A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Four days had passed since Aksai met with the Blackblood Lord and the Frostbound Lord.

Now, inside a massive underground chamber deep within the Holy Land Torel, the three of them stood surrounded by the glowing light of a Spirit Array Formation.

The faint symbols floated all around like tiny stars flickering in midair.

Aksai stood at the center of it all.

His robes fluttered slightly even though there was no wind. His eyes were calm and focused, locked onto the space in front of him as his right hand moved through the air.

One after another, ethereal runes appeared where his fingers passed, drawn using his Spirit essence as ink.

These Essence Equations were powerful constructs born from the Heretic Dao. Frankly, he wouldn't be able to cast these runes if he was on his own. It was only because there were two Core Formation Lords supporting him inside the formation that he could do that.

It was like an 8th-grade student trying to solve derivatives and integration problems meant for 10th grade math. So, what do you do?

You ask for help from two 12th-grade students. But the problem is that they are from a different branch who majored in biology. Although they have learned the basic math before, their area of expertise is not related to math anymore. Not really.

Thankfully, the 8th-grade student had brought with him an almost complete Heretic Dao inheritance, which served as a guidebook. So all they needed to do was help each other using their own strengths.

In short, none of the trio was fully qualified to solve the problem on their own. All they could do was cooperate with each other using the best of their abilities.

Back to Aksai's current predicament.

Each Essence Equation that he created held deep meaning and was tied to the very laws of nature. As soon as a rune was completed, it shimmered with silver-blue light and flew off in one of eight directions.

Aksai stood right in the middle of the central Array Eye. The formation around him stretched out wide in all directions, twice as large as an ordinary 3rd Order formation.

It had many nodes—small points of power—connected through lines of Spirit energy that pulsed softly like veins.

To his left stood the Frostbound Lord, and to his right, the Blackblood Lord. Both stood about ten meters away from him, placed at key positions in the formation.

Huge piles of high-grade Spirit stones had been stacked around the nodes. Rare resources, some glowing with fiery light and others covered in freezing mist, had been placed at specific corners to boost the formation's power.

These were not normal items. Some were so rare that even a Core Formation Lord would hesitate to use them carelessly. Ironically, these were the same resources that the Lords had obtained from the Holy Land Torel. And at this point, they were forced to use the same resources to help a junior get them out.

Of course, the Blackblood Lord and Frostbound Lord's hearts bled as they watched these resources lose their essence with each passing second. They had nearly spent 40 percent of the accumulated wealth in the four days.

If the formation was not completed on time and they were forced to work non-stop for another 2-3 days, their accumulated wealth would drop even further.

Had it not been for the fact that the Holy Land Torel had offered them so much more than they could hope for, they would have regretted coming to this accursed place.

'Damn. Father-in-law… cough…. I mean the Frostbound Lord is really good with this.'

Aksai thought to himself as he looked at the Frostbound Lord briefly to watch his progress.

The Frostbound Lord moved his right hand slowly. His two joint fingers moved like a brush, helping to form additional runes that Aksai directed.

His Spirit essence was much higher in purity and power—he was a 3rd realm Spirit cultivator after all—but his understanding of the Heretic Dao was shallow.

Compared to Aksai, he was like a student still learning the alphabet of a different language than his native tongue while Aksai was already writing poetry.

As such, he couldn't stand in the central Array Eye himself. Not because he wasn't strong, but because the formation's structure depended heavily on Heretic Dao knowledge.

He had only four days to learn from Aksai, and while his grasp was solid, it wasn't nearly enough to take over.

Then again, the fact that the Frostbound Lord could even read and write alphabets in the Heretic Dao was a big deal because it was not an easy language to learn. It spoke volumes about his comprehension abilities and his inherent talent.

Despite all his initial problems in learning the Heretic Dao just enough to participate in the array, the Frostbound Lord did his best.

So he helped from the side, drawing the runes slowly and carefully under Aksai's guidance.

The Blackblood Lord, on the other hand, had shown much more natural talent in the Heretic Dao. His mind understood the strange logic of the Essence Equations faster than expected. But sadly, his body was failing.

Inside his chest, a glass-like ice heart beat slowly. It was a temporary fix, a method to keep him alive for a little longer. Everyone knew it wouldn't last forever.

That's why he didn't take on too much work.

He stood quietly at his position, feeding his Spirit essence into the formation, but resting often. When needed, he sat down and closed his eyes, letting the energy flow through him while Aksai and the Frostbound Lord handled the creation of the formation.

He did not complain. He simply nodded when spoken to, gave advice when asked, and let his Spirit essence pour into the formation steadily like a river.

Aksai created another rune and sent it flying.

It joined the others as they rotated gently around the formation, slowly shaping a giant and mysterious pattern in the air above the chamber.

The pressure in the air was palpable. The lights grew brighter. And the hum of energy turned deeper, more powerful.

The formation was nearing completion.

To be honest, Aksai could leave the Holy Land Torel and return anytime he wanted.

However, he had to put on a legitimate show in front of the two Core Formation Lords so they wouldn't realize that he had practically obtained ownership of the entire dimension.