Chapter 1185: So Close, Yet So Far
Lin Yifan was overjoyed and hurriedly roamed around, searching for the spot where the green compass reacted most strongly.
This place was a lush, expansive grassland, with grass reaching one meter high.
The tall grass meant there were no herdsmen nearby, which was a good thing for Lin Yifan.
However, there was a downside; it was too vast and easy to be discovered.
On the ground, it might be hard to find, but once airborne, it would be easy to spot; hence if formidable cultivators came here looking for him, he'd have nowhere to hide.
To avoid being discovered, Lin Yifan crouched down and dashed quickly through the grassland.
Although this wasn't foolproof, it was the best he could do for now.
After roaming for a short while, he found the point of strongest reaction according to the green compass.
Lin Yifan speculated that the Desert Dynasty was likely hidden beneath, so he quickly took out his excavation tools and began digging into the soil.
He first dug out a turf with a diameter of fifty centimeters and a depth of fifteen centimeters, and then swiftly dug into the soil.
The purpose of doing this was to avoid being discovered.
If a bare patch appeared on a lush grassland, it was bound to catch the attention of the seekers.
The people coming after him weren't ordinary; each was formidable, so it was best to be cautious.
Once he dug over a meter deep, he covered the turf back, restoring its original appearance.
The excavated soil was all stored in his Immortal Ring, so there was no pile of soil outside.
After completing this task, he continued to dig the soil until he reached the Desert Dynasty.
Continuing to dig, after five hundred meters, he finally hit a wall.
He had reached a massive restriction array, covered with dense formation patterns.
Clearly, this array was still operational, showing that the Desert Emperor had really exhausted all efforts to protect the citizens of the Desert Dynasty.
This raised a question: were there still humans alive inside the Desert Dynasty?
Lin Yifan dared not think further, as it was terrifying. He might travel through time to meet humans from tens of thousands of years ago.
However, all of this was merely his speculation; the truth was yet to be explored.
The urgent task was to break through this restriction array.
With past experiences in mind, Lin Yifan didn't use complex methods to break through the array but took out belongings of the Desert Dynasty's prince to see if he could gain the array's recognition.
After trying various items, he found they were utterly useless.
This restriction array was different from the pressure of the Beixuan Palace's imperial palace; it seemed to recognize nothing, and anyone wanting to enter couldn't, unless they could break the array.
Lin Yifan could roughly understand the Desert Emperor's mood at the time; after experiencing such a major event, he certainly didn't want anyone to disturb the citizens inside the Desert Dynasty, so he modified the array to reject all outside guests.
This approach gave Lin Yifan a headache because he couldn't use shortcuts to enter the Desert Dynasty.
Since shortcuts didn't work, he decided to tackle it the complex way and sat cross-legged on the ground, devotedly researching the restriction array.
After researching for half a day, he was still clueless.
This was because the reference area provided for the array was too small, and he couldn't determine what type of array it was.
Hence, he began digging sideways to expand the visible area of the array.
With ten square meters of the array for reference, he sat down again for concentrated study.
However, he was still clueless.
The array was too complex, unlike the types of ancient formations Qingxu Immortal and Beixuan Immortal were skilled at deciphering.
This made Lin Yifan increasingly uneasy; without a method to break it, he wouldn't be able to enter the Desert Dynasty.
"Could there truly be no way?"
Unwilling to give up, Lin Yifan expanded the visible area further.
After digging up to about a hundred square meters, he felt he could finally calm down and study.
If this time yielded no results, his chances of breaking through were exceedingly slim.
With an area so large, it was enough to reflect an array's operational principles, meaning one could liken a hundred-square-meter array to a complete array.
This was because a great formation was often composed of multiple identical parts, significantly saving time in design, and a hundred square meters was enough to outline a complex array.
This principle was similar to that of a chip: a chip the size of a fingernail could contain billions of components, with circuits unimaginably complex.
If such a small piece could hold so much, then why couldn't a hundred square meters outline a complex restriction great array?
Lin Yifan focused intently, wholly absorbed in studying, striving to use his abilities to break the restriction array before him.
Time slowly passed, and after several hours, he was drenched in sweat, overwhelmed with tension.
Researching complex great arrays drained his spiritual power severely; someone at his realm simply couldn't endure it.
Ultimately, he gave up.
He had thought of several approaches, but none worked; coupled with his extreme fatigue, he really couldn't go on.
"Damn it! Why be so harsh on me?"
Lin Yifan was utterly speechless.
Something seemingly within grasp was right before his eyes, yet he couldn't obtain it; this feeling was excruciating for anyone.
The most important thing now was to recover, as health is the foundation for any endeavor, and without it, no amount of effort would matter.
So, dragging his exhausted body, he sullenly entered the blue Immortal Ring to recover.
Seeing Lin Yifan limp inside, the Enlightenment Tree and little Sun Fruit Tree didn't know what had happened to him, so they stepped forward to ask, "Kid Lin, what exactly were you doing outside, why is there so much soil thrown in here, the whole Immortal Mansion is nearly filled up by you."
They were somewhat indignant.
Because they had been enjoying themselves, but Lin Yifan's thrown soil affected their mood.
Initially, they tolerated it, thinking it was just a little; but over time, the soil piled up more and more, and showed no signs of stopping, making it increasingly intolerable for them.
Although they were trees needing to bury their roots in soil to grow, they didn't want this much, especially since the Immortal Mansion's soil was already top-notch soil imbued with spiritual energy, incomparable to ordinary soil.
"Why all the fuss? It's not like it's staying here forever; once I finish my task outside, I'll naturally clean out all the soil." Lin Yifan replied irritably, then called, "Enlightenment Tree, come in with me!"
The Enlightenment Tree was extremely reluctant; it had just recovered recently and didn't want to enter a weakened state again, so it responded, "I won't!"
"Do you want to get out? If you do, then obediently come in!"