Chapter 334: Golden Core Realm

Cultivators in the Eastern Desolation mature early and are self-reliant. Before joining the Divine Wood Sect, Luo Yixuan interned for a period at her family's bookstore in the market. This store primarily sold books about the customs and practices of the cultivation world, introductions to cultivation forces in various countries, and a small selection of common cultivation techniques, immortal arts, and spells.

This Reversion Secret Art was originally brought by a down-and-out rogue cultivator who wanted to exchange it for spirit stones. Luo Yixuan was on duty at the time. After reviewing it and finding it promising, she bought it with the five spirit stones she had saved privately. She also made the rogue cultivator swear an oath of Dao Heart not to sell it to anyone else. As she was the only one in the store at the time, Luo Yixuan kept the manual for the Reversion Secret Art and secretly practiced it herself.

Chen Mobai found this secret art quite interesting. Luo Yixuan had concealed her cultivation, and none of the Foundation Establishment cultivators who encountered her had seen through it. Chen Mobai himself had perfected his Void-Piercing Spiritual Eyes. He also noticed that her use of spells during the grand competition seemed strange and somewhat disjointed. Only after careful observation did he see through her disguise.

After reading the manual, he discovered that the Reversion Secret Art had three layers. The first layer, which Luo Yixuan had mastered, involved concealing one's spiritual energy fluctuations and displaying a deceptive cultivation realm. However, meticulous individuals who cultivated spiritual eyes or possessed powerful divine sense could still penetrate the disguise and discern the true cultivation level.

The second layer was different: it involved retaining only the amount of spiritual energy appropriate for the desired displayed cultivation realm within one's dantian and qi sea, while hiding all excess spiritual energy within one's destined magical artifact. This way, unless one intentionally exposed oneself or encountered someone with a specialized secret art for realm perception, no one would be able to see through the disguise.

The final, third layer was somewhat mystical. It described hiding unwanted spiritual energy in the external world, making it impossible for anyone to perceive. However, to master this layer, one first needed to open a small void. It was like carrying a portable spiritual energy pool: drawing from it and returning it to the dantian and qi sea when needed, and injecting it back into the small void for concealment when not in use.

"This is remarkably similar to the Golden Core Domains of the Immortal Sect!" Chen Mobai couldn't help but marvel when he read this. A signature achievement for Core Formation cultivators in the Immortal Sect was the creation of a portable personal space. This small space could be used for storage, combat, or even as a dwelling.

The reason for these Golden Core Domains was reportedly from the earliest days of the Expansion Wars. Geocentric Star bordered an alien world, but its living environment was completely different from ordinary sentient worlds; the spiritual energy contained in its void was highly toxic to cultivators. This meant that once the boundary gates between the two worlds opened, powerful beings from the alien world could freely enter Geocentric Star, while cultivators from the Immortal Sect were forced to remain defensive in their home territory, making them very passive.

Consequently, while resisting the alien invasion, the Immortal Sect's leadership gathered all their top talents to research how to solve this problem. The power of collective effort was immense, and soon, "domains" were developed. By mastering a small space, cultivators could create favorable air and environmental conditions within this domain, store items and magical artifacts, and then envelop themselves with the domain to isolate themselves from the toxic elements of the alien world.

However, not everyone could master a domain. It required powerful spiritual energy for its creation, along with sufficient divine sense for control. Furthermore, it had to be formed in a vacuum environment, as the void was purest there and thus easier to open. It also required the assistance of the Immortal Sect's supreme inherited treasure, the "Boundary Gate."

Generally, only cultivators who had reached Core Formation could open a domain. Therefore, the Immortal Sect populace referred to them as "Golden Core Domains." Of course, there were occasional, extremely rare exceptions who could open a domain even before forming their Core. Such individuals were one in a million, true unparalleled prodigies. In this generation of the Immortal Sect, there were only two such individuals: one was Lan Haitian, and the other was Yan Bingxuan's aunt.

However, because Lan Haitian was the face of Kunpeng Daoist Academy, and had accomplished much without a single defeat since his debut, his reputation was greater, earning him the title of the Immortal Sect's foremost Foundation Establishment cultivator. Yan Qiongzhi, on the other hand, was more low-key, so her fame was not as widespread, but she was well-known among the high-ranking figures of the Immortal Sect. However, unlike Lan Haitian, who served publicly and toiled for the Immortal Sect for sixty years to earn a Golden Liquid Jade Restoration Pill, Yan Qiongzhi had always remained within the School of Nature, thus only receiving a Water Elemental Core Condensing Pill. If she were to form her Core, it might involve risks.

Chen Mobai thought of this after finishing the Reversion Secret Art. Core Formation cultivators in the Heavenly River Realm did not possess such things as domains. Therefore, when he saw the third layer of the Reversion Secret Art, which had a similar concept, he couldn't help but be amazed. Indeed, the ideas of geniuses often converge; the Heavenly River Realm cultivator who created this secret art was truly extraordinary. Unfortunately, the cultivation method for the third layer in this small manual was very vague, only describing the effects after mastery.

Chen Mobai once again felt a strong aversion to the way knowledge was passed down in the Heavenly River Realm. Since the creator of this secret art could master the third layer and even documented it, there must have been a unique cultivation method, but it was conspicuously absent from the text. How to practice it? Figure it out yourself!

