Chapter 375: Eternal Slumber

Six days later!

Within Tianlan Immortal City, Binglan Palace finally opened its doors in full. Tens of thousands of cultivators surged into the fully opened Binglan Palace! In the past, only a corner of Binglan Palace was accessible. Now that it was entirely open, it accommodated the influx of cultivators without feeling cramped.

Outside the palace, an enforcement team composed of Ice Fortress cultivators patrolled Binglan Palace day and night to prevent miscreants from disrupting the order. Everyone obediently underwent verification, received their entry qualification, submitted their tickets, and entered the palace in an orderly fashion. From time to time, streams of light belonging to Golden Core cultivators streaked through the sky and entered the venue. However, in a corner of the plaza, a group had gathered, and the restless atmosphere around them continued to spread.

"Is your president still in seclusion?" asked Kang Xianqiong with an anxious expression, her gaze sweeping in all directions in the crowd, hoping to spot that familiar figure. Yet, she was met with disappointment.

Sima Huiniang said calmly, "Please don’t worry, Senior Kang. Hall Leader Duan of our Luo Tian Society has personally gone to fetch the President. You won’t be delayed."

"How could it not be a delay!" Kang Xianqiong snapped. Her usual poise seemed to have slipped completely, and her words drew a frown from Sima Huiniang.

Kang Xianqiong was a Foundation Establishment Initiate, yet her self-restraint was pitifully lacking.

Still, Huiniang kept her voice calm and explained plainly, "From what I know, the auction lasts three days. Each day, the items are segmented by cultivation realm: Qi-Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core Realms, respectively. The Purple Yang Liquid you need is a third-tier spirit medicine. It should only appear on the third day. There’s no need to be so anxious!"

Kang Xianqiong sighed and tried to calm the unease gnawing at her heart, but she wasn’t alone in her anxiety. Among the crowd, Min Longyu, who stood in silence, was just as restless. Though he lacked the status to voice his concern, the worry in his eyes mirrored Kang Xianqiong’s own.

Suddenly, a Flowing Cloud Beast Carriage pulled to a stop outside Binglan Palace. From it, Duan Feng stepped out swiftly, his face dark, his steps heavy with burden. The moment Sima Huiniang saw him, a bad feeling settled in her chest like a cold stone. Her years of navigating Luo Tian Society’s politics had taught her to read moods and measure silence.

She quickly approached him and said, "Hall Leader Duan, what about the President..."

Duan Feng replied coldly, "The President has instructed that for the first two days of the auction, Director Sima will take charge of all bidding. For any items related to Foundation Establishment resources, I will make the final bids after your consideration."

He was now also a Foundation Establishment Initiate. When it came to bidding at the auction, he certainly carried more weight than the ninth stage Qi-Refining cultivators from Luo Tian Society. As he spoke, he passed a storage pouch to Sima Huiniang with practiced subtlety. At the same time, he also transmitted a voice using spirit consciousness, "There are one hundred thousand spirit stones inside. It should be enough to buy what our Luo Tian Society needs."

Sima Huiniang's eyelids twitched and replied, "The President gave this? Did something happen to him?"

Duan Feng glanced at the Luo Tian Society members still waiting up ahead and sent a silent message, "The President is fine. He just ran into a minor setback during cultivation and needs a bit of recovery. I’ve already sent a Sound-Transmitting Paper Crane to Elder Wang Yuan, and he’ll personally go."

However, Sima Huiniang felt even more uneasy upon hearing that. The weight in her heart deepened.

He said it was nothing serious, yet they had to bring in Wang Yuan? It seemed something serious had truly happened to the President!

Taking a deep breath, she forced a smile and turned around, saying, "Everyone, follow me into the venue!"

Some were curious about Luo Chen's condition, but under Duan Feng’s cold gaze, they all suppressed their curiosity. Just before stepping through the gates, Duan Feng paused and placed a hand on Min Longyu’s shoulder.

