The chill of late autumn had deepened. Outside the valley, most plants and trees had withered to yellow, but within this Clear Stream Valley, thanks to the regulation of the “Minor Heavenly Cycle Water Rhythm Formation,” a moist and constant coolness was still maintained.

Su Ming stood at the eastern side of the valley floor.

This area was originally a stretch of rocky, uneven ground, but now it had been leveled by him, roughly half an acre in size.

Not a single spiritual herb was planted in this plot of land. Instead, it was densely planted with various types of Formation Flags, and the ground was crisscrossed with trenches, carved full of unclosed spiritual energy circuits.

This was Su Ming’s newly designated “Formation Field.”

Planting crops was to harvest grain; planting formations was to harvest experience.

“The water energy in the Kan position is too strong, causing the fire-attribute warning runes in the Li position to remain unstable.”

Su Ming squatted before a small earthen pit, his fingers dipping into a bit of soil and gently rubbing it. A fiery-red formation plate was buried at the bottom of the pit, currently flickering intermittently, emitting a series of grating, sizzling sounds.

“Water and fire failing to aid each other naturally makes it difficult to succeed.”

Lin Yu’s phantom figure floated to the side, idly teasing the water mist in the air with a withered stalk of grass as he spoke nonchalantly, “Disciple, your thinking is still too ‘rigid’. Trying to embed a fire-attribute warning system within the overarching environment of the Water Rhythm Formation is like trying to light a lamp in water. If you force it, it will definitely go out. You need to give it a cover.”

“A cover?” Su Ming pondered thoughtfully.

“An isolation layer.” Lin Yu pointed at that formation plate. “Use ‘wood’-attribute runes as an intermediary. Water generates wood, wood generates fire. Add a ‘Generation’ character rune in the outer circle to transform the oppressive water spiritual energy pressing in from the surroundings into gentle wood spiritual energy, then feed it to the core fire formation. This is called… ahem, this is called the ‘transformer’ principle.”

Su Ming’s eyes lit up.

He immediately took out his carving knife. Instead of directly working on that formation plate on the verge of collapse, he casually picked up a scrap piece of Sinking Star Wood and began carving with flying fingers.

Deep blue water spiritual energy condensed at his fingertips, transforming into extremely fine threads.

The ‘Generation’ character rune started with a rounded stroke and ended with a concealed edge.

A moment later, Su Ming gently embedded this carved wooden rune into the edge of the earthen pit.

*Hum—*

The originally wildly flickering fiery-red formation plate, the moment the wooden rune was embedded, seemed to be soothed by a gentle hand, its agitation calming down.

The surrounding water spiritual energy was no longer its enemy. After being filtered through the wooden rune, it transformed into wisps of green vitality, slowly infusing into the formation plate.

The red light stabilized, no longer glaring, but instead emitting a kind of reserved warmth.

“It’s done.”

Su Ming let out a long sigh of relief, then excitedly recorded in the jade slip in his hand:

“Compound Formation Experiment Record, Seventeenth Attempt: The mutual generation and restraint of the five elements is not absolute opposition; intermediate attributes can be used for ‘circulation’. Using wood as a bridge, water and fire can coexist. This method can significantly reduce the rejection reaction of foreign formations in a dominant environment.”

After writing this line, Su Ming raised his head and surveyed this half-acre “Formation Field.”

No fewer than ten types of small compound formations had already been deployed here.

Some were responsible for creating mist, some for simulating swamps, and others were simply spiritual energy traps.

“But this still isn’t enough.”

Su Ming put away the jade slip, his gaze shifting to the babbling stream at the valley entrance. “Right now, Clear Stream Valley is a hard turtle shell. But hiding inside the shell, I cannot hear the movements outside. If I only become aware when someone has already reached my doorstep, that would be far too passive.”

“So, you want to install surveillance?” Lin Yu raised an eyebrow.

