Jiang Xu fled a great distance, his heart pounding in his chest.

’Something protected by a Tier Two Array has to be related to Foundation Establishment, right?’

Jiang Xu scanned the area with his Spiritual Eye Technique, released a Spirit-Devouring Insect to stand guard, and set up the Seven Extremes Array he had bought at the auction.

Only then did he take out the books the Spirit-Devouring Insect had retrieved and begin to examine them carefully.

There were two foundational books.

They were books that taught the most fundamental aspects of the Cultivation Path, such as meridians, the Dantian, and Magic Hand Gestures. They also contained cultivation experiences from seniors, starting from their time in the Qi Cultivation Stage all the way through the end of Foundation Establishment.

Of course, cultivation in Ancient Times was different from the present day, so many of the recorded experiences had discrepancies.

However, they still held great reference value for Jiang Xu.

It seemed this "Study" was likely a school for beginners on the Cultivation Path, one that specialized in teaching the clan’s children how to cultivate.

Because besides the cultivation experiences, there were also several books on the clan’s history.

They detailed the origin, development, and rise of this Ancient Cultivation Clan.

This clan was the Yan Clan, the Array Race.

The Yan Clan rose to prominence through arrays, eventually becoming a great clan renowned throughout the region.

However, this clan was ill-fated.

According to this book’s records, the clan experienced a great calamity.

During one Clan Leader’s reign, he fell in love with a woman from the Demon Race, and they eventually began a secret relationship.

Things remained peaceful for seventy or eighty years.

But secrets can’t be kept forever, and the truth will always find a way out.

Eventually, word of the Clan Leader’s love for the woman of the Demon Race reached the ears of the public.

Then, as now.

The Demon Race was a feared and dreaded existence.

Even if they did not cause direct harm, the very presence of the Demon Race would slowly corrupt humans.

Not to mention that at the time, the Human Race and the Demon Race were mortal enemies.

The outcome was predictable. The Elders forced the Clan Leader’s hand, demanding that he hand over the Witch.

But the Clan Leader refused, remaining resolute from beginning to end.

Seeing this, the Elders were out of options. They all believed the Witch had bewitched the Clan Leader, and that killing her would solve the problem.

So, one of them came up with a dirty trick. They lured the tiger from the mountain—the Clan Leader—and then everyone swarmed in and killed the Witch.

But no one had expected what came next. After the Witch’s death, not only did the Clan Leader fail to regain his sanity, he flew into a berserk rage. He beat several Elders to death on the spot and, in the end, suffered a cultivation deviation and fell into the Demon Dao. Carrying her corpse, he began to wreak havoc throughout the clan lands.

As the Clan Leader had already reached the realm of Nascent Soul Great Perfection, his Cultivation was profound and unfathomable. He beat the entire clan into disarray, leaving them unable to resist.

In the end, it was the previous Clan Leader, who had been in death-seclusion, who came out. He led the other Elders in setting up a Grand Array in the center of the clan lands, sealing the rogue Clan Leader inside and finally putting an end to the matter.

It was after this incident that the Yan Clan began its decline.

’This has a strong sense of déjà vu. Romeo and Juliet?’

’Speaking of which, is there reproductive isolation between the Human Race and the Demon Race? Can they even have children?’

Jiang Xu wasn’t particularly moved by the history of this Array Race.

In any case, it had all happened countless years ago. It had nothing to do with him.

’Wait, a seal? The center of the clan lands?’

Jiang Xu was startled. The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

’Isn’t the center of the clan lands the core area? If Master Su breaks the array in the core area, doesn’t that mean he’s going to break the seal?’

’If that seal is broken...’

If the Clan Leader had perished over the long course of years, that would be one thing.

But if he wasn’t dead—if he was still alive and well...

Then when he goes on a rampage...

Who could possibly stop him!

A Demon at the Nascent Soul Great Perfection stage.

Wasn’t this the kind of powerhouse who could kill you with a single glance?!

Jiang Xu hurriedly looked at the other books.

Unfortunately, they offered no more information on the matter.

The rest were just a few beginner-level books on arrays.

But even though they were for beginners, they contained detailed explanations of all arrays from Tier One to Tier Two.

Jiang Xu had only intended to skim through them.

He hadn’t expected to become so engrossed.

This Array Book was clearly prepared for children, just a few years old, who were starting on their Cultivation Path.

The content was incredibly simple and straightforward, and its introduction to arrays was exceptionally well-done.

According to the book, arrays were divided into thirteen main categories based on their function: Reconnaissance, Recording, Attack, Defense, Medical, Movement, Stealth, Illusion, Logistics, Storage, Communication, Contract, and Support.

The book had a lot to say about the fundamental nature of arrays, which Jiang Xu summarized as a type of energy conversion circuit.

In the science of his previous life,

the process of a battery discharging was the conversion of chemical energy into electrical energy.

A steam engine converted the internal energy of water into mechanical energy.

A generator converted mechanical energy into electrical energy.

And arrays, in turn, converted Spiritual Qi into various other forms of energy.

Different arrays used Spiritual Qi as fuel to manifest different effects, thereby producing a variety of phenomena.

Spirit Gathering Array, Killing Array, Trapping Array, Illusion Array, Illusion Array, Teleportation Array, Defense Array...

The book also mentioned something else.

Many of the Hundred Skills of Cultivation were derived from the Dao of arrays.

For example, the Talisman Dao and the Artifact Dao.

The book argued that the Runes of the Talisman Dao were a type of array, and by the same logic, so were the Artifact Patterns of the Artifact Dao.

The Divination Dao also required the use of arrays.

In the Puppet Dao, one also needed to inscribe combinations of different arrays onto Puppets and Warriors.

The Beast Taming Dao also required the use of arrays to form contracts with Spirit Beasts, which was the only way to make them submit.

These various assertions left Jiang Xu breathless with amazement.

However, after the introduction, when he was faced with the actual content, Jiang Xu was dumbfounded.

Even for beginner Tier One arrays, one needed to use Divine Sense for observation to achieve twice the results with half the effort.

But Divine Sense was something a Cultivator could only produce from their Sea of Consciousness after reaching Foundation Establishment, at which point it could be released from the body.

In the Qi Cultivation Stage, one only had Spiritual Sense, which could only be used to look inward and could not be released from the body.

Frustrated, Jiang Xu looked at a few Tier One arrays before sensibly giving up.

There was no other reason; the arrays were simply too difficult.

He couldn’t even understand the simplest of them.

In fact, forget the arrays themselves; just looking at the Array Patterns made his head spin.

Compared to this, the Talisman Dao was like a children’s primer next to a classical philosophical treatise.

’Divine Forging Technique?’

When Jiang Xu flipped to the very end of the Array Book, he was surprised to see a Cultivation Technique included.

After reading it through, Jiang Xu was utterly shocked.

It was an extremely rare Cultivation Technique that could strengthen one’s Divine Sense!

And because this Cultivation Technique was prepared for children, even Qi Cultivation Cultivators could practice it.

Although it couldn’t be used to directly cultivate Divine Sense during the Qi Cultivation Stage, it could greatly enhance a Cultivator’s Spiritual Power.

Moreover, the text stated that cultivating this technique was extremely helpful for condensing one’s Divine Sense when breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

In other words, this was a Cultivation Technique that could increase the success rate of one’s Foundation Establishment!