Chapter 104: Chapter 103: Researching the Array
Early the next morning, Gu Zhao and Zhuo Qingyan began their research.
The goal was to fuse Gu Zhao’s Talismanic Magic and Spell Art with Zhuo Qingyan’s Spirit Gathering Skill, then use the result to create magical artifacts or arrays to form the defensive power of Daluo Palace.
However, before they could begin, Taoist Yi Hong came looking for Gu Zhao, sending a message via his Thunder Seed that he needed to make a trip back to the modern world.
"I just remembered I know someone in a certain department," Taoist Yi Hong said. "I plan to ask him for some steel to forge a weapon for myself."
"What kind of weapon? Don’t tell me it’s a Great Guan Saber?" Gu Zhao asked.
"What do you mean, Great Guan Saber? It’s called the Cyan Dragon Crescent Saber!" Taoist Yi Hong stressed.
Gu Zhao was at a loss for words. "You really love Lord Guan that much, huh?"
"I don’t have many other hobbies. I just enjoy listening to Peking opera, especially the roles of red-faced warriors," Taoist Yi Hong said with a laugh. "Besides, Guan Gong is one of the Four Great Marshals, so it’s perfectly reasonable for me to channel Guan Shuai."
Gu Zhao laughed. "Who knows, maybe Guan Shuai wasn’t even as powerful as you are now."
Taoist Yi Hong shook his head. "Who can say for sure about ancient matters? How do you know Guan Shuai didn’t ascend to godhood after death?"
Gu Zhao paused. ’In the past, I would’ve just called that feudal superstition,’ he thought. ’But now, with the Five Thunders Order in my Sea of Consciousness, I can travel to an Otherworld to fight monsters and level up. Some things really aren’t so certain anymore.’
"But if you’re forging a weapon, couldn’t you just find a workshop that makes historical weapon replicas? Why do you need to find someone from that department?" Gu Zhao asked curiously.
"Because those workshops don’t have the material I want," said Taoist Yi Hong.
"What material do you want?" Gu Zhao asked.
"Submarine steel," Taoist Yi Hong explained. "This is a Xianxia World, after all. I’m afraid ordinary steel wouldn’t last long. Submarine steel is durable and pressure-resistant. I want to do it right the first time."
Gu Zhao was speechless. "..."
"How about you have them forge a long spear for me, too?" Gu Zhao’s face instantly broke into a grin. "I’ve been practicing Xingyi Fist and some spear techniques recently. An ordinary White Wax Rod Red Tassel Spear probably wouldn’t even survive a single strike here."
"No problem!" Taoist Yi Hong laughed. "I’ll also have them forge a Seven-Star Sword for Senior Brother Yan Song."
Gu Zhao asked, "There won’t be any repercussions, will there?"
Taoist Yi Hong said, "The latest generation of submarine steel is out of the question, of course. That’s a national secret. But the previous generation’s steel is definitely fine. I heard there’s a lot of it in stock. Hmm, maybe we should get a large batch, so anyone who comes later will have something to use."
Gu Zhao nodded decisively. "I’ll pay for it!"
Perhaps due to the abundant Spiritual Qi, Small-leafed Purple Sandalwood wasn’t particularly rare in this world and even grew quite fast. The slopes in and around Cuiluo Mountain were covered in Purple Sandalwood, so Gu Zhao was not at all short on cash right now.
Of course, to maintain its price and rarity in the modern world, Gu Zhao didn’t flood the market. But even so, the Purple Sandalwood furniture his father crafted sold without issue, and the money in his bank account was growing rapidly.
’There really are a lot of rich people these days!’ he thought.
Taoist Yi Hong didn’t refuse Gu Zhao’s offer to pay, because he was genuinely broke. If he were only having a single Cyan Dragon Crescent Saber made, he might have been able to call in a favor. But forging a hundred-odd assorted weapons at once would definitely cost money.
...
After seeing Taoist Yi Hong off, Gu Zhao threw himself back into his research on arrays.
When Zhuo Qingyan saw Gu Zhao return, she picked up a piece of Small-leafed Purple Sandalwood. "Ordinary stone and wood have very weak Spirit Gathering effects," she said. "This wood, on the other hand, is quite potent."
