Omnidirectional Spatial Array

When Xiao Ning'er came looking for Shen Fei, he was in his study going through that month's purchasing ledger. The steward announced that Miss Xiao of the Winged Dragon Family had arrived. Shen Fei put down his pen, rose, and went to the side hall.

Xiao Ning'er stood in the hall in a light blue combat outfit, her cuffs cinched tight, a short sword at her waist, and her hair tied in a ponytail.

When she saw Shen Fei enter, she skipped the pleasantries. "Nie Li asked me to find you. He said there's something he needs to discuss in person. He's waiting by the Omnidirectional Spatial Array in the rear courtyard of the City Lord's Mansion and wants you to come over now."

Shen Fei fell silent for a few seconds. The Omnidirectional Spatial Array was an ancient teleportation formation, and only a handful of people in Glory City could even understand it. Nie Li's ability to get it working already exceeded his expectations. But if Nie Li had suddenly sent for him, it certainly wasn't for idle chatter.

"Did he say what he wanted me for?"

"No. He only said it was important." Xiao Ning'er shook her head. "He's been spending most of his time in the rear courtyard lately. Yesterday, he told me how the repairs on those two Legendary Inscription scrolls were going. The defensive scroll is ready to be copied, but the offensive scroll is still missing some crucial lines. He said he could restore seventy percent of it given another two months."

Shen Fei nodded. He had found those two Legendary Fragments in a hidden compartment in Gulan City's City Lord's Mansion and given them to Xiao Ning'er to pass on to Nie Li. Since then, he had only seen Nie Li from a distance at the Genius Tournament and the victory banquet.

Now that Nie Li had taken the initiative to contact him, it was most likely because he had made progress with the fragments. But Nie Li had been riding high lately. He had already moved into the City Lord's Mansion and grown close to Ye Ziyun, and quite a few people in the Sacred Family were keeping an eye on him.

If he had too much contact with Nie Li, Shen Hong and Shen Yue would inevitably grow suspicious. Still, whatever prompted Nie Li to seek him out couldn't be trivial. Even if he wanted to avoid suspicion, he had to go.

"All right. I'll come." Shen Fei returned to his room and changed into clothes that allowed him to move freely. He hung his sword at his waist, took a packet of Poison Powder and some thin iron wire from a hidden compartment, and tucked them inside his clothes. Only after checking his scabbard and concealed pockets did he come back out.

They left through the side gate and took a detour through two alleys to make sure no one was following before heading toward the City Lord's Mansion along the foot of the city wall. Afternoon sunlight fell on the bluestone paving, and there were few pedestrians on the streets. Xiao Ning'er walked ahead, her pace faster than usual, with Shen Fei half a step behind.

"What else has Nie Li been busy with lately?"

"He spends most of his time at the array. The bases of the Sixteen High Towers are already set, and twenty-one Radiance Stones have been installed. He says it needs twenty-three to activate fully. The inscriptions on the towers are ancient reinforcement and channeling structures. Some handle spatial anchoring, some carry Spiritual Power, and some calibrate orientation."

"Where did the Radiance Stones come from?"

"They found a batch in the City Lord's Mansion's stores, and City Lord Ye had another batch brought over from the Wind Snow Family. Lu Piao and Du Ze picked up the remaining few at the Black Market." Xiao Ning'er paused. "The Black Market has been under strict scrutiny lately. Several shops connected to the Dark Guild were shut down, and some of their stock leaked out at low prices. They took the opportunity to buy a few."

Shen Fei made a mental note of that. Nie Li had severed the Dark Guild's supply lines several times, and now even its channels for selling scattered goods through the Black Market were starting to come loose. That meant its underground network was contracting.

But the tighter that network contracted, the more likely the Dark Guild was to launch a major counterattack before drawing back.

They entered the City Lord's Mansion through a side gate. The guards recognized Xiao Ning'er's waist token and let them through. They skirted the front courtyard and council hall, then followed a stone-paved path lined with old pagoda trees. An expanse of level ground lay at the far end of the rear courtyard.

Sixteen domed towers stood on that level ground, each three stories tall. Inscription lines covered their bodies, shimmering faintly gold in the sunlight.

