Mortal: Li Feiyu, who came from the realm of a supreme being

Xin Ruyin ultimately did not receive a definite answer regarding the "rules".

Li Feiyu admitted that he had not yet decided on the specific form, but the only thing he was certain of was that he would never let her leave.

The answer was vague, but it was within Xin Ruyin's expectations. She didn't press further and instead silently packed her things.

This bamboo house, hidden in an unnamed mountain, was concealed by layers of arrays she had set up herself, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to detect.

Logically, to make a final decision, the place should have been burned to the ground, but Li Feiyu knew that Xin Ruyin's ancestral "Mysterious Female Infant Transformation Technique" and a rare ancient array classic were hidden there, so he did not mention it and simply waited.

After Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei boarded the slightly crowded kite, Han Yunshu asked softly, "Brother Li, where are we going now?"

"Suspended River Valley." Li Feiyu controlled the kite to take off, his voice calm.

This was the place he had already decided on.

This place is remote enough, with sparse spiritual energy and scarce resources. It is far from the core of the seven major sects, but it is not completely isolated. There are still many low-level cultivators and ordinary merchants coming and going, making it suitable for temporary hibernation.

Several days later, the kite landed in the Hanging River Valley.

Li Feiyu and Han Yunshu did not conceal their Foundation Establishment cultivation levels. As soon as their auras descended, they alarmed the market lord, a cultivator surnamed Chen.

Master Chen hurriedly left his residence as if facing a formidable enemy. Upon seeing the faces of the newcomers, he was first taken aback, then a complex smile spread across his face: "So it's Fellow Daoist Mo and Fairy Shen! After so many years, you two have both achieved Foundation Establishment! Congratulations! Truly a genius!"

He was deeply shocked.

In just three or four years, those two "body cultivators" who were able to kill second-tier demonic beasts when they were in the mid-stage of Qi Refining have actually successfully established their foundations!

This speed of cultivation is simply astonishing.

What made him even more wary was that these two were no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. They were so fierce when they were in the Qi Refining stage, and now that they were in the Foundation Establishment stage... Master Chen thought to himself that even though he was in the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, he probably wouldn't fare well against either of them.

"Master Chen, you're too kind. It was just a stroke of luck." Li Feiyu slightly cupped his hands and went straight to the point: "We two have been traveling here and found this valley so serene that we'd like to retire here. We'd like to find a quiet house on the outskirts of the market to live in. Would you be so kind as to do us a favor?"

"Settle down?" Chen Fangzhu's surprise and doubt deepened.

The Hanging River Valley, a "place for retirement," is sparse in spiritual energy and lacks resources. How can it attract cultivators with such terrifying cultivation speed and formidable combat power to stay here for an extended period?

Could there be some hidden realm or treasure land nearby that he was unaware of? His mind raced, but he dared not be negligent: "Convenient, of course! It is our honor that you have chosen our valley! May I ask what your requirements are for the residence?"

Li Feiyu made the following requirements: the location should be on a slightly elevated spot on the outskirts of the market, in a quiet environment, overlooking the lights of the market, and the residence itself should be spacious and comfortable.

He frankly stated that he disliked quiet, secluded dwellings and preferred elegant, livable homes.

Master Chen was full of doubts, but dared not ask too many questions. He quickly led Li Feiyu to select items in the valley.

In the end, Li Feiyu chose a slightly elevated gentle slope on the northwest side of the market, with a wide view, a babbling stream below, and the three vertical and four horizontal streets of the market and the lights that gradually lit up at night clearly visible in the distance.

With the location chosen, Li Feiyu immediately spent spirit stones to hire idle Qi Refining cultivators and mortal craftsmen from the valley at a high price, requiring the residence to be built within three days.

Driven by the spirit stone, everyone worked day and night, felling trees and quarrying stones. Sure enough, on the evening of the third day, an elegant residence with white walls and green tiles, three courtyards, and an exquisite garden was completed. Although it was not luxurious, it was quite quiet and comfortable.

Li Feiyu's actions only truly began after the mansion was completed.

