What does my ancestor's pregnancy have to do with me, a mere servant?

Lin Yuan went through the comparison in his mind, and his lips twitched slightly.

"They're all tough opponents," he commented. There wasn't much tension in his tone; instead, there was a hint of lazy composure.

Li Yang had already put on that gold and red tight-fitting long dress, and her long hair had been tied up again.

Her full curves were tightly wrapped, exuding the charm of a mature woman.

She stood opposite the stone table, one hand supporting herself on the edge of the table, the other hand fiddling with the lid of the spirit teapot on the table.

His movements were casual, but the light in his eyes was extremely sharp.

"They may be tough as they are. Once we enter the secret realm, with my current cultivation level and the foundation of my earth spirit root, I will definitely not be weaker than any of them." Li Yang's voice was filled with undisguised confidence.

"But before that, I need to tell you the details of the Taixu Secret Realm in detail," Li Yang's tone turned serious, "so you won't be clueless when you go in. The waters here are much deeper than you imagine."

Lin Yuan pulled out a chair and sat down, crossing his right leg over his left, adopting a posture of attentive listening.

Li Yang took a deep breath and spoke.

"The Taixu Secret Realm, nominally called a secret realm, is actually the ruins of the ancient sect 'Taixu Sect'."

"It and the Crimson Forbidden Land currently controlled by our Xuan Yin Sect are products of the same era, dating back tens of thousands of years."

"But the Taixu Secret Realm is different from the Crimson Forbidden Land." Li Yang stared into Lin Yuan's eyes.

"The Crimson Forbidden Land is a ruin. The Void Secret Realm is not."

"Once you go inside, you'll find that it doesn't resemble a ruin from tens of thousands of years ago, but rather a massive, still-functioning super sect. The grand formation is intact, the buildings are undamaged, and the spiritual veins are still slowly transmitting spiritual energy. Even some of the spirit lamps within the sect are still lit."

Lin Yuan paused slightly.

"That's the strange thing." Li Yang lowered her voice even further.

"This sect shows no signs of being breached by external enemies."

"There are no ruins left by the battle between powerful beings. There are no gaps in the protective formation."

"But what about the tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of disciples inside—"

"They're all gone."

"They seemed to have vanished overnight."

"According to ancient records," Li Yang continued.

"When the secret realm was first opened, the ancestors of various sects went in to explore. In the furnace of the alchemy room, they discovered top-grade pills that had been refined."

"On the table in the scripture pavilion, I saw an ancient book that was half-open. The page was stuck in the middle of a certain cultivation technique. Next to it was a cup of spiritual tea that had dried up into powder. The cultivator seemed to be drinking tea and reading, and then in an instant—he was gone. The teacup, the book, the table and chairs, were all untouched."

Li Yang's voice grew softer and softer.

"The people's storage bags, personal magical artifacts, and clothes were all intact. It was as if these hundreds of thousands of people were living normal lives just a moment ago—some were refining pills, some were reading, and some were washing clothes—and the next moment, their existence was forcibly erased by some great force."

They didn't even make a warning move. What level of power could achieve this? Nascent Soul stage? Or something above Nascent Soul stage? Old Six's intuition told him that there was definitely a trap in these ruins.

"What about the core spirit-gathering array?" Lin Yuan asked.

"That was the place where the Supreme Elder of the Taixu Sect, Master Taixu, went into seclusion for cultivation."

A surge of uncontrollable fervor suddenly welled up in Li Yang's eyes.

"That formation harnesses the power of heaven and earth, gathering the essence of several spiritual veins into one place. Cultivating within the formation is equivalent to bathing in the spiritual energy concentration of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator."

She paused for a moment.

"Moreover, it's not just our Chu Kingdom. Similar Taixu Sect branch ruins and spirit-gathering arrays have also been discovered in the Qi and Jin Kingdoms, which border Chu Kingdom and are two major cultivation kingdoms."

Lin Yuan silently noted down this information.

"The secret realm opens approximately once a year."

"A year is neither a long nor a short time. Although the outer area is full of treasures, most of the good stuff was already looted during the previous openings."

"Our plan is very simple."

She looked intently into Lin Yuan's eyes.

"Once inside, abandon all the treasures and opportunities on the periphery. Don't take a single thing, and don't stop for a moment. Head straight for the core spirit-gathering array. The faster the better. The earlier you go, the more spiritual energy you can absorb from the array."

"You will reach the Core Formation stage. I will advance to the Nascent Soul stage."

"As long as I successfully condense my Nascent Soul, with the foundation of a second-grade or even first-grade Dao Infant, it wouldn't be an exaggeration for you and me to roam freely in the secret realm. Then we can slowly search for treasures and spiritual materials in the outer areas."

Clear thinking. Well-defined goals. Willing to sacrifice small gains for big results.

Lin Yuan remained noncommittal.

The plan is indeed flawless. The logical chain is complete, the priorities are clear, and it is both offensive and defensive.

But there are too many variables.

The fifty core slots represent fifty fully armed Golden Core experts, each backed by a Nascent Soul ancestor. Each carries their own plans, their own trump cards, and their own ambitions.

They all crowded into the spirit-gathering array; that place was definitely not a sacred place for cultivation.

"Okay, we'll do it your way." Lin Yuan stood up.

He walked to the stone table and casually put the intelligence jade slip into his storage bag.

"Go back and quickly adjust your breathing. Come back the day before the secret realm opens to completely eliminate any remaining hidden dangers to your mana. Once you enter the Taixu Secret Realm, there won't be much time to recuperate your foundation."

Li Yang gave him a deep look, a meaningful smile curving her red lips. She turned and swayed her hips as she pushed open the door and left.

The stone door closed. Lin Yuan's expression instantly changed.

He still had so much to do, so he took out some talisman paper and began to draw talismans.

His gaze fell upon the small golden characters in Luo Xiang's eyes.

[Rank 7 Talisman Master: 0/1000 (Points can be added)]

[Rank 7 Artifact Master: 0/1000 (Points can be added)]

Available attribute points: 315548

Lin Yuan had a thought.

Two hundred and twenty-two thousand attribute points were consumed and deducted.

Gold prices plummeted.

Two massive torrents of information exploded in succession within his mind.

The traces of thousands upon thousands of talismans, like serpents, roamed wildly in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The tens of thousands of variations and combinations of various weapon-refining techniques, array patterns, material ratios, temperature control, and tempering of weapon blanks were like a vast encyclopedia, forcibly etched into his memory.

In a short while, both of them were promoted to the fifth rank.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

A glint of light flashed deep in his eyes, then disappeared.

He spread out the first sheet of talisman paper and dipped his brush in the spiritual ink.

The moment the pen touches the paper—the person's entire demeanor changes abruptly.

His previous lazy demeanor vanished completely, replaced by focus and composure.

Spiritual energy poured out from the tip of the pen, transforming into fine lines that were difficult to detect with the naked eye, rapidly taking shape on the surface of the talisman paper.

……