Published: March 2, 2025
Chapter 111: Seclusion
Each cave dwelling is equipped with a second-tier mid-grade defensive formation called the "Five Elements Life Cycle Formation." This formation, based on the principle of the five elements nurturing one another, is quite renowned for its defensive capabilities among foundation establishment stage cultivators.
Even a late-stage foundation establishment cultivator would only be able to breach it with all their strength for about half an hour, which is indeed a considerable feat.
The rich spiritual energy from the second-tier mid-grade spiritual vein greatly aids in breaking through the foundation establishment bottleneck, making such an environment particularly attractive for disciples from the branch houses.
Due to the limited number of cave dwellings, there is a certain threshold, making them highly sought after.
Initially, those who exchange for foundation establishment pills from the sect will have priority in allocating cave dwellings; if there are simultaneously forty-nine disciples with foundation establishment pills, the allocation will be based on a first-come, first-served basis.
However, such a situation is practically impossible; even in the recorded history of the Yuan Yang Sect, it has only occurred a couple of times over eight to nine thousand years.
For those without foundation establishment pills, who merely prepared ordinary auxiliary items, they would have to wait in line patiently. If luck is not on their side, it’s not uncommon for them to wait ten years or more.
Disciples from family factions or master-apprentice factions do not have such worries; they can break through their foundation wherever their family or master’s spiritual mountain is located. For instance, Yan Qun'er can establish her foundation on the third-tier spiritual mountain, Qingxiu Peak, and looks down on places like Qingsu Peak.
Liu Yu traversed through the mountains with his escape light and, half an hour later, landed near a cluster of buildings on Qingsu Peak.
This area is precisely where the spiritual energy is most concentrated among the spiritual veins, with exactly forty-nine cave dwellings for seclusion. These dwellings are spaced about seven or eight zhang apart, ensuring that even if two people are establishing their foundation at the same time, there is no worry about insufficient spiritual energy.
The surroundings of the cave dwellings are enclosed by a fence, with the only entrance guarded by two outer sect disciples at the ninth layer of qi refinement. Opposite the group of cave dwellings is a small hall, which appears to be the management area for the cave dwellings.
Liu Yu habitually surveyed his surroundings, then calmly walked towards the small hall.
Aside from the guarding disciples, there were only a couple of individuals coming in and out. Seeing this, Liu Yu felt delighted; the fewer people, the better, and he walked inside.
The interior of the hall was quite simple, with no extra decorations, just a square table in the center.
A serious middle-aged man with mixed black and white hair, indicating his foundation establishment stage cultivation, sat cross-legged behind the table, conversing with an inner sect disciple at the ninth layer of qi refinement. They only glanced at Liu Yu’s arrival and paid him no more mind.
The inner sect disciple kept smiling apologetically, pulling out a dozen spiritual stones to place on the table, directly pushing them forward, seemingly hoping for some leniency from the steward.
However, the steward sternly refused, not accepting the offering, and “righteously” warned him that if he attempted to bribe the steward again, he would notify the Law Enforcement Hall to deal with it according to the sect rules.
“Pfft.”
Liu Yu quietly waited in the hall, shaking his head and secretly laughing at the scene he witnessed.
Did he really think a mere dozen spiritual stones could satisfy a foundation establishment steward? It was too underestimating of the appetites of foundation establishment cultivators; one could only say the person was too young!