I am in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have a demonic beast clone!

After flying for a while along the winding and quiet aerial corridor of the "Flowing Cloud Zone" on the forty-seventh floor of the sacred mountain, the three of them quickly arrived at an area shrouded in a light spiritual mist and with a serene environment, guided by the jade slip map.

This area is situated on a slightly protruding platform in the mountainside, backed by solid rock and facing a vast sea of ​​clouds, offering an excellent view.

There are seven or eight cave dwellings scattered throughout the area, quite far apart from each other, each with simple barriers and greenery to conceal them, so they do not disturb each other.

"No. 7, East of Liuyun District" is located in the quietest corner of this area, near the edge.

The entrance to the cave is hidden behind a patch of lush green bamboo and a few exotic vines with pale purple flowers. If you don't look closely, it almost blends into the mountain wall.

Above the cave entrance, the four characters "Yunwu Dongtian" (Cloud and Mist Cave Heaven) are carved in ancient seal script. The strokes are vigorous and powerful, with faint cloud and mist patterns moving around them, complementing the surrounding environment.

Zhou Ding took out the black iron token and infused it with a trace of magic power.

The token flashed with a faint light, shooting out a beam of spiritual light that disappeared into the seemingly ordinary mountain wall at the cave entrance.

The mountain wall immediately rippled like water, revealing a portal about ten feet high, filled with spiritual light. A spiritual energy several times richer and purer than the outside world, mixed with a faint fragrance of grass and trees and the scent of earth, rushed out from it.

"Such rich spiritual energy!" Xiaomei couldn't help but take a deep breath, a look of intoxication on her face.

"Indeed, it's quite good. The spiritual energy here is almost the same as that at the core of Spiritwood Peak, and even purer." Xin Ruyin's beautiful eyes brightened slightly as she nodded in praise.

The three entered the cave, and the door quietly closed behind them, restoring the mountain wall to its original state.

The interior of the cave was more spacious than I had imagined. Upon entering, there was a rather spacious front hall with a floor paved with warm jade and walls inlaid with "bright light stones" that could absorb spiritual energy and emit light on their own, providing soft and bright light.

The front hall connects to several passageways, leading to the meditation room, living room, alchemy/weapon-refining room, spirit beast room, and a sizable inner courtyard that has been initially excavated.

The entire cave dwelling was clearly meticulously designed, with a reasonable layout, excellent ventilation and lighting, and basic measures for gathering spiritual energy, protection, sound insulation, and cleaning were all in place. Although not luxurious, it was practical and comfortable in every aspect.

What surprised Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei the most was the inner courtyard.

The courtyard is about an acre in size. The roof is not completely enclosed, but covered with some kind of transparent crystal, which allows sunlight to pass through while keeping out wind and rain.

A small spiritual spring flows from one side of the courtyard, forming a clear pool of water. Several strangely shaped spiritual rocks are scattered around the pool, and some shade-loving spiritual herbs and flowers are planted there.

On the other side was a relatively flat open space, the soil of which had a faint spiritual color, clearly a reserved medicinal garden or spiritual plant area.

In the center of the courtyard stands a small jade pavilion, where one can enjoy tea, play chess, watch the clouds, and listen to the wind.

"This place is wonderful!" Xiaomei excitedly strolled around the courtyard, already planning where to plant her favorite spirit flowers and where to place the stone benches.

Xin Ruyin nodded in satisfaction and said softly to Zhou Ding, "Young Master Zhou, this place is excellent. It is quiet, elegant, and full of spiritual energy, perfect for our secluded cultivation."

Zhou Ding looked around, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. This superior cave dwelling on the forty-seventh floor of Tianxing City was indeed worth the price.

With this "Cloud and Mist Cave Heaven," they were able to temporarily settle down in the heart of the Chaotic Star Sea, finding a stable place to cultivate and live.

"I'm glad you like it. From now on, this will be our home in Tianxing City," Zhou Ding said gently.

