Closing his eyes, Ye Jing carefully sensed the mysteries of True Understanding of Formation Dao.
Only after a long while did he slowly open his eyes and sigh. "True Understanding of Formation Dao truly deserves its reputation as one of the undisputed treasures of Formation Dao over the past several thousand years."
"Ever since True Understanding of Formation Dao came into being, Formation Dao, which had long been in decline, enjoyed a brief resurgence. It's said that at its height, it could even suppress Sword Dao."
"Unfortunately, Formation Dao demands extraordinarily high aptitude. Ordinary prodigies struggle to grasp even a fraction of its mysteries, so it can never flourish for long."
Yet Formation Dao's potential was no weaker than Sword Dao's. If cultivated to its utmost, one could even carve the Great Array of Heaven and Earth into one's own Dao Body and attain the Dao by another path.
Having comprehended every mystery of True Understanding of Formation Dao, Ye Jing did not linger at the Hanlin Academy. After finishing the work at hand, he hurried back to Ye Manor at once.
As soon as he returned to Ye Manor, Ye Jing began inscribing a Spirit Gathering Array there.
Spirit Gathering Arrays came in four grades: inferior, middle, superior, and supreme. Their ability to gather spiritual energy varied vastly from one grade to another.
The Great Li Imperial Palace was now covered by an enormous Supreme Spirit Gathering Array, which drew in more than half the spiritual energy nurtured throughout the Imperial Capital.
The Imperial Capital was where the fortune of the entire nation was anchored. When Long Zhan, the founding ruler of Great Li, established his capital there, it was because the area's spiritual energy was exceptionally abundant—several times that of other regions.
Though this was now the Age of Dharma's End and spiritual energy had withered across the land, the Imperial Capital should, in theory, still have had richer spiritual energy than the rest of Great Li.
Before the original Ye Jing had placed third in the imperial examinations, he had traveled around Great Li to study. He had never felt any difference between the spiritual energy across the land and that of the Imperial Capital.
The fundamental reason was the Spirit Gathering Array in the Great Li Imperial Palace. It made more than half the Imperial Capital supply the Great Li Imperial Family.
Spirit Gathering Arrays came in four grades, but True Understanding of Formation Dao also recorded how to construct a Perfect Spirit Gathering Array.
Whether inferior, superior, or even supreme, ordinary Spirit Gathering Arrays only gathered the spiritual energy contained in the lower reaches of the sky.
Although there was plenty of it, its quality was not particularly high.
The higher the quality of spiritual energy, the faster cultivators could refine it. If two people of identical aptitude refined inferior and supreme spiritual energy respectively, their refining speeds could differ by a hundredfold.
But supreme spiritual energy only appeared in abundance when the Heaven and Earth Cataclysm reached its height. In this Age of Dharma's End, perhaps only a sparse amount remained in the Heavenly Void.
The Heavenly Void was simply too far away. Only beings at the Peak of Humanity could tear through the void and travel to the Heavenly Ruins.
Thus, though they knew supreme spiritual energy might exist in the Heavenly Void, they had no means of collecting it.
The Perfect Spirit Gathering Array recorded in True Understanding of Formation Dao elegantly solved this problem. It could draw supreme spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void into the formation.
Ye Jing carved Array Patterns into the air around the compound at Ye Manor. Once inscribed, they vanished into the air. When he finished carving the final Array Pattern, an invisible pillar of light, several feet wide, shot straight into the Heavenly Void.
Had an Array Saint passed by Ye Manor, he would have seen spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void continually gathering above the manor and slowly flowing down the pillar into the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array.
The Heavenly Void was impossibly high. By Ye Jing's estimate, it would take at least four shichen for supreme spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void to reach the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array.
After inscribing the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array, Ye Jing did not simply wait around. Once he had eaten dinner, he resumed cultivating.
Late at night, the entire Imperial Capital lay in silence. Having finished cultivating, Ye Jing, too, drifted off to sleep.
In the stillness of the night, the first wisp of supreme spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void finally reached the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array after surging down for four shichen.
As time passed, supreme spiritual energy continued to gather within the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array. The three-courtyard compound at Ye Manor was also undergoing earth-shaking changes, all in perfect silence.
Buds were sprouting from the branches of the paulownia trees in the front courtyard, long since withered. In the back courtyard, the peonies that had lost all signs of life were forming flower buds. Even the dead weeds, long since cleared from the ground, were pushing up through the earth and putting forth green shoots.
At dawn, Qiuyue's startled cry once again woke Ye Jing from his sleep.
"Young Master, Young Master, wake up! There's an auspicious sign! Something miraculous has happened in our courtyard!"
Qiuyue rushed into Ye Jing's room, delighted. She pulled him out of bed and into the courtyard, pointing at the scene before them.
"Young Master, look! In the depths of autumn, that peony that withered long ago has actually grown flower buds, and the paulownias in the courtyard have put out new leaves!"
"What auspicious sign? Try circulating your cultivation method and feel the spiritual energy in the courtyard."
After a whole night of accumulation, the spiritual energy in the courtyard had already grown much richer. Even without circulating his cultivation method, Ye Jing could feel it flowing through the grounds.
What was a withered tree blooming in spring compared to this? With the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array covering it, not a wisp of spiritual energy could leak out of Ye Manor.
As long as the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array kept running, supreme spiritual energy from the Heavenly Void would continue pouring into the compound at Ye Manor.
Over the years, the spiritual energy within the compound would grow ever denser. One day, it might even condense into rain.
Bathed in such rich spiritual energy, the flowers, grasses, and withered trees in the courtyard would not merely bloom anew. Under its influence over many years, they might even awaken their minds and become cultivatable Demonic Creatures.
Following Ye Jing's suggestion, Qiuyue circulated the Imperial Pole Dao Proving Scripture and immediately sensed that the spiritual energy in the courtyard was at least a thousand times richer than usual.
After cultivating for only a moment, she felt the spiritual energy accumulated in her dantian increase slightly.
Qiuyue stared at Ye Jing in astonishment, confusion written across her face.
Under Qiuyue's adoring gaze, Ye Jing gave a simple explanation. "I know some people at court. Last night, while you were asleep, I asked an Array Master at court to set up a Spirit Gathering Array in our courtyard."
"From now on, the spiritual energy in our courtyard will grow richer and richer. If you cultivate here, your progress will be dozens of times faster than before."
With such an excellent cultivation environment, Ye Jing almost did not want to go to the Hanlin Academy. If he cultivated here for a while, he would soon reach Grandmaster Perfection.
Still, the Grandmaster Realm placed greater emphasis on comprehending domains. The deeper one's mastery of a domain, the stronger one's combat power.
Simply advancing one's cultivation did not add that much to one's strength, but it was not without benefits.
Building up one's cultivation was an extremely slow process. Without ample resources, ordinary Rogue Cultivators had to accumulate their strength over many years to make progress.
Now, with the aid of the Perfect Spirit Gathering Array, the time needed for this accumulation would be greatly reduced.
And with a higher cultivation, the Thirteen Swords of Heavenly Annihilation would become even more powerful, giving his strength another significant boost.
Sigh, I'm already at the Grandmaster Realm. I need an enormous amount of spiritual energy, and there's still too little in the courtyard. For me, it's no more than a cup of water on a burning cart of firewood.
At this rate, it'll probably take another month to accumulate enough spiritual energy to reach Grandmaster Perfection.
For now, I should focus on deepening my mastery of the Time Domain. Then, in a month, I can break through to Grandmaster Perfection in one fell swoop.
Before you continue