Two days later.
Amidst the hazy morning mist, a man and a woman emerged side by side from the valley.
“Brother Luo, where are we going?”
“You will know when we get there. Rest assured, I won’t do you any harm.”
“Hehe, this little sister isn’t worried about that in the slightest.”
“There is another matter I must apprise you of in advance.”
“What matter?”
“When the time comes, I need you to guard an array for me to prevent others from sabotaging it. If it truly is damaged, you must inform me beforehand so I do not plunge into it blindly.”
“What sort of array is so important?”
“Let us head to Three Rainbows Falls first to take a look before discussing it. I haven’t made up my mind entirely.”
Their conversational voices drifted farther and farther into the mist.
It was not until a day and a night later, when rainbows remained visible in their line of sight even across a vast distance, that the pair finally halted their steps.
Standing atop a towering mountain, Fu Qinglan looked toward the distant waterfall that wound in twists and turns, cascading down in three tiers of silver rainbows, an expression of confusion upon her face.
Within the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, there were no detailed maps.
This was because every opening was typically separated by an interval of five hundred years.
Five hundred years brought sea changes to the world, and with creatures as destructive as mirage beasts inhabiting the realm, the mountains and rivers underwent dramatic upheavals with every grotto-heaven competition.
Consequently, even though the various major clans of the Tianyuan Dao Sect had participated in the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven tournament multiple times, their intelligence regarding the internal terrain remained vague.
In fact, they believed the shifts in the landscape held no pattern whatsoever, being governed entirely by the physical instincts of the deceased Mirage Dragon.
A waterfall like the one in the distance, dubbed Three Rainbows Falls, was merely an offhand name Luo Chen had bestowed upon it while passing by once.
Who knew whether such a waterfall had even existed five hundred years ago?
That said, Luo Chen’s naming was remarkably vivid!
The magnificent cascade poured down in torrents, split into three slanted falls by the undulating contours of the mountain.
Each tier resembled a stretch of silk.
Under the illumination of the sunlight, they reflected translucent, crystal-clear arcs of seven-colored rainbow light.
Three Rainbows Falls—a spectacle true to its name, breathtakingly gorgeous.
Just as she was wondering why they had come here and why they were not drawing any closer to the falls, Luo Chen’s voice sounded beside her ear.
“After cultivating with mirage cores for twenty years and drawing in vast amounts of spiritual opportunity, you should be intimately familiar with that sensation. Right now, why not release your Nascent Soul true body to perceive it?”
Fu Qinglan did as told!
A fair-skinned female infant with delicate limbs flew out from the crown of her head.
In the outside world, such an act would be reckless to the extreme.
Even within the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, releasing one’s Nascent Soul so brazenly in front of someone else was practically asking for death.
Yet the person beside her was Luo Chen!
Fu Qinglan harbored no wariness toward him whatsoever, truly acting just as he had suggested.
A moment later, the Nascent Soul returned to her body, and an expression of astonishment appeared on Fu Qinglan’s face.
“A tremendous amount of spiritual opportunity is lingering over there. Could there be an extraordinarily formidable fourth-rank mirage beast present?”
It was overwhelmingly dense—so much so that even from this great distance, she could perceive it clearly.
Luo Chen smiled and shook his head. “No matter how powerful a fourth-rank mirage beast is, it would never let spiritual opportunity leak out like this due to the constraints of its mirage core. Think carefully again.”
“Why not just say it outright instead of talking in circles?” Fu Qinglan rolled her eyes at Luo Chen, but she nonetheless pondered the matter in earnest.
After a thorough contemplation, she gradually grasped the reality, her expression turning one of startled uncertainty.
“Someone is comprehending the true meaning of the laws over there?”
“Precisely so!”
Luo Chen nodded firmly, the smile on his face gradually fading.
“Perhaps you cannot see the mountain's shape while standing within it, but having guarded you all these years, I have seen it clearly. When one absorbs a mirage core to cultivate, the spiritual opportunity within it will linger around them until it is utterly depleted.”
Fu Qinglan understood what Luo Chen meant, but another piece of information revealed by his words shocked her even more:
“You can see spiritual opportunity?”
Luo Chen did not explain. Instead, he picked up from his previous thread: “However, the spiritual opportunity from a mere core or two could never be this abundant. To produce such a magnificent spectacle at Three Rainbows Falls, there is only one plausible explanation!”
Luo Chen’s expression turned solemn. “The cultivator practicing inside that waterfall has entered a state of sudden enlightenment himself, thereby actively drawing the heaven and earth’s spiritual opportunity to converge upon him!”
Fu Qinglan’s expression changed drastically!
