A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Wang Yu Transmigrates into a Book, the Dao Ancestor of Rein

Chapter 44 No wonder, no wonder…

He spent several days consolidating his cultivation before leaving the inn.

He planned to head to Tianwutai as soon as possible.

Although he still had plenty of time left, enough for him to stay in Tainan Valley for a while, there was little point in staying there any longer.

After all, it wasn't his turn to continue picking up bargains. The reason he was able to obtain the Golden Bamboo Talisman Brush and the fragments of the Silk Handkerchief Magic Treasure was purely because he had the advantage of having foresight, not because he had particularly good eyesight.

Besides, this place is crowded and inconvenient, so it's not suitable for him to flaunt his wealth too much.

Furthermore, you never know what might happen on the way that could cause a delay, and it would be bad if you missed your appointed time.

"Furthermore, I need to spend some time getting to know the characteristics of those puppet beasts better."

The ironwood puppets crafted by Young Master Lin are mostly made from two-hundred-year-old ironwood, and each one possesses spiritual power comparable to a Qi Refining Stage 9 cultivator from a cultivation sect. In terms of material strength, they are comparable to high-grade magic weapons. Ordinary mid-to-low-grade magic weapons struggle to penetrate their defenses, while high-grade magic weapons can only leave white scratches on the puppet's body.

"The probability of obtaining a top-tier magic weapon at the Ascension Ceremony is extremely low. Even those at the eleventh or twelfth level of Qi Refining in Huangfeng Valley mostly use mid-to-high-tier magic weapons. Not to mention the family disciples or even poorer rogue cultivators outside."

"If I can skillfully control one or two puppets, theoretically, that would be enough to deal with the vast majority of my competitors."

Han Li thought to himself.

Once cultivators reach the eighth or ninth level of Qi Refining, the battles between them no longer solely depend on the depth of their individual magical power. The most important factors are the strength of the spells they possess, their skillful application of various techniques, and the power of the personal artifacts they can utilize.

Both are magical artifacts, but one is only a mid-to-low-grade artifact, while the other is a high-grade or even top-grade artifact. The difference between them is like heaven and earth.

therefore.

In the following period, he also found a remote mountain wilderness to practice how to better control the puppets.

He had actually begun his research while traveling, but due to the short time available, he hadn't yet developed a coherent tactical system. Continuing his research now, he hoped to gain some insights.

"Oh, right, before you leave, don't forget this..."

The day.

Two major "insider stories" were revealed at the Tainan Small Meeting in Tainan Valley.

Firstly, the Hidden Moon Sect is recruiting, and members are guaranteed job placement upon joining. This "guaranteed placement" means male-female pairings for easier work. They even provide a Daoist partner upon joining – how about that? The other benefits are far better than those of other sects.

Secondly: Spirit Beast Mountain is recruiting members, and those who join the sect will receive a pet.

literal meaning.

The emergence of these two pieces of news immediately stirred the interest of many independent cultivators with considerable cultivation levels.

Most importantly, the news is true and reliable! Even the inner disciples of the seven major sects know it! It's just that many independent cultivators outside are unable to find out due to limited information channels. Therefore, the cultivation families like the Yan family, which are hosting the Tai Nan Small Gathering, cannot easily come forward to suppress the news at this time.

"I wonder if these two pieces of news will have any impact on the upcoming Ascension Conference?" In a quiet courtyard in Tai Nan Valley, the Foundation Establishment stage elder of the Yan family murmured with a hint of worry.

...

Time flies, and another ten days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Han Li also arrived at a secluded place called the Misty Hidden Mountains.

It's not far from Tainan Mountain, only a two-day journey.

The mountain range, stretching for hundreds of miles, is in a state of primeval forest, filled with miasma and natural fog, so ordinary people rarely venture out.

Tianwutai is located on a majestic mountain deep in the mountains.

The mountain here rises over four thousand feet, towering into the clouds. Its summit is perpetually covered in snow, and a thick fog hangs in the air from its base. Further into the mountainside, the fog becomes so dense it seems impossible to disperse. The white fog at the summit, mixed with snowflakes, creates a breathtakingly pristine, silver-clad landscape.

The name Tianwutai comes from this.

Furthermore, a miniature spiritual vein stretching for two or three miles exists at the location of Tianwu Platform. This spiritual vein is not suitable for a single cultivation family to reproduce and utilize, making it only suitable for a very small number of individual cultivators to establish their own cave dwellings. Of course, it is also sufficient to use this miniature spiritual vein as a venue for the Seven Sects to hold their Ascension Conference for a short period of time.

At this time, there were less than two days left before the Ascension Conference to be held by the Seven Sects.

The teams from the seven factions would usually arrive three days in advance to prepare the venues, so the people from the seven factions would have arrived at least one day prior.

When Han Li arrived, he saw several disciples of Huangfeng Valley using some kind of earth-attribute secret technique to rebuild and reinforce an arena.

"It seems we've arrived just in time..."

He went to a slightly farther place, found an ancient tree, quickly dug a hole under the tree to take shelter, and set up a small maze around the tree within a 20-meter radius.

This small formation isn't particularly advanced. After advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage, Huangfeng Valley disciples receive a free set of this formation to protect their personal cave dwellings.

If you purchase it yourself during the Qi Refining stage, it will cost fifty low-grade spirit stones per set.

When traveling, he naturally needs to be prepared.

Moreover, his set is not the inferior product of other Foundation Establishment cultivators, but the one that Fairy Hong Fu obtained from the sect when she advanced to the Foundation Establishment stage! And it has been improved by Fairy Hong Fu several times! The current version is far superior to the original small maze array.

