According to Elder Long's judgment, due to the passage of time and the lack of proper maintenance, the array could only exert about twenty or thirty percent of its original power.
It was clearly impossible for them to just give up and retreat. After all, the treasure was right in front of them.
After resting for half an hour, the group gathered again to discuss their next move.
It seemed almost impossible to obtain the treasure safely; they could only take a risk. Elder Long had also made some predictions about the array and had some ideas.
Although he couldn't completely break the array, he could slightly reduce its power. Then, the group could directly enter the altar to retrieve the treasure, greatly reducing the danger.
The others agreed with this idea, and Elder Long began to set things up. First, he took out some array disks and flags and placed them around the altar.
"Fellow Daoist Long, what kind of array is this?" Ding Ruozhao asked curiously, watching Elder Long busily arranging the array tools.
"This is a Wood Genesis Array, a rare array passed down from ancient times. This array can quickly absorb the power of the earth's veins. It was originally used in high-grade spiritual herb fields to nourish the essence of plants and trees, shortening the growth time of some spiritual herbs."
Zhang Ling couldn't help but become interested upon hearing this. Elder Long continued leisurely.
"After my modification, this array is even better at absorbing the earth's veins. But it has a drawback: because it absorbs so much power, exceeding its original capacity, it will damage the spiritual veins to some extent. So, it's rarely used."
"However, this array is perfect for this place." Elder Long said with a somewhat smug smile, looking at the others' expressions.
"As you all know, the five elements generate and overcome each other. Spells and cultivation techniques are created based on this, and arrays even follow the rules of heaven and earth. They are a means of borrowing the power of heaven and earth. Although I can't see what kind of array this is, it's clearly an Earth element array. Its energy source also comes from the spiritual veins in Butterfly Valley."
"By setting up a Wood Genesis Array on the periphery of this array, we can weaken the speed at which the Earth element array absorbs and transports spiritual energy to a certain extent."
Hearing this, everyone naturally understood his meaning.
Arrays set up by humans must consider the source of energy. An array without energy cannot trap cultivators. At most, it can only trap mortals.
Armies of mortals often set up some arrays when fighting wars; these are arrays without energy. Most of these arrays are passed down from the cultivation world.
However, mortals cannot control spiritual power, so even if they set up the exact same array, it can only simply confuse the enemy.
The energy of arrays in the cultivation world comes from spiritual power. Using spirit stones or the cultivators themselves as a source of spiritual power are common methods.
And for guardian arrays like those of sects, and these ancient restrictions, if they want their power to last for a long time, they can only rely on the earth's veins.
The spiritual veins formed between heaven and earth vary in size and the degree of spiritual energy.
But even the lowest-level spiritual veins can exist for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years as long as they are not destroyed.
Relying on the operation of the spiritual veins, the array restrictions will naturally last for a long time.
But there is another flaw in this: the spiritual veins will not dry up, but the array tools will gradually be damaged over time until they lose their function.
The situation they were facing now was like this.
A quarter of an hour later, Elder Long's eyes lit up, and he cast several spells on the two or three array disks floating in front of him. Immediately, pillars of green light rose up nearby.
These pillars of light soared into the sky, and after a dozen breaths of time, they converged on the altar, turning into a huge green sphere of light.
The sphere of light spun around, rippling with layers of green waves. The waves spread outward in circles.
After a while, the space within thirty-some feet nearby was dyed greenish-blue.
"The Wood Genesis Array is complete, but judging from its effect, the suppression of the Earth element array on the altar is not very strong."
"For a temporary array like this, it's already top-notch to exert twenty or thirty percent of its original power. But if there were a section of high-grade spiritual wood as the array eye, the power of this array could be increased by several times."
Elder Long shook his head as he spoke; he didn't have such spiritual wood in his possession.
Spiritual wood!
"Fellow Daoist Long, is it true that the power of this array can be increased with spiritual wood?" Zhang Ling asked hesitantly, his expression shifting slightly.
"This Wood Genesis Array was originally designed to use spiritual wood as the array eye. The higher the grade and the longer the age, the greater the power."
Hearing this, Zhang Ling nodded, but he didn't immediately take out the so-called spiritual wood. He glanced at the others first.
Ding Ruozhao smiled at him slightly.
"If Fellow Daoist Zhang really has spiritual wood to strengthen this array, as long as the array can be increased by one-fold, you can choose treasures before Elder Long, how about it?"
"Hehe, good. Since the fairy said so, then Zhang will feel relieved." Zhang Ling's expression changed, this was his purpose. Since there was hope of obtaining the treasure, he didn't mind helping out a bit.
"I happen to have a spiritual wood on me. I wonder if it meets Fellow Daoist Long's requirements." As he spoke, he flipped his hand, and a jade box appeared in his hand. With a snap, the box was opened, and inside was a clear green jade bamboo.
"Oh, such rich wood spiritual energy, this is, this is Emerald Jade Bamboo. The age doesn't seem low either."
"That's right, this is a six-hundred-year-old Emerald Jade Bamboo. Fellow Daoist Long, see if it meets the requirements for setting up the array."
"Six-hundred-year-old third-grade spiritual wood, that's enough."
Elder Long stared at the Emerald Jade Bamboo with a gleam in his eyes, then stepped forward and took the Emerald Jade Bamboo, examining it carefully.
A six-hundred-year-old Emerald Jade Bamboo could be sold for at least fifty to sixty thousand spirit stones on the market. Everyone was naturally quite astonished that it was taken out so easily.
But Elder Long frowned and said again.
"Fellow Daoist, I must make it clear beforehand, although this spiritual wood can be used as the array eye of the Wood Genesis Array, it can only be used once. Afterward, this spiritual wood will be useless."
"Fellow Daoist, please proceed. I didn't intend to take this spiritual wood back when I took it out."
Zhang Ling only frowned slightly and responded with a smile.
Elder Long nodded to him, took the Emerald Jade Bamboo, and sat down cross-legged directly.
"I have to inscribe runes and incantations on this spiritual wood before it can be used as the array eye of the Wood Genesis Array. Everyone, please wait for a while, two or three hours will be enough."
"Alright, Elder Long, please prepare. We will protect you."
Then, the old man concentrated on looking at the Emerald Jade Bamboo and didn't move.
After a full quarter of an hour, Elder Long solemnly threw the spiritual wood in his hand, fixing it in front of him. With a wave of his sleeve, a black metal brush appeared in his hand.
This brush was quite familiar to Zhang Ling as well; it was a spiritual pattern engraving knife used by alchemists and array masters.
