Purple Lightning Takes Form

Deep within the prefectural office, the temporary interrogation room of the Six Doors was brightly lit.

The effeminate man was shackled to a rack with special restraints, etched with runes that suppressed Essence Qi. Mufeng, holding a yellowed ancient book, was cross-referencing the incantations the man had confessed. The plump youth, meanwhile, fiddled with the four broken command flags, attempting to decipher the array's mysteries.

"The Four Symbols Spirit Locking Array requires a sacrifice of pure blood, combined with four spiritual objects from the cardinal directions..." the effeminate man spoke weakly, blood still trickling from his lips. "The black command flag requires Cold Iron from the netherworld, and the white flag needs snow mountain cold jade..."

Mufeng coldly interrupted, "We know all that. Tell us something useful, like... who is your mole in the prefectural capital?"

The man revealed a sinister smile. "Does Your Excellency think I would tell you?"

Outside, Ye Yun glanced towards the interrogation room from afar and shook his head. These Youming Sect fanatics were brainwashed; prying secrets from their mouths was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

For the next few days, the entire prefectural office was under strict lockdown, with all Constable ordered to remain on standby within the premises. Yan Xiao Liu and the others, with nothing to do, often gathered in the backyard to drink and gamble, their boisterous shouts audible from several courtyards away.

Ye Yun, however, declined all invitations and stayed alone in his duty room. He took out the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal from his embrace. The four Vermilion characters on the cover glowed with a faint purple light under the lamplight.

"Purple Lightning Thunder Seal..." Ye Yun softly recited the general principles of the cultivation technique, "Drawing down the thunder of the nine heavens, transforming it into a divine seal to slay evil... What arrogance!"

He sat cross-legged and circulated his Essence Qi according to the technique's records. Initially, there was no anomaly, but when he attempted to transform his Essence Qi into lightning power, his meridians suddenly felt a tearing pain!

He spat out a mouthful of blood and hastily stopped cultivating.

"What a domineering technique!" He wiped the blood from his lips, his heart still pounding. Cultivating this lightning seal was incredibly dangerous; a slight misstep could cause self-inflicted injury. No wonder no one from the Wang family had managed to master it in thirty years.

But Ye Yun was not discouraged. He recalled the terror of the female ghost in the well that day; if he hadn't coincidentally known the Soul-Suppressing Seal, he would have likely perished. While the Soul-Suppressing Seal could counter evil, it lacked the power for a decisive blow. This Purple Lightning Thunder Seal, however, was created specifically for eradicating malevolent spirits!

"Again!" A determined glint flashed in Ye Yun's eyes. He adjusted his breathing, guiding his Essence Qi even more cautiously this time, as slow as peeling silk from a cocoon...

Three days later, a brilliant purple light erupted from the duty room!

Ye Yun formed hand seals, and dazzling arcs of electricity danced at his fingertips. These arcs writhed and coiled like living things, emitting a heart-stopping crackling sound. The air was filled with the smell of ozone, and the oil lamp on the table flickered erratically.

"Ye Yun let out a low cry and slammed his hands together.

All the electric arcs instantly converged, forming a palm-sized purple lightning seal in his palm. Runes flowed across its surface, containing terrifying destructive power!

Ye Yun pushed the lightning seal forward.

A large hole was blasted through the duty room wall, the edges scorched black with lingering arcs of electricity! Fortunately, he had set up a soundproofing barrier beforehand, or such a commotion would have alerted the entire prefectural office.

"What immense power!" Ye Yun was both surprised and delighted. The destructive force of this strike was already comparable to the full power of a seventh-rank martial artist! Furthermore, it had a special restraining effect on Yin and evil entities.

He suddenly remembered the great battle at Black Wind Ridge that day. When Zhuge Qing fought the bandit leader, every sword strike contained radiant righteous energy, clearly indicating he practiced orthodox Daoist techniques. The bandit leader's Netherworld Blade technique, on the other hand, was sinister and erratic, the black energy on his blade capable of corroding the opponent's Essence Qi.

What impressed Ye Yun the most, however, was the Four Symbols Spirit Locking Array set up by the effeminate man. Despite having a cultivation level of only 8th Rank, he had managed to trap the fifth-rank Zhuge Qing with the array! Such a method of defeating a stronger opponent was unheard of!

"The Way of Arrays..." A fervent light flashed in Ye Yun's eyes. He recalled that the upper half of the True Martial Secret Manual did indeed contain some basic knowledge of array formations, but he had never had the time to study it in depth before.

