The Array

Sunlight spilled across the quiet alleyway, leaving only the sound of footsteps ringing out. On the way back to his courtyard, Xu Yuan made idle conversation with his fourth sister, who walked beside him with her head bowed in silence, while he sighed inwardly. Though his response earlier had seemed proper enough, it hadn't resolved the awkwardness between them. The most correct way to handle it—thinking back, the best approach would have been to give this fourth sister a straight-up smack on her little noggin to knock some sense into her. Then again, he couldn't really blame himself; if anyone was to blame, it was Xu Xinyao. A younger sister he had spent over twenty years with suddenly acting bashful and coquettish before him had caused his brain to short-circuit. What was that about this sister being his first love in his past memories? Xu Yuan suddenly felt a headache coming on. Whatever the case, he didn't have the guts to step into his old man's courtyard again for now. As for asking Lou Ji to use the Black Scale Guards to investigate the Great Desert, delaying it by a day or two wouldn't affect the bigger picture. For now, it was better to ask Xu Xinyao if she had any solution for his cultivation problem. After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Xu Yuan led the mute Xu Xinyao into his courtyard. Naturally, they didn't go inside the room, but instead took seats in a pavilion beside the small pond in the courtyard. After the little farce just now, and seeing his fourth sister's current demeanor, Xu Yuan dared not bring her into an enclosed space for the moment. Inside the pavilion, Xu Xinyao tilted her little head, staring blankly at the koi swimming and drifting lazily in the pond, while Xu Yuan explained his situation to her as though talking to himself. Afterward, the two lapsed back into silence. Watching his adoptive sister sitting across from him, looking as though his words had gone in one ear and out the other, Xu Yuan suddenly hesitated. He hesitated over whether he should smack her on the head right now. Better late than never. If this awkward atmosphere persisted between them in the future, he might end up getting beaten three times a day. Her hair, silky as satin, cascaded over her rounded, fair shoulders. Xu Xinyao suddenly shifted her gaze and spoke softly, her voice gentle and slow: "In other words, Third Brother, what you need right now is an array that can extract yin origin from demon-ghosts and life origin from demon crystals?" Hearing this, Xu Yuan immediately nodded and said in a low voice, "For now, that's the only thing I can try. Can it be done?" Xu Xinyao's limpid eyes cast downward slightly. After a few breaths, she analyzed in a quiet voice: "Senior Luo's fungal carpet can extract life origin from demon crystals." With that, Xu Xinyao looked the man before her up and down for a few breaths, hesitating slightly. "Xinyao remembers that your body could also control that fungal carpet before, Third Brother. If you can still do that now..." "I probably can," Xu Yuan pondered briefly. "But I'll need to test it. It's just that the fungal carpet in my body right now..." Hearing this, a serene smile appeared on Xu Xinyao's gentle face as she said softly, "When we were healing your body earlier, Senior Luo absorbed all of that fungal carpet. We should be able to borrow some from her. As for demon crystals, the Gewu Academy still has plenty in stock." When exploring newly emerged secret realms, they occasionally encountered monsters known as aberrant ghosts. Over time, the academy's storehouses had accumulated a collection of aberrant ghost demon crystals of various grades. Sensing the awkward atmosphere gradually dissipate, Xu Yuan let out a long breath and murmured, "With life origin settled, that leaves only the demon-ghosts' yin origin." "Mm..." Xu Xinyao nodded slightly, but a trace of hesitation showed in her eyes. Seeing the hesitation on the face of the Prime Minister's Manor's resident Dora-A-Yao, Xu Yuan's heart sank a little. "Is it that difficult? "I remember that old man Jiang He developed a grand array to keep demon-ghosts in captivity and extract their soul power. Could we make some modifications to that?" The Prime Minister's Manor's Gewu Academy already had some accomplishments in demon-ghost research, so extracting yin origin from yin ghosts wouldn't be as daunting as starting from scratch. Xu Xinyao shook her head gently and spoke in a low voice: "Extracting yin origin from yin ghosts is indeed not that hard. The hard part is eliminating the violent emotions within the yin origin. Furthermore, Third Brother, if you want to cultivate, wouldn't you also need an array that can fuse yin origin and life origin together?" Xu Yuan was slightly taken aback by the question. He said hesitatingly, "I probably don't. My body can most likely take in and refine those two energies directly..." "No." Xu Xinyao cut Xu Yuan off. Her tone was firm—so firm that she seemed to understand his body even better than he did. "Third Brother, your body might indeed be capable of doing so, but refining and circulating them with your physical body alone requires divided attention. Slowing your cultivation speed is secondary; if a balance cannot be reached between yin origin and life origin, you will most likely suffer qi deviation, or even regress to your previous condition." As she spoke, Xu Xinyao's gentle, watery expression turned serious. Habitually, she lifted her right hand and gently bit on her slender index finger between her red lips and pearly teeth, murmuring as if to herself: "Besides, if you want to cultivate, Third Brother, relying solely on yin origin and life origin probably won't be enough. After all, when we treated you earlier, Source Qi was also present in your body. In other words, this array must simultaneously blend all three energies—Source Qi, life origin, and yin origin—while also ensuring stability during conversion and output. A nanoscale array core probably won't do; modifications will have to be made to it..." "..." Xu Yuan listened to the stream of muttering spilling from his fourth sister's mouth. He could follow the first part, but toward the end, it sounded like gibberish to him. Was this... the Dao of arrays? "Brother." Suddenly, Xu Xinyao broke the silence, raising her eyes to ask, "Where do you plan to establish this array?" Xu Yuan was about to answer, but Xu Xinyao gave him no chance at all. Lowering her head, she bit down hard on her slender, fair index finger. "Brother, you have to fake your death and can't go outside, which means this array must be constructed within the inner courtyard. The largest secret chamber in the inner courtyard should be the one where the communication crystal is housed. For construction in that sort of space, Sumeru iron—the strongest array material currently available—probably won't be enough to support an array of this intensity. Developing a new material would take too long, so we'll have to ask Father to excavate a new space underground..." "..." "..." *Swish.* After who knew how long she had been muttering to herself, Xu Xinyao abruptly stood up, her lake-blue ruqun fluttering in the pavilion. Xu Yuan, whose mind had already drifted off to the heavens, immediately snapped back to reality upon seeing her movement. "Xinyao, you—" "Brother, I'm heading to the Gewu Academy first to gather some Grade-A, Rank-One array masters for the preliminary preparations. Wait here for a few days." Before he could finish, Xu Xinyao cut him off. Without waiting for Xu Yuan's reply, she turned on her heel and walked out of the pavilion without looking back. "..." Xu Yuan stared blankly for a moment. He hadn't expected his fourth sister to be like this when she was working. Her swift, decisive manner was actually pretty cool. *Slap.* A soft, crisp sound rang out. By the time Xu Xinyao regained her senses, she realized her Third Brother was holding her wrist. Xu Yuan smiled at her faintly. "There's no rush for that right this second. I haven't even asked you about Ran Qingmo yet." "..." Xu Xinyao.