……

Time flies like an arrow.

Since moving into "Cloud and Mist Cave", half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Deep within the cave, in the herb garden that Zhou Ding had specially opened and meticulously arranged, life was vibrant and spiritual energy swirled like mist.

Zhou Ding was holding a jade gourd, using his magic to guide the clear and sweet spiritual spring water inside, which was then sprinkled evenly on the thriving spiritual plants like a drizzle.

This herb garden is not large, but it contains almost all of Zhou Ding's rarest and most precious medicinal herbs.

The soil was no ordinary soil, but a strange spiritual soil that he had carefully collected from the small medicinal garden inside the Heavenly Yuan Pagoda in the core of the Crimson Forbidden Land. It was imbued with ancient spiritual energy, had a dark golden color, felt warm to the touch, and contained spiritual power far exceeding that of ordinary spiritual fields.

At this moment, nourished by this spiritual soil and aided by the small spirit-gathering array that Zhou Ding set up with no expense in spirit stones, the spiritual herbs in the herb garden are growing at an astonishing rate.

Looking around, most of the medicinal herbs are over a thousand years old, their branches and leaves unfurled, their spiritual light flowing, and they exude a refreshing and rich medicinal fragrance.

Some of these plants have even reached the age of two or three thousand years, and their forms have undergone subtle changes. Some have natural patterns on their leaves, while others have dragon and tiger shapes on their stems. They are clearly no ordinary plants.

Most of these spiritual herbs naturally came from the relics within the Heavenly Origin Pagoda, which were the foundation carefully cultivated by the master of the forbidden area.

A small number of the younger, rarer specimens were collected and transplanted by Zhou Ding during his six months in Tianxing City. He used Xiao Jin's invincible "Heavenly Hearing Technique" to search through the vast array of stalls and shops in the market, like panning for gold in the sand. He spent a great deal of time and spirit stones to do so.

These newly acquired medicinal herbs are thriving in this ancient spiritual land and rich spiritual energy environment at a speed far exceeding that of the outside world.

At the very center of the herb garden, a core node where spiritual energy gathers, the soil is particularly dark in color, with faint golden specks shimmering within.

Here stands a strange and magical tree, only a foot or so tall, with a deep dark gold color and a surface covered with natural and mysterious wood grain. It seems to contain a galaxy or resemble a sleeping divine iron!

It was that mysterious piece of spirit wood that Xiao Jin discovered with his "Heavenly Hearing Technique" deep in the Qingyun Mountains, radiating a precious "purple" light!

Compared to when it was first obtained, this piece of spirit wood seems to have undergone some extremely subtle, yet real, changes.

At the broken top, the originally smooth cross-section, under Zhou Ding's years of tireless nurturing and irrigation with pure wood-attribute magic power and various rare spiritual liquids, actually... very slowly, sprouted a tiny, almost imperceptible, pale golden bud!

Although it was so small as to be almost negligible, the vitality it contained, and the increasingly restrained yet seemingly communicative and profound Daoist charm, caused Zhou Ding's mind to tremble every time he sensed it.

At this moment, Zhou Ding had also buried several pure mid-grade spirit stones around the roots of this spirit tree, which were slowly nourished by its spiritual energy.

The spirit tree stood silently, like a sleeping ancient deity, absorbing the most refined spiritual energy in the herb garden. It also emitted an indescribable, strange force field that seemed to stabilize space and nourish all things, making the spiritual energy in the entire herb garden more condensed and active, and greatly benefiting the growth of the spirit herbs.

"A purple treasure... truly extraordinary. One day, I will surely find out your origin and true purpose." Zhou Ding gazed at the mysterious piece of spirit wood, his eyes filled with anticipation.

After watering the medicinal herbs, Zhou Ding left the herb garden and returned to the front hall of his cave dwelling.

Inside the hall, Xin Ruyin sat before a jade table by the window. The ethereal mist and sunlight filtering through the specially crafted crystal windowpanes softly bathed her delicate profile in a gentle glow.

