My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

After the incident with Wen Yang, Wang Ping no longer valued his cooperation with Yue Ziyu as much as before.

There were two reasons for this. First, without Wen Yang to act as a counterbalance, any problem with either of them would be fatal. Second, Yue Ziyu was from Lishui Prefecture, after all.

However, Wang Ping wouldn't refuse to have someone like him in Shangjing City to gather information.

He immediately wrote a letter and had Yu Lian deliver it to Liu Shuang, instructing her to receive Yue Ziyu's disciple. Then, he focused on controlling the Golden Armored Puppet to investigate the situation beneath Moon Mountain.

On the western side of Moon Mountain, in an area perpetually cast in shadow, a Golden Armored Puppet landed. After surveying the area with its dull gray eyes, it darted into a patch of grass. Behind the grass was a cool, shaded creek, the mere sight of which gave off a feeling of icy coldness.

As the puppet stood by the creek, a portion of Wang Ping's Primordial Spirit Consciousness descended upon it. He controlled the puppet to form a spell. As Wood Spirit Qi spread, a nearby vine wrapped around the puppet. Simultaneously, the ground churned and writhed under the vine's movement, dragging the puppet underground.

Just as Wang Ping had expected, the soil by the creek was exceptionally loose. In just a few moments, the puppet reached the end of the creek and plunged into the mountain's interior.

Although Wood Spirit Techniques could suppress Earth Veins, they weren't as efficient for burrowing as Earth Vein Techniques. It took Wang Ping a quarter of an hour to reach the Dark River beneath Moon Mountain. The Water Spirit Aura and Taiyin Aura were dense here, and he would have to use Water Spirit Qi to set up his Wood Spirit Techniques and Secret Techniques.

Moreover, the tributaries of the underground Dark River here were very simple, not as complex as those in Sanhe Prefecture, so using a Confusing Array would have little effect.

「Half an Hour later.」

Wang Ping's three puppets rendezvoused in the core area of the underground Dark River. Under Wang Ping's control, they took out the talismans they carried, separated, and affixed them to key locations on the Dark River's bed to disrupt the Primordial Spirit probes of any Earth Vein Cultivators.

After finishing this, Wang Ping used his Primordial Spirit Consciousness to call back Yu Lian, who had flown off to the Moon Spring Array to watch the excitement.

"What is it?"

Yu Lian's tone was cheerful; she was happy that she could help Wang Ping.

Wang Ping took out a blank Talisman, inscribed some Hidden Arrays into it, and looked at Yu Lian. "I need you to go beneath Moon Mountain and carve some Water Secret Arrays."

"A small matter! Leave it to me!"

Yu Lian replied, tilting her head back proudly.

Wang Ping immediately sent the Talisman, now infused with the knowledge of the Hidden Arrays, into Yu Lian's Spirit Sea.

A moment later, after Yu Lian had digested the Array knowledge, she said with some hesitation, "This is so complicated? I have to draw the whole thing from scratch!"

The knowledge Wang Ping had given Yu Lian included a map of the underground Dark River and an Array Map he had designed based on the riverbed and caves. For Yu Lian, who had already cultivated a Primordial Spirit, the workload would only take about three days to complete.

"You should know, this is very important to me!"

"I was just complaining a little. I never said I wouldn't do it."

Yu Lian landed on Wang Ping's shoulder and lay down, nuzzling her head against his cheek. "Should I go now?" she asked. "Have you prepared the water-type Spiritual Objects?"

Wang Ping replied, "If we use Spiritual Objects, an Earth Vein Cultivator's Primordial Spirit Consciousness would quickly discover our Array with just a careful probe. I plan to use a simple Spirit Gathering Array instead. That way, as long as the Earth Vein Cultivators don't physically enter the underground Dark River, discovery will be almost impossible."

Moon Mountain is guarded by Ganxing and his disciples, with the Nine Tripods Sect assisting them. Under normal circumstances, an ordinary Earth Vein Cultivator wouldn't dare enter the Dark River beneath the mountain. Even a Third Realm Cultivator would, at most, use their Primordial Spirit to probe it.

