Six days later!
Inside Tianlan Immortal City.
Thousands of cultivators poured into Binglan Palace, which had now opened its doors completely!
Where Binglan Palace had previously only opened a small fraction of its grounds, throwing the entire complex open allowed it to accommodate these tens of thousands of cultivators without feeling crowded in the slightest.
A law enforcement squad formed by Ice Fort cultivators patrolled day and night outside Binglan Palace to prevent petty scoundrels from disrupting the order.
Everyone dutifully verified their assets, obtained their eligibility, presented their admission tokens, and stepped into Binglan Palace in an orderly fashion.
In the sky above, streaks of light from Core Formation cultivators flew inside from time to time.
However, tucked away in a quiet corner...
A small crowd had gathered together, a restless anxiety steadily spreading among them.
"Is your president still in seclusion?"
Kang Xianqiong's face was fraught with anxiety, her eyes darting in every direction, hoping to catch sight of that familiar figure in the crowd.
Yet she was met only with disappointment.
Sima Huiniang said calmly, "Senior Kang, please do not worry. Hall Master Duan of our Luotian Association has gone in person to invite the president. It will not delay your business."
"How could it not delay things!"
Seeing Kang Xianqiong so agitated, Sima Huiniang frowned slightly.
The woman was a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator after all; her inner composure was truly lacking.
She explained patiently, "As far as I know, the auction lasts for three days in total. Aside from the grand finale treasures each day, the lots primarily correspond to resources for the Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, and Core Formation realms respectively.
"The Purple Sun Liquid you require is a Tier 3 spirit medicine, so it will likely only be auctioned on the third day.
"There is no need to be in such a rush!"
Kang Xianqiong sighed and suppressed the anxiety in her heart.
She was not the only one feeling anxious.
Min Longyu, standing among the crowd, was just as fraught!
It was only that his words carried little weight, leaving him with no choice but to endure in silence.
Suddenly.
A drifting cloud beast carriage pulled up before Binglan Palace.
Duan Feng hurried out from within. His expression was grave, and his footsteps were somewhat heavy.
Having long internalized the habit of reading people's expressions, Sima Huiniang saw this and inwardly thought things boded ill.
She stepped forward briskly.
"Hall Master Duan, how is the president...?"
Duan Feng said coldly, "The president said that for the first two days of the auction, Director-General Sima will be in charge. For matters involving Foundation Establishment spiritual items and Foundation Establishment realm resources, I will place the bids after you have carefully considered them."
He was now a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator as well.
His voice at the auction would carry far more weight than a group of Luotian Association cultivators at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement.
As he spoke, he surreptitiously slipped a storage bag into Sima Huiniang's hand.
A spiritual sense transmission sounded in her ear:
"There are a hundred thousand spirit stones here, more than enough to purchase what our Luotian Association needs."
Sima Huiniang's eyelids twitched. "Given by the president? What has happened to him now?"
Duan Feng glanced at the eagerly awaiting crowd from the Luotian Association ahead and transmitted privately, "The president is fine, but a minor snag arose in his cultivation, requiring a brief period of recuperation. I have already sent a voice transmission paper crane to notify Elder Wang Yuan, and he will visit in person."
Yet hearing this, Sima Huiniang was not reassured in the slightest.
Her heart grew even heavier.
Claiming nothing was wrong on one hand, while needing to summon Wang Yuan on the other...
It seemed something grave had truly happened to the president!
Taking a deep breath, she forced a smile and turned around.
"Everyone, follow me inside!"
Some were curious about Luo Chen's situation, but under Duan Feng's cold gaze, they all suppressed their curiosity.
As they were entering, Duan Feng paused and patted Min Longyu on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. The quota for the Foundation Establishment Pill has already been secured in advance by the president."
Min Longyu, whose face had been ashen moments before, could not help but show a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Even so, some trepidation remained in his heart.
Without Luo Chen stepping forward, would Sima Huiniang alone truly be able to bid successfully for that precious Foundation Establishment Pill?
***
Rewinding to five days prior.
After obtaining the bronze mirror, a day and a night had passed in the blink of an eye.
With a resounding boom from the depths of his consciousness, Luo Chen slowly woke from that vast, long journey spanning more than two hundred years.
