There was a small circular gap in the golden barrier enveloping the island.
He Zhenghao led Li Fan through this opening into the island protection array's interior.
"Remember, when we meet the array masters later, don't mention anything about contribution points in front of them," He Zhenghao whispered discreetly. "Wait for the right moment. After everything's settled, just transfer the contribution points to me. I'll pass them along to Zhang Zhiliang."
Li Fan responded with a slight smile, indicating his understanding.
"Haha! Fellow Daoist He, perfect timing!" Gong Boyu's laughter echoed from a distance.
Li Fan turned toward the sound and saw several array masters from the Strategy Array Hall gathered together.
Before them stood a massive vertical light screen, with numerous tiny images of array units flashing rapidly across its surface.
The array masters periodically pointed at the screen, engaged in animated discussion with varied expressions.
These are... Li Fan's eyes flickered as he glanced toward the golden array in the sky.
Sure enough, he faintly discerned numerous small discs clinging to the array barrier’s surface like crawling insects.
While drawing power from the array, they transmitted data about its most fundamental units to the central light screen.
Array Breaker Discs.
During his twelfth lifetime, Li Fan had encountered mentions of these artifacts in Zhang Zhiliang's posthumous writings.
They could analyze an array's structural data without damaging its framework, providing reference solutions for dismantling it. A complete set consisted of 1008 Array Breaker Discs, and was extremely valuable.
He'd never had the chance to see them before. It was a nice coincidence.
"Come, come, Fellow Daoist He! Take a look at the latest analysis data. Could this island's resurfacing from the ocean depths be related to shifts in the earth veins?" Gong Boyu enthusiastically beckoned.
Though He Zhenghao's eyes lit up with interest, he remembered his primary task and turned to Zhang Zhiliang first. "Fellow Daoist Zhang, this is the cultivator I mentioned earlier, Li Fan. He's interested in serving as an array maintenance technician under your guidance. He’s at the Foundation Establishment realm, with some basic knowledge of arrays."
Zhang Zhiliang gave Li Fan a casual glance before tossing him a Knowledge Appraisal Sphere. "Take this assessment first. As long as you're not completely ignorant about arrays, you should pass without issue."
Li Fan accepted the sphere, channeled his divine sense through it briefly, and completed the test almost immediately.
Zhang Zhiliang examined the number of glowing points on the sphere, and looked visibly surprised.
"You been studying arrays by yourself until now? These results are quite impressive, more than sufficient to serve as an array maintenance technician!"
Zhang Zhiliang knew exactly how challenging the questions in his Knowledge Appraisal Sphere were; some could even be considered deliberately tricky. Most self-taught array practitioners would struggle to pass, and even ordinary apprentices within the Strategy Array Hall might not perform as well as this young man had.
"You flatter me, Master! My aptitude isn’t great; what little I've achieved comes solely through diligence!" Li Fan responded calmly.
Zhang Zhiliang nodded with satisfaction and handed Li Fan a jade token. The token bore an engraved pattern of a tilted metal cube—the main building of the Strategy Array Hall.
"Take this token to the Administration Hall for registration," Zhang Zhiliang instructed. "Then collect your supplies from the Tianxuan Mirror. Once your permissions are activated, you can search for any questions you have within the Tianxuan Mirror. Answers will be provided there."
Li Fan acknowledged the instructions, stored the jade token, and bowed in gratitude.
Seeing matters proceed so smoothly, He Zhenghao's face brightened.
With his task completed, He Zhenghao immediately turned his attention to the light screen with the data of the Array Breaker Discs. In that moment, his features tightened with focus, and his whole bearing changed, as if another person had taken his place.
Li Fan marveled inwardly at the transformation.
On the light screen, the images flashed by at an ever-increasing speed.
He Zhenghao seemed to be straining somewhat, and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.
Above his head, a scroll slowly unfurled. The painting scroll revealed a hazy landscape of rolling mountains and a river network scattered like a constellation.
Mountains and rivers flowed together in seamless harmony, stretching endlessly across the land. It was vast, majestic, and breathtaking to behold.
This must be Fellow Daoist He's Foundation Establishment Curio, the Mountain River Hundred Veins Array Diagram. Judging by its imposing presence, it doesn't seem to be merely a Curio of Man. Li Fan observed carefully, thinking to himself.
After roughly the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, He Zhenghao finally let out a long exhale and dispersed his Curio's manifestation.
"Fellow Daoist Gong, you possess remarkable insight indeed! To summarize in one word: accurate!" he praised first.
Then he slowly explained: "Indeed, this island lies directly on an earth vein. Some significant change must have occurred at another node along this vein, causing this island that had been submerged beneath the sea for three thousand years to resurface.
"But that location seems to be extremely far from the Congyun Sea. With my Foundation Establishment cultivation, I cannot sense its precise position," He Zhenghao said regretfully.
He Zhenghao's words immediately sparked heated discussion among the group of array masters.
"So it really was caused by earth vein movement? How massive must’ve that disturbance been?"
“If Fellow Daoist He is unable to perceive it, then the source must be quite distant. For its effects to reach us from so far away, the destruction would have to be on the scale of a hundred mountains being leveled.”
"We'll know which province it occurred in once we return and make inquiries.”
"That's not necessarily true. Earth vein movements can also occur deep underground. Only faint tremors would be felt at the surface."
As the discussion grew fervent, Zhang Zhiliang, who hadn’t been participating thus far, suddenly asked: "Fellow Daoist He, what are your thoughts on this golden island protection array?"
He Zhenghao narrowed his eyes slightly, pondering for a moment before answering: "This golden array is connected to the earth vein. If I'm not mistaken, it should be based on the Mountain River Grand Array.[1]
"As long as the earth vein remains undestroyed, this protective array will never run out of power. As for the Myriad Immortals Array corresponding to this array, consolidating an entire province's earth veins, its defensive capabilities were likely so strong that even three or four Dao Unity experts working together probably couldn't breach it.
"It's more than a level superior to the defensive plans currently being implemented."
Zhang Zhiliang nodded slowly: "Although this array's defense is powerful, if the array were to be broken, it would cause some damage to the earth vein as well. I wonder what circumstances they faced that would make them choose an extreme solution like the Mountain River Grand Array."
Gong Boyu approached at this point: "Why worry about that? We have a free Mountain River Grand Array right before our eyes, available for observation without spending any merit or contribution points. Such an opportunity hardly comes once in a hundred years."
He Zhenghao quickly agreed: "You speak reason, Fellow Daoist Gong. We shouldn't let this excellent opportunity slip away. We must study it carefully."
As he spoke, the group of men immersed themselves in the rapidly flashing images on the light screen.
Li Fan observed for some time. Unfortunately, his understanding of the array path was shallow to gain any true insights from the display.
Seeing that the array masters would be preoccupied for a long time to come, Li Fan decided not to linger any longer.
After bidding his farewells, he quietly returned to Myriad Immortals Island, heading straight for the Administration Hall at the island's center.
1. Short form of the Myriad Li Mountain River Array ☜