Seizing Lin Zisheng's Opportunity

The once-calm sky was suddenly filled with seven-colored clouds, within which the faint outline of a towering Heavenly Mansion could be seen.

The Heavenly Mansion descended slowly, and at this moment, countless streaks of sword light erupted from the surrounding jungle, surging toward the palace.

It was not only the personal disciples who were in the Foundation Establishment Realm; several Inner Sect disciples had also reached that level.

"Is this the Heavenly Mansion? How magnificent."

Seeing the palace, Ye Lin sighed in admiration, then hesitated no longer and headed toward the spot where it was landing.

By the time Ye Lin arrived, the Heavenly Mansion had just touched the ground. A violent vortex of spiritual energy rippled outward, causing the pores on Ye Lin's body to open wide as he greedily absorbed the essence.

The entire Heavenly Mansion resembled a fortress, silver-white in its entirety. At the main entrance, two silver-white stone lions stood guard, looking exceptionally imposing and majestic.

"What on earth is this? It's so grand."

"Could it be... could this be the cave dwelling of an ancient Golden Core cultivator?"

At this, a disciple spoke up, his face full of shock. Hearing this, the others turned to look at him.

"You know something? Tell us in detail."

Just then, a woman in a white dress, beautiful beyond compare and radiating a cold, aloof aura, asked softly from the air.

"Senior Sister Li."

The disciple bowed to the woman before explaining in detail.

"I am not entirely certain, but this secret realm is the place where an ancient Golden Core cultivator fell. It is said that this cultivator held a significant status in the ancient era. Later, our sect's founding master established the sect here—the Azure Cloud Sect."

"At the time, the founder wanted to investigate, but later discovered that this secret realm could only be entered by those with cultivation below the Golden Core Realm."

"After long periods of exploration, no cave dwelling was found, only that this realm opens every ten years and is filled with dense spiritual energy."

"It nurtures many treasures, which is why it became a place for disciples to hunt for them. I never expected that the Golden Core cultivator's cave dwelling would actually appear now."

After the disciple finished speaking, the others, including the personal disciples, wore fervent expressions.

A Golden Core cultivator! One had to know that the Supreme Elder of the Azure Cloud Sect was only at the Golden Core Realm, and even then, the Azure Cloud Sect was already the hegemon for ten thousand miles around.

Moreover, the combat power of an ancient Golden Core cultivator was worlds apart from those of the present day. Not to mention, in the ancient era, resources were never scarce; every cultivator was filthy rich.

And for a Golden Core cultivator who held a significant status in that era, how wealthy must they have been?

Just as everyone was filled with anticipation, a streak of light flashed in the distance. Lin Zisheng arrived, stepping on his long sword. When he saw Ye Lin, a trace of killing intent flashed across his eyes.

However, there were too many people here, and it was not a good time to strike.

Even he dared not kill an Inner Sect disciple in front of everyone.

At that moment, another loud boom echoed, and the silver-white gates of the Heavenly Mansion swung wide open. Seeing this, none of the disciples dared to take a step forward.

They were all clever people; who knew what dangers lay within a Golden Core cultivator's cave? No one wanted to be the first to go—they only had one life.

"Hmph, the opportunity is right before us. Cowardice will never lead to greatness."

At this, an Inner Sect disciple in the air let out a cold snort and charged into the gates. Seeing that there was no immediate danger, the other disciples followed suit.

Ye Lin mingled with the crowd and entered the Heavenly Mansion. Upon stepping inside, he saw five narrow bridges, each half a meter wide, connecting to five silver-white portals. Beneath the bridges lay a bottomless abyss.

"This palace is close to the ground, so where did this bottomless abyss come from?"

A disciple stepped forward, looking down at the abyss with a face full of shock.

"I do not know. Perhaps it is a method used by the ancient Golden Core cultivator. The ancient era was full of too many mysteries; even I find it hard to judge."

The aforementioned Senior Sister Li explained.

"Everyone, there are five paths now. As for which one to take, it depends entirely on your own choice."

After the disciple who had charged in first finished speaking, he aimed for the first path, dashed across it, and disappeared into the silver-white portal.

