What Can Be Used to Set Up an Array?

"Alright, alright, we'll talk about the elders later, let's get back to work!" Huo Yuhao waved his hand, temporarily silencing their curious mouths.

Lin Xiuya and the others continued their "hard labor" work. While digging, Huo Yuhao kept a close eye on their movements to ensure that every medicinal herb they worked on was removed from the soil intact.

"Give it your all, everyone!" Huo Yuhao encouraged them at the right moment. "Once this is done, I'll treat you all to dinner, and I'll cook it all myself!"

The earthy smell mingled with the fresh fragrance of herbs, filling her nostrils. Xiao Yi Xian brushed the mud off her hands and looked up to catch her breath, only to see Huo Yuhao walk to the edge of the field, take out his communication Spirit Artifact, and whisper something to someone on the other side. His profile looked exceptionally handsome in the midday sun. Xiao Yi Xian admired him for a moment, then contentedly continued working.

"Okay, teacher, I understand." Huo Yuhao ended the call.

"What did you talk about?" After Huo Yuhao finished his "phone call," Xiao Yi Xian suddenly leaned over, tilting her head, her light green eyes full of curiosity.

Huo Yuhao put away the Spirit Artifact and sighed, "I checked several key points about cultivating medicinal herbs with my teacher again, just in case I made a mistake and all our previous efforts were wasted."

"Oh, I see!" Xiao Yi Xian smoothed her loose hair. "Where are the teachers and the others?"

"We've just entered the desert and are preparing to find the location of the Heavenly Flames that Senior Hai Bodong's map recorded as possibly existing."

The sun was high in the sky, and although it was still winter, the temperature was already quite warm.

When the last medicinal herb was carefully placed into the few "preservation boxes" that emitted a soft glow, everyone felt like their backs were about to give way. It wasn't physical exhaustion, but the mental fatigue caused by repetitive work.

The "preservation box" that Huo Yuhao brought didn't look big, but it could hold all the medicinal herbs in the entire herb field. The herb field elders and Lin Xiuya and the others surrounded the box, their eyes full of surprise and uncertainty.

Huo Yuhao patted the cool outer shell and explained with satisfaction, "This is a specially made preservation device that can lock in the activity of medicinal herbs. They won't die even if they're kept away from the soil for ten days to half a month. It mainly utilizes the Absorption Stone space's—"

Huo Yuhao's long-winded explanation was interrupted halfway through. Seeing the bewildered looks on his classmates' faces, he silently swallowed back his long-winded explanation about the materials and principles of "Spirit Artifact." Explaining them was too much trouble; knowing their effects was enough.

Next, the real highlight began. Huo Yuhao, as if setting up a precise instrument, personally buried Magic Core of different attributes deep within each designated medicinal field. He was completely unaware that the soil was sticking to the corners of his clothes.

"These Magic Core were specially selected; their properties won't conflict with the herbs planted in this medicinal field." Huo Yuhao's voice clearly reached the ears of the focused onlookers. After burying the last Magic Core, Huo Yuhao snapped his fingers, activating the formation. A very faint spiritual light enveloped the soil; if it weren't for the soil in the adjacent medicinal field as a contrast, no one would have noticed this spiritual light at all.

"Huo, what is the purpose of this formation?" Han Yue asked.

"This formation was inspired by the mechanisms in the Meditation Room," Huo Yuhao said, walking towards the second medicinal field. "Its main function is to prevent energy loss, and it can also slightly increase the energy concentration within the field."

"The academy's Meditation Room separates the mechanisms from the Magic Core. I think it doesn't need to be that complicated. Using Magic Core 9 as the array base can achieve both functions—" Huo Yuhao continued to explain his thinking.

Yan Hao scratched his scalp vigorously, feeling as if he were listening to gibberish. Lin Xiuya and Han Yue exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other's eyes. They had both seen descriptions of "array formations," an ancient technique, in their family records.

"Huo Yuhao!" Lin Xiuya exclaimed, his voice filled with clear shock. "This formation—you created it?!"

"Yes, it was my idea." Huo Yuhao replied simply, then continued setting up formations in the other medicinal fields.

Once the soil for all the medicinal plants was prepared, Huo Yuhao breathed a sigh of relief and began rummaging through the food storage container. With each plant he took out, the elder of the medicinal plant field felt a pang of anxiety.

"Ouch! Elder Huo! Be gentle! This is a fifty-year-old Jade Marrow Ganoderma!"

"This tree is at least eighty years old! Be careful!"

Undisturbed by Elder Yaotian's voiceover, Huo Yuhao gathered invisible spiritual power at his fingertips, like the most precise carving knife, and outlined patterns containing strange rhythms on the twelve selected top-grade medicinal herbs.

Everyone could feel that as Huo Yuhao moved his fingertips, the air around the medicinal herbs seemed to distort slightly.

The Spirit Runes that Huo Yuhao inscribed on the medicinal herbs at this moment were the latest Spirit Runes he had researched after consulting with Yao Chen. They possessed the ability to transform external energy into the medicinal properties of the herbs.

Because Lin Xiuya and Han Yue were somewhat interested in this, Huo Yuhao was happy to explain the principles of his formation to them.

"The purpose of these Spirit Runes is to transform the medicinal herbs themselves into the array base, because I plan to use the medicinal properties of these herbs as energy to connect the array. However, the medicinal properties within the herbs are limited, so they need to be replenished."

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Huo Yuhao's forehead, but his voice remained steady, "These Spirit Runes can be used to gather energy, converting external energy into nutrients that medicinal herbs can directly 'absorb', thus replenishing the medicinal properties."

Now Lin Xiuya and Han Yue also joined Yan Hao's group, abandoning their own thoughts.

Xiao Yi Xian suddenly asked, "Brother Huo Yuhao, why don't we just use this Spirit Runes to cultivate the medicinal herbs?"

Huo Yuhao stopped what he was doing and smiled helplessly, "These Spirit Runes can only replenish the medicinal properties, but they can't increase the upper limit of the medicinal materials. Besides—"

He patted the mountain of ordinary medicinal herbs piled up in the food storage container. "You want to carve all of these? You want to kill me with work?"

Finally, Huo Yuhao inscribed an even more complex Spirit Runes on the twelve core medicinal herbs. Then he picked them up as if they were rare treasures, arranged them according to a certain pattern, and replanted them in the medicinal field.

"Rise!" Huo Yuhao shouted, his eyes suddenly flashing with a pale golden light!

Buzz-!

An invisible wave suddenly emanated from him! The Spirit Runes on the twelve core medicinal herbs instantly lit up, emitting a soft glow!

Lin Xiuya and the others clearly "saw" streams of pure, fragrant "air" gently extracted from the twelve medicinal herbs, forming several "light paths" in the herb field, connecting and flowing between each herb!

Herb array, complete!

The air in the area covered by the array seemed to turn into thick honey, and an intense, suffocating medicinal fragrance suddenly erupted!

"Hah!" Yan Hao took a deep breath and immediately felt a surge of heat rush to his head, his vision blurred, and his body swayed.

"Wow! This is really strong! It's even more potent than my old man's century-old vintage! It's decided! We'll go for a drink after we finish work! I know where to get good wine!"

Huo Yuhao directed everyone to replant the remaining medicinal herbs, deliberately placing them near the glowing medicinal "pathways."

The intense, almost intoxicating aroma of herbs had faded somewhat, but what truly widened Elder Yaotian's eyes was that those herbs, which had just been listless due to being removed from the soil, had their leaves unfurl at a visible speed the moment their roots touched the soil, which had been nourished by the power of the array. Their colors brightened, and the entire herb exuded a vibrant energy!