"Master, are you all right?"
Bai Meiling looked at Luo Chen with deep concern.
However, when Luo Chen's eyes—seeming as though they had witnessed the seas turn into mulberry fields—fell upon her, an involuntary shiver ran through her entire body.
"I am fine."
"For the coming days, guard the immortal's cave well and decline all outside visitors. If Huiniang or Duan Feng comes looking for me, give her this storage bag and voice transmission talisman."
With that, Luo Chen put down a storage bag filled with spirit stones and staggered into the bedroom.
Ever since moving into this Tier 2 low-grade immortal's cave...
Luo Chen's figure usually only appeared in the meditation room for cultivation, the alchemy chamber, the study, and the parlor for receiving guests.
Yet he had rarely ever set foot in the bedroom meant for resting.
Stepping into the bedroom now, he collapsed headfirst onto the soft bed.
"The Ghost Spirit Heart-Inquiring Mirror... what a journey of heart-inquiring!"
Murmuring softly, Luo Chen fell into a deep slumber.
Let the outside world churn with wind and clouds; he slept soundly, oblivious to the passage of time.
This was an exceptionally long sleep.
An indulgence of rest unlike anything Luo Chen had experienced since transmigrating and embarking on the path of cultivation.
During this slumber, he had no dreams, resting exceedingly well.
It was not until several days later that he slowly woke.
Lying on the soft bed under a light, supple silk quilt, Luo Chen parted his lips and let out a soft murmur of emotion.
"Ever since transmigrating, I seem never to have had such a good, long rest!"
If not counting his predecessor's ten years of cultivation, the time he had taken from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment was a mere eleven or twelve years.
Such cultivation speed was nearly on par with the legendary geniuses possessing heavenly spiritual roots in the cultivation world!
Though few openly said so, Luo Chen could often spot envy in the eyes of his friends and subordinates.
Envy?
It was merely bought with his own life!
Refining pills day and night to earn spirit stones, cultivating without a single pause.
Relying on vast resources and perseverance that lasted ten years like a single day...
Only then had he barely managed to achieve this cultivation!
What had driven him to push himself so desperately, aside from the ever-shifting external factors around him, was his profound inner dread of his poor aptitude and insufficient lifespan.
Even after reaching Foundation Establishment, he was still plagued by this.
That was why he had never halted his steps.
Yet after undergoing that dreamlike experience a few days ago, he realized that he seemed to have carried things to an extreme.
"Luo Chen, aren't you tired?"
"Heh..."
"How could I not be tired!"
With a light chuckle, Luo Chen opened his eyes wide, his thoughts drifting back to those long centuries within the Ghost Spirit Heart-Inquiring Mirror.
Ever since waking, he had learned much about the bronze mirror, all left behind inside it by a Core Formation Master using spiritual sense.
This magic treasure originated several hundred years ago from Ghost Spirit Valley, a formidable sect renowned for array arts.
Its wondrous use was that it allowed a cultivator to undergo a single, unique "heart-inquiring" journey—and only one.
Or rather, it was not merely "heart-inquiring"; its primary function lay in "simulation."
Drawing upon the cultivator's experiences, knowledge, and entire foundation, it used this unique magic treasure to perform a targeted simulation of a single matter.
In Ghost Spirit Valley...
This treasure had been kept year-round by Transmission Elder Jin Wu.
It was primarily used on Ghost Spirit Valley disciples who had reached the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.
It aided them in simulating the process of condensing a Golden Core!
Even if only once, the experience was invaluable.
Back then, equipped with this object, the number of Golden Core cultivators within Ghost Spirit Valley had shown a steady upward trend, even without high-grade Core Formation secret arts.
Later, the sect grew increasingly powerful, far surpassing ordinary Golden Core sects and reaching immense prosperity.
Yet, Ghost Spirit Valley lacked a Nascent Soul cultivator to hold down its fortunes!
To avoid drawing suspicion and wariness from the region's Nascent Soul superior sects, Ghost Spirit Valley's Supreme Elder decided to relocate from their original domain, joining Jade Cauldron Sword Sect's War of Reclamation to seek new living space for Ghost Spirit Valley.
