Chapter 53

In the dimly lit cave, Qin Lie's fingertips moved gently, the dazzling needle-like light shifting as he held the stone spirit plate under his palm, which was now glowing brightly.

Beside him, discarded spirit plates were scattered in a messy pile, surrounding him. At this moment, his eyes were bloodshot, sweat trickling down his forehead, his brows deeply furrowed, and his expression extremely solemn.

He focused all his attention on the spirit array diagram, concentrating on the spirit plate under his palm!

This was already the 376th one...

Time flew by, and another half year had passed. During this half year, he had been engrossed in the engraving of the spirit array diagram, never taking a moment's rest.

The 300 spirit plates brought back by Ling Feng were almost all used up, and now he only had 24 spirit plates left to use...

His mental consciousness was submerged within the spirit plate, and a splendid and intricate spirit array diagram was clearly imprinted in his mind!

It took him seven days to engrave it by hand, and so far, there had not been even the slightest error!

More than 2,000 spirit lines intersected, each point of intersection glowing brightly, like stars in a vast galaxy.

Those bright and complex spirit lines, like the orbits of stars, contained an indescribable mystery and wonder, appearing so magnificent and beautiful.

At one corner of this intricate and mysterious spirit array diagram, a dazzling light point was still moving, tracing out new spirit lines!

The dazzling light point, like a wriggling spirit snake, drew clear spirit line traces, slowly approaching the endpoint of another spirit line, about to form a complete quadrilateral with the other three spirit lines.

This quadrilateral was at the last corner of the spirit array diagram, the final component of this diagram...

Qin Lie's fingers trembled slightly, feeling his dantian spirit sea almost depleted, and his mental consciousness gradually becoming faint.

He gritted his teeth, concentrating all his mental consciousness, not letting any unexpected emotions affect his heart, and with extreme focus, he controlled the light point, moving it bit by bit to the endpoint of another spirit line.

—This was also the starting point of the entire spirit array diagram!

The two spirit lines finally intersected!

"Boom!"

As if countless lamps were lit simultaneously, the massive spirit array diagram suddenly became extremely bright. In this moment, thousands of spirit lines were all connected, and the complex and mysterious spirit array diagram, with its intersecting light points, shone like stars!

With the flow of spirit energy, the diagram came to life, filled with a surprising charm!

"Success!"

Qin Lie's voice was hoarse, and he collapsed, weak and powerless, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.

After withdrawing his hand, he could no longer perceive the internal spirit array diagram with his mental consciousness and could only see the spirit plate emitting a faint glow, which slowly spread, as if exerting an indescribable attraction...

After several dozen seconds, Qin Lie's eyes showed surprise, clearly sensing the surrounding natural spirit energy quietly gathering toward the spirit plate.

To be precise, it was gathering toward the palm-sized spirit plate in front of him, attracted by the glow of the spirit plate...

"... Spirit array diagram, spirit array diagram, it can gather natural spirit energy. This, this is the true spirit array diagram!" Qin Lie's body trembled, his face showing extreme surprise, his eyes filled with uncontrollable joy.

His understanding of the spirit array diagram came from his grandfather.

However, according to his grandfather, the so-called spirit array diagram only gathered the spirit energy input by martial artists, allowing the spirit energy to gather inside the "tool," allowing the spirit energy to flow within the "tool," and thus releasing its power through other spirit array diagrams inside the "tool."

His grandfather had never mentioned that the most basic spirit array diagram could gather natural spirit energy, attracting it to the spirit tool...

"This unimaginably complex spirit array diagram actually has such a mysterious ability, directly gathering natural spirit energy, which means it can enhance the speed at which martial artists absorb and condense spirit energy." Qin Lie looked at the spirit plate with a radiant expression, took a deep breath, and perceived it mentally.

After a while, he found that the spirit energy he had previously injected was flowing through the spirit lines of the spirit array diagram, activating this intricate and mysterious diagram, thus allowing the spirit array diagram to function marvelously.

After a while, he withdrew the injected spirit energy, and the glow of the spirit plate gradually converged within the material, and the excess natural spirit energy around it, losing its constraint, gradually dissipated...

"The spirit plate is just the lowest grade of spirit material, used only for practicing the engraving of spirit array diagrams, and cannot display the true power of the spirit array diagram. If, if this were not a spirit plate but a true 'tool,' a high-grade spirit tool, and this extremely complex spirit array diagram were engraved inside it, what kind of effect would it have?" After everything returned to normal, Qin Lie thought silently, lost in reverie.

To date, he had successfully engraved the spirit array diagram for the first time, but it had cost him 376 spirit plates!

Moreover, he could not guarantee that he would succeed again if he tried to engrave the same spirit array diagram in the future.

Even now, he did not fully master the spirit array diagram and needed to continue practicing and experimenting repeatedly.

Only when he could successfully engrave the spirit array diagram eight or nine times out of ten could he truly be said to have mastered it. He was still far from that point.