Gu Zhao thought for a moment before asking, "Back at the Zhuo Family Mansion, what material did you use for Spirit Gathering?"
"The well water in the courtyard," Zhuo Qingyan said. "I spent years refining it with my Ghost Qi, which gave it the ability to gather Yin Qi. Daluo Palace is enormous. If we’re going to set up an array, we’ll need a vast amount of materials. We can’t use that method."
Gu Zhao understood. "So we have to use materials that are naturally good at Gathering Spirit. That’s the only way to gather more Spiritual Qi."
"Yes, but materials like that are hard to find." Zhuo Qingyan gestured to the side.
Laid out there were the spoils from their many battles: the custom Gold and Silver Bracelets and Ghost Head Saber from the Golden Wind Sect’s Guardian; the Long Whip and Three-Pointed Spike from the Bian Palace’s Water Division Commander; and a dull, lightless Old Ao Primordial Pearl.
Aside from the Old Ao Primordial Pearl, most of the other materials weren’t much better than the Small-leafed Purple Sandalwood. Their Extraordinary effects only manifested after being refined by a user’s Magical Power, and they were even inferior to Bai Ke’s Celestial Fox Nail.
By comparison, the Spirit Gathering effect of Small-leafed Purple Sandalwood was already quite impressive without any prolonged refinement, at least potent enough to cast Celestial Spirit Gang Qi several times.
The experiment began. Gu Zhao took a piece of Small-leafed Purple Sandalwood as thick as his forearm and engraved the runic pattern of the Great Dragon-locking Talisman onto its surface. He then filled the grooves with Cinnabar, channeled Magical Power along the lines, and completed the Great Dragon-locking Talisman.
Zhuo Qingyan took the Purple Sandalwood and carefully carved Spirit Gathering Runes into the gaps between the existing lines. This enhanced its Spirit Gathering effect without interfering with the Dragon-locking Rune. Using the Magical Power now flowing through the wood as a foundation, the piece of sandalwood began to absorb the surrounding Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
Gu Zhao set the piece of sandalwood aside, formed a hand seal, and guided his Magical Power to instantly activate the runes within the wood.
The Great Dragon-locking Talisman activated instantly. A flicker of spiritual light enveloped an area dozens of yards across, sealing it completely within an invisible, inverted bowl. Nothing could get in or out. The effect continuously consumed the Spiritual Power stored in the sandalwood.
While powering the Great Dragon-locking Talisman, the Purple Sandalwood was also slowly absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to replenish its reserves. Of course, while the Great Dragon-locking Rune was active, the rate of absorption couldn’t possibly keep up with the rate of consumption.
"The amount of Spiritual Power the Purple Sandalwood can absorb is directly related to its size," Gu Zhao said. "So the pieces of wood will need to be bigger."
Zhuo Qingyan added, "And if the area of effect for a single piece is limited, we’ll need to use many of them together."
"Then we’ll have to find a way to link the spells cast by all these pieces of wood," Gu Zhao continued, "to make them work as a single, cohesive unit instead of acting independently."
Zhuo Qingyan understood his point and added, "We also need a way to end the spell at will."
The Great Dragon-locking Talisman was a single-use Talisman. Once cast, the paper Talisman was destroyed. To stop its effect, one only had to interrupt the casting, and the spell would naturally dissipate.
But it was different when carved into Purple Sandalwood. You couldn’t just smash the wood every time you wanted to turn it off, could you?
Gu Zhao nodded. "And it needs to be able to cast multiple types of Talismanic Magic at the same time."
"We don’t need that many," Zhuo Qingyan murmured, shaking her head. "Just using the Dragon-locking Talisman and the Dragon-Binding Talisman would be enough to prevent trespassers in Daluo Palace from using even half their Magical Power."
"That’s not good enough. We have to add a Thunder Technique," Gu Zhao said with mock seriousness. "What’s the point of setting up a defensive array if we still have to do the fighting ourselves?"
They looked at each other and smiled. Zhuo Qingyan picked up another piece of Purple Sandalwood. "The Spirit Gathering Skill should be able to link them together. Then we can activate them one by one with Magical Power. Let’s try connecting just two first."
Gu Zhao glanced back at Daluo Palace halfway up the mountain. He felt like he had his work cut out for him.
