Perfect Spirit Gathering Array, Withered Wood Meets Spring

He closed his eyes, Ye Jing carefully sensing the mysteries of the True Understanding of Formation Dao.

A long while passed before he slowly opened his eyes and sighed, "This True Understanding of Formation Dao is truly worthy of being one of the priceless treasures of the formation path over the past millennia."

"Ever since the True Understanding of Formation Dao came into being, the long-declining formation path enjoyed a brief period of prosperity. Rumor has it that at its peak, it could even suppress the sword path."

"Unfortunately, the formation path demands extremely high talent. Even ordinary prodigies find it difficult to grasp even a fraction of its profundities, which is why it could never flourish for long."

Still, the potential of the formation path is in no way inferior to the sword path. If one could cultivate it to the extreme, they could even inscribe their own Dao body into a grand formation of heaven and earth, achieving the Dao through an alternative method.

Having comprehended all the mysteries of the True Understanding of Formation Dao, Ye Jing did not linger long in the Hanlin Academy. After finishing his tasks, he hurried back to Ye Manor without delay.

Upon returning to Ye Manor, Ye Jing immediately began inscribing a spirit gathering array within the grounds.

Spirit gathering arrays were divided into four grades: low, medium, high, and supreme. Different grades produced vastly different effects in gathering spiritual energy.

The Great Li Imperial Palace was currently shrouded by a massive supreme-grade spirit gathering array, which siphoned off most of the spiritual energy nurtured within the entire Imperial Capital.

The Imperial Capital was a place that bore the nation's destiny. When the founding emperor of Great Li, Long Zhan, established the capital here, he chose this site precisely because its spiritual energy was exceptionally abundant—several times richer than anywhere else.

Though this was now the Age of Dharma's End, with spiritual energy drying up across the land, the Imperial Capital's spiritual energy should still, in theory, be somewhat richer than elsewhere in Great Li.

Before the original owner had earned the title of Tanhua, he had traveled and studied across Great Li, yet he never noticed any significant difference in spiritual energy between the Imperial Capital and other regions.

The root cause was the spirit gathering array in the Great Li Imperial Palace, which forced most of the Imperial Capital to supply the Great Li Imperial Family.

Spirit gathering arrays were divided into four grades, but the True Understanding of Formation Dao recorded the method for setting up a Perfect Spirit Gathering Array.

Whether low, high, or even supreme-grade, all spirit gathering arrays merely gathered the spiritual energy contained in the lower atmosphere.

Though the quantity might be large, the quality of that spiritual energy was not very high.

The higher the quality of spiritual energy, the faster a cultivator could refine it. If two people of equal talent refined low-grade and supreme-grade spiritual energy respectively, their refinement speeds would differ by a hundredfold.

But supreme-grade spiritual energy only appeared in large quantities during the peak of a Heaven and Earth Cataclysm. In this Age of Dharma's End, perhaps only within the Heavenly Void could one find traces of thin supreme-grade spiritual energy.

However, the Heavenly Void was far too distant. Only beings at the Peak of Humanity could tear through the void and reach the Heavenly Ruins.

Thus, though they knew supreme-grade spiritual energy might exist in the Heavenly Void, there was no means to harvest it.

The Perfect Spirit Gathering Array recorded in the True Understanding of Formation Dao solved this problem perfectly, channeling supreme-grade spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void into the array.

Ye Jing inscribed array patterns into the air around the walls of his courtyard. Once inscribed, the patterns vanished into the atmosphere. When he finished the final pattern, an invisible beam of light several feet wide shot straight up into the Heavenly Void.

If a Formation Saint Master happened to pass by Ye Manor, they would notice spiritual energy constantly gathering toward that beam from the Heavenly Void above, then slowly flowing down along it into the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array.

The Heavenly Void was unreachably high. By Ye Jing's estimate, it would take at least four hours for the supreme-grade spiritual energy in the Heavenly Void to flow into the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array.

