Chapter 74 Formations and Building Blocks

Near noon, Chen Yu held two strings of wooden plaques in his hand.

Inscribed upon them were array patterns, each painstakingly carved with a pen-knife to feature several Three-Talent Arrays.

They required only a modest injection of Qi to be activated, triggering wondrous phenomena.

This was an application he had devised while exploring array patterns and mystical arts. Building upon the foundation of pure, conventional array carving, he had introduced numerous modifications and improvements, rendering them vastly more practical than before.

The hollow wooden sphere hanging behind the courtyard, which housed the external Qi seed, was one such application. It managed to conserve the energy of the Qi seed to the utmost while providing sufficient coverage within a radius of ten zhang.

Beyond that, his greatest achievement lay in these wooden plaques he held.

Taoism had talismans, rooted in yellow paper and based on cinnabar, sometimes mixed with the blood of sacrificial animals or supplemented with herbal juices. Through word of mouth and idle gossip, they had always been the quintessential choice for subduing demons and vanquishing ghosts.

The sects of Jingming, Hesha, and Danding could not match the Mountain Talisman lineage in this specific art, yet most of them dabbled in it to some extent. Earlier, Chen Yu had browsed through numerous Daoist scrolls on talisman arts within the Square Terrace Pavilion. Although shallow and not deeply profound, they were sufficient to unveil the various concepts and traditions surrounding talisman-making in this land beneath his feet.

Now, having devised the array patterns and thoroughly studied the Three-Talent Array, he was merely a step away from constructing a genuine array. Yet this single step had trapped him, preventing any further progress.

A Three-Talent Array was a functional unit composed of three combined array patterns.

In his anticipation, the combination of several such units might well replicate legendary magical arrays in reality. However, things turned out contrary to his wishes; the conflicts between array patterns still prevented him from reaching completion. Amidst repeated turbulence and dispersion, the Qi surged up like mist beneath the morning sun, dissipating an untold amount.

Fortunately, he eventually devised a method, turning his gaze back to the initial wooden blocks upon which both array patterns and formations had been tested numerous times.

Since a complete structure could not be built directly as a whole, he would change his approach.

Much like playing with building blocks, as long as the Three-Talent Array serving as the basic unit could be activated, through mutual combination, he would eventually find a way to amplify and select the effects of the array patterns.

Chen Yu chopped down trees and whittled hundreds of wooden plaques. After spending several days amidst a litter of yellowish wood shavings, he finally carved the Three-Talent Array onto the very last plaque.

There were ninety-seven finished pieces in total. Setting aside those that had developed cracks under the baptism of Qi due to material defects, forty-six remained.

Every single one bore a Three-Talent Array—a complete unit.

Initially, he had considered carving a single array pattern per plaque, thinking this might make combinations more flexible. Eventually, however, he abandoned the idea, because three separate array patterns could not link, guide, or stabilize one another; forcibly binding them together with Qi and spiritual will was also a futile effort.

What followed was a tedious yet not uninteresting splicing process. This required his control over Qi to be sufficiently meticulous so as to avoid damaging the wooden plaques as much as possible during the trials.

The mastery gained from continuously carving array patterns over this period made him quite adept at the task. Requiring very little spiritual will, he successfully assembled three sets.

During the process, only four pieces were damaged, leaving a full forty-two intact wooden plaques.

The three sets that were practical and operational were distinguished and named according to their effects. The most refined among them was a set centered around the [Gathering Water] array pattern, with most of its Three-Talent Array choices tailored to this aspect. Relying on eight mutually complementary wooden plaques, it ultimately succeeded in amplifying this capability.

After making slight modifications to the details, he named it the [Mist-Water Needle-Repelling Array].

It condensed water mist and transformed it into piercing water needles, which could simultaneously bewilder enemies on the outside, trap them on the inside, and launch offensive attacks.

Naturally, the actual efficacy remained to be tested.

Swish!

The square wooden plaques were laid out on the ground. Squatting beneath the peach tree, he began to fiddle with them.

