Bai Mu sighed and shook his head. Whatever. That wasn't important now. He would have time to get to know his father better in the future, maybe even having that fight he had dreamed about. For now, he had to concentrate on the task at hand though and make sure that he didn't make any mistake. After all, he had promised this and from what Leng Jin Yu had told him, this was extremely important to him and his lover. He couldn't be careless.
He looked back at the initial drawings on the scroll and couldn't help but furrow his brows. This kind of array … It really was complicated to set up. Just how long would he need to come up with something that would be safe to use? And not just for a short amount of time? After all, he needed something that could support a gate between two equally strong dimensions, one that would be able to last for several thousand years in the best case. After all, who knew how long the two of them would want to stay in there?
Binding the array to his blood just like how his parents had done back then might be possible to sustain it but there still couldn't be any weak spot in the links between the layers or it would collapse sooner or later. What that would mean for the people inside … There really was no need to think about that. He definitely wouldn't let that happen to people who had helped him before.
Bai Mu focused on grouping the links together, silently muttering to himself. He tried a few possible connections but gave up on them just as fast. No, this didn't fit. The shapes just didn't fit. He needed something …
Bai Mu's expression blanked. Right, the shapes didn't fit. Even if he managed to connect the links, it still wouldn't fit. He could account for some points, but not others. The shapes were just too different if they were ordered like this. And having too many different small clusters of links between them would also be a weakness in itself.
One of the things about arrays he had learned in the early years of his life from his mother was that a simple construction would always be the strongest. The stableness of the shapes could be restored with links but the more links you connected, the weaker the whole cluster of links would be. In other words, one link was the best connection between two points of different layers. A connection made up of two links would be stronger than one made up of three and so on.
Well, having similar link clusters could stabilize an array even if there were two or three links connected to each other. So the distance between two shapes should be as even as possible. This way, the same link clusters could be used, enabling the caster of the array to offset the weakness that the clusters would normally bring. In this case, it meant that he had to even out the longer distances between the two layers of the array before he could add in the links to make sure it wouldn't become unstable.
Bai Mu leaned over the paper scroll with furrowed brows. Right now, he really wished to have paid more attention to arrays back then. Honestly, even if he didn't learn it back when he was young together with his mother, he could have at least spent more time on it while he was in the other sects. Just what had made him think that practicing weapons and finally cultivating his spiritual energy were more important? Such an array could have a big impact.
He sighed and shook his head. Regretting it wouldn't change anything. He could only try his best and if he really couldn't make it, then he could still ask for help. He measured the distance between the lines of the two shapes. Right now, the inner one was a typical hexagon, the shape that would be able to bind all six sorts of spiritual energy in equal amounts. It was a very balanced form, one that could be used as the base for any kind of array. The outer layer though …
He didn't know what exactly to call this shape. It was like a sphere that had been pulled outward, the original softly curved lines distorted beyond recognition, making it twist and turn into something that didn't have a name anymore. It looked a bit like a snake that was trying to curl up in pain but was obstructed halfway and could only wriggle on the spot.
When this shape was fit into the hexagon, it could be bent slightly, making the distance between the layers stay more or less constant. Outside of it though … The outermost corners really were too far away. Evening this out was impossible.
He furrowed his brows further and waved the brush. Just what to do? Could he change the shape? But as far as he knew, they all had different advantages and disadvantages. There had to be a reason why his mother had decided on this one and he'd rather not experiment with this.
Ah! Maybe it would work if he split the original hexagon? Having not one of them but three, one in the middle and two on the sides. And if the ones on the sides were half the size of the one in the middle, then that should also do its part to stabilize the areas as a whole.
Bai Mu once again moved his brush and put his idea down. There still was no way to make up for all of the difference that changing the position of the two layers had caused but this was already much better. Now, he only needed to fit the links in there and then, he could start testing the every. Then he would see if he had been right or if he was creating a death trap right now.