Regrettably, serving as the vanguard in the War of Reclamation, Ghost Spirit Valley was subsequently wiped out entirely by a Tier 4 Demon Emperor.
With that, a once-great sect of the array dao steadily declined toward ruin.
The reason for its decline was not merely that the sect's elites were wiped out in a single day.
It was also because, along with the disappearance of Ghost Spirit Valley's Supreme Elder, a certain defensive magic treasure had vanished without a trace.
The Lanke Go pieces!
This set of magic treasures was mid-grade, consisting of two Go pieces, one black and one white.
By rights, they should not have enjoyed a reputation equal to high-grade magic treasures like the Demon Locking Pagoda in the cultivation world.
In reality, within Ghost Spirit Valley, the importance of the Lanke Go pieces was not one bit inferior to the Demon Locking Pagoda.
The reason was that this treasure could be paired with the Ghost Spirit Heart-Inquiring Mirror.
Though both possessed defensive effects, they had distinct emphases.
The white piece protected the physical body, while the black piece protected the soul.
Back then, Luo Tianhong had been able to become the first to transform into a ghost general after falling, in no small part due to the black piece.
Even after Luo Chen blasted him to pieces, he had been able to rapidly repair himself with the help of the black piece and the ghost domain.
This showed how outstanding the black piece was in soul-protecting defense.
It was precisely by utilizing the soul-protecting effect of the Lanke Black Chess Piece that Ghost Spirit Valley could comfortably allow its Foundation Establishment disciples to use the Heart-Inquiring Mirror!
Yet by sheer misfortune, this treasure had been lost in the Guyuan Mountain Range.
From then on, Ghost Spirit Valley gradually lacked successors on the front of Golden Core cultivators.
After Transmission Elder Jin Wu gathered the surviving disciples, he held things together for a long time.
Yet following his demise, Ghost Spirit Valley failed to produce any new Golden Core cultivators and could only become a vassal to Jade Cauldron Sword Sect.
Among the later disciples, it was not that none attempted to simulate Core Formation with the Ghost Spirit Heart-Inquiring Mirror.
However, without the Lanke Black Chess Piece to guard the soul, even if they succeeded in the simulation, they often ended up lost within it.
After repeated attempts...
This magic treasure gradually became overburdened.
In the end, one of its corners shattered, reducing it to a damaged state.
Passing through various hands, it had finally fallen into Luo Chen's possession.
He had digressed.
All this information was merely what Luo Chen had deduced from the fragmented words left on the Ghost Spirit Heart-Inquiring Mirror by that Core Formation Master.
Still, combining it with subsequent history, he felt his deductions were broadly accurate.
"By a twist of fate, I happened to possess the Lanke Black Chess Piece, which shielded my divine soul throughout that vast simulation and allowed me to simulate all the way to the very end."
Amidst his emotional sigh...
Luo Chen's thoughts began to drift uncontrollably once more.
His three-hundred-year experience within the mirror had been filled with immense twists and turns.
The earlier the stage, the clearer the simulated events.
Reaching the middle and late stages, the simulation could only extrapolate based on his experience and knowledge.
Events like the war between the two Nascent Soul superior sects sweeping up the Luotian Association...
Wang Yuan slaughtering wantonly for the sake of his cultivation, offending a Golden Core Master...
And later, taking desperate gambles, forging alliances to besiege Jade Cauldron Sword Sect when it had no Nascent Soul cultivator holding down the fort...
All of these were things that he, or the people around him, were entirely capable of doing.
As for the end—the destruction of the Luotian Association and him falling into the rogue cultivator demonic path with no way out—that too seemed exceedingly probable.
Because from the very beginning, he, Luo Chen, had merely been an obscure rogue cultivator in Dahe Market.
Things like killing others and seizing their treasures were not entirely foreign to him.
Even if he had been forced into them.
As for the final attempt to break through to the Core Formation stage, the outcome was naturally failure.
With his current experience, knowledge, and accumulation, simulating a success was simply impossible.
Furthermore, the Ghost Spirit Heart-Inquiring Mirror had not factored in the proficiency panel.
"In the simulation, I fell into the demonic path for the sake of cultivation, ending up neither human nor ghost, only just managing to reach the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.
