Foundation Building Or Formation Building

Early morning, the sunlight was warm and gentle.

The streets of Star City bustled with pedestrians, filled everywhere with the shouts and cries of peddlers.

Ye Shu still wore his usual coarse linen garments.

After leaving the inn, he did not immediately rush to the Star City Auction House. Instead, as per his routine, he took a couple of laps around Star City, dropping a few copper coins whenever he encountered a beggar.

Neither more nor less, exactly ten coins.

It was enough for a beggar to eat their fill for a few days, yet not so much as to incite a scramble among the other beggars.

"You guy, pretending to be a good person again." Xiaobai sat on his shoulder, dangling her little feet.

"If one can pretend for a lifetime, what does it matter if it is true or false?"

Ye Shu smiled noncommittally, tossing ten copper coins into the broken bowl of an old beggar.

"Thank you, thank you, my lord!"

"May your fortune be as vast as the Eastern Sea, your life as long as the Southern Mountains, your love firmer than gold, and may you be blessed with precious children early..." The beggar held his broken bowl and thanked him profusely, spouting every auspicious phrase he could think of in his life.

Danxia floated in the air, the red bell at her waist swaying gently.

She looked at Ye Shu distributing copper coins, and then at the surrounding beggars whose eyes were filled with gratitude, treating Ye Shu as their reincarnated benefactor. Her expression was complex.

Just as her Shu'er had said.

His motives were utilitarian, not pure.

But for these beggars, the grace of ten copper coins was absolutely real.

In the eyes of the people around him, he was a good person.

"If one pretends for a lifetime, what does it matter if it is true or false?"

Danxia sighed softly, her gaze toward Ye Shu growing increasingly gentle, carrying a tenderness she herself had not even noticed.

"Let's go."

Seeing that there were no more unblessed beggars around, Ye Shu withdrew his hand. Just as he was about to step away, the old beggar from before grabbed his ankle.

"Benefactor, please wait a moment..."

The old beggar tremblingly took out a stone from his bosom and handed it to Ye Shu.

"This item does not change when forged in fire, nor does it get wet when soaked in water."

"It flashes with a fluorescent light at night and can repel mosquitoes and insects."

"This old man cannot see anything special about it, but seeing that you, benefactor, possess an extraordinary bearing despite your coarse linen clothes, I imagine you must be able to discern something. I gift this item to you, benefactor, as a small token of my appreciation."

Ye Shu took the stone and tried injecting spiritual energy into it.

With a hum, faint fluorescent patterns surfaced on the stone, but there were no miraculous changes.

"This is an array stone."

Right at this moment, Danxia spoke up.

"It should be an array stone from some abandoned formation, picked up by this old man and treated as a treasure." She paused, "However, a single array stone isn't of much use, so you don't need to pay it much mind."

Hearing this, Ye Shu looked thoughtfully at the array stone.

The fluorescent patterns on the array stone were distributed as tiny dots everywhere, then connected into lines. It looked chaotic, yet possessed a sense of order.

"What is the connection between formations and array stones?"

Ye Shu couldn't help but ask further.

He vaguely had some ideas in his mind, but couldn't quite grasp them.

"Array stones are the foundation of a formation. Each array stone corresponds to an array node. Multiple array nodes connect to form array patterns, and different arrangements of array patterns create different formation effects."

"And the function of an array stone is to draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

"For example, thirty-six low-grade array stones can be arranged into the most basic Spirit Gathering Array. If a person cultivates within the array, their cultivation efficiency can increase by thirty-three percent."

Hearing this, Ye Shu's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"So that's how it is, so that's how it is."

"Hahaha, I've achieved enlightenment."

He suddenly laughed aloud, pocketed the array stone, and then solemnly bowed to the old beggar.

"Thank you for your guidance, old sir. Please accept my bow."

"You mustn't, you mustn't, benefactor." The old beggar hastily tried to stop him, but still failed to hold him back.

After bowing, Ye Shu stood up and walked toward the auction house.

"Master also understands formations?"

On the way to the auction house, Ye Shu couldn't help but ask.

"Of course. Your master is not only a ninth-grade alchemist but also an eighth-grade array master, proficient in all sorts of Qimen Dunjia." Danxia looked proud, then asked curiously, "Shu'er, what did you comprehend? Tell your master."

"It's nothing much, just that I have an idea for Foundation Establishment."

Ye Shu smiled and didn't say much more.

But in his heart, he already vaguely had a bold idea. Foundation Establishment, Foundation Establishment... why... why couldn't the foundation being established be an array foundation?

Acupoints as the foundation.

Meridians as the patterns.

Just thinking about it was exciting.

Most formations in this world needed to be set up in advance, either used for grand sect-protecting arrays or for laying ambushes beforehand. When facing enemies in battle, the enemy would absolutely not give you time to set up an array.

But what if the formation was carved into the body?

With a single thought, ten thousand arrays would be born.

Once the array was formed, a wave of the hand could suppress the world!

Just thinking about it made Ye Shu's blood boil with excitement.

This was almost no longer just creating a cultivation method, but rather... walking a completely new path.

He strode forward with an indomitable aura.

Soon, the group arrived at the Star City Auction House.

This was a three-story ancient building, with carved beams and painted rafters, boasting a magnificent momentum. Two Foundation Establishment stage guards stood at the entrance, their sharp gazes sweeping over the passing crowd.

Ye Shu walked to the door and presented a token.

"Go tell your auction house master that an old friend has come to visit."

The reason he came to this Star City Auction House was because its master, Qian Jiang, was an old friend of his, and one of the few friends he had kept in touch with during his time as a cripple.

Although the system would tamper with the heroine's memories.

But this friend... to some extent, was in a competitive relationship within the same family as the chief auctioneer of the Moon City Auction House. Same clan, distant relatives.

It was just that the one in Moon City was a legitimate daughter of the main branch experiencing life.

His friend was a true collateral branch member. It could be said that from birth, he was completely not in the same social class as that legitimate daughter. To be able to become the master of an auction house in Star City, he had truly started from scratch and fought his way up step by step.

To a certain extent...

If that woman from the Moon City Auction House was the heroine, then Qian Jiang, who somewhat looked down on the legitimate daughter, was highly likely a villain template in the system's eyes... and an obscure minor villain at that.

If even this kind of character would be imposed with rebirth memories.

Then Ye Shu really had nothing more to say.

He would just give it directly.

"Honored guest, please come inside."

The guard who took the token hastily led Ye Shu to the guest reception room on the second floor, then hurriedly went to find their auction house master.

A short while later, a handsome man dressed in brocade clothes walked briskly out from within the auction house.

The moment he saw Ye Shu, Qian Jiang first frowned, "You are?"

He didn't recognize this man wearing a hood and at the ninth level of Qi Condensation right in front of him, yet he felt a sense of familiarity.

"It's only been a few months, and you don't recognize me anymore?" Ye Shu took off his hood, revealing his true face.

"So it's Brother Ye."

Qian Jiang then came to a sudden realization. His brows relaxed as he stepped forward, pulled out a chair, sat down, and took a sip from the teapot in Ye Shu's hand, laughing:

"You suddenly have cultivation; I almost didn't recognize you."