Chapter 579: The Heavenly Dao’s Initiation Ritual

Ye Feng could no longer remember how long he had been in this peculiar space. All he knew was that his secret patterns kept being reassembled over and over again. Since those incomplete patterns were extremely damaged, there were numerous possible variations, and it was precisely these variations that affected the completeness of the patterns in the other gates. Thus, Ye Feng’s repeated failures were not due to a lack of understanding of the patterns, but rather because the process of perfecting them involved countless combinations and arrangements, which caused him great headaches. What was most frustrating was that an oversight in a detail of the first layer could prevent him from progressing with the patterns of the ninth layer. Only when he could no longer proceed would Ye Feng realize he had made a mistake. At that point, all the completed patterns on the gate would vanish, and those on the ninth layer would revert to an incomplete state with their order disrupted, meaning all his previous efforts would be in vain.

Repeated failures did not discourage Ye Feng; instead, they fueled his determination. He managed to complete more each time. Finally, one day, he finished assembling the entire pattern, and the gate creaked open. Ye Feng stepped inside and, in a daze, found himself in an empty room. The room was not large, about forty to fifty square meters, with white walls, ceiling, and even floor. In the center of the room stood a rosewood table, on which there were only two items: a scroll of unknown material and a strange stone the size of a thumb.

Ye Feng reached out to pick up the scroll, but the moment he touched it, it turned into an invisible light dot and entered his body. Immediately, he used his spiritual power to investigate the anomaly. Normally, his body should not be so easily invaded. After searching thoroughly, Ye Feng finally discovered an object resembling a scroll within his spiritual sea. He probed it with his spiritual power.

“The Compendium of Ten Thousand Arrays—a supreme virtual treasure containing millions of battle formations. It can be used as the core of an array, greatly enhancing its effectiveness. The formations within it can also be analyzed and replicated…”

After reading the description of this item, Ye Feng finally understood what the so-called apprenticeship ritual mentioned by the Heavenly Dao was—turns out it was a peak-level virtual treasure, something he hadn’t expected. And indeed, it was very useful: one function was to assist in devising arrays, while the other was to serve as the array’s core, enhancing its power.

After briefly examining the Catalog of Ten Thousand Arrays in his mental sea, Ye Feng quickly withdrew his spiritual energy and turned his attention to another item. It was a black stone of irregular shape, seemingly just an ordinary pebble, about the size of a thumb. Ye Feng slowly reached out and touched the stone, but nothing happened. When he tried to pick it up to examine it closely, he found that this thumb-sized object actually weighed more than he had imagined. It took him all his strength to lift it.

When his spiritual energy scanned it, it was instantly drawn into another world. It was an endless void, within which there were seven black stone tablets, each engraved with mysterious patterns. Without wasting time, Ye Feng sat down in seiza position and began recording those patterns in his mind one by one.

It was impossible to tell how much time passed in such a void-like environment; moreover, as he memorized the patterns, he had no time to pay attention to how much time was going by. Each stone tablet was engraved with a thousand patterns, and Ye Feng recorded them from right to left. Once he had memorized everything on the seventh tablet, he was transported back, only to find that the thumb-sized black stone in his hand had disappeared. With a thought, he returned to the Abyss of Fallen Saints. By now, his spiritual energy was no longer suppressed, and he could instantly take in the general situation of the entire abyss. He noticed two more corpses he hadn’t seen before, and in a flash, he appeared beside them.

It was a huge cave, and both corpses were inside. Judging from their remaining skeletons, they must have suffered severe injuries and barely managed to hide here. Ye Feng could even tell that their wounds were likely caused by the physical cultivation expert he had killed earlier. What interested him even more were their weapons, equipment, and storage rings, which he took without hesitation.

After dealing with these, Ye Feng entered the Ark of Ultimate Martial Arts.

“Weren’t you going to look for the remaining secret patterns? Why are you back so soon? It’s been less than six days, right?” Long Tian asked, puzzled, after seeing Ye Feng.
“I was only away for six days?” Ye Feng frowned slightly.
“Yes, are you confused? You can’t even remember the time,” Long Tian joked. “Although six million days have passed here, only six days have passed in the outside world.”
Ye Feng fell into deep thought. In fact, it had taken him three days just to locate the coordinates of that marker, and another two and a half days to return. That meant he had spent less than half a day inside the Abyss of Fallen Saints. But according to his memory, many things must have happened there—far more than half a day could possibly accommodate. He was sure that just deciphering the secret patterns on those nine layers of doors must have taken hundreds of years. Though he couldn’t remember how many times he had tried, completing just one attempt had taken three days and three nights—a time he was certain he hadn’t misremembered.
“Could time also speed up there?” It was the only explanation Ye Feng could think of. He shook his head and stopped dwelling on the issue.
In fact, the shorter the time he spent there, the better, as that would leave him with more time to decipher the secret patterns he had forced himself to memorize.
With the one-million-fold time acceleration of the Ark of Ultimate Martial Arts, he didn’t know what level his mastery of secret patterns would reach by the time the alien forces from the main plane gathered to attack. But he was sure his overall strength would increase to some extent.
“I need to enter seclusion too. Let’s see what level my mastery of secret patterns can reach in the remaining time!” Ye Feng nodded at Long Tian.