Eldest Young Lady Shi's Intelligence-Draining Halo

In the Scripture Depository of Penglai's Yuqing Temple, Luo Yan finally thought of what to say and began to explain to Shi Liuli with a long speech.

The division of cultivation stages, each stage has its special meaning.

The Qi Refining Stage refers to the process from opening up the Sea of Qi to completely filling it, which requires a lot of time to draw qi into the body and refine it.

The Marrow Cleansing Stage refers to the process after the Sea of Qi is filled, where True Qi is circulated throughout the body, cleansing the meridians, opening the channels, and refining the bones and marrow. This stage can greatly enhance the cultivator's physical fitness and extend their lifespan to around two hundred years.

The Abode Transformation Stage refers to transforming the Dantian around the Sea of Qi into a Purple Mansion, condensing the True Qi in the Sea of Qi into True Essence, thereby laying the Dao Foundation for the subsequent crucial step of "forming a Golden Core with True Essence."

Overall, the Qi Refining Stage takes the longest, anywhere from over thirty years to over sixty years.

The Marrow Cleansing Stage takes the shortest time, usually less than ten years.

The Abode Transformation Stage, as the most critical Foundation Establishment step, is very flexible in terms of time.

Theoretically, it only takes an average of five years to create the Purple Mansion, and the remaining time is just for further perfecting the Purple Mansion and purifying the True Essence.

However, if the latter is omitted and one attempts to form a Golden Core immediately after creating the Purple Mansion, they will almost certainly not survive the Heavenly Tribulation of Core Formation.

Golden Cores are divided into nine grades, with clear differences in quality.

For those who spent less than a hundred years in the Abode Transformation Stage, even if they survive the Heavenly Tribulation of Core Formation, the Golden Core formed will be at most a lower seventh grade. Such a thing absolutely cannot lead to Nascent Soul formation later on, effectively locking their lifespan.

Therefore, everyone invests as much time as they can in the Abode Transformation Stage...

"So what exactly are you trying to say?" Shi Liuli said impatiently.

Luo Yan smiled slightly and said:

"Senior Sister, precisely because of this, some people will definitely want to skip the Qi Refining Stage and quickly go through Marrow Cleansing, thus saving more time for Abode Transformation and maximizing the grade of the final Golden Core."

"If my calculations and analysis are correct, this Li Palace should be a secret realm that allows one to jump from Qi Refining to Marrow Cleansing, or directly from Marrow Cleansing to Abode Transformation... In this way, it makes sense why Senior Brother would let slip this word."

"Your guess has some merit." Shi Liuli thought about it carefully and realized it made sense. She looked at him in surprise and said, "I didn't expect Junior Brother to be so clever."

"I'm not clever, I just habitually think a few steps ahead of others." Luo Yan said humbly, his squinting eyes looking extremely harmless.

[Hypocritical Persona, Synchronization Value +1.]

"Is that so?" Shi Liuli said innocently, "Never mind, I'll take your conclusion and try to trick Senior Brother with it!"

With that, she excitedly got up and ran off.

Luo Yan watched her retreating figure, his squinting eyes perfectly concealing the sharp glint within.

This Eldest Young Lady Shi, if you say she's stupid, she's not; she even knows how to trick people.

If you say she's smart, she's indeed innocently and adorably naive.

Truly an excellent fat sheep... cough, I mean, a lovely Eldest Young Lady.

After seeing Shi Liuli off, Luo Yan returned to his workshop to continue diligently studying the art of cauldron forging, completing the homework assigned to him by Elder Shi Ding.

A cauldron, as the name suggests, is a bronze vessel with three legs and two ears. Originally used as a cooking utensil for boiling meat, it later evolved into a magical artifact for setting up formations.

Mythological legends record that in ancient times, when the earth's veins cracked open and led directly to the Nine Springs, countless ghosts from the underworld intruded into the mortal world. It was then that Shennong cast nine cauldrons with metal from the nine provinces and set up a great formation across the land, using the Nine Cauldrons to suppress the nine provinces, thereby separating the underworld and the human world once more.

The Shennong Cauldron here is a Primordial Spirit Treasure on the same level as Nuwa's Stone and Fuxi's Sword, used to suppress the eye of the Kyushu formation.

The homework Elder Shi Ding assigned to Luo Yan this time was the "Quicksand Net" previously used by Lou Zhizheng, a portable cauldron-like artifact used for trapping enemies.

