Chapter 204: Breaking the Formation

Back in his room, Lin Dong immediately took out the green fruit and stuffed it into his mouth in no time. The intense heat flowed through his throat into his meridians. With his will, as his spiritual energy circulated through the meridians, the heat gradually diminished, and the spiritual energy generated was also greater than usual. After 36 cycles, the spiritual energy in his dantian had made significant progress. It took four days for the heat in his meridians to slowly run out.

The next day, Lin Dong took in the blue fruit. The heat in his meridians dropped sharply, but it still lasted for two days before disappearing completely.

In the small garden, the branches of the Wanhong Tree, originally only as thick as a thumb and about 30 centimeters long, grew at a rate 1,500 times faster. Although they couldn’t reach maturity in ten years like the Qinglan Tree, which could mature in just over forty years, they changed appearance every day. Ten days was equivalent to over forty years of natural growth for the Wanhong Tree. Though it was still far from fully mature, the main trunk had grown from thumb-thick to thigh-thick, with a height of over two meters. Digging into the soil below revealed red root hairs that resembled blood vessels.

After digging up the two Wanhong Trees, which had been accelerated to grow 1,500 times faster, and placing them on the mobile counter, Lin Dong went with Yun Lan to Wanjiazhuang.

After dismounting from his horse, they arrived at Wanjiazhuang under the scorching sun. Looking through the gate, the place was empty, with no one in sight.

“It seems Wan Cuilin has returned, and…” Lin Dong smiled. “He found the Wanhong Trees dead.”

Yun Lan remained silent. She broke three branches in one breath—it would be hard not to notice they were dead.

At the gate, the blue sword suddenly flew out of its sheath, flashed briefly through the crack, and then returned to its sheath in Yun Lan’s hand.

Lin Dong secretly envied them. The first patriarch of the Tianjian Sect must have been a lazy person; otherwise, he wouldn’t have invented the Tianjian Art. With this art, one hardly needed to lift a hand for anything—from serving tea to fighting and killing. With a flying sword, everything could be controlled remotely.

Fortunately, the creator of the Yutian Art seemed to be a lazy person too. As long as one reached the ninth level of the Lingdong stage and possessed enough spiritual energy to support the Skyward Realm, they could also perform tasks like retrieving objects or remotely controlling weapons.

Out of envy, Lin Dong didn’t really covet the Heavenly Sword Art of the Heavenly Sword Sect. Of course, even if he wanted it, Lin Dong couldn’t obtain the sect’s core spiritual technique. In the Heavenly Sword Sect, aside from the sect leader and those almost certain to succeed him as leaders, not even the elders could get the cultivation diagrams and mantras for the final stages.

The Wan Family’s spiritual arrays were everywhere; without a guide, entering would be fraught with danger and make progress impossible. After entering the estate, the two didn’t move quickly. Yun Lan walked ahead, while Lin Dong stayed at the entrance waiting for a signal.

Blue swords flashed like rainbows, dancing and shining on the calm, undisturbed ground. Yun Lan moved slowly, appearing to stroll leisurely, but in reality, she was constantly breaking the spiritual arrays.

After advancing about fifty to sixty meters, Yun Lan waved her arm at Lin Dong.

Lin Dong hurried over, reaching her side unimpeded.

“There’s only one last spiritual array left. You try it,” Yun Lan said softly.

Lin Dong was stunned. “Me?”

Yun Lan nodded. “It’s just a second-tier spiritual array. With your strength, you should be able to break it forcefully.”

“Why go to such trouble?” Lin Dong said with a wry smile. “A second-tier array? You can break it with just a wave of your hand. Having me try is just a waste of time… If Wan Cui Lin gets furious and sends troops back to the city, causing a stir that alarms the Heavenly Might Pavilion, that would be troublesome. If you really want me to learn how to break arrays, just set up a few when you have time at the inn.”

“Don’t worry. With me here, he can’t leave,” Yun Lan said, shaking her head. “I don’t have the materials for lower-tier spiritual arrays, so I can’t set them up.”

Helpless, Lin Dong carefully recalled the information Yun Lan had given him about spiritual arrays. He scanned the ground ahead, and indeed, lines made of spiritual stone powder could be seen.

These powder lines appeared and disappeared, crisscrossing with each other, creating a strange sight.

Yun Lan had once explained in detail the patterns of some lower-tier spiritual arrays, but unfortunately, Lin Dong hadn’t remembered many. He didn’t even bother to determine whether this array matched the ones he remembered. He channeled spiritual energy into his palm and struck forward abruptly.

Boom…

Wherever his palm wind passed, dust flew high. The spiritual stone powder, clearly soaked in a special potion, only produced a little glittering dust under such strong wind.

Watching Lin Dong strike again and again, seemingly clashing with those powder lines, Yun Lan felt both amused and exasperated. This guy clearly hadn’t even remembered how to break spiritual arrays. Deciding to let him try breaking one himself was indeed the right choice.

Dozens of blows were delivered in a row. According to Lin Dong’s thinking, over time, the lines formed by the spirit stone powder would gradually thin out even if they didn’t stop. Yet in reality, although quite a bit of the powder was blown away by the palm winds, there was no sign of the lines thinning at all.

