Cultivation : I'm an Ancient Giant Bear-Chapter 469 - 442: Analyzing Array Patterns

"I didn’t expect to gain so much from this trip."

Wang Wu’s mouth slightly curved into a smile, his mood greatly improved. Although he understood that for someone like the Frost Monarch, such actions were trivial—a mere gesture to win some favor, a matter of a simple word, without significant cost—yet it might yield greater rewards in the future.

Even if there were no gains, making a friend was always better than having more enemies.

This was the mentality of those in their echelons.

In fact, Wang Wu speculated that Elder Hui, the Black Emperor, and other powerful figures he didn’t know or understand might casually give such non-binding instructions.

Of course, the bigger possibility was indifference.

Nevertheless, this was something worth learning for Wang Wu.

Yes, that’s one aspect. Another point was that Wang Wu realized his previous thinking was somewhat petty—did he think he was the only smart person in the world?

This Great Wilderness Sin Prison Tower, since it was bought by the Hidden Origin Association over a century ago, must be of great importance, which is why they threw the prisoners here as laborers, even offering the reward of a 50,000-year sentence reduction.

So he shouldn’t even think about scheming to refine this Sin Prison Tower for himself.

Not a chance.

Elder Hui, the Black Emperor, and the Frost Monarch are just Third-Grade Elders of the Hidden Origin Association; they wouldn’t even dare to think about it.

Now, the higher-ups within the Hidden Origin Association undoubtedly have their eyes fixed on this Sin Prison Tower, reminding him that it’s better not to overstep too much.

"Continuing to retreat is not viable. This big bear, Xiong Wang Shou, has Level 27 Passive Concealment. If it comes to sabotage my Three-Defense Treasure Armor again, even with Sister Shuang Jun’s instructions, that young lady likely won’t help anymore, so I need a different approach."

"How about breaking through the Blood Curse Celestial Punishment?"

Wang Wu’s current Passive Concealment is Level 24.5. If he forcefully activates the Hundred-Change Ruyi Demon Leaf, he can temporarily reach Level 25.5, which is clearly not enough. However, once he breaks through the Blood Curse Celestial Punishment, this won’t be an issue, as he has already accumulated 5.5% Bloodline Evolution Level, and upon breaking through, it would become 70.5% directly.

"But there’s a problem. If I can quickly break through the Blood Curse Celestial Punishment, it means I would be covered again by Elder Hui’s Level 27 Divine Calculation. Even Xiong Wang Shou wants this Blood Curse Celestial Punishment, which shows it’s actually a good thing."

"The most crucial point is that the culprit in Senior Sister Qin’s case has not been captured. If I’m found to have broken through the Blood Curse Celestial Punishment at this time, it would be difficult not to be discovered that I am the true culprit."

"Not appropriate! Not appropriate! I still need to endure; minor impatience will spoil major plans!"

"I need to maintain the persona of someone whose potential is sealed by the Blood Curse Celestial Punishment."

"But how to solve the current situation with Xiong Wang Shou?"

Wang Wu, for a moment, didn’t have a good solution to this. Xiong Wang Shou just happened to exploit his bug.

At this moment, two figures walked in side by side from outside; they were Qin Wushuang and another female Array Master.

This was the standard setup for their array master team.

Three array masters, twelve prisoner laborers.

Qin Wushuang and that female array master took off their Three-Defense Treasure Armors; each gave Wang Wu a glance but said nothing, only starting to nurture the Three-Defense Treasure Armors with Spiritual Qi, seemingly a step that requires attention.

About half an hour later, after nurturing, the two Three-Defense Treasure Armors looked brand new.

At this moment, the female array master glanced at Wang Wu again and smiled, "Sister Qingxue really has a kind heart, using her backup materials to help others; I hope she won’t be affected. Nowadays, the higher-ups are very concerned about the progress of building the Heaven and Earth Needle, so there shouldn’t be any mishaps."

Qin Wushuang listened but remained silent, just sitting there, took out a purple jade talisman to browse through, occasionally taking out a few white jade talismans to engrave something on them, which seemed to be used for creating the array map or material blueprint for the Heaven and Earth Needle.

Quite dedicated.

But don’t you all have private rooms? Indeed, the conditions are harsh, and it’s in the wilderness, understandable.

Or maybe there’s only one room for repairs.

Wang Wu stood there somewhat awkwardly; he couldn’t leave either. Without the Three-Defense Treasure Armor, stepping outside would definitely result in erosion by the Level 8 Evil Wind.

However, it seemed that girl Qingxue wouldn’t fix it anytime soon.

So Wang Wu cautiously activated his Level 18 Spirit Essence, secretly glancing over, thinking, you took it out so openly, why not take a look?

Moreover, this thing didn’t seem afraid of being leaked, because the purple jade talisman recorded an incredibly complex array pattern.

Even Qin Wushuang had to use her white jade talismans for reference to analyze it.

Indeed, just like an outsider using a Xinhua dictionary to translate Wenxin Diaolong.

But Wang Wu also didn’t understand, so he couldn’t comment; he could only first memorize it using Spirit Essence Perception for later study.

However, these array patterns were truly difficult to remember; Wang Wu’s Level 18 Spirit Essence Perception indeed met its match.

He even just watched a bit longer, turned back, and found the part he had remembered earlier had already changed.

So these are constantly changing array patterns?

Wang Wu, with a headache, managed to barely memorize this one array pattern after nearly an hour, and even then he wasn’t sure if it was accurate.

Too complex, too many changes.