No sooner said than done. Ye Yun immediately took out the secret manual and flipped to the pages detailing array formations. These arrays, though seemingly simple, contained the profound principles of heaven and earth:

"Heaven gives birth to wood in threes, earth completes it in eights... The seven constellations of the Eastern Azure Dragon correspond to the vital energy of spring... Earth gives birth to metal in fours, heaven completes it in nines... The seven constellations of the Western White Tiger govern the killing intent of autumn..."

Ye Yun became increasingly engrossed as he read. It turned out that the Way of Arrays was about borrowing the power of heaven and earth for one's own use. It could be used for minor concealment or to trap and kill powerful enemies, its mysteries profound.

He tried to arrange the simplest concealment array using a few ordinary stones according to the book. However, no matter how he adjusted the positions, the array showed no reaction.

"Strange..." Ye Yun frowned in thought. "I followed every step as required..."

He suddenly thought of something and tried injecting his mental energy into the stones. A wondrous thing happened – the ordinary stones suddenly glowed faintly, and a mysterious connection formed between them! A three-foot diameter concealment barrier quietly took shape. Although weak, it was effective!

"So that's how it is!" Ye Yun suddenly understood. Arrays require mental energy as a guide! No wonder the talent requirements are so high!

In the following days, Ye Yun was completely immersed in cultivation.

He studied the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal during the day and delved into the Way of Arrays at night. The walls of his duty room were covered in scorch marks, and various markers for array practice littered the floor.

His progress with the Purple Lightning Thunder Seal was the fastest. The technique seemed tailor-made for him, making cultivation twice as effective with half the effort. In just seven days, he could skillfully condense the lightning seal, and its power had increased by more than thirty percent.

In contrast, his progress in the Way of Arrays was much slower.

"No... the flow of energy here should be smoother..." Ye Yun stared at the stones on the ground, his brow furrowed. He was attempting to set up a simple spirit gathering array, but it was always just a little bit off.

The Way of Arrays was far more complex than imagined. It not only required calculating positions and angles but also considering the time, earth veins, and even weather changes! Every detail affected the array's efficacy.

The most taxing part was the use of mental energy. Setting up an array required refining mental energy into threads and precisely injecting them into each array eye. This demanded extremely high control over mental energy; a slight mistake could lead to the complete failure of the effort.

Pfft... Ye Yun suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and the stones on the ground shattered in response. This was the third failure today – he had tried to speed up the array formation process, resulting in a backlash of mental energy that injured him.

"It seems I can't rush..." Ye Yun wiped away the blood with a wry smile. He finally understood why array masters were so rare – it was like dancing on the tip of a knife!

After a short rest, he changed his approach and began studying the Four Symbols Spirit Locking Array used by the effeminate man that day. Although he only had one damaged black command flag for reference, he was able to deduce many of its mysteries by combining it with the records in the True Martial Secret Manual.

"The four symbols correspond to the four directions, Azure Dragon governs life, White Tiger governs killing..." Ye Yun drew complex array diagrams on the ground, but the Youming Sect's array seemed to do the opposite, using death qi instead of vital energy...

He suddenly thought of something and took out the black command flag to examine it closely. The runes on the flag appeared chaotic but actually followed a certain pattern. When he attempted to inject a trace of lightning power into it, the flag trembled violently, and the runes on its surface lit up with a faint glow!

"So that's it!" A look of enlightenment flashed in Ye Yun's eyes. This flag itself was a small array eye! When the four flags were combined, they could form a complete array!

This discovery excited him greatly. If he could forge similar array flags, wouldn't he also be able to wield such powerful arrays?

No sooner said than done. Ye Yun found some ordinary materials and tried to replicate the command flag. However, no matter how he carved the runes, the flags he made showed no reaction.

"It seems the key lies in the materials..." Ye Yun mused. Cold Iron from the netherworld, snow mountain cold jade... These were all rare spiritual materials. No wonder the array's power was so immense.

Although he couldn't replicate the Four Symbols Spirit Locking Array for now, the research over the past few days had significantly deepened Ye Yun's understanding of arrays. He could now set up concealment arrays with ease, and his spirit gathering arrays could be maintained for half an hour.

What surprised him the most was that cultivating arrays greatly benefited his mental energy. His perception had become much sharper, and he could even faintly sense the flow of Essence Qi!