Array Formations

Zhou Qing's current sensation was profoundly mysterious.

He was like the Savior in The Matrix, becoming part of this virtual world built with formation runes as its hardware and spiritual energy fluctuations as its essence.

By relying on his will alone, he could influence the underlying logic of this world.

Naturally, the more complex and crucial a part was, the harder it was to influence.

The Spirit Realm Network itself was composed of incomparably intricate and precise sequences of runes. These rune formations interlocked with one another, constantly tuning the spiritual energy. Zhou Qing felt dizzy after merely looking at them once, let alone trying to influence them actively.

But the contents of those note papers were very simple.

He easily stripped out their core contents.

Zhou Qing carefully examined this portion of the core content and found a gilded "He" character wrapped in five symbols.

After thinking briefly, Zhou Qing understood. This was the He character belonging to He Huifeng, the head of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall.

This should have been a stylized signature, or perhaps something like an autograph. Only with this did an announcement truly carry authority.

Once he removed the signature of the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall's head, the announcement was nothing more than an empty sheet of paper.

After Fang Yuhe received the message Elder Chengguang had sent someone to deliver, he immediately entered the Spirit Realm Network.

He saw five note papers on the bulletin board and knew these were the five tasks assigned for today.

He took down the five note papers and read them carefully. The first task was for someone to tend the Scarlet Heart Fruits in the Pill Hall's Spirit Garden.

Scarlet Heart Fruit was the main ingredient in the Qi Condensation Pill needed by Qi Refining cultivators to break through minor realms. It ripened once every ten years, and its growing conditions were extremely demanding, requiring someone to watch over it at all times.

The Azure Cloud Sect's Spirit Garden had specifically set aside a plot of land to grow five Scarlet Heart Fruit trees, which Pill Hall personnel tended day and night.

However, when the Pill Hall was sometimes too busy to manage, it would also issue tasks calling for other disciples to help.

The remaining tasks were: the Artifact Hall needed three people to dismantle ruined magical artifacts; an Elder of the Pill Hall had a batch of Heart Strengthening Pills that needed seven days to refine and required someone to watch the pill furnace, as well as three disciples to deal with the failed pills; and finally, the Scripture Pavilion needed three disciples to carry out the old books in the pavilion and air them in the sun.

Fang Yuhe quickly considered the candidates and wrote down the corresponding names on the note papers.

Among them, the task of tending spiritual plants was the best of the five.

The Azure Cloud Sect's Spirit Garden was not located on Azure Cloud Mountain, White Cloud Mountain, or Violet Cloud Mountain, but in a valley thirty li away.

The sect had specifically drawn a branch of the Azure Cloud Mountain spiritual vein there to nourish the Spirit Garden. The spiritual energy within was as rich as that of Azure Cloud Mountain itself, and the medicinal fragrance was overwhelming. Though the herbs were unrefined raw materials, prolonged exposure still offered cultivators considerable benefits.

Thus, tasks in the Spirit Garden had always been ones everyone fought over.

Fang Yuhe carefully wrote Lin Hongyu's three-character name on the note paper for this task, then exited the Spirit Realm Network.

As Fang Yuhe's consciousness returned to his body, he took a paper crane from beneath the window, activated the Visual-and-Audio Transmission Formation within it, and said, "Junior Sister Lin, come to my place for a moment."

Then he released the paper crane.

Less than half an hour later, a petite, delicate, gentle, and lovely girl arrived at Fang Yuhe's small courtyard.

"Senior Apprentice, you were looking for me?"

Lin Hongyu asked.

With a smile on his face, Fang Yuhe asked, "How has your cultivation been lately, Junior Sister?"

Lin Hongyu said, "Thanks to Senior Apprentice's guidance, I have already found the doorway to the third level of Qi Refining."

Fang Yuhe said approvingly, "Once you have found the doorway, breaking through it and entering is easy. The Scarlet Heart Fruits at the Spirit Garden need someone to tend them. I assigned this task to you. Scarlet Heart Fruits can help one condense spiritual energy, which will benefit your breakthrough."

Lin Hongyu said uneasily, "I was the one who went on the Spirit Garden task last time. If I go again this time, I'm afraid people will gossip."

Fang Yuhe said arrogantly, "Who would dare gossip about a decision I have made?"

Fang Yuhe's domineering words echoed by Lin Hongyu's ears, and an unusual light flickered in her eyes.

After Fang Yuhe left, Zhou Qing looked toward the bulletin board again and found that the note papers remained in their original places.

Because the core content of the "information packets" had been stripped away, Fang Yuhe's signature had not triggered the task receipt function.

Zhou Qing erased Fang Yuhe's aura from the note papers, then returned the stylized signature bearing the "He" character that he had stripped out, before leaving the Spirit Realm Network.

He left the mountain hollow where he had been hiding and quickly returned home. He took out the disciple tags of those disciples planning to accept tasks soon and selected eleven people from them.

He had Yuan Hongying to thank for pointing out the problem this time, so he assigned the Spirit Garden task to Yuan Hongying.

After choosing the people, he entered the Spirit Realm Network through his jade token and indeed found that the five note papers were still in their original places.

Zhou Qing wrote the names of the people he had selected onto the note papers.

He saw his own aura merge with the He character at the core of the note papers' "information packets."

The note papers gradually faded, then soon vanished.

This indicated that the tasks had been accepted.

All that remained was to notify the disciples he had selected. He handed this job to Wang Xiaohu, who often came by to visit him.

Zhou Qing had not accepted any task himself. Suddenly, he had something more important to do.

His experience of sneaking into the Spirit Realm Network had given him a deep interest in formations.

His magnetic field ability seemed to possess an innate advantage in the path of formations.

And formations could strengthen his abilities.

Since formations could construct a virtual world like the Spirit Realm Network, allowing cultivators' consciousnesses to interact across vast distances,

could he use the same method on his iron pellets?

The speed and power of the iron pellets were both considerable. Their only flaw was that they could not be controlled.

Once an iron pellet was fired, its direction was fixed. If it hit the enemy, that was naturally good. If it missed, it would waste an opportunity for nothing and might even put the enemy on guard.

If he could use formations to remotely control the iron pellets with his consciousness, this method of his would make up for its greatest weakness.

Zhou Qing had previously heard Chen Qingxuan mention that the Cultivation World had methods of controlling objects, the most common being sword control.

By nurturing a magical artifact with their consciousness over a long period, cultivators could establish a close connection with it and achieve the goal of remotely controlling objects.

However, this method of controlling objects had its shortcomings: the distance of control was limited by one's cultivation.

Even a Peak Qi Refining cultivator could only control objects over a distance of a dozen or so zhang.

At the peak of Foundation Establishment, that distance could expand to over a hundred zhang.

Formations, however, could break through this restriction.

There were over a dozen li of mountain road between the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall on Azure Cloud Mountain and Violet Cloud Mountain, yet the signal from the high tower could reach here without obstruction.

If he could successfully apply this method to iron pellets and other magical artifacts, he could achieve ultra-long-distance object control.

That would be an enormous leap forward.

Zhou Qing planned to visit Chen Qingxuan and ask him about formations, to see whether he was qualified to come into contact with them.

After cultivating for three shichen that night, Zhou Qing slept for a while, but woke after only two shichen.

Cultivation was a process of gradually shedding the mortal flesh. He felt his sleep growing lighter and lighter; before long, he would likely be able to give up sleep entirely.

When dawn finally came, Zhou Qing descended Violet Cloud Mountain and headed for the Hall of Skill Transmission on Azure Cloud Mountain.