Chapter 61: Meeting a New World Again

This point emanated a mysterious internal energy, which was precisely that mysterious gate!

With the stirring of the spiritual energy within his body, he felt a subtle pulsing at the center of his brow, and the sensation of awakening his spiritual awareness grew stronger. Suddenly, it felt as if a silver bottle had burst, and water splashed everywhere—the mysterious gate opened!

Boom!

Bai Yichen felt as if he saw a brilliant light emanating from the depths of his brow, within the mysterious gate. A profound aura rose, and at the center of the gate, his true spirit awakened, condensing his spiritual awareness!

He seemed to see a hazy seed deeply buried within, nurtured by nature, embodying an ineffable Dao.

But there was no time to think about anything else. Bai Yichen quickly called upon his spiritual awareness to draw in the spiritual energy from the Essence Qi of heaven and earth.

A wave of profound energy emanated from his body, and under the guidance of his spiritual awareness, Bai Yichen felt his intention leading the Essence Qi in the hall to merge into one.

Just at that moment, Lingyun Shangren, who had originally been keeping his eyes closed, waved his sleeve. The surrounding void emitted an inexplicable fluctuation, and the hall was filled with a layer of white mist, appearing like an ethereal realm.

The white mist continued to condense, forming a ball that was neither fog nor smoke, enveloping Bai Yichen.

Crack!

His entire body felt a series of explosive sounds as his joints popped. In an inadvertent moment, a large amount of white mist was seemingly absorbed into his body like a dragon drinking water.

At this moment, the mysterious gate at Bai Yichen's brow began to slowly attract the spiritual energy within the hall, continuously infusing it into his body and refining Bai Yichen's dantian and meridians.

It was the Essence Qi of heaven and earth refining his flesh!

This was a power that only masters possessed!

Whoosh…

The unusual phenomenon in the hall gradually calmed down. Bai Yichen opened his eyes, and in an instant, sparks seemed to flash in the air, with brilliance emanating from his gaze.

But soon after, his expression relaxed, losing its sharpness, and his eyes took on a warm glow.

At this moment, in addition to seeing with his eyes, Bai Yichen could also use his spiritual awareness to peel away the fog, gaining another perspective on this world.

He realized that the Essence Qi of heaven and earth was composed of various forms of Qi. Everything in the world has its own Qi, and the most abundant here was the pure spiritual energy, also known as spiritual essence.

Bai Yichen pondered this deeply and could not help but gain an insight: the path of cultivation is indeed about penetrating the world, perceiving all things, and transcending one's true nature.

"How is it? Do you see anything different in this world now?"

Lingyun Shangren was smiling as he looked at Bai Yichen.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Yichen replied, "Mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters."

"Indeed, this can certainly lead to great achievement." Lingyun Shangren had an air of ancient wisdom about him, but with his youthful face, it was hard not to chuckle.

But the current Bai Yichen remained calm and composed, his expression serene.

"Alright, in the coming days, you..."

…

A blinding light flashed, and Bai Yichen found himself in complete darkness.

First came the sound of slicing, followed by silence, but then everything spun around, left and right became reversed.

Bai Yichen felt a bit dizzy and experienced some ear ringing, but fortunately, he had already entered the Qi Gathering realm and could barely suppress it with his spiritual awareness. A thought suddenly crossed his mind: the teleportation array couldn't have malfunctioned, right?

Fortunately, in the darkness, he lost track of time, feeling as though it passed slowly yet quickly, until light reappeared.

After adjusting his breath and circulating his energy, he finally stepped out. Remembering the manual mentioned that lower realm cultivators should not release their spiritual awareness casually, he resisted the urge and began to observe his surroundings with his eyes.

This was an ancient, elegant room with several stone pillars around him. He had just been standing within a circle formed by those pillars.

Inside the circle was a teleportation array similar to that deep within the Peach Blossom Temple, its lines arranged in a complex and profound way that Bai Yichen found difficult to understand.

It had already been seven days since Bai Yichen's breakthrough.

During these seven days, following Lingyun Shangren's guidance, Bai Yichen first consolidated his cultivation and then began to refine the token artifact left behind by Master Tianfeng—the jade gourd.

After refining it, Bai Yichen could not help but exclaim: Master Tianfeng truly was considerate!

This item, called the Bewildering Gourd, lived up to its name; after further refining, it emitted a green light that could confuse the enemy's mind and obscure their spiritual awareness.

In addition, this artifact could store items of various sizes and allow for flight, making it an essential feature for anyone traveling outside. Moreover, it contained forty-six Earth Fiend prohibitions and was a five-layered heavenly artifact.

Lingyun Shangren also mentioned that he could refine it further according to the pre-designed prohibition routes within the gourd.

In the Xuanming Great World, the classification of artifacts and spiritual tools is based on Earth Fiend and Heavenly Gang prohibitions.

Artifacts are fundamentally based on Earth Fiend prohibitions, with every nine layers constituting a realm, for a total of seventy-two layers of Earth Fiend prohibitions that can be refined.

If the Earth Fiend prohibitions are perfected, they can be sublimated into Heavenly Gang prohibitions, thus transforming into a spiritual tool.

Afterward, the Heavenly Gang prohibitions must be refined, totaling thirty-six, which corresponds to the number of the Heavenly Gang and is also nine layers per realm.

If perfected, one can seek to promote it into a treasure, but all of this was still far from Bai Yichen.

Suddenly, Bai Yichen focused his spiritual awareness on the Bewildering Gourd.

He heard an exclamation.

"You are... coming out from this teleportation array?"

A young servant, dressed plainly, asked in surprise.

Recalling the information he had gathered earlier, Bai Yichen first performed a respectful bow and then said, "Indeed, I just returned through this array."

"May I ask, is this the Cangze City outside the Taiyuan Sect in the East Shengzhou?"

Seeing Bai Yichen so polite, the servant felt a sense of goodwill and somewhat bashfully replied, "Indeed. This teleportation array leads to the outer continent, so it is seldom used, which is why there is no one to guard it. I hope you can forgive us."

Bai Yichen waved his hand casually and then took the opportunity to ask the servant a few questions about the recent events in Cangze City and the Taiyuan Sect, gaining the information he needed before taking his leave.

Lingyun Shangren had left the Taiyuan Sect to guard the Xia Dynasty for more than a decade, so naturally, he was not well-informed about the current situation.

However, fortunately, from what he had just heard from the servant, both the Taiyuan Sect and Cangze City were still as they had always been, seemingly unchanged.

Only a few days ago, the grand spirit-opening ceremony had just concluded. It was said that Cangze City had been bustling during that time, with many people coming and going around the teleportation array.

Stepping outside, the blazing sun hung high in the sky, and the clear blue was devoid of clouds, marking the noon hour.

Bai Yichen felt as if he had entered a bustling market.

On the wide and busy streets, sounds of chatter, laughter, and vendors calling out filled the air, and the throngs of people moving about seemed little different from the mortal world.

In particular, looking around, the majority of people appeared to be ordinary folk with some signs of physical training.

Of course, there were also many elegantly dressed individuals with unfathomable auras, immediately recognizable as not being ordinary.

However, aside from those who openly displayed their energy, Bai Yichen could not discern the specific strength of the rest; after all, it was acceptable to glance, but casually probing others with spiritual awareness could be seen as a provocation in the cultivation world.

Moreover, the Essence Qi of heaven and earth here was far superior to that of the Xia Dynasty, making Bai Yichen realize he had truly arrived in the cultivation realm!