Improved Spirit Gathering Array, Version 35

The three of them stealthily transported the zombies to the Luo family residence, returned the vehicle, and began a thorough cleaning. Lampes directed the zombies to gather every scrap of old cloth in the manor, soak them in water from the backyard pond, and then crawl onto the roof to start cleaning the tiles. For a time, the Luo estate was bustling with silent, feverish activity—a scene that was both lively and eerily quiet.

The zombies moved rather sluggishly. Lampes grumbled, “If I’d known I’d be using them for chores, I should have studied necromancers’ potions. I have a book on the subject, with many methods to make their movements and reactions faster.”

Watching the zombies clean the house in an organized fashion, Luo Yu asked Lampes, “Didn’t you say their intelligence was low? Why do they seem so smart—sorting trash and storing it accordingly?”

Lampes replied, “That depends on the controller. We vampires possess a mutated gene code that enforces hierarchy among our kind. This genetic cipher is transmitted not only by blood, but also through toxins, just like what you see now. As you know, vampires have powerful mental and physical abilities. Mommy can easily invade their simple minds and issue a series of complex instructions, down to how each item should be handled. But you can’t do that yet. Once your mental strength is as formidable as mine, controlling them will be easy—if I allow it. If you want to break through the genetic control and seize them by force, your mental strength would have to vastly surpass mine.”

Seeing that the cleaning was progressing smoothly, the three left for home.

Luo Yu worried that the zombies would be seen after sunrise, but Lampes assured him she’d already given instructions: if dawn came, they would dig holes and bury themselves.

When they returned to the Luo residence, the old master had just come back from his walk. He was rather unfazed to see a foreigner at home. Even after learning Lampes was a vampire, he only expressed mild surprise—his nerves had likely been toughened by Luo Yu and Qin Yue’s antics.

With the new school term about to start, Luo Yu and Qin Yue hurried to buy a mountain of supplies, transporting everything to the old house. Knowing there were zombies beneath his feet, Luo Yu at first avoided stepping directly on the earthen floor, feeling an unpleasant itch in his soles. But after many trips in and out, he grew accustomed to it.

Once everything was set in order, school commenced.

Luo Yu continued his habits from last term, carrying an array manual everywhere and memorizing programming languages.

Reading these books, Luo Yu came to a revelation: the intricate patterns on the array core jade pieces weren’t carved by hand, but were “imagined” into being with powerful spiritual sense and magic during their refinement—no wonder they looked so naturally perfect. Human thought is both fearsome and mighty, but ordinary people cannot fully control it; at best, they can conjure a vivid dreamscape, but not bring it to reality. This, in turn, proves that human potential far exceeds our imagination.

On Qin Yue’s side, aside from his routine cultivation, he started studying artifact forging. Drawing from Luo Yu’s insights into alchemy, he used various mundane materials to create several novel substances, even inventing a peculiar “plastic” based on jade’s structure that surprisingly possessed spiritual-sealing properties, though it held little spiritual energy due to excessive impurities. Qin Yue thought that if his fire magic grew stronger, he could use high pressure to expel the impurities, allowing it to replace jade entirely.

Luo Yu was delighted with Qin Yue’s research, expressing hope that he could develop a substitute for the elusive Airvoid Stone—Luo Yu was fascinated by spatial items and dreamed of a portable villa. His first suggestion to Qin Yue had been to forge a storage pouch, but was dismayed to learn it required Airvoid Stone.

According to Qin Yue, only one piece of Airvoid Stone had ever been found, and Earth was not even its place of origin. An ancient legend tells that when the stone appeared, thunder roared and the sky blazed; birds and beasts fled, the earth trembled. The commotion drew cultivators from far and wide. The treasure was so large that, instead of fighting, everyone rushed forward, each taking a piece until nothing remained.

Afterwards, people studied it for ages without discovering its use. Many ground it to powder and traded it away—never selling it all, parting with only small fragments. Eventually, as more and more people sold tiny pieces, someone discovered its miraculous properties and it became a priceless treasure. But by then, the Airvoid Stone had been reduced to countless shards, too small for anything substantial, so it was crafted into storage artifacts: bracelets, rings, and, at the smallest, storage pouches.

Qin Yue could only shrug at Luo Yu’s wish. “Without a sample, how can I research it?”

Luo Yu protested, “Analyze your bracelet! It contains Airvoid Stone, doesn’t it? It must have a significant amount!”

Qin Yue replied, “Once materials have fused, it’s nearly impossible to separate their components. You know this. If you mix saltwater and sugar water, how do you separate them again?”

Luo Yu said, “Aren’t they all made of molecules? Just separate the water, salt, and sugar molecules from each other!”

Qin Yue frowned. “In theory, yes, but that requires extraordinary control of both spiritual sense and magic. I can’t do it yet. Besides, once spiritual power is added, chemical reactions mutate the material, changing its structure beyond simple ‘molecules.’ We might not even be able to find it.”

Luo Yu furrowed his brow in deep thought before saying, “No matter what it’s become, it still has a form. We found the spiritual barrier—why not this? Plus, I have a storage pouch; we can compare the two items, analyze the difference in ingredients. There are two clues: first, the substance present in both artifacts; second, the one in greater proportion in the bracelet. We’ll filter them one by one—I refuse to believe we can’t find it.”

Qin Yue nodded gently. “Whenever you’re on the case, you always find a way, even when there seems to be none.”

Luo Yu replied modestly, “You could have thought of this too, you just didn’t consider reverse engineering. Now, hurry up and practice separating salt and sugar water! I’ll practice with you!”

