Establishing a Clan in the Eastern Wilderness: A Daily Divination, Cultivating Longevity in a Grotto

Li Changsheng, with his younger sister in tow, followed the aura of wealth and headed deeper into the ghost's lair.

The deeper he went, the denser the yin energy became. Dark green moss gradually appeared on the stone walls on both sides, and the soil underfoot was soft and damp, making no sound when stepped on. The aura of wealth stopped a short distance ahead, and Li Changsheng quickened his pace, turning a corner—

Suddenly, everything became clear.

This is a natural stone chamber, about ten zhang square, filled with such dense yin energy that it almost solidifies, making one feel a chill in their throat with every breath. On the stone walls on both sides of the chamber, a kind of pure white spiritual herb grows densely, its leaves like jade, with edges shimmering with a faint silver light, shining brightly in the darkness.

First-grade superior quality, Cloud Essence Grass.

The main ingredient for refining the Cloud Essence Pill. This pill can only be taken by cultivators who practice Yin-attribute techniques. It is not useful to Li Changsheng for the time being, but the spiritual herb itself is quite valuable. It can be sold for at least several hundred spirit stones in the market.

Zhao Cai was squatting in front of the stone wall, happily munching on a sprig of Yun Ying grass. After taking a couple of bites, his little face scrunched up, and he spat it out with a "Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey" sound—it was bitter and astringent, and hard to swallow.

But then it rolled its eyes, stopped biting, and started pulling the animal out instead.

One by one, he uprooted them and neatly stuffed them into the storage bag hanging around his neck. His movements were swift and fluid, clearly not the first time he'd done this.

Li Changsheng found it both infuriating and amusing.

"Zhao Cai, don't pull them up." He walked over. "I have a use for these spiritual herbs."

Zhao Cai, clutching a sprig of Yunying Grass, turned to look at him, blinking its eyes as if to say, "This is mine." Li Changsheng took out a jar of spirit honey from his storage bag and waved it in front of it. Zhao Cai immediately dropped the Yunying Grass, pounced on it, and hugged the honey jar, ignoring the other spirit herbs.

Li Changsheng shook his head, squatted down, and carefully picked the Yunying grass from the stone wall one by one, putting them into the jade box.

……

Deep within the stone chamber, the source of the yin energy is not on the surface of the stone wall, but behind it.

Li Changle squatted in front of the stone wall, the Qingqiu Yitian Disc in her hand shimmering with spiritual light. Runes flew out from the disc and disappeared into the stone wall. After a moment, she looked up, her eyes brightening: "Brother, there's an array here!"

Li Changsheng walked over and reached out to touch the stone wall. It was icy cold to the touch, and there was a faint fluctuation of spiritual energy, but it was extremely weak. If his younger sister hadn't reminded him, he wouldn't have been able to detect it at all.

"How long will it take to break?"

Li Changle examined it carefully for a long time, then frowned: "It will take at least a few days. This formation is too old; I've never seen many of the runes before. We'll have to deduce it slowly..."

Li Changsheng took out the array plate and array flags of Sun Zhengming's small-scale Inverted Five Elements Array from his storage bag and set them up around the mountain. Once the array was complete, a faint light screen enveloped the area. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary mountain with nothing on it.

"Focus on breaking the formation. Chiyu and Moyu will guard you." He patted his little sister's shoulder. "Zhaocai is also for you. This little guy is clever and can give early warnings."

Li Changle nodded, sat down cross-legged, placed Qingqiu Yitian on his lap, and began to deduce the life gate of the formation.

Li Changsheng stepped aside and took out Sun Zhengming's storage bag.

He probed with his divine sense and took out the items one by one, arranging them in front of him.

Several pills.

Three bottles of top-grade first-tier Qi-restoring pills, emerald green in color, with a refreshing medicinal fragrance. After consumption, they can quickly restore consumed spiritual energy, making them a life-saving item in battle.

Two bottles of first-grade superior life-extending pills, crimson red pills, specially for treating internal and external injuries. As long as there is still a breath left, taking this pill can keep the heart pulse alive and hold on until rescue.

