Chapter 245: Caught in a Task

Not allowed to hide one's head and tail meant that what was placed on the table were genuine array plates. Liu Xiaolou took off his bamboo hat and began to observe carefully starting from the left.

The array plate in front of him had an array book next to it, introducing the efficacy of this array plate. The array plate was engraved from a single piece of jade pendant, belonging to a personal portable defensive array, mainly for defense, and was a pure defensive magic array.

But the Siming Sect added some features, making the operation of the array simpler. The disadvantage was that it couldn't be meticulous, appearing clumsy, and there would even be lag during operation. The advantage was that one could be distracted, and while operating the array, one could also control other magic treasures.

The array book said it could resist at least one hour or more below the Qi Perfection stage. But Liu Xiaolou knew that this conclusion must be achieved under ideal conditions. In actual combat, there were too many accidents, and it was difficult to achieve this effect.

For such an array plate, after Liu Xiaolou asked for the price, the clerk reported a price of eighty-eight spirit stones.

Liu Xiaolou was noncommittal and went to see the second one. The second one was also a personal portable array, but it was an illusion array. Judging from the explanation in the array book, the efficacy was much stronger than the early version of the Lin Yuan Xuan Stone Array he had obtained back then.

The strong points were: first, the illusion effect. This point could be inferred from the number of talisman seals outlined on the jade pendant. It was indeed many and detailed, and the technique was very brilliant. Second, it had the ability to actively attack opponents in the illusion. The array book introduced that it had the sharpness of blades and spears.

The array plate was priced at ninety-nine spirit stones.

Liu Xiaolou was very interested in this array plate. He had now learned the method of using two or three array plates in combination to achieve the effect of having attack capabilities in an illusion array. But in the final analysis, the array plate refined in this way was already a combination array plate.

How to add attack means to a pure illusion array so that the illusion array was no longer a simple illusion array had always been the direction he was pondering. If he could learn it, then the power of his Lin Yuan Xuan Stone Array could be improved. When trapping enemies with the array, it would no longer be a passive consumption of true yuan and magic power, waiting for the enemy to be drugged and fainted.

Therefore, he asked several questions about the functions of this array plate. These questions were relatively deep, and the clerk obviously couldn't answer them, so he asked him to wait a moment and went upstairs to invite an expert to answer them.

Liu Xiaolou waited for a moment and saw someone come out from the back hall. When their eyes met, both smiled.

Liu Xiaolou bowed and saluted: "Greetings, Master Diao Gao!"

The one who came out was Diao Daoyi, an Inner Sect disciple of Siming Mountain, the array master who had been invited by Tang Song to participate in the refining of the mountain-protecting array of the Fuhua Peak of Jin Ting Mountain back then.

During those few months, Liu Xiaolou, as Tang Song's personal assistant, had established some friendship with this master who presided over a fire cave. Not to mention the reason for Qingzhu in the middle, so Diao Daoyi also took care of Liu Xiaolou a lot and pointed out many difficult problems for him.

Diao Daoyi smiled: "I thought it was which array master came to kick the shop. It turned out to be you, then it's not strange."

Liu Xiaolou explained: "Misunderstanding, junior is sincerely asking for advice."

Diao Daoyi waved his hand: "I know, your enthusiasm for learning arrays has a bit of Qingzhu's flavor, so I said it's not strange. But don't make things difficult for the clerks like this when you go to other shops, haha."

Liu Xiaolou was somewhat ashamed: "Junior was reckless."

Diao Daoyi walked to the array plate, picked it up, and explained to Liu Xiaolou on the spot: "The questions you just asked are actually in the 'Five Talisman Scriptures of Array Secrets'. By the way, what you read is the 'Five Talisman Scriptures', so you don't know. There are still differences between the two. The mystery of the talisman seal true spirit lies in the grade of the talisman seal. After the grades are distinguished, determine their direction according to the five colors. The first one is hidden in the Xuan Terrace, the second is hidden in the Miao Mountain cave, the third is distinguished by north and south directions, and the last is hidden in the Menglong Hill. After the etching is completed, there is a very important step: it must be sealed with a golden box and stamped with the Xuan Capital seal text, making a meeting of three thousand..."

These terms were all used by array masters. Others would be confused when listening, but Liu Xiaolou listened with great interest. After listening for the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he roughly remembered them and asked about several places he didn't understand. Diao Daoyi answered them in detail.

Diao Daoyi's unreserved guidance made Liu Xiaolou grateful: "Today I have received the guidance of the master again. Junior really doesn't know how to repay it. If there is anything junior can do in the future, please order, master. Junior will go through fire and water without hesitation."

Diao Daoyi laughed loudly: "There really is something I need your help with, haha!"

Liu Xiaolou was stunned. The so-called "going through fire and water without hesitation" was the jargon of the Wulong Mountain fellow Daoists, just like "so-and-so and I are life-and-death friends." It couldn't be taken seriously. Liu Xiaolou was also used to saying it, but who knew Diao Daoyi really didn't stand on ceremony?

"Ah... really? I don't know what it is? Please speak clearly, master."

"Go, follow me upstairs!" Diao Daoyi grabbed Liu Xiaolou's arm and walked toward the back hall. When they reached the stairs, they didn't go to the second floor, but went down.

After turning several corners along the stairs and going down five or six feet, he discovered that this underground floor was bustling with activity. More than a dozen clerks and array masters were busy, looking like they were refining array plates on a large scale.

No wonder the Siming Mountain array shop was set up here. There was actually a fire cave underground. I don't know how the Siming Sect occupied such a good location.

Diao Daoyi pointed to one who was melting array plates at the mouth of the earth fire cave: "This is my junior brother, Gao Changjiang, who came from Siming Mountain specifically to help..."

He also pointed to an old man who was concentrating on etching array plates: "That is Uncle-Master Luo who sits in charge here. Last month, we received a business order to rush to make seven arrays. The time was very tight, only one month left. We sent people back to Siming Mountain to call for people, but they were all busy, and only Su Shidi Gao was free... I don't know what happened, but suddenly there were many orders in these two months..."

Liu Xiaolou understood. This was catching him to help. This was not a bad thing. Any path of cultivation was the same. The more diligent the cultivation and the more experiences, the more thorough the understanding. It was rare to have an opportunity to get started, so he naturally wouldn't miss it. Not to mention that Diao Daoyi would definitely not let him work for nothing.

"Thanks to the master's appreciation, junior will try his best."

"Good, thank you, Xiaolou. Right now we have completed two arrays. Su Shidi Gao is refining the third one, Uncle-Master Luo is etching the fourth one, and I am about to melt the fourth array plate, so please ask Xiaolou to help etch the array plate of the fifth array first."

"Are they all single array plates?"

"Combination array plates, but the requirements are not high. Two array plates or three array plates as a group."

"That's a small array?"

"Right, not the large array of Fuhua Peak that we refined, so it's still simple. It's just protecting a manor, protecting a residence, and so on."

"Understood... Please give me the array book, master."

"There is no array book, only the description of the location to be protected. Everything is up to you to conceive and imagine." ===== CHAPTER 246 =====