What she was holding in her hands was the first volume of the thick "Tianyuan Array Manual".

As the pages of the book were opened, the mysterious array diagrams and ancient characters on them seemed to come alive, flowing and unfolding in her clear and focused gaze.

After advancing to the Core Formation stage, Xin Ruyin experienced a qualitative leap in her spiritual sense, magical power, and understanding of the rules of heaven and earth. This allowed her to enter a completely new realm in her comprehension of the ancient and extraordinary book of formations, "Tian Yuan Formation Canon".

What were once obscure and incomprehensible chapters and array diagrams, like celestial scripture, are now gradually becoming clear in her eyes, and many subtle details have suddenly become apparent. In the past six months, she has devoted almost all her attention to them, and her understanding of the Dao of Formations has progressed by leaps and bounds.

In her own words, she has already "mastered" more than 80% of the first volume of "Tian Yuan Array Manual"!

The remaining 20% ​​mainly involves profound and mysterious content related to the highest principles of array formations, such as space and time. Perhaps she would need to further improve her cultivation or receive the inheritance of the middle and lower volumes before she could fully comprehend it.

Under Xin Ruyin's unreserved and meticulous teaching and exploration, Zhou Ding's mastery of formations also improved significantly, and he was no longer the novice who only had a superficial understanding of the subject.

He had already mastered many ingenious formation principles, deployment techniques, and strategies for breaking restrictions.

He had a vague premonition that once Xin Ruyin had thoroughly understood the first volume, and he himself had studied it more carefully, perhaps without even reaching the Nascent Soul stage, as long as they could safely return to Tiannan and re-enter the Heavenly Yuan Pagoda in the Crimson Forbidden Land, he was quite confident that, with his ever-improving array formation skills and Xin Ruyin's guidance, he could break through the remaining, more profound restrictions within the pagoda one by one and obtain the complete inheritance of the Heavenly Yuan Sect!

That would be another incredible opportunity.

"Zhou Lang, is the herb garden ready?" Sensing Zhou Ding's presence, Xin Ruyin raised her head from the array diagram, her eyes filled with a smile, and asked gently.

"Hmm." Zhou Ding walked over and sat down beside her, naturally taking her hand. "What are you looking at? Did you find something new?"

"I'm currently deducing the connection point between the 'Star Shift' array pattern and the 'Minor Sumeru Restriction' here, and it's quite interesting..." Xin Ruyin pointed her finger at the array diagram and explained softly. The two talked in hushed tones, their Daoist aura flowing, creating a tranquil and warm atmosphere in the room.

……

Several days later.

The first floor of Tianxing City is the core area of ​​the market. The buildings here are increasingly tall and magnificent, and the scale of the shops far exceeds that of the outer areas. The cultivation level of the cultivators entering and leaving is also significantly higher. Foundation Establishment cultivators are commonplace, and Core Formation cultivators are also frequently seen.

Zhou Ding, alone and with most of his aura concealed, strolled through the bustling crowd. He had not come out of seclusion today for leisurely wandering, but with a clear purpose.

After turning down several bustling streets, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a huge circular plaza. In the center of the plaza stood a vast and magnificent structure.

The astonishing seven-story circular building rises from the ground like a crouching behemoth, exuding an aura of antiquity, weight, and wealth.

The building is constructed entirely of a rare combination of "star-patterned steel" and "warm sun jade," which refracts a restrained yet luxurious luster under the sunlight.

With its flying eaves and bracket sets, carved beams and painted rafters, every detail is exquisitely luxurious.

The main gate of the building is ten zhang high and is carved from a single piece of "thousand-year-old ebony". The two huge gates are tightly closed, and the gates are decorated with lifelike reliefs of grand scenes such as "a hundred treasures paying tribute" and "a gathering of immortals".

Above the entrance hangs a huge, radiant golden plaque with four large, vermilion characters written in bold, elegant strokes: Fengle Auction House!

