Carving and Depicting Formations

By the time all the seeds and saplings were planted, the sun was already setting behind the western hills.

He returned to the Array Hall.

Seeing the two still buried in their studies, Lin Xiao walked over to the Kunpeng Array Plate and asked them,

"How is it? Do you want to give it a try now?"

Hearing Lin Xiao's voice, the two looked up at him.

Mo Yuanjiao felt that he had completely memorized the first few simplest arrays, so he nodded vigorously.

"I want to try!"

Lin Xiao turned around, raised his hand to touch the Kunpeng Array Plate, and infused it with spiritual energy. After a layer of spiritual energy film floated up on the array plate, he motioned for him to come over.

Eager to try, Mo Yuanjiao immediately stood up and went to the array plate. He picked up the Taiyuan Carving Knife on the side and, imitating Lin Xiao's previous actions, injected spiritual energy into the carving knife.

He focused his attention on the array plate in front of him, took a deep breath, and raised his hand holding the carving knife to start carving the Minor Cooling Array on the spiritual energy film.

Beside him, Lin Xiao continuously supplied spiritual energy to the array plate while carefully observing the fluency of every step as he carved the array.

He saw that although it was Mo Yuanjiao's first time carving an array and his movements were still very clumsy, and because his cultivation was only at the first level of Qi Refining, the spiritual energy supply was very unstable, causing the carving knife to move very sluggishly and slowly on the spiritual energy layer.

Lin Xiao was slightly surprised. He had thought that with Mo Yuanjiao's current cultivation at the first level of Qi Refining, his first time carving an array—even if it was just the simplest array in the Comprehensive Guide to Basic Array Carving—would result in some disconnections along the way.

However, in reality, even though the spiritual energy flowing from the carving knife was very unstable, it was always connected and had never broken.

At this moment, a thin layer of sweat had begun to appear on Mo Yuanjiao's forehead.

But he became even more focused.

It was as if only the array he was carving in front of him remained in his eyes.

After a long time, just as the spiritual energy in Mo Yuanjiao's body was about to be depleted, he finally completed the carving of this Minor Cooling Array!

The moment he finished, he only felt his hand go so limp that he almost could not hold the carving knife.

Seeing the array he had carved on the spiritual energy layer, Mo Yuanjiao looked up at Lin Xiao with some apprehension.

"Senior Brother Sect Master, is my array... considered done like this?"

Lin Xiao looked at the array on the spiritual energy layer in front of him. Although it was rather crooked, there was indeed not a single break; it was an array that could be used as long as it was imprinted.

He then gave him an encouraging smile and said,

"You have completed this array. With your current cultivation at the first level of Qi Refining, being able to complete it on your first time carving an array is already very impressive. As long as you practice more, I believe it won't be long before the array you carve can be used normally."

Although if it were actually used, this array would not have much effect, but it had to be said that Mo Yuanjiao, who could achieve such a level on his first try, was definitely a talent in carving arrays.

Coupled with the existence of Yigao, who was recognized by Senior Liao as having a strong talent for alchemy, Lin Xiao felt that the task of cultivating specialized talents did not seem that difficult to complete.

Then he looked at Mo Que, who was still sitting in his original spot, and asked him,

"Guard Mo, do you want to give it a try too?"

Mo Yuanjiao looked at Guard Mo with sparkling eyes and said,

"Old Que, come and try, it's really fun!"

Saying that, he put the carving knife back on the side table and made room.

Mo Que nodded, stood up, and walked to the position where Mo Yuanjiao had just stood. He picked up the carving knife, calmed his mind, and began to carve on the spiritual energy layer.

However, he did not have Mo Yuanjiao's talent.

Carving a Minor Cooling Array, he disconnected eight or nine times in a row.

Not only that, but the spiritual energy in his body was also completely exhausted.

By the time he finished carving, looking at the crooked and intermittent array diagram on the spiritual energy layer, Mo Que knew without asking Lin Xiao that he had not done well.

But Lin Xiao looked at it and said,

"Guard Mo, you have already done very well like this. Your young master was able to succeed on his first try because his talent is too good, but you being able to draw it completely is not bad either."

Hearing this, Guard Mo, who had been feeling a little depressed, suddenly became proud.

That's right.

His young master was the best!

How could he possibly be the same as the young master?

Being able to achieve a tenth or a hundredth of what the young master could do meant he was already doing quite well himself!

Looking at the two whose spiritual energy was almost depleted, Lin Xiao told them to go to the side to meditate and recover first.

"Later, when you have both recovered, we will continue practicing."

Mo Yuanjiao and Mo Que had just experienced the feeling of carving an array once and their interest was strong. Hearing him say this, they immediately went to the nearby straw mats and began to meditate to recover their spiritual energy.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao sat down on the other side of the Kunpeng Array Plate, separated from them.

He took out the Yin-Yang Life and Death Array from his private storehouse and placed it in front of him.

Carefully examining this Yin-Yang Life and Death Array, Lin Xiao wanted to try and see if he could memorize this array and then carve it.

If he could replicate this Yin-Yang Life and Death Array, that would be wonderful.

However, the idea was beautiful, but the reality was harsh.

When he started to seriously try to memorize the array diagram on this array plate, he found that this array diagram was overly exquisite, and its complexity was not just a flat meticulousness.

This array was actually layered on top of each other!

And it was not just one or two layers, but dozens of layers!

Moreover, the carvings of these dozens of layers overlapped each other and were extremely precise. The complexity of the array diagram of the Yin-Yang Life and Death Array was completely on a different level from those array diagrams in the Comprehensive Guide to Basic Array Carving.

In other words, if he wanted to completely memorize this array diagram, he first had to clearly strip away each layer of the extremely complex carvings, and then memorize each layer of carving in his mind.

As for why he didn't put the array diagram to the side and copy it while carving, but insisted on memorizing it in his mind.

That was because carving an array diagram required highly concentrated attention and carving without hesitation.

As long as there was a momentary pause and hesitation, the input of spiritual energy would break, and the carving would fail.

Therefore, the array diagram had to be very proficiently memorized in the mind, and then the next step of carving had to be done according to the brain's memory.

Obviously, even with Lin Xiao's current cultivation at the early stage of Foundation Establishment, wanting to complete the task of memorizing the array diagram of this Yin-Yang Life and Death Array very familiarly in his mind was a very difficult task to accomplish.

Let alone having to carve it out.

Lin Xiao estimated that before he had even carved half of it, his spiritual sense would collapse.

Speaking of which, ever since he had advanced to the early stage of Foundation Establishment, he had been able to release his spiritual sense outwardly, but up to now, he had not tried it even once.

After all, it was his first time being a cultivator, and he was still not very familiar with these operations.

Furthermore, spiritual sense could not only be released outwardly, but it could also be used to look inside oneself.

However, this was something that could be done at the seventh or eighth level of Qi Refining, but he had been too busy back then, busy every day preparing to enter the secret realm and improving his cultivation. After coming out, he had not had much time either, so he had completely thrown this matter to the back of his mind.