"Don’t worry, the President has already secured the Foundation Establishment pill quota," he said softly.

Min Longyu, whose face had looked like ash before, now showed a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Yet he still felt a bit uneasy in his heart.

Without Luo Chen taking action, could Sima Huiniang truly secure such a precious Foundation Establishment pill?

***

Time rewound to five days earlier.

After obtaining the bronze mirror, a full day and night had passed in a flash. As a roar echoed from the depths of his consciousness, Luo Chen slowly awakened from that vast, two-hundred-year journey.

"Master, are you alright?" Bai Meiling’s voice was filled with worry as she looked at him with concern. However, when Luo Chen’s eyes filled with the vicissitudes of time and fell upon her, she couldn’t help but shiver.

"I’m fine. In the next few days, guard the cave residence well and do not allow any visitors. If Huiniang or Duan Feng comes looking, hand them this storage pouch and this sound-transmitting talisman," he said quietly.

With that said, he placed a storage pouch filled with spirit stones down and staggered into the bedroom. Since moving into this second-tier low-grade cave residence, Luo Chen had rarely ever used the bedroom. He was usually seen only in the meditation room, the alchemy chamber, the study, or the living room. Now, stepping into the bedroom, he collapsed face down onto the soft bedding.

"The Divine Ghost Heartmirror... What a journey it was!" murmuring softly, Luo Chen drifted into a deep sleep.

No matter how turbulent the world outside became, he slept soundly, unaware of the passage of time. It was a long slumber. Since transmigrating and setting foot on the cultivation path, Luo Chen had never allowed himself such an indulgent sleep. This time, he had no dreams, and his rest was exceptionally peaceful. Only several days later did he slowly awaken.

Still wrapped in a soft, silken quilt, Luo Chen lay motionless for a while. Then he parted his lips and whispered into the quiet room, "Since transmigrating, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a good and long rest."

If one excluded the original body’s ten years of cultivation, it had only taken him around eleven or twelve years to advance from Qi-Refining to Foundation Establishment. Such cultivation speed was nearly comparable to the legendary heavenly spirit root prodigies of the cultivation world! Though few said it aloud, Luo Chen often glimpsed envy in the eyes of his friends and subordinates. But envy? That was just the price of gambling one’s life away.

Day and night, he had refined pills to earn spirit stones, never pausing his cultivation. With immense resources, he had persisted for ten years without rest. Only then did he barely achieve his current cultivation. The reason he pushed himself so hard wasn’t just the ever-changing external circumstances but also his awareness of his weak aptitude and limited lifespan. This concern still weighed on him even after reaching Foundation Establishment, which was why he had never once slowed down. Yet after experiencing that surreal event a few days ago, he realized that perhaps he had pushed too far.

Luo Chen, aren’t you tired?

He chuckled softly and thought,

How could I not be tired!

He opened his eyes wide, and his thoughts drifted back to that endless passage of time within the Divine Ghost Heartmirror. After waking, he learned much about the bronze mirror, which held the residual spirit consciousness of a Golden Core Adept. This enchanted treasure had originated from the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities, a once-mighty sect specializing in formations centuries ago.

Its profound use was to allow a cultivator to undergo a unique, one-time journey of self-inquiry. Or rather, it was not just a heart-inquiry. Its primary function was simulation. Based on a cultivator’s experience and foundation, it allowed one to use this unique treasure to simulate a specific scenario.

In the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities, this treasure had long been held by the sect’s elder, Jin Wu. It was mainly used on disciples who had reached Perfected Mastery of Foundation Establishment. It helped them simulate the process of forming a Golden Core! Even a single experience was immensely valuable.

With this treasure, even without superior Core Formation methods, the number of Golden Core cultivators in the sect continued to grow steadily. The sect eventually became so powerful that it far surpassed other Golden Core major sects. Yet ironically, Valley of Ghosts and Divinities had no Nascent Soul cultivators to safeguard its foundation! To avoid drawing the suspicion of Nascent Soul sects within their domain, the Supreme Elder of Valley of Ghosts and Divinities decided to relocate and join the expansion war led by Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, hoping to secure a new home.

