Chapter 0281 Maintaining the Great Array

Chapter 0281 Maintaining the Great Array

Meng Feiling quickly changed into fresh clothes and led Qin Yun out of the small building. As soon as they went outside, they saw Meng Tao flying over.

"Your Highness, some demon beasts have come, but there aren't many. Just a few ninth-order Demon Beasts!" Meng Tao said. "We can deal with them without much trouble."

Qin Yun had guessed this would happen. It hadn't even been a full day before the demon beasts attacked.

"These demon beasts are just scouting! It seems that Xia Yusen and his group are indeed the traitors!" Qin Yun sneered coldly. "When demon beasts attack the city, the first thing they do is send Runes Masters to the core of the great array. This makes it easier for them to tamper with it!"

Meng Tao nodded. Even though Xia Yusen and his group had been captured, the thought of it was still terrifying.

"Elder Meng, I’m heading to the core of the great array now. A large horde of demon beasts could show up within the next few days. The Grand Elder of the Runes Hall likely won’t arrive that soon. Until he does, it’s most important that we defend the city!" Qin Yun said.

"Got it, we’ll take care of things outside!" Meng Tao nodded and said to Meng Feiling, "Feiling, go with him to keep him company."

"Yes!" Meng Feiling smiled and then pulled Qin Yun toward a large mountain in the middle of the royal estate.

Qin Yun followed Meng Feiling into a cave, and through a passage inside the cave, they reached a spacious stone chamber on the ground.

The circular stone chamber, spanning over 200 meters across, featured intricate patterns made from special crystals on the floor.

In the center, there was a large chest used to hold crystal coins.

Under normal conditions, the array absorbed spiritual energy from underground springs and converted it into power to sustain itself.

If the barrier was hit by a powerful attack, the array drew energy from the crystals in the chest to reinforce it.

The taxes collected in Zhenyao King City were mainly used to maintain the array's operation.

"As long as these great arrays aren't damaged, they don't require much effort to maintain," Qin Yun said seriously as he observed the array. "One thing to watch out for is that the array must not experience energy blockages while running. If there's a blockage, it needs to be cleared immediately, or it will cause problems for the entire array."

"Is there a problem with this array now? Even though Xia Yusen and his group were here for days, we never allowed them access to this area," Meng Feiling said.

"Thankfully, you kept them out, or things could have gotten dangerous by now!" Qin Yun also breathed a sigh of relief. "If they had tampered with something, it might not have been noticeable for a while."

"Who exactly sent them? Are they working with the Beastmen? It feels like they aren't capable enough to do this on their own. There must be a powerful force behind them!" Meng Feiling was full of doubts. "The scariest part is that they could collaborate with the Beastmen!"

Qin Yun had often thought about this issue as well. He furrowed his brow and sighed deeply. "I don't know either, which makes this very important. If there are many more people like Xia Yusen infiltrating a city, it would be terrifying!"

"We'll have to wait for the Grand Elder of the Runes Hall to come and interrogate Xia Yusen and his group. They should have ways to extract some information," Meng Feiling said, following behind Qin Yun.

As Qin Yun moved, he released his mental energy to check for any blockages. Detecting and resolving them early would prevent damage to the array.

After more than an hour, Qin Yun didn't find any major issues, just some minor problems where the spiritual patterns intersected, causing the energy to become chaotic. After sorting it out, the energy flowed smoothly.

"There's nothing wrong for now! I'll pay more attention when the array is running," Qin Yun smiled and sat on a stone chair by the side of the stone chamber.

Meng Feiling took out her superior spiritual weapon whip, pouted, and said, "Little Yun, even if demon beasts come, I have to stay here with you and can't go out to fight them. I really want to try this whip!"

"Don’t worry, there’ll be plenty of chances later!" Qin Yun smiled. "By the way, try not to tell everyone I’m a senior Runes Master."

"Don't worry, I won't say anything," Meng Feiling smiled charmingly. "Little Yun, are you worried that too many people will ask you to help refine weapons?"

"Don't worry, I’ll help your Meng family refine some spiritual weapons when I have time." Qin Yun said.

"We don't need superior spiritual weapons; mid-grade ones are enough. When the time comes, our Meng family won’t mistreat you. We’ll use Beast Crystal Eggs as compensation!" Meng Feiling said with a grin, gently touching Qin Yun's cheek.

Qin Yun looked around and thought the environment here was quite nice. He said, "Feiling, should I refine weapons here? Can you decide what spiritual weapons your Meng family needs?"

Meng Feiling quickly nodded. "Of course! Besides, no matter what type of magic weapon you make, the elders will gladly accept it. In these chaotic times, Rune Masters are even more sought after."

Before Qin Yun could refine any weapons, he needed to create a furnace for himself.

Whenever he had the opportunity, he would collect materials for weapon refinement, such as beast bones and spirit iron. Therefore, his collection of materials was quite rich, allowing him to refine many magic weapons.

