Your Spell Version is Too Low!

Chapter 268: Chapter 256: I am the Position! I am Fortune

[Magic Technique auto-update complete. This is a minor version update. The technique’s effects have been adjusted as follows:]

[Array 3.0: Array Hub restriction removed. The Array Hub can be set at will.]

A line of archaic text slowly materialized on the Magic Technique Panel in the corner of his vision, then faded away.

Seated cross-legged within a seal of multiple Restrictions, Qi Yun slowly opened his eyes.

A sharp glint flowed through his eyes, reflecting an increasingly profound halo of light.

But what was more apparent in his eyes was a clear trace of astonishment.

"It... didn’t upgrade into a Divine Power Skill?"

He muttered to himself, a hint of surprise in his tone.

Last time, the Refinement of Xuan Ping Master’s Upper Profound Hunting Dao Foundation had directly caused his Foundation Establishment Realm Talismanic Skill to evolve into the Divine Power Skill, Upper Profound Talisman, resulting in a qualitative leap in both its power and potential.

But this time, refining Mo Shou Master’s Thousand Spirits Hidden Dao Foundation—which was also a complete Dao Foundation from a Foundation Establishment Master—had only given his Array technique a "minor version update."

Qi Yun’s thoughts raced as he quickly compared the differences between the two Refinements.

’Is it because of the "quality" of the Dao Foundation itself?’ His gaze flickered, lost in thought.

Nine Kings Mountain was one of the foremost sects of the Nanyin Righteous Dao in Talisman Skills. It possessed a profound heritage and was watched over by a True Monarch, second only to behemoths like the Vast Sacred Land and the Sword Pavilion.

Its legacy Dao Foundation, the Upper Profound Hunting Dao Foundation, was one of the finest among Upper Grade Dao Foundations, possessing immense potential.

The Earth Spirit Sect, on the other hand, while a notable power, was ultimately just a second-rate Sect. Its strongest members were but a few Foundation Establishment Masters. Its Dao Foundation, the Thousand Spirits Hidden Dao Foundation, though proficient in defensive Arrays, was ranked as Middle Vehicle.

But in terms of breadth and subtlety at the level of the Great Dao, it clearly couldn’t compare to the true inheritance of Nine Kings Mountain.

’Perhaps it’s also related to the "volume" and "depth" of the Magic itself.’

Qi Yun deliberated further.

’The way of Arrays is all-encompassing, involving the orientation of Heaven and Earth, the flow of the Spiritual Mechanism, the linking of Laws, the cycles of creation and subjugation... It is, in itself, a complex manifestation of the Great Dao. Its foundations are simply too vast.’

’Talisman Skills, while also profound, are far simpler in comparison.’

’If I want my Array technique to evolve into a Divine Power Skill in a single leap...’

’...I’m afraid I’ll need a higher-quality, more profound Array-focused Dao Foundation, or a much vaster accumulation of Daoist Intent.’

Although he felt a slight regret at not being able to turn his Array skill into a Divine Power Skill as he had hoped, Qi Yun quickly suppressed this emotion and focused his attention on the effects of the new update.

"Array Hub restriction removed. The Array Hub can be set at will..." He murmured the description, an unusual light growing in his eyes.

The Array Hub is the true core nexus of an Array, the key to communing with the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, governing the changes in the Array Patterns, and focusing the Array’s power.

The difficulty of Array Formation lies half in the precise inscription of its Array Patterns and runes, and the other half in the selection and placement of its Array Hub.

An Array Hub must align with the flow of the Earth Veins and auspicious celestial timings and positions. Only by finding a "nexus point" that perfectly combines timing, geography, and harmony can an Array’s power be unleashed to its fullest.

If the Array Hub is placed incorrectly, the consequences can be minor, such as the Array’s power being greatly diminished and its operation becoming sluggish, or they can be severe, causing a backlash from the Spiritual Mechanism and the Array’s complete collapse.

Because the Array Hub is so important and its requirements so demanding, it has also become one of the greatest limitations of an Array.

Once set, it is difficult to move. One can only passively wait for an enemy to step into it or rely on the terrain for a fortified defense.

The only exception would be a special Magical Treasure like the Human Emperor Banner, which fixes the Array Hub within the banner itself. Carried on one’s person, it can be deployed at any time and controlled as easily as one’s own limbs.

But this also places extremely high demands on the Magical Treasure’s vessel and the refiner’s attainments in the art of Arrays.

