When Li Yuan returned to the Alliance’s main island, the crowd at the docks had grown since his last visit.
He didn’t linger at the docks, heading straight for the Mission Dispatch.
The remaining core materials for his Lifebound Spiritual Artifact were difficult to procure in a short amount of time.
He might as well earn some Contribution Points. The Alliance’s exchange catalog had no shortage of rare resources—items that couldn’t necessarily be bought with Spirit Stones but could be directly exchanged for with Contribution Points.
The Mission Dispatch was located in a stone hall in the center of the main island. Its Spirit Jade walls were densely covered with all sorts of mission listings. Li Yuan scanned them from top to bottom.
Most missions were related to deep-sea exterminations, escorts, and resource gathering. They offered a decent number of Contribution Points but were very time-consuming.
His gaze stopped on an Artifact Refining mission.
Crafting Communication Tokens.
The mission description was simple: The Alliance required a batch of Communication Tokens for long-distance communication.
The sea was vast, and Cultivators on different islands were often separated by hundreds, if not thousands, of miles. The effective range of an ordinary Communication Jade Slip was far from sufficient.
The mission had two tiers of requirements. Tier Three Communication Tokens required Golden Core Level Artifact Refining skills to craft, while Tier Two Communication Tokens required Foundation Establishment Level skills.
The only drawback was the slow transmission speed. It took several hours for a message to travel from one end to the other, making it less instantaneous than a Communication Jade Slip, but its advantages were its long range and reusability.
The Contribution Point reward was good.
Li Yuan accepted the mission. From the Mission Dispatch, he collected a batch of Spiritual Materials specifically for the Tokens, along with the crafting methods for both types of Communication Tokens.
The quantity of Spiritual Materials was more than sufficient. The Alliance clearly wasn’t worried about wasted materials; the shortage of Artifact Refiners was the real bottleneck.
Li Yuan found a vacant Artifact Refining Room on the east side of the main island. He shut the stone door and spread the Spiritual Materials out on a stone table.
The base of the Token was a Spiritual Material called Sound Transmission Jade. Its surface was warm and smooth, and the Spiritual Power patterns within it were naturally stable.
Tier Three Tokens used Top Grade Sound Transmission Jade, while Tier Two used Middle Grade.
Li Yuan first picked up a piece of Top Grade Sound Transmission Jade, placing it in his palm. He sent his Spiritual Power into it, sensing the material’s textural flow and its affinity for Spiritual Power.
Then, he began the refining process.
His Divine Sense extended from his Sea of Consciousness, splitting into multiple Divine Sense Lines.
Fourteen of them.
Ever since reaching Golden Core, his Divine Soul Manipulation Skill had been cultivated to the Perfection Realm, and the number of his Divine Sense Lines had grown in tandem with the strength of his Divine Soul.
Of course, the more Divine Sense Lines he had, the slower their subsequent growth became.
Fourteen Divine Sense Lines extended simultaneously, each one capable of performing precise operations independently.
Li Yuan divided the fourteen Divine Sense Lines into two groups.
The main group of ten focused entirely on the Top Grade Sound Transmission Jade, beginning the creation of the Tier Three Communication Token.
The secondary group of four simultaneously started work on the Middle Grade Sound Transmission Jade next to it, crafting a Tier Two Communication Token. The difficulty of making a Tier Two Token was much lower; four Divine Sense Lines were more than enough.
Inside the Artifact Refining Room, two fluctuations of Spiritual Power operated at once—one strong, one weak—in a distinct rhythm.
The Spiritual Power patterns on the surface of the Top Grade Sound Transmission Jade quickly took shape under the control of eight Divine Sense Lines. The Artifact Pattern spread from the center outwards, the path of every spiritual power circuit laid with perfect precision. At the same time, on the Middle Grade Sound Transmission Jade nearby, the four Divine Sense Lines had already finished preparing the base and were now embedding a Spiritual Mark.
Working on two items at once, his speed was extremely fast.
By the time one Tier Three Communication Token was complete, two Tier Two Tokens had been finished alongside it.
Li Yuan picked up the Tier Three Token.
Within a three-foot radius, a blue light glowed.
[Equippable Item Detected: Tier Three Communication Token (Complete)]
[Equipment Entry Preview: Sensitive Transmission (Blue)]
[Effect: Increases Divine Sense detection range by 50%; when probed by Divine Sense, you can vaguely perceive the sender’s approximate location.]
[Permanence Condition Preview: Cultivate one Tier Three Divine Soul Skill to the Great Success realm.]
’A blue entry. The effect leans toward perception. It has some connection to the Communication Token’s own function, but its practical use far exceeds the scope of communication. A fifty percent increase in Divine Sense detection range is extremely valuable in actual combat.’
Li Yuan put down the Tier Three Token and picked up a Tier Two Token.
A green light.
[Equippable Item Detected: Tier Two Communication Token (Complete)]
[Equipment Entry Preview: Transmission Sense (Green)]
[Effect: Increases Divine Sense detection range by 50%.]
[Permanence Condition Preview: One Tier Three Divine Soul Skill.]
’A green entry. The effect is a lesser version of the blue one, only retaining the boost to Divine Sense detection range and lacking the ability to sense the sender’s location. I can only equip one of them.’
Li Yuan tried and found he couldn’t equip both, because the blue entry was an upgraded version of the green one.
’There’s nothing to hesitate about.’
Li Yuan temporarily unequipped the Array Principle Glimmer and equipped the Tier Three Communication Token.
[Equipped: Tier Three Communication Token (Complete)]
[Sensitive Transmission (Blue) is now active.]
The moment the blue light merged into his equipment slot, Li Yuan’s Divine Sense perception range abruptly expanded. The boundary of his Divine Sense, which had originally covered the Artifact Refining Room and the surrounding dozens of yards, now extended out by almost another fifty percent. The clarity of his perception didn’t decrease; only the area of coverage became larger.
The amount of Spiritual Materials he’d received for the mission was more than enough; he wouldn’t use it all just for crafting the Tokens. With the surplus Sound Transmission Jade and auxiliary materials, he could craft a few other things.
For the next few days, Li Yuan continued to craft the Communication Tokens while also using the extra materials to refine Magical Artifacts he had already mastered. The Sea-Essence Shortsword, the Spirit-Breaking Shield, and the Spirit Gathering Bead were all models he had made before, so the process was familiar and the quality was consistent.
This batch of Magical Artifacts wasn’t for his own use but were items he was preparing for a future auction.
Seven days later, all the Tokens were complete.
Li Yuan pushed open the stone door of the Artifact Refining Room, and the sea breeze hit his face.
The docks on the main island were still bustling, but the composition of the crowd had changed. Most of the Loose Cultivators he had seen last time were gone, replaced by a group of unfamiliar Foundation Establishment Cultivators who, judging by their attire, seemed to have come from some island in the outer seas.
Li Yuan walked straight to the Mission Dispatch.
He neatly placed ten Tier Three Communication Tokens and twenty Tier Two Communication Tokens on the counter.
The one who received them was an Alliance deacon, a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator who looked to be in his forties with a lean face. The deacon inspected the quality of each Token one by one, making a mark in his ledger for every one he checked.
After inspecting them all, the deacon pushed the ledger toward Li Yuan.
"Ten Tier Three, eight hundred points. Twenty Tier Two, four hundred points. A total of one thousand two hundred Contribution Points."
The deacon took out a Communication Token from under the counter and placed it on the surface.
"Senior Li, this is the Communication Token the Alliance is issuing to you."
Li Yuan put the Communication Token away.
One thousand two hundred Contribution Points was no small sum. Most Tier Three resources on the Alliance’s exchange list were priced between fifty and two hundred points. This was enough to exchange for a batch of rare resources.
Li Yuan walked over to the Spirit Jade wall in the exchange area and scanned the updated list from top to bottom.
Artifact Refining materials, medicinal pills, Cultivation Techniques, Magic... the categories were roughly the same as last time, but there were a few new entries.
His gaze stopped on a line of text.
Array Disc Crafting Method.
Li Yuan’s eyes lingered on this line for a moment longer.
The price for the Array Disc crafting method was steep—a full six hundred points. But the practical value of an Array Disc was undeniable; portable and activatable at any time, it was like carrying an Array in your pocket.
Li Yuan exchanged for the crafting method.
After receiving the jade slip, Li Yuan returned to the Artifact Refining Room and closed the stone door.
He sent his Divine Sense into the jade slip.
’The contents are more complex than I expected.’
Creating an Array Disc didn’t belong to a single discipline like Arrays, Artifact Refining, or Talismans, but was a comprehensive application of all three.
Refining the body of the Array Disc fell under Artifact Refining; it required smelting Spiritual Materials into a disc-shaped medium and inscribing an Artifact Pattern on it to serve as the base for Spiritual Power conduction.
The talismanic patterns on the Array Flags belonged to the discipline of talisman-crafting, with each flag being equivalent to a solidified Talisman.
And the connection between the Array Disc and the Array Flags, as well as the overall design of the array’s circuits, relied entirely on knowledge of the Array Dao.
All three disciplines were indispensable.
If his proficiency in any one of these disciplines was lacking, the resulting Array Disc would either be of inferior quality or completely non-functional.