Spiritual opportunity was omnipresent, yet ethereal and impossible to trace.
Typically, it only gathered in massive quantities when a cultivator experienced an epiphany or underwent ascension.
Within the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, this spiritual opportunity was solidified within mirage cores, allowing the true disciples of Tianyuan to absorb and refine it.
Such a miraculous phenomenon was startling enough just to speak of.
Yet now, a figure had not only absorbed the spiritual opportunity from mirage cores, but had even entered an epiphany on his own… Needless to say, this had to be one of the thirteen senior brothers and sisters.
Moreover, once he concluded this epiphany, he might very well discover origin power in a single stroke!
When that time came, the first place in this tournament would be beyond dispute!
Who could it be, then?
“It is Gu Daosu, the younger brother of the celebrated Dao Yin, and the peerless talent of this generation’s Gu clan among the Twelve Great Houses.”
Luo Chen calmly revealed the identity of the person in secluded cultivation at Three Rainbows Falls.
As for how he knew?
It was quite simple.
As previously mentioned, when these Tianyuan true disciples cultivated with the aid of mirage cores, a small amount of spiritual opportunity would linger around them. Outsiders could barely sense it—even Luo Chen had to channel origin power into his eyes to catch a glimpse of it—yet the mirage beasts of this realm were exceptionally sensitive to that lingering presence!
If one remained in a prolonged state of absorbing mirage cores to cultivate, it would easily invite attacks from high-rank mirage beasts.
This was one of the very reasons Dao Protectors existed: to prevent mirage beasts from disrupting the Tianyuan true disciples while they comprehended the true meaning of the laws.
During their year in that secluded valley, an exceptionally swift dragon louse mirage beast had happened to barge in, attempting to attack Fu Qinglan.
Luo Chen had taken action to drive it away.
His original intent had not been merely to drive it off, but to kill it and claim its core.
Yet that dragon louse possessed uncanny speed, managing to slip away when Luo Chen was off his guard.
How could Luo Chen tolerate letting a fourth-rank mirage beast slip through his fingers? He had given chase over a considerable distance, which brought him all the way to Three Rainbows Falls.
At that time, a beautiful mature woman had suddenly struck out from nowhere, slaying the dragon louse on the spot!
Luo Chen recognized that woman—she was none other than Gu Daosu’s Dao Protector!
Naturally, he had realized that Gu Daosu was cultivating within Three Rainbows Falls, progressing at a startling pace that surpassed even Fu Qinglan’s.
At the time, Luo Chen had not harbored any additional thoughts, since Fu Qinglan was still in secluded practice and required his protection.
Now, however, he had conceived a certain extra idea.
Moreover, with his current strength, this extra idea was entirely feasible to execute.
“So it is Senior Brother Gu.”
“He is indeed exceptionally gifted. Furthermore, when his elder brother played chess against the Chess Saint in the Peach Garden, he secured the Lanke Black Chess Piece for him. With the black piece’s protection, his divine soul remains incomparably steadfast, making it difficult for him to lose his way while searching for origin power in the ocean of vitality.”
“It is understandable that he has pulled ahead of us now.”
Did the spirit-treasure-grade Lanke Black Chess Piece possess such an effect as well?
Listening to Fu Qinglan’s sigh of admiration, Luo Chen was somewhat surprised, but the movements of his hands did not pause.
Item after item of materials was retrieved from his storage ring.
Curious, Fu Qinglan crouched down to examine the materials.
Tongxuan Heavenly Crystal, Scarlet Flame Sand, Spirit-Gathering Wood… Finally, she saw Luo Chen retrieve a piece of transparent crystal with visible reluctance.
“Is this a spatial prism crystal?”
Luo Chen held the crystal. “You recognize this as well?”
Fu Qinglan nodded. “Of course I do. This is an extraordinarily precious spatial material. It contains an intrinsic spatial pocket and possesses tremendous malleability. It is typically used to craft storage implements at the magic treasure or even True Artifact grade. Though usually, it is only employed for magic-treasure-grade storage items; using it for a True Artifact is far too extravagant. Our sect has gathered a considerable number of spatial prism crystals, specifically for use in crafting teleportation arrays.”
A considerable number?
Luo Chen was slightly taken aback.
Yet considering that the Tianyuan Dao Sect had established teleportation arrays on Star Island and several islands controlled by the Tianyuan Business Alliance across the Northern Sea, it was only natural that they possessed plenty of spatial prism crystals.
After all, they were a Soul Formation sacred land!
No matter how rare spatial prism crystals were, they would always have means to acquire them.
