Inside the gate was a bizarre and colorful space. There was no sky or earth, no sense of east, south, west, or north. The surroundings were almost identical in every direction.
Li Yan and the Great Elder seemed to be treading through a starry sky. And around them, there were indeed "stars" of faint white light dancing about.
These "stars" flickered, much like the will-o'-the-wisps spoken of in the Mortal Realm. Although they danced around Li Yan and the Great Elder, they did not approach.
It was as if there was a great repulsive force emanating from the two of them. As long as they walked in one direction, these dancing "stars" would be pushed far away, yet they continued to dance around them.
"This is our clan's Power of Faith, similar to the Votive Power of the Buddhists. It is originally formless, but here, it is visible!" the Great Elder explained softly as he wove through these "stars" of faith, without turning his head.
"Visible Power of Faith?"
"This is a technique of the Great Sacrificial Priest. Don't ask me why; with my cultivation, I am also unable to know. But these are necessary for the inheritance of the cultivation method later on. You can use your Divine Sense to feel them, but do not try to absorb them. Doing so might trigger a storm in your Sea of Consciousness, leading to its collapse. I do not know how to save you from that. At the very least, cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage and below will surely die."
The Great Elder continued, his feet not stopping. But this time, he glanced at Li Yan, a deep warning in his eyes.
Li Yan just smiled and nodded. He was curious about this Power of Faith, but he would never touch something he didn't understand before figuring it out. That was not his character.
When Li Yan first released his Divine Sense, he had only swept it over the surface of those faint white light specks, and nothing more. That was the most normal way for a cultivator to probe an unfamiliar object.
Now, combining this with the Great Elder's words, Li Yan quickly understood their meaning.
Within those faint white light specks, after his Divine Sense made contact, he had sensed waves of soaring battle intent.
The battle intent in each light speck was as sharp as a sword, a spear, an axe, a saber. It seemed chaotic and mixed, but it was brimming with killing intent. A slight ripple even went through Li Yan's bloodline.
'This is the battle consciousness and strong will to survive of the Tianli clansmen, as well as their intense desire to become stronger. No wonder the Great Elder said not to absorb it into the body. With so many different and intense wills, once they enter the Sea of Consciousness, the collision between them would cause a normal person's consciousness to be flooded with a thousand different, intense thoughts in a single breath. That person, in their agony, would not know which one to follow. Even the most formidable Sea of Consciousness would be stirred into a storm, causing them to lose themselves and their original heart...' Li Yan thought to himself.
'But the Great Elder also said that inheriting the last three layers of the cultivation method is impossible without this Power of Faith. I suspect there are two possible reasons: First, this was deliberately done by the Great Sacrificial Priest, with the purpose of protecting the core techniques of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art," so that others cannot obtain it without entering the ancestral land; second, the last three layers of the cultivation method may involve some essential nature of the ferocious beast Qiongqi. And since the Tianli Clan regards it as a sacred beast, the Power of Faith they generate is all related to Qiongqi. The intense consciousness within those light specks should be related to some of Qiongqi's temperament and innate talents, such as fierceness and tenacity. Then, to inherit the last three layers of the cultivation method, one would need the assistance of this Power of Faith to record or comprehend the true essence of the method...'
Li Yan quickly deduced in his mind. After the Great Elder finished speaking and saw Li Yan fall into deep thought, he said no more and led the way, continuing to weave through this starry sky of faith.
Having lost his sense of direction here, Li Yan felt as if he would be walking endlessly...
Afterward, the Great Elder would only occasionally say a sentence, roughly indicating how much farther they had to go, and that their destination was the core of the inner area.
Li Yan, on the other hand, was carefully observing his surroundings while, out of habit, constantly memorizing his route.
Although there was no sense of direction here, he still relied on his superior memory to forcibly memorize the number of steps he took, and after how many steps he turned left or right.
If others knew what he was doing, they would surely think Li Yan was being overly cautious, to the point of being mad.
After all, the Tianli Clan was now like family to him, and he should be quite at ease with the Great Elder's conduct.
But Li Yan was just like that. It wasn't about whether he trusted someone or not. Once he was in a place that made him feel a sense of danger, he would subconsciously think of the worst-case scenario.
Then, he would think about how he could survive in that environment with only his own abilities.
This habit was deeply ingrained in his bones. The root cause was the shadow that Strategist Ji had cast upon him in his youth, a shadow he could never shake off in his life.
Thus, childhood and adolescence are the beginning of a person's character formation for life. The good is called a goal, the bad is called a shadow.
And so, after the two had walked for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Yan's eyes lit up. The scenery ahead finally changed.
In the void where the light specks danced, a palace slowly materialized. As the two approached, the palace's appearance became clearer and clearer.
The palace was entirely grayish-white, as if it had endured ancient ages, giving off a palpable sense of historical vicissitude.