“Surveillance?” Su Ming was no longer surprised by this term, automatically converting it in his mind to cultivation terminology. “Correct. This disciple intends to upgrade the ‘Minor Heavenly Cycle Water Rhythm Formation’ to add the abilities of ‘listening to the wind’ and ‘observing shadows’.”

…

Since he was going to modify it, he had to change it from the foundation.

Su Ming did not choose those expensive “recording stones” or “sensing plates” available on the market.

Those things had too strong spiritual energy fluctuations. Hanging them at the valley entrance would be like hanging a lantern, telling others “there’s a trap here.”

He chose to return to the most primitive runes.

The “True Meaning of Basic Rune Deconstruction” contained extremely obscure annotations on the ‘Resonate’ character rune and the ‘Shadow’ character rune.

‘Resonate’ was not perception through divine sense, but contact through energy aura.

‘Shadow’ was not an image of light, but a trace of spiritual wave fluctuations.

Su Ming walked barefoot into the icy stream water.

This stream originated from the back mountain, ran through the entire Clear Stream Valley, and finally flowed into the outer sect area. It was a natural spiritual energy conduit.

“Right here.”

Su Ming selected a pebble bed at the bottom of the stream. He took out a mica flake only the size of a fingernail, his expression reaching an extreme level of focus.

The divine sense of the sixth-stage Qi Refining realm allowed him to perform micro-carving on such a tiny carrier.

The ‘Resonate’ character rune was deconstructed by him into its simplest three strokes, corresponding to vibration, temperature, and spiritual pressure respectively.

The ‘Shadow’ character rune was simplified by him into a spiral pattern, used to record the frequency of spiritual energy fluctuations.

“Go.”

Su Ming flicked his finger, and this miniature rune stone flake silently slid into a crevice between two pebbles.

Immediately after, his hands formed a seal, and a thread of spiritual energy from the “Like Water Art” extended out, connecting this rune to the underground water veins.

One spot, two spots, ten spots…

For three full days.

Su Ming, like a tireless farmer, buried a total of one hundred and eight miniature nodes along the stream and the edges of the valley.

These one hundred and eight nodes, through the underground water vein network, converged onto a water mirror inside the cave dwelling.

Now, inside the meditation room of the cave dwelling.

Su Ming looked at the water mirror floating before him.

The mirror’s surface was calm and waveless, but as a flying bird skimmed over the stream at the valley entrance, an extremely fine ripple immediately rippled across the mirror’s surface.

The center of the ripple clearly displayed the location where the bird passed and its approximate size.

“Extremely weak spiritual energy fluctuation, mundane beast.” Su Ming judged.

Immediately after, Lin Yu controlled a wisp of soul power, simulating the spiritual pressure of a third-stage Qi Refining cultivator, and quietly touched a certain node on the western side of the valley.

*Hum.*

A red ripple instantly appeared on the water mirror. Although blurry, the outline of a humanoid figure was clearly discernible.

“Reaction speed is acceptable, but the imaging is too blurry.” Lin Yu commented. “Moreover, this system of yours has a fatal flaw.”

“What?”

“It’s too clean.” Lin Yu pointed at the locations where those nodes were buried. “If a cultivator proficient in detection techniques simply activates spiritual sight, your nodes buried in the stream water and soil will stand out like fireflies in the night. Although you’ve used methods from the ‘Aura Concealment Art’ to conceal them, if you encounter an expert, it’s still giving it away for free.”

Su Ming’s brow furrowed tightly.

This was indeed a problem.

To ensure the sensitivity of spiritual energy transmission, the nodes had to maintain a certain level of activity, and activity meant there were fluctuations.

Wanting the horse to run fast but also wanting it not to eat grass—difficult.

“Unless…” Su Ming’s gaze suddenly fell on the area beneath the sheer cliff on the northern side of the valley.

That was the place where, while opening the cave dwelling earlier, the remnant vein of “Sinking Star Iron” had been discovered.

Sinking Star Iron: cold in nature, heavy in quality, possessing a natural ability to block divine sense.

“Since it can’t be hidden, then let it become ‘chaotic’.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep