Encountering Remains

The unusual movement of the "Bedrock Rune" fragment immediately put Li Su on guard.

He stopped, his Mo Xing Bamboo Body swaying slightly as he focused his divine sense and carefully surveyed the surroundings.

The Black Desert was deathly silent. Aside from the howling wind sweeping up black grains of sand, there was no trace of life, not even lingering souls or fragmented thoughts. It seemed to be an absolute land of death.

But the Bedrock Rune's perception could not be wrong.

This fragment, obtained from a giant beast's skull and containing a trace of Great Dao markings, possessed a peculiar resonance with certain special energies or objects.

Li Su pondered for a moment before deciding to take the risk and investigate.

He cautiously extended a main root into the black sand.

Hiss—

The instant it touched the black sand, a faint stinging pain spread across the bamboo root's surface. That deathly aura could actually slowly erode his spiritual power and divine sense! Though the process was slow, remaining here for too long would bring unimaginable consequences.

He hastened forward, controlling the bamboo root as it traveled swiftly several yards beneath the sand, following the direction indicated by the Bedrock Rune. After advancing more than a dozen miles, the root finally touched its target.

It was not some heavenly treasure as he had imagined, but a... corpse half-buried deep beneath the black sand!

The remains were humanoid, yet their bones were crystalline like jade. Their quality far surpassed that of any Fierce Beasts Li Su had encountered, and they were even somewhat tougher than his own Mo Xing Bamboo Body!

Despite having endured endless years, they still radiated a faint pressure. Their owner had clearly been an extraordinarily powerful cultivator in life.

However, the jade-bone skeleton's chest had been completely pierced through by some terrifying force, leaving behind a shocking hole. A trace of destructive Dao intent still lingered around its edges, sending chills through him.

What had triggered the Bedrock Rune was not the skeleton itself, but a dull gray stone ring worn on one of its fingers, as well as several shattered jade fragments inscribed with intricate patterns scattered nearby.

Li Su's heart stirred.

Anything this powerful cultivator had still worn at the moment of death could not possibly be ordinary.

Using his bamboo roots, he carefully curled around the stone ring and jade fragments, swiftly pulling them back to his side.

The ring felt icy cold. Divine objects concealed their brilliance, and it showed not the slightest unusual feature.

The jade fragments, however, were different. Though shattered, the patterns carved upon them were exceptionally intricate and profound, faintly drawing in the surrounding spiritual energy—even though this place had very little of it. They were clearly no ordinary items.

He tried sending a thread of divine sense into the ring.

Buzz!

The ring did not react at all, as though it were merely an ordinary stone.

He then directed his divine sense toward the jade fragments.

The moment his divine sense touched those profound patterns, a torrent of information surged violently into his consciousness!

They were not lingering thoughts, but passages of explanations and diagrams concerning arrays, runes, and restrictions! Vast as the sea and deeply mysterious!

[Ancient array inheritance Minor Chiliad Array Analysis fragment detected... Recording information...]

[Analyzing... Basic array knowledge, rune structures, and restriction principles acquired...]

[Comprehension increased... Array affinity greatly increased!]

The system notifications rang out one after another.

Li Su felt dizzy and disoriented as countless pieces of knowledge, principles, and examples concerning arrays flooded madly into his mind, nearly bursting his divine sense apart!

He hurriedly stopped investigating, steadied himself, and slowly began digesting this immense inheritance that had come so suddenly.

Though it was only a fragment, containing mostly basic and intermediate material, and seemingly covering array formations only up to the Minor Chiliad level, it was no different from timely aid in a snowstorm for Li Su, who had been completely self-taught! Its value was immeasurable!

The owner of these remains had likely been a cultivator skilled in the Dao of arrays during ancient times, only to perish here through misfortune.

This ring might have been his storage artifact, though Li Su could not open it yet. As for these jade fragments recording the Minor Chiliad Array Analysis, they might have been his usual research notes or backups.

A heaven-sent opportunity!

Suppressing his excitement, Li Su bent his bamboo body slightly toward the jade-bone skeleton and offered a simple gesture of thanks.

If not for the inheritance left behind by this senior, he did not know how much longer he would have had to grope about outside the gates of array formations.

He carefully slipped the ring onto a relatively slender yet tough bamboo branch. Though he could not use it now, perhaps he would be able to once his cultivation grew stronger. He then stored the jade fragments close to himself, wrapping them in bamboo leaves and placing them inside a bamboo joint.

Having obtained such an important inheritance, Li Su decided not to cross the Black Desert for the time being.

This land of death was too dangerous and consumed too much of his strength. He retreated to the edge of the desert, found a relatively safe crack in a rock wall, and began studying the fragment of the Minor Chiliad Array Analysis with full focus.

With the system's assistance in analyzing it, the boost to his comprehension brought by the improvement of his foundation, and the little experience he had gained from studying arrays on his own, Li Su progressed at an astonishing pace.

No longer content with the crude Secluded Bamboo Trapping Array from before, he began trying to understand the principles behind more basic Spirit Gathering Arrays, Defense Arrays, and Illusion Arrays. He also attempted simple formations using his bamboo roots as the array foundation, Stellar Evil Energy and the power of the earth as energy sources.

Failure, adjustment, failure again, adjustment again...

Time passed swiftly amid his focused studies and experiments. Faint array lights occasionally flickered around Li Su. At times, he successfully condensed a small Spirit Gathering Array—though the spiritual energy here was so thin that its effect was minimal. At other times, he set up a crude Illusion Array to confuse the occasional small Fierce Beasts passing by. Sometimes, energy conflicts caused the array to collapse, blasting bamboo leaves everywhere...

Yet he never grew tired of it. His skill in the Dao of arrays rose at a visible pace.

That fragment of the Minor Chiliad Array Analysis was like a door opening onto a new world, raising his understanding and application of power to an entirely new level.

He even began attempting to incorporate the trace of solid Dao intent within the Bedrock Rune into the simplest Defense Arrays. Though he failed repeatedly, he still made a little progress.

One day, after successfully setting up a Thick Earth Array capable of withstanding several full-force strikes from an early Earth Immortal Fierce Beast, the system notification sounded again:

[Array proficiency has reached a certain standard. Divine ability comprehended: Array Heart Clarity (Beginner)]

[Array Heart Clarity: Greatly increases array perception, analysis, setup speed, and precision.]

Li Su was overjoyed.

This was undoubtedly another great aid to his cultivation in the Dao of arrays!

Just as he prepared to continue his research, his brows suddenly furrowed—his divine sense rippling—as he abruptly raised his head and "looked" toward the depths of the Black Desert.

Far on the horizon, above the once deathly silent Black Desert, a dense mass of endlessly churning... blood-red tribulation clouds had gathered at some unknown time?!

An aura of destruction that made his heart tremble came through clearly, even from such a great distance!

What was that? A Heavenly Tribulation? The birth of some rare treasure? Or... were powerful beings fighting in the depths of the Black Desert?

Li Su's mind shook. He faintly sensed that the direction of those tribulation clouds seemed to overlap with the northwest direction indicated by his Bedrock Rune...