From Li Yan's perspective, the palace was about a li wide, quite grand. The direction he and the Great Elder were heading was straight towards the long flight of stairs in front of the grayish-white palace.
The stairs led upwards for about a thousand steps, and then there was a magnificent jade stone gate. As for how far the palace extended backward, Li Yan had no way of knowing without carefully probing with his Divine Sense.
Soon, the two arrived at the foot of the stairs in front of the gray palace. Here, the Great Elder stopped.
He turned around, looked at Li Yan, and then pointed to the palace gate above with his staff.
"This is as far as I go. You will go up and receive the inheritance on your own. Next, you must listen carefully to every word I say. After you enter the palace, there are three stone platforms in the main hall. Facing them from left to right, they represent the seventh, eighth, and ninth layers of the cultivation method, respectively. You can ascend the stone platforms, sit on them, and then infuse your magical power to activate them. The formation restriction on it will then open. At that time, an inheritance consciousness will descend from the air and enter your crown. Do not panic or dodge. Let it enter through your Baihui acupoint; that is the inheritance imprint of the cultivation method. I will give you four jade rings, colored white, red, purple, and black. The white jade ring is to be used first; it is the key to opening the palace's formation restriction. To enter, simply place the white jade ring into the only groove on the palace gate. It cannot be removed. Then, the red jade ring allows you to step onto the seventh-layer stone platform to receive the inheritance, the purple jade ring for the eighth-layer stone platform, and the black jade ring for the ninth-layer stone platform. You can wear these jade rings at your waist. After stepping onto a stone platform, infuse it with magical power to activate it. Each jade ring can only be activated once and will then automatically disappear. You can receive the inheritance on each stone platform for three days. When the time is up, the inheritance light will disappear, and no matter how much you meditate, it will be useless. The total inheritance time for the three rings is nine days. Once the nine days of inheritance time are up, the white jade ring on the palace gate will pull you out, and you will appear at the foot of these stairs. Remember, this is a place for inheriting the cultivation method, not for cultivation. If you continue to meditate in the palace after the inheritance light disappears, you may absorb the highly mixed Power of Faith, and I need not repeat the consequences. Secondly, do not attempt to memorize the cultivation method in reverse order. If you do, you will fail completely. You must start receiving the inheritance from the seventh layer. Additionally, if three days are not enough to inherit a certain layer, the red, purple, and black jade rings can all be used to activate the seventh-layer stone platform. In other words, you can actually have nine days of inheritance memory time for the seventh-layer stone platform; for the eighth layer, both the purple and black jade rings can activate it, so you can have a cumulative total of six days; for the ninth layer, only the black jade ring can be used, so there will only be three days. Therefore, you must use these three jade rings according to your actual situation. Once used, an opportunity is lost. Furthermore, if you fail this inheritance, it will be much more difficult to open it again next time, because the Power of Faith is not easy to accumulate, and it is constantly consumed each time it is opened. We also have to consider the possibility of others entering, and cannot use it all on one person. I believe Prince Yan will understand this."
The Great Elder explained everything in great detail, his purpose being to make Li Yan fully understand.
'This place is indeed only for inheritance, not for cultivation. And the inheritance time is limited, but it can be accumulated to a certain extent.'
Li Yan thought about his previous speculations about the inheritance ground, but there was one question he still didn't quite understand.
'Why is it that the higher the layer of the cultivation method, the shorter the time to receive the inheritance? According to normal cultivation, the deeper the cultivation method, the longer the time needed for memory and comprehension should be.'
"I have said that this is a place to inherit the memory of the cultivation method, not to comprehend it immediately. The key is to memorize the cultivation manual. If you have cultivated the first six layers to an extremely proficient level, this amount of time is more than enough for memorization."
The Great Elder explained again. This time, Li Yan seemed to be deep in thought.
The Great Elder had already put away his staff and his hands quickly formed a strange hand seal in front of him. Then, his aged voice gave a soft shout.
"Appear!"
Immediately, four colored lights appeared in front of him. With a point of his finger, the four colored lights rapidly shrank, soon condensing into white, red, purple, and black light rings.
Then, with a flick of the Great Elder's finger through the air, the four colored rings flew in front of Li Yan.
Li Yan looked at the four colored rings and briefly sensed them with his Divine Sense.
'These are all light rings condensed from an art. Without knowing the cultivation manual, one cannot enter this space even if they can enter the ancestral land. Even if one were to luckily enter this space again, they would still be unable to enter the palace for the inheritance. It truly is one link after another.'
As he thought this, he had already taken the four colored rings into his hand. Then, with a slight nod to the Great Elder, he started walking up the stairs.
Watching Li Yan step onto the stairs, the Great Elder did not leave. He sat down cross-legged at the foot of the stairs and slowly closed his eyes.
