Time became a fluid, forgotten concept. Inside the pavilion, Xiao Lin's consciousness dove deep into the geometric logic of the universe. He mastered the Three-Talent, the Four-Symbol, and the Five-Element arrays in what felt like a blink, yet his soul felt the weight of years of study.
Floor by floor, he ascended. Finally, he conquered the Nine-Palace Array, the most complex of the foundations. As he mastered the final stroke, the white light deposited him on the Ninth Floor.
"So these are the Nine Foundations," Xiao Lin exhaled, his face flushed with a scholar's ecstasy. "Breathtakingly simple in form, yet infinite in their permutations. No wonder all modern arrays are just shadows of these nine. I've struck gold—this is better than any Tier 6 pill!"
He felt like a man who had bought a lottery ticket on a whim and walked away with the jackpot. He was now just one spark away from becoming a true Spirit Array Master.
As his initial excitement cooled, Xiao Lin surveyed the ninth floor. Unlike the others, this floor didn't immediately transport him elsewhere. He was stuck.
He unleashed his Heavenly State Soul, but his spiritual ripples hit a "dead zone" in the corner of the room. Something was masking his perception—a feat that should be impossible against a Heavenly soul.
"Crap!" Xiao Lin's heart hammered. "I got too sucked into the research. My guard dropped to zero! How long have I been in here? One year? Five? Ten?!"
He slapped his forehead in frustration. Cultivation knows no years, and he realized he might have been missing for a decade. The Xiao Clan would be in shambles, thinking their "Dou Wang" pillar had vanished in a ruin. The "Lao Liu" had finally outsmarted himself.
"Calm yourself, little fellow," a weary, ancient voice rasped, cutting through Xiao Lin's panic. "The time you spent deconstructing the foundations in this 'Formation Pavilion' was several years of focus—but in the outside world, only five days have passed."
Xiao Lin froze. He spun around, his Star Dou Qi erupting from his pores and his Heavenly State Soul surging like a tidal wave.
A translucent, shimmering figure drifted out of the "dead zone." It was an old man, perhaps seventy in appearance, his form so faint he looked like he was made of morning mist.
"Who are you? Why are you hiding here?" Xiao Lin demanded, his aura cold and lethal. Even if the old man looked weak, the fact that he could hide from a Heavenly State Soul made him a Tier 1 threat.
"Keke, such a heavy guard for one so young," the spirit chuckled, seemingly unfazed by Xiao Lin's killing intent. "But your question is quite poor. You are the one who broke into my Formation Pavilion, studied my Nine Foundations without an invitation, and now you ask who I am? Isn't that a bit backwards?"
Xiao Lin's face turned a shade of embarrassed pink. Even with his thick skin, the logic was undeniable. He had trespassed, stolen the inheritance, and then threatened the owner.
Recognizing no immediate malice, Xiao Lin retracted his Dou Qi and bowed deeply. "My apologies, Senior. I was... overzealous. May I ask your honored name?"
"Good, good. At least you have manners," the spirit said, stroking a long, snow-white beard. "I spent the last of my soul's reserves to help you bridge the time gap. As for my name... it has been too long. Others used to call me the Array Old Man."
Xiao Lin's heart settled. He realized "Array Old Man" had used a profound spatial-temporal array to accelerate the flow of time within the pavilion. It explained why his brain felt years older while the world outside had barely moved.
A man who can manipulate time, even as a remnant soul... Xiao Lin thought. This isn't just a Dou Zun. This might be a legacy that predates the modern era entirely.
"I am Xiao Lin," he said, his voice now full of respect. "Thank you for the guidance, Senior. But why help me? Surely there were others who entered this ruin before me."
The Array Old Man looked at Xiao Lin, his eyes twinkling with a strange light. "Many entered. But you were the only one who didn't throw that 'Basic Guide' into a trash heap. You were the only one who saw the logic behind the lines. And most importantly... your soul is 'different,' isn't it?"
"Hahaha! Formidable indeed! To think that in my final days, I would actually find someone capable of inheriting my life's work. The Heavens have truly been kind to me!"
The old spirit, Zhen Lao (Old Man Array), threw his head back and laughed. For an existence that had lost its physical body and spent eons trapped within the silent walls of the Formation Pavilion, seeing a youth with such innate talent for the "Path of Arrays" was a joy beyond words.
To ensure this talent didn't wither, he had sacrificed a massive portion of his remaining soul essence to warp the flow of time within the pavilion. What felt like years of grueling study for Xiao Lin was compressed into a mere five days of the outside world.
"Senior... the 'Path' you speak of," Xiao Lin started, his voice softening as he sensed the old man's fading aura. "It is the ancient art of formations, isn't it?"
"Indeed," Zhen Lao replied, his face glowing with a pride that quickly turned to melancholy. "I spent my entire life immersed in the diagrams of the world. In my era, I was one of the few whose name carried weight across the Dou Qi Continent. But alas..."
He trailed off, and Xiao Lin didn't press him. He could see that the old man's soul was in its final twilight. Without a miracle of the highest order, he would soon dissipate into nothingness.
"Senior, are you grieving for the fall of your sect?" Xiao Lin gestured to the ruins outside.
"My sect?" Zhen Lao blinked, a strange expression crossing his face. "Who told you I belonged to this place?"
Xiao Lin went silent, his face darkening slightly. If this isn't your sect, why are you haunting the attic?
"This place," Zhen Lao explained, "was once known as the Barbarian Sect. I was merely a guest, invited to construct this very Formation Pavilion as a training ground for their disciples. But as fate would have it, disaster struck just as I finished the final brick. I hadn't even handed over the keys before the sect was buried. I was simply an unlucky contractor caught in the collapse."
Xiao Lin's eyes widened. "So... that's why the Pavilion isn't near the Central Sovereign Hall. It was a new addition! And you're telling me a Dou Zong-level sect managed to hire a master like you?"
"I was young and greedy for the rare materials they offered," Zhen Lao sighed. "A mistake that cost me my physical life. But perhaps, it was all to lead to this moment."
Zhen Lao looked at the book in Xiao Lin's hand—the Annotated Guide to Basic Formations. "It is a joke of destiny that cannot be described with words. That book... I wrote it."
Xiao Lin froze. He slowly pulled the weathered manual from his Storage Ring and handed it to the old man.
"I wrote this for the Barbarian Sect so their students could understand the logic of the Pavilion," Zhen Lao said, stroking the cover with phantom fingers. "The Primer Clan must have found it years ago during an early exploration but dismissed it because the art of arrays had died out. They sold it as trash, and it found its way to you."
The puzzle pieces clicked into place. When Xiao Lin first entered the Pavilion, Zhen Lao had stirred from his slumber. He had initially planned to observe Xiao Lin for years, waiting for other explorers to arrive so he could pick the best successor.
But then, Xiao Lin did something unexpected: he pulled out Zhen Lao's own book.
To the old master, it was a divine signal. He stopped looking for "better" candidates and bet everything—including his remaining lifespan—on Xiao Lin. He triggered the Temporal Inversion Array, turning five days into years of mental training.
"Little fellow," Zhen Lao said, his form shimmering. "My time is nearly up. Whether you can master the true depths of my craft depends on your own fortune. You have the foundations. Now... are you ready for the real inheritance?"