Under the pretext of honing his skills by practicing metal-based sword techniques, he would spend his days in a secluded spot behind his residence, wielding the fragment of the "Golden Sharp Blade." Streams of condensed golden light would slice into the rock and soil as easily as cutting tofu. The excavated soil and rocks would be directly placed into several large storage bags.

After half a month of such "cultivation", they managed to carve out an underground space several feet square from a depth of a hundred feet below the house.

To ensure stability, he reinforced the four walls with purchased "Qinggang stone" and "soil-stabilizing talisman" and set up a simple moisture-proof and ventilation array.

For the past two weeks, Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei have been temporarily housed in the Fangshi Inn. Li Feiyu has hardly contacted them, only having Han Yunshu occasionally send them some daily necessities.

This almost "neglectful" attitude made Xin Ruyin and her servant increasingly uneasy and uncertain.

Only after the underground cave was completely completed did Li Feiyu bring them to the mansion and take them directly underground.

When Xin Ruyin saw Li Feiyu pour out piles of ancient books, jade slips, bamboo slips, and silk scrolls from several storage bags, even she, with her calm demeanor, couldn't help but widen her eyes.

"These... these are all ancient classics?" She picked up a scroll made of some kind of animal hide. The text on it was ancient and obscure, but it contained the rudiments of the long-lost concept of array formation.

"Good." Li Feiyu nodded. "This place will be your main activity and cultivation location from now on. Your primary task is to set up an array here that can completely block divine sense detection and disguise itself as ordinary rock formations. These items are all invaluable treasures and cannot be lost. From today onwards, you and Xiaomei will cultivate here, and I will provide resources."

He paused briefly, watching Xin Ruyin quickly regain her composure after the initial shock and begin to examine her surroundings and the ancient texts with intelligence, and added, "Once the formation is properly set up, I will teach you a special cultivation method."

Xin Ruyin took a deep breath, suppressing the turbulent thoughts in her heart, curtsied, and replied politely, "This junior understands. I will certainly not fail the trust placed in me by my senior."

She knew very well that after seeing all this, she had no way out.

But the allure of the array manuals and that glimmer of hope left her with no other choice.

A day later, Xin Ruyin, relying on her superb array skills and some materials provided by Li Feiyu, successfully set up an exquisite "Divine Sense Illusion Array" outside the underground cave, which was a hundred feet deep.

This formation is not a powerful defense, but rather a clever distortion and dispersion of divine senses probing this depth, so that what they "see" is still a dense and complete rock layer, making it extremely difficult to detect anything unusual.

With the formation complete, Li Feiyu no longer delayed.

He handed over to Xin Ruyin a detailed diagram of the human body's meridians and acupoints, depicting 365 major acupoints, as well as the detailed instructions for "Hundred Days of Foundation Building."

"Your meridians have already atrophied, and you possess true fire and earth spiritual roots. However, the cold-type cultivation techniques that can restrain the Yang excess of the Dragon's Roar are mostly derived from water-type spiritual power, and at the very least, they require metal and wood spiritual roots as a foundation. Your spiritual roots are incompatible, so this path is blocked," Li Feiyu said bluntly. "Therefore, the only option is to take another route."

"Another path?" Xin Ruyin asked, puzzled.

"My foundation lies in martial arts. The beginning of martial arts is 'opening the meridians,' also known as 'one hundred days of foundation building.'" Li Feiyu pointed to the acupoint diagram. "The human body has 365 major acupoints, distributed throughout the body, but they are not the twelve regular meridians or the eight extraordinary meridians you know. They need to be opened one by one by using the method of meditation to generate true qi. Each major acupoint needs to be filled with nine breaths of true qi to be complete. The speed of true qi generation is constant, so depending on the amount of time spent practicing each day, it can take anywhere from one hundred days to one year to complete this foundation building stage, hence the name 'one hundred days of foundation building.'"

Xin Ruyin held the acupoint diagrams, which were completely different from what she had learned, her eyes filled with disbelief and astonishment.

