A sheet of practice talisman paper lay spread out, covering an entire table.
Jiang Ding held a talisman brush. He drew it slowly across the paper with spirit ink, inscribing runes precise to the micrometer. He pushed his Thousand-Thread Guidance martial art to its limit.
This martial art was far easier than the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique. Through constant shooting and talisman drawing, he had mastered it. He could divide a single strand of inner force into a hundred, which gave him a considerable advantage in precise control.
He finished the final stroke.
Jiang Ding let out a long breath. A little apprehensive, he channeled inner force into the completed First-Order Great Sun Spirit-Gathering Array diagram.
Hiss~
A wisp of blue smoke rose. The center of the diagram turned pitch-black.
"Failed again..."
Jiang Ding sighed softly, put away the ruined talisman paper for recycling, and took out another sheet. Inner force surged through his body and flowed from his fingertips as he continued drawing.
Once, twice. Both attempts failed.
He was used to it.
The First-Order Great Sun Spirit-Gathering Array was much harder than other array diagrams. Over the past several days, he had failed hundreds of times and wasted a great deal of practice paper and ink.
Fortunately, the school sold both at cost, so he could just about afford it.
That was the good fortune of being born in the Immortal Sect.
In the cultivation world beyond its borders, this practice alone could bankrupt an early- or mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator from an ordinary family.
The seventh time, the eighth...
The twentieth!
As Jiang Ding concentrated on drawing the array diagram, a flash of insight struck. Every detail of the miniature spirit-vein ruins he had seen in the underground cavern beneath Tiger Den suddenly came back to him, including