records of the foundation of Ge Jiuzhang's mastery of array formations, and is called "The Record of Array Formation Seeking".

It records many formations and systematically explains the path to becoming a formation master and how to cultivate one.

After reading for a while, Lu Chi gained a deeper understanding of this profession.

Within the sea of ​​consciousness, as the principles of array flowed, the hierarchical divisions of array paths were clearly laid out.

The grade of the formation is perfectly matched with the cultivator's realm. For a Qi Refining stage cultivator, the limit they can reach is a first-grade formation.

First-tier formations are further subdivided into four minor tiers: lower, middle, upper, and supreme.

The lower grade is mostly used for basic gathering of spirit, storing of qi, and illusion; the middle grade has the initial ability to trap enemies and attack; the upper grade has greatly increased power, enough to threaten cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining.

A first-tier top-grade formation can mobilize immense power of heaven and earth, possessing a slim chance of contending with a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

The [Yin Sha Corrosion Spirit Array] is a profound first-tier high-grade array.

Array masters hold a transcendent status in the cultivation world, yet their numbers are extremely small.

The reason for this is that the requirements for the strength of the soul in the art of array formation are almost harsh. If a Qi Refining cultivator does not have extraordinary talent, he will find it difficult to even draw the most basic array patterns.

Secondly, array formations are extremely expensive. The spiritual materials needed to practice array formations and refine array flags are all incredibly valuable, far beyond the reach of ordinary independent cultivators.

In scattered settlements like Qingque Mountain Market, there is no systematic inheritance or transmission of formation techniques.

Even the protective array of Qingque Mountain was said to have been set up by a master of array formations, specially invited from another place by the three major families at great expense.

Lu Chi had witnessed the wonders of the formation in Ge Jiuzhang's hands and had long coveted it. Now that this inheritance had fallen into his hands, it could be considered to have filled a gap in his means of self-protection.

After reading it, although he couldn't immediately set up a killing formation, the insightful and profound understanding broadened his horizons considerably.

Lu Chi got up and walked out of the quiet room, his gaze re-examining the small blue stone courtyard where he had lived for so long.

When they first moved into this house, Shen Yazi, who led the way, mentioned that the original owner of this place was a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator who, by chance, returned from traveling in other places and studied some rudimentary array formations on his own. That's how he set up two small arrays in this courtyard: one for gathering spirit and one for storing Qi.

Previously, Lu Chi only felt that the formation was operating smoothly and gathering spiritual energy, but now, from the perspective of the "Tracing the Pulse Formation Record", he saw that it was full of loopholes.

"The base of this spirit-gathering array is off-center from the earth's energy nodes by three-tenths, resulting in a 30% increase in spiritual energy loss. Furthermore, the overlapping patterns of the energy-concealing array are stiff and rigid, and anyone with keen senses could easily discern its true nature at a glance."

Lu Chi took out a small bottle of spirit sand from Ge Jiuzhang's legacy, and with a slight exertion of his magic power, quickly applied and outlined the joints of the array.

Although his technique was still somewhat clumsy, his advantage lay in his keen perception; each spiritual rune precisely struck the flow of earth energy.

A moment later, with the final stroke.

"Om one—"

The old osmanthus tree in the courtyard swayed without wind, and the originally dull spirit-gathering array seemed to be infused with a soul, with the surrounding spiritual energy gathering speed suddenly increasing by more than 30%.

The energy-concealing array became increasingly smooth and natural, its light screen blending seamlessly with the surrounding environment, its energy completely contained.

At that very moment, the career panel suddenly appeared in front of Lu Chi's eyes.

[Unlock Quest: Array Master]

[Unlock Objective]:

[Completed]: One adjustment to the formation based on the qi (completed)

[Objective]: To form an independent team once >