409: Chapter 409 Spirit Array Upgrade, Spirit Array Sub-Alliance Monitoring

As the morning light just swept across the rooftops of Qiming Plain, the figures at the Night Cliff Martial Arts Arena had already dispersed.

The wind swirled dead leaves across the empty ground; the lingering murderous aura from last night's Sword Intent had been completely dissipated by the sun.

In the Spirit Array Study Pavilion, the stone door was pushed open from the outside with a creak.

Ling Zhenzi walked in carrying an oil lamp, his hair still damp with dew, clearly having just returned from an array inspection.

He placed the lamp on the table, wiped his face with his hand, and stared at the General Map of the Eastern Desolation's Spiritual Veins hanging on the wall for a long time before speaking in a low voice: "Something's wrong."

He didn't specify what was wrong, but his finger was already pressed against a node on the map—the third sentry tower to the north of the Zhao Clan of Xiling's station.

"When the rebels attacked last night, the Spiritual Qi here was cut off for three breaths," he muttered to himself. "But the Formation Plate didn't sound, and not even a single fluctuation was recorded."

As he spoke, he turned and walked to the recording Formation Plate in the corner. His fingertips tapped quickly on the rune keys, and a pale green light screen slowly rose, displaying the spiritual power flow curves of various areas during last night's battle.

He narrowed his eyes, scanning the lines one by one, and suddenly stopped.

"Another one missed," he sneered. "In the South Camp of the Wang Family at Chiji Ridge, the Spiritual Pressure dropped sharply for two breaths, and the System judged it as 'Cultivator breathing fluctuations'? Bullshit! Whose cultivation can suck a Spiritual Vein into a vacuum?"

He slammed the table, causing the oil lamp to flicker.

"The old ways won't work anymore," he murmured. "Relying on people to patrol and eyes to watch, then fixing things after they happen—that's just guarding a grave."

Now that the Chen Family has risen and the Alliance has taken shape, letting people sneak through loopholes... no, I have to find another way."

He stood up and paced back and forth in the room, his steps getting faster and faster. Finally, he stopped in front of a blank array diagram, bit his fingertip, and let a drop of blood fall onto the paper; the diagram instantly lit up with a faint glow.

"The main array will solidify defenses, and the sub-arrays will monitor people," he muttered while drawing. "The main array remains static, while sub-arrays are embedded into each clan's station, specifically monitoring behavior patterns. If anyone's spiritual power deviates, if their frequency becomes chaotic, or if the duration is abnormal... mark them red immediately."

He paused, then added: "But we can't be overly suspicious of everything. Those kids from the Zhao Family break through barriers en masse every night, and their Spiritual Pressure explodes like a war zone. If I have to sound the alarm every time, I'll be annoyed to death."

He sat back at the table, pulled out a stack of old patrol logs, and flipped through them page by page, muttering:

"I need to build a 'Normalcy Database'. Which Family practices at what time, which Disciples like to stay up late, which Elders enjoy midnight Alchemy..."

"Record it all clearly. Only sound the alarm if it exceeds the threshold; otherwise, we're just scaring ourselves."

For an entire day, he remained buried at his desk, drawing, editing, and recalculating. When hungry, he grabbed a handful of dry biscuits; when thirsty, he gulped down cold tea. His eyes never left the Formation Plate.

When the sky was completely dark, the Central Spirit Array Platform finally lit up.

Six bronze pillars rose from the ground, forming a circle. In the center floated a fist-sized spirit core, its surface covered in dense runes.

Ling Zhenzi stood at the heart of the array, his hands forming seals as he gave a low shout: "Activate!"

Buzz—

The spirit core began to rotate, and a web of light instantly spread out, covering the entire map of the Eastern Desolation.

Every Family station was marked with a small dot, the color turning from gray to green, indicating a normal connection.

"First round, simulated run," he pressed the activation rune on the Formation Plate.

In less than ten breaths, the Zhao Clan of Xiling's station suddenly flashed red!

Ling Zhenzi's brow twitched. He immediately pulled up the data stream and found that thirty Zhao Family Disciples were collectively practicing a new sword array. The Spiritual Pressure surged abruptly, and the System judged it as a 'high-intensity abnormal impact', nearly triggering the defensive counterattack program.

"Shit!" He immediately cut the feedback link, breaking into a cold sweat. "If this were a real array, the entire Zhao Family would have been blasted away by the barrier!"

He quickly isolated the source of the false alarm and pulled up the spiritual patterns from the past seven days. Comparing them one by one, he finally found a pattern: when the Zhao Family practiced their swords, the spiritual power progressed in waves, lasting for three-quarters of an hour with a fixed frequency, completely different from the explosive output of a sudden battle.

"Add Intent Recognition," he gritted his teeth, embedding a new piece of logic into the core runes of the array. "Look at the direction, the rhythm, and the continuity. Just because it's powerful doesn't mean it's an attack; we have to see what it's trying to do."

After finishing the edits, he restarted it.

This time, no matter how high the Spiritual Pressure from the Zhao Family went, it only turned slightly yellow and did not reach the warning level.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and just as the corners of his mouth began to lift, the direction of the Beigu Lei Family lit up again.

He immediately zoomed in to check—a Disciple was undergoing a Foundation Establishment Breakthrough in their room, and the spiritual power had overflowed out of control, creating a brief disturbance.

The System remained silent for five breaths, judged it as an 'individual Breakthrough fluctuation', automatically archived it, and did not sound the alarm.

"It worked," he said softly.

For the next three days, he barely closed his eyes. He spent the days debugging parameters and the nights performing stress tests.

He simulated five invasion scenarios: one disguised as a Disciple sneaking in, one with remote spiritual wave interference, one with internal personnel suddenly revolting, and one with multiple points of simultaneous abnormal movement.

Each time, the new array locked onto the abnormality within ten breaths, marked it red for positioning, and simultaneously raised the defensive barriers in the corresponding areas.

On the morning of the fourth day, the mist rose again over Qiming Plain.

Ling Zhenzi stood in the center of the Observation Room, facing the final version of the Spirit Array map.

All one hundred and eight nodes across the territory were connected, their green lights flickering quietly like stars.

There was no noise, no alarm—only the faint sound of spiritual flow whispering in his ears.

He stared at the map for a long time, then suddenly reached out and lightly tapped the Array Core beneath the Chen Family's Main Peak.

"From now on, we won't rely on people risking their lives," he said. "If someone wants to cause trouble, you won't have to wait for them to act. As soon as their spiritual power deviates, you'll know exactly what they're thinking."

He slowly withdrew his hand and shut down the main control Formation Plate.

The light screen went out, the bronze pillars sank back underground, and the entire Spirit Array platform returned to a state of calm, as if nothing had ever happened.

He turned and walked out of the Observation Room, pushing open the stone door as the morning breeze brushed against his face.

In the distance, the shouts of children practicing their techniques could be heard, and the hum of the Mecha Patrol Team rang out as usual.

Everything was as it always was.

He walked slowly along the stone path toward his residence, his steps a bit unsteady and his eyes bloodshot, but his back was ramrod straight.

Halfway there, he stopped and glanced back toward the Central Spirit Array Platform.

No one saw how heavy that glance was.

And no one knew that from this moment on, every inch of land, every breath, and every fluctuation of spiritual power in the Eastern Desolation Alliance was under a pair of invisible eyes.

He continued forward, the spiritual lamps on both sides of the stone path lighting up one by one, reflecting his tall, thin shadow.

The wind blew the corners of his robes. He whispered something, but no one heard it clearly.

One could only see him raise his hand, rub his temples, and then quicken his pace toward the Elder's residence.