It's just that Fairy Hong Fu no longer finds it appealing, and the other set she prepared for Dong Xuan'er is much better, so this set has been gathering dust in some corner of her private storeroom, which is why it was lucky enough to be given to him.

Friendship price: 200 spirit stones.

"Tsk, there are even rogue cultivators who can set up formations?"

Among the seven sects of cultivators, a Foundation Establishment manager from the Giant Sword Sect, who was hidden in the shadows, discovered the magic array and looked in this direction.

Originally, the Foundation Establishment cultivator was only surprised for a moment.

In his view, neither rogue cultivators nor members of powerful families could possibly possess a lineage of array formations. At most, they might have some spare money and buy a basic array to adorn themselves. But when he extended his divine sense to probe the small array, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise:
"Huh? My divine sense is actually blocked from the outside?"

How can this be?

That shouldn't be the case. "What's wrong, Senior Brother Zhang?"

Another Foundation Establishment cultivator standing nearby asked curiously.

"Junior Brother Xu, look over there. There's an interesting formation set up by a rogue cultivator over there." The Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Zhang pointed towards where Han Li was hiding.

His voice also attracted the attention of the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the other major sects.

Everyone turned their attention toward the location of the formation.

"Isn't that a miniature maze?"

With just one glance, some cultivators could discern the essence of the formation.

"Strange, something's not right. Ordinary illusion arrays can barely hinder the spiritual sense probing of early to mid-Foundation Establishment cultivators, but they can't stop the spiritual sense penetration of late-Foundation Establishment cultivators. They're even less effective against certain spirit beasts and spirit eye techniques that are naturally able to see through illusions. But this one..."

A young man from the Hidden Moon Sect, dressed in flowing white robes and at the Foundation Establishment stage, unconsciously frowned.

A barely perceptible blue light flashed in his eyes, as if he had used some kind of spiritual eye technique.

"What's wrong, Senior Brother Hongyun?"

A Foundation Establishment stage female disciple from the Hidden Moon Sect said with a slight movement of her beautiful eyes.

Upon hearing this, the male cultivator shook his head:
"My divine eye technique couldn't see through that layer of mist and illusion..."

"What? Senior brother, you can't see through that small magic array?!" The female cultivator looked surprised. "How is that possible?"

"Senior Brother Hongyun, you possess late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation and have mastered the 'Dazzling Profound Light' spiritual eye technique, which allows you to see through many illusions. How could a mere Qi Refining stage rogue cultivator's array possibly obstruct your vision?" The woman from the Hidden Moon Sect was truly incredulous.

“Fellow Daoist Hongyun, Fellow Daoist Huaxu, this formation is indeed strange.”

A Foundation Establishment stage cultivator from the Giant Sword Sect said with a solemn expression.

The other Foundation Establishment stage cultivators who cast their gazes at them had varying expressions, each with their own thoughts.

Among them, the three Foundation Establishment stage leaders from Huangfeng Valley had the strangest expressions.

"Junior Brother Wang, why do I feel like that maze formation is a small-scale maze formation that's a specialty of our Yellow Maple Valley?"

And the more you look at it, the more it resembles it.

"Does Senior Brother Nie feel the same way?"

"It seems that the formation not only originated from our Yellow Maple Valley, but has also been adjusted and optimized. Otherwise, how could it have blocked the spiritual eye technique of that Fellow Daoist Hongyun from the Hidden Moon Sect?"

"To optimize a small-scale maze array to this level, the person who created it must be no ordinary individual; they must be an array master with considerable skill in array formations..."

"This rogue cultivator probably has some background and some connection with my Yellow Maple Valley."

"After that...?"

"Let's see which sect he chooses next. If he chooses our Yellow Maple Valley, we'll naturally ask him about it privately. If he chooses another sect, we don't need to interfere."

"What you say makes sense, senior brother. That's how it should be..."

Inside a small maze.

Han Li was unaware of how much attention the formation that Fairy Hong Fu sold to him at a friendly price had brought him.

Well, even if I knew, I wouldn't care. After all, it's probably many years before we meet again after today.

...

Time quickly came to the day when the Ascension Ceremony officially began.

Han Li emerged from the tree hollow and approached the registration area where a large number of cultivators were signing up for the competition.

He glanced at it once and chose the registration office at the end of Yellow Maple Valley.

The three Foundation Establishment cultivators from Yellow Maple Valley, hidden in the shadows, exchanged bewildered glances:

"Why is it him?!"

The last person to join Huangfeng Valley using an Ascension Token was a lucky individual four or five hundred years ago. How could someone who joins the sect using an Ascension Token several hundred years later not be somewhat famous?
"No wonder, no wonder he has our Yellow Maple Valley's specialty miniature maze formation, and a carefully improved version at that..."

If you say it wasn't made by Master Hongfu, they'd never believe it even if you beat them to death!

"What should we do? Should we tamper with the order of the competition? If this kid encounters Qi Refining Level 10 or 11 opponents too early, he might have a hard time getting a ranking..."

They were unsure whether Han Li had come to participate on his own or if it was arranged by his senior uncle, Hong Fu.

In either case, they must think twice before acting.

No one wanted to offend a Core Formation stage elder.

"Let's arrange the order of the competition. Try to put that kid in matches below the tenth level of Qi Refining, and make sure his final opponent is someone of the same level. This will reduce his energy expenditure and increase his opponent's injuries and mana loss. As for whether he can achieve a ranking in the end, that's beyond our control."

By dividing them into groups, they can manipulate things behind the scenes.

But when it came to a real fight in the ring, they were powerless to help.

If the little guy wins a prize, then they will have done him a favor.

Even if they didn't get a ranking, they had already done their best.

(End of this chapter)