Especially bones from eighth and ninth-grade Demon Beasts were the most abundant, and these bones could be used to refine mid-to-upper-grade magic weapons without adding Bone Steel. The quality would just be slightly inferior, and Bone Steel wouldn't be necessary unless pursuing perfection.

Qin Yun mixed the remaining amount of top-grade Bone Steel with a small amount of Imperial Bone Steel and a large number of beast bones to forge a furnace.

The most important aspect of a furnace is its ability to withstand high temperatures, so it needed Alchemical Runes carved inside.

With Alchemical Runes, it could withstand extremely high temperatures without melting.

In addition to the Alchemical Runes, a good furnace also required strong smelting power to quickly absorb and enhance the flames, melting anything placed inside rapidly.

Besides the Alchemical Runes, it also needed Fire Runes.

To ensure stability, Qin Yun also carved Solidification Runes. Of course, the main focus was the Alchemical Runes, and he carved three sets to guarantee sufficiently strong smelting ability.

Meng Feiling watched beside him, not finding it boring at all. As she asked questions, Qin Yun patiently answered them, which helped broaden her knowledge.

"Finally, this big thing is done!" Qin Yun knocked on the bronze-colored furnace, producing a "clang, clang, clang" sound.

Meng Feiling wiped the sweat from his face and smiled. "Little Yun, the magic weapons you make are all valuable, right? You just casually refine them. If you sold them, you could become incredibly rich!"

"My magic weapons can't be sold casually. If I sold them to my enemies, wouldn’t I be helping them?" Qin Yun chuckled. "So, I only sell to people I know."

The furnace Qin Yun refined looked very simple, without any elaborate carvings. It was just a tall, large cylindrical object with a lid, not appearing like a top-grade magic weapon at all.

"Since I have nothing else to do, I'll start refining mid-grade magic weapons!" Qin Yun took out many beast bones, throwing them into the furnace, and then added a certain amount of mid-grade Bone Steel.

This new furnace had an extremely fast smelting speed. After absorbing the Mingyang Purple Flame, it took only a few dozen seconds to melt the mid-grade Bone Steel and eighth-grade Demon Beast bones.

Qin Yun took out a Bone Steel bucket, extracted the molten liquid from inside the furnace, and then added some special ice crystal powder to solidify the liquid inside the bucket.

Once solidified, it became an incredibly hard material. After Qin Yun's forging, it turned into very exquisite swords and knives.

Qin Yun could refine a mid-grade magic weapon in two hours. Over two days, he refined six mid-grade magic weapons, including swords, knives, and spears.

Meng Feiling was very happy, grabbing these weapons and hurriedly leaving the underground stone chamber.

"If I reach the ninth level of the Martial Body stage, maybe I'll be able to refine top-grade magic weapons!" Qin Yun felt that his mental energy had also reached a plateau.

Of course, his biggest challenge was not knowing how to step into the Martial Dao stage.

This stage was extremely difficult, requiring one to reach the peak of the ninth level of the Martial Body stage and then encounter a key opportunity to break through.

Qin Yun wasn't very familiar with the Martial Dao stage. In fact, in this remote region, not many people understood it.

Only the Blue Spirit Star Palace knew the key to entering the Martial Dao stage.

"The cultivation of the Martial Dao stage is the opposite of the Martial Body stage," Qin Yun muttered to himself, recalling what Lan Fengjin had told him.

To enter the Martial Dao stage from the ninth level of the Martial Body stage, one needed to refine the Diamond Inner Pellet into a Diamond Dao Pellet.

With the Diamond Dao Pellet and a strong Diamond Martial Body, one could bear powerful Martial Dao strength.

The Martial Body stage began by drawing energy into the body, refining the Diamond Martial Body, and finally condensing a pellet within the body.

In contrast, the Martial Dao stage involves first condensing the Diamond Dao Pearl, cultivating Martial Dao energy, and then tempering the Dao Body.

Qin Yun looked at his three Diamond Inner Pearls, shook his head, and stopped thinking about breaking through. He had only just stepped into the ninth level of the Martial Body stage, and if he were too eager to think about the Martial Dao stage, he might risk going astray in his cultivation.

"I still have almost a year left, so I'll worry about it when the time comes! If I can't break through, with the power of my three Diamond Inner Pearls, I should still be able to face off against Xiao Yanglong!"

Recalling the matter with the Beastmen, Qin Yun remembered that he had initially intended to have Mo Mo meet the Beastmen to see if she had any insights about them.

Now with Demon Beasts outside the city, he needed to guard the grand array, ensuring it ran smoothly, and couldn't leave for a single step.

As he waited for Meng Feiling to come back, he took out his tools and began crafting Immobilization Talismans.

The Demon Suppressing King City was vast, and if the Demon Beasts attacked, they would undoubtedly deploy a large number of them. So Qin Yun started preparing Immobilization Talismans ahead of time.