Cloud Kitten

Gu Ningyun was deeply ashamed by his words.

She had always known her boundaries and was sensitive to the feelings of those around her.

If her master and martial uncle didn't tell her something, she wouldn't press them for answers.

Even with the silly thing the fat duck did before, she had spared his feelings and hadn't asked her master about it.

So why had her gossipy side flared up the moment the atmosphere in the ravine became pleasant, prompting her to pry into her senior brother's embarrassing past?

She tugged at Shen Banxi's sleeve and apologized sincerely, “First Senior Brother, I was wrong earlier. I've taken everything you said to heart.”

Shen Banxi let out a quiet sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had arrived in time to stop his little junior sister from hearing anything damning, thus preserving his image.

Gu Ningyun slipped out of his grasp, took out her long sword, and stepped back on it to fly.

In the distance, immortal cranes flew out from the clouds, dragging trails of mist behind them.

She pointed a finger, and a gentle breeze swept past, gathering the wisps of clouds to float in front of her.

Green light darted across her fingertips as the shapeless wisps of clouds gradually coalesced into a little kitten stretching its back.

As a light breeze blew, the little kitten drifted right in front of Shen Banxi.

She said with a beaming smile, “Since I was in the wrong, let this little cloud kitten serve as my apology. What do you think?”

Shen Banxi held one of the kitten's tiny paws with one hand while pinching its ear with the other.

With his pinch, a wisp of cloud drifted away from its ear.

Gu Ningyun tapped her finger on the kitten's forehead, coating the little cloud kitten in an extremely thin, invisible wind membrane.

This way, no matter how much he kneaded it, the cloud's shape wouldn't be ruined.

Shen Banxi cradled the little kitten in his arms. “The minor wind spell 《Drifting Clouds Gathering Wisps》 gathers wisps of clouds to float in front of you, shaping them into birds or beasts. And 《Wind-Splitting Dust-Isolating》 forms an extremely thin wind membrane around your body, causing dust, pollen, and light snow to slide off to either side along the air currents. It seems you have fully mastered all forty-eight minor wind spells, Junior Sister, and can use them at will.”

“After two years, it's only natural that I should have learned them all by now.”

She performed the 《Dust-Brushing Wind》 spell to smooth out her rumpled robes.

After bidding farewell to her first senior brother, Gu Ningyun flew on her sword toward Governing Peak.

She had received a transmission about this last month, instructing all disciples of Class 11,680 to gather at Governing Peak today at four o'clock in the afternoon for a meeting.

As she flew, she casually performed the 《Wind-Gathering Screen》 spell.

《Wind-Gathering Screen》 used a gentle breeze to conjure a wind screen, blocking out the scorching sun, falling rain, and blowing sand.

This spell seemed somewhat similar to 《Wind-Splitting Dust-Isolating》, but they were actually quite different.

The wind membrane of 《Wind-Splitting Dust-Isolating》 was finer and could be generated right against the surface of an object, but it could withstand less external force.

The wind curtain of 《Wind-Gathering Screen》 was coarser, but it was also thicker and could withstand more external force.

A green light flashed from her fingertips, and an invisible wind curtain wrapped around her, blocking the howling wind from her sword flight and redirecting it to the sides.

Smoothing down her perfectly neat hair, Gu Ningyun's eyes sparkled.

Only after learning these forty-eight minor wind spells did she realize how tough her life had been before.

Take flying on a sword, for example—she used to have to take the fierce wind straight to the face.

Aside from mastering the forty-eight minor wind spells, Gu Ningyun had also officially entered the gateway of arrays over the past two years.

Perhaps because she lacked the Natural Array Body, or for some other reason, her talent in arrays was not as great as Mu Chenze's.

Even with her foundation in ancient script and talismans, it had taken her a full year just to learn all the array patterns in the 《Detailed Explanation of Arrays》.

The teaching in the Array Hall followed a formal, structured system.

After she learned all the array patterns, the Array Hall taught her how to craft the simplest, single-function offensive array plates.

For example, the Fireball Array:

Step one: Use an array pen to draw eight identical fireball array patterns on the eight corners of the blank array plate's outermost ring (the first ring).

Step two: Draw eight balance array patterns on the eight corners of the second ring of the array plate, connecting the fireball array patterns into a cohesive whole.

Step three: Channel spirit energy into the array plate. If a fireball attack is successfully triggered, the array has been crafted successfully.

Once a pure offensive array was successfully engraved, more functions would be added bit by bit on top of this foundation.

For example, adding a blood-binding function to the Fireball Array:

The first two steps were the same as above.

Step three: Draw a central array pattern at the center of the array plate.

Step four: Once the drawing was complete, the balance array patterns of the second ring would automatically link with the central array pattern.

(If they failed to merge, the crafting failed, and she would have to start over step by step on a new blank array plate.)

Step five: Channel spirit energy into the array plate. If it could be bound to its owner and controlled at will to launch fireball attacks, the array had been crafted successfully.

Only after a successful binding would the Array Hall allow her to proceed to the next step.

For example, adding a spirit energy conduction function to the Fireball Array:

The first four steps were the same as above.

Step five: There were eight paths leading from the eight corners of the array plate to the center. Along these eight paths, draw eight spirit energy conduction patterns.

(The array patterns must not overlap, lest the structure of the patterns be damaged, resulting in failure or malfunctioning of the array. When drawing by rings earlier, she had to control the size of the array patterns to leave room for these eight paths.)

Step six: Once the drawing was complete, the balance array patterns of the second ring would automatically link with the spirit energy conduction patterns.

Step seven: After binding the array plate, place it down and set a spirit stone next to each of its eight corners.

Step eight: Control the array plate to attack. If the plate absorbed the spirit energy from the spirit stones and unleashed a fireball attack, the array had been crafted successfully.

By this point, a complete Fireball Array that could be bound to an owner and powered by spirit stones was considered fully learned and successfully crafted.

When it came to officially learning and crafting real array plates, the benefits of having a solid foundation became highly apparent.

Gu Ningyun's mastery of array patterns was rock-solid, whether she was drawing a Fireball Array or a Water Blade Array.

When drawing the array patterns, she always did it in one smooth, continuous stroke, never needing to scrap her work and start over.

This level of smoothness absolutely delighted the artifact spirit of the Array Hall, who was in charge of her curriculum.

With a flow of spirit energy, it controlled her textbook, 《Detailed Explanation of Arrays》, flipping through the pages at lightning speed.

One basic array after another was revealed and promptly mastered by her.

In just a single month, she learned fifty basic arrays.

The Dao of Arrays was infinitely variable, and array patterns were the most fundamental symbols of any array.

As long as one mastered the array patterns, they could combine them in various ways to form different arrays.

The fifty basic arrays she had learned were of the simplest kind with the most singular functions.

However, in terms of the number of array patterns, even arrays with the most singular functions had countless variations.

It was impossible to learn every single one of them.

The Array Hall had her study them primarily to teach her the underlying logic of drawing them.

Once she mastered the logic, as long as her foundation in array patterns was solid, other arrays of the same type could be approached with the exact same logic.

She wouldn't even need to be taught; with a little study, she could draw them herself.

After she finished learning these fifty basic arrays, the artifact spirit did not have her study any more of them. Instead, it set five test problems of the same type to assess her.

With a few brief attempts, she successfully drew each one.

From then on, she could build upon this foundation and begin learning how to draw composite arrays.