Secluded Cultivation

-In the space within the remains of the tower's ruins.

Su Fuxi had finally returned here.

This was one of the hidden storage subspaces in the scripture tower.

A dim blue space stretched before her eyes, empty except for three jade meditation cushions floating in the void. Had the tower not been damaged, she would have had neither the qualifications nor the chance to enter.

She could not stay here for long. It seemed that once a certain time had passed, she would immediately be teleported out. The destruction of the restrictions throughout this part of the tower had caused all manner of restrictions to overlap in chaos.

That was why she had been teleported into a restricted garden last time and trapped for several years before she had barely managed to open a small hole and escape.

Su Fuxi immediately found the cushion where she had studied the Lesser Great Luo Seal last time and sat down cross-legged. At once, her consciousness entered a profound space.

Once more, she saw the same mysterious golden runes floating in the void. They contained the entire Lesser Great Luo Seal and were unfathomably profound. At first, reading through them once would not leave the slightest trace in her memory.

Only by studying them slowly and immersing her mind completely could she deduce a cultivation art. It was like a difficult question on an examination, one that demanded tremendous mental effort.

The runes were intricate and contained a mysterious restriction that prevented them from being recorded with spiritual sense, so no one could pass them on.

This time, Su Fuxi had thought she could quickly deduce her way to the latter part, only to discover several errors and omissions in the path she had followed last time!

She immediately steadied her mind and worked through the deductions with meticulous care, striving to refine and complete the seals in the first part as well. She immersed herself in the runes, thinking that this trip had already been worthwhile, and set aside her worry about running out of time.

She did not know how long had passed before she finally reached the latter part!

She immediately focused even more intently on deducing and comprehending it. Her mind seemed to have drifted beyond time, with nothing but runes in her consciousness.

In the outside world, her body remained motionless. Only two more silver strands had appeared behind her ear, hidden beneath her dark hair and impossible to notice without a close look.

Perhaps because she had the foundation of the first part, she managed to work through the latter part three times, finally bringing her deductions of the seals to a nearly perfect state.

Three months had passed.

Rustle...

The instant she opened her eyes, a vortex abruptly appeared behind her and immediately sucked her in.

In the blink of an eye, she appeared in the same restricted subspace as last time. Restrictions lay everywhere in this well-preserved garden, which teemed with life!

But she was no longer in front of the bamboo grove. Instead, she stood beneath a cluster of gorgeous peonies amid rich heaven and earth origin qi.

For some reason, she could not breathe in and absorb this extraordinarily rich origin qi. Su Fuxi took a breath of the refreshing air, which carried a faint peony fragrance, then raised a finger and flicked out a faint pink light of spiritual power, formed by fusing the spirits of fire and wood within her inner core, toward the peony bushes that stood taller than she did.

With a snap, the pink light was instantly absorbed by the restriction in front of the peonies, without leaving a trace.

Just as she had thought, she could leave only by breaking a path through the restrictions. Su Fuxi looked at the faintly shimmering restriction. Though the entire garden appeared black and white to her, the peonies bloomed in profusion and swayed gently in the breeze, a scene of natural beauty that concealed deadly peril.

She sensed that all of it was filled with rich vitality and danger.

The garden was not very large. It lay entirely within the nearly four-hundred-li range of her spiritual sense.

There was no exit. This was a separate subspace.

After confirming that nothing else had changed here and that there was no second person present, Su Fuxi immediately sat down cross-legged to regulate her breathing and restore her energy. At the same time, she cultivated the "Lesser Great Luo Art" in her mind in full.

As it turned out, the complete name of the spell was the Lesser Great Luo Art. It was an imitation of some kind of immortal art, and this really was an immortal's dwelling. Su Fuxi had already had some suspicions, so she was not very surprised.

The complete Lesser Great Luo Art contained three sets of seals: palm, fist, and finger. Because of the time limit, the Great Luo Fist Seal she had obtained at the end was not quite perfect.

Even so, with the complete Great Luo Palm Seal and Great Luo Finger Seal, this trip had been well worth it!

