As Zhao Yunxiao carefully probed the two verses with his spiritual sense, everything that Cha had taught him about the archaic characters resurfaced in his mind.
The serpent might be unreliable at times, but he had to admit that it was truly knowledgeable. That night, he had arrived at the Origin Lake knowing nothing about the archaic characters, but left with a trove of knowledge unheard of even by most above his station.
Zhao Yunxiao did not let Cha's efforts go to waste either.
After receiving its guidance at the Origin Lake Sect, Zhao Yunxiao had continued to study these characters further, deepening his understanding and even obtaining his own insights in this topic. Now, he tapped into all his past comprehensions, comparing them with the sight before him as he tried to unravel the underlying concepts that were governing this array.
One advantage Zhao Yunxiao had was that he had a certain level of attainment when it came to both the study of these archaic characters from an ancient array master's perspective and the art of contemporary arrays. This allowed him to think beyond the limits that would have bound most other array masters' thoughts, considering all possibilities as he studied the array.
Zhao Yunxiao did not know how much time had passed, but he eventually closed his eyes to organise his thoughts, affirming the conclusion that he had come to.
If he did not understand it wrongly, then these two verses came together to form a killing array!
But at the same time, perhaps due to the long passage of time, the array seemed to be rather weak at the moment, as though the energy supplied was barely enough to keep it running. In fact, the flow of energy being too weak had also made it more difficult for Zhao Yunxiao to deduce the effect of the array.
Step through the mists with heart unchained, yet fear the bind of desire untrained. One thought astray and rivers of blood shall bloom from within.
Understand the limits of the chains undone, yet ensure that one is bound to none. Only the soul that gazes within may still the storm without.
From the sound of it, this should be a conditional killing array – one that could be avoided if one managed to fulfil some cryptic criteria.
That said, Zhao Yunxiao was not intending to take his chances by challenging the killing array, especially not when he knew absolutely nothing about the conditions to pass.
Even though it had already weakened over the years, a killing array set up by a cultivator at the level of the Untethered Sage was still not something that he could ever hope to defend against. If he tried to challenge the array directly, a single misstep would result in certain death!
Some might be willing to take such a risk considering the huge potential benefits, but not him.
He would love to be able to get his hands on the legacy of the Untethered Sage. But if he had to directly risk his life in such a manner just to have a chance of obtaining this legacy, then he would rather give it up altogether!
Such risks could be left for the chosen sons and daughters of heaven – people who had the confidence in their own capabilities and talents. Even these talented individuals could end up tripping up at some point due to their own overconfidence, not to mention someone like him!
Thankfully, it was not as though he had no other options.
Rather than doing something as risky as putting his life on the line, Zhao Yunxiao decided to tackle this array in a more indirect manner – by dismantling it altogether from the outside!
This was not something that he would have considered in a normal situation, especially considering the level of the cultivator who had set up this array. However, this situation was slightly different.
The array had lost plenty of energy due to the passage of time. In its current incomplete state, this could truly be worth a shot!
And thus, a long process of investigation began.
In order to dismantle the array, he had to first figure out how the array worked. Zhao Yunxiao carefully observed the two verses, the many words they comprised, as well as the flow of energy within.
Every little detail that fell into his eyes was translated into part of a huge mental map in his head, where he slowly recreated the entire energy system created by these two verses.
Every little change in energy along this system triggered a brand new hypothesis, for which he calculated the possibilities according to the countless scenarios that he had formed from his past knowledge and experience.
Every archaic character was connected in one way or another. With each new hypothesis that proved incorrect, his earlier conclusions for the other characters would be negated as well, forcing him to restart the entire process all over again.
It was an extremely tedious process of learning on the spot – one that most others would not have the patience and mental fortitude to follow through on.
Unfortunately, Zhao Yunxiao did not possess the exceptional natural talents akin to that of chosen sons and daughters of heaven, so gaining enlightenment with just a few glances at the verses was something beyond him. Instead, he could only do things in such a way that was slow but reliable, relying on nothing but his mental fortitude that had been refined over the years.
Zhao Yunxiao fully immersed himself in the process, no longer even keeping track of the time as he devoted every last bit of his brainpower to calculating the effect of each word, each phrase, each sentence, each verse, as well as how everything came together along with the surroundings.
Thankfully, the incomplete state of the array created tiny gaps that Zhao Yunxiao managed to capitalise on, peering through them as though they were windows that exposed the core of the array. Without such flaws in the array, he could only imagine the vast amount of extra time required to do this.
He had no idea how much time had passed, but it was definitely more than just a few hours. At one point, he slowly reached out with a single finger, tapping lightly on a few spots on the stone wall around the verses.
And with each tap of his finger, he drove a different amount of essence energy into the wall... into the energy flowing beneath the surface.
Weng-!
With a loud buzz, the archaic characters carved in the stone walls suddenly began to glow brightly, overshadowing even the two bright torches hanging above them.
A jade-green mist started to seep out from gaps in the walls, rapidly filling the stone cave entrance. Before long, this jade-green mist had already blocked off the entire entrance. Strangely, it did not spread past the entrance, as though inhibited by some sort of invisible membrane.