Unfortunately, Valley of Ghosts and Divinities, acting as the vanguard, was utterly annihilated by a fourth-tier demon emperor during the campaign. Thus, a generation-defining sect of formations began its decline as its downfall wasn’t solely due to the loss of its elite cultivators. Even more critical was the disappearance of the defensive treasure alongside the sect’s Supreme Elder.

The Forsaken Chess Piece! This enchanted treasure set was of mid-grade quality, composed of a black and a white chess piece. Logically, it shouldn’t have held the same renown in the cultivation world as top-grade treasures like the Demon Locking Pagoda. However, within the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities, its importance rivaled that of the Demon Locking Pagoda.

The reason was simple: it could be used in conjunction with the Divine Ghost Heartmirror. They served different focuses even though both had defensive uses. The white chess piece protected the body, and the black one shielded the soul. Back then, Luo Tianhong was the first to transform into a Ghost General after death, thanks to the Black Chess Piece. Even after Luo Chen once blasted him into pieces, he had used the black piece and the ghost domain to quickly restore himself. This clearly demonstrated how exceptional the Black Chess Piece was in soul defense. It was precisely by relying on the soul-shielding properties of the Black Chess Piece that Valley of Ghosts and Divinities could let its Foundation Establishment disciples safely use the Divine Ghost Heartmirror! Yet tragically, the treasure was lost in the Ancient Plains.

From that point on, the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities' production of Golden Core cultivators steadily declined. After Elder Jin Wu gathered the remaining disciples, he managed to keep things going for quite some time. But after he passed away, no new Golden Core cultivators emerged from the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities. The sect was left with no choice but to rely on the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect for survival.

Among the later disciples, some had indeed attempted to use the Divine Ghost Heartmirror to simulate Core Formation. However, without the Forsaken Black Chess Piece to protect the soul, even successful simulations often led to mental collapse within the mirror. After repeated attempts, the enchanted treasure gradually became unstable under the strain. In the end, a corner of it shattered, and it was reduced to a broken remnant.

After passing through many hands, it finally ended up in Luo Chen’s possession. However, that was a tangent. These details were merely Luo Chen’s inferences, pieced together from the fragmented words left behind by the Golden Core Adept in the mirror. Yet judging from what history later confirmed, he believed his deductions were largely accurate.

By sheer coincidence, I happened to possess the Forsaken Black Chess Piece, which allowed my soul to remain intact throughout that long simulation, all the way to the end.

As he sighed with emotion, Luo Chen's thoughts once again drifted beyond his control. The three centuries he had lived within the mirror had been filled with twists and turns. The earlier stages of the simulation had been far more vivid and detailed. By the late stages, everything relied on his accumulated knowledge and insight to extrapolate what came next.

Wang Yuan, obsessed with growing stronger, left a trail of blood in his wake, offending more than one Golden Core Adept. Eventually, he took a desperate gamble. In a move that shocked many, he rallied every alliance he could muster and led an assault on the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, which at the time lacked the protection of a Nascent Soul cultivator. These were all things that he or those around him were entirely capable of doing. As for the end, with the Luo Tian Society destroyed and himself left with no way out, it seemed inevitable that he would fall into the demonic path as a rogue cultivator.

After all, Luo Chen had started as a nameless rogue cultivator from Dahe Market. He had done things like murder and steal for treasure before. Even if only because he’d had no choice. As for his final attempt to reach the Golden Core Realm, it had unsurprisingly failed. With his current level of knowledge and foundation, there was no way he could have simulated a successful breakthrough. Besides, the Divine Ghost Heartmirror hadn’t accounted for the skill proficiency system either.

In the simulation, I fell into the demonic path just to cultivate and ended up neither human nor ghost, and barely managed to reach Perfected Mastery of Foundation Establishment. The time it took even exceeded the natural lifespan limit of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, which is three hundred years,

thought Luo Chen.

