Chapter 500 - 253: The Flaying Punishment

Because his cultivation had broken through to Foundation Establishment, Liou Yuan now found that practicing C-level Skills was no longer as taxing as it had been in the Qi Cultivation Realm.

After studying the Cloud Concealment Skill overnight, he had already grasped seventy to eighty percent of its essence.

Concerned with the matter of array arrangement that Ya Kuan had mentioned during the day, Liou Yuan did not immediately go into seclusion. He waited until the first light of dawn shone across the surface of Profound Lake before opening the door of his cave residence.

Just past the hour of the rabbit, Ya Kuan arrived, descending outside Liou Yuan’s Little Five Elements Array.

Liou Yuan straightened his clothes and followed Ya Kuan away.

The two of them landed before a cave residence surrounded by an abundance of spirit medicine.

At the center of the medicine field, a fist-sized spiritual spring was bubbling forth, surrounded by seven lotus-leaf-shaped spirit medicines unfurling petals of intertwined gold and red.

Whenever a breeze passed by, starlight would shimmer and burst from the lotus hearts.

By the eastern cliff of the cave residence, amidst the hanging silver threads of vines, clusters of pigeon-egg-sized Red Sun Fruits could be seen.

With just one glance, Liou Yuan understood why Ya Kuan had come specifically to have him arrange an array here.

Defending the cave mansion was secondary; the true purpose of the array was likely to protect these few stalks of spirit medicine.

Although Liou Yuan was not versed in the Alchemy Dao, he could tell at a glance that these spirit medicines were of no low quality—all were Foundation Establishment grade.

With a deep rumble—seemingly sensing the arrival of Liou Yuan and Ya Kuan—the main gate of the cave mansion swung open, and a female cultivator stepped out, her gait light and graceful.

Her long hair cascaded like an inky waterfall, casually tied with a few strands of silver, and among the hanging tresses, flecks of fluorite sparkled, casting a soft, dim glow with her every movement.

"Greetings, Uncle Ancestor!"

The female cultivator first bowed to Ya Kuan and addressed him as Uncle Ancestor, then turned to Liou Yuan, who stood behind Ya Kuan, and smiled softly, saying, "This must be Junior Liou Yuan. I’ve long heard of you—glad to finally meet you."

"A pleasure, truly!" Liou Yuan returned the greeting with a smile as well.

"This is my grandniece, Ya Miaoyun." Ya Kuan cheerfully introduced Liou Yuan and Ya Miaoyun to one another.

Liou Yuan, however, had already used his Evil Eyes to secretly size her up from the moment she exited the cave residence.

Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, sixth-grade Qi Mansion.

"Judging by the condition in front of her cave, she must be well versed in the Alchemy Dao."

As expected, Ya Kuan’s very next sentence praised his grandniece’s extraordinary talent in alchemy—so talented that at her young age she was already a Foundation Establishment Pill Master.

The old man was chatty in front of the younger generation, while both Liou Yuan and Ya Miaoyun were focused on the array matters instead.

As Ya Kuan rambled on, Ya Miaoyun had already begun sending voice transmissions, discussing the arrangement of the arrays with Liou Yuan.

After speaking for a long while and seeing that neither paid him any heed, the old man’s usually severe face momentarily revealed a rare trace of awkwardness, so he simply fell silent.

At last, Liou Yuan and Ya Miaoyun settled on an array called the Xuan Guang Spiritual Protection Array.

It was the defense array among the five major Foundation Establishment Early Stage Arrays recorded in the Five Elements Birth and Destruction Array Derivation.

Not only did it possess defensive abilities, but when auspicious stars shone bright, it could fully absorb Star Spiritual Power and lock it within the array, thus nourishing the spirit medicine in the spirit field.

This spared cultivators from having to use their own spiritual power to nurture the spirit medicine during the ascent of evil stars.

Hearing this, Ya Miaoyun’s eyes lit up; she immediately agreed to use the Xuan Guang Spiritual Protection Array.

Liou Yuan was not one to dawdle; after circling around Ya Miaoyun’s cave, he immediately set to work arranging the array.

Seeing that neither paid him any further attention, Ya Kuan wisely excused himself.

Aside from the Little Five Elements Array, this was Liou Yuan’s first time formally arranging a Foundation Establishment-level array.

He was especially cautious, deliberating repeatedly over the inscribing of the array disc, the array patterns, and the choice of array nodes.

It took five whole days before the Xuan Guang Spiritual Protection Array was finally completed.

At the moment the array was activated, a brilliant barrier rose up and completely covered the cave residence and the medicine field before it.

It began to autonomously absorb spiritual qi from the Inner Sect, nurturing the spirit medicine in the spirit field—a sight that made Ya Miaoyun’s eyes shine brightly.

To further ensure the growth of the spirit medicine, Liou Yuan also made use of the spiritual spring at the center of the field to set up an additional Spirit Wood Profound Void Array at the peak of Qi Cultivation.

Upon stepping into the array, Ya Miaoyun could clearly sense the spiritual qi swirling around the spirit medicines had become even denser under the superimposed effects of the two arrays.

Ya Miaoyun was quite pleased; before leaving, she added another twenty merit points to the originally agreed one hundred merit points.

Liou Yuan accepted them without standing on ceremony, regarding them as payment for the extra Spirit Wood Profound Void Array.

Ya Miaoyun even stated before departing that if Liou Yuan ever needed to refine elixirs in future, she would offer him a friendship price.

In this way, Liou Yuan smoothly established a connection with a Foundation Establishment Pill Master.

A cultivator’s energy is limited—even though Liou Yuan had reached Foundation Establishment, there was no way he could master many other skills beyond arrays.

Being on good terms with cultivators in arts beyond arrays brought him nothing but benefit.

"One does not need to learn everything; mastering just one path is enough."

With this thought in mind, Liou Yuan collected his reward, took his leave from Ya Miaoyun, and returned to his cave to continue delving into the Cloud Concealment Skill.

By the fifth day of Liou Yuan’s seclusion, he could already summon a cloud mist to conceal his entire figure, hiding all traces of his cultivation aura.

But this was still not enough; concealing his aura was merely the first step in the Cloud Concealment Skill.

To act incognito in the Linlang Domain without revealing his identity, he had to master the second step—using the Cloud Mist Robe to alter his aura.

Thus, Liou Yuan buried himself even deeper in practicing the Cloud Concealment Skill. Half a month later, as the mist surrounding him contracted,

a gauzy, veil-like robe of mist wrapped around his entire body.

It not only concealed Liou Yuan’s Foundation Establishment aura, but also completely masked all signs of his living presence.