The lines extended from the bases to the tops, straight and curved strokes intertwining and coiling like a vast net draped over each tower. The towers formed a circle around a black stone slab set into the ground at the center. Extremely intricate array lines were carved into the slab, the main lines as thick as fingers and the branching lines as fine as strands of hair, all interlacing.

Nie Li crouched at the edge of the array, adjusting the curves of its lines with a small carving knife.

Du Ze crouched beside him in gray cloth clothes, his build lean. With his head lowered, he passed over carving knives and stone powder, his movements quiet and efficient. A twitch of Nie Li's fingers was enough for him to know which tool was needed; they didn't even have to exchange a glance.

Lu Piao and Xiao Xue sat on the stone steps west of the array. Lu Piao leaned against a tower base with a grass stem between his teeth, staring blankly up at the lines on the tower.

Xiao Xue sat beside him, writing something in a small booklet. Now and then, she raised her head to exchange a few words with Lu Piao, keeping her voice low.

Shen Fei and Xiao Ning'er stopped at the edge of the array. Nie Li continued working. "You're here."

"You wanted to see me?" Shen Fei surveyed the inscriptions on the towers. Each tower had a different pattern, but they clearly echoed one another. Together, the lines on the sixteen towers seemed to form a complete design.

Nie Li finished his last cut, set down the carving knife, and stood, brushing the stone powder from his hands. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and a few flecks of stone clung to his arms.

"I've repaired the defensive scroll from those two Legendary Inscription scrolls. I gave City Lord Ye a copy. They should be able to carve it onto the North City Wall next month. The offensive scroll was too badly damaged. I could only restore it to Black Gold Rank. I couldn't connect the lines needed to take it any higher."

Something stirred in Shen Fei's heart. A Black Gold Rank offensive inscription was already among the strongest city defenses Glory City could field. If the walls had possessed even one Black Gold Rank inscription when the city fell in his previous life, they could at least have held off a few more Gold Demon Beasts.

"That's much better than I expected. I thought restoring thirty percent would have been good enough."

Nie Li nodded and pointed at the array beneath their feet. "This Omnidirectional Spatial Array was left behind in ancient times. I found a record of it in Lord Ye Mo's manuscripts. It says the array connects to an independent space where things from ancient times were sealed away. I've spent two months unraveling the outer restrictions, and it's more or less ready to activate now. But I don't know what's inside. There could be restrictions, spatial rifts, or guardian beasts. Going in alone would be too risky. I need help."

He looked at Shen Fei. "I wanted to ask whether you'd be willing to go in with me. You can refuse."

Shen Fei looked at the array lines beneath his feet, shimmering faintly gold in the sunlight. "What's in there?"

"The ancient texts only call it an elder inheritance space. No one knows the details. But whoever could lay an array of this scale beneath Glory City must have been at least Legend Rank or higher. Whatever they left behind can't be too shabby."

Shen Fei was silent for a few seconds, then nodded. "All right. I'll go with you."

Nie Li crouched at the edge of the array again and continued working on the last few lines. "It'll take a little longer. Wait here for now."

Shen Fei found a flat stone at the edge of the array and sat down.

From there, he could see Nie Li's hand movements: how he held the carving knife, the force behind each cut, and the angle from which he studied the lines before pausing. Leaning against a stone pillar, he kept his eyes fixed on Nie Li's hands.

Nie Li's technique was steady, the force of each cut almost identical. When correcting a line, he first traced its original path to locate the break, then cleared away the stone chips at the broken ends before adding the new line.

His cuts were featherlight, shaving off only a thin layer of stone each time so that no trace of a join remained between the old and new lines. Whenever he finished a section, he pressed his palm against it and sensed it for a moment, confirming that Spiritual Power flowed smoothly before moving on.

Shen Fei watched for an hour, counting seven breaks and two misaligned lines that Nie Li corrected.

When he carved basic inscriptions at home, he had to practice even a single straight line several times before he could keep it from veering off course. Yet Nie Li carved those curving, intersecting arcs into stone faster than Shen Fei could draw them on paper.

Before the knife even touched down, Nie Li already had the complete design in his mind. His hands merely transferred it onto the stone.