Three hundred and thirty years had been the end of his simulated lifespan. Ordinarily, Foundation Establishment cultivators lived no more than two hundred and fifty years. Some could stretch that by ten or twenty years with special cultivation techniques. And with life-extending spirit medicines, the absolute limit was three hundred years.

He had lived to three hundred and thirty only because of Wang Yuan’s final blood-path Physical-Refining technique. It was only by committing horrific acts of slaughter and energy extraction that he lasted that long. In the end, he became a wanted fugitive throughout the entire Jade Cauldron Domain. He became something neither human nor ghost. The very moment he tried to break through to Golden Core, he fell into cultivation deviation and failed.

Failure, in itself, wasn’t terrifying! Even the prodigies of the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities had failed before. For him, the most dangerous point wasn’t at the end; it had come when he was stuck at the eighth stage of Foundation Establishment and began to lose all hope in cultivation. At that stage, his will had nearly crumbled. He had even become Dao companion with Gu...

The Divine Ghost Heartmirror! That had been a trial testing the sincerity of his pursuit of the Great Dao. If not for his unyielding ambition that reignited his drive to compete on the Great Dao, even with the Forsaken Black Chess Piece's protection, his soul would have been shaken and his Dao heart severely damaged. Had that happened, he would have awakened in a daze, unable to regain control of himself.

No wonder Valley of Ghosts and Divinities only allowed disciples at the Perfected Mastery Foundation Establishment to use this treasure! By that stage, they had already cast off all distractions, focusing solely on Core Formation. Naturally, they wouldn't be burdened by stray thoughts.

As he sighed, Luo Chen noticed something was wrong. He realized that his thoughts were dispersing far too easily.

Is this a side effect of the Divine Ghost Heartmirror simulation?

thought Luo Chen with a frown.

Suddenly, a wave of intense hunger surged from both his stomach and sea of qi. His expression shifted as he sat upright and said, "Little Ling, prepare ten days’ worth of spirit meals for me!"

Outside, Bai Meiling, who was hunched over studying the Soul-Gathering Banner, responded sweetly. Luo Chen scanned his internal state. The moment he released his spirit consciousness, a wave of dizziness struck him.

Not just my body, even my soul seems to have been overexerted! That makes sense. Disciples at the Perfected Mastery Foundation Establishment in the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities only needed to focus all their energy on simulating Core Formation. But I’m only at the third stage of Foundation Establishment and had to simulate everything step by step. The entire process depended solely on my foundation. If not for the fact that my divine soul foundation is nearly equivalent to the late stage Foundation Establishment Realm, I probably wouldn’t have made it to the Core Formation simulation at all,

thought Luo Chen.

In the simulation, his failure at Core Formation wasn’t solely due to lack of experience and insight. It also stemmed from his soul’s inability to endure the process! Feeling it again, Luo Chen’s mind reeled with dizziness.

Thankfully, I still have some backup Spirit Passage pills. They won’t advance my cultivation, but they should restore some vitality.

Without hesitation, Luo Chen retrieved a Spirit Passage pill and swallowed it. Outside, the spirit dish banquet, rich with spirit energy was steadily brought out to the stone table under Bai Meiling’s care.

An hour later, Luo Chen, now slightly refreshed, stepped out of the bedroom. He went to the table and eagerly began devouring the luxurious meal, something most ordinary cultivators couldn’t even dream of affording.

He asked as he ate, "How many days was I asleep?"

Bai Meiling lay sprawled on the table, propping her cheeks with her hands. She wiggled her fingers and counted before saying, "After coming back, you stayed in front of the mirror for a day and a night. Then you slept for another seven days. Duan Feng came looking for you. Oh, and yesterday, Wang Yuan came too. He saw you were still sleeping, so he left."

As he listened to her rambling report, Luo Chen’s eating slowed, and he murmured, "The auction... there's only one day left? Good... everything is still on time!