Nine days later, when Li Yan and the Great Elder walked out of the ancestral land, he immediately flew towards Qing A Wang's manor. After entering the manor and talking with Gong Chenying for a short while, he flew towards the high mountain behind the manor.
After that, Li Yan once again entered seclusion...
Time flew by. Year after year passed. For cultivators, the years passed without them noticing. Not long after Li Yan entered seclusion, Gong Chenying also chose to go into seclusion to advance her cultivation.
...
Four years after Li Yan entered seclusion, on the Desolate Moon Continent, the sky above the Malevolent Spirit Sect suddenly changed color one day. Inky black clouds roiled, lightning flashed, and thunder roared. The entire sect was shaken. Someone was facing the Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation.
A day later, Zhao Min, who had been in seclusion for decades, achieved the Great Perfection of Nascent Soul. This matter invigorated the entire Malevolent Spirit Sect. It was a great fortune for the sect; another Nascent Soul Old Ancestor had emerged, and the sect's strength had once again greatly increased.
But this matter also caused people like Baili Yuan and Wang Tian to look grim. After Li Yan and his wife returned from another continent, they had all surpassed their generation.
They were already feeling more and more pressure, but how could the great hurdle of Nascent Soul Formation be rushed? Otherwise, the Mortal Realm would be teeming with Nascent Soul cultivators flying everywhere.
On Little Bamboo Peak, in Li Yan's courtyard, Li Zhaoyan looked at Zhao Min, who had just finished washing up and looked a little weary. Little stars sparkled in her beautiful eyes.
Earlier, Zhao Min had returned covered in blood, which had given her quite a scare. Fortunately, her maternal grandfather and uncle, as well as Old Ancestor Mo, were also there. After a brief examination, her grandfather had said that there was no serious injury, which had finally put her heart at ease.
Then, the three of them asked Zhao Min a few more questions before flying away one by one.
After washing up, Zhao Min had originally intended to immediately enter seclusion to stabilize her Nascent Soul, but seeing that Li Zhaoyan was also here, she came out again.
She first asked Li Zhaoyan about her situation over the years. Li Zhaoyan, her big eyes darting around, simply answered the questions one by one, then threw herself into Zhao Min's arms.
"Wow, Mother, you're so amazing! You withstood such a terrifying Heavenly Tribulation. I could feel how powerful that tribulation was. A single stray spark could have taken my little life. But from now on, I'll have two Nascent Soul Old Ancestors as my great protectors! Hehehe..."
Zhao Min patted Li Zhaoyan on the back. Her appearance was the same as ever; she had not matured after giving birth to Li Zhaoyan and still looked like a cold and detached young girl. At this moment, she and Li Zhaoyan looked more like sisters.
Looking at the graceful young woman in her arms, a trace of gentleness appeared deep in Zhao Min's eyes, but her expression remained as cold and calm as ever, as if nothing could stir her emotions.
Zhao Min remembered the questions she had just asked. She had roughly understood Li Zhaoyan's situation and was actually a little dissatisfied.
"You're already so big, you can't be so mischievous anymore. You must have your own goals in cultivation. Don't try to learn everything and cultivate everything. Time is always limited! Also, what do you mean by only having two Nascent Soul Old Ancestors as your great protectors? Does your father not count? And in the future, we won't be looking after you too much either. Some paths you need to walk on your own. I will enter seclusion shortly to stabilize my realm, but I will speak with your grandfather and have you go out for training in the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains like the other sect disciples. And by my calculations, the Secret Realm Plucking should also be opening within three years. You must participate. You have always been protected by your grandfather and uncle. You are already at the peak of Foundation Establishment, yet you are still staying in the sect. This will not do."
Zhao Min rarely spoke so much. She had been in seclusion all this time. From what Li Zhaoyan had described of her years, she had just been staying in the sect.
Although her cultivation was not bad, she still hadn't managed to form her core. Actually, this was already quite good; Zhao Min herself had only formed her core after several decades.
But Zhao Min felt that with such cultivation resources, Li Zhaoyan should have at least reached the Pseudo-Core Realm.
This was also related to what Li Zhaoyan was learning; it was too miscellaneous, and she couldn't focus on her seclusion. Fortunately, she had an ample supply of medicinal pills, and her spirit root aptitude was far superior to Li Yan's, so her cultivation was still among the top of her peers.
Although Zhao Min was not one for many words, she still remembered what kind of temperament Li Zhaoyan had since she was a child: mischievous and overly lively. At the time, she had found it somewhat unbelievable.
She and Li Yan were both people of few words, so why was the child they produced so lively in character?
So, although she had only asked a few questions, from the tone of Li Zhaoyan's answers, she knew that Li Zhaoyan had certainly not been very focused on her cultivation over the years.
With her sharp intellect, she knew that all of this was definitely related to her own father and Li Wuyi.