The beast horns aren't even ground yet, and I'm already depressed.

The earth for ten miles around emitted a dull, muffled roar.

A massive and complex super-array, so intricate that a single glance was enough to induce dizziness, slowly took shape around the Sha Qi Pit.

The array was divided into three hundred and sixty layers.

Each layer was nested with over a dozen sub-arrays of varying attributes.

The outermost perimeter consisted of Spirit Gathering Arrays, continuously drawing thin wisps of spiritual energy from the heavens and earth to provide power.

The middle section contained Suppression Arrays and Confinement Arrays, locking down the destructive aura radiating from the severed beast horn.

The innermost layer was packed with dense Erosion Arrays and Purification Arrays, acting like countless tiny files aimed directly at the horn at the bottom of the pit.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Lu Changsheng collapsed onto a rock on the edge of the array, his chest heaving violently; he lacked the strength to even lift a finger.

Two thousand years of high-intensity labor had nearly squeezed every last drop of mana and divine sense from his body.

Yet, looking at the masterpiece he had named the 360-Layer Heavenly Cycle Purification Array, he wore a smile that looked worse than crying.

"Cough, cough..."

Lu Changsheng struggled to roll over, fished two Red Sun Fruits he had been saving from his personal storage space, and shoved them into his mouth, chewing vigorously.

Sweet juice flowed down his throat, transforming into faint but exceptionally warm spiritual energy that nourished his parched dantian.

It was not until he had consumed the fifth Red Sun Fruit that his mana, which had been on the verge of stalling, finally regained a sliver of strength to circulate.

"Get to work!"

Lu Changsheng forced himself to sit upright, his hands forming an extremely complex dharma seal.

Because his mana was so weak, his hands trembled slightly, but the light in his eyes was brighter than ever before.

"360-Layer Heavenly Cycle, rise!"

Following his low shout.

The massive array complex spanning ten miles before him seemed like an ancient beast awakening from slumber, emitting a low hum.

Immediately after, the outermost Spirit Gathering Arrays lit up first.

The sparse spiritual energy from hundreds of miles around, as if responding to a powerful summons, turned into visible white mist and surged madly toward the center of the array.

Filtered and purified by the outer arrays, this energy finally transformed into the purest power, pouring into the inner Purification Arrays.

"Hum—hum—hum—"

One layer of light curtains after another flickered to life.

Multicolored array patterns intertwined to form a gigantic grinding disc of spiritual light, pinning the pitch-black beast horn—which radiated a destructive aura—firmly in the center.

There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor any light tearing through the firmament.

The array Lu Changsheng had laid out was designed specifically for the slow, grinding process of wearing down an opponent.

"Sss, sss, sss..."

The moment the innermost Purification Array light curtain touched the beast horn, it emitted a dense sound similar to cold water being splashed onto a red-hot iron block.

The destructive will attached to the beast horn sensed the threat and suddenly erupted with a violent, dark-red black smoke, attempting to counterattack.

But as soon as this black smoke rose, it was firmly suppressed by the Suppression Arrays above, then stripped away and eroded bit by bit by the surrounding Purification Array patterns.

Seeing the array operating steadily, the heart that had been in Lu Changsheng's throat finally settled.

"Good! That's it! Grind it slowly! I may lack many things, but I have plenty of time!"

He plopped back down onto the rock and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

The counterattack from this severed beast horn was even more intense than he had imagined; if he had been hot-headed enough to jump down and pull it out by hand earlier, he would likely have been sucked dry into a husk by now.

"The days ahead will just be a waiting game."

Lu Changsheng stretched his back.

He did not leave, but instead settled down on a relatively flat mound of dirt right at the edge of the array's perimeter.

Cultivation knows no time.

Especially during this tedious process of wearing down stone with drops of water.

In the blink of an eye.

Five hundred years passed.

During these five hundred years, the array operated day and night, emitting a monotonous humming and the hissing sound of erosion.

The massive black beast horn showed almost no change on the surface, remaining as pitch-black as ink.

But if one were to perceive it carefully with divine sense, one would discover that the layer of materialized destructive aura surrounding it had been forcibly thinned by a negligible amount.

Every day, aside from meditating to recover mana, Lu Changsheng would simply stare blankly at the array.

Although he was a seasoned practitioner of the "cautious path" and could endure loneliness.

This was, after all, five whole centuries!

Staring at the same rock every day, listening to the same sounds, with not a single living, breathing creature in sight.

Lu Changsheng felt like he was going to be driven mad by the confinement.

No, if I keep sitting here like this, I'll succumb to depression long before I finish grinding down these beast horns.

He jumped down from the mound of dirt, paced in a circle twice, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

He reached out and touched the jade box hanging around his neck.

Right, how could I have forgotten about you lot!

Lu Changsheng carefully opened the jade box and lifted out a large clump of spiritual soil, perfectly preserved by a formation.

Atop the spiritual soil, the Red Sun Fruit tree he had uprooted remained full of vitality. Beside it clustered a small patch of Starlight Grass, along with that half-dead Nameless Vine.

Seeing these familiar old companions, Lu Changsheng felt his eyes grow warm.

"Time to move house, everyone!"

Beside the outermost control node of the grand formation, he dug a large pit with his claws, huffing and puffing, and then planted the clump of spiritual soil along with the plants.

He even took care to adjust the formation's spiritual qi convergence path, allowing a small portion of purified Xiantian Spiritual Qi to slowly nourish this tiny patch of spiritual field.

After finishing all this, Lu Changsheng brushed the dirt off his hands and sat down cross-legged beside the Red Sun Fruit tree, satisfied.

"Old tree, oh old tree, I suppose we've settled down again."

"Although the environment here is a bit harsh, and we have to listen to that damn bone-scraping sound of black smoke every day, this spiritual qi is far better than that short mountain we used to be on."

Lu Changsheng leaned against the trunk and began his long-winded rambling.

In this desolate corner of the Primordial Land, these silent plants became his only spiritual sustenance.

"Look at this Starlight Grass, its leaves are even brighter than before. Once this job is done, buddy will treat you all to the good life and find a real blessed land for you to take root in!"

"And you, little vine."

Lu Changsheng reached out and poked the Nameless Vine that lay on the ground, having barely grown an inch in over five thousand years.

"What kind of species are you, anyway? You've absorbed so much of my spiritual spring water, yet you won't even grow a new leaf. It's only because I'm kind-hearted; anyone else would have pulled you up to burn as firewood long ago."

The vine naturally did not answer him, merely swaying its withered branches slightly in the breeze.

With the company of these plants, Lu Changsheng's state of mind finally stabilized.

Time entered its long, fast-forward mode once again.

One thousand years.

Two thousand years.

Three thousand years.