Awakening to Arrays

Just as Lu Yang had expected, Zhao Xuhe ultimately sold the "Nine Transformations Dragon Art" to him at the bargain price of 1,500 Contribution Points.

People were always like this when they owed debts.

After obtaining the "Nine Transformations Dragon Art," Lu Yang immediately returned to his cave abode and committed its contents to memory word by word, sentence by sentence, before putting it away again.

"What a pity I can't cultivate it now."

Having transformed into a blood shadow, his cultivation neither rose nor fell, forever remaining at Qi Refining Late Stage. Even if he wanted to disperse his cultivation, it was impossible, so he could only wait until his next life.

Even so, Lu Yang did not rush to kill himself.

After all, time was precious. Even with the Hundred Lives Book, he would not waste it lightly. Though he could not cultivate, there were still other ways for him to improve.

With that thought, Lu Yang took Fairy Qingchen's "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures" from his Storage Pouch.

That was right, he was going to learn arrays!

The four arts of True Cultivation were arrays, artifacts, pills, and talismans. So long as one possessed even a single skill, one immediately became high-level talent in the world of cultivation, able to thrive anywhere.

For instance, Fairy Qingchen. Lu Yang felt that she truly was a talent. Not only could she work with arrays, she could even refine arrays into magical treasures. Unfortunately, her eye for men was not much good. She successively fell for scumbags who turned their faces and refused to recognize anyone, so in both lives she died with hatred in her heart.

Opening the "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures," the very first page made Lu Yang sigh with emotion.

So-called Array Treasures meant using arrays as treasures and treasures as arrays. The two complemented each other, and the techniques within had been painstakingly researched through the author's heart and blood.

To learn this path, talent and diligence were both indispensable.

After the opening preface, the second page was packed densely with patterns. Every pattern came with annotations explaining its meaning.

The way of arrays centered on array patterns. By outlining array patterns and tracing Heaven and Earth, one could borrow the mysteries of Heaven and Earth. Yet Heaven and Earth contained inexhaustible secrets of the world, difficult to comprehend, much less transform into array patterns. This required extraordinary comprehension. Only after mastering array patterns could one learn arrays.

Very good. You now had a certain understanding of the basic principles of arrays.

Next, turn to the third page. Let us look at the simple example below and put the knowledge we just learned into practice.

On the third page, an incomparably complicated and intricate diagram entered Lu Yang's eyes.

This was an array diagram?

Lu Yang stroked his chin. To unravel an array diagram was to identify the composition of the array patterns within it, thereby deducing the function of the array.

Array patterns were the foundation of all arrays.

Whether an array could function depended mainly on whether its array patterns were suitably combined, whether there were conflicts, and whether they could form a complete operational chain.

"Interesting."

Lu Yang smiled confidently, feeling that this did not seem particularly difficult. "With my talent and diligence, a mere simple array diagram is already in the bag!"

A month later.

Lu Yang sat blankly on his meditation cushion. A huge pile of drafts was stacked beside him, all covered in the results of his calculations. His entire person had withered to the extreme.

In his hands were layer upon layer of combined array patterns.

No one knew how long passed before a spark of spiritual light suddenly lit up at Lu Yang's fingertips.

"It worked!?"

Lu Yang instantly rose to his feet, ecstasy appearing on his face. He carefully studied the array patterns he had pieced together, pinched his fingers and calculated silently for a moment, then revealed a puzzled expression.

"That's not right. How did it work?"

"How is this thing even running?"

This was clearly the fruit of a month of painstaking effort, yet he did not even understand why it worked. The feeling drove Lu Yang mad.

After a month of arduous study, he now had a deeper understanding of arrays.

Put simply, arrays were very similar to programming.

So-called comprehending array paths meant extracting usable portions from the mountain of garbage code written by Heaven and Earth, that old bastard in the sky, and assembling them into one's own code.

Yet arrays were simply something that, if you could not do them, you could not do them.

It was like panning for gold in a mountain of shit. Someone without talent would only end up like Lu Yang: not finding the slightest bit of gold, but instead digging up a whole heap of shit.

"No matter what, I did pan out something."

