Sage of Humanity

Just as Lu Ye imprinted the glowing light onto his own forehead, the Hundred Arrays Pagoda in the valley suddenly buzzed and shook, followed by an invisible force sweeping in all directions, enveloping the entire valley.

The cultivator responsible for guarding the Hundred Arrays Pagoda sensed it first thing and quickly reported it; soon, a group of high-ranking members of the Tianyan Sect rushed to the site under the leadership of Sect Master Yooi Xiao to investigate.

The Great Elder Bai Qian also returned.

The news quickly leaked, and many disciples of the Tianyan Sect learned of the anomaly in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, rushing over one after another. However, without Yooi Xiao's command, they all stopped outside the valley, watching from afar.

The Hundred Arrays Pagoda resonated!

Such an event was rare, but not unheard of; it generally happened once every few years, so the disciples of the Tianyan Sect were not unfamiliar with this phenomenon.

There was only one reason for this to occur.

That was someone challenging the Hundred Arrays Pagoda and achieving excellent results! The specific criteria for those results had been speculated by the Tianyan Sect to be worthy of a place on the leaderboard. Unfortunately, the pagoda itself was not complete, and the leaderboard couldn't display this, so no one could confirm whether it was true or not.

But considering that such resonance only occurred every few years, it was clear that not many people could achieve it. From all over the Nine Provinces, nearly every array cultivator in the Haotian Alliance would come to challenge the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, with some even attempting it more than once. The annual tallies came to no fewer than eight hundred to a thousand often.

This showed how difficult it was to incite resonance in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda.

The reason resonance occurred was because the benefits obtained by the one challenging the tower were too significant, stirring the Heaven's Augury to respond.

The buzzing and tremors it caused provided profound enlightenment for array cultivators, so whenever the Hundred Arrays Pagoda resonated, it was a time of celebration for the Tianyan Sect disciples.

They could meditate and cultivate in this valley, deepening their understanding of the Array Path, thereby enhancing their mastery.

To array cultivators, a treasure like the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was a Sacred Land in their hearts. The reason why the Tianyan Sect did not keep it solely for themselves was twofold: first, it allowed them to build their own networks, and secondly, if someone caused the pagoda to resonate, their own disciples could also benefit from it. The person challenging the pagoda would get the meat, but the disciples were content to sip the soup.

At this moment, outside the valley, many Tianyan Sect disciples gathered, discussing fervently.

Today, the valley where the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was located had been suddenly sealed off, and no one knew why, yet precisely today, the pagoda had resonated, which inevitably led to much speculation.

"Could it be Senior Sister Ling Yun challenging the pagoda? I heard a few days ago that Senior Sister Ling Yun made a breakthrough in the Array Path and was preparing to challenge the Hundred Arrays Pagoda for the third time."

"Senior Sister Ling Yun is over there," someone pointed in a direction, and the person who had spoken earlier immediately saw a beautiful female cultivator, who was indeed the woman called Ling Yun.

"If it wasn't Senior Sister Ling Yun, could it be Senior Brother Ji Ye?"

"Are you blind? Senior Brother Ji Ye is standing right next to Senior Sister Ling Yun," someone retorted.

"Err, then who is challenging the pagoda? Within our sect, only these two are qualified to trigger a resonance in the Hundred Arrays Pagoda."

"It may not be someone from our own sect. The Hundred Arrays Pagoda was suddenly sealed off today; perhaps some important figure from outside the sect has arrived. To be treated with such seriousness by our sect, the identity of the guest must be extraordinary, quite possibly someone from a 1st grade sect family."

"Nonsense, we've had our share of 1st graders here, and not once have they caused the Hundred Arrays Pagoda to be sealed off."

"That's true as well..."

The disciples discussed amongst themselves, unable to figure it out.

In front of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, Yooi Xiao and Bai Qian stood shoulder to shoulder, looking at the first floor of the pagoda.

"Did Veteran Bai not tell him to measure his strength before proceeding?" Yooi Xiao said, somewhat exasperated.

Bai Qian's wrinkled face looked as sour as a bitter melon, full of worry, "How could I not have said anything? I specifically reminded him before he went in. Who knew what this kid was up to, triggering a resonance on the first level; it looks like he's going all out."

"In Veteran Bai's view, how many levels can he break through this time?" Yooi Xiao asked again.

"It's hard to say, you know the rules of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda. The better his performance, the greater the enhancement to his own Array Path. If it's just the ability he has shown before, breaking through about a dozen levels should be about right. But, if he gets enough benefits inside, it's not impossible for him to go a few levels further."

"This is a bit troublesome."

"Now I just hope he can sense the dangers of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, curtail his eagerness, and not be blinded by the immediate benefits; otherwise, we'll have a hard time explaining it to the Righteous Blood Sect."

If Bai Qian could send a message, he would definitely urge Lu Ye to be cautious in the next stages, but the Hundred Arrays Pagoda isolated the inside from the outside and had its own realm, making it impossible for messages to get through.

An elder of the sect approached, bowed, and said, "Sect Master, Great Elder, the disciples are all waiting. Should we let them in?"

Yooi Xiao turned back to look, saw the disciples of his own sect eagerly awaiting outside the valley, and after a moment's thought, said, "Let them all in."

A resonance event that only happened every few years was also a time for the disciples to enhance their Array Path mastery; they should not be sent away disappointed.