With a new direction for research, Luo Yu returned to his own specialty—arrays.

He first read through all the array manuals, committing them to memory. After several rounds of physical transformation through spiritual power, Luo Yu’s memory had become exceptional. While not quite photographic, he could recall most of what he read with some effort.

What he found confirmed his suspicions: arrays and programming were remarkably similar.

Luo Yu had always likened alchemy furnaces to computers, but now realized that magic artifacts and arrays were more like personal computers, all networked together on the “world” super-server. In this sense, all things are arrays; every living or dead thing is configured with unique hardware and software, making them infinitely diverse. If people can code online games, then with enough ability and knowledge, perhaps one could program a real “world.”

This idea churned in Luo Yu’s mind. From his study, he divided array complexity into several stages:

1. Basic arrays: requiring an understanding of array symbols, their use, and proper ritual tools to function.
2. Offensive arrays: by embedding conditional statements, these arrays can trigger attack programs when needed.
3. Defensive arrays: with offense comes defense—by understanding attacks, one can devise counters. Arrays can be broken by other arrays.
4. Illusion arrays: after mastering attack and defense, add hallucinogenic elements to launch or resist attacks.
5. General support arrays: such as those embedded in magic tools—these are even harder than offensive arrays, as they require multiple conditions and actions.
6. Intermediate support arrays: for example, spiritual gathering arrays, which must detect and draw in energy.
7. Advanced support arrays: arrays that fulfill specific purposes and handle complex issues, becoming entities in their own right, like those inscribed on puppets.

Of course, these are only the basics; each stage is endlessly variable. For example, the puppets Luo Yu and the others encountered in the shop were the simplest kind. With enough skill, one could make puppets with lifelike movements and expressions—or, with true mastery, even create a corpse or living human. The difference lies in the array master’s insight and skill.

After studying programming languages and theory, Luo Yu took only a day to craft a basic array the size of a round table—functionless except for running on the spiritual energy stored in the jade array core. The next day, he modified it by adding conditional statements, giving it magical attack capabilities, though this quickly drained its power. On the third day, he began researching the syntax for spiritual gathering arrays.

Within a week, not only had he mastered the spiritual gathering array, but also the spiritual locking array. Such rapid progress was astonishing to array masters, but for Luo Yu, who had years of programming experience, it was merely a matter of changing languages, not even thought patterns.

With a burst of energy, Luo Yu improved the gathering array by embedding the locking array and adding a conditional statement for selective entry and exit—the result was nearly identical to the “Ninefold Spiritual Gathering Array” at Qin Yue’s home, only smaller.

Qin Yue praised him, “You should sell arrays at the next market. Your array skills are already on par with the few remaining old masters. This set of gathering arrays could fetch five thousand spirit stones—it’s something everyone wants, and will surely sell well.”

Buoyed by praise, Luo Yu threw himself into researching various techniques, determined to create a household array that combined defense, offense, gathering, and locking of spiritual energy.

While Luo Yu made excellent progress, things went less smoothly for Qin Yue. His cultivation level was low and magic power insufficient, making artifact forging arduous—just refining materials took over ten days, a dull and time-consuming ordeal.

One day, Luo Yu suddenly remembered: didn’t Lampes have fire magic too? Why not have him help?

So the two of them roped Lampes in as well, planning to use the vampire as a living stove. But for some reason, Lampes’s fire was peculiar—worse than Qin Yue’s for refining materials, and everything he produced was toxic and corrosive.

The three puzzled over it for ages. The vampire was quite baffled. “Why is this? My strength rivals that of a cultivator at the Golden Core stage, and my fire is effective against them. Why is it inferior to a mere Qi Refining cultivator’s fire for this task?”

After a long pause, Qin Yue ventured, “Your fire may be a kind of yin fire, suited for refining souls and ghosts, but not for forging artifacts.”

Luo Yu asked, “There are different kinds of fire?”

Qin Yue explained, “Of course. There’s yin fire and yang fire; most people use yang fire. Yin fire lacks heat, sometimes is even freezing cold. There are also mutated ‘poison fires’ that are toxic. If we could find a high-level yang fire, artifact forging would be much easier.”

Lampes, curious, inquired, “Refining souls and ghosts… how does that work?”

Qin Yue replied, “Much like Western necromancers, there are cultivators in the East who command spirits. Their methods are even more intense—not just drugs, but materials and fire for refinement. The resulting spirits are far more powerful than those of necromancers. But cultivators don’t use contracts, relying instead on cultivation to suppress them, which makes backlash more likely.”

Lampes was intrigued. “I’d like to visit Luofeng Town again to buy some books on that subject. Hmm… is there anything you want me to bring back?”

Luo Yu said, “Just get some wine for Grandpa—he loves the stuff. Nothing else needed.”

Lampes was delighted. “Winning your father’s support is crucial, you know? Last night, mommy slept in your father’s room… That’s real progress.”

Luo Yu was indignant. “You actually snuck into my dad’s room!”

Lampes replied, “Oh, darling, mommy and daddy sleeping together is only right. Cubs who rely too much on their daddy will never grow up.”

Luo Yu threatened, “Don’t you dare force him to do anything, or I’ll use silver nails against you. By the way, why don’t magic tools affect you, but silver can be lethal?”

Lampes covered her eyes. “Heavens, you’re talking about that wicked metal! Do you know why humans use silver cutlery rather than lovely gold? It’s because the damned stuff can kill germs and also harms vampire cells and genes! Oh, I curse it! All silver should go to heaven!”

Companion Cultivators, Chapter 35—Improving the Spirit Gathering Array, complete!