Mortal: The Path to Immortality

Xin Ruyin entered an inner room, and a moment later, she came out of the room carrying a piece of silk.

"Please take a look, senior." She held out her hands and respectfully handed the silk drawing to Lu Nanzhu.

Lu Nanzhu took the blueprints, touched the slightly rough silk surface, and carefully examined them with his divine sense.

As he read, he quickly deduced the ideas in his mind, and his face would occasionally show a look of amazement.

The design of this formation was extremely ingenious, yet the array patterns were not simply a complex accumulation, which drew frequent nods of praise from Lu Nanzhu.

After memorizing the formation diagram, he breathed a sigh of relief and steadily returned the diagram.

"This formation is truly ingenious. The puppets and the formation complement each other, increasing the defensive power by more than double! Miss Ruyin's ingenuity is rare in my life, and I am truly impressed."

"I don't deserve your praise, senior. You flatter me." Xin Ruyin replied, her face flushed, as she took back the array diagram, feeling somewhat flattered.

Lu Nanzhu smiled slightly, took out a white porcelain bottle from his storage bag, handed it to Xin Ruyin, and said:

"I have benefited greatly from reading the young lady's secret array diagrams just now."

These aren't some top-grade elixirs, but they can help stabilize your qi and blood, and aid your cultivation. Consider them my token of gratitude.

Upon seeing this, Xin Ruyin waved her hands repeatedly and said with some surprise:

"Absolutely not! Ruyin has already received the prescription from you today, and there's also the life-saving promise of the 'three-year agreement.' She already has no way to repay you, how can she possibly ask for more of your medicine?"

"Young lady, you misunderstand. I came down the mountain to practice medicine and provide free medical care. How could I possibly take advantage of this to seek repayment? If my master finds out, I will certainly be punished."

Lu Nanzhu stopped Xin Ruyin from declining, his expression turned serious, and he took out more than a dozen mysterious fragments that he had obtained from Han Yunsong from his storage bag, arranging them in a row on the table.

"In addition, I actually have a few things I need to ask you two for help with."

Lu Nanzhu pointed to the fragments on the table and continued:

"I obtained these fragments by chance. Although I can see that the array patterns on them have a murderous aura, they must be of great significance."

However, due to my limited knowledge, after much contemplation, I can only deduce that it is a powerful killing formation, but I have been unable to make any further progress.

Seeing your profound knowledge of formations today, I have taken the liberty of asking Miss Ruyin for your help in resolving my doubts.

Xin Ruyin was still immersed in the joy of receiving the medicine when her eyes suddenly widened upon seeing the array patterns on the fragment.

Ignoring her weakness, she subconsciously moved closer, gently stroking the veins of the array patterns on the fragment with her hand, probing it with her divine sense.

After a moment, she took a deep breath, her thin face showing some excitement.

"This...this is a fragment of the 'Star-Pulling Dipper Formation,' one of the Ten Great Ancient Divine Forbidden Formations?"

Xin Ruyin raised her head, her eyes filled with shock, her voice even trembling slightly:

"It is said that this formation possesses the heaven-reaching power of 'pulling stars and embracing constellations, manipulating creation,' and emphasizes the supreme method of using minimal force to achieve maximum effect."

Legend has it that thousands of years ago, the exceptionally talented founder of the Tianxing Sect, having just condensed his Nascent Soul, single-handedly annihilated several powerful enemies at the mid-Nascent Soul stage using a replica of the "Star-Pulling Array." This single battle cemented the Tianxing Sect's reputation and established its position within the Yuanwu Kingdom.

Qi Yunxiao, who was standing to the side, was also somewhat surprised. Although he knew that Miss Ruyin had very high standards, it was rare to find something that could make her lose her composure like this.

Xin Ruyin stroked the fragment, her tone gradually becoming low and somber:

"However, although this formation is powerful, it has a major limitation. The person who controls the formation must use their own spiritual energy as a guide to resonate with the power of the stars, which is extremely dangerous."

Once the formation is activated, unless the enemy is completely annihilated or the formation plate is destroyed, the formation will continuously and relentlessly drain spiritual energy from the person controlling it. The person controlling the formation will have their spiritual energy completely drained until they die.

She looked at Lu Nanzhu and said seriously:

"Therefore, unless the caster possesses a rare treasure like the 'Ten Thousand Year Spirit Milk' that can instantly replenish spiritual energy, they would never dare to easily activate this formation without absolute certainty of killing the enemy. It is truly a desperate move that leads to mutual destruction."

Upon hearing this, Lu Nanzhu was also filled with shock and disbelief. He had originally thought it was just a powerful killing formation, but he never expected it to be such a domineering ancient divine restriction.

Xin Ruyin examined it carefully for a while longer, then added:

"Judging from the material and wear of these fragments, they are mostly imitations of ancient restrictions made by powerful beings in later generations, though their power is less than one ten-thousandth of the original."

However, if it can be repaired and restored to its original form, in this southern region... it should be more than enough to deal with ordinary Core Formation cultivators.

Lu Nanzhu listened and pondered to himself, his fingers unconsciously touching the fragments on the table.

"To activate this formation, one would either be in grave danger or possess millennia-old spiritual milk. The price to do so is far too high."

He thought to himself,

"However, I have a small inkstone in hand. If I can deduce and cultivate a certain kind of spiritual herb with extremely strong medicinal effects, it may be able to solve the problem of quickly replenishing spiritual power in a roundabout way."

Well, you can never have too many of these life-saving trump cards.

Thinking of this, he looked up and cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Xin Ruyin, his expression solemn:

"If this formation truly possesses such power to 'overcome the strong with the weak,' I would really like to witness it firsthand."

Do you have any way to repair this formation, young lady? Rest assured, young lady, I know that this matter has taken a great deal of effort, and I will certainly not let you work in vain.

Once the matter is accomplished, I, De, will certainly reward you handsomely.

As he spoke, he took out a heavy bag of spirit stones and steadily pushed it onto the table:

"Please accept these spirit stones as a deposit, young lady, to purchase the materials needed to repair the formation."

Seeing Lu Nanzhu's resolute determination, Xin Ruyin said no more to dissuade him and accepted the cloth bag with both hands:

"Since you have shown me such favor, I will certainly do my utmost. However, these ancient array patterns are extremely profound, and it will probably take some time to deduce and repair them."

"It's alright, I can wait." Lu Nanzhu smiled slightly, then turned to look at Qi Yunxiao, who was somewhat unable to get a word in edgewise.

"Brother Yunxiao, is that 'Yunxiao Pavilion' one of your properties?"

Qi Yunxiao was somewhat puzzled, but still answered truthfully: "To be honest, senior, it is indeed Yunxiao's shop."

After listening, Lu Nanzhu took out a small bag of spirit stones, nine long, jet-black feathers that faintly gleamed with a metallic sheen, and a set of blueprints from his storage bag.

These feathers were the very high-quality materials he secretly "intercepted" when he was collecting "Shadowless Kite" feathers for Old Monster Qiong in the Crimson Forbidden Land, thanks to his skillful harvesting techniques.

The blueprint was something Lu Nanzhu had obtained by chance while immersing himself in the library. It was a weapon-refining manual that recorded the method for refining a magical weapon called the "Nine-Feather Ling Fan".

"I would like to commission Brother Yunxiao to forge a top-grade magic weapon for me according to this blueprint. Is that possible?"

"This...this is the feather of the second-level demon beast, the Shadow Kite? It is light yet tough as iron. If it is combined with top-grade minerals, it should not be difficult to refine it into a top-grade magic weapon."

"Don't worry, senior, leave it to Yunxiao."