No, there should be sixty-four variations, and he barely remembered thirty-nine; the rest were too much to handle.

Looking at Qin Wushuang, who could still earnestly sit there recording and studying, Wang Wu couldn’t help but sigh at the huge differences between people, and even greater between humans and demons.

Just look at others, indeed, everyone has their own expertise.

Watching as the young sister Qingxue still hadn’t repaired the Three-Defense Treasure Armor, Wang Wu scratched his head and continued to secretly learn.

On that purple jade talisman, there was only this one complex array pattern, but at this moment, Qin Wushuang had already engraved nearly hundreds of variant patterns on the white jade talisman, which he had analyzed from that pattern.

Wang Wu curiously peeked for a while, feeling that Qin Wushuang was searching for some kind of solution or some kind of pattern.

Anyway, how to put it, it was a bit like a randomly changing master password, which generated new branch passwords every moment. These branch passwords formed a new array map. By deploying and constructing the formation according to this map, a key could be obtained, corresponding to a key partition of the master password...

And this key was what they were constructing: the Heaven and Earth Needle.

Right, it seems like this, doesn’t it?

So this is a good idea. I’ll just secretly learn it, and I must say, this method is quite effective; remembering it feels like grasping a knack.

In a short moment, Wang Wu was almost beaming with excitement.

After a while, he suddenly realized that the several variant patterns Qin Wushuang had analyzed seemed to be wrong.

Indeed, really wrong.

Should he remind him?

Forget it, no need to remind, because he kept checking himself, again and again. From the purple jade talisman, he had analyzed a total of three hundred and sixty branch password array maps, taking an hour to analyze them, but there were four errors, no, six errors.

He was checking now, and he had integrated external aids like Fake Primordial Spirit and the Four Clowns for analysis.

Look, the second check found three errors.

The third check found all the errors.

Got it!

At this moment, Qin Wushuang wearily rubbed his brow, putting away the purple and white jade talismans; he seemed to have expended a great deal of Divine Thought.

Because he did not possess Spirit Essence Perception!

Furthermore, unknowingly, more than three hours had passed.

Even Wang Wu felt somewhat exhausted!

So tired.

He also scratched his head, as he had almost exhausted a wisp of Divine Thought to memorize those sixty-four variations, not knowing if it was worth it?

It was just then that Qingxue’s figure silently appeared, holding Wang Wu’s set of Three-Defense Treasure Armor, looking brand new.

This was heartfelt effort.

Wang Wu was just about to step forward to thank her, but Qin Wushuang had already furrowed his brow, coldly saying, "Friend Qingxue, please prioritize the bigger picture. We are now falling behind schedule in constructing the Heaven and Earth Needle; if you keep delaying like this, I can only report to the Lord Chief Steward."

Upon hearing this, Qingxue actually snorted coldly as well, "I would also like to ask Friend Wushuang to prioritize the bigger picture. You are well aware that repairing the Sin Prison Tower is extremely important, not only requiring high standards for the array masters but even higher requirements for prisoner labor. Look at this prisoner labor you’ve brought back, not following orders, acting on his own, and over the past ten months, having a zero work output rate, directly causing more than half of a Three-Defense Treasure Armor to be damaged. I suggest that this person be dismissed immediately, as repairing the Sin Prison Tower is of utmost importance, and cannot allow such prisoner labor to mess around!"

Uh—

Aren’t we supposed to be on the same side?

Wang Wu looked at Qingxue in astonishment, then suddenly realized, marvelous, this little sister was really clever!

Sure enough, a layer of anger flashed across Qin Wushuang’s face, wanting to say something but ultimately holding back. He obviously couldn’t be unaware of what this prisoner labor named Wang Zhige was brought here for.

Because in a place ravaged by the Three Calamities, death doesn’t require a knife.

The more unreliable Wang Zhige was now, the quicker he’d die afterward.

"Ahem! Friend Qingxue, you’ve taken it too seriously. I mean, I’ve already recorded the next Heaven and Earth Needle’s array map, and barring any accidents, we can commence work next month. As per the old rules, I will take the three prisoner labors to the target area for surveying, while you and Friend Zihan finish up here and manage the networking of the Heaven and Earth Needle. No objections, Friend Qingxue?"

"I have no objections."

Qingxue, too, knew to seize the opportunity and turned to throw the Three-Defense Treasure Armor to Wang Wu, scolding, "If you dare not follow the rules again, I’ll expel you! The prisoner labor here is for sentence reduction, genuinely repentant. What about you, what are you here for? Wasting spots and delaying our project timeline, don’t believe me? If we were outside, I’d beat you half to death! Get lost!"

Wang Wu, clutching the Three-Defense Treasure Armor, ran away dejectedly.

"Come back!" Qingxue suddenly called out again.

"The newly replaced Three-Defense Treasure Armor you have this time defends better against the Three Calamities. From today, you’re assigned daily Level 2 tasks to climb the flagpole!"

"What?"

Wang Wu didn’t get it; he wasn’t a monkey, why climb a flagpole? 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

At this moment, the female array master named Zihan laughed, saying, "Array Master Qingxue means you need to climb to the top of the array flag daily while we deploy and construct the Heaven and Earth Needle, holding the Celestial and Earthly Compass, providing us on the ground with stable positioning references. Otherwise, under the Three Calamities, setting up formations or doing anything becomes as hard as reaching the sky."

"I see, I will surely complete the task, rest assured, three array masters."

Wang Wu vowed confidently.

However, the expressions of the three array masters were just too subtle.