Chapter 1677 Witch Array Dao
For a year, Gerlane read books. Though she remained socially impaired externally, still struggling to communicate effectively with others, her comprehension ability was accumulating sufficiently — as long as she was near Sun Hao.
Her mother, Witch Wei Niya, at long last decided that Gerlane should begin learning genuine cultivation-related content.
Naturally, Gerlane had reached the Divine Transformation Stage and had touched upon many topics before, but much of that knowledge was superficial with an unsteady foundation. Therefore, Sun Hao’s next task was to guide Gerlane in thoroughly reviewing and mastering the fundamental cultivation methods she had previously practiced, consolidating her foundation once more.
In return, Sun Hao, after Gerlane completed a phase of learning, would gain the corresponding rights of a Guardian Knight during that stage and access to certain cultivation Secret Realms and small Dao Fields to aid his own cultivation.
Sun Hao felt deeply anticipatory about this. His cultivation in the Middle Void should soon be able to follow a proper path.
Accompanying Gerlane, Sun Hao began assisting her in comprehending the Witch Clan’s most fundamental secret techniques.
Upon truly encountering Middle Void cultivation, however, Sun Hao was greatly shocked.
The cultivation methods of the Middle Void, or perhaps specifically the Witch Clan’s cultivation methods, struck Sun Hao as inconceivable and beyond understanding.
As Gerlane began her review, Sun Hao learned that the blue, mysterious orbs held by the Witch Clan and the Warlock Clan were actually aggregated formations.
Had he not encountered the Witch Clan’s cultivation system, Sun Hao would never have imagined such an answer.
And the most powerful legacy within both the Witch and Warlock Clans turned out to be the Array Formation Legacy.
What Gerlane was studying were the most fundamental array formulas. In the Witch Clan’s cultivation, the Array Dao was the ultimate principle governing heaven and earth, embodying the world’s fundamental Laws and the very secrets of existence. It was also the path closest to the Immortal Dao.
Sun Hao studied alongside Gerlane, truly coming into contact with one of the Middle Void’s most potent legacies: the Array Formation Legacy.
The Witch Clan’s Array Dao was unquestionably far more advanced than that of the Lower Void’s Human Clan. Its cultivation methods and the evolution of array formulas were also much more rational.
Studying it, Sun Hao felt a sense of sudden enlightenment.
The Witch Clan’s texts formally categorized the Array Dao into aspects like Formation Nodes, Formation Lines, Formation Angles, Formation Surfaces, and even the Laws of Formations.
Array formulas were methods of cultivation based on combining and assembling these fundamental elements to continuously form new arrays.
The Witch Clan’s cultivation had intriguing parallels with the Human Clan’s Swordsmanship. When Witches built their foundation, they also refined something akin to a Sword Pill — the Array Pill. That is, cultivators, based on their understanding of the Array Dao, condensed and formed unique array formulas reflecting their personal insights. These were condensed into the Array Pill, ultimately taking the shape of a blue orb that melded into the cultivator’s Dantian.
As the cultivator’s cultivation level increased, the Array Pill gradually grew stronger and larger, becoming the blue orb carried by Witches, possessing many miraculous uses.
Had he not encountered the Witch Clan’s cultivation theory, Sun Hao would have found it very hard to believe that the mysterious orbs in Witches’ hands were aggregated formations, for he could detect no traces of formations on the orbs themselves.
Sun Hao, who had always been supremely confident in his Array Dao prowess, felt keenly aware of his severe shortcomings after exposure to the Witch Clan’s Array Formation Legacy. He began immersing himself deeply in the study of the Array Dao alongside Gerlane.
At this time, Sun Hao also experienced once more the wondrous benefits of the First-grade Purple-Gold Belt hidden upon him.
The Knight Guardian Contract, empowered by the First-grade Purple-Gold Belt, could actually establish an effective communication channel between Gerlane’s and Sun Hao’s insights into the Array Dao, giving them a supernatural connection remarkably similar to the Mind-Reading Insight.
Gerlane’s innate aptitude for the Array Dao, inherent to the Witch Clan, traveled through the First-grade Purple-Gold Belt to Sun Hao. Simultaneously, Sun Hao’s novel insights regarding the Array Dao were transmitted back to Gerlane.
Gerlane had originally been highly resistant and averse to reviewing the fundamentals of the Array Dao. But sensing Sun Hao’s eager thirst for Array Dao knowledge, a subtle change occurred in her mindset.
After entering the Inheritance Ground and discovering that her understanding of the Array Dao faced no obstacles at all — feeling, in fact, exceedingly effortless — she was immediately overcome by a powerful desire to learn.
A small Blue Orb gleamed in her hand. Enthusiastically, Gerlane began studying basic Array Dao while simultaneously researching her own Array Pill.
