Finally, the fateful day arrived for the Gu family's Second Miss, Gu Ling, to enter her grand seclusion.
She was currently at the absolute peak of the 9th Stage of the Body Tempering Realm, and today, she would attempt to shatter the first major obstacle in her path to immortality and break through to the profound Spirit Realm.
This breakthrough would narrow the gap between her and the clan's supreme genius, Gu Chen, who was already standing proudly at the 7th Stage of the Spirit Realm.
It was a joyous, monumental occasion for the declining Gu Clan.
But for Gu Fan, this was an unprecedented heaven-sent opportunity.
He had been exceptionally vigilant over the past few days. He dared not return to that rotting shed, knowing full well there was a chance Xiao Mei might return with someone once the fear inside her subsided.
His physical body was fully healed thanks to Xiao Mei's vitality and his newly bound '10x Parasitic System'. But internally, his meridians remained broken, and he was still a mere mortal without a cultivation base.
But for that, he had his 10x Parasitic Reward System, now all he needed was a spiritual battery. He needed a new, and more powerful host with better talent.
So while he kept his eyes on his shed, right now, he had concealed himself within the dense spiritual flora surrounding the Spirit Spring Pavilion. He was like an insignificant insect hiding in the big forest.
Gu Fan crouched low behind a massive ornamental spirit-rock, regulating his breathing into the shallowest, most imperceptible rhythm so as not to spook anyone's divine sense.
To maintain his cover, he had smeared foul-smelling swamp mud and a crushed paste of dark purple spirit-berries over his face and torn hemp robes. He meticulously recreated the exact visage of the crippled, battered bastard son who was supposed to be bleeding out in a shed.
He did not want anyone to see the healthy complexion and the unnatural transformation of his and get noticed.
For now, he adhered to the simplest Dao of survival: Out of sight, out of mind! Except that he had one specific target in mind today. A target whose talent and cultivation would cause his crippled body to cultivate.
"Any moment now," he whispered to himself, his eyes narrowed into slits. If he could just do this one right, he can go back into hiding without any worry.
The Spirit Spring Pavilion was a beautiful sanctuary carved from white profound-marble. The spiritual energy here was so dense it materialised into a light, mesmerising mist. It was a forbidden ground for mostly everyone in the clan except for the Clan Elders and the geniuses like Gu Chen.
In the Spirit Spring Pavilion, there was a Minor Spirit Gathering Array.
It was an Earth Tier Qi Gathering Array that Gu Fan remembered vividly. This wasn't a very profound Qi gathering array, but it was all the Gu Clan head.
The array used Earth Grade Spirit Crystals that were spread around the Spirit Pavilion in a very definite pattern.
This Minor Spirit Gathering Array used 8 Earth Grade Spirit Crystals for the outer nodes and 5 Earth Grade Spirit Crystals for the inner and central nodes.
Once activated, the array begins drawing ambient Qi from the surrounding area within a radius of roughly 30 meters.
The gathered energy flows inward along the formation lines and converges at the center, creating a localized zone of increased Qi density.
This would lead to the Qi density inside the array to become at least 3 times higher than normal, and Qi impurities are filtered out.
The air inside feels heavier, breathing becomes more efficient, and the cultivation becomes more stable.
This array is most effective for Body Tempering and Spirit Realm losing its effectiveness drastically in the Origin Realm.
At higher levels, cultivators require denser and more refined energy than the array can provide.
When a cultivator attempts breakthrough within the array, the steady influx of Origin Qi helps prevent Qi deviation and Energy starvation during breakthrough.
And to make sure not just anyone could waltz in and use the Spirit Spring Pavilion, around the pavilion, there was another array that prevented anyone from entering.
It was the Stone Turtle barrier that has been in the family for centuries and was able to protect the Spirit Spring Pavilion.
Just like the Minor Spirit Gathering Array, the Stone Turtle Barrier was an Earth Tier Defensive Array, which was also powered by Earth Grade Spirit Crystals
When triggered, faint yellow-brown runic engravings would spread across the marble ground like glowing cracks in ancient earth. In the next breath, the translucent, majestic silhouette of a massive Black Tortoise would manifest, its impenetrable shell arching over the entire pavilion.
Every incoming attack is distributed across its shell, spreading the force into the ground beneath, drastically reducing direct impact.
And this makes the array highly effective against Origin Realm cultivators and below.
But, as with all things under the Heavenly Dao, the Stone Turtle Barrier was not entirely flawless. One simply needed to comprehend its profound weakness. And Gu Fan, being the Creator, knew its secrets as intimately as the back of his hand.
While the barrier flawlessly repelled aggressive, direct attacks, it did not reject those who moved in absolute harmony with its spiritual flow. Attempting to force your way through would trigger a violent repelling force from the tortoise shell.
However, if one walked the correct hidden pathway, the barrier's Qi would part as naturally as water flowing around a river stone.
Gu Fan had never actually revealed this secret in his published chapters. But for every profound array he had invented in Divine Poison Sovereign, he had meticulously documented its flaws in his personal notes, just in case he needed a plot device later.
Well, he never actually got to use this information until now.
So when he decided to sneak into the Spirit Spring Pavilion of the Gu Clan to target that one person who would make him break his mortal shell and skyrocket in his cultivation journey, Gu Chen, he went straight for the Southern Node of the array.
To enter the Pavilion, starting from the Southern node, one has to follow a precise path:
3 steps forward, then 2 steps left, 1 step backward, 2 steps to the right, 4 steps forward, 1 step left, and 3 steps forward.
It made no sense and it was not like he was following some vein or the Qi flow. He just came up with a path that could be used to exploit the weakness of the barrier, by Gu Chen.
But Gu Chen never ended up needing it. The Gu Clan was more than happy to grovel in front of every single need of their prodigy.
Tap. Tap.
Suddenly the sounds of footsteps echoed in the pavilion and broke Gu Fan's chain of thoughts. It was time.
"He is finally here."