The Esoteric Master couldn’t help but admire the marvelous design of the God Slaying Array. It used eight lines of Sanskrit as the foundation and then concealed the Array Eye within them. In other words, using text as the Array Eye is something most people would never think of, and what’s more, this Array Eye was a flawed Sanskrit character.
How many people can recognize Sanskrit? How many are proficient in it? How many can pick out the wrong characters among a dense jumble of Sanskrit? And how many can identify the incorrect rough Sanskrit in a life-or-death situation?
Brilliant! Truly brilliant!
However, this Array Eye tripped up at the hands of the Esoteric Master. The old woman was not proficient in Sanskrit; she had only occasionally studied some Sanskrit characters. Her knowledge of Sanskrit, compared to the vast body of Sanskrit scholarship, was minuscule, perhaps even one in a hundred thousand. But at this moment, the clue she held in her hand was indeed the method to break this Array Eye.
The Sanskrit in the northeast corner, when translated, is "Summon a hundred thousand Evil Spirits from Hell." The word "Hell" is the most complex character in these lines of Sanskrit; the final stroke in Sanskrit should be a hook, but in the northeast corner, it was drawn as a straight line without a bend. For an Array, even the slightest instability in the force used during writing is critical. It’s impossible to make such an error. Thus, there’s only one explanation.
This character is the Array Eye of the Array.
"The Array Eye is in the northeast position!"
The Master shouted, and Ye Tian, who was channeling the second wave of his power, glanced over, naturally aiming for that northeast corner.
At this moment, the Nightlife grew even darker, whether due to the Yin wind summoned from the Underworld or simply because it was inherently dark today. The Array that previously glowed brightly on the ground had now turned black, concealing its tracks. Searching for that character in the northeast corner now—where could it still be found? But just then, the wind suddenly died down, and the resistance his fingertips felt also disappeared. Losing the counterforce, Ye Tian’s body lunged forward, nearly missing his step, but stabilized his body just in time as the Barrier in the sky disappeared too. Looking up, he could still see the stars twinkling.
"You really are a meddling one, aren’t you!"
Ye Tian remained silent, simply looking down at the unconscious Jenny.
That night, Ye Tian did not stay for long, only saying that he would come again tomorrow. Judging from his own feelings, Ye Tian knew that the one who laid out the God Slaying Array wouldn’t come back so soon. He was well aware of the force behind his own strike; even if it wasn’t lethal, it would cause serious injury, so they likely wouldn’t trouble the Esoteric Master anytime soon. Right now, Ye Tian was concerned about Chu Tianying and Gui Xiao. When he returned to the inn, both boys had already fallen asleep, with two bottles of vodka and two roast geese on the table. It’s not common to eat chicken in Nepal; most of the street food is roast goose.
Seeing that the two were alright, the fatigued Ye Tian relaxed his tense body, suddenly slumping down, his legs giving out before he even reached the bed. Just when he thought he was going to pass out, a strange thought jumped into his mind—it felt like another realm. This was similar to the consciousness he experienced resting the Panchen Finger in the Nushen Tower during the day, except that had a martial arts feel, filled with techniques; however, what currently filled his mind felt like something on the level of a Cave Heaven.
Here, it was entirely black, devoid of any miscellaneous colors, making ihm feel not as though he was on Earth, but in the vast expanse of space. Sporadic stars twinkled in the distance, remote and unreachable. Ye Tian found himself sitting cross-legged, floating in space, wanting to move but unable to, just silently drifting.
At first, this space was only cold, unbearably cold, freezing to the marrow. Ye Tian tried to summon Spiritual Power for warmth, but at this moment, he realized he had no trace of Spiritual Energy left. Considering how he had exhausted the little Spiritual Power borrowed from the Nine Emperor Bell during the afternoon in the courtyard, not being able to feel warmth was expected.
Is it really going to be empty forever? The bone-chilling cold that pierced straight to the heart began to make Ye Tian lose hope. Indeed, nothing is more terrifying than emptying a person of everything. After a while, unable to move and still enduring the cold, Ye Tian started struggling, but it was at this moment that he noticed a slight change.
He was trying to summon the Nine Emperor Bell’s power again when a surge of Spiritual Power began jumping through his body, starting at his wrist—the usual place—but what followed did not spread through his blood vessels toward his entire body as before, but rather, it suddenly reached his heart, a scenario Ye Tian had not anticipated. From the palm to the heart is only the distance of an arm, but internally, there are countless large and small blood vessels and channels, and together, they add up to an immense distance.
To fill something, it must first be emptied.
Ye Tian vaguely understood that perhaps this misfortune was a blessing in disguise. Talking about spiritual cultivation, he was less than half-qualified; even if he had snatched some transformations unreachable by ordinary people, his own foundation was far too weak. He even had too many impurities in his body blocking the absorption of those powers—an irresistible force. This was also the difference between those within a Sect and those outside. Without a solid foundation, it is difficult to advance further on the path of cultivation.
Wash Essence and Marrow? Ye Tian looked around this strange space and finally shook his head. Only his right arm had undergone some changes; he was still far from the true Wash Essence and Marrow, and he did not know if he would ever get the chance for it.
In this mystical space, Ye Tian’s body was rapidly recovering. The lost powers continuously replenished his body, replacing the old, somewhat unfamiliar powers. These new forces seemed to find a more suitable world for themselves, boldly occupying every reachable place up to the heart, a gentle and soothing sensation firmly controlling his body. Ye Tian, floating in this world, completely merged into this mystical space.
When Ye Tian woke up again, he found himself lying on the bed, with Chu Tianying bending over the table tidying something. Noticing that he had woken up, Chu Tianying hurried over, "Boss, you finally woke up. You almost scared me to death, you know?"