Four days passed in the blink of an eye.
Emerald Cloud Peak.
"Whew-"
Chen Yu sat cross-legged on his bed and let out a long breath of stale air.
He opened his eyes.
A sharp gleam flashed within them!
"Almost sixteen hours of cultivation every day!"
"Over thirty bouts of the runs in four days, and I ate the cafeteria's entire supply of chili peppers for the month!"
"Finally!"
"I did it!"
His status panel.
[Name: Chen Yu.] [Age: 18.] [Level: Fourth Layer of Qi Refining (49/50).] [Spiritual root: false spiritual root.] [Martial skills: none.] [Cultivation methods: "True Essence Profound Canon," "Flame-Transforming Art."] [Currently available experience points: 60.]
"I only need to put these sixty experience points into my level to reach the peak of the fifth layer of Qi Refining!" Chen Yu clenched his fists.
Most Dao Sect Outer Disciples were at the third or fourth layer of Qi Refining. Only a small number reached the fifth layer. If he broke through to the peak of the fifth layer, he would stand a cut above the rest!
But Chen Yu held back.
"I'll break through after I master the Qi-Concealing Art!"
It was evening now.
Time to eat.
Chen Yu arrived at the bustling square halfway up Emerald Cloud Peak.
For once,
there was hardly anyone by the mission board.
Chen Yu thought nothing of it and headed straight to the cafeteria.
While eating, he overheard the Outer Sect disciples beside him chatting.
"Tomorrow, it'll be our Emerald Cloud Peak's turn."
"Just go. What's there to fear? The disciples from Heavenly Flame Peak and Jade Yao Peak have all been there. Aside from the fourth and fifth visits being dangerous, you should be fine under normal circumstances."
"I know. I just want to try going in a few more times. There are point rewards, after all. And if I get lucky..."
"??? Have you got a death wish?!"
"No, but... my repayment deadline's coming up..."
"Well... decide for yourself!"
What were they talking about?
Chen Yu was puzzled.
Going where?
What fourth and fifth visits?
As he pondered this, a fragrant breeze wafted over, and someone sat down across from him.
His gaze lingered on her ample fruits.
"Senior Sister Lü," Chen Yu greeted her.
"Mm."
For once, Lü Yanyan did not correct his mistaken form of address. Looking at Chen Yu, she asked, "How many times are you planning to go in tomorrow?"
"Go where?" Chen Yu asked.
"?"
Lü Yanyan froze for a moment.
"The Immortal Ruins, of course."
"The Immortal Ruins?" Chen Yu looked blank. "Didn't the sect already issue a mission that someone accepted?"
Lü Yanyan was taken aback. "Have you not left your room these past few days?"
"...Yeah." Chen Yu nodded. "Except to eat, I've spent the past few days cultivating in my room."
Lü Yanyan sighed.
"All right, take a look at this."
As she spoke, Lü Yanyan took a sheet of white paper from a compartment at her chest. Chen Yu accepted the slightly warm sheet and looked down:
"Notice."
[Starting today, all Outer Sect disciples except those of Purple Bamboo Peak shall enter the Immortal Ruins to search for treasures, in the following order: Heavenly Flame Peak, Jade Yao Peak, Emerald Cloud Peak, and Ten Thousand Mountains Peak.] [Every Outer Sect disciple must enter the Immortal Ruins at least three times and bring back at least one treasure to receive a reward of 10 points. Those who enter four times and emerge with treasure will receive 20 points. Those who enter five times and emerge with treasure will receive 40 points.] [In addition, bringing high-value treasures out of the Immortal Ruins will earn extra point rewards.] [Those who refuse to enter the Immortal Ruins will have 50 points deducted.] [The following is the known information regarding the Immortal Ruins:] [1. After entering the Immortal Ruins, disciples cannot see one another.] [2. There are aggressive "skeleton" monsters within the Immortal Ruins. They are weak on the first visit, but their strength increases noticeably with each successive visit.] [3. Anyone killed by a "skeleton" will die.] [4. Cultivation methods, martial skills, pills, and other items within the Immortal Ruins... appear without any discernible pattern and must be actively sought out.] [5. Each person may enter only five times.]
