Within the Forbidden Land

Once everyone from the Seven Sects had assembled, the Core Formation cultivators leading them conferred briefly, then took to the air with their disciples and set off for the forbidden land.

Several hours later, they brought everyone down before a broad slope of yellow earth. Apart from heaps of rocks, not even a blade of grass grew there. As far as the eye could see, everything was a desolate yellow.

Among the crowd, Lin Yun used the spatial perception he had gained by uniting his heart with the Clearvoid Invisible Sword to sense what seemed to be an immense space within the void nearby. The spiritual vitality within it far surpassed that of the outside world.

So this is the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land? Its spiritual vitality really is much stronger than outside! Sensing the vigorous spiritual vitality within that space through the Clearvoid Invisible Sword, Lin Yun was thoroughly pleased.

He then followed everyone else's lead and stood to one side, quietly observing how the Seven Sects' Core Formation cultivators opened the forbidden land's restrictions.

Although he could probably slip into the forbidden land himself by spending some time finding a weak point in the restrictions and using the Clearvoid Invisible Sword to perform Formless Sword Escape, Lin Yun still waited quietly for the Seven Sects' Core Formation cultivators to open them.

Since he was already outside the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land, there was no need to rush these last few moments.

Several hours later, through the efforts of the seven Core Formation cultivators, who were sweating like rain, a circular passage roughly ten feet high finally opened into the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land.

"Get inside, quickly! We can't hold this for long!"

At Floating Cloud Zi's urging, the Seven Sects' disciples entered the pitch-black passage one after another, their hearts full of apprehension.

Lin Yun likewise stepped into the passage with Yellow Maple Valley's group.

The passage was only about two hundred feet long. As soon as Lin Yun reached its end, he felt a force of spatial displacement.

Rather than use the Clearvoid Invisible Sword's Formless Sword Escape to resist that force, however, he allowed it to transport him away.

After a dizzying whirl, Lin Yun landed in a forest surrounded by twisted trees.

Lin Yun glanced around and found that, although the world's primordial qi here was more abundant than in Yellow Maple Valley, it still failed to meet the requirements for cultivating the White Yang Diagram.

Lin Yun extended his spiritual sense to survey his surroundings. Seeing that no one else had been transported nearby, he opened his mouth and spat out the Clearvoid Invisible Sword.

He then merged his body with the sword, becoming an invisible streak of sword light that shot into the sky. He paused briefly in midair, paying no attention to the information and map Yellow Maple Valley had issued.

Using the Qi-Observing Art, Lin Yun directly located the direction of a place within the forbidden land rich in spiritual vitality and primordial qi, then sped toward it on his invisible sword light.

Although he was eager to find somewhere to cultivate in seclusion, Lin Yun did not mind pausing for a moment if he encountered worthwhile spirit herbs along the way.

Thus, whenever Lin Yun encountered spirit herbs guarded by demonic beasts along his route, he used his invisible, formless Formless Sword Escape to carry the herbs off before the beasts could react. All that remained were the beasts, rooted to the spot in bewilderment for a moment before flying into impotent rages.

Some unlucky disciples of the Seven Sects hurried over afterward and suffered this undeserved calamity, though he knew nothing of it.

Along the way, Lin Yun occasionally encountered disciples of the Seven Sects lying in ambush to catch others off guard. Apart from disciples of Spirit Beast Mountain, he ignored the vast majority of them.

Of course, if he encountered Yellow Maple Valley disciples in danger, he did not mind lending them a hand.

After casually slaughtering several Spirit Beast Mountain disciples who were ambushing others and quietly rescuing a few Yellow Maple Valley disciples he happened to find in danger, Lin Yun rode his invisible sword light through the gigantic stone wall at the forbidden land's center and reached the Ring Mountain Range sealed off by mist.

As the forbidden land's primary source of spirit herbs, this place had a concentration of the world's primordial qi second only to the area surrounding the thousand-foot tower at its core.

