Chapter 15: Top-grade Spirit Gathering Array

It seemed to understand Song Changsheng’s words, as the spirit fish began blowing bubbles even more enthusiastically.

Song Changsheng shook his head and said, "Although these tea leaves aren't of much use to me right now, they are still extremely precious items. I will have great use for them in the future, so I cannot give them to you."

Having said that, Song Changsheng turned around, preparing to leave.

Seeing this, the spirit fish grew anxious and hurriedly spat out a series of bubbles. Although Song Changsheng did not understand "bubble-speak," he could roughly guess what it was trying to convey.

This piqued Song Changsheng’s interest; the intelligence displayed by this spirit fish was already beyond what it should possess at its current stage.

"Could it be that it has already touched the threshold of the second rank?" Song Changsheng pondered to himself.

If that were truly the case, it would be a great boon for the clan. A second-rank spirit fish could breed higher-quality schools of fish, and in greater numbers.

It would also be beneficial for Song Changsheng. The most crucial point was that a second-rank spirit fish would still have weak strength; even if it broke through to the second rank, he would still be able to keep it under control.

"In that case, it’s not impossible to let you try, but you only get one chance." Song Changsheng took a tender leaf from the jade bottle and tossed it into the spirit fish’s mouth.

Having achieved its goal, the spirit fish spun happily in the water and swam toward the bottom of the lake...

Song Changsheng suddenly realized that the island seemed to have an increasing need for spiritual energy. The growth of spiritual plants required vast amounts of it, and the Mist-Hidden Tea Tree was also a major consumer.

Song Changsheng’s own cultivation required even more spiritual energy, and the current supply on the Heart-Lake Island was no longer sufficient.

"My attainments in formations have touched that layer; it is time to attempt a breakthrough. I shall start by setting up a [Spirit Gathering Array]," Song Changsheng whispered to himself.

Song Changsheng calmed his mind, took the array-setting materials from his Qiankun bag, and placed them within easy reach.

This time, he needed a set of first-rank peak-grade array flags. Because the [Spirit Gathering Array] is a permanent formation, he also required a peak-grade array base.

With his current level of artifact refining, he was unable to craft first-rank peak-grade magical tools, so he was using those left behind by his late father, Song Luyan.

Perhaps it was truly due to bloodline inheritance; from Song Xianming to Song Changsheng, all three generations of their family possessed considerable talent in the way of formations.

However, since he hadn't crafted them himself, using them to set up the array would inevitably fail to achieve the best results. But given that his artifact refining skills had hit a bottleneck, this was a necessity.

"Array base, rise." Song Changsheng tapped lightly, and the disc-shaped array base grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, stopping only when it had expanded to a radius of one zhang.

"Drop."

Under the control of his spiritual sense, the array base slowly merged into the ground before him. At that moment, Song Changsheng flicked his sleeves, casting out twelve triangular array flags.

Holding his breath and focusing his mind, he used his energy to guide the flags. The twelve flags quickly submerged into the ground in a peculiar pattern, and under the guidance of Song Changsheng’s spiritual sense, they perfectly integrated with the array base.

"Now!"

Song Changsheng opened his eyes abruptly and leaped into the array. With a single step, a faint array pattern formed beneath his feet. He walked through the array as if strolling in a courtyard, and one by one, the intricate patterns gradually revealed their outlines.

The patterns grew denser, and the connection between the flags and the base became increasingly tight, eventually becoming a seamless whole.

Song Changsheng had now reached the center of the grand array. He dropped the final spirit stone from his hand and took the last step with his foot.

As this step was taken, the entire array seemed to come alive, and the patterns appeared to gain a life of their own.

"Array, rise!" Song Changsheng stomped his foot hard, and all the patterns erupted with a dazzling light. He formed a special hand seal, and the ground beneath him suddenly began to tremble.

He was connecting to the spiritual vein. A permanent grand array must be combined with a spiritual vein to achieve a state of endless circulation.

A defensive array set up in this manner could automatically draw power to recover even if the base and flags were damaged, provided the spiritual vein remained intact.

Even if an enemy breached the array’s defense, as long as sufficient spiritual energy was supplied to the array, the gap would quickly heal. It was truly formidable.

This is why, in this world, whether a faction can continue steadily depends heavily on possessing a powerful grand array. If the Song clan hadn't possessed a third-rank mid-grade clan-protecting array, they likely would have been wiped out by the Lieyang Sect during that previous battle...

Accompanied by violent tremors, the patterns extending from the array base successfully connected with the earth vein beneath Little Green Mountain. As long as the spiritual vein existed, this [Spirit Gathering Array] could run indefinitely.

"Whew..."

Song Changsheng let out a long breath; the formation was finally complete.

In just this short while, his face had turned as pale as paper, and beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down in droves, soaking a large patch of the soil before him.

He hurriedly sat cross-legged, took a few deep gulps of spirit wine from his treasure gourd, and then began to circulate his cultivation technique to recover his depleted spiritual power and mental energy.

It wasn't until the Si hour the next day that he finally finished adjusting his breath, and a hint of ruddiness returned to his pale face.

"The difficulty of a first-rank peak-grade formation is indeed several levels higher. If I hadn't been practicing it in my mind every day, this might not have gone so smoothly." Song Changsheng looked at the [Spirit Gathering Array] before him, feeling very pleased.

According to the standards of formation masters, he had independently and completely set up a first-rank peak-grade formation, so from now on, he was a first-rank peak-grade formation master.

"Let me test the effect."

Song Changsheng took out the control token and activated the array. The patterns that had returned to silence immediately reappeared and began to expand outward, stopping only when they reached their limit.

The range of the activated array had become much wider, enveloping Song Changsheng’s thatched cottage, along with a portion of the spirit fields and several green plum trees.

Song Changsheng could clearly feel the concentration of spiritual energy in the surrounding environment increasing rapidly. In the end, it reached nearly three times the average concentration of a second-rank spiritual vein.

However, conversely, the concentration of spiritual energy within a radius of several hundred meters around Heart-Lake Island had dropped to less than half of the average value.

The [Spirit Gathering Array] was good, but it was not suitable for widespread application. The more cultivators there were in a place, the less suitable it was, because it relied on gathering the surrounding spiritual energy to increase the concentration within the array.

A single grand array could only support two or three people in their cultivation, and the cost was that the surrounding hundreds of meters would no longer be suitable for other cultivators.

It was only because there were so few cultivators on Little Green Mountain that Song Changsheng did this; if he were in a place densely populated with cultivators, he would be beaten to death for doing this...

Time spent in cultivation always passes quickly. In the blink of an eye, the end of the year arrived. The deacon sent by the clan to harvest the spirit fish also arrived. After collecting the stipulated two hundred, there were still over twenty adult spirit fish left over.

These naturally fell into Song Changsheng’s pockets. Each spirit fish was worth two spirit stones, which was a considerable income for him.

The fish king had remained motionless after consuming the Mist-Hidden tea, and it was unclear whether the endeavor had succeeded or failed...