Chapter 41: Array Disk

  "Fellow Taoists, the item in my hand is a treasured family heirloom, said to be a rare array disc. Once embedded with crystal stones, it can activate the array disc, granting a fraction of the original array's power. Today, I am selling this array disc without seeking anything in return, with only one hope - that you will accept my grandson as your disciple and ensure his future entry into the Refining Qi stage. Any fellow Taoist who has reached the Refining Qi stage can come to complete this transaction, but before doing so, they must take an oath using their own Heart Demon..."

  The old man was full of wrinkles, and when he spoke, his body was still slightly trembling, with one hand holding the little boy beside him.

  That boy looked quite clever, with a pair of bright and clear eyes, curiously sizing up the surrounding monks.

  "Is this array real?" A middle-aged cultivator in the Refining Qi stage walked over with great curiosity.

  "Absolutely no false words, this is indeed a very precious array disc, and it only needs to be inlaid with crystal stones to take effect." The old man said confidently.

  "Why don't we try it out and see if that dish is really good?" a monk beside him suggested.

  What is called an array disc, is a kind of prop that engraves the simplified formation method on a specially made material. As long as the crystal stone is inlaid on the array disc, the master of the array disc can manipulate this greatly reduced formation method.

  Although the power of the formation plate is reduced by half compared to the original formation method, this prop has strong practicality and is favored by many cultivators who are not good at formations.

  However, the production of array disks is extremely difficult. Not only are materials hard to find, but the person making them must also have a thorough understanding of array methods. Therefore, array disks in the cultivation world are extremely rare, and very few people own one. Moreover, even if someone owns an array disk, the power of the array method engraved on it is also limited.

  Throughout the entire Tian Xing Domain, those who could create array disks were extremely rare, and most of them were high-ranking cultivators with exceptional spiritual power. After all, the study of arrays was a complex and profound subject that required a long period of research and practice to achieve any success. Even low-ranking cultivators, no matter how hard they tried, could only achieve minimal accomplishments in array studies.

  "This array disk requires four crystal stones to take effect... However, I don't have any crystal stones on me..." The old man said this with a somewhat hesitant tone.

  "I have crystal stones here, let's try the effect of this formation." Zhao Rui took out four crystal stones with a look of eagerness and walked to the front of the old man.

  The monks around him lit up their eyes when they saw the crystal stone in Zhao Rui's hand, and some of them even didn't hide the greed in their eyes.

  The old man nodded and said: "Since this Taoist friend is willing to try, let's come together and test the power of this formation."

  The old man took over the fist-sized crystal from Zhao Rui, his eyes also overflowing with a few points of longing, but soon returned to normal and began to inlay these four crystals on top.

  The old man's array disc was about the size of a chessboard, round in shape, with obscure and intricate patterns and symbols carved on it. On the back of the array disc, there were several recessed places that could be used to inlay crystal stones.

  Before long, the old man had inlaid all four crystal stones onto the array disc. Everyone present stared at the array disc, eager to see what kind of power it would unleash.

  When the four crystal stones were all inlaid on the array disc, an old man's face showed a hint of strangeness. After a good one or two breaths, there was no reaction on this array disc.

  "It turned out to be a fake array disc, how could I say that an old man in his prime would have an array disc in his hand."

  "Perhaps it's because this disk has been through too much time, so it's no longer effective."

  "I think this old man is just trying to cheat people, I almost fell for it."

  ……

  The monks around were discussing and criticizing the old man for being unkind.

  The old man's forehead was sweating with a few beads of sweat, his face anxiously studying the formation plate in his hand, but there was no reaction on this formation plate which was actually true.

  Zhang Heng used his divine sense to leave his body and observe the formation plate, faintly discovering that there were a few cracks on the crystal stones embedded in the formation plate.

  Generally, a crystal itself has a certain amount of spiritual energy reserve. If the spiritual energy inside is lost in small amounts, it can still recover slowly. However, if the spiritual energy loss is too great, it will be difficult to replenish. If more than half of the spiritual energy is used up, cracks will appear on its surface.

  And these few pieces of crystal were still intact in Zhao Rui's hands, but they had already cracked at this moment.

  What does this mean? Zhang Heng's heart moved, perhaps this formation was real. The problem lay with the crystal stone. Low-grade crystal stones couldn't activate this formation at all, and only higher-level crystal stones could take effect.

