Starting from the two realms, cultivating immortality by taming beasts

Chapter 52 Array Formations and Patterns

"boom!"

Chen Beiwu used his Wind Control technique to dissipate the force, stepped onto a huge rock, and then raised his head to see a familiar figure.

This was the fourth time Chen Beiwu had met this strange woman, a coincidence that surprised even him.

Mingxue was also slightly taken aback.

To meet four times in two days, perhaps it's fate, and it wouldn't be bad to get to know each other a little.

Thinking of this, Mingxue gracefully extended her right hand to break the awkwardness: "Hello, my name is Mingxue. I'm sorry for misunderstanding you before."

Seeing the scattered jade array plates on the ground, Chen Beiwu's expression softened slightly. He extended his right hand, gently grasped them, and gave a brief self-introduction.

Noticing Chen Beiwu's gaze, Mingxue became interested and took the initiative to start a conversation: "Are you interested in formations?"

"Yes, because the array masters are very strong." Chen Beiwu nodded.

Among all the arts of cultivation, the formation master is generally recognized as having the strongest combat ability.

Array masters excel at leveraging external forces, utilizing the power of heaven and earth, the strength of the earth's veins, the trajectories of stars, and the spirit beasts they associate with.

If a formation master can lay out an inescapable net before a battle, he can not only ensure his own invincibility, but also set up special formations based on the opponent's cultivation level, attributes and the characteristics of the beasts in the same formation, making it impossible for the enemy to escape.

It is no exaggeration to say that a well-prepared third-tier array master can even use a fourth-tier profound array to fight against a Nascent Soul True Monarch, thus escaping with their life from the True Monarch's clutches.

"Are you a first-tier array master?" Chen Beiwu suddenly asked.

"How did you guess that?" Mingxue asked, somewhat surprised.

"It wasn't a guess, it was something I observed."

Chen Beiwu pointed to the array plate: "The school teachers taught the basics of array formation. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the array plate for the first-order array [Nourishing Qi and Fertile Soil Array]."

Mingxue's beautiful eyes flickered, and she looked at Chen Beiwu in surprise: "You're a high school student?"

"Doesn't it look like it?" Chen Beiwu touched his face.

Does he look that mature?

"Your demeanor doesn't match," Mingxue said with a smile.

It is difficult to determine the exact age of a cultivator by their appearance; they are usually determined by their spiritual roots, bone age, and temperament.

Chen Beiwu's demeanor was mature and composed, making him seem less like a high school student and more like a sect cultivator, giving people a unique impression.

"But you're wrong too." Mingxue flicked her index finger, and the jade array plate on the ground immediately disappeared. "I am a teacher at An Yang No. 1 Middle School in Wuyan Prefecture, and also a scholar of array formations at the Imperial Law Pavilion of Wuyan Prefecture."

"You are a second-tier array master?" Chen Beiwu's eyes changed, and his tone became respectful.

It's unbelievable!

Unexpectedly, the ordinary woman he bumped into on the road turned out to be a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"Can't you tell?" she asked with a bright smile.

"I really couldn't tell." Chen Beiwu shook his head, a hint of shame on his face. "I thought you were my peer, senior. I was very rude earlier, and I apologize."

"Ahem." Mingxue suppressed her joy and interrupted, "What senior? You're making me sound old. If you don't mind, just call me Sister Xue from now on."

Not bad, not bad. This young man is not only the apple of her eye, but he also has a sweet tongue.

"Sister Xue," Chen Beiwu said quickly.

It's not a loss to acknowledge a second-tier array master as your older sister, even if it's just lip service.

"Since you call me 'sister,' I can't leave without showing my appreciation." Mingxue smiled slightly, and a storage ring on her finger flashed, revealing a miniature array plate in her palm.

This array is divided into one main array and two secondary arrays.

The main array plate is made of deep-sea wrought iron, which is dark brown in color and engraved with nine array patterns that carry the numerology of the Hetu diagram and are constantly evolving.

