Clan Cultivation: Starting from Foundation Establishment on Mount Luoxia

The next morning, Li Xiaoyao changed into a clean Taoist robe and adjusted his disguise to the ninth level of Qi Refining—two levels higher than before, but still inconspicuous.

The ninth level of Qi Refining is not low in Yongning City, but it is by no means remarkable.

Yongning Auction House is located in the most prosperous area of ​​the north of the city. It is a three-story wooden building with two Foundation Establishment stage guards standing at the entrance.

Li Xiaoyao was stopped as soon as he arrived at the door.

"There is a special auction today. Please show your invitation."

Li Xiaoyao was taken aback and was about to speak when a voice suddenly came from behind him: "This fellow Daoist came with me."

He turned his head and saw a middle-aged scholar walking towards him with a smile. The man had a fair complexion, bright eyes, and wore a gray-blue Taoist robe. His aura was at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.

Li Xiaoyao immediately saw through it—it was a disguise. This person's true cultivation level was at the early stage of the Purple Mansion realm, and he also carried the unique rule fluctuations of the system.

"Fellow Daoist, long time no see." The scholar winked at him. "I'll repay you the spirit stones I owed you last time."

Li Xiaoyao's mind raced, and he smiled, "Brother Zhou, you're too kind."

The two walked into the auction house side by side. The guards did not stop them again.

Upon entering the main hall, the scholar led Li Xiaoyao to a private room on the second floor, closed the door, and set up a soundproof barrier. Then he turned around, cupped his hands in a respectful greeting, and said, "My name is Mo Yan, a wandering cultivator who has transmigrated. My system is the Myriad Manifestations Deduction. May I ask your name, fellow Daoist?"

Li Xiaoyao looked at him but did not answer immediately.

Mo Yan smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. I mean no harm. I just see that you're from out of town and I'd like to make friends."

He sat down in the chair, poured himself a cup of tea, and said, "In Yongning City, the locals are xenophobic, and the people from the amusement park are domineering. People like us without any background can't survive long without banding together."

Li Xiaoyao sat down opposite him: "How did you figure out I was a time traveler?"

"Aura." Mo Yan pointed to his eyes. "My system has a passive skill that can distinguish between locals and outsiders. Although you've hidden your foreign aura very well, it can't fool me."

Li Xiaoyao nodded, not pressing the matter further. He trusted his disguise system and the Sect Leader's methods. Mo Yan could tell he was an outsider, but he might not be able to tell he was from the Immortal Sect.

"Fellow Daoist Mo, you didn't just seek me out to make friends, did you?"

Mo Yan put down his teacup and said seriously, "There is indeed something. Fellow Daoist, do you know why the people from the Paradise of Reincarnation have been wandering around the Eastern Wilderness?"

"I heard they're looking for something."

"Let's find a ruin," Mo Yan said in a low voice. "An ancient ruin, said to be the place where a Golden Core cultivator passed away. There are good things inside."

Li Xiaoyao's heart skipped a beat, but he remained outwardly calm: "A Golden Core cultivator?"

"Yes. And it's the kind of Golden Core that cultivates the primordial immortal path—different from the current cultivation methods. It's said to have an extremely long lifespan and extremely high combat power. After he passed away, he sealed his cave dwelling in a small world, and the key is somewhere in the Eastern Wilderness."

"Are the people of the Paradise of Reincarnation looking for the key?"

Mo Yan nodded: "We've been searching for almost a year. Recently, they've narrowed it down to a few possible locations, and Yongning City is one of them."

Li Xiaoyao was silent for a moment: "Then, fellow Daoist, you came to see me because you wanted to..."

"Let's join forces," Mo Yan said directly. "I don't want anything from the ruins. I only need one Myriad Manifestation Stone from the ruins; it's a material I need for my system upgrade. Everything else is yours."

Li Xiaoyao didn't agree immediately, but instead asked, "How did you know I would be interested in relics?"

Mo Yan laughed: "Nine out of ten outsiders who come to Yongning City are here for the ruins. If it weren't for that, why would you come to this godforsaken border town?"

Li Xiaoyao also smiled, neither denying nor admitting it.

"Let me think about it."

Mo Yan didn't press the matter, and took out a jade slip from his sleeve, handing it to him: "This is my contact information. Contact me anytime you've made up your mind."