  Then after a while, it suddenly lit up again, but dimmed down in an instant.

  Then, the crystal stones on the back of the array disc all turned into powder and fell to the ground.

  Four crystal stones were scrapped just like that.

  The old man's face turned deathly pale and he stuttered towards Zhao Rui, "Th-th-this... I don't know what the reason is either... This is also my first time using this array disk."

  Other cultivators were also shocked by this strange phenomenon, and naturally, some cultivators could guess that it was because the crystal stone's grade was not enough, resulting in the failure of the array disk to start.

  Zhao Rui was also extremely depressed, never expecting that in just a short while, all four crystal stones would be rendered useless.

  "This fellow Taoist, I'll let you have this Array Disk in exchange for your Crystal Stone." The old man's eyes sparkled with a plan as he secretly observed the other's expression, and continued: "You've also seen it, this Array Disk is definitely high-grade, ordinary Crystal Stones can't activate it at all..."

  Zhao Rui said somewhat discontentedly: "But I don't have a high-level crystal to use it, giving me this array disc is useless."

  The surrounding cultivators also nodded frequently, thinking that Zhao Rui made sense. It is almost impossible for ordinary cultivators to have crystal stones of a higher rank in their hands. Even if they do, they won't waste it on this array disk.

  The higher the grade of crystal stone, the more beneficial it is for the cultivator's cultivation. Moreover, high-grade crystal stones also have a faster speed of spiritual energy recovery and can be used more times.

  Indeed, low-ranking cultivators can't afford such an array disc, perhaps high-ranking cultivators need to use this expensive tool.

  Many of the cultivators around him lit up their eyes, if this array was presented to a higher-level cultivator, wouldn't it bring enormous benefits.

  An array disc that requires a higher-order crystal to activate is definitely not something ordinary.

  A thin-faced monk suddenly squeezed in front of Zhao Rui: "This little brother, how about I give you four crystal stones and let me have this array disk?"

  Zhao Rui was somewhat moved by these words.

  He turned his head and asked Zhang Heng: "Tang Shixiong, what should I do?"

  Zhang Heng hesitated for a moment before asking the old man, "Is it that as long as I accept this Array Disk, I must also accept your grandson as my apprentice?"

  The old man nodded and said: "Right...and he must also make a vow with his heart demon to guarantee that he can reach the Qi Refining stage."

  Zhang Heng furrowed his brow and couldn't help but ask: "Your grandson won't be a waste of spiritual roots, will he?"

  The old man's expression changed, and he looked at Zhang Heng with some annoyance. He then said in a gloomy tone, "Yes, Feng'er indeed has a crippled spiritual root..."

  As soon as this was said, the monks around him couldn't help but shake their heads.

  The thin-faced monk who was about to trade with Zhao Rui also retreated and ran away in a puff of smoke.

  Joking aside, letting a waste spirit root go cultivate immortality is even harder than directly challenging a high-ranking cultivator.

  In theory, a waste spiritual root can cultivate immortality, but in reality, it is fundamentally impossible to embark on the path of cultivating immortality.

  In the Three Realms' countless years of history, those who could embark on the path of cultivation with a broken spiritual root were extremely rare.

  It can be said that without a great opportunity, or a high-ranking cultivator willing to sacrifice their cultivation to help them wash their marrow and cut their bones, having a flawed spiritual root is the same as being unconnected to the path of immortality.

  It is completely impossible for these Qi-refining cultivators to take this abandoned Spiritual Root child as their disciple and let them enter the Qi-refining stage with a Heart Demon oath.

  Every cultivator needs to match their mental state when breaking through a bottleneck, and once there is a flaw in the mental state, it is very likely that the heart demon will take advantage of the void and fall into the situation of being possessed by the demon.

  So once it involves making a vow with the heart demon, most cultivators will be cautious and cautious, and will never use the heart demon to make fun of it. That thing has no effect on ordinary mortals, but for cultivators, it is very effective.

  Just as all the monks around him had given up, Zhang Heng stood out and said calmly: "In that case, this formation will be left to me."

  With a "hiss", the gaze of the surrounding monks all fell on Zhang Heng's face, looking at him with an expression as if they were watching a fool.