Li Yuan read through the contents of the jade slip twice.
’Time to give it a try.’
Li Yuan took out a batch of Low Tier materials from his storage space. The difficulty of making a Tier One Array Disc was not high, making it perfect for testing the process.
First, he would refine the body of the Array Disc.
A piece of ordinary-quality Spirit Iron melted in his Spiritual Fire, guided by his Divine Sense Lines and molded into a palm-sized disc. An Artifact Pattern spread across the disc’s surface, forming a base network for Spiritual Power conduction. This step was similar to refining an ordinary Magical Artifact, but the design of the Artifact Pattern was fundamentally different, as it needed to reserve interfaces for the array circuits.
Next came the Array Flags.
Four small flags, each inscribed with a talismanic pattern using Spiritual Ink. The content of the patterns corresponded to the function of four nodes in the Array, matching the interfaces reserved on the Array Disc one-to-one.
Finally, assembly.
He connected the spiritual power circuits of the four Array Flags to the interfaces on the Array Disc’s body. Spiritual Power flowed through, forming a complete, miniature Array.
Li Yuan chose the most basic Tier One Spirit Gathering Array as the Array’s function.
The entire creation process took the better part of a day.
The process of using three disciplines interchangeably was indeed more demanding than using any single one alone. The three different systems of patterns—Artifact Patterns, talismanic patterns, and Array Patterns—needed to be harmonized on a single object. The slightest deviation would cause the spiritual power circuits to fail.
However, Li Yuan’s proficiency in all three disciplines was at Tier Three or higher, so making a Tier One Array Disc was not a difficult task for him.
The final spiritual power circuit connected.
The Artifact Pattern on the disc’s surface and the talismanic patterns on the four Array Flags flashed simultaneously, and Spiritual Power began to circulate within the Array Disc. A faint Spirit Gathering effect emanated from it, and the concentration of the surrounding Spiritual Qi rose by a minuscule amount.
’Success.’
Within a three-foot radius, a white light appeared.
Li Yuan picked up the Array Disc.
[Equippable Item Detected: Gathering Spirit Disc (Complete)]
[Equipment Entry Preview: Qi Convergence (White)]
[Effect: Centered on yourself, you can actively absorb and gather Spiritual Qi within a thirty-yard radius.]
[Note: This entry has already been made permanent and cannot be obtained again.]
Li Yuan’s brow twitched slightly as he looked at the final line of the prompt.
’It’s the same entry as the one from the Spirit Gathering Array’s Array Hub.’
’An Array Disc is, in essence, an Array, just a miniature, portable version.’
’The Array Disc’s entry is tied to its hub, just like the entry mechanism for a standard Array.’
Li Yuan put away the Array Disc and went to the Mission Dispatch.
The mission list on the Spirit Jade wall had been updated with a few new items. Li Yuan’s gaze swept over the new entries and stopped on one in particular.
Urgent Mission.
An allied island was under attack and requesting support. The location was a small island about four hundred miles southeast of the Alliance, one that had signed a resource cooperation agreement.
The source of the attack was unknown. The information sent back via Communication Token consisted of only a few sentences, summarizing that a large number of Demon Beasts had suddenly swarmed the shore, and the island’s defenses were strained.
The Contribution Point reward for the mission was extremely high, listed as starting at two hundred points and scaling with combat performance.
Li Yuan accepted the mission.
After he accepted the mission, an Alliance deacon hurried over and handed him a Communication Jade Slip.
"Li Dao You, this is the latest intelligence from the island. The scale of the attack is larger than initially estimated. They are led by a Tier Three Demon Beast. There is a Golden Core Cultivator stationed on the island, but the enemy’s numbers are too great, and they are requesting reinforcements."
Li Yuan took the jade slip and scanned its contents with his Divine Sense.
After putting away the jade slip, he transformed into an Escape Light and shot out from the main island, speeding southeast.
It was a four-hundred-mile journey across the sea. At full Tunneling Speed, he could arrive in less than four hours.
The surface of the sea rapidly receded beneath his Escape Light. In the distance, the low-lying silhouette of an island gradually appeared on the horizon.
When he was still dozens of miles from the island, Li Yuan’s Divine Sense had already picked up the fluctuations of Spiritual Power ahead.
The auras of a vast number of Tier Two Demon Beasts blanketed the waters around the island, and mixed among them was a heavy, Tier Three aura.
On the island, there was another Golden Core Level fluctuation of Spiritual Power, which was rising and falling violently.
’The battle is still ongoing.’
Li Yuan accelerated, his Escape Light turning into a streak of light as he shot straight toward the island.