Lu Yang sighed and continued his research, neglecting food and sleep. More than another month passed before he finally unraveled the pattern in his hands.

"This is an Illumination Array!"

"Light shines throughout the area covered by the array. Most methods of concealing one's tracks will fail, but apart from that, it has neither offensive nor defensive power."

Lu Yang looked haggard, his eyes bloodshot, but his face overflowed with excitement. Filled with a sense of accomplishment, he opened the third page of the "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures."

Actually, it was normal that you could not solve it.

The question on the third page mainly wanted you to understand just how difficult arrays were, so that you could comprehend arrays with a humble heart and not always aim too high.

Lu Yang: "."

"Beast! What a beast!"

Lu Yang sprang to his feet and viciously hurled the book in his hand to the ground. He was now one hundred percent certain that this was absolutely an array book written by an array master of the Sacred Sect!

After quite a while, Lu Yang picked the book back up.

There was no helping it. Some things did not care whether you liked them, understood them, or wanted to do them. For the sake of living, you still had to grit your teeth and keep going.

However, after studying further, Lu Yang discovered that his talent was not as poor as he had imagined.

Just as the book said, that complicated pattern on the third page was not meant for beginners to solve at all. That was why Lu Yang had been stuck on it for two months.

But there were benefits as well. After switching to simpler arrays, Lu Yang's learning speed visibly increased. Whenever he occasionally ran into a snag, a few days of research would see him through it. This also allowed Lu Yang, who had been struck hard before, to regain his confidence.

In the cave, one knew not the passing years; time flew like a shuttle.

In the blink of an eye, twenty years had passed.

During that time, Lu Yang could be said to have turned a deaf ear to all matters beyond his window, focusing only on array books. He was even too lazy to pay rent for his cave abode and simply moved to the outer sect.

After all, he could not cultivate now. With no pressing need, he naturally lay flat and stopped working.

Over those twenty years, nearly every few years, a Son of Destiny blessed by fortune like Xiao Shiye in the past would suddenly rise within the outer sect.

Yet once that Son of Destiny obtained some great opportunity known to everyone in the Sacred Sect, he would suddenly disappear.

Along with him disappeared a large group of unlucky fools who, after discovering the Son of Destiny's fortune, harbored ill intentions and wanted to cling to his thigh to mooch off his luck.

"That senior is fishing again."

Whenever he heard news like this, Lu Yang's heart would pound with fear. With Xiao Shiye as the shining example before him, he would only keep the Sons of Destiny at a respectful distance.

He could not afford to provoke them, so he could only avoid them.

There was also Zhao Xuhe. Twenty years later, he had reached Qi Refining Great Perfection and become a famous true disciple of the Sacred Sect. Yet he failed to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm several years ago and passed away in meditation.

Lu Yang merely sighed at that and ceased to care.

What truly brought Lu Yang joy was that, after twenty years of diligent study, he had finally completely mastered the knowledge within the "Secret Explanation of Array Treasures."

Inside the cave abode, Lu Yang focused every ounce of his attention on the Sword Pellet before him. At this moment, he could not even maintain human form, and his blood shadow had grown exceptionally dim.

This was a sign that his end was near.

The side effects of cultivating the Heavenly Demon Blood-Dissolving Divine Light had finally come knocking. Though only forty years old, his lifespan had already run dry; he was a lamp without oil, a tree withered at the root.

Yet Lu Yang did not care in the slightest. He remained wholly absorbed in inscribing the array. Even on the brink of passing away in meditation, he did not rise, much less attempt anything to salvage the situation, because that would only interrupt his inspiration. He did not want to waste such precious inspiration.

"I understand now! Wait, no, that's wrong."

"Oh, right! Right. No, wait, still wrong—oh, right, right!"

And so a long time passed. Finally, just as Lu Yang's blood shadow was nearly about to disperse, at that instant on the border between life and death, Lu Yang abruptly widened his eyes—

"Ha ha ha! I succeeded!"

Watching the array patterns he had painstakingly traced link together around the Sword Pellet and finally operate successfully, Lu Yang burst into laughter, his voice echoing through the cave abode.

He lost all sound amid that laughter.

"Hundred Lives Book!"