Chapter 15: Top-Grade Spirit Gathering Array
The spirit fish seemed to understand Song Changsheng's words, blowing bubbles even more vigorously.
Song Changsheng shook his head and said, “Although this tea isn't of much use to me at the moment, it's still an extremely rare thing. I have greater plans for it in the future, so I can't give it to you.”
With that, he turned to leave.
Seeing this, the spirit fish became anxious and hurriedly blew out a string of bubbles. Although Song Changsheng didn’t understand “bubble language,” he could more or less guess it was trying to communicate something.
This piqued his interest. The intelligence displayed by the spirit fish was far beyond what it should possess at its current stage.
“Could it be... it's already touched the threshold of second rank?” Song Changsheng mused.
If that were true, it would be excellent news for the family. A second rank spirit fish could breed higher-quality offspring in greater numbers.
And for Song Changsheng himself, it was also beneficial. Most importantly, a second rank spirit fish, despite its slight increase in power, was still within his ability to subdue.
“In that case, I suppose letting you try once wouldn’t hurt.” Song Changsheng took a tea bud from the jade bottle and tossed it into the fish’s mouth.
Having achieved its goal, the spirit fish joyfully spun in the water before diving back into the lake’s depths...
Song Changsheng suddenly realized that more and more areas on the island required spiritual energy. The spiritual plants needed vast amounts to grow, and the Mistveil Tea Tree was a major consumer as well.
His own cultivation demanded even more. Yet, the spiritual energy on Mirrorlake Island was already falling short.
“My formation skills have finally touched the threshold of advancement. It’s time to attempt a breakthrough, let’s start with the Spirit Gathering Array,” he murmured.
Maintaining a calm mind, Song Changsheng took out the necessary formation tools from his storage pouch, placing them carefully within easy reach.
This formation would require a set of top-grade first rank formation flags. Since the Spirit Gathering Array was a permanent type of formation, he would also need a top-grade formation base.
With his current level of artifact crafting, he still couldn’t forge a top-grade first rank artifact. The items he was using now were inherited from his father, Song Luyan.
Perhaps it was a matter of bloodline inheritance, his grandfather Song Xianming, his father, and now himself had all shown notable talent in the Dao of Formations.
Still, the tools weren’t forged by his own hands, so their effectiveness wouldn’t be optimal. But with his artifact crafting at a bottleneck, he had no choice.
“Formation base, rise.” Song Changsheng tapped lightly, and the disk-shaped formation base expanded rapidly until it reached one zhang in diameter before stopping.
“Descend.”
Under the control of his spiritual sense, the base slowly sank into the earth in front of him. Then, with a wave of his sleeve, he cast out twelve triangular formation flags.
Holding his breath, he guided the flags with his energy. They quickly embedded themselves into the ground in a precise, intricate pattern. Under the guidance of his spiritual sense, the flags and the formation base linked together seamlessly.
“Now!”
Song Changsheng’s eyes snapped open. He stepped into the formation. As his foot landed, faint formation lines lit up beneath him. He walked slowly, as if strolling through a garden, and complex patterns began to appear with each step.
The lines became denser, the connection between flags and base growing ever tighter until they formed a cohesive whole.
Now at the very heart of the formation, Song Changsheng dropped the final spirit stone and took one last step.
The moment his foot touched the ground, the entire array seemed to come alive. The formation lines shimmered as if imbued with life.
“Rise!” he shouted, stomping the ground.
Blinding light erupted from the lines. Song Changsheng quickly formed a complex hand seal, and the ground began to tremble violently.
He was now connecting the formation to the spirit vein. A permanent formation must be anchored to a spirit vein to achieve the state of endless energy.
With such a foundation, even if the formation flags or base were damaged, the array could still draw power and recover on its own.
Even if an enemy managed to breach the defenses, as long as spiritual energy was replenished, the gaps would mend themselves swiftly, making it incredibly formidable.
In this world, whether a sect or family could endure often depended on their formations. If the Song Clan hadn’t possessed a mid-grade third rank protective formation, they would’ve been annihilated by the Lieyang Sect in that last battle…
With a final tremor, the formation lines extended from the base and successfully connected with the spiritual veins beneath Little Qing Mountain. As long as the spirit vein existed, this Spirit Gathering Array would continue running indefinitely.
“Huff…”
Song Changsheng let out a long breath. The formation was complete.
Even this short process had left his face pale as paper, sweat pouring from his brow and soaking the earth at his feet.
He sat cross-legged without delay, pulled out the treasure gourd, and took several gulps of spirit wine. Only then did he begin circulating his cultivation method to recover his spent spiritual and mental energy.
By the Si Hour(9-11am) the next morning, he had finally completed his meditation. Color returned to his cheeks.
“As expected, the difficulty of a top-grade first rank formation is on a completely different level. If I hadn’t practiced the process daily in my mind, this wouldn’t have gone so smoothly,” he said, gazing at the array with satisfaction.
By formation master standards, successfully setting up a top-grade first rank formation independently and completely now qualified him as a top-grade first rank Formation Master.
“Let’s test the results.”
He took out the control token and activated the formation. Dormant lines flared to life and began spreading outward until they reached their limit.
The activated array now covered a much wider area, enveloping his hut, a section of spirit fields, and several plum trees.
Song Changsheng could clearly feel the surrounding spiritual energy thickening rapidly, eventually reaching nearly three times the average concentration of a second rank spirit vein.
However, the spiritual energy within a few hundred meters of Mirrorlake Island dropped to less than half the average.
The Spirit Gathering Array was powerful but not suited for widespread use. The more densely populated an area was with cultivators, the less viable it became, since the array concentrated nearby spiritual energy within itself.
One array could support the cultivation of only two or three people, while the cost was rendering the surrounding area barren for hundreds of meters.
Only because Little Qing Mountain was sparsely populated with cultivators did Song Changsheng dare deploy it. Had he done so in a more crowded area, he’d have been beaten to death...
Cultivation time always passed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, the year’s end arrived, and a family steward came to collect the spirit fish harvest. After taking the required two hundred, over twenty adult fish remained.
These naturally went into Song Changsheng’s pocket. At two spirit stones apiece, it was a tidy income.
As for the fish king, after swallowing the Mistveil Tea sprout, it had gone silent. Whether it succeeded or failed remained unknown…
(Chapter End)