Helpless, Lin Dong turned to look at Yun Lan and scratched his head, saying, “Why isn’t there any effect at all?”

“Only high-level spirit array masters can locate and break through the core of a spirit array from the outside. Those who don’t understand spirit arrays can only break them if their strength far exceeds the array’s level. It’s not impossible for someone like you to do it either—given your strength…” Yun Lan thought for a moment before slowly saying, “Three to five hours should be enough.”

“Three to five hours?” Lin Dong was stunned.

“If you keep attacking for three to five hours, gradually depleting the spirit stones stored in the array’s core, it will no longer be able to receive more spirit stone powder or spiritual energy,” Yun Lan said calmly. “Then the spirit array will be broken.”

“So the core of the spirit array can be replenished.”

Lin Dong suddenly understood. Three to five hours was definitely too long to wait. Since Yun Lan had said it was just a second-tier spirit array, there wasn’t much danger either. So he stepped forward boldly.

After taking just a dozen steps, suddenly a fierce wind arose from the ground. Lin Dong felt a chill in his heart—the spirit array had been activated.

Amid the stormy wind, beams of light arrows shot out from all directions. Lin Dong focused his gaze, channeled spiritual energy into his legs, and used his Mysterious Step to create afterimages, allowing him to move swiftly through the arrows.

It lasted for over a minute before the arrows finally stopped. Before Lin Dong could catch his breath, the pressure around him surged suddenly, as if four thick walls were pressing down on him.

A bench appeared in Lin Dong’s hands in an instant. Spiritual energy surged in his right arm. With a shout, he swung his arm wildly at the invisible walls.

With loud crashes, the benches shattered one after another with each swing, and the pressure around him fluctuated in intensity. After another minute or so, the invisible pressing force slowly receded.

In the next blink, the light arrows reappeared, sweeping in from all sides.

Lin Dong was panicked and had to dodge desperately. Fortunately, with abundant spiritual energy in his dantian and the power of his Mysterious Step, he managed to avoid danger.

Unexpectedly, after the arrows disappeared, the invisible pressure returned, alternating with them endlessly, seemingly without end or fatigue.

As Lin Dong numbly continued to resist, a melodious voice sounded in his ears.

“This spirit array is called the Two-Image Array, belonging to the killing array category. If you can stay safe inside the array, it will take about two hours to deplete all the spirit stones inside.”

“It’s still too long. Is there any other way?” Lin Dong shouted as he repelled the invisible pressure. The spiritual energy in his dantian could sustain him for two hours, but after that, it would be almost dark.
“To break through the killing array from within, if one is strong enough, the simplest method is to find the array wall. With continuous attacks, once the spiritual energy supplied to the array core can’t keep up with the consumption, breaking through is just a matter of time,” Yun Lan explained. “The least laborious method is to find the array core and destroy it, after which the spiritual array will collapse on its own.”
“How do we find it?” Lin Dong asked.
“For such a simple killing array, both the array wall and the core are easy to locate,” Yun Lan replied. “Just keep moving in one direction. When you encounter resistance, that’s the array wall. The core is a bit more tricky—it requires analyzing the patterns of the killing array, such as the timing of attacks, the details of its killing moves, and the varying strengths of attacks from different directions…”
“For a second-tier killing array, the core remains fixed, and the patterns don’t change much. As long as you fully understand these patterns and identify where the strongest, fastest, and most frequent attacks occur, that’s where the core is. Of course, if it’s your first time trying to find the core without any experience, it might take longer, but I still recommend trying to locate it. By gradually figuring it out, it will be easier to find a way out of more complex high-tier killing arrays or unpredictable high-tier illusion arrays in the future.”
“Maybe next time!” Lin Dong smiled bitterly. There was no time for observation and calculation alike.
Without hesitation, Lin Dong chose a direction and charged forward, swinging the bench in his hand repeatedly. His powerful spiritual energy shattered the light arrows one after another.
Bang!
Unprepared, it felt as though his head had hit an impenetrable wall. Lin Dong staggered backward. Fortunately, he was quick enough to dodge the light arrows coming from all directions.
While dodging the arrows, Lin Dong kept swinging his arm, using the bench to strike at the invisible wall. With a rumbling sound, the resistance he faced gradually weakened. When the light arrows disappeared and the invisible pressure surged from all sides, Lin Dong swung the bench even faster. He could clearly sense that the invisible wall behind the pressure was on the verge of collapsing.
Suddenly, the bench hit what seemed like a thin membrane—the rebound force vanished, and the bench penetrated straight through. All the light arrows were swept away. Lin Dong’s long-suppressed emotions suddenly eased, replaced by an indescribable sense of relief.

The vast expanse of land disappeared. When Lin Dong turned around, Yun Lan was standing about ten meters away.
“You’ll suffer losses sooner or later if you encounter spirit arrays of the third or fourth level,” Yun Lan said calmly.
“Spirit array masters are extremely rare; there aren’t that many spirit arrays. Besides, it’s simple—just take you with me whenever I go out.”
Lin Dong smiled without hesitation and strode forward.
Without any spirit arrays, the path was unobstructed, and it wasn’t long before they reached the large mansion located in the center of Wan Jiazhuang.
Even before approaching the gate, Wan Cui Lin’s roaring voice could be heard from afar.