Moments later, all the disciples of the Tianyan Sect had gathered, each finding a spot in the valley to sit cross-legged as they felt the mysteries of the universe with every tremor of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda.

Inside the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, Lu Ye was currently assimilating the vast amount of complex information that had flooded into his mind. Since this was only the first level, the benefits he received were substantial, yet the information given was basically the most fundamental of array knowledge.

To other array cultivators, these benefits might not seem so precious, for every array cultivator would have a good instructor to lay the foundation.

But Lu Ye was different. His studies under Madam Yun revolved around the Path of Spirit Runes. Even though the Array Path was a branch of spirit runes with many overlaps, there were also differences. He had started self-studying the Array Path after leaving the Righteous Blood Sect and could be said to have become accomplished through self-study.

Thus, his foundation in the Array Path wasn't particularly solid—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a castle in the sky. He had his own strengths in the Array Path, such as the Insight Spirit Runes, but he also had many areas of deficiency.

The rewards from this first level were exactly what he needed.

The information surged in his mind as Lu Ye quickly digested it, verifying his own knowledge and filling in any gaps, gradually solidifying the foundation of his Array Path.

Although his head felt uncomfortably swollen, his heart was filled with joy. Even if there were no further benefits from continuing through the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, this experience alone made the journey worthwhile.

The time one could stay on each level of the Hundred Arrays Pagoda was limited. If one did not progress to the next level within a certain time limit, they would be expelled by the pagoda.

As cultivators challenged the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, they not only had to assimilate the various benefits bestowed by the pagoda to enhance their Array Path skills but also figure out how to restore their spirit force.

Therefore, how to make the best use of one's time within these limits is a matter of great importance.

Lu Ye had his own advantages in challenging the Hundred Arrays Pagoda, as he didn't need extra time to restore his own spirit force. With the Spirit Energy Gathering Spirit Runes set up, the almost mist-like spiritual energy in the room continuously poured into his spiritual orifice, allowing him to fully digest the benefits.

As time passed, the feeling of fullness in Lu Ye's mind gradually subsided—a sign that he had assimilated the benefits bestowed by the Hundred Arrays Pagoda.

After an indeterminate amount of time, Lu Ye opened his eyes, his expression thoughtful.

The benefits he gained this time were not esoteric; they were basic and easy-to-understand principles of the Array Path. Thus, they were not difficult to assimilate, although there was a sheer volume of information to process.

With this gain alone, Lu Ye felt that his skills in the Array Path could ascend by half a level.

The Hundred Arrays Pagoda truly lived up to its reputation.

His spirit was slightly fatigued, but it was nothing serious. Lu Ye looked around; the room still maintained that almost mist-like spiritual energy, unchanged from before, as if the energy here was inexhaustible.

However, this was because he had performed exceptionally well on the first level. If he hadn't passed so many challenges, the spiritual energy here wouldn't have been so dense.

The spirit force inside him that was nearly depleted was now full again.

There was still time. He wasn't in a hurry to challenge the next level. It would be a waste not to take advantage of such a rich cultivation environment.

Only one spiritual orifice away from reaching Level 9, Lu Ye immediately activated his spirit force and charged at the barrier of the spiritual orifice.

In just a moment, the barrier of the spiritual orifice broke, and a gentle flow of spirit force entered the new orifice.

Lu Ye stimulated his spirit force, linking the orifices opened after reaching Level 8 and forming a new Minor Circumambulation cycle within his body. Continue your adventure with My Virtual Library Empire

Level 9 achieved!

In the past, his advancement to each level never took more than two months, but this time, climbing from Level 8 to Level 9 had taken him nearly four months.

Mostly because recently he had dedicated a lot of thought and energy to the Array Path, leading to a slower pace in opening his orifices. However, considering what he planned to do later, this was ultimately worthwhile.

Looking back to his early days in the Evil Moon Valley mines, matching wits with Manager Yang and stepping onto the path of cultivation—it had been almost one and a half years in a flash.

To have raised his cultivation to Level 9 in less than a year and a half was a rapid pace, surpassing ninety percent of the cultivators in the Nine Provinces. Only those geniuses hailing from the 1st grade sects could perhaps achieve such a speed of cultivation.

With time to spare, Lu Ye continued to cultivate. The newly broken-through orifice became full within a mere half an hour.

Mainly because the cultivation environment here was too good. Comparatively, the spiritual energy of the world here was many times denser than that at the Righteous Blood Sect's station.

If the station of the Righteous Blood Sect had such an environment for cultivation, then the disciples' cultivations would certainly grow rapidly. But clearly, that was impossible. Even within the Spirit Stream battlefield, no station had such dense nature's spiritual energy—not even those of the core circle sects.

Lu Ye stimulated his spirit force again, charging toward the barrier of the next orifice.

Ever since obtaining the Great Sun Glazed Glass Method from the Heaven's Augury treasure vault, Lu Ye had put some effort into studying it and knew the subsequent orifice locations. As long as his body's spirit force was sufficiently full, opening them would not be difficult.

However, if he wanted to switch to cultivating this Heaven Rank technique, he would need to open up to 240 orifices first.

This was the same principle as when he switched from the Golden Cicada Carefree Method to the Red Lotus Soaring to Sky Technique.