The secondary array plates are all made of sea-suspended iron, and are engraved with nine array patterns that combine Qi and Dao.

Chen Beiwu's eyes lit up slightly: "Is this an earth formation?"

Immortal Alliance formations are broadly classified into three types: Heaven, Earth, and Man.

Among them, the Twenty-Eight Mansions, which draw upon the power of the stars in the heavens, form the Heavenly Array.

The Earth Formation is formed by harnessing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and relying on the power of mountains and rivers.

By borrowing the magical power of many cultivators and drawing upon the bloodline of the same beast, a human formation is created.

All three formations—Heaven, Earth, and Man—have endless uses, but in the era of the Immortal Alliance, the most mainstream formations were always the Heaven Formation and the Man Formation.

Because each activation of the Earth Array requires a large amount of power from the mountains and earth veins, it cannot sustainably utilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which is disliked by the higher-ups of the Immortal Alliance.

In addition, there is another important reason: the Immortal Alliance's ultimate formation, the Nine Heavens Star Battle Realm Suppressing Immortal Formation, covers Tianyuan Star, locking in the power of the entire planet's mountains and earth veins.

Under the cover of the Immortal Suppression Array, the power of all the earth arrays was greatly reduced, far less powerful and invincible than in ancient times.

In this situation, most array masters will focus on the more powerful and compatible Heavenly Arrays and Human Arrays.

"Good eye. Can you guess what kind of formation this is?" Mingxue's eyes showed a hint of approval.

The fact that Chen Beiwu could immediately recognize that the Immortal Alliance's formations were neglected and gradually relegated to the bottom tier shows that he had thoroughly mastered the basic formation knowledge of the Immortal Alliance and was a promising candidate for cultivating formations.

Thinking of this, Mingxue's gaze swept across Chen Beiwu's face, and a feeling of admiration for his talent rose in her heart.

Upon hearing this, Chen Beiwu looked at the array patterns on the main array plate, a look of hesitation in his eyes.

What are array patterns?

In ancient times, a master of array formations used Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the Tai Chi Eight Trigrams as the core to derive the infinite River Chart numerology. He summarized and deduced array patterns that took the creation of heaven and earth as the pivot and used the power of heaven and earth for his own use. Eventually, array formations gradually formed one of the hundred arts of cultivating immortality.

As the core of the array formation, the number of array patterns on the array plate can represent the specific grade of the array.

"When Yin and Yang interact, the array is formed. Qi and Dao unite, and patterns and principles are in harmony. Nine patterns are extraordinary, seven nines are spiritual, and nine nines are treasure." This is the mnemonic Chen Beiwu learned in his first high school array lesson.

The meaning of the formula is very simple: a first-order special array can have a maximum of nine array patterns, a second-order spirit array can have a maximum of sixty-three array patterns, and a third-order treasure array can have a maximum of eighty-one array diagrams (combined array patterns).

The main array plate that Mingxue took out had nine array patterns, which were constantly flowing and conformed to the characteristics of water, indicating that it was a first-order high-grade water-attribute array.

Chen Beiwu pondered for a moment, then said softly, "Is this a triple water-locking formation? But it doesn't quite look like one to me."

Upon hearing this, Mingxue's eyes brightened slightly.

"Did I guess right?" Chen Beiwu was quite surprised.

"That's right, this is the five-layered water-locking formation that I modified. A first-tier formation master can place it in a place full of water-attribute spiritual energy, and when it is fully unleashed, it can take on many opponents and easily suppress and kill several Qi Refining Limit cultivators."

At this point, Mingxue paused slightly: "But because Tianyuan Star is shrouded by a celestial array, the power of the Five-fold Water Locking Array is greatly reduced. At most, a first-level array master can only deal with mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators when setting up this array."

"Therefore, the greater significance of this formation lies in learning it than in fighting the enemy."

It's like a living textbook, helping array masters learn and comprehend the mysteries of arrays, and gradually master the essence of first-order arrays through practice.

(End of this chapter)