Ye Lin looked toward the third path. The panel indicated that it was through this third path that Lin Zisheng had found the Mystic Grade High-Tier Foundation Establishment Pill.

Without hesitation, Ye Lin stepped onto the third path, ran across it at high speed, and vanished.

The surrounding disciples began searching for their own paths, embarking on their treasure hunt.

Seeing Ye Lin head off, followed by countless other disciples, Lin Zisheng randomly chose a path and walked across.

With so many eyes on him, it was not a good time to kill. Once they were out of the secret realm, there would be plenty of opportunities. He did not believe Ye Lin could hide in the Azure Cloud Sect forever.

After entering the gate, he found himself in a massive space filled with countless statues: dragons, tigers, bears, unicorns, and flying birds—though Ye Lin did not recognize what kind of creature the last one was.

"Dragon Statue, Tiger Statue."

Ye Lin muttered to himself, then walked straight toward the Tiger Statue. He reached the base, crouched down, and felt around with his right hand. Sure enough, he touched a wooden box.

In an instant, Ye Lin stored the wooden box in his Spatial Ring. The disciples who arrived later saw him crouching there, feeling the base of the statue, and couldn't help but look his way.

But the moment Ye Lin pulled his empty hand out, they looked away.

Ye Lin then went to the Dragon Statue and, sure enough, found an ancient book, which he tucked into his Spatial Ring.

Although the Azure Cloud Sect was the hegemon for ten thousand miles, it was still just a small sect. Inner Sect disciples simply did not possess things like Spatial Rings.

Only the Inner Sect elders had a few. Each Spatial Ring was crafted by a Spirit Transformation expert or someone of even higher cultivation; disciples of a small sect were not qualified to own one.

"Brother, I just saw you feeling around under this statue. Did you discover something?"

At this moment, the disciple who had been staring for a long time without discovering anything looked toward Ye Lin and asked.

"I see this statue is incredibly strange and must be some kind of treasure, so I wanted to test its weight to see if it could be moved. Even if it isn't a treasure, it would fetch a high price if sold."

Hearing this, Ye Lin smiled and spoke, and the other Inner Sect disciples nodded one after another, agreeing that the words made sense.

"However, when I just tried, this statue weighed at least one hundred thousand catties. It seems only a senior brother in the Foundation Establishment Realm could attempt to lift it."

Having said this, Ye Lin shook his head, feigning regret.

"Do not be disheartened, Brother. An ancient Golden Core cultivator's cave dwelling must be filled with infinite mysteries; there must be some mechanism here. Let us conduct a thorough search."

With that, the other disciples looked toward the statues, circling them in an attempt to find something.

That is true. How could an ancient Golden Core cultivator's cave dwelling only contain such a small amount of items? It seems the fortuitous encounters surrounding Lin Zisheng have refreshed again, haven't they? It is a pity that Lin Zisheng did not come here, Ye Lin thought to himself as he walked.

"Oh no, what is that?"

At that moment, a loud shout came from an Inner Sect disciple up ahead. The others turned to look, and Ye Lin also turned with curiosity.

They saw that before the disciple, countless dense, silver-white insects had appeared. Each insect was the size of a palm, and they each radiated the aura of the fifth level of Qi Refining.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Ye Lin would never have believed that such a small insect could possess the cultivation of the fifth level of Qi Refining.

"This... these insects actually contain primordial spiritual energy?"

At this, one disciple looked at the insect he had just killed, his face filled with shock.

He had killed the insect before him casually, but he hadn't expected a surge of pure spiritual power to enter his body, causing his cultivation to advance by a small margin.

Spiritual energy is divided into primordial and acquired; primordial spiritual energy is the purest. Cultivators who train with primordial spiritual energy can completely crush those who train with acquired spiritual energy. Following the great war in ancient times that shattered the heavens and earth, the spiritual energy that exists today is all acquired spiritual energy.

In the ancient era, spirit stones were uniform, with no distinction in grade, whereas now, they exist.

This is because the higher the grade of the spirit stone, the more spiritual energy it contains, and the closer it is to primordial spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy within top-grade spirit stones infinitely approaches primordial spiritual energy, and at the same time, they are incredibly precious.

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