Of the 365 major acupoints marked on the atlas, she could barely identify or deduce that they were related to known meridians, but the remaining 300-plus were completely unheard of! The distribution of these acupoints formed a system of its own, vaguely constituting an extremely mysterious human body star map.

"The meridians and acupoints of the human body are not immutable. Different cultivation methods can open up different energy pathways. These 365 major acupoints form their own cycle, and do not interfere with or contradict your damaged and atrophied immortal meridians. Cultivating this martial art to rebuild your foundation is the only way for you to balance the yin and yang in your body and prolong your life."

Xin Ruyin was shocked as she listened to this argument that completely overturned common sense about cultivation.

She is not Han Li, nor is she the naive Han Yunshu of her early years.

When Han Li and his sister first came into contact with martial arts, they did not have a clear concept of cultivation. What Li Feiyu said was the truth. Although they felt it was miraculous after they mastered it, they were able to accept it smoothly because of the order of their understanding.

Xin Ruyin is a cultivator who has been immersed in the Dao of Immortality for many years and has a deep understanding of her own condition and the traditional cultivation system!

Suddenly faced with this cultivation theory that is completely detached from, and even subtly rivals, the impact is so great that it is as if one's worldview has been completely reshaped!

She saw a glimmer of life, a life she had never seen before! This completely independent cultivation system might actually be able to bypass her withered meridians and solve the balance problem of the Dragon Roar Body from the root!

But at the same time, a deeper chill and sense of crisis also followed.

What kind of being is capable of mastering and readily employing such a heaven-defying method to change one's fate?

What kind of unpredictable vortex will I be drawn into?

Only now did she vaguely grasp the weight of the words "let him be."

This was not a simple act of seeking refuge or making a deal; rather, it was stepping into a completely unknown territory, one that might be far beyond her imagination.

"Senior..." Her voice was slightly hoarse, as if she wanted to say something but didn't know where to begin.

Li Feiyu seemed to see through the turmoil in her heart, but he didn't say much. He simply said calmly, "By the way, before you start cultivating, there is one more thing I need you to do."

"Please give your instructions, senior."

"Within this cave, we will set up a special 'Spirit Gathering Array.' Without needing to draw in the sparse spiritual energy from the outside world, we will directly use spirit stones as the source to efficiently and gently release the spiritual energy within them to aid cultivation," Li Feiyu explained the plan he had already devised.

Since there are concerns that impurities or potent medicinal properties in pills may damage the pure foundation of martial arts, then we should not use pills.

They directly use the purest spiritual energy from spirit stones! They now possess tens of millions of spirit stones, a fortune comparable to the accumulation of many Nascent Soul cultivators over hundreds of years.

With such a massive amount of pure spiritual energy, given to these low-level cultivators regardless of cost, the effect might not be inferior to Han Li's cultivation method of relying on the little green bottle to produce spiritual herbs and endlessly consuming drugs!

The little green bottle is indeed extraordinary. If Han Li were not limited by his pseudo-spiritual root and did not need to disperse his power three times, it would be very possible for him to form his core before the age of fifty.

However, in the Foundation Establishment and Core Formation stages, when resources are abundant enough to disregard efficiency and rely solely on quantity, the cultivation speed achieved by directly investing tens of millions of spirit stones may not necessarily be inferior to that of the drug-fueled approach!

Moreover, the spiritual energy of spirit stones is purer and gentler, which may be more suitable for Xin Ruyin, who needs to rebuild her foundation and balance yin and yang, than elixirs.

Xin Ruyin was shocked once again after hearing this.

To cultivate by setting up an array with a large number of spirit stones? What an extravagance! But thinking of the mountain of ancient books, and Li Feiyu's unfathomable background and methods, it seems... not so unimaginable.

"I will do my best."

She calmed herself and began to carefully consider how to design such an efficient and stable "Spirit Stone Gathering Array".

A new path lies before her. Despite countless doubts and potential dangers, for the sake of that glimmer of hope and the allure of reaching the pinnacle of the array path, she has no choice but to continue.