"The time consumed even exceeded the three-hundred-year lifespan limit for Foundation Establishment cultivators."
Three hundred and thirty years was the end of his lifespan in the simulation.
Under normal circumstances, the upper limit of a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator's lifespan was two hundred and fifty years.
With unique cultivation methods, one could extend it by ten to twenty years.
If one obtained lifespan-extending spirit medicines on top of that, the limit was three hundred years.
That he had lived to three hundred and thirty was entirely due to the blood path body-refining technique Wang Yuan had developed in the end.
Practicing mass slaughter and dual cultivation harvesting, he had managed to hold on for that long.
Yet in the end, he became wanted by the entire Jade Cauldron Domain.
He was neither human nor ghost.
The very instant he attempted Core Formation, he suffered qi deviation and failed outright.
Failure was nothing to fear!
Even the prodigies of Ghost Spirit Valley back then suffered failure.
For him, the most perilous point had actually been during the eighth layer of Foundation Establishment, when he had fallen into despair regarding cultivation.
At that stage, his fighting spirit had worn away, and he had even become Dao companions with Gu...
Heart-inquiring!
That had been a trial testing his heart of the Great Dao.
Had his ambition not rekindled later, reviving his desire to strive along the Great Dao, his divine soul would have suffered trauma and his Dao heart would have been severely battered, even with the Lanke Black Chess Piece aiding him.
Upon waking, he likely would have been in a muddled daze, incapable of steadying himself.
"No wonder Ghost Spirit Valley only ever permitted disciples at the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection to use this item!
"Those people had already cast aside all stray thoughts, leaving only the matter of Core Formation in their hearts, so naturally they would not dwell on superfluous concerns."
Amidst his sigh, Luo Chen sensed something amiss.
He noticed that his thoughts seemed prone to wandering and drifting out of control.
"Is this an aftereffect left behind by the Ghost Spirit Heart-Inquiring Mirror's simulation?"
Luo Chen frowned.
Suddenly, an overwhelming sensation of intense hunger surged once more from his stomach and his sea of consciousness.
His expression shifted slightly as he sat up.
"Xiao Ling, prepare ten days' worth of spirit meals for me!"
Outside, Bai Meiling, who was lying prone studying the Soul Gathering Banner, gave a sweet reply.
Luo Chen checked his internal condition. The moment he released his spiritual sense, a wave of dizziness washed over him.
"Not just my body, but even my divine soul has been overused!
"Of course. The Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators of Ghost Spirit Valley only needed to focus all their energy on simulating Core Formation.
"Whereas I am only at the third layer of Foundation Establishment, having to simulate step by step. That entire process relied completely on my own foundation to sustain.
"If my divine soul's foundation hadn't been infinitesimally close to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, I probably wouldn't have even lasted until the Core Formation simulation."
In the simulation...
His failure at Core Formation had not merely stemmed from a lack of experience and knowledge.
His divine soul's inability to hold out had been a root cause as well!
Taking stock of himself, Luo Chen felt waves of dizziness pulsing in his head.
"Fortunately, I still have spare Nether-Passage Pills. Even if they cannot expand my soul right now, replenishing it should be manageable."
Without a second thought, Luo Chen retrieved a Nether-Passage Pill and swallowed it.
Outside, a feast of spiritual cuisine rich in concentrated spiritual qi was served up to the stone table one dish after another under Bai Meiling's preparation.
Half an hour later.
With his spirit slightly restored, Luo Chen walked out of the bedroom.
Approaching the stone table, he could hardly wait to dig into the sumptuous feast of spiritual cuisine that ordinary cultivators could never afford.
As he ate, Luo Chen asked:
"How many days did I sleep?"
Bai Meiling rested on the table, supporting her small face with both hands.
Counting on her fingers, she recited, "After returning, you stayed before the mirror for a day and a night. Then, you slept for another seven days. Someone came looking for you in between—it was Duan Feng. Oh, and Wang Yuan visited once yesterday, but seeing that you were asleep, he left."
Listening to her chatter, Luo Chen's chewing gradually slowed.
"Only the final day of the auction remains?"
"Fortunately, there is still time for everything!"
Chapter 256