Although the world's primordial qi was more abundant at the forbidden land's core, that area was also far more dangerous. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Heavenly Talisman Sect carrying the Six-Ding Heavenly Armor Talisman had perished there.

While Lin Yun believed that Formless Sword Escape could carry him through the restrictions around the core region, he could not guarantee that he would be able to cultivate there undisturbed.

Thus, this Ring Mountain Range was Lin Yun's ideal place to cultivate in seclusion.

Only a few hours had passed since they entered the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land. Most of the Seven Sects' disciples were still gathering useful spirit herbs in the outer regions, and none had yet reached the Ring Mountain Range.

The Seven Sects had agreed to use the Moon-Yang Treasure Pearl to disperse the mist over the Ring Mountain Range on the morning of their third day inside the forbidden land. Lin Yun could not wait that long.

He therefore picked a random spot at the foot of the ring-shaped mountain range to recover the magical power he had expended continuously riding his sword light and performing Formless Sword Escape.

After resting for more than an hour, once his magical power had fully recovered, Lin Yun chose a direction at random and used Formless Sword Escape to plunge straight inside. Since Formless Sword Escape concealed him within the void, he had no fear of crashing into rocks or encountering demonic beasts.

He charged every which way through the Ring Mountain Range with Formless Sword Escape until he came upon a long, narrow underground cave. Only then did Lin Yun emerge from his sword escape and begin using the Clearvoid Invisible Sword to bore into the mountain through a crevice.

After digging several thousand feet inward, Lin Yun sensed that the surrounding primordial qi had become extremely abundant and finally stopped. He then hollowed out a stone chamber large enough to hold a dozen or so people.

Next, he blocked the entrance with the excavated rocks, completely concealing the tunnel. Anyone who was not paying close attention would never discover it.

Worried that the Seven Sects' disciples entering the mountains a few days later might notice unusual spiritual qi near the stone chamber and disturb his cultivation, Lin Yun took a set of array implements from his storage pouch.

He had casually refined these array implements several months earlier while studying arrays with Xin Ruoyin, to test an idea of his. Although they could not produce any formidable array, setting up one that concealed fluctuations in spiritual qi and deceived the Seven Sects' Qi Refining Stage disciples was a simple matter.

Even if he was unlucky enough for Nangong Wan of the Covering Moon Sect, who had concealed her cultivation to enter the forbidden land, to notice something unusual nearby, her current cultivation was at most at the Foundation-Building Stage. She would not be able to locate the source of the anomaly anytime soon.

The other person most worthy of attention was the old monster Xiang Zhili. However, Lin Yun guessed that his objective was to find a reverse spirit passage or the Six-Ding Heavenly Armor Talisman, and that he probably would not notice this little array. Thus, Lin Yun did not concern himself too much with him.

After finishing these preparations, Lin Yun tried to extend his spiritual sense to inspect his surroundings again. For some unknown reason, however, it reached only fifty or sixty feet before some force blocked it. Lin Yun guessed that he might happen to be underground beneath some restriction.

That was just as well. With the restriction overhead blocking the way, no one else could discover this place either.

Having resolved the issue of concealing his secluded cultivation site, Lin Yun thought for a moment, then took out another set of array flags as an added precaution.

These flags were for setting up a Spirit Gathering Array. They had no other function beyond drawing in the surrounding spiritual qi.

With the spiritual qi in the Ring Mountain Range, supplemented by that drawn in by the Spirit Gathering Array, Lin Yun felt that if he still could not cultivate an innate Dao

body, then he truly had no affinity with the Dao and might as well relinquish his mortal form sooner rather than later.

Sitting cross-legged in the center of the stone chamber and sensing the spiritual qi gradually gathering around him, Lin Yun did not rush to begin cultivating. Instead, he settled into meditation, silently reciting the Mind-Calming Mantra to adjust his state while allowing his magical power to recover naturally.