Chapter 19: Chapter 19

It is just before dawn when Lan Xiaohui strikes the final stroke into a piece of stone embedded into the ground. This final part of the diagram is related to the direction Northwest, and Heaven. After more than twelve hours — probably closer to fourteen, really — she had finally completed the grand formation.

She is so exhausted by the ordeal that, when it is finally over, she sways on her feet and almost falls over. But she is too proud to fall now, so I see her visibly grit her teeth and force one foot in front of the other until she forcefully marches herself the one hundred steps it takes to reach the stone slab.

Unceremoniously she drops onto the ground and leans against the slab. Her expression is so twisted from exhaustion that for a moment I think she will cry again. But I misread the indicators of her non-verbal communication.

She laughs.

She also seems rather pleased with herself and excited — just like I am. Though, I am sure our reasons for feeling this sensation is vastly different.

Lan Xiaohui just finished the greatest physical training she will likely ever have to do.

I am about to have the biggest meal I ever had.

This close to completing my grand formation — and for my first try at this creative business, I have to say I did pretty well — I am beginning to have doubts.

I know what the formation does. I just… don’t know what it does.

I have thought about this part before, but I had assumed back then that I would eventually find the answer. I still had an Insight into the Dao of Arrays melting in my mind. But it’s still not enough to understand how this works or what it looks like.

I imagine it is probably like when I consume bodies. Everything will just shrivel away and turn into Blood Points.

The other question on my sentient core is how exactly do I collect my points. Since I won’t be physically touching them in the most literal of senses will it still count?

I cannot really direct my [Critical Analysis] ability on an abstract concept like knowledge, so I can’t find out the answer directly. My Dao says: consume life and absorb the soul.

Pretty straight forward.

I just don’t want all of this to be for nothing.

“Are you sure this will protect us?” my sentient formation drawer asks.

Just to be safe — better safe than sorry — I activate my Dimensional Storage Array, and set it to what I consider to be the vacuum mode.

As for Lan Xiaohui’s question, I don’t know how to answer. How can anyone ever be sure of anything?

“Do you see any monkeys?” I ask her.

She glances around, then shrugs. “I don’t think so.”

That’s a shame. I really wanted to know what would happen to the monkeys.

“Put me on the slab. You can stab me into the stone.”

She nods after a moment, and it takes her visible effort to get back on her feet. “I forgot. You are the flag.”

My tip is forced against the stone and then she puts pressure on me from above and drives me into the stone. I am so sharp and so dense that not only is this easy, but I don’t even become duller. The place where I’ve cut into the stone is likewise also sharpened by contact with my edge because of how cleanly I cut through it.

“Now what?” she asks. “Do you need me to do anything else?”

I consider her question for a moment. “Don’t wander too far.”

She tilts her head, confused.

The way we made the array was that it was weaker near the center, and stronger further out. It did not make sense to try to squeeze in complicated formation-work into the smallest area close to the center with the least amount of living beings.

“All right,” she says. She sits down again, leaning against the slab.

Now that she is in the safest place in the array, it is time for me to do my part.

The final ingredient the array requires is Black Jade. I am made of Black Jade, but that alone is not enough. It requires my Qi, too.

My Essence is also Black Jade, and it carries Qi. It has also been compressed ten times. Denser and denser with each compression.

Neither on the conservative nor the generous side, I decide ten drops of my Essence will do. And in a moment, my Black Jade begins to pour with a dark, black liquid that flows down my blade and disappears into the rock below. I wait for a few seconds for the blood to reach the center of the formation and then I activate the latent array in my Dao.

A pulse of black and red sword energy expands outwards from my center, forming a circle. Within the circle, magical symbols appear and then flash brightly.

I feel my very being connect with the formation, and it feels as if I am part of a large electronic circuit. I feel my Qi rush outwards, through the many channels we carved into the ground, and fill the grand formation.

Lan Xiaohui looks at me, initially startled by my sword energy, but then her gaze lifts higher, towards my hilt, and then towards the sky.

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Her expression grows ever more horrified with each passing second.

“What… what did you do?” she asks, slowly crawling away from me.

I am not really sure where that question comes from, or what she sees beyond my perception radius.

My Black Jade fuller trembles, then it cracks, as the formation sucks out far more Essence than I ever imagined it would. Within a moment, half of my Essence is devoured by the formation so that it can power itself.

Aren’t I supposed to be the one who would be doing the devouring?

[ Lifespan: 8 years -> 5 years. ]

That’s not optimal.

I feel something, through the array. I feel many, many orbs of warmth. Or maybe softness? It is difficult to define. I feel them diminish in brightness, becoming darker and smaller. They become colder. They disappear.

Lan Xiaohui slowly backpedals away from me. She is still within the safe area of the formation, so I am not really worried.

Then I feel the sudden rush of Qi return through the same channels my Essence took and begin to flow into my dantian.

Immediately, my Qi cultivation breaks through into the Mid stage of Qi Refinement. I almost feel overwhelmed by the torrent of Qi coursing furiously through my meridians. I am worried it might damage my cultivation base.

[ Obtained: Soul Fruit. ]

[ Obtained: Soul Fruit. ]

[ Obtained: Soul Fruit. ]

Several fruits appear inside my internal storage, but I don’t even have time to look at them. I am so focused on maintaining my concentration that I don’t even notice the bolt of lightning strike me.

[ Obtained: Tribulation Lightning. ]

I don’t even notice when Lan Xiaohui screams and throws herself onto the ground. The influx of Qi from the array has my entire attention.

[ Life consumed: +3,626 BP ]

It works! But my excitement is diminished by my decreased lifespan. No matter what, this was not worth it.

That time, I notice the lightning bolt strike me.

[ Obtained: Tribulation Lightning. ]

Strange, I think. I can’t really see the sky, but judging from the weather there was no indication that there would be a thunderstorm.

This isn’t normal lightning, is it?

[ Obtained: Tribulation Lightning. ]

My cultivation base breaks through into the Late stage of Qi Refining at that moment, and I feel the vast array slowing down in its operations, and the vast river of Qi also slowly dries up.

Then, everything is silent for a long moment.

Looking over my state, I have to admit I have seen worse days. I am cracked and rusted in places, and it will surely take quite a bit to recover my lost Essence, but nothing can replace my lost lifespan.

This really was not worth it.

Lan Xiaohui approaches me slowly. My body shimmers with heat and my blade is red hot from being hit by lightning. I am a conductor, after all.

“Are you all right?” she asks.

“No,” I tell her. I am devastated that the formation was nothing at all like what I had expected. “I lost three years of my lifespan.”

[ After absorbing Tribulation Lightning Qi, your Spiritual Roots improve. ]

[ Spiritual Roots: Mortal Grade -> Heaven Grade. ]

Maybe it wasn’t a complete loss.

Lan Xiaohui is in complete disbelief and shock.

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