First, a small cauldron needs to be forged, about the size of a palm.

The base needs to be square, and the mouth needs to be round. This signifies "the round represents heaven, the square represents earth," shaped like Penglai, and like the form of a person.

Then, it needs to be divided into three layers from top to bottom, symbolizing the upper, middle, and lower Dantians.

Finally, a formation needs to be inscribed within it, with Kan below and Dui above. Draw the lines carefully and infuse spiritual power steadily.

Thus, the cauldron is complete.

Phew! Luo Yan exhaled a long breath and began to examine the cauldron in his hands.

This item is named the Quicksand Net. When activated and thrown on the ground, the cauldron sinks into the earth, immediately forming a formation area extending nine feet around.

Anyone who falls within the area will continuously sink and be trapped, as if the ground has turned into a mud pit, making it impossible to move further.

Of course, as a very low-level formation, the Quicksand Net's weakness lies in Water Element Daoist Magic.

The I Ching states: "The marsh without water, is confinement."

If the Quicksand Net encounters Water Element Daoist Magic, the formation symbol of "water below the marsh" is reversed, and its ability to trap people becomes ineffective.

Reviewing the forging process again, Luo Yan confirmed that there was really nothing that could be improved about this item.

After all, with the "One Hear Thousand Comprehensions" talent, all sorts of scriptures are understood at a glance and remembered perfectly. Crafting such a low-level cauldron perfectly on the first try naturally posed no difficulty.

Well, in that case, he could make a few cauldrons and give them to Qiu Changtian and Ling Yunpo to keep with them.

They could use them for self-defense at critical moments, adding another trump card.

Just as Luo Yan began to silently calculate what kind of cauldron formations would be needed to complement Qiu Changtian and Ling Yunpo's combat systems, he heard Shi Liuli's excited voice from afar:

"Junior Brother! Junior Brother! Senior Brother admitted it! There really is a Li Palace, just as we guessed!"

"Oh." Luo Yan said very calmly.

Of course, under the Mirror Flower Water Moon technique of his hypocritical persona, this calmness gave people the impression of being as foolish as Guo Jing.

"Quest two! Quest two!" Shi Liuli burst into the workshop, grabbed his shoulders, and shook him. "Quick, help me check what secret realms are in Li Palace and how to pass the trials!"

Luo Yan: ...

So I'm neither Doraemon nor an encyclopedia. Eldest Young Lady, you come to me with every problem, aren't you thinking a bit too highly of me?

"Do you think Li Palace might be built on fire?" Shi Liuli asked casually, sitting on his desk. "So, do we need to prepare some fire-resistant magic tools?"

"Hmm, very possible." Luo Yan thought to himself. According to Xu Changqing, Li Palace uses the spiritual energy from underwater volcanoes, so there might be some fire-related challenges.

"When will Li Palace open?" Shi Liuli asked again. "Next month? End of the year? Next year?"

Luo Yan pondered for a long time upon hearing this, then under Shi Liuli's expectant gaze, he slowly said:

"I think you should ask Senior Brother about this."

"Idiot!" Shi Liuli smacked his head. "If Senior Brother would answer so honestly, why would I come to you!"

"So in Senior Sister's heart, I'm just Senior Brother's backup?" Luo Yan immediately put on a sad face.

[Fake Persona, Synchronization Value +1.]

"Ah, I didn't mean that!" Shi Liuli immediately looked a bit embarrassed and quickly explained, "No, Junior Brother."

"It's because Senior Brothers and Sisters know the answer and were instructed by Father not to tell, that's why I came to you for help. You'll definitely help Senior Sister, right?"

She leaned her pretty face closer, blinking her big eyes at Luo Yan, clasping her hands together at her chest and shaking them desperately, making a "Please!" expression.

Luo Yan suddenly felt a bit flushed and quickly averted his gaze unnaturally.

He wasn't some novice who had never seen a beautiful woman before. Whether it was Xu Yinglian, who was as cold as an ice mountain lotus, or An Zhisu, who was as gentle as a water lily by a lake, neither of them lost to Shi Liuli in terms of looks or temperament.

But this girl's innocent and lively personality was really hard for him to handle—it gave him a vague feeling of returning to his awkward high school days, developing a crush on a cute deskmate.

Wait, wait!

Luo Yan suddenly snapped back from his fanciful thoughts.

To think she could actually affect me, this Eldest Young Lady Shi... could she have some kind of 'lower intelligence' aura about her?