In the lower right corner of the plaque, there is a smaller emblem composed of auspicious clouds and copper coin patterns, which is the symbol of "Feng Le Alliance", one of the four major merchant alliances in the Chaotic Star Sea!

This place is the headquarters auction house of Fengle Alliance in Tianxing City, and it is also one of the largest and highest-standard auction venues in the entire Chaotic Star Sea!

Today is the day of Fengle Auction House's annual grand auction!

This auction often gathers many rare treasures from all over the Chaotic Star Sea, even from the Outer Star Sea, and even from other seas through special channels, attracting countless cultivators and making it an unprecedented spectacle.

At this moment, the huge square of the auction house was packed with people. Countless cultivators gathered from all directions, with cultivation levels ranging from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation. Occasionally, one could even sense a few deep and unsettling auras hidden among the crowd, indicating that some Nascent Soul cultivators had also come in a low-key manner.

Around the square, numerous guards dressed in the uniform of the Fengle Alliance and possessing considerable cultivation maintained order and guided the flow of people.

The auction house was not open to all cultivators. Most cultivators who came to participate in the auction had to pay a considerable deposit at a side entrance on one side of the square and receive a number plate representing ordinary seating before they could enter the hall located on the lower level of the building to participate in the bidding.

Only a select few wealthy and influential guests, or those whose cultivation has reached the Core Formation stage or above, are qualified to enter through the main entrance and be led upstairs to more private and comfortable VIP boxes.

Zhou Ding walked straight toward the imposing main gate.

He didn't try to be flamboyant, but the composed demeanor and subtle spiritual pressure of a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator still made him seem somewhat out of place among the bustling crowd around him.

Standing guard on either side of the main gate were four white-robed elders whose cultivation had reached the Pseudo-Core stage, whose auras were deep and their eyes were sharp as eagles. They were clearly the elite guards of the Fengle Alliance.

Upon seeing Zhou Ding approach, one of the elderly men, who appeared to be in charge, glanced at Zhou Ding and sensed the undeniable pressure emanating from him as he reached the Core Formation stage. He immediately put on a professional and respectful smile and quickly stepped forward to greet him.

"Senior, are you here to attend today's auction?" the old man asked, bowing respectfully.

"Exactly." Zhou Ding nodded calmly.

"Please follow me, senior." The old man stepped aside to lead the way, while simultaneously sending a transmission talisman into the doorway.

The heavy, ancient, dark wooden door slid open silently, just wide enough for one person to pass through. Zhou Ding stepped inside, instantly shutting out the clamor behind him.

The door leads directly into the auction hall, but into a long corridor covered with soft animal fur carpets, inlaid with luminous pearls on both sides of the walls, and emitting a soft glow and a faint sandalwood scent.

A beautiful female cultivator, with a cultivation level at the late Foundation Establishment stage and dressed in a light gold palace gown, was already standing in the corridor. Upon seeing Zhou Ding, she immediately gave a graceful bow, her voice sweet:

"Welcome to Fengle Auction House, sir. I am your guide today, you may call me Yunzhi. Is this your first time attending our auction? Please follow me to the VIP box. Here is your box number and a preview of some of the auction's treasures. Please take a look."

As she spoke, she presented a warm, lustrous blue jade tablet and a jade slip containing information with both hands. The jade tablet was engraved with the number "Jia Shiqi," clearly representing the private room number.

Zhou Ding accepted the jade slip and scanned it with his divine sense. It contained a simple list of dozens of eye-catching treasures to be auctioned that day, along with brief descriptions. While not detailed, it was enough to pique one's interest. He nodded, quite satisfied with the thoughtful and efficient hospitality provided by the Fengle Alliance.

"Senior, this way please." The maid Yunzhi stepped aside to lead the way, taking Zhou Ding along the corridor toward the more secluded and prestigious area on the upper floor of the building.

Click to begin your wondrous journey in "I'm in Yellow Maple Valley, and I Have a Monster Doppelganger!"