He stood up, removed the soundproofing barrier, and pushed open the door to go out. After taking a couple of steps, he turned back and said, "By the way, there are some good items at today's auction. Fellow Daoist, you might want to take a look. The VIP seats on the third floor are occupied by people from the Samsara Paradise, and the private room on the east side of the second floor is for people from the Starry Sky Gods Kingdom. Don't mess with them."

After saying that, he walked away leisurely.

Li Xiaoyao sat in the private room, examining the jade slip several times, but found no tracking or eavesdropping restrictions. He put the jade slip away, got up, walked to the window, and looked towards the third floor.

Paradise of Reincarnation.

He remembered the sect leader's repeated instructions—soul searching is forbidden.

Those reincarnated beings possess a protective mechanism from the Paradise Ruler within their consciousness. Once the soul search is triggered, the reincarnated being becomes an idiot, while the soul searcher will face a wisp of the Paradise Ruler's divine gaze. Below the Golden Core stage, a single glance is fatal.

This is not a threat, it is a warning.

Li Xiaoyao withdrew his gaze and sat down again.

The auction has begun.

The first item up for auction is a high-grade third-tier flying sword, of the Gengjin Dao lineage, with a starting bid of five thousand spirit stones.

Most of the bidders were local cultivators, but in the end, a sword cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage won the bid for 12,000 spirit stones.

The second item is a bottle of Foundation Building Pills, six in total, in excellent condition.

The stewards of several small families argued fiercely, but in the end, the Zhao family from the east of the city won the bid for eight thousand spirit stones.

The third item was a jade slip labeled "Fragment of an Ancient Cultivation Technique".

The auctioneer's description was vague, only saying that it "appears to have been left by a Golden Core cultivator, whose cultivation system is different from that of today."

Li Xiaoyao's heart stirred.

The Primordial Immortal Path?

He watched the audience without showing any emotion. There were only two or three people bidding. The starting price was three thousand spirit stones, and no one raised the price after it reached five thousand.

"Six thousand," Li Xiaoyao said.

A voice suddenly came from the private room on the east side of the second floor: "Seven thousand."

Li Xiaoyao raised an eyebrow slightly. Those were people from the Starry Sky Gods Kingdom.

"Eight thousand."

"Nine thousand."

"Ten thousand."

There was a moment of silence in the private room on the east side; no one followed up. The auctioneer brought down the gavel, and the jade slip was awarded to Li Xiaoyao.

The staff brought up the jade slip, and Li Xiaoyao paid with spirit stones. He scanned it with his divine sense and found it to be a fragment of the original immortal cultivation method. Although it only contained the Qi Refining chapter, the discussion on "cultivating both body and mind" was exactly the same as the ancient method recorded in the immortal sect's classics.

He put away the jade slip, a sense of calculation creeping into his mind.

The ruins that Mo Yan mentioned are probably more than just "containing good things".

If there truly is a primordial immortal who attained enlightenment within it, then it may contain ancient teachings that even immortal sects have never recorded.

This kind of thing must not fall into the hands of Paradise.

Li Xiaoyao stood up and walked towards the door.

As he passed the private room on the east side of the second floor, he paused slightly. The door was closed, and the soundproofing was activated, so he couldn't sense anything inside.

But he could feel a gaze falling on him through the crack in the door.

He didn't linger; he went straight downstairs and out of the auction house.

As Li Xiaoyao stepped out of the auction house, he paused slightly.

Across the street, a person wearing a black cloak was leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for someone.

His cloak covered most of his face, revealing only a section of his pale chin. As Li Xiaoyao passed by, the man suddenly spoke: "The jade slip is quite nice."

Li Xiaoyao stopped and turned to look at him.

The man raised his head, revealing a young face. His eyes were golden, with a faint flash of lightning in his pupils.

"People from the Kingdom of Starry Sky Gods?" Li Xiaoyao asked.

The young man shook his head: "No. I was just passing by."

He smiled, turned around, and disappeared into the crowd.

Li Xiaoyao stood there, looking in the direction where the figure disappeared, his brows slightly furrowed.

The young man showed no signs of systemic fluctuations or the rules of the Paradise—but he possessed an indescribable aura, like… a trace of the Dao from beyond the heavens.

Like himself, he was a trace of the Dao from beyond the heavens.

Another time traveler.

Moreover, he is a "wild" transmigrator without a system, a paradise, or any powerful background.

Li Xiaoyao withdrew his gaze and turned to walk towards the inn.

This small border town was far more complex than he had imagined.