Luo Chen, on the other hand, had only this single piece in his possession!
He had obtained it from the remnants of Feiyunzi’s belongings.
Fu Qinglan had naturally noticed the pained expression Luo Chen had shown earlier, deducing that his reserve of spatial prism crystals was scant. Yet precisely because of this, she grew all the more curious about his purpose in retrieving the crystal and these materials.
“Brother Luo, do you intend to forge a magic treasure or craft a teleportation array?”
“The latter!”
Luo Chen stopped being coy and stated his intention plainly.
“I plan to set up a small teleportation array here spanning five thousand li. In truth, calling it a shift array would be more appropriate.”
A teleportation array and a shift array sounded similar.
Yet when it came down to the details, the difference between them was immense.
The former was fixed and meant for frequent use, imposing far higher demands on terrain, spirit veins, and materials.
The latter was not fixed and was mostly single-use, having far lower requirements for terrain and spirit veins while excelling in speed and convenience.
Given Luo Chen’s current circumstances, he could only produce a shift array. That he had the confidence to do even this was thanks to having unraveled the countless formations of the Penglai Octagonal Pavilion, which had granted him sufficient attainment in spatial restrictions.
Wasting no words, Luo Chen immediately began refining the shift array!
Magic power surged at his fingertips, birthing Nascent Soul true fire from the interplay of annihilation, which washed over the materials with searing heat.
As they melted, they fused together continuously.
Luo Chen steadily added various ingredients, immersing himself completely in the process. He deployed a wide array of artifact-refining techniques effortlessly, each applied with immaculate precision.
Not daring to disturb him, Fu Qinglan watched contentedly from the side as Luo Chen worked with absolute focus.
Her heart was filled with profound emotion.
Earlier, she had heard from her grandfather that Luo Chen was a formidable alchemist. When the Alchemy Saint ascended, one of the five Tianji Pills had been bestowed upon Luo Chen, who had only just arrived in the Central Plains. It was highly likely that the Saint had felt kinship toward a fellow peer of the alchemical path, leaving behind a legacy blessing.
Then, inside the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, she had discovered that he possessed remarkable accomplishments in array mastery.
Yet right now, he was clearly demonstrating extraordinary skill in the art of artifact crafting as well.
*Is he truly only around two hundred years old?*
*So young, with such formidable strength, yet he manages to master multiple auxiliary arts! Or could it be that all of this is merely the tip of the iceberg among his myriad abilities?*
*This man is truly like an enigma. Beneath the layers of fog, he always manages to produce unexpected surprises.*
……
Several days later.
Looking at the two array plates in his hands, Luo Chen exhaled a long breath of turbid air.
Upon his weary face rested a look of immense self-satisfaction!
This was an expression Fu Qinglan had rarely seen on Luo Chen. His emotional control was extraordinarily exceptional; he had only ever lost his composure when learning that the flow of time within the grotto-heaven differed from the outside, remaining placid on almost every other occasion.
Yet at this moment, an unmistakable pride showed on his face.
Her gaze fell upon the two array plates, and realization dawned upon her.
Indeed!
Those capable of independently crafting array plates were invariably figures with formidable mastery in both array cultivation and artifact refining. And to forge a shift array plate required one to have reached at least the fourth-rank level in one of those fields!
He had every right to be proud!
“Is it finished?”
“Naturally!”
“Does this array have a name?”
“A trivial little shift array spanning merely a few thousand li hardly warrants a name… Let us call it the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Great Shift Array!”
Fu Qinglan broke into a smile and nodded in agreement.
Right at that moment.
Luo Chen extended his hand, presenting one of the two array plates before her. Embedded upon it were thirty-six high-grade spirit stones and a single top-grade spirit stone!
“After I depart, set up this array plate within the belly of this mountain! The specific location…”
Luo Chen flicked a finger, and a wisp of sword awn shot forth in a flash, sinking into the ground.
Moments later, the sword awn came to rest at a spot inside the mountain belly.
Fu Qinglan nodded. What he had mentioned earlier about needing her to guard an array was clearly this shift array.
Holding the array plate with great care, she asked curiously, “Aren’t you going to rest for a bit?”
Luo Chen brushed away nonexistent dust, straightened his robes, and walked to the edge of the cliff.
“No.”
“I have rested enough inside this grotto-heaven!”
Before his words had even faded, he leaped into the air, plunging down the cliff like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
Fu Qinglan hurriedly leaned forward to watch. Once his figure dropped into the dense sea of foliage, he vanished completely.
Even his aura was thoroughly concealed.
No matter how she probed with her divine sense, she could not catch the slightest trace of his presence.