The Array Pill in Gerlane’s possession was of extremely high grade, personally refined and implanted into her body by her father.
It provided her with an immensely potent cultivation foundation. Sadly, she had only ever possessed a superficial grasp of the Array Dao in the past, resulting in severely underdeveloped utilization of the Array Pill — less than ten percent of a gold mountain unearthed.
Now, accompanied by Sun Hao, the two returned to the Array Formation Legacy journey, and it was a completely different story.
Gerlane herself no longer suffered comprehension barriers. Sun Hao possessed a solid foundation in the Array Dao himself. Once exposed to the Witch Clan’s Array Formation Legacy, his proficiency in the Array Dao also advanced by leaps and bounds.
Add to that their concerted efforts, mental connection, and complete absence of selfish thoughts, Gerlane’s mastery of the Array Dao progressed a thousand leagues a day through this cultivation.
The two began learning from the lowest level of fundamental Array Dao knowledge. Riding a wave of breakthroughs, they mastered fundamental array formulas, minor formation array formulas, grand formation array formulas, spirit formation array formulas...
The Blue Orb in Gerlane’s hand began transforming mysteriously as they progressed through the Sacred Mountain of the Array Formation Legacy. Its color became more dazzling and profound, its size steadily growing larger.
The tiering of Middle Void arrays, especially the Witch Clan's system, differed somewhat from the Array Dao Sun Hao had encountered before, but overall, it was more scientific.
Fundamental Array Dao encompassed the fundamental arrays, first-level arrays, and related array formulas Sun Hao had learned before.
Minor Arrays covered three array levels: the second, third, and fourth levels. Major Arrays specifically referred to fifth and sixth-level arrays.
Beyond Major Arrays came three exceptionally high levels, exceedingly rare even in the Witch Clan: the Spirit Array, Restrictions, and Immortal Restrictions.
Sun Hao and Gerlane surged triumphantly forward through the Witch Clan’s Array Formation Sacred Land, yet their journey was long. Unnoticed by them, a hundred years had passed as they steadfastly supported each other within the Inheritance Ground.
After they mastered all Major Arrays within the Inheritance Ground, the spirit formation array formulas that emerged before them exhibited a strange transformation. These were no longer knowledge transmitted through books, but transmuted into labyrinthine, light-dense, secret grounds of array inheritance.
These were the Spirit Arrays.
Spirit Arrays, imbued with sentience or consciousness, were difficult to document accurately in books and texts. The sole method to master them was to pass their trial through comprehension.
In truth, Gerlane’s progress up to this point had stunned both lower and higher echelons of the Witch Clan.
Truly, it was beyond expectation. Once Gerlane regained her comprehension ability, once she understood how to learn, she could be this monstrous.
The Witch Clan was a race passionate about the Array Formation Legacy. Within the Witch Clan, comprehension ability for the Array Dao was ranked into numerous tiers.
The most common tier was the Sub-Level Comprehension.
Sub-Level Comprehension meant cultivators could comprehend array principles one level below their current cultivation stage relatively well. This was the most ordinary level of aptitude.
Witches with comprehension worse than this found it extremely difficult to tread the pure Witch Clan cultivation path. Previously, had it not been for her exceptional birthright, Gerlane would have been one who could never hope to embark on this path. Had her father not forcefully implanted her Array Pill into her, she might well have succumbed long ago to the exhaustion of her Lifespan Vitality.
Superior to this was Same-Level Comprehension — the ability to grasp array formulas matching one’s own cultivation stage. This denoted petite geniuses, whose cultivation often yielded twice the result with half the effort.
Beyond Same-Level stood the Superior-Level Comprehension.
Take Gerlane. Her cultivation level was only the Divine Transformation Stage, yet she had comprehended sixth-level array formulas, and only in a hundred years? That was downright terrifying.
This defined a grand genius.
Moreover, sixth-level array formulas seemed not Gerlane’s limit.
Before the Spirit Array inheritance site, Sun Hao and Gerlane rubbed their hands in anticipation, preparing to enter and grasp its secrets.
If Gerlane could truly comprehend Spirit Array formulas, even just a portion, she would defy simple labels like demon or genius. It must be understood that Major Arrays and Spirit Arrays were entirely distinct concepts; the significance they represented spanned an Abyssal Chasm.
No wonder the Emperor had insisted so forcibly on guiding Gerlane into the cultivation path back then. So this was it. Once Gerlane could comprehend normally, she was this terrifying. Fighting through level after level, they had already breached the scope of sixth-level Major Arrays. By common sense within the Witch Clan, this meant Gerlane’s future advancement to the Divine Separation Stage was an absolute certainty.