After listening, Daoist Yun unfolded the deduction diagram and looked at it again. After a long while, he finally looked up. "Theoretically, it makes sense. But have you considered this issue—after the copper ball was embedded in the broken edge, it became the central point of the entire array. After the Demonic Flood Dragon was lured by the water spirit, its first bite was aimed at that spot."
Yin Wujou glanced at him. "So someone needs to stay by the ball. The water elemental energy can't be cut off; once it's interrupted, the array will collapse again, and it will break free completely. I have to stay in the middle of the array, pressing down on the ball with my hand to maintain the output."
He had barely finished speaking when Snow Empress's voice rang out, as cold as frozen groundwater in a cave. "No."
Yin Wujou turned to look at her. Snow Empress stood at the edge of the luminous pearl's light, half her face illuminated, the other half hidden in shadow, but her eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, something taut within them, like a string stretched to its limit. "You're sitting at the heart of the formation; once it's drawn here, you'll be the first thing it devours."
"I brought battle flags. They can form a protective flag array around me."
"The bronze mirror cracked upon contact with its aura, and your dagger caused such a huge reaction when it touched the liquid. Do you think a few flags can stop Demonic Flood Dragon after its seventh metamorphosis?" Snow Empress took a step forward, bringing her entire face from the shadows into the light of the luminous pearl. Her expression was clear—frowning, lips pressed into a straight line, and a suppressed anger in her eyes. " Yin Wujou, you are not invulnerable."
Yin Wujou by her words. He looked into her eyes and saw many things there—worry, determination, and something he didn't want to think about but which was clearly before him. He was silent for a while, then lowered his voice. "Then what better way do you have?"
Snow Empress didn't answer. She just stood there looking at him, her lips pressed even tighter. Silence fell again in the cave, with only the throbbing sound from deep underground rising up, faster than before, the interval shortened to once every seven or eight breaths.
Daoist Yun coughed and stroked his chin. "I do have an idea," he said slowly, his gaze shifting between the two of them. "Doesn't Xue girl know how to control water? The essence of water spirit energy is also water. You're responsible for channeling the water spirit energy from the tea powder, and she'll be responsible for gathering it—she'll be sitting at the core of the array, you'll be channeling it from the side, and she'll gather the water spirit energy into a bundle, pour it into the copper sphere, and then into the array diagram. That way, you don't have to sit on that round pit; you'll be outside the pit, and she'll be inside."
Yin Wujou paused for a moment. He turned to look at the three-foot-wide circular pit in the center of the array diagram—the pit was not large, just the right size for an adult woman to sit cross-legged in. Snow Empress was rather thin, and there was even room for her to sit in. But that position was the focal point where the power of the entire array diagram converged, the center of the suppressing power, and also the first place the Demonic Flood Dragon would attack after being lured there.
"What's the difference between her sitting in and me sitting in?" Yin Wujou's voice tightened.
"The difference is that she can gather the water spirits, while you can't," Daoist Yun shrugged. "Up there, you're just relying on a single copper ball to seep out. Not only is it inefficient, but if the Demonic Flood Dragon rushes up, you won't even have time to escape. With her up there, the water spirits are gathered into a bundle and guided down, narrowing the entire water spirit path of the tunnel into a single line—that two-hundred-foot-long guide is like a rope. You've seen people use large nets to catch fish, and you've seen people use fishing rods to fish. Your twelve copper balls spread out like a net, and Xue'er sitting at the center of the formation is like pulling the net into a line, with bait tied to the other end."
Upon hearing this, Snow Empress raised her eyes to look at Yin Wujou, her gaze unwavering. "Alright."
"No," Yin Wujou said.
"Why not?" Snow Empress's voice remained calm. "Whether you sit on top or on the bottom, the level of danger is the same. But when I sit on top, I can gather the water spirit more precisely and purely, making my ability to draw it in much more efficient than yours."
"Then down there--"
"That's Demonic Flood Dragon, not you," the Snow Empress interrupted him. "I have Water Spirit Body, so it's actually more comfortable for me to sit in a formation core where water spirits gather. As for you, sitting there doing nothing good, just to get bitten by it?"
Her words were flat and straightforward, without sarcasm or anger, simply stating a fact. Yin Wujou opened his mouth, speechless, but found no words to refute her—she was right. Water Spirit Body sitting in the center of a water spirit formation was indeed far safer than an ordinary cultivator. The water spirit energy would naturally befriend, gather, and surround her, forming a protective spiritual aura, while an ordinary cultivator sitting inside would only be uncomfortable from the overwhelming force of the water spirit.
He remained silent for a long time before finally nodding. As he nodded, he avoided Snow Empress's eyes and squatted down to work on embedding the last copper ball. He held the copper ball in his palm and checked again to see if the hole was clear and if the silver wire was secure. Then, he used his fingertips to pluck a pinch of freshly roasted tea powder and inserted it into the hole in the copper ball, before tightening the lid. After doing all this, he stood up and walked to the edge of the pit, holding the copper ball and slowly probing towards the broken end of the pillar.
The instant the copper ball touched the fracture, the entire array emitted a deep hum, and all the engravings on the black stone slab on the ground lit up simultaneously—the flash was brief, like lightning flashing through thick clouds, but when it lit up, the dark red substance in all the grooves emitted a layer of dark, crimson light, like blood surging in a giant heart deep underground. Yin Wujou released his grip, and the copper ball was firmly embedded in the fracture, the Xiaogang, as if it had been cast specifically for this fracture.
The broken pillar at the bottom of the circular pit, along with the embedded copper sphere, began to slowly absorb the power flowing within the surrounding array. A wisp of extremely faint turquoise mist seeped out from the hole in the copper sphere, spreading upwards along the winding engravings on the pit wall, like countless slender, luminous roots, reactivating the entire array. The turquoise mist blended with the dark crimson in the grooves, forming a strange amber halo, like a layer of translucent, flowing honey.
Snow Empress removed her outer robe, folded it neatly, and placed it aside. Wearing only a close-fitting short jacket, she sat cross-legged in the round pit. When she sat down, the pit wall reached just to her shoulders. She placed her hands on her knees, palms facing up, and closed her eyes. The moment the first wisp of watery spiritual energy seeping from the copper sphere touched her palm, her breathing noticeably slowed. Her whole being seemed to melt into something, and the feeling of incongruity between her and the array instantly disappeared—she became a part of the array, sitting there naturally absorbing every wisp of watery spiritual energy released from the copper sphere, then gathering this energy into a stream and channeling it back into the black stone slab on the ground along the patterns of the array.