Journey VIII

All three were indispensable.

If any part of the three main pillars developed a flaw or weakness, it would prevent his overall strength from rising.

His physical qualities had improved enormously, and his comprehension of Dao intent had also advanced considerably. After all, he had spent this entire period running about for the sake of Dao intent and the Demon Talisman Seed.

Only the Array Talisman Dao had remained the one aspect without any substantive improvement for all this time.

"The greatest trouble with fourth-grade Array Talisman Dao is that it consumes mental will during the crafting process."

There was no avoiding that. The Array Talisman Dao of the past had also consumed mental energy, but he had relied on his body's memory. As long as he succeeded once, his body could instinctively remember that trajectory and repeat it perfectly.

But fourth-grade arrays were different. Not only did they consume mental power during creation, at the very end, he also had to inject a portion of his mental will as the activation key.

Lin Xin tried drawing the simplest fourth-grade array talisman rune on a sheet of paper.

It was a symbol that resembled countless curved hooks layered atop one another.

As he drew it, he infused demon qi, then abruptly injected a thread of mental power at the final moment.

Hiss!

The entire sheet of paper immediately burst into flames.

The meaning represented by this symbol was burning. It was one of the thirty-two most fundamental component symbols in all fire arrays.

In the blink of an eye, the paper burned directly into black ash, nearly setting fire to the other books and items on the table as well.

Frowning, Lin Xin set down his brush.

"I still need materials with sufficient resistance before I can truly attempt a