Chapter 457: Chapter 271: Cultivation World 61
After school, Si Lingle headed towards the meeting place with Meng Ling.
Meng Ling stood by the fountain at the Magic Academy, water droplets dancing on her fingertips, refracting the morning light into tiny fragments of blue.
Eighteen-year-old Meng Ling had silver-blue hair reaching her waist, the ends always slightly curled, like silk soaked in mist, gleaming with a pearly sheen under the sunlight.
Her skin was so fair it seemed almost transparent, faint blue veins visible like streams flowing under ice.
Most captivating were her eyes—the irises showed a peculiar gradient, transitioning from deep sea blue at the center to light lake hues at the edges, as if a lake illuminated by moonlight lay within.
Upon seeing Si Lingle approach, Meng Ling quickly used magic to convey a message: "Don’t come too close, we don’t want anyone suspecting we know each other."
Si Lingle sat on the other side of the fountain, asking via transmitted voice, "What’s the matter?"
"During the mission, make sure to ambush the heroine, but don’t seriously hurt her. If by accident she dies, then my task is ruined."
"Don’t worry, I know my limits."
"And make sure to act just as the hero is about to arrive. Otherwise, it won’t help their relationship grow."
"Alright."
"If there’s nothing else, we should meet less to avoid unnecessary trouble."
"No problem," Si Lingle nodded.
After Meng Ling left, Si Lingle went to the school’s library.
Entering the library, Si Lingle released her Divine Sense to check the library’s books.
Si Lingle found books on Magic Arrays,
these Magic Arrays were very different from the Arrays in the Cultivation World.
Differences between Magic Arrays and Cultivation Arrays:
1. Source of Energy
Magic Array: Relies on external magic power or elemental power, channeling energy flow through spells, runes, or mediums (like magic crystals, Magic Beast Crystal Cores).
Cultivation Array: Uses one’s own spiritual power as a guide, combined with nature’s forces (such as mountains, earth’s veins, celestial phenomena), valuing "unity of man and nature," the higher the cultivator’s level, the more powerful the Array.
2. Construction Method
Magic Array: Emphasizes precision, runes and geometric shapes must strictly comply with rules, or it may fail or backfire.
Common fixed structures like hexagrams or pentagrams, energy flow follows the "magic circuit" theory.
Cultivation Array: Values "form following intent," Array Patterns can be adjusted according to the array-maker’s mind, even utilizing natural landscapes as arrays (like using a mountain as a base, a river as a vein).
The Array Hub is crucial; it could be a Spirit Stone, a sword, or even a thought.
3. Operating Mechanism
Magic Array: Like "programming code," input magic power→activate runes→produce a fixed effect (such as teleportation, defense, attack).
Energy is consumed quickly and needs regular replenishment or redrawing.
Cultivation Array: Like an "ecosystem," can independently absorb nature’s spiritual energy to maintain operation, even getting stronger over time (such as the Mountain Protection Array becoming more stable after a thousand years).
Some High-level Arrays can "come to life," developing independent consciousness (some arrays can automatically recognize friends and foes).
4. Failure Manifestations
Magic Array: Runes darken, elements become chaotic, may explode or distort space.
Cultivation Array: Array Patterns reverse (vermilion bleeding, peach wood blooming), Earth Qi Rebounds, Array Eye Self-Destruction.
5. Cultural Differences
Magic Array: Academic School, emphasizes standardization, mages write "Magic Array Drawing Standards."
Cultivation Array: Mystical School, values comprehension, often writing in secret manuals "can only be understood, not explained."
Si Lingle spent more than two hours in the library, having remembered all she needed.
Then she went back to her dormitory.
The dormitory door closed softly behind Si Lingle, without making a sound.
Inside, three girls were gathered around the fireplace, the warm yellow firelight illuminating their smiling faces. Erin was using magic to make a teapot dance a tap dance in mid-air, Qian Lili covering her mouth with laughter, and Anna exaggeratedly mimicking the Transfiguration class professor’s actions.
Si Lingle’s footsteps were absorbed by the carpet; after glancing around, she said, "Did you see my ’High-level Spell Analysis’ I left on the public bookshelf?"
Si Lingle’s voice was like a stone thrown into a deep pond.
The laughter by the fireplace continued, Anna’s teacup suddenly floated into the air, just blocking her view of Si Lingle. Qian Lili’s braid suddenly came loose, with Erin enthusiastically helping her re-braid it—the three of them together forming a flowing screen.
The Moonlight Grass on the windowsill trembled gently, this plant could perceive emotions.
At that moment, it desperately tried to grow its leaves in the opposite direction, attempting to escape the room’s stifling indifference.
