Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye.
In the past three years, Shi Lan not only cultivated her body refining technique to an unprecedented level, but also mastered the Chaos Technique to the twelfth level.
It should be noted that most Qi cultivators nowadays prepare to refine Qi into mist and establish their foundation once they reach the peak of the tenth level. However, Shi Lan suppressed the urge to establish her foundation and cultivated to the twelfth level of Qi cultivation in one go.
Now she had no more energy left to suppress; her abundant true energy made it impossible for her to compress. For safety, she went to the Foreign Affairs Hall and applied for a secluded cultivation cave, preparing to enter into a life-long seclusion.
The Foreign Affairs Hall had long since been filled with new faces replacing the old. Shi Lan took out most of the spirit stones she had accumulated over the past three years by hunting spirit beasts, held a token with blood dripping from it, and went to another mountain peak.
That place is a special retreat area.
After reporting to the Foundation Establishment master-uncle in charge of guarding the place, Shi Lan entered the cave according to the token number and, as instructed, placed the token in the recess at the entrance. A transparent arc of light instantly blocked the cave, and the huge stone door made a clicking sound as it slowly closed.
The top of the stone wall emitted a faint, shimmering white light, making the narrow space of the cave appear exceptionally soft.
Shi Lan sat upright on the futon in the center, and a faint aura instantly enveloped her from below.
Shi Lan jumped up in surprise, removed the futon, and a fresh aura slowly rose up, the surrounding air seemed to flow instantly, and the true energy in her body also surged continuously.
Shi Lan wrinkled her nose and sniffed, then quickly put the prayer mat away.
As expected of a major sect, even the secluded training ground of an ordinary disciple has spiritual veins. It seems that the sect's collection of those spirit stones is not without reason.
Shi Lan closed her eyes and sat cross-legged. The heartache she had just felt was replaced by a feeling of comfort and ease. The golden light within her body was like a nimble golden snake, constantly moving along her meridians, and it was moving faster and faster.
Shi Lan ran the Chaos Technique over and over again, watching the spirit snake grow stronger as it frolicked and played.
After an unknown amount of time, the spirit snake seemed to have grown tired of playing. Its enormous body filled Shi Lan's meridians. As it slowly wriggled, the meridians expanded violently under the strain, then slowly contracted, gradually squeezing the spirit snake's body and forcing it to become slender and increasingly golden.
Time passed indefinitely. Shi Lan felt as if a lifetime had passed, yet it also felt like only a moment. The spirit snake, squeezed until it turned a dull bronze-gold color, had its body, covered with veins, shrink to only an inch in length. At this moment, the spirit snake seemed to have suddenly regained its spirit. It leaped forward, directly from its heart to its head.
A deafening roar exploded in her ears, and Shi Lan felt as if her body had suddenly become empty, and she desperately needed something to fill the void in her body.
The sky darkened without anyone noticing, and the clouds gradually obscured the blazing sun. The spiritual energy filling the air above the secluded mountain peak suddenly began to swirl violently, and a large amount of spiritual energy emerged from the spiritual veins, converging into a funnel-shaped vortex along the already formed vortex.
Shi Lan sat cross-legged quietly for a while before opening her storage bag and emptying out all the spirit stones inside.
Over a thousand spirit stones rolled and tumbled across the ground, their crystalline surfaces gradually losing their color as they rolled. By the time they came to a complete stop, all the spiritual energy on the stones had been absorbed.
Shi Lan sighed helplessly as she noticed that the spiritual energy had only appeared briefly before being absorbed.
She had noticed that she was absorbing too much spiritual energy during her previous cultivation. For safety and to ensure she had enough spiritual energy to advance, she specifically chose this place where most cultivators were Foundation Establishment cultivators. However, the spiritual energy she needed was simply too much, and even with the help of spiritual veins, it still couldn't meet her needs.
It seems this attempt to advance will fail.
Shi Lan examined her meridians internally, wondering if they could withstand the impending surge of spiritual energy.
Thinking about how the results of several years of hard work were about to be wiped out in an instant, Shi Lan was still unwilling to accept it.
We weren't prepared enough.
Time passed slowly, and the clouds in the sky grew darker and darker. A black cloud, as tall as a person, appeared and disappeared amidst the other clouds.
The vortex of spiritual energy swirled in the air, gradually becoming longer and thinner. The smallest part at the bottom kept moving and finally gathered at the wound in Shi Lan Cave. After moving for a moment, it seemed to have found an exit and poured down in a rush. At this moment, the sky suddenly brightened with a pool of turquoise, and the black cloud hidden behind it suddenly shone brightly, but then disappeared without a trace.
In the main hall of Qingyi Sect, Master Yumeng looked worriedly at the place specifically used for seclusion within the sect.
A small spiritual vein was buried there by a powerful figure in the sect at the beginning of the sect's establishment. Because the spiritual vein was too small, it could only be used by the sect's disciples to break through their cultivation barriers. Now, a spiritual energy vortex has formed there, and it is conceivable that the spiritual energy in the spiritual vein has probably been completely exhausted.
The cultivation world today is not what it used to be. Several major sects only have a handful of Nascent Soul cultivators left to guard them. To extract spiritual veins, one's cultivation level must be at least at the Divine Transformation stage. It seems that the sects' losses this time can never be made up for.
The elders standing to the side completely ignored Yu Meng Zhenren's heartache. They all stared with shining eyes at the shrinking vortex. If it weren't for the low aura around Yu Meng Zhenren, they probably would have already sent a communication talisman to fly over and ask what was going on.
As a Nascent Soul cultivator, Yu Meng Zhenren was well aware of their intense gazes. Shaking her head helplessly, she took out a communication talisman and sent it out.
The elders, all of whom were at the Nascent Soul stage, understood what Yu Meng Zhenren was lamenting.
In their view, an outstanding disciple is far more important than any spiritual vein. The spiritual vein at the secluded cultivation site has been depleted over thousands of years, and if they could use this little bit of spiritual energy to create a gifted disciple, they would consider it an absolutely worthwhile investment.
Master Yu Meng also hoped that the sect could produce many talented people. However, one cannot know the value of firewood and rice when one is in charge. If that spiritual vein had been flowing steadily, it could have produced several Foundation Establishment cultivators and two or three Core Formation cultivators. Now that it is useless, it can only be used for Qi Refining cultivators in the future.
The communication talisman flew back quickly, and a moment later, the Foundation Establishment cultivator responsible for guarding the area arrived at the palace gate to report.
Shi Lan was unaware that her Foundation Establishment had caused such a commotion. At this moment, she was busy sorting out the spiritual energy that was constantly flowing into her body, while simultaneously manipulating her true essence to repair the meridians that had been torn by the spiritual energy.
After an unknown amount of time, she slowly opened her eyes, and the surrounding air almost suffocated her.
She quickly cast a cleansing spell to tidy herself up, then hurriedly grabbed the token, entered the cave, and rushed out in a flash.
After quickly leaving the area around the cave, Shi Lan took a long breath.
A communication talisman, seemingly having finally detected Shi Lan's presence, shot towards her like an arrow from afar.
Shi Lan reacted swiftly, grabbing the talisman that had already rushed towards her. The authoritative and indifferent voice of Master Yu Meng instantly rang in her ears. (To be continued.)
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