Chapter 94: Maturation of the Heart-Treasure Herb

Initially, the Trigram Array was nothing more than three mutually compatible array patterns spliced together. Chen Yu valued it primarily for its ability to amplify a certain pattern.

During that time, Chen Yu also wondered whether array patterns were the ultimate simplification, and if smaller, functional units might still exist within these patterns.

To use the analogy of building blocks, could these array patterns acting as blocks be composed of another set of smaller blocks?

However, after numerous tests—even pondering the complete patterns saturated with Qi over a hundred times—he never found them. Everything told him that array patterns were indeed the most fundamental components produced when Qi interacted with the external world.

Yet right now, a corner of the Trigram Array brought his focus back: there were critical parts within the array patterns. If missing, the entire array would fail to function.

Using his spiritual sense to cut away this section, the remaining array patterns quickly 'withered'—not just one, but all three grew sluggish together. Manifesting in the external world, the originally hazy halo of light rapidly dissipated, signaling the failure of this Trigram Array.

Could this be considered the core of the array patterns?

Must it only manifest within the Trigram Array? No, perhaps this core wasn't entirely nonexistent; it was simply incomplete. Every array pattern possessed a portion of it, and it would only truly emerge when the matching segments were pieced together.

To put it simply, the core could be regarded as being divided into three parts, with each part hidden within a different array pattern.

They usually remained silent, but when combined, they exerted a function—and as for what this function actually was, Chen Yu held a faint conjecture in his heart.

For a long time, he had been pondering a question: how on earth did array patterns manage to exert influence upon heaven, earth, and nature, such as gathering water, condensing mist, forming needles, and transforming wind...

Although they all looked very weak, the array patterns themselves undoubtedly lacked elements like water, mist, and wind. So how on earth could they gather wind or make water appear out of thin air?

Chen Yu re-traced the patterns and activated them once again.

From his spiritual perspective, he finally saw that those water traces were not appearing out of nowhere, but were being drawn from various parts of the void. Yet it wasn't that these moisture particles were actively moving closer, but rather that the wooden talisman was continuously sucking them in.

What produced this attractive force was precisely that 'core' located where the three array patterns converged.

Without a doubt, the core could indeed dictate the operation of the entire array. However, he immediately dismantled the combined wooden talismans.

With the individual array patterns laid out before his eyes—three wooden tablets—the scene changed once more when Qi was injected into them simultaneously.

The array patterns still exhibited strange phenomena, though their efficacy was much weaker compared to when they were formed into an array. Yet at this moment, Chen Yu discovered that that same attractive force had appeared in different locations across all three array patterns.

In other words, there were three cores.

The crucial point was that none of these three locations matched the positions they occupied when previously spliced together.

Whoosh!

A gleam flashed in his eyes, as he felt this phenomenon growing increasingly interesting. What on earth was a core that could move and flow? Was it merely the patterns themselves? Was it related to the material of the wood? Or perhaps, was it connected to the very essence of Qi?

Pity that spiritual energy was insufficient. Next, he had to devote himself entirely to strengthening the Qi within his body and could no longer afford to consume it recklessly.

He recorded his various guesses. Call them daydreams or wild imaginations, these current thoughts might come in handy during future experiments, or at the very least, serve as items to be eliminated, providing a narrowed range for locking onto the correct answer.

...

Setting the array patterns and arrays aside, over the next few days Chen Yu dedicated himself entirely to ingesting and cultivating Qi internally. Primarily, he consumed spiritual energy every day, eager to nourish the Qi within his body until it was plump and robust. At the same time, he harbored a curiosity: once it saturated his entire body and filled his flesh and blood, would it usher in a second metamorphosis?

Regarding this, he himself could not be certain. He only knew that doing so was harmless, though just how many benefits there would be and in what aspects they would manifest remained unclear.

The cultivation and nurturing of Qi officially entered a high-speed phase.

First and foremost was embedding it into the five viscera. These areas were very fragile, so naturally they were the first ones he began to nourish.

Heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys, bones, flesh, blood, skin, and tendons.

From the inside out, not a single inch was overlooked.

Meanwhile, the mountain fields required no worry, but contrasting this, continuous bad news arrived from the medicinal herb garden.

First, the second sowing of the ground dandelion seeds failed.

Although the ground dandelions in the medicinal soil had been reduced by more than half due to efficacy issues, he had buried a portion of the irregularly shaped, pebble-like seeds into the soil to test whether the spiritual plant seeds cultivated by spiritual Qi could be replanted. After several days of observation—and even expending a dozen or so drops of spiritual liquid—the results were less than optimistic.

The seeds died in the womb and rotted beneath the earth.

Second, several tree saplings planted close together somehow attracted pests. Having never encountered this before, Chen Yu initially saw yellowing leaves and peeling bark and assumed it was a lack of nutrients, regretfully pouring spiritual liquid over them. The moment he poured it out, however, several colorful, fat bugs wriggled out and began jumping about with excitement.

He fed them all to the birds.

Exterminating pests on trees... Chen Yu had no experience with that.

However, it wasn't all bad news. The Baoxin grass planted by the edge of the vegetable garden had finally matured. After months of meticulous watering and care—especially when spiritual liquid was still abundant, pouring it on daily—

Having been forced to mature up to this point, the Baoxin grass, now curled into a vine, leaned against the stones stacked around it, leisurely stretching out the three slender green leaves at its top.

Beneath each leaf lay a soybean-sized, cyan-skinned fruit. Three fruits in total, all exuding a rich vegetation aura.

Chen Yu was going to harvest them today. Walking briskly over, a smile inevitably crept onto his face as he confirmed their maturity. He had no idea what medicinal efficacy this herb, cultivated by spiritual Qi, might actually possess.

Compared to the rest, the Baoxin grass had undoubtedly taken far too long. Long before being buried in the soil, it had grown in an earthenware jar for quite a while. Catalyzed by spiritual Qi and nourished by spiritual liquid, it had only finally produced results today. How could this not fill him with joy?

Squatting down, he cleared away the surrounding gravel and broken wooden fragments. Back then, for protection, he had first built a circle of fences, and later, once he had array techniques, he constructed an additional layer of a makeshift water-mist needle-deflection array—he had no choice, that was the one he had studied the most deeply and was most proficient at combining.

However, entering August, the remaining stock of spiritual energy was plain for him to see, so he had halted the periodic replenishment of Qi within the wooden talismans.

The array was abandoned, but fortunately, the outer fence remained.

Facts proved that an imperfect array was sometimes indeed less effective than these simple physical barriers.

The Baoxin grass was not like ginseng or the like; it didn't have so many myths and legends circulating about it, nor could it run away. Therefore, the process of harvesting the herb was very simple: dig away the surface soil to expose the long roots, grab the stem base, and pull straight up.

The root fibers clinging to some of the stones also had to be pulled off completely to avoid waste.

Cup-holding the medicinal herb in his hands, he set it aside and then scooped up a portion of the soil. As his spiritual sense penetrated it, he found it pitch black; the star-like web and nodes that were present during transplantation had completely vanished at this moment.

It had indeed absorbed everything.

Lost in thought, Chen Yu departed with the medicinal herbs.