At this moment, the branches of the peach tree before him were thick and sturdy. Where the blossoms had receded, thumb-sized bulging buds had formed, wrapped in thick brown bark, looking somewhat like the chestnuts he had eaten in his past life.

Chen Yu glanced at them, then lowered his head to continue tinkering with the plaques in his hands. Pulling aside the protective fence, he arranged them neatly, planting a circle of them around the roots of the tree.

Normally, peach trees bore fruit in August or September. Under the catalytic influence of spiritual energy, however, this peach tree had mutated, and both its flowering period and fruiting method were extraordinary. No one knew when one would truly be able to taste a fresh peach.

Still, anticipation lingered. The reason he had rushed headlong into the array patterns over the past few days, single-mindedly wishing to forge a magical array, was inevitably driven by a trace of protective instinct—he worried that the foolish deer would reappear and ruin the growth of the peaches.

That fellow was entirely capable of such a feat. One need only look at the bare stretch near the very bottom, devoid of even half a bulging bud, to know how severely the man and the deer had ravaged this peach tree in the past.

Beneath the tree, the wooden plaques were all planted. Chen Yu’s gaze sharpened; he stood up, took two steps back, and gently stroked the empty air before him.

A faint jade-white hue emerged, and the acupoints between his palms and fingers sprang open like twinkling stars. Qi was driven forth from them, pouring into the eight wooden plaques.

A soft radiance lit up, and the wooden plaques embedded in the soil emitted brilliance one after another, blooming brightly in the sunlight.

Buzz, buzz!

Until the very last plaque became translucent, all the plaques seemed to connect into a single entity. Their gathered light flickered several times before instantly shrinking back into the wood.

Chen Yu stood firm, making no other movements, just watching quietly. Half a quarter of an hour passed.

There was no change whatsoever.

Another quarter of an hour elapsed. Finally, a single droplet of water rolled down from a branch and hit the ground with a drip.

This single drop acted like a switch. Beneath the rustic, deep-yellow hue of the wooden plaques, a misty white light emanated, accompanied by an endless patter of rain and dew.

Drip, drop, drip, drop—endless to the ear.

He watched for a little longer until the water droplets had pooled into a puddle around the base of the tree. Only then did he turn and walk away, shaking his head while still holding the other string of wooden plaques.

It could not be called a failure, but the activation process was too sluggish, and the result left something to be desired.

In the afternoon, after hastily steaming a pot of fragrant, yellow-and-white mixed rice, Chen Yu scooped a spoonful of wild chili paste, mixed it with dried and then boiled bowel-soothing grass, added a bowl of it to his hand, and walked back to the peach tree while eating.

By now, after an hour of gradual progression, the scene beneath the roots of the tree had transformed completely.

A thin mist shrouded the area, with the wooden plaques hidden within. The mist looked wispy, but when he tried to reach out his hand, he only felt a sense of viscosity.

He waved his hand twice, but the expected transformation did not occur.

Chen Yu blinked, swallowed the rice in his mouth, and sighed. He thrust his hand deeper into the mist and shook it with a much greater amplitude, stirring and churning this layer of water mist.

The next moment, a change finally occurred:

Under his gaze, the water mist slowly converged, then stretched and rotated at the speed of a crawling snail, transforming into slender, transparent water needles as fine as silver needles.

They pierced down.

They slightly pricked his palm... to a depth of about one-tenth of an inch.

Crack!

He casually flicked his hand. The trembling of his skin generated gusts of palm wind that rippled through the viscous mist, shattering the water needles completely.

Withdrawing his palm, Chen Yu picked up his chopsticks and shoveled another mouthful of rice.

He glanced at the wooden plaques beneath the tree. When his spiritual will pierced into one to inspect it, he found that a quarter of its energy had indeed been consumed. At this rate, he estimated a full set could barely sustain itself for three hours.

Thinking back on the water needles, which fell so far short of his expectations, he felt helpless. An array had indeed been created—it was usable, certainly, but it also seemed not entirely usable.

After much consideration, he decided to modify it further.

There was nothing else on the mountain to disturb or trouble him. At least he had made a start; a genuine magical array would sooner or later be brought to fruition.