A bottle of top-grade first-tier Breakthrough Pills, milky white pills, used to break through minor bottlenecks. Taken when attempting to advance from the fifth to the sixth level of Qi Refining, or from the sixth to the seventh level, it increases the success rate by 30%. Sun Zhengming probably prepared this bottle of Breakthrough Pills for himself.

More than five hundred spirit stones.

There were twelve array flags and three array plates, all crafted by Sun Zhengming himself, ranging in quality from upper-grade to top-grade of the first rank. Li Changsheng picked up an array plate and examined it closely. The four small characters "Reversing the Five Elements" were engraved on it, which was the core of the array that Sun Zhengming had just used to annihilate the ghost horde.

A stack of talismans.

Three top-grade first-tier speed talismans, after being infused with spiritual power, make one as light as a swallow and increase speed dramatically, suitable for both escaping and chasing.

Two top-grade first-tier Vajra Talismans, when activated, will envelop the body in golden light, capable of withstanding a full-force attack from a peak first-tier cultivator.

A first-grade top-quality Heavenly Thunder Talisman, once activated, can unleash a heavenly thunder strike with power comparable to the full force of a peak Qi Refining cultivator. It is Sun Zhengming's trump card for saving his life.

A protective robe, a top-grade first-tier item, named "Cloud Robe." Pure moon white, smooth to the touch like silk, woven from ice silkworm silk and cloud brocade, embroidered with intricate protective runes. This robe was designed for female cultivators; Sun Zhengming, a grown man, likely intended it as a gift for a female member of his clan. Now, however, it's a boon for Li Changsheng—perfect for his younger sister.

A yellowed animal hide map.

Li Changsheng unfolded the map and saw that it clearly depicted the terrain of the Qingmo Cave. However, this map was much more detailed than the one he had—the outer, inner, and central areas of the Qingmo Cave were clearly defined. At the deepest part, there was an area circled in cinnabar, with a note in small print: "Central Forbidden Area, exclusively for Yun family members, requires a token to activate the barrier."

Token.

Li Changsheng rummaged through his storage bag and found a palm-sized black token with the character "令" (command) engraved on the front and a mysterious rune on the back, exactly the same as the token pattern marked on the map.

Li Changsheng was overjoyed.

This token was most likely given to the Sun family by Yun Qilang—the Sun family is Yun Qilang's maternal grandparents' family, so it's perfectly normal for Yun Qilang to do something for his maternal grandparents' family. It's just unexpected that this favor has now fallen into his hands.

Besides these, there was also a pile of Soul Beads in the storage bag.

Li Changsheng roughly counted them and found there were over a hundred, ranging in quality from low-grade to high-grade of the first rank. Converted to imperial merit points, they were worth at least 1,500.

Finally, he pulled out an ancient array plate from the bottom of his storage bag.

The scroll was about the size of a palm, bluish-gray in color, with severely worn edges, and most of the runes engraved on it were blurred and illegible, clearly an ancient artifact. But when Li Changsheng held it in his hand, the celestial book suddenly trembled.

[A fusion-compatible item detected: The Qingqiu Next Day Disc (fragment) shares the same origin as this array disc; fusion will restore some of its functions.]

Li Changsheng's eyes lit up, and he carefully put away the array plate.

The Heavenly Book trembled once more:

[Family Luck Value +2000, Current: 3500/6500]

[Imperial Merit Points +1500, Current: 4500/10000]

……

Li Changle was still squatting in front of the stone wall when Qingqiu Yitian Pan hovered in front of her, its spiritual light flowing and runes dancing.

But her brows furrowed more and more tightly.

"Brother," she finally spoke, her voice tinged with frustration, "I'm in trouble. I've deduced the life gate of this formation, but after the Qingqiu Day Plate was activated, it couldn't be broken because the plate itself was damaged and lacked sufficient power."

Li Changsheng took out the ancient array plate from his storage bag and handed it to her: "I found this in Sun Zhengming's storage bag. It feels somewhat similar to the Qingqiu Yitian Plate in your hand. Take a look and see if you can use it."