[You did not continue to worry about how you came to the depths of the island. You looked around for a moment and found that the black tortoise remained motionless. You couldn't tell whether it had fallen asleep or was simply ignoring you.]
[You shifted your attention to the forbidden array, hoping it would inspire you to improve your understanding of formations.]
[The array symbols were arranged into unfamiliar patterns, one after another, making it difficult for you to comprehend them.]
[You realized that, with your current level of expertise, it would be impossible to fully grasp the forbidden array.]
[So, you chose one specific pattern from the countless interwoven designs and began analyzing it.]
[You decided to start small, breaking down the intricate details step by step.]
[However, as you delved deeper into the analysis, your head felt like it was about to explode.]
[After half an hour of effort, you were forced to stop and take a break.]
[Despite this setback, you did not give up. After resting for half a day, you resumed your study of the array pattern.]
[From then on, you repeated this process daily.]
[In the fourth year, after an entire year of effort, you had only managed to analyze a small portion of the formation pattern.]
[Even so, you noticed a significant improvement in your understanding of formations as you continued to analyze it.]
[In the fifth year, you had deciphered half of the formation pattern, and your comprehension of formations had deepened considerably.]
[In the sixth year, you continued your relentless analysis of the array.]
[By the eighth year, you had finally unraveled the formation pattern, greatly enhancing your mastery of formations.]
[This achievement filled you with pride, but as you surveyed the remaining patterns, your heart sank.]
[It had taken you five years to analyze just one pattern.]
[Before your eyes were hundreds of thousands of such patterns, and you realized that the complete forbidden array extended across the entire southern region. You couldn't fathom how many such patterns existed in total.]
[The sheer scope of the task was overwhelming, and with your current pace, you dared not imagine how long it would take to fully comprehend the array.]
["Alas, the journey ahead is long," you sighed.]
[Still, this was within your expectations. Your purpose here was not to break the array but to enhance your formation skills.]
[Once your formation skills improved further, you planned to revisit the back mountain and attempt to repair the array left behind by Senior Lu Wuya to resist the heavenly thunder.]
[Everything you were doing now was part of your effort to increase the simulation time and strengthen yourself.]
[In the ninth year, you stopped analyzing new patterns.]
[Instead, you focused on consolidating the insights you had gained over the past few years. At this point, you felt confident enough to attempt arranging an eighth-grade formation.]
[Without hesitation, you began to practice.]
[However, as you inscribed five formation symbols, you found that they could not form a coherent structure. The spiritual energy in your sea of qi was completely depleted, leaving you unable to proceed.]
["So, it really is like this," you murmured to yourself.]
[You had anticipated this outcome, but you still couldn't resist testing your limits.]
[Formation symbols were carved using spiritual energy, and higher-grade formations required significantly more energy to inscribe each symbol.]
[In theory, cultivators in the Golden Core realm could at most arrange a fourth-grade formation.]
[Some geniuses with a stronger foundation and larger qi seas could barely manage fifth-grade or even sixth-grade formations, but they were extremely rare.]
[Thanks to your twelfth-grade golden core and your ability to convert vital energy into spiritual energy, coupled with a qi sea three times the size of an ordinary cultivator's, you were capable of arranging a seventh-grade formation.]
[However, an eighth-grade formation was beyond your current limits.]
[You shook your head but remained undeterred.]
[The issue was not with your understanding of formations but with your insufficient spiritual energy reserves.]
[You believed that as your strength grew, arranging an eighth-grade formation would eventually become possible.]
[Moreover, this limitation did not impact your original goal. You had come here to deepen your understanding of formations so that you could repair the array left by Lu Wuya.]
[Repairing an array was different from arranging one. Repairs often required guiding problematic sections rather than carving new symbols.]
[You concluded that your time here was not wasted.]
[In the tenth year, the black tortoise took you out of the Endless Sea and revealed its purpose.]
[The black tortoise explained that it, too, was a prisoner and advised you to act cautiously when facing invincible enemies. It emphasized the importance of assessing situations clearly before taking action.]
[Only then did you understand that the tortoise had threatened to eat you earlier because it considered your initial behavior reckless.]
[In the twelfth year, you returned to Qingshan City.]
[In the thirteenth year, the immortal slave in black arrived, destroying the Jiang family with a single palm strike.]
[Shortly afterward, your father, Jiang Fushan, arrived with reinforcements, defeated the black-clothed man, and led the Jiang family to evacuate.]
[You appeared in time to join the family as they retreated to Ridge Mountain.]
[Once at Ridge Mountain, you didn't immediately request to study the array left by Senior Lu Wuya.]
[Instead, you cultivated quietly, subtly displaying your status as a seventh-grade formation master.]
[In the fourteenth year, Elder Li approached you, requesting your help in constructing advanced spirit-gathering formations to enhance the cultivation environment in Ridge Mountain.]
[You agreed without hesitation.]
[Setting up a seventh-grade spirit-gathering formation required considerable spiritual energy, so your progress was slow.]
[After completing one formation, you often needed time to recover your strength.]
[By the sixteenth year, you had successfully constructed five advanced spirit-gathering formations in Ridge Mountain.]
[You could clearly sense vast amounts of spiritual energy being drawn in from afar by these formations.]
[In the seventeenth year, the cultivation environment in Ridge Mountain had noticeably improved. The immortal cultivators no longer needed to risk stealing spirit stones from the immortal slaves.]
[That year, you received numerous gifts of gratitude from the cultivators, including over 900,000 spirit stones.]
[By the eighteenth year, you had gained considerable popularity and trust among the cultivators in Ridge Mountain.]
[That year, you approached Elder Li and requested permission to study the array left by Senior Lu Wuya.]
[You explained that you hoped to gain inspiration from it to further enhance your formation skills.]