Volume 1, Chapter 74 – Arrival

Among the three souls, Yuqing was the heavenly soul, born with complete mastery over the laws of heaven and earth. His growth was the fastest of the three. In the span of just a thousand years, he had already attained the Dao, proved the fruit of a Saint, and held the power over the life and death of all beings under heaven.

This Yuqing Creation Art was the cultivation method Yuqing created at the very beginning of his reincarnation, when he first comprehended the path of cultivation. As his cultivation continued to rise, the level of the art was constantly elevated as well, and in the end it became a supreme method pointing straight at the quasi-saint realm.

Once these scenes flashed past one by one, a stream of information poured into Shi Lan’s mind—it was the circulation route for the Innate Realm.

After her heart had calmed from the shock of having personally witnessed Pangu splitting the heavens, Shi Lan asked in puzzlement,

“From what I saw, Yuqing’s cultivation path doesn’t look like it starts from the Innate Realm. He was already an immortal body at reincarnation. And why is there only the Innate Realm circulation method?”

【The “Yuqing Creation Art” conflicts with the current world’s heavenly laws. What the host has received is a version that has been repaired and adjusted by the system.】

【The later circulation methods will be unlocked automatically once the host’s cultivation reaches the required level.】

Shi Lan understood. She didn’t rush to cultivate the Yuqing Creation Art but instead opened the lottery tab.

“Start drawing.”

The wheel began to spin.

【Unfortunately, the host has not obtained any item.】

Shi Lan raised an eyebrow. This seemed to be the first time she hadn’t gotten anything at all.

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The wheel began to spin slowly again.

【Congratulations to the host on obtaining a two-star item: “Basic Array Overview.”】

Shi Lan opened the system’s temporary storage and took out the “Basic Array Overview” she’d drawn.

The title on the cover wasn’t what the system had called it, but “Array Canon.”

It was the size of an ordinary book, nearly two inches thick, and looked like it had been flipped through often—its edges were a bit worn.

When she lifted the title page, the first thing she saw was a block of cursive script. The writing was so wild and unrestrained that Shi Lan had to stare at it for quite a while before she could barely make out the general meaning of a few lines.

It was basically the author’s own preface. He claimed to be a grandmaster of formations, and this Array Canon was his life’s work. Every formation that had appeared under heaven in the past several thousand years, up and down the ages, was recorded within, all with annotations and detailed explanations.

Beyond those few lines, most of the rest were things that seemed like humble words on the surface but were actually just him bragging.

The gist of it was: “I don’t think I’m that great, but everyone else says I am, so you know—I really am that great,” and so on.

Shi Lan flipped past the title page and began to study the Array Canon.

The opening section of the Array Canon didn’t talk about specific formations but first introduced the components and classifications of formations.

There were countless formations in the world, but in all their myriad changes, they could never escape their roots.

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All of them were based on yin and yang, the three talents, the four symbols, the five elements, the six directions, the seven stars, the eight trigrams, the nine palaces, and the ten directions—small to large, simple to complex, layer by layer. The many variations of position and configuration within them were profound and inscrutable.

After stepping into the Innate Realm, Shi Lan’s mind had, for some reason, become exceptionally clear. Everything she had just read, she only needed to glance over once and it was fully memorized, understood without any difficulty at all.

At the end of the opening section, there was another line of annotation in much neater handwriting.

“Foundational knowledge is especially important and must be firmly memorized. Back then, it took this humble author about half a month to remember it. For ordinary people, memorizing it within half a year is already quite good. Be patient.”

After that, he took the chance to brag again from the side about how extraordinary his own talent was.

Shi Lan was a bit speechless and decided to ignore it.

As the sky darkened, Shi Lan got out of bed, lit a lamp, and went to the table to continue reading the Array Canon.

……

After circling through all the cities ravaged by the demonic beasts, the cloudship that had passed by Twin Moon City finally arrived at Xianwu City at the foot of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect.

Xianwu City sat beneath the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect, vast beyond compare, nearly a thousand li long and wide. For an ordinary Innate Realm martial artist, flying from the south gate to the north gate would take close to a full day.

However, flying was prohibited in the skies above Xianwu City, and a special anti-flight array had been set up.

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The reason was simply that there were too many martial artists above the Innate Realm. To prevent them from buzzing around the sky like flies and disturbing everyone’s peace, this rule had been made.

Once they arrived, all the children with decent aptitude aboard the cloudship were taken into the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect. Those with black aptitude were taken on as menial disciples, while those with red aptitude were promoted directly to outer sect disciples.

A few children had aptitude even better than red. The moment they stepped off the ship, they were taken away by several people whose clothing clearly differed from the outer sect disciples, and flown toward the spirit peaks hidden among the layers of clouds and mist.

Beneath the cloudship, Du Baisheng and his grandson were bidding farewell to Shi Feng and the others. Not far away stood an outer sect disciple of the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect.

“Thank you for taking care of us along the way,” Du Baisheng said with a cupped-fist salute.

There had been far too many people aboard the cloudship this time; even a space that large had nearly been packed full. Among them were quite a few hot-tempered martial artists, and friction was inevitable.

For this sort of minor conflict, both the Demon-Suppressing Army and the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect people turned a blind eye, so long as no one was killed.

Tang Yan’s strength wasn’t particularly great, but she had still helped Du Baisheng and his grandson stave off quite a bit of trouble.

Tang Yan shook her head. “No need to thank me. If you’re going to thank someone, thank Shi Lan.”

“Let’s keep it short. Time isn’t going to wait for us,” that Sacred Martial Immortal Sect disciple said with a frown, urging them along.

Recently, huge numbers of people had flooded into Xianwu City. Dragons and snakes mingled together, and martial artists fighting in the streets had become common, often causing accidents with heavy casualties. The sect people were already run ragged, so their patience was naturally thin.

“Right, right, of course,” Du Baisheng said quickly.

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“That’s that, then. Get Yue’er settled as soon as you can,” Tang Yan said with a wave.

Watching Du Yue’er in the distance, Jiang Qi clenched his fists unwillingly.

His aptitude was the most ordinary white, and his younger sister Jiang Ya’s was a bit better, but only blue. Neither had the qualifications to enter the Sacred Martial Immortal Sect. In that case, how was he supposed to protect his mother and sister?

“There are many paths one can take in this world. The Sacred Martial Immortal Sect isn’t the only one,” Shi Feng said quietly, patting Jiang Qi’s head.

“There are indeed many paths in this world,” the disciple in the distance said, resting his hand on his sword with a faintly mocking tone, “but whether they lead anywhere is another matter entirely.”

Jiang Qi’s emotions had just begun to ease, but at those words, his eyes reddened again and he lowered his head.

“Your words are a bit too much, don’t you think?”

Shi Feng glanced at the disciple, a hint of cold light in his eyes. Tang Yan’s expression had darkened as well.

Under Shi Feng’s stare, the disciple felt a prickle run down his back and subconsciously took a step back. When he realized what he’d done, shame and anger flared in his chest. He’d actually been startled by a half-cripple who needed someone to support him just to walk.

He stepped forward, came right up to Shi Feng, and lifted his sword sheath, shoving Shi Feng’s shoulder twice.

“Too much? How is it too much? You think this isn’t already too much?”