Mortal: Fairy Song Yu has issued you a task.

Chapter 13 Teleportation Array

Despite the unpleasant little incident with Meng Yao along the way, Lin Jingchu was still in a good mood—after all, he had received a new mission.

However, the mission objective, "Green Footprint Swamp," is far too remote, located at the southwestern end of the sect's territory, beyond which lies the land of the "Ancient Sword Sect."

With their Qi Refining stage cultivation, even if they traveled at full speed using flying magical artifacts, it would still take them nearly half a day to make it one way.

Such a remote place was so unfamiliar that Lin Jingchu, who had lived in Luoyun Sect for three years, couldn't even recall where it was at first glance.

"This week, Senior Brother will have to put in a lot more effort to pinpoint the Snow Cloud Fox's activity area; it might take several days. We should give him a larger share of the profits this time."

While making plans in his mind, Lin Jingchu activated his spiritual power and rode the "Cloud Piercing Leaf" towards the direction of the sect's market.

He had another matter to attend to right now—delivering custom-made array flags and array plates to a familiar Uncle Ye.

This Uncle Ye's life has been quite bumpy.

He was originally from a family of cultivators, but his family was destroyed in the wave of the expansion of the demonic path, and his clansmen were scattered and lost.

He went to Luoyun Sect alone and became an elite inner disciple thanks to his exceptional talent for cultivation.

However, no matter how large and powerful the Luoyun Sect is, the free resources it provides to its many elite disciples are only enough to sustain their daily cultivation needs.

As a cultivator, wouldn't you want to buy better magical artifacts and elixirs when you see them? Wouldn't you want to become a Daoist couple with a female cultivator you admire? All of these require a lot of spirit stones.

So, what's the point of cultivating immortality if you don't have spirit stones?

After joining the sect, Uncle Ye took a part-time job at the "Treasure Pavilion" in the market, relying on the exquisite talisman-making skills he had cultivated in his original family.

"Is Uncle Ye here?" Lin Jingchu entered the lobby of Jubaolou.

"Yes, I am," a disciple who was practicing drawing talismans at his desk replied enthusiastically upon hearing the voice, "Senior brother, are you ordering custom-made talismans?"

Lin Jingchu shook his head: "No, I have something to discuss with Uncle Ye."

"Oh..." Upon realizing it wasn't a customer, the disciple's enthusiasm vanished instantly: "Senior brother, please wait a moment, I'll go and inform them right away."

Before long, a middle-aged monk with a dignified appearance came downstairs.

"Uncle Ye, this is the 'Water Tide Cloud Miasma Array' you ordered." Lin Jingchu took out a brocade box from his storage bag and handed it to the middle-aged cultivator.

"Thank you for your trouble, Junior Nephew." Uncle Ye took the brocade box and opened it. Inside, the array flags and array plates shone with spiritual light, and the runes were clear. He couldn't help but nod and praise, "The quality is excellent. With this array protecting us, our cave will be much safer."

Although the Luoyun Sect provides protective formations for its disciples' cave dwellings, these are all standard, mass-produced formations that can be easily breached.

Disciples with even a little financial means would purchase or order more sophisticated array formations. Most of Lin Jingchu's array formation orders came from this source.

Upon hearing the praise, Lin Jingchu simply smiled modestly: "Uncle-Master, you flatter me. If there are any problems with the operation of this formation within three months of its delivery, I will be happy to have it inspected and repaired free of charge."

"Very good, here are the remaining spirit stones." Uncle Ye put away the brocade box, handed over the remaining spirit stones, and then asked, "Nephew Lin's array formation skills are so exquisite, why not find a shop in the market to work part-time? If it weren't for my junior brother's recommendation, I wouldn't have known that you, nephew, are so talented."

"Uncle-Master, you flatter me. Besides fulfilling the duties assigned by the sect, I also have to take care of my own cultivation. In addition, I dislike being constrained. Taking on these odd jobs is quite comfortable for me." Lin Jingchu politely declined.

Uncle Ye had only mentioned it casually, and upon hearing this, he didn't offer any further advice. Instead, he pondered for a moment and asked, "Nephew, will you have any free time in the coming days?"

Another big order? Lin Jingchu suppressed his joy and answered calmly, half-jokingly, "Uncle-Master, I recently took leave, so I have some free time. However, I need to set up an array for a senior sister in a few days, which will probably take a whole day. I wonder if the matter you entrusted to me is urgent?"

Take Song Yu to capture the Snow Cloud Fox. The method is still to set up an array to trap the fox. Just say it's like setting up a magic array for your personal disciple!

When Uncle Ye heard that Lin Jingchu was able to set up an array for his personal disciple, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

"In that case, please come with me to the inner room for a chat."

The two moved to a quiet, elegant room.

After the door was closed and the isolation barrier was activated, Uncle Ye took out a jade slip and handed it over.

"This is...?" Lin Jingchu probed it with his divine sense and saw an extremely complex array diagram inside, but thirty percent of it was blurry and the remaining ten percent was completely blank. "A long-distance teleportation array? This array diagram is incomplete; is it copied from some destroyed ancient array?"

"Junior Nephew Lin, you have a keen eye!" Uncle Ye's eyes gleamed with even greater anticipation. "To be honest, I've consulted several array masters, and they all say there's no hope of repairing it. I wonder if you... have the ability to give it a try?"

Lin Jingchu was secretly pleased. If he hadn't been interested in the ancient teleportation array that led to the "Chaotic Star Sea" and had done a lot of research and investigation, he would probably be completely lost today.

Of course, the array before them was far inferior to the ancient cross-regional array that Han Li had discovered; this was merely a teleportation array within the Tiannan region.

"Uncle-Master, you've really come to the right person this time." Lin Jingchu changed the subject, "However, Uncle-Master, do you know why the vast majority of array masters are helpless against this kind of long-distance teleportation array?"

"I would like to hear the details."

Lin Jingchu spoke eloquently: "It's because the core material for building this formation—the Void Stone—disappeared in the Tiannan region ten thousand years ago. With even the main material nowhere to be found, this kind of formation naturally gradually fell out of favor and its lineage was cut off. Therefore, cultivators who understand this formation are extremely rare."

Looking at his uncle Ye, who seemed to have just realized something, he continued, "This disciple can try to deduce and complete the missing array patterns. However, if the foundation of that ancient array is damaged, I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done."

Uncle Ye was overjoyed upon hearing this: "Don't worry, nephew! When I discovered that ancient formation, although it was severely damaged, the main body of the formation platform was still relatively intact. As long as you can help me complete the formation diagram, I will certainly not disappoint you in terms of reward!"

"This long-distance teleportation array has long been lost, existing only in a few ancient secret texts. I only know a little about it by chance. Moreover, the array diagram of my master is so severely damaged..." Lin Jingchu frowned and looked troubled, finally holding up five fingers.

"It will probably cost five hundred spirit stones."

"Five hundred spirit stones?!" Uncle Ye's eyelids twitched upon hearing this.

"Uncle-Master, this is indeed a difficult matter. I estimate that I will need to go into seclusion for at least one or two months to study it. I may also need to go to the sect's library to look through ancient books. As you know, Uncle-Master, the cost of going in to look through books is not low." Lin Jingchu explained the difficulties one by one.

Uncle Ye's expression shifted as he pondered in his heart.

After a long while, he solemnly took out a talisman that faintly glowed with golden light and placed it on the table.

"This item... shall be used to compensate my nephew for his payment."

Lin Jingchu took a closer look.

"Hiss—a talisman?!"