The obstacle was immense. Li Chen stood before the wreckage of the Sect Master's study, his gaze fixed on the spot where the System indicated his prize lay buried. The collapsed wall was a tangled mess of thick Ironwood beams and massive granite blocks, weighing dozens of tons. Even a team of healthy cultivators in the Body Refinement realm would struggle for days to move it, and he was a single, half-broken disciple with the strength of a sick child.
Brute force was not an option. It was a fool's path.
"System," he said, his voice steady. "Perform a complete structural analysis of the collapsed section. I want every stress point, every fracture line, every load-bearing intersection. Model a full 3D schematic."
[Acknowledged. Commencing high-resolution structural scan…]
A ghostly, wireframe model of the wreckage appeared in his mind. Red lines indicated points of extreme pressure, while yellow showed areas of instability. Li Chen's architect's mind went to work, ignoring the rubble and seeing only a complex physics problem. He couldn't lift it. He couldn't push it. But he could dismantle it.
A memory from his past life surfaced: watching a documentary about controlled demolitions. They didn't use one massive explosion; they used a series of small, precisely-timed charges to make the structure collapse in on itself in a controlled manner. It was about redirecting force, not opposing it.
"The principle is sound," he muttered. "But I don't have explosives. I have formations."
He dove back into his mental workshop. He didn't need a destructive array. That would be like using a sledgehammer for surgery and could destroy the very thing he sought. He needed a scalpel. He needed a blueprint for deconstruction.
His mind raced through the foundational principles of his sect's teachings. He recalled a lesson on resonance, how certain materials, when subjected to a specific frequency of spiritual energy, could be made to vibrate violently. It was mostly used for creating warning chimes and musical instruments. Li Chen, however, saw a different application.
"System, new project file. Title: [Precision Resonance Etching Array]," he commanded.
He began to design. The array was small and simple, designed not to project power outwards, but to focus a tiny, vibrating stream of Qi inwards. It was essentially a spiritual tuning fork. He would place several of these small arrays on the surface of the granite slab, linking them together. When activated, they would introduce a synchronized, high-frequency vibration into the stone.
The theory was simple: if he could match the stone's natural resonant frequency, the vibrations would amplify exponentially, causing catastrophic structural failure along the weakest points—the micro-fractures already present in the stone. He wouldn't be breaking the stone with power, but coaxing it into tearing itself apart.
"Design is viable," the System noted as he finished.
[However, it requires a core component with high resonant conductivity. Standard materials will dampen the effect.]
"Scan the immediate rubble for materials used in the sect's warning bells or harmonic arrays," Li Chen countered instantly.
[Scanning… Match found. [Singing Stone] fragments detected. Three small pieces are within a ten-meter radius.]
Hope surged through him. He spent the next hour carefully searching and gathering the fragments. They were unassuming, pale grey stones that chimed with a faint, musical note when tapped.
With his materials gathered, he set to work. He drew the array schematics directly onto the surface of the massive granite slab with a piece of charcoal. He carefully placed the Singing Stone fragments at the focal points of his design, then painstakingly linked them with a paste made from dirt and his own saliva—a crude but effective conductor for a low-power, single-use array.
When he was done, he placed his hand on the primary node. He took a deep breath, channeled a minuscule thread of his newly-recovered Qi, and pushed it into the array.
There was no explosion, no flash of light. There was only a low hum, a sound so faint he could feel it more than hear it. The hum rose in pitch, becoming a clear, high note that resonated in his bones. He watched, breathless, as a tiny, hairline crack appeared on the surface of the granite, originating from one of his drawn lines.
The crack spread, branching out like lightning, connecting with another and another. The single, pure note intensified. With a deep, groaning CRACK, the massive slab of stone split cleanly into four large, manageable pieces, falling away from each other with a heavy thud that shook the ground. The tangled Ironwood beams, their support gone, collapsed harmlessly into the new cavity.
The path was clear.
Li Chen stared, a slow, triumphant smile spreading across his face. This was the power of his path. Not the might to shatter a mountain, but the wisdom to ask it politely to move out of the way.
He peered into the newly-opened hole. There, nestled in a small cavity, was a box. It was about the size of a large book, crafted from a single piece of dark, unblemished jade that seemed to absorb the very light around it. Intricate silver lines—the pathways of a formation—were embedded in its surface, glowing with a faint, five-colored light. This was the [Five Elements Stasis Array].
He carefully lifted the box. It was cool to the touch and surprisingly heavy. There was no visible lock, no seam or lid. The array was the lock.
"System, analyze the locking mechanism."
[Analyzing… The [Five Elements Stasis Array] is in a sealed state. To disengage, a perfectly balanced infusion of all five elemental Qi—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—must be channeled into the core nexus simultaneously. Any imbalance will cause the lock to seize permanently.]
Li Chen's heart sank slightly. He had solved the problem of the wall only to be faced with a far more complex puzzle. He, a cultivator with a fractured core and only the most basic, neutral Qi, had no way of producing five distinct elemental energies.
He held the box, his inheritance, in his hands. He had the key in the lock, but no way to turn it.