Su Fuxi swallowed a spirit-replenishing pill and spent half a month breathing and absorbing qi. As she breathed in the vital origin qi here, her skin became visibly finer, and several white strands among her dark hair turned black again.

Although she was very interested in the restrictions here, Su Fuxi had other things to do on this trip. She worked out how to break a path through the restrictions even faster than when she had been trapped here a century ago.

She extended her spiritual sense to search for the restriction nodes she had broken through last time and found that, out of more than thirteen hundred in total, over four hundred had changed!

She remained seated for three years, long past the time she had arranged to meet Lin Sui.

However, because of the No Falsehood Sword, Lin Sui had not managed to reach the marked location at the agreed time either.

Above a boundless jungle, Lin Sui followed the No Falsehood Sword toward its depths, only to be slowed suddenly by a flock of birds that burst into the air ahead and scattered in panic.

"Bad news, what powerful pressure! There's a great demonic beast ahead!"

He cried out and immediately stopped flying, turning to leave in another direction, but the No Falsehood Sword blocked his retreat.

Hum, hum... The blade trembled and rang, greatly agitated.

"You're saying it's just ahead?" Lin Sui extended his spiritual sense and immediately drew a shocked breath, retreating a step. "You're joking! I can feel that tremendous pressure from hundreds of li away. Whoever it belongs to is at least a fourth-tier demonic beast at the Nascent Soul level! If the two of us go over there, we'll be courting death!"

He wanted to stay alive and continue accompanying his master. He had no desire to take that risk!

The sword: "Hum!"

Lin Sui gritted his teeth, his face cold. "No. Even if you're a very powerful sword, I don't want to face a fourth-tier demonic beast!"

"..." The sword drooped completely, the light all over it dimming.

Lin Sui had yet to experience the true dangers of the jianghu and possessed a sincere heart. Seeing this, he could not help softening his tone. "The secret realm will close in a little over two years. I have to go find Master when the time comes."

"You want that treasure..."

It was, after all, the sword that had accompanied him for so long and his own magic treasure. Along the way, it had slain third-tier demonic beasts and helped him obtain fortuitous opportunities, earning great credit. Lin Sui was quite troubled.

"If we absolutely have to take it, we can only do it through wits."

"!" The sword's light immediately flared.

Lin Sui frowned in thought for a moment, then retreated with the sword to a safe place. Only after they had put several hundred li between them and the beast did he extend his spiritual sense.

"The spiritual qi in the secret realm is abundant. I'm going to find a cave dwelling and enter seclusion for a year to attempt Core Formation. Guard me."

He headed straight for a steep cliff, sending a thought through his mind. "Once I've formed my core, I'll take you to find that treasure."

Flying up to the cliff, he hovered in the air and directed the No Falsehood Sword to dig out a cave dwelling with a series of clangs. After going inside, Lin Sui brought his hands together toward the entrance, and several large rocks immediately sealed it shut.

Still not at ease, he took out the concealment restriction flag Su Fuxi had given him and unfurled it into a large banner, concealing himself within it.

He sat cross-legged directly on the ground. With a thought, he summoned more than a dozen recently acquired spiritual herbs from his storage pouch, refined and devoured them on the spot, then closed his eyes and began cultivating and absorbing qi.

The No Falsehood Sword plunged into the ground beside him of its own accord with a clang, concealed its aura, and stood guard in silence.

Master said there are no Nascent Soul cultivators in this secret realm. Anyone who breaks through to the Nascent Soul realm will immediately trigger a destruction restriction and have their soul scattered.

But there may be fourth-tier demonic beasts nurtured by the secret realm itself. Although there aren't many of them, and they remain hidden all year round, not daring to show themselves, releasing Nascent Soul power could also trigger the destruction restriction.

Although that aura just now was powerful, it seemed to be suppressed below the fourth tier. It's very likely a great demonic beast at the half-step fourth tier, and that would be more than enough to handle!

But... the No Falsehood Sword said that treasure has a trace of origin power...

If I obtain a trace of origin power, could it help Master... form her Nascent Soul...?

That was the real reason Lin Sui had decided to enter seclusion and make a breakthrough, then try to retrieve the treasure!