The array had activated.
However, Zhao Yunxiao did not stop.
He remained standing outside the stone cave entrance, continuing to tap away at the stone walls. His eyes were glazed over, but his focus never strayed. Instead, he was just relying on his spiritual sense to look at more than just the surface level of things.
As time went on, the movements of his hands became faster and faster, infusing more and more bursts of essence energy into the array at various points.
To someone observing from the side, it might seem like he was just randomly tapping away, but that could not be further from the truth. Each move he made could not be more intentional.
With his understanding of arrays, Zhao Yunxiao definitely understood the risks of carelessly tampering with an active array. Any wrong step could result in an energy backlash for the perpetrator – such was the defensive measure incorporated into most arrays.
Considering the level of the array that he was currently facing, receiving an energy backlash might just turn him to dust.
Therefore, just like how he had chosen not to directly challenge the array, he would not have dared to do this without a sufficiently high level of confidence.
It was only after he had repeatedly mentally reaffirmed his assessment of the array that he finally started to make his move. Each light tap he made might seem simple, but was actually the result of countless calculations in terms of the location, strength, time taken, time interval, as well as the amount of essence energy that had to be injected.
And then it happened.
Boom-!
Zhao Yunxiao widened his eyes in shock as a powerful burst of energy erupted from within the two verses. He barely managed to put up a defensive layer of energy in time as this burst of energy struck him directly from the front, sending him flying through the air.
Everything happened far too quickly.
Had he not been ready for something like this all along, it would have been impossible for him to even put up that defensive layer of energy. And even with that in place, he was still almost robbed of his consciousness from the sheer force of that hit.
It took all he had just to hang onto that last strand of consciousness, and thus had no way to control his body as he slammed into the ground like a ragdoll, followed by rolling another good few metres before finally coming to a stop.
Pu-!
Zhao Yunxiao spat out a mouthful of blood, enduring the pain all over his body as he slowly pushed himself up from the ground.
Looking up at the stone cave entrance ahead, he could not help but smile.
The jade-green mist that had blocked off the entire stone cave entrance was now starting to disperse. That said, it was fortunately floating upwards and somehow disappearing into the ceiling. Had it started spreading over to where he was, Zhao Yunxiao would have no idea what to do in response.
He had no idea what this jade-green mist was exactly, but he would not be surprised if it were some sort of dangerous material.
Then again, that was not important now.
The key thing was that he had succeeded in shutting down the array!
More so than having cleared the way to enter, Zhao Yunxiao was actually more thrilled at this result itself. After all, even though it was not in its complete state, this was still an ancient array set up by the Untethered Sage.
To be able to deactivate it was the best proof that his mastery of arrays had taken a huge leap forward!
That said, he had still failed to do this in a perfect manner, which was what resulted in a minor backlash when the array was deactivated.
One step forward, many more to go. There was still a ways to go if he wanted to aim for the pinnacle of arrays...
Regardless, Zhao Yunxiao had gained some major insights into ancient arrays this time, and resolved to spend some time digesting everything after returning to Purple Plum Mountain.
He had a feeling that after digesting everything that he had learnt here, his expertise in arrays would rise to the point of not only becoming second to none among the outer disciples, but also potentially being able to count among the better half when compared to inner disciples!
Zhao Yunxiao shook that thought out of his mind.
Plans for the future were good and all, but that was something to be left for later. For now, he had more important things to do.
With a flick of his wrists, the Penta-Edge Grimoire Halberd appeared in his hands. It was only after holding it in hand that Zhao Yunxiao felt a slightly greater sense of security.
Even though he was rather certain that he had already deactivated the array, one could not be too careful when it came to the unknown. Who knew if there was some additional trigger on the way in that could reactivate the array?
Furthermore, there was also another matter that had been bugging him ever since he entered this hidden space – what was with the overwhelming aura of corruption here?
Zhao Yunxiao naturally did not know for certain what techniques the Untethered Sage Jiang Taiming had at his disposal, but he had never heard of the latter being affiliated with the power of corruption. Speaking of the power of corruption, the first person who came to mind would instead be Soul Devil Luo Qin – the evil cultivator whom the Untethered Sage had famously gotten rid of in the ancient past.
Could it be that this place was not actually where the Untethered Sage had left his legacy, but the final resting place that he had set up for the Soul Devil?
No, that should not be the case. The timeline did not match.
According to the records, the basic techniques created by the Untethered Sage had begun spreading long before the start of the Soul Devil's rampage, and these manuals were what led him here.
This meant that this place could not have been created as the final resting place of the Soul Devil. It was more likely that, just like his earlier conclusion, the Untethered Sage had intended to leave his legacy here to be discovered by future generations.
But without the Soul Devil in the picture, what could possibly be the cause of this aura of corruption?
Did the Untethered Sage change his mind and decide to bury the Soul Devil here?
Or was the Soul Devil even truly dead? Could this have become a prison to hold him for eternity?
But if he was not dead, then why would the Untethered Sage spare his life? Why would the Untethered Sage keep him here – a place that future generations would eventually find after figuring out his clues?
Without knowing the answers to all these questions, Zhao Yunxiao simply dared not let down his guard!