"Set the Array Hub at will..." Qi Yun repeated the six words, flashes of inspiration sparking in his mind like flint striking steel.

What did this mean?

It meant that when he set up an Array, he no longer needed to painstakingly search for that illusory natural "nexus point," nor would he be constrained by fixed terrain!

Arrays would transform from "fortresses" dependent on favorable terrain into "domains" that could flow and change with his will!

At this thought, Qi Yun slowly lowered his head, his gaze falling upon his own cross-legged body.

A bold idea, like a sprout bursting from the soil, began to grow uncontrollably in his mind, flourishing wildly.

Since the Array Hub can be set "at will"... then, could he...

The corners of his mouth curled up uncontrollably.

Could he... use himself as the Array Hub?

’I am the orientation. I am fate itself!’

If he could succeed, wherever he went would be a domain enveloped by an Array!

’Attack, defense, advance, and retreat—all directed by my will! My body as the Grand Array, the Magic an extension of my thoughts!’

As the thought settled, an indescribable heat and anticipation surged from the depths of Qi Yun’s heart.

This Array 3.0 update seemed to have done nothing more than lift a single restriction.

But the possibilities it unlocked, especially in the hands of a Cultivator like him who carried multiple top-tier legacies, were simply incalculable!

’I have to try it!’

Once the idea formed, there was no more hesitation.

Qi Yun’s eyes snapped open, the hint of inquiry within them instantly blazing into a wildfire.

’Since Array 3.0 has made such a wild fantasy possible, why wait?’

’If I’m going to do this at all, I might as well make it earth-shattering!’

He took a deep breath, and it was as if he had sucked dry all the ambient Spiritual Mechanism and dust within a hundred-foot radius.

In the next instant, Qi Yun’s eyes were no longer filled with the Nine-Colored Divine Radiance of Mastering All Skills, nor the pure light of flowing Talismans. Instead, a deep, heavy, and boundless luminescence bloomed within them.

"Array, rise."

Two words, spoken as lightly as a feather, yet as heavy as the final omen before a mountain’s collapse.

Soundlessly, with Qi Yun himself as the core, an unimaginably vast and boundless structure erupted into existence, expanding outward in all directions at a terrifying speed!

BOOM—!!!

It was not a roar that could be heard.

It was the tremor of Laws, the muffled boom of the very foundations of existence being pried loose!

Beneath Qi Yun’s feet, in the void that should have been empty and was isolated by multiple Restrictions, countless Array Patterns suddenly grew—so fine as to be infinitesimal, so complex as to be dizzying!

These Array Patterns were not carved on the ground but "seeped" out directly from the void itself.

The speed at which the Array Patterns spread was inconceivable. In an instant, they surpassed the range of the triple-layered sealing Grand Array set up by Zhe Cheng Master, unfurling rapidly toward every direction as far as the eye could see.

In the blink of an eye, an invisible "construct"—imperceptible to the naked eye but crystal clear to the Divine Sense, and so vast as to be unimaginable—erupted with Qi Yun at its center, blanketing an area for countless miles around!

This construct was heavy, ancient, and majestic, carrying a terrifying intent to suppress the eight directions, order the Earth Veins, command the Spiritual Mechanism, and generate all phenomena!

Within the construct, one could faintly see streams of Dark Gold Earth Vein light flowing and undulating like great dragons in the void. Countless miniature yet immeasurably heavy mountain phantoms rose and fell, and points of starlight were embedded in key nodes like the most ancient of restriction runes.

This was the peerless Grand Array built upon the foundation of the lost Ancient Array, the Nine Heavens Mountain-Suppressing Demon-Subduing Celestial Wall Map—it was the Northern Defense Array, created with the combined strength of the Northwest Four Sects and led by the four Great Masters: Nan Dou, San Si, Jiu Li, and Reincarnation!

At this moment, with his own body as the central Array Hub, Qi Yun was attempting to directly manifest the super-Grand Array originally designed to protect an entire domain!

VMMMM—!!!

An indescribably immense pressure descended abruptly as this invisible structure unfurled!

CRACK, CRACK...

The rock walls of the Valley of No Life, enveloped within, their deathly-white "bone-like" surfaces, were suddenly covered in fine cracks, as if unable to bear this sudden "weight."

The gray-white, deathly-still mist that originally permeated the valley, eroding life force, was suppressed by this heavy structure. Like boiling water poured on snow, it churned violently and receded, revealing patches of "clean" yet even more oppressive void.