After reading the notice, Chen Yu immediately understood.
He pondered for a moment.
Then he raised his head.
"Senior Sister Yanyan, has anyone really found high-value treasures in the Immortal Ruins?" Chen Yu asked Lü Yanyan.
"Yes." Hearing her junior brother's affectionate form of address, Lü Yanyan smiled. "Not many, but some certainly have. A disciple from Heavenly Flame Peak found a superior-grade spiritual weapon, a longsword, in the Immortal Ruins and earned a hundred points. A disciple from Jade Yao Peak found a superior-grade Foundation Establishment Pill and earned fifty points. There were a few others besides those first-time finds."
"The rewards are pretty generous."
No wonder hardly any disciples were gathering by the mission board. Everyone had turned their attention to the Immortal Ruins.
"Indeed." Lü Yanyan nodded.
"Is there any pattern to finding high-value treasures?" Chen Yu asked next.
"No."
Lü Yanyan shook her head.
"Of the disciples who've found high-value treasures so far, two found them straight away on their first visit to the Immortal Ruins. When they went in again afterward, all they found were very basic things."
"One person found only basic items on his first three visits, a mid-tier treasure on his fourth, and fought for his life to obtain a high-value treasure on his fifth."
"Another found nothing much on his first two visits, then lucked into a Foundation Establishment Pill on his third. But when he went in a fourth time, not only did he gain nothing, he was badly wounded and nearly left his life in the Immortal Ruins."
Lü Yanyan shrugged as she spoke.
"For now, it looks like luck is the main factor. Going in five times seems to improve your chances of obtaining a high-value treasure, but the risk is simply too high."
"Oh..."
Chen Yu nodded.
He suddenly felt that these Immortal Ruins were a little like the "loot, fight, extract" games he had played in his previous life.
But he did not dwell on it.
"Could a disciple find a high-value treasure and choose to keep it hidden instead of handing it over to the sect?" Chen Yu asked again.
"No," Lü Yanyan said with certainty.
"The elders check. There's no hiding anything."
"Oh."
"So, how many times are you planning to go in tomorrow?" Lü Yanyan asked again.
Chen Yu thought for a moment. "Three, I suppose."
"Mm." Lü Yanyan nodded. "Better to play it safe. If you leave your life in there, you lose everything."
Chen Yu nodded and asked in return, "What about you, Senior Sister?"
"Me?" Lü Yanyan considered it. "Probably three times too."
"All right."
Their conversation ended.
After finishing his meal, Chen Yu returned to his residence. His neighbor's doors and windows remained tightly shut.
But Chen Yu was used to it by now. He would be entering the Immortal Ruins tomorrow, so he needed to master the Qi-Concealing Art as soon as possible and break through to the peak of the fifth layer of Qi Refining!
Although Dao Sect disciples could not sense one another's exact cultivation level, they could use the spiritual energy within their bodies to judge whether someone was stronger or weaker than themselves.
But Chen Yu was cultivating the Qi-Concealing Art to guard against the Dao Sect elders, not the other disciples.
As someone with a false spiritual embryo, advancing from the third layer of Qi Refining to the peak of the fifth layer-or even higher-less than a week after entering the Outer Sect would be far too suspicious. Given the crooked, sinister way the Dao Sect operated, they might well dig out his heart and lungs to study him, or simply refine him into a spiritual charm bead to sample its flavor.
He recalled the Qi-Concealing Art:
"Qi-Concealing Art."
"Basic preparations before cultivation: calm the mind and focus your awareness on the dantian."
"Then look inward and follow the mental formula, slowly drawing the spiritual energy in your body toward the dantian while constricting the meridians and acupoints, like gathering light into a lamp or flowing water into a deep abyss..."
"Once the spiritual energy within your body can no longer be sensed, you have achieved initial mastery."
"After becoming proficient, you may maintain the 'concealed qi' state while moving, and swiftly conceal your qi in unexpected situations..."