After finishing the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array, Ye Jing didn't just wait idly. After dinner, he continued his cultivation.

Late at night, the entire Imperial Capital lay in silence. Ye Jing finished his cultivation and drifted off to sleep.

In the stillness of all things, the first wisp of supreme-grade spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void, after four hours of rushing, finally merged into the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array.

As time passed, more and more supreme-grade spiritual energy accumulated within the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array. The three-courtyard residence of Ye Manor was undergoing a silent, earth-shaking transformation.

On the branches of the withered parasol tree in the front courtyard, tender buds were sprouting. In the back courtyard, the long-dead peonies were forming buds. Even the withered grass, long cleared from the ground, was pushing through the soil, sprouting green.

Morning came, and once again, a startled cry from Qiuyue woke Ye Jing from his dreams.

"Young Master, Young Master, get up quickly! An auspicious sign! Something miraculous has happened in our courtyard!"

Qiuyue burst joyfully into Ye Jing's room, dragged him out of bed and into the courtyard, pointing at the scene before them.

"Young Master, look! In late autumn, the peonies that withered long ago have actually sprouted buds! The parasol tree in the courtyard has grown new leaves!"

"What auspicious sign? Try circulating your technique and feel the spiritual energy in this courtyard."

After a night of accumulation, the spiritual energy in the courtyard had already grown considerably abundant. Even without circulating his technique, Ye Jing could feel the energy flowing continuously through the air.

A withered tree coming back to life was nothing special. With the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array in place, not a single wisp of spiritual energy could leak out of Ye Manor.

As long as the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array kept running, supreme-grade spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void would continuously pour into this courtyard.

Over months and years of accumulation, the spiritual energy within Ye Manor's courtyard would grow denser and denser, eventually even reaching the point where spiritual energy condensed into rain.

The flowers, grass, and withered trees in the courtyard, bathed in this dense spiritual energy, would not only revive from death—over long exposure, they might even develop intelligence and become Demonic Creatures capable of cultivation.

Following Ye Jing's hint, Qiuyue circulated the Imperial Pole Dao Proving Scripture and immediately sensed that the spiritual energy in the courtyard was at least a thousand times denser than before.

After cultivating for just a moment, she felt a slight increase in the spiritual energy accumulated in her dantian.

Qiuyue stared at Ye Jing in astonishment, confusion written all over her face.

Under Qiuyue's admiring gaze, Ye Jing explained simply, "I know some people at court. Last night, while you were fast asleep, I had an Array Master from the court set up a spirit gathering array in our courtyard."

"From now on, the spiritual energy in our courtyard will only grow denser. If you cultivate here, your cultivation speed will be dozens of times faster than before."

With such an excellent cultivation environment, Ye Jing almost didn't want to go to the Hanlin Academy. If he cultivated here for a while, his cultivation base would soon reach Grandmaster Realm perfection.

But the Grandmaster Realm placed more emphasis on comprehending one's domain. The deeper your mastery over your domain, the more powerful your combat strength became.

Pure cultivation base improvement didn't boost strength all that noticeably—but that didn't mean it had no benefits at all.

Accumulating cultivation base was extremely slow. Without sufficient resources, ordinary rogue cultivators had to accumulate over years just to raise their cultivation level.

Now, with the help of the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array, the time needed for this accumulation would be greatly shortened.

Moreover, after his cultivation level increased, the power of the Thirteen Swords of Heavenly Annihilation he unleashed would be even greater, which was no small boost to his overall strength.

Alas, now that he was already at the Grandmaster Realm, the spiritual energy he required was vast. The spiritual energy in the courtyard was still far too scarce—for him now, it was merely a drop in the bucket.

To accumulate enough spiritual energy to reach the Grandmaster Realm Perfection, it would likely take another month.

During this time, he should focus on strengthening his control over the Time Domain. Then, after a month, he would make a single breakthrough to Grandmaster Realm Perfection.