Chapter 178

But the mist lasted only a few breaths before vanishing; the void rippled, and the blue small banner reformed, then fell to the ground.

Wang Yu picked up the other two banners, studied them briefly, and realized the three banners were nearly identical, yet subtle differences existed—he just couldn't pinpoint what they were.

He could only shake his head, stowed the three banners in his storage pouch, then picked up the white-covered book and flipped through several pages rapidly.

"Notes on Array Techniques"

Wang Yu was greatly surprised—the book was actually the notes of the silver-robed man on array techniques.

This "Cloud Senior Brother" of the Demon Luo Sect was also an array apprentice; from the notes, his proficiency in this field seemed quite substantial.

The more he read, the more astonished he became.

Array techniques were among the most mysterious arts in the cultivation world, and array masters were far rarer than pill masters or artifact masters.

Unlike the former, array masters relied heavily on innate talent, yet those with array talent were exceedingly scarce in the cultivation world—even an array apprentice was highly valued by any sect.

For a sect to truly endure in a location, it must establish a grand sect array; only through such arrays could a sect overcome stronger foes and deter enemies from invading.

Wang Yu had long been interested in array techniques, but first he needed to focus on cultivation and artifact crafting, leaving no room to study arrays, and second, the Four Symbols Sect's library held almost no books on arrays.

Even those few books touching on introductory array knowledge were vague and obscure; even in his overclocked state, he extracted little truly useful knowledge from them.

Later, when he asked the librarian in the scripture hall, he learned that the Four Symbols Sect's scripture hall contained no true array transmissions—array masters never casually recorded their hard-won insights in the hall, preferring instead to teach them personally to disciples they deemed worthy.

Now, this silver-robed man's array notes contained clear, accessible introductory knowledge, recorded step by step his journey learning array techniques, and even included three simple array diagrams and methods for crafting array tools he had learned from another array master.

"Iron Cloud Array, Water-Repelling Array, Illusory Trail Array"

Wang Yu suddenly understood upon seeing the later content: the Iron Cloud Brick was, in essence, an array tool, and the three blue small banners were the array tools for the Water-Repelling Array—its primary restriction created a small water-blocking space underwater, while the mist's concealment function was merely a secondary restriction.

Wang Yu had no time to study the book in detail; he carefully stored it away, planning to examine it thoroughly later when free.

He then picked up the golden scroll and slowly unrolled it.

The scroll, seemingly glowing golden, revealed upon opening a vivid black-and-white ink painting: a massive black serpent was soaring from a pool, surrounded by rocks and trees, while two crescent moons hung high in the sky—one large and dark, one small and pale.

Wang Yu stared at the ink painting for a long time but discerned nothing; he rolled it back up and placed it in his storage pouch.

He opened the remaining vials and checked them, unexpectedly finding one top-grade Zengyuan Pill and four blood-red pills, which delighted him; he then picked up the two blood-red talismans.

The two talismans were entirely crimson, radiating a thick scent of blood, their spiritual patterns layered densely, one atop another.

They looked like second-rank Blood Escape Talismans!

Wang Yu had studied many books detailing talisman patterns; after a quick glance at the spiritual patterns, he recognized these two infamous demonic talismans and was greatly thrilled.

Blood Escape Talismans were created by demonic cultivators sealing their essence blood into talismans via secret methods, then activating them by burning that essence blood to trigger the so-called first-mystical escape technique of the demonic path.

Such talismans were difficult to forge, severely damaged one's primordial energy, and few demonic cultivators were willing to make them; only those at Foundation Establishment or above could forge them, and once made, they were at least second-rank talismans.

For disciples of the Jialan Secret Realm, who were all at Qi Condensation stage, these second-rank Blood Escape Talismans were undoubtedly excellent life-saving treasures.

Crucially, according to the books, unlike other demonic talismans, merely holding and activating this talisman would automatically trigger the Blood Escape technique, regardless of whether one practiced demonic cultivation methods.

Wang Yu toyed with the two blood-red talismans in his hand, a smile curling at his lips, silently grateful that his Sword Pattern Flying Knife had struck fast enough—if the silver-robed man had activated these talismans, even his Wind-Fire Wheel might not have caught him.

Though the Wind-Fire Wheel's escape technique was swift, it was better suited for short-range dashes to strike enemies; prolonged use drained immense cultivation energy and made directional control difficult.

Wang Yu carefully stored the pills and blood-red talismans, transferred all contents from the other storage pouches into his own three pouches, then incinerated the empty pouches with a fireball, and sat down to meditate.

Though the earlier battle had been brief, it had still consumed some of his cultivation energy—he needed to recover first.

But after only a cup of tea's worth of breathing, his body trembled slightly, startling Wang Yu into opening his eyes; he reached into his robe and pulled out the white positioning crystal ball.

In the center of the crystal ball, besides the small red light representing himself, two additional red lights had appeared at the edges, roughly the same size.

Wang Yu frowned; though he had no intention of leaving the tree hollow, the two red lights paused briefly in place before swiftly moving toward his own red light.

"Could it be…"

Wang Yu, initially surprised, suddenly remembered something, turned, and stepped out of the tree hollow, soaring into the air.

Moments later, a white light appeared from afar, flickered several times, then halted before Wang Yu.

Wang Yu curiously studied the two figures within the white light.

On a pure white, jade-like lotus-shaped artifact, two young monks in gray cassocks stared back at him.

One monk was young and slender, smiling; the other was tall and thin, expressionless.

"So you're from the Golden Vajra Temple. I'm Wang Yu of the Four Symbols Sect, honored to meet you both." Wang Yu bowed with a smile.

"Excellent, excellent. So you're from the Four Symbols Sect. I'm Yuan Tong, and this is my senior brother Yuan Ming. Did you also obtain the demonic positioning device, Master Wang?" The young monk returned the bow, smiling warmly.