"The cultivation of an alchemist indeed requires the support of a powerful force and the continuous consumption of spirit materials. Just thinking about it is terrifying." Qin Lie sighed, then his expression changed, "Grandfather could create wooden carvings, inside which several spirit array diagrams were perfectly fused and overlapped. Grandfather's alchemy skills must have been extremely refined. How did he reach that level? How much natural spirit material did he consume in advancing his alchemy skills, and what force supported him behind the scenes?"

Thinking about this, he missed Qin Shan even more and wanted to unlock the seal in his mind and recover his memories from ten years ago.

"Now I am sixteen years old, and I have one more year. If Grandfather does not come back to find me after a year, what should I do?" Qin Lie felt lost, tidied up briefly, and walked out of the cave.

Having not left the cave for a long time, as soon as he stepped out, the sun shone down, and he suddenly felt dizzy and his eyes extremely sore.

After a while, he gradually adapted, then remembered that Ling Yushi had advised him to go out often and bask in the sun, rather than staying in the cave all the time.

"I wonder how she is doing recently..." A smile appeared on his lips.

"Qin Lie!" Ling Feng's voice suddenly came from the foot of the mountain. He waved his hand toward the cave entrance on the hillside and called out loudly, "It's been seven days, you finally came out!"

Ling Feng's eyes were anxious, and his expression was somewhat heavy, which surprised Qin Lie. He leaped down from the hillside and quickly came to Ling Feng's side, asking, "Were you waiting for me?"

Ling Feng nodded and sighed, "I've been waiting for you for two days."

"What's wrong?" Qin Lie asked, puzzled.

"Let's talk while we walk." Ling Feng frowned and walked with him toward Ling Family Town, "It's about the matter between you and the young lady..."

Qin Lie narrowed his eyes, "What exactly happened?"

"Two days ago, Grandma Jiu from Seven Sins Valley passed through Ling Family Town with her people. She met the young lady and the second lady and was very fond of both of them. She said the young lady has a gentle personality, and her cultivation technique and constitution are water-based, while the second lady has a fiery and domineering personality, and her constitution and cultivation technique are fire-based. She said they complement each other, being water and fire, and being sisters, they are very suitable for cultivating a certain spirit technique she has, and she wants to take both of them as her disciples." Ling Feng explained.

"Seven Sins Valley? What kind of place is that?" Qin Lie frowned.

"Seven Sins Valley is a Black Iron-level force, on par with the Senluo Hall, and a whole level higher than the Star Cloud Pavilion and the Ice Shattering Mansion!" Ling Feng's face showed reverence, "Seven Sins Valley is composed of seven valleys: Mystic Sins Valley, Yin Sins Valley, Metal Sins Valley, Wood Sins Valley, Water Sins Valley, Fire Sins Valley, and Earth Sins Valley. Seven Sins Valley and Senluo Hall are friendly forces, and the high-level martial artists of both sides have very good private relationships. Grandma Jiu's real name is Jiu Liuyu, and she is a true Transcendent Realm expert! Moreover, she is the valley master of Yin Sins Valley, which ranks second in Seven Sins Valley!"

Qin Lie was slightly startled and fell silent for a moment, then said, "If she wants to take both of them as her disciples, isn't that a good thing? Does the family head disagree?"

"Seven Sins Valley, a force even stronger than the Star Cloud Pavilion, a Transcendent Realm expert, and the valley master of Yin Sins Valley, Grandma Jiu, wants to take both of them as her disciples... The family head can only dream of such a good thing. He is so happy that he has forgotten himself. How could he disagree?"

Ling Feng also had a look of longing, "Being able to cultivate in Seven Sins Valley is something we can only dream of. For the two ladies, it is a leap to the sky, bypassing even the Star Cloud Pavilion. If anyone else... they would probably not be able to resist such temptation."

"Indeed, it is a temptation that is hard to resist," Qin Lie said indifferently.

"But the young lady refused..." Ling Feng smiled bitterly.

Qin Lie's eyes flickered with a strange light, and he looked deeply at him, "Why?"

"Grandma Jiu heard that the young lady has a marriage contract. She said... she needs the young lady to have a clear and unblemished background, without any marriage contract. She wants to first dissolve the young lady's marriage contract. Moreover, she said that if they go to Seven Sins Valley, it will be very difficult for them to return to Ling Family Town, and she asked the two ladies to consider carefully." Ling Feng said.

Qin Lie fell silent.

"Moreover, Grandma Jiu said either take both of them or none at all." Ling Feng's expression was strange, "But now, the young lady, regardless of the family head's scolding and the persuasion of the elders and the third master, refuses to agree. Grandma Jiu has given a three-day deadline, saying that if the young lady still refuses to agree after three days, she will not force the issue and will leave Ling Family Town with her people."

After a pause, Ling Feng added, "Tomorrow is the deadline, and the family head is almost driven mad by this matter."

...

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