In the distance, some Righteous and Demon Cultivators who were either fighting or in hiding, regardless of their Cultivation level, all felt their hearts suddenly sink at this moment, as if they were being crushed by an invisible giant mountain.

The circulation of their Magical Power became sluggish, their Divine Souls trembled with unease. They looked in horror in the direction the pressure was coming from, only to see a vast, dead silence.

Only that heavy Dao Rhyme, which made one’s Divine Soul tremble, was like mercury spreading across the ground, seeping in everywhere!

Qi Yun sat at the very center of this invisible yet majestic structure, his Deep Blue Daoist Robe whipping about without any wind, fluttering loudly.

His face was slightly pale, and beads of sweat could be seen on his temples. It was clear that forcibly manifesting this Array was placing a huge burden on him.

But the luminescence in his eyes burned to an extreme, as if countless Array Patterns were being born, destroyed, and calculated within them.

In the next instant, he clearly felt as if he had become the heart of this "construct."

Every breath pulled at the invisible phantoms of the Earth Veins, causing them to pulse in time; every wisp of his Divine Sense commanded the rise and fall of the phantom mountains and starlight.

Attack, defense, trapping, illusion, suppression, warding... all sorts of Array transformations seemed to be possible with but a single thought.

His body was the Grand Array, the Magic an extension of his will!

Although this was only a temporary, incomplete manifestation that could not be sustained for long.

But at this moment, he had truly touched upon the peak experience of gathering the vast power of an Array into himself and controlling it at will!

"What a... captivating feeling..."

Qi Yun felt the invisible, immense power around him—as heavy as the overturning of Heaven and Earth, yet as easy to control as his own limbs—and the smile on his lips could no longer be suppressed.

"But still... this is too much of a strain."

Feeling the extreme load on his Heart and Spirit, as if it were being crushed under a millstone to the point of shattering, and the emptiness as his Magical Power gushed out like a bursting dam, Qi Yun gently shook his head.

Forcibly manifesting the complete Northern Defense Array, even if it was just the basic Array Pattern structure, was still too strenuous.

The vastness and weight of this super-Grand Array, built with the power of the Four Sects upon an Ancient Array and designed to shelter the entire Northwest Domain, far exceeded the limits of what a single person could bear.

The instantaneous unfurling of the structure just now, though it seemed magnificent, had in reality almost completely drained all the Heart and Spirit Calculation Power he could currently muster.

If he tried to forcibly maintain it any longer, he would likely collapse before he could even harm an enemy.

’You eat a meal one bite at a time, and walk a road one step at a time. This path of using my body as the Grand Array is the right one. But the "scale" and "depth" of the Array must still match my own Cultivation.’

With this understanding, his thoughts shifted.

Qi Yun’s will shifted, and he stopped trying to maintain the astonishingly vast construct.

The next moment, the heavy "construct" centered on him—the one that invisibly spanned an unknown measure of heaven and earth—suddenly shuddered!

Countless Array Patterns, invisible but real, crazily rolled back from all directions!

The whole process was as fast as a bolt of lightning. In a mere instant, the intangible "Northern Imperial Pattern" that had blotted out the sky and suppressed the entire region had already contracted and condensed to about a tenth of its original size.

But the density of the Array Patterns within, the concentration of the Dao Rhyme, and the intent of suppression, ordering, and defense were more than ten times stronger and purer than the flimsy, vast structure from before.

The Dark Gold Earth Vein coiled like a dragon, the Nine Peaks Mountain Seal guarded the eight directions, the Star Dao Map was branded on his back, and the Four-Color Dao Rhyme wrapped around his limbs.

Qi Yun sat at its center, like a sovereign enthroned within the Northern Celestial Wall, looking down upon all of existence from the mysterious, lofty heavens!

A surging wave of Venerable Qi swept out, shaking the four directions and invisibly making the Grand Array even heavier and more domineering.

The very essence of this Grand Array and his Venerable Dao Foundation were in perfect accord!

The pressure on him plummeted, and his Heart and Spirit stabilized.

The strain that had threatened to tear his Purple Mansion asunder rapidly faded, replaced by a sense of control that was both effortless and in Perfect Harmony.

Although the range had shrunk, and its power was certainly not even one ten-thousandth of the complete Grand Array, at this moment, this Northern Defense Array could be freely controlled by Qi Yun.

"Haaaaah..."

Qi Yun let out a long breath of Muddy Qi. Color returned to his face, and the divine light in his eyes shone brightly.

"A scale like this is just right."

...