Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

To achieve a breakthrough through seclusion, one cannot simply choose any place. In addition to being safe and secluded, the spiritual energy must also be of high quality, otherwise it will be insufficient to supply the energy required for the breakthrough.

Unfortunately, unlike the Chaotic Star Sea, the Tiannan region lacks any uninhabited islands rich in spiritual energy, making it extremely difficult to find a secluded place for cultivation.

"Does Miss Qin know of any safe places to cultivate nearby?"

Frowning and thinking for a while without any clue, he could only ask Qin Mengyao, who was familiar with the local situation.

"Ah, a training ground?"

Qin Mengyao was puzzled. Didn't they just say they were leaving? Why are they looking for a place to cultivate now?

"Hmm, I feel like I'm about to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. I need to go into seclusion for a while. We'll leave after I break through."

"Oh, if that's the case, Mengyao does know a place that should be able to meet your requirements, senior."

"Oh? Where?"

Lin Zui's spirits lifted.

"About a thousand miles to the southwest, at the border with the Cheqi Kingdom, my ancestor went out to explore and travel in order to advance to the Core Formation realm. In the end, he secluded himself in that secret cave for more than ten years and successfully broke through the Core Formation bottleneck."

Is this really true?

Lin Zuixin was overjoyed. The spiritual energy level needed to propel a cultivator through the Core Formation stage must be quite high, more than enough to power their attempt to reach the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. However…

"Is it really safe there? Could it be that the Six Sects already know about it? I don't want to travel all that way just to walk into a trap."

"No, senior. Only the ancestor knows about that place. Mengyao was only told about it by the ancestor a few days ago. Originally, she thought that if she could escape, she would go there to cultivate in seclusion and consider her future plans after she reached the Foundation Establishment stage."

Qin Mengyao quickly explained.

Lin Zui thought about it and felt there was no problem. Anyway, if he were to look for it himself, he probably wouldn't find a suitable place. Since that was the case, he might as well go and take a look. In short, he should just be more careful.

"Alright, let's go take a look there."

……

The two proceeded cautiously, avoiding the cultivators of the six sects, and after about ten days, they finally arrived at the border of Tianluo Kingdom.

"Senior, the sensation of the Yuan Tu Pearl is getting stronger and stronger; it should be in that mountain forest."

"Um."

Lin Zui nodded, and while urging the flying boat towards the forest, he looked at the strange bead in Qin Mengyao's hand and couldn't help but ask.

"Your bead is truly peculiar. It can carry people underground and fly away, it also has a certain protective ability, and it can even sense the location of a cave..."

"With so many functions, yet none of them are perfected. I really don't know what the person who created it was thinking."

As Lin Zui spoke, he couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly. He had also examined the bead. Although he had no expertise in weapon crafting, he could tell that the materials used to make it must be extraordinary. In the end, he only managed to produce this strange, incomparable thing. It was truly a waste of resources.

"Uh, senior, you misunderstand. Actually, the place this thing senses is not that cave."

Qin Mengyao suddenly said.

"Oh? Not that cave dwelling, then what place is it?"

"Mengyao didn't know either. This Yuan Tu Pearl was obtained by our ancestor during his travels. It seemed to be related to some secret realm. However, he followed his senses to this mountain forest and searched for several years, almost traversing every part of the mountains. Apart from discovering that hidden cave, he found nothing and had no choice but to give up."

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Lin Zui immediately became interested. If what the other party said was true, then there might really be some great opportunity hidden behind this bead. If he had the chance, he would really like to investigate it.

However, although he could feel some heat when he held the bead in his hand, the heat inside the bead did not change after he flew around in the forest a few times.

Clearly, although this object can sense the location of this place, it can only sense the approximate area and cannot pinpoint it. As such, it is no wonder that the Qin family patriarch searched for several years without finding anything.

Since he couldn't find it, Lin Zui didn't force it. The most important thing right now was to find that cave and break through the mid-stage bottleneck.

"Where is that cave?"

"My ancestor told me it was inside a cliff face next to a waterfall."

"Fall?"

Lin Zui was startled, then suddenly remembered a place he had just passed by. He turned around and flew back, quickly arriving at a bare cliff face.

"The cave you mentioned... it wouldn't be inside, would it?"

Lin Zui looked at the huge stone wall in front of him, which was as conspicuous as a giant mirror. Could this place be used as a cultivator's cave dwelling?

"This should be it. The ancestor said that if you go deeper into this cliff face by several dozen feet, there is a huge layer of Yin Hua Stone. Yin Hua Stone has a miraculous effect of interfering with divine sense, which is equivalent to a natural isolation array. So, although this place is very conspicuous, the cave inside is very hidden. Back then, he also manipulated the Yuan Tu Pearl to bump around randomly, and only by chance did he discover that place."

"Hiss, it's the darkest place under the lamp."

Lin Zui sighed inwardly. If what Qin Mengyao said was true, then this place would be very difficult for ordinary people to find.

After all, even if someone wanted to search for treasure, they would go to those hidden places. Who would bother to come and struggle with a broken stone wall?

"Then let's not waste any more time and go in quickly."

Qin Mengyao nodded and activated the spiritual light of the Yuan Tu Pearl to envelop the two of them. The next moment, the two of them directly disappeared into the earth and arrived inside the cliff.

"Is this the cave dwelling?"

Lin Zui looked up and saw that the cave was not large, but it had everything he needed. Several blue stone paths divided the cave into five or six areas, including a quiet room for cultivation, a pill-refining room, and even a beast pen for taming spirit beasts.

In particular, the spiritual spring in the middle of the cave exudes an astonishing spiritual energy, several times higher than that of his cave in Yuanwu Kingdom.

"This is... the Spring of Spiritual Eyes?"

Lin Zui rushed over and checked it, confirming that it was indeed the Spirit Eye Spring.

However, it seems to have been artificially transplanted here. Its base is connected to several stable formations, and without sufficient strength and expertise in formations, it would be quite difficult to move it away.

However, this was already enough to surprise him. With this spiritual spring, his breakthrough to the mid-stage was just around the corner, and his future cultivation speed could be further improved.

"This spiritual spring, could it have been moved here by your Qin family ancestor?"

Lin Zui asked.

"I don't know, the ancestor never told me."

Qin Mengyao was also in a state of great surprise, never expecting to see such a legendary thing here.

"However, I don't think so. If the ancestor really had such a thing, he would most likely have moved it to the family to train the next generation."

Lin Zui nodded, somewhat unimpressed by the Qin family patriarch's selfless magnanimity, but since it was none of his business anyway, he decided to use the spiritual spring for now.

After looking around, Lin Zui set up several defensive formations around the cave. Although there was natural cover formed by the Yin Hua Stone, Lin Zui added an extra layer of protection just in case.

After finishing all that, when Lin Zui returned to his cave, he found that Qin Mengyao had also been busy tidying up the cave, giving Lin Zui a vague sense of familiarity, as if he were back in his own cave.

However, this was not the time to care about such things. Banishing these distracting thoughts from his mind, Lin Zui called her over and said...

"I'm preparing to go into seclusion to break through to the next level. You should also focus on your cultivation here and strive to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage as soon as possible!"