Fu Qinglan withdrew her gaze. “For him to be this cautious, even leaving behind the Nine… the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Great Shift Array plate as an escape route, the plan he is about to undertake must be perilous in the extreme. Incompetent as I am, I must still guard this retreat well for him.”
Murmuring to herself, she released her magic power, and her entire being quietly sank beneath the rocky earth.
……
*This is the place!*
*A distance that can link with Gu Daosu’s spiritual opportunity without alerting his Dao Protector—a perfect distance!*
Where silver waterfalls descended from the heavens, vast rivers and lakes naturally spread across the landscape.
Luo Chen’s figure came to a stop within a massive lake.
He gazed from afar toward Three Rainbows Falls, which lay barely a hundred li away, doing everything in his power to rein in his aura before quietly sinking into the heart of the lake.
Once submerged, he brought out the Hunyuan Cauldron.
Alongside it came an even more intricate collection of array-crafting materials.
Without hesitation, Luo Chen drove these materials into the lake bed one by one.
For Gu Daosu, a favored son of heaven, to choose this location for his secluded cultivation, it was bound to be an extraordinary place endowed with spiritual grace and dense spiritual qi.
Thus, even a hundred li away, the spiritual qi within this grand lake was remarkably potent.
Under Luo Chen’s careful arrangement, the patterns of the array gradually took shape.
Had Fu Qinglan been here, she would have found this array thoroughly familiar!
Indeed, this was the very array they had laid down upon the ten-li plain hemmed in by three mountains upon first entering the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven.
It possessed the miraculous effect of dispersing medicinal fragrance to lure mirage beasts!
Unlike that time, however, Luo Chen’s array left no leeway to trap the beasts. Instead, it concentrated its entire focus onto amplifying the medicinal potency.
Previously, he would not have been capable of achieving such an effect.
Now, his array mastery had genuinely reached the fourth rank on his status panel, fully empowering him to bring his envisioned design to life.
Furthermore, he had the Hunyuan Cauldron to anchor the array!
Drawing upon the True Artifact’s function to channel the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, the array’s effect could instantly be magnified tenfold, a hundredfold!
*The medicinal fragrance of the Tianji Pill is colorless and odorless, undetectable to ordinary people, perhaps because its primary ingredient is spiritual opportunity itself. Only those mirage beasts with a craving for spiritual opportunity would be exceptionally sensitive to it.*
*So long as I control it properly, I can spread the fragrance of the Tianji Pill from its original range of a thousand li to ten thousand li, or even a hundred thousand li!*
*Most importantly, nearby lies Gu Daosu in his state of epiphany—he is the greatest bait of all!*
Luo Chen thought to himself, a confident smile spreading across his face.
His plan was actually quite simple: harness the might of the array to disperse the Tianji Pill’s potency, drawing in powerful mirage beasts from tens of thousands of li around. Combined with Gu Daosu serving as the overt bait, a massive horde of mirage beasts would inevitably be lured in all at once.
As long as he struck at the opportune moment, he would have the chance to harvest a bountiful haul of mirage cores in a single stroke!
With the support of this batch of mirage cores, Fu Qinglan could cultivate continuously, comprehending the origin power a day earlier—which meant he, too, could leave the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven that much sooner.
To this end, he would not hesitate even at the cost of resources like a spatial prism crystal and a top-grade spirit stone.
The earlier he left, the less lifespan he would squander within the grotto-heaven.
Of course!
The simpler the plan, the easier it was to succeed.
Yet excessive simplicity also entailed immense risk!
He could foresee just how perilous the situation would become; there was every chance it might spiral out of control.
The Nine Heavens and Ten Earths Great Shift Array was merely a backup retreat; what truly gave him the confidence to face these dangers was his own capability.
With a thought, the Tianji Pill manifested in his hand, and Luo Chen gently settled it an inch above the Hunyuan Cauldron.
The surrounding array activated instantly!
Watching the Tianji Pill whirl lightly in place, Luo Chen suddenly wondered whether using the fifth-rank Law Derivation Pill he had concocted in the Alchemy Realm as bait might yield an even better effect.
*Stray thoughts are running wild again!*
*I don’t even dare consume such a divine pill myself right now, so how could I use it as bait?*
*In the end, having three souls coexisting breeds distractions whenever I grow weary.*
*I must settle! I must be still!*
Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen slowly closed his eyes, circulating the *Micromote Origin Art* to enter a state of tranquil breath regulation.
The surrounding lake water was crisp and clear. Following the rhythmic cadence of his breathing, ripples spread across the surface of the lake, ultimately subsiding into stillness.
Chapter 759