Chapter 435: Formation and Secret Patterns

The moment the chess piece was moved to the exit, a cool sensation spread from his forehead, making his entire soul feel clear and pure, as if it had been filtered by something. Ye Feng closed his eyes in comfort, savoring this subtle change. But the sensation lasted only for a moment before disappearing.

Ye Feng then opened his eyes to find himself in an endless starry sky, with a vast ocean of stars stretching out in all directions, boundless.
“This is…” Ye Feng quickly regained his composure from the shock.
“This is a small corner of my Universe Sea…” An aged voice spoke. Ye Feng recognized it as the voice of the old man from before, calm to the extreme.

He turned toward the source of the voice and saw an old man with white hair and beard, tall and sturdy, not inferior to Ye Feng at all. His pure white robe could not conceal his extraordinary presence.
“So powerful!!!” Ye Feng was secretly astonished. Although his own strength was not great, after meeting the Immortal, this old man was the first to give him a similar feeling—not pressure, but an indescribable strange sensation, as if the man was there yet not there, as if he were the entire sky or merely an illusion…

“My name is Tiandao,” the old man said without hiding his title, smiling at Ye Feng. “Are you a descendant of the Immortal?”
“Yes, young man Ye Feng greets his elder!” Hearing the old man mention the name of his godfather, Ye Feng wasn’t too surprised. He knew that few people reached such a level of strength, so it wasn’t strange for them to know each other.

“That old fellow Immortal has a keen eye—he chose three fine descendants…” The old man spoke halfway before suddenly remembering something and turning to Ye Feng. “But now isn’t the time for that. Young man, you must have guessed that this is ainheritance space space, right?”
“I thought so!” Ye Feng nodded. After conducting various tests, it was unlikely that there were other purposes besides preserving heritage. “But since the young man already has the bloodline inheritance from his godfather, I’m afraid…”
“I know what you’re worried about,” Tiandao nodded. “The Immortal’s is a bloodline inheritance, different from my rule-based inheritance—it doesn’t conflict…”
“Rule-based inheritance?” Ye Feng was slightly taken aback. He had heard of rules, but whether rule-based inheritance meant exactly that was unclear to him.

“That’s right. At our level, there are only two proper ways of inheritance. One is bloodline inheritance, which carries on various traits of the bloodline and usually requires a high level of physical fitness from the recipient. The other is rule inheritance, which passes on the understood rules, and this kind of inheritance demands great spiritual talent from the inheritor.”

“Normally, we can choose either method, though each has its advantages and disadvantages. Generally, we choose the one in which we’ve achieved greater success for inheritance. For example, Immortal—among all beings in this world, his bloodline is probably the most supreme. In contrast, his understanding of rules is somewhat weaker. So he chose to inherit his bloodline. As for me, I’m not human; I have no flesh and blood. I’m formed from rules, and this body was obtained by taking over a supreme bloodline and then modifying it. Although my bloodline rank is also high, it’s slightly inferior to Immortal’s. But in terms of achievements in the laws of heaven, Immortal can’t compare to me. That’s why I chose rule inheritance.”

“Not human?” Ye Feng felt a hint of confusion.

“You needn’t wonder about my origins. When your strength is sufficient, you’ll naturally understand. Though I’m not human, any race is the same to me. As long as the conditions are met, they can accept my inheritance. Even insects or plants make no difference.”

After hearing the old man’s explanation, Ye Feng finally felt at ease. He had been worried that since the other party wasn’t human, they might have ulterior motives. But it seemed they just wanted an inheritor and didn’t care about race at all.

“My inheritance is based on rules. I can see that you currently possess four rule attributes: fire, water, lightning, and darkness. Whether you can successfully inherit my teachings or not, you can start practicing with these four rules from now on. The lightning attribute is relatively special, while the darkness attribute is even rarer. Mastering these two rules might take longer, but my advice is not to give up on them, especially the darkness attribute.”

“Mm!” Ye Feng nodded. Hearing what the old man said, he roughly understood that the rule attributes referred to those from the crystal cores in his dantian. Although he wasn’t sure what the darkness attribute was, he knew it must be related to the crystal that emitted black devouring energy.

“Well, let’s start the test now!” The old man finally got to the point, pointing at the starry sky not far away. “There are a total of three thousand basic secret patterns in this starry sky, of which eighty-one can be sensed by your current soul strength. Your task is simple: master all eighty-one of these secret patterns. When you can use each of them independently, that’s when I’ll release your friend.”
“It sounds simple, but it probably isn’t that easy. There are still eight hundred and ninety-nine years left—on average, it will take over a decade to master one secret pattern…” Ye Feng was also worried that Long Tian and Zhen Zhu might encounter trouble, as who knows what could happen over such a long time.
“For you, it might be somewhat difficult, as you have no foundation in arrays,” the Heavenship said bluntly.
“I do understand a bit about arrays…” Ye Feng could only silently refute him in his heart. He knew he had indeed never studied arrays systematically; what he knew was just superficial knowledge from some materials, so he wasn’t completely clueless. At this level, even those who specialized in arrays in the Divine Realm would consider it inferior, let alone a powerhouse like the Heavenship. The statement that he had no array foundation was indeed apt, though it annoyed Ye Feng.
“I originally planned to let you first go through my three thousand array-related volumes before showing you these secret patterns. But after the previous tests, I realized that given your talent and comprehension, there’s no real need to go through that step,” the Heavenship continued.
“Is there any connection between arrays and these secret patterns?” Ye Feng was suddenly puzzled.
“Hah, of course there is. The essence of any array is secret patterns. Arrays exhibit different effects because they contain different secret patterns. In fact, most of the lines on the arrays you’ve seen so far are redundant; only one or two secret patterns actually function. But some of those lines aren’t completely useless either—they can serve as a medium to combine secret patterns of different natures. You’ll use these lines when combining secret patterns in the future.” The Heavenship’s explanation finally introduced Ye Feng to something he had never encountered before.
“Elder, are you saying that an array made up of hundreds of lines can be created with just a couple of strokes to achieve the same effect?” Ye Feng’s eyes lit up.

“It’s a more powerful effect. Once you understand the essence of the secret patterns, you can gradually figure out the best combination of them. The lines that serve as mediators produce different effects depending on their placement.” Tian Dao always wore a faint smile. He had to admit he felt quite fond of Ye Feng, who seemed like a blank slate.

“Senior, if I learn this, do I qualify?” Ye Feng asked cautiously.

“Basically qualified!” Tian Dao raised his eyebrows and hesitated for a moment before nodding. “At that time, I will transfer the three thousand basic secret patterns into your mind sea. Once you’ve learned all three thousand and can use them freely, it will be time for you to receive my further teachings. I look forward to that day coming soon… Actually, there are a total of 108,000 secret patterns. Before you, two others have received the subsequent teachings. One got stuck at the 30,000th pattern, while the other has reached 12,000 patterns but is still progressing slowly… You’re the third. I hope you won’t disappoint me…”