Chapter 80: Cave Emanating Such Powerful Thunder Energy (5)
Lin Yuan slowly stood up from the mountain path. The wind howled through the desolate peaks, but he paid the biting cold no mind. His eyes were locked in contemplation as he stared at the pitch-black maw of the cavern before him.
He looked around the landscape. He carefully guessed, that he might actually be the first person to know that this cave was a source of Origin Energy.
Somewhere deep within that mountain, buried beneath hundreds of thousands of tons of rock, there was something. Perhaps it was a treasure, or perhaps it was the remains of an entity from the upper realm. Whatever it was, it was actively emanating Origin Energy of the thunder nature in such a terrifying way.
Lin Yuan’s deduced that It was very unlikely that any true Soul Transformation cultivators had passed through Azure Cloud City in a considerable while. The Zhao Province was universally known across the Central Continent as a stagnant, backwater region where the absolute ceiling of cultivation was the Nascent Soul realm. The ambient spiritual qi here was simply too thin to sustain or interest a higher realm experts.
For a legendary Soul Transformation cultivator to deliberately leave their grounds, their top spiritual veins, just to wander through the impoverished borders of Azure Cloud City... it would be considered a supreme loss of face, akin to a majestic, nine-clawed golden dragon abandoning its celestial palace to scavenge for moldy food inside a filthy ant hill!
Because of this disdain held by the higher realm experts, they never visited. And since absolutely no one other than those at the Soul Transformation realm and above possessed the Primordial Spirit required to even sense Origin Qi, the cave had sat here in undisturbed silence.
A sharp, cunning light flashed within Lin Yuan’s eyes. He deduced that he should absolutely keep it that way!
Even though the cultivating of this region were completely oblivious to the energy radiating from the cavern, the physical cave entrance itself was still a gaping hole in the side of the mountain. If a curious someone, or a wandering low-level beast, were to physically stumble into the cave seeking shelter from the rain, they would be instantaneously vaporized by the sheer pressure of the thunder energy.
If people started mysteriously vanishing or exploding into bloody mist on this specific mountain, rumors would inevitably spread. Local magistrates would investigate and die. Core Formation elders would be dispatched and die. Eventually, the escalating mystery would undoubtedly reach plenty of ears, or worse, draw the curious gaze of a Soul Transformation monster who would immediately recognize the prize.
Lin Yuan could not allow the first domino to fall. He needed to perfectly conceal the physical entrance.
Raising his right hand, Lin Yuan used Dao comprehension he had achieved within the Mountain and River Painting.
"Thunder lays absolute destruction," Lin Yuan said. "But by reversing the destruction, we can imitate creation. And with the absolute impartiality of rain, the illusion becomes a flawless reality."
He immediately began to form an illusion seal.
Using the creative essence of thunder, Lin Yuan’s fingers blurred through a complex sequence of hand seals. He channeled the vibrant green lightning that represented the rebirth of the world after the storm.
He pushed his hands forward, projecting the green lightning through the gaping, ten-foot-wide entrance of the cave.
The green lightning crackled and expanded, weaving a dense tapestry of spiritual energy across the empty space. As the energy settled, it began to rapidly mimic its surroundings. The spell perfectly replicated the exact texture of the surrounding grey bedrock, the jagged edges of the loose gravel, and the subtle, shifting shadows cast by the midday sun.
Within a mere ten breaths, Lin Yuan successfully formed a localized seal that made the cave entrance entirely invisible!
To the naked eye, and even to sweeping divine senses, it looked like it was just another mundane surface of the mountain range. And because this illusion was not forged from standard techniques, but from his Thunder Rain Dao, it meant that unless a cultivator’s Dao comprehension was astronomically high—high enough to perceive the intersection of merged Daos and the subtle imitations of creation—one simply could not see through an illusion formed from Lin Yuan’s personal Dao!
Satisfied with the illusion, Lin Yuan immediately reached into his spatial ring. He took out a blank jade slip.
Pressing the jade slip firmly against his forehead, Lin Yuan pushed a strand of his divine sense into it. He meticulously recorded the exact coordinates of the mountain. He also encrypted the data with a layer of his own soul signature, ensuring that even if the slip were stolen, the jade slip would self-destruct into useless dust before yielding their secrets.
He lowered the jade slip, staring at it with a profound, burning ambition.
This would now be his initial source of Origin Energy. One of the most coveted resource in the Nine province was now exclusively his!
He had secured the location, and he had completely hidden it from the greedy eyes. More importantly, and thanks to the Ten Thousand Ways Return to One Heart Sutra, Lin Yuan already possessed a cultivation technique that could successfully cultivate Origin Energy without leading to Qi deviation.
The puzzle was nearly complete.
What remained now was for him to bridge the final, monumental gap. He needed to break through the Nascent Soul realm, and finally form his Primordial Spirit. Only by reaching the legendary Soul Transformation realm would his soul undergo the change necessary to safely cultivate the Origin Qi from this cave.
"Another step," Lin Yuan murmured, securely placing the jade slip back into his spatial ring.
With all that settled, Lin Yuan bent his knees and pushed off the path.
BOOM!
A deafening sonic boom echoed through the peaks as Lin Yuan took to the sky once again. The sheer force of his launch sent a shockwave rolling across the rocks, completely scattering the floor where he had just stood.
Hovering high above, Lin Yuan paused for a moment and cast one final glance toward the perfectly concealed cave below. There was no triumphant smirk on his face, only the cold, unwavering certainty of someone who had just discovered a treasure that would one day become a stepping stone on his path toward eternity.
Satisfied that the illusion held perfectly against the sweeping winds and the glaring sun, Lin Yuan turned his body. He blurred into a streak of purple lightning, tearing through the firmament as he continued heading directly toward the grand estate of the Bai Clan. It was time to settle his karma with Xu Canghai and start paving the way for his proper wedding.