"Alright, I'm going!"

"Wait, I'll have a puppet take you."

Wang Ping summoned another Golden Armored Puppet, invested a portion of his Primordial Spirit Consciousness into it, and it shot off toward Moon Mountain as a streak of light. Yu Lian immediately concealed her aura and followed behind it.

It was the same spot by the shaded creek. The traces of the previous puppet's entry were now concealed by a thicket of bushes. Yu Lian shrank her body and attached herself to the Golden Armored Puppet, and was easily pulled into the underground Dark River by the vine.

"It's so dark!"

Yu Lian felt a darkness so thick she couldn't see her hand in front of her face. For a moment, she was disoriented, but then her bloodline instincts caused her eyes to gleam with a faint Spiritual Light. The next instant, she could see her surroundings clearly without even using her Primordial Spirit.

"The water's a bit icy, and the Taiyin Aura is really heavy. Say, do you think a Taiyin Cultivator waiting to advance is buried here?" Yu Lian asked, curiously looking around. She was speaking to the puppet beside her.

Unfortunately, Wang Ping hadn't given the puppet a voice. Moreover, this sliver of his consciousness couldn't form a Spirit Sea, so it was unable to respond to Yu Lian.

Yu Lian smacked the puppet with her tail, seemingly expressing her dissatisfaction with Wang Ping's silence, then transformed into her true form and dove into the icy waters of the Dark River.

"Yikes, it's freezing!"

Yu Lian shivered violently. As the Scale Armor on her body flared open, mystical arrays formed in patterns across them, and she quickly adapted to the temperature of the underground Dark River. Then, she swam a lap up and down the river channel.

"Let's start here. First, I'll build the Gathering Spirit Array!"

Yu Lian glanced at the puppet beside her. As she spoke, the Water Spirit Qi around her materialized, forming rings of arrays that she imprinted onto the rock walls of the Dark River cave. The puppet beside her immediately shot seeds of shade-dwelling plants into the key points of the arrays.

As the seeds sank into the rock wall, the Wood Spirit Qi directed by the puppet caused them to rapidly take root and sprout, quickly covering the array-inscribed walls. Yu Lian then fused a stream of Water Spirit Qi with the Array, and soon after, the Gathering Spirit Array activated.

"On to the next one!"

Yu Lian looked at her masterpiece with satisfaction. After giving herself a little pep talk, she moved on to the next Array...

「Two days later.」

Yu Lian had completed the layout for the Gathering Spirit Arrays, but the Hidden Arrays still remained.

This part of the process was much simpler. With Yu Lian's Primordial Spirit Cultivation, it only took a day to finish. Afterward, she couldn't wait to get out of the Dark River. Outside, it just so happened to be a bright, sunny day.

She flew into the sky and did two happy barrel rolls through the clouds before flying toward Wang Ping's location. From a great distance, she could already see the fish and shrimp he had prepared for her.

But Yu Lian didn't immediately go for the fish and shrimp. Instead, she landed on Wang Ping's shoulder, nuzzling her head against his cheek one moment, then sniffing his scent vigorously, then coiling herself around his arm.

"It was really dark in the cave."

"Was it?"

"Of course! And the fish and shrimp in that river had such a heavy Taiyin Aura, they weren't good to eat."

"..."

They chatted for a long time before Yu Lian's mood finally settled, and she began to enjoy the fish and shrimp Wang Ping had prepared. Wang Ping, meanwhile, had to plan the Transfer Array at the bottom of the lake.

With the Spirit Gathering Arrays already in place, setting up the Transfer Array was much simpler. He could first create a 'Transfer Talisman' and then just have a puppet place it in a hidden location.

The 'Transfer Talismans' had already been made in advance, and to the highest standards. As long as the Spirit Gathering Arrays had enough energy, they could even resonate with another 'Transfer Talisman' five or six hundred li away.

And based on the energy-gathering speed of the underground Dark River, there would be enough energy to use it in one month.

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