#943 - Gathering Qi

Indeed, Wei Changtian had relied on his escape technique at the last moment to get away.

Ever since learning this seemingly impressive divine skill from Old Zhangtou, he had hardly ever used it.

On one hand, it was because he rarely needed to escape, so it wasn't useful.

On the other hand, it was due to the extreme uncertainty of the escape technique.

If the teleportation distance exceeded fifty feet, the location would be inaccurate.

Once it exceeded a hundred feet, one would not know where they would be teleported to.

If it was even further, it was basically completely random.

Moreover, this randomness was different from the Pure Jade Pendant.

Although the latter was also "random", it was more like a "pseudo-randomness"; no matter where you teleported, you would always be on the ground.

But the escape technique was different; it was completely and utterly "true randomness."

For example, just now, Wei Changtian had used the escape technique eight times in a row, and the first seven times he was "buried" in the ground, until the eighth time when he finally appeared normally on the street.

Good heavens, luckily Wei Changtian was strong, so being buried in the ground didn't matter.

If it were someone else, they would probably be seeing Yama right now, and even the funeral arrangements would be unnecessary, directly buried.

"I should use it less in the future."

Wei Changtian muttered to himself as he walked towards Yun'an Temple, the surrounding people who had witnessed his sudden appearance all wore ghostly expressions.

At the same time, Lin Zhi had already returned to the residence.

He ran into the house and said urgently to Guankong, who was still lying on the bed:

"Foster father! Something bad has happened!"

"An accident occurred at Yun'an Temple just now, it must have been something underground that exploded!"

And this also meant that he had indeed known about the existence of that cavern for a long time.

Therefore, after the illusion array collapsed, Guankong should have immediately gone there to take some things away.

However, because Wei Changtian and Yang Liushi ultimately forcibly broke the array, and Guankong had consumed too much essence blood to maintain the array, he fell into a coma due to the backlash after the array was broken, and was unconscious for two days.

Although the first thing Guankong did after waking up was to send Lin Zhi to Yun'an Temple, it seemed that he was still one step behind Wei Changtian...

"Were you able to see clearly?"

After a long silence, he raised his head and stared at Lin Zhi, seemingly unwilling: "Was the Qi-Gathering Array really found?"

"Foster father, I heard the explosion at Yun'an Temple when I was only halfway there."

Lin Zhi hesitated for a moment and answered truthfully: "I only looked from a distance and couldn't confirm if it was the Qi-Gathering Array."

"Then what did you come back for?"

Guankong's eyes narrowed slightly, and his tone instantly became colder: "Why didn't you investigate carefully?"

"This, foster father, such a big event has happened, even if Wei Changtian is not in Yun'an Temple at the moment, he must have received the news."

Lin Zhi was slightly stunned and quickly explained: "I felt that if I risked going in to investigate again, it would be easy to be exposed, so I thought of coming back to inform foster father first."

"Hmph! You self-righteous fool!"

With a cold snort, Guankong knew that Lin Zhi's actions were correct, but he was still upset and cursed.

However, when he saw the latter's guilty and embarrassed expression, he suppressed the irritability in his heart and sighed softly:

"Alas, I spoke too harshly, don't take it to heart."

"You should have looked clearly before coming back."

"Have you ever thought that if the loud noise just now didn't come from the Qi-Gathering Array, you would have wasted this time, giving Wei Changtian the opportunity to discover the Qi-Gathering Array instead?"

"I..."

Lin Zhi was stunned when he heard this and quickly said: "Foster father, then I will go again!"

"Forget it, it's too late."

Guankong slowly shook his head: "Now there must be many people there, and if you go now, you might really be caught by Wei Changtian."

"Later, when night falls, I will go with you."

"...Your child will listen to foster father."

"Yes, go out."

"Yes."

With a guilty tone, Lin Zhi quickly pushed the door and left the room.

And not long after he left, Guankong's face gradually became sinister.

The Qi-Gathering Array was an attempt by Buddhism to break through the shackles of the First Rank, and it was also one of Buddhism's greatest secrets.

Although the name sounds quite ordinary, the entire array is actually very profound.

Simply put, Buddhism used the corpses of Second Rank experts, coupled with some unique array designs, to give the Qi-Gathering Array the effect of "producing, storing, and refining" internal energy.

It was roughly like a factory.

Using the incense of the temple above the Qi-Gathering Array as raw material, using the meridians of the corpses as production tools, and using the lotus pond as a container for storing internal energy.

Such an array, as long as there were pilgrims worshiping around, could continuously convert this "incense" into internal energy, accumulating to a terrifying amount over time.

Then the next step was "compression."

The core used to compress internal energy was the golden bead that Wei Changtian finally found in the lotus seat.

This bead was actually the relic of a Buddhist monk, and it was also the key for martial artists who followed the Buddhist path to break through the realm.

The relic itself had the effect of condensing internal energy, but under normal circumstances, it was impossible to compress internal energy to a range exceeding the Second Rank.

But hundreds of years ago, Buddhists suddenly discovered that after the constraints of the physical body were gone, the limitations of the relic also disappeared.

In other words, the relic left behind by any Buddhist martial artist after death could theoretically condense internal energy with a concentration exceeding the upper limit of the Second Rank.

The only difference was the speed.

Among them, the relics of Second Rank experts were undoubtedly the fastest, but the time required could not be measured in years, months, and days; the process had to be calculated in sixty-year cycles.

With such a long span, the Buddhists certainly couldn't guard it day and night, so after some research, they created this Qi-Gathering Array.

Initially, there were many such Qi-Gathering Arrays.

But hundreds of years have passed, and due to various reasons, there are now only eight that are still in operation.

The oldest one is located under the largest Buddhist temple, the White Horse Temple in the Far East.

The most special one is the one hidden under the illusion array in Linchuan City.

And the largest, and also the shortest in history, is actually not too far from Linchuan.

It is located in the newly established Feng Dynasty, which has only been established for a year.

Without a specific location.

Because the entire Feng Dynasty is within its range.