Lone Encounter with Remains

The "Bedrock Rune"'s fragment's anomaly immediately put Li Su on alert.

He stopped walking, his Mo Xing Bamboo body swaying slightly, his divine sense highly concentrated as he carefully sensed his surroundings.

The black desert was utterly silent, with only the howling wind kicking up black sand. There wasn't any sign of life, not even residual souls or fragmented thoughts could be sensed, as if it were an absolute dead land.

But the "Bedrock Rune"'s senses wouldn't be wrong.

This fragment, obtained from a giant beast's skull and containing a trace of the Great Dao's imprint, had a peculiar resonance with certain special energies or items.

Li Su pondered for a moment and decided to take a risk and investigate.

He carefully extended a main root into the black sand.

Hiss--

As soon as it touched the black sand, a slight stinging sensation spread across the bamboo root's surface. That deathly silence could slowly erode his spiritual power and divine sense! Although the speed was slow, the consequences of staying for a long time would be unimaginable.

He sped up, following the direction indicated by the "Bedrock Rune"'s resonance, controlling his bamboo root to rapidly traverse several dozen feet beneath the sand layer. After traveling about ten miles, the bamboo root finally touched its target.

It wasn't the heavenly material or earthly treasure he had imagined, but a... remnant, half-buried in the depths of the black sand!

The remnant was humanoid, but its bones were as clear as jade, its material far surpassing any ferocious beast Li Su had ever seen, even a few points tougher than his own Mo Xing Bamboo body!

Despite the passage of endless years, it still exuded a faint pressure, clearly indicating that its owner had been an extremely powerful cultivator in life.

However, the chest cavity of this jade-bone skeleton had been completely pierced by some terrifying force, leaving a shocking great hole. Traces of destructive Dao charm still remained at the edges, causing one's heart to palpitate.

What caused the "Bedrock Rune" to react wasn't the skeleton itself, but a dull, unremarkable stone ring worn on the skeleton's finger, and a few shattered jade pieces scattered beside the skeleton, inscribed with complex patterns.

Li Su's heart stirred.

Whatever allowed this powerful cultivator to wear it even in death, it must not be ordinary.

He carefully used his bamboo root to pick up the stone ring and the few jade pieces, quickly pulling them back to his side.

The ring felt cold in his grasp. Divine artifacts conceal themselves; it showed no special characteristics.

But the few jade pieces were different. Although shattered, the patterns inscribed on them were exceptionally complex and profound, subtly drawing upon the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth (though the spiritual energy here was sparse). They were clearly not ordinary items.

He attempted to probe the ring with a trace of his divine sense.

Buzz!

The ring remained unresponsive, as if it were just an ordinary stone.

He then directed his divine sense towards the jade pieces.

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

It wasn't a residual thought, but sections of explanations and diagrams concerning formations, runes, and restrictions! Vast as the ocean, profound and marvelous!

[Detected fragments of ancient formation inheritance Minor Chiliad Array Analysis... Recording information...]

[Analyzing... Acquired basic formation knowledge, rune structures, restriction principles...]

[Comprehension increased... Affinity for formations greatly enhanced!]

System prompts sounded one after another.

Li Su felt dizzy and disoriented, countless pieces of knowledge, principles, and examples of formations pouring into him, almost bursting his divine sense!

He hastily stopped probing, stabilized his mind, and slowly began to digest this sudden, immense inheritance.

Although it was only a fragment, and mostly basic and intermediate content, with the highest level seemingly only involving "Minor Chiliad" level formation arrangements, for Li Su, who was currently entirely self-taught, it was like charcoal in winter! Its value was immeasurable!

The owner of this skeleton was likely a cultivator who excelled in formations in ancient times, and unfortunately perished here.

This ring might be his storage artifact, but Li Su couldn't open it yet. These jade pieces, inscribed with Minor Chiliad Array Analysis, might be his daily research notes or backups.

A tremendous stroke of luck!

Li Su suppressed his excitement and, facing the jade-bone skeleton, slightly bent his bamboo body in a simple bow of gratitude.

Without the inheritance left by this senior, he didn't know how much longer he would have fumbled outside the gate of formations.

He carefully placed the ring onto a relatively slender and tough bamboo branch (though he couldn't use it now, perhaps he could when his cultivation was higher in the future). Then, he carefully stored the jade pieces close to his body (wrapped in bamboo leaves and placed inside a bamboo segment).

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

This dead land was too dangerous, and it consumed too much of his own energy. He retreated to the edge of the desert, found a relatively safe crevice in the rock face, and began to diligently study the Minor Chiliad Array Analysis fragments he had just obtained.

With the system's analytical assistance, coupled with the comprehension boost from his improved innate talent and his previous experience in self-studying formations, Li Su's learning progressed rapidly.

He was no longer satisfied with the crude "Secluded Bamboo Trapping Array" from before and began to try and understand the principles of more basic Spirit Gathering Arrays, Defense Arrays, and Illusion Arrays. He attempted to use his own bamboo roots as the array base, and Stellar Evil Energy and Earthly power as energy sources, to set up simple arrangements.

Failure, adjustment, further failure, further adjustment...

Time flew by in focused study and experimentation. Various faint formation lights would occasionally flash around Li Su. Sometimes he would successfully condense a small Spirit Gathering Array (though its effect was minimal given the sparse spiritual energy here), sometimes he would set up a rudimentary Illusion Array to deceive occasional small ferocious beasts that passed by, and sometimes the array would collapse due to energy conflicts, scattering bamboo leaves everywhere...

But he was engrossed, and his formation skills improved at a visible rate.

The Minor Chiliad Array Analysis fragments felt like they had opened a new world for him, allowing him to reach a new level in his understanding and application of power.

He even began to try incorporating the trace of sturdy Dao charm from the "Bedrock Rune" into the simplest Defense Arrays. Although he failed repeatedly, he made some slight progress.

One day, when he successfully set up a "Thick Earth Array" capable of withstanding several full-power attacks from an early-stage Earth Immortal ferocious beast, the system prompt sounded again:

[Formation proficiency has reached a certain standard, comprehended divine ability: Array Heart Clarity (Beginner)]

[Array Heart Clarity: Greatly enhances array perception, analysis, and formation speed and accuracy.]

Li Su was overjoyed.

This was undoubtedly another boost to his array cultivation!

Just as he was preparing to continue his in-depth research, his brow suddenly furrowed (divine sense fluctuating), and he sharply looked up towards the depths of the black desert.

In the distance, in the sky above the formerly dead silent black desert, at some unknown time, a dense, continuously churning... blood-colored tribulation cloud had gathered?!

A heart-palpitating aura of destruction, even from this distance, was still clearly transmitted!

What was that? A heavenly tribulation? Or was a rare treasure emerging? Or perhaps... a powerful being was fighting in the depths of the black desert?

Li Su's mind trembled, vaguely sensing that the direction of the tribulation cloud seemed to faintly overlap with the northwest direction his Bedrock Rune was sensing