The concealment array remained active through the night.
By the time dawn approached, three cracked spirit stones lay beside Lu Haotian.
He opened his eyes slowly.
The first thing he did was not stretch.
Not cultivate.
He looked at the formation.
It was still there.
Faint.
Stable.
Quietly consuming.
"…Too wasteful."
He reached out and gently disrupted the core.
The entire array collapsed instantly, the remaining qi dispersing into the air.
Silence returned to the room.
Lu Haotian stared at the cracked stones for a moment.
A Tier 1 formation…
And it had already consumed this much.
"If I rely on this constantly, even I won't last long."
He wasn't worried about running out.
The Veiled Emperor Ring held more than enough.
But waste—
Was still waste.
He stood up and walked outside.
The courtyard was quiet, just as before.
But now—
His attention had changed.
He wasn't looking at space anymore.
He was thinking about use.
Arrays weren't just for combat.
Not just for concealment.
They could be used for smaller things.
Daily things.
Lu Haotian sat down again.
This time—
He didn't take out a jade slip.
He didn't follow a fixed pattern.
He started from scratch.
"Something simple…"
He raised his hand.
A node formed.
Then another.
Then a third.
No rush.
No pressure.
Instead of forcing a full formation—
He kept it small.
Contained.
A small square of nodes.
Connected loosely.
He placed a low-grade spirit stone at the center.
Then adjusted the flow.
The qi from the stone didn't disperse immediately.
It lingered.
Contained within the small structure.
Lu Haotian watched carefully.
"…Storage."
Not a real storage array.
Not capable of holding items.
But—
It slowed qi loss.
The spirit stone didn't leak as quickly.
He reached out and disrupted it.
Then rebuilt it.
This time—
He refined it further.
Tighter lines.
Better balance.
The effect improved slightly.
A faint nod.
"Useful."
He didn't stop there.
Next—
He tried something else.
Two nodes.
One line.
Minimal structure.
He placed it around a small object—a cup.
Then adjusted the flow.
The qi wrapped around it.
Thin.
Weak.
But stable.
Minutes passed.
The water inside the cup remained still.
Unchanged.
"…Preservation."
Very weak.
Very basic.
But it worked.
Lu Haotian leaned back slightly.
His thoughts moved faster now.
Not big formations.
Not complex structures.
Small ones.
Cheap ones.
Efficient ones.
That was the key.
Over the next few days—
His routine changed.
Morning—
Cultivation.
Stabilizing his 9th layer.
Afternoon—
Array Hall.
Learning theory.
Night—
Practice.
Alone.
Failures continued.
Often.
Structures collapsed.
Nodes destabilized.
Qi slipped out of control.
But slowly—
He improved.
He no longer needed full focus to form basic nodes.
Three.
Four.
Five.
He could hold them longer now.
Not perfectly.
But consistently.
More importantly—
He learned restraint.
Not every formation needed power.
Some only needed balance.
By the fifth day—
He created something stable.
A small circular structure.
Six nodes.
Lightly connected.
Placed at the corner of his room.
It didn't hide his presence.
It didn't defend.
But—
It formed a thin barrier.
Weak.
Almost negligible.
But enough to dull sound slightly.
Lu Haotian clapped once.
The sound felt softer.
Contained.
He nodded slowly.
"…Good enough."
He looked around his room.
Now—
There were small formations everywhere.
Near the table — a preservation array.
Near the bed — a weak sound-dampening field.
Near the corner — a minor barrier.
None of them impressive.
None of them powerful.
But all of them—
Useful.
Lu Haotian exhaled lightly.
For the first time—
He felt something different.
Control.
Not just over qi.
But over his environment.
He looked at his hand.
Then closed it slowly.
"If I keep going…"
His gaze sharpened faintly.
"I won't need to rely on strength alone."
Outside, the night remained quiet.
Inside—
The faint hum of small, imperfect formations filled the room.
And Lu Haotian—
Sat at the center of it all.
Learning.
Refining.
Building something—
Piece by piece.