"Xuan'er, can you find out the origin of this Reversion Secret Art?" Chen Mobai asked his young disciple. Luo Yixuan nodded and offered her conjecture. "In the Ming Kingdom, there's a sect called the Guiyuan Sect. Although it's declined now, it produced Core Formation cultivators a thousand years ago. I suspect this secret art might have originated from them." Among the nineteen nations of the Eastern Desolation, the Ming Kingdom was territory under the Earth Vein of the Five Elements Sect. "If you have time, gather some information about this Guiyuan Sect." After giving Luo Yixuan this instruction, Chen Mobai dismissed her.

He was about to begin cultivating the Reversion Secret Art. Originally, he had only intended to read it for reference. In the Immortal Sect, privacy was highly valued, so cultivators generally did not practice arts that concealed their cultivation level. This lack of concern meant that knowledge of such cultivation methods and secret arts was scarce. In contrast, in the Heavenly River Realm, those who could afford it would also cultivate a spell to hide their cultivation, using it for both "fishing" (luring others) and "anti-fishing" (avoiding being lured). Consequently, there were many such spells, and the Divine Wood Sect alone possessed several.

Unexpectedly, Luo Yixuan's Reversion Secret Art was excellent and very suitable for Chen Mobai. This was because, although he was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he possessed a destined magical artifact. He could perfectly hide his Evergreen spiritual energy within the Six-Yang Divine Fire Mirror. With his current realm, cultivating this secret art was naturally effortless.

Ten days later, while consuming longevity-extending pills and cultivating the Reversion Secret Art, he quickly mastered the first layer. However, just as he was preparing to master the second layer in one go, he encountered a minor obstacle. The Six-Yang Divine Fire Mirror was fire-attributed, and wood-attributed spiritual energy was its most delectable sustenance. When the liquid Evergreen spiritual energy was infused into it, there was an instinctive fluctuation, as if it wanted to devour it.

After using the Formless Puppet for deduction and trial-and-error, Chen Mobai found a method: he used his divine sense to suppress the artifact's fluctuations, enveloping the Evergreen spiritual energy with his divine sense much like a domain, and then hid it within the Six-Yang Divine Fire Mirror. Fortunately, it was all his own power, so only a small amount of divine sense was needed to achieve this. With his current amount of divine sense, he could maintain this for two or three months.

However, such prolonged consumption was not ideal. He wondered if he could acquire another wood-attributed or water-attributed destined magical artifact. Generally, destined magical artifacts could only be refined by Core Formation cultivators, and in the Heavenly River Realm, they were called "magic treasures." Of course, some special cultivation methods allowed for this. In the Immortal Sect, this was achieved through a series of artifact cultivation techniques derived from the *Can Tong Qi* (Triplex Unity). In the Heavenly River Realm, when Chen Mobai was selecting cultivation methods for Zhuo Ming, he had seen a book titled *Mountain-Driving Art*, and the Mountain-Overturning Seal cultivated through it also counted as a destined magical artifact.

However, the artifact cultivation methods in the Heavenly River Realm were somewhat different from those in the Immortal Sect. The *Can Tong Qi* lineage popular in the Immortal Sect focused on using artifacts to nourish the cultivator, whereas in the Heavenly River Realm, due to the preciousness of magical artifacts, it was the cultivator who nourished the artifact. This was highly resource-intensive and troublesome, as cultivators had to supply resources for the artifact's advancement while simultaneously progressing themselves.

Yet Chen Mobai was not afraid of waste, as his status within the Divine Wood Sect grew daily, making it increasingly convenient to acquire spirit stones and other resources. Furthermore, now that his Evergreen Immortal Scripture had reached Foundation Establishment perfection, cultivating an additional destined magical artifact was certainly feasible. However, this matter would be considered later. After all, a destined magical artifact was extremely important. If the initial artifact embryo was not chosen well, and the artifact could only reach a low tier later due to material limitations, even if the cultivator's cultivation grew, it would be better not to cultivate it at all.

Therefore, the most crucial aspect of artifact cultivation methods in the Heavenly River Realm was to ensure ample room for advancement when refining the artifact embryo. Not to mention Tier 4 or Tier 5, it should at least be able to upgrade to Tier 3. Chen Mobai, feeling that his future was bright and promising, believed that Tier 3 might not be his limit. His demands weren't high; he just wanted an artifact embryo that could ascend to Tier 4. Of course, if a higher-tier one was available, that would be even better.

After another ten days, and having consumed all his longevity-extending pills, Chen Mobai finally managed to hide all 130 drops of Evergreen spiritual energy within the Six-Yang Divine Fire Mirror, officially emerging from seclusion. He stood proudly on the mountain, looking down at a bustling Little South Mountain. Since it was autumn, Zhuo Ming had started leading the returning mortals and low-level Qi Cultivation disciples in harvesting various types of spirit rice. Not only was Luo Yixuan helping, but even Liu Wenbai, who was recovering from his injuries, had come.

The disciples of Little South Mountain knew that Chen Mobai greatly valued farming. Whenever it was time for the spirit rice harvest, he would personally participate, unless he was in seclusion. Consequently, Liu Wenbai and Zhuo Ming had not missed a single spirit rice harvest in previous years. Luo Yixuan, being astute, quickly grasped this after becoming his disciple and made sure to be present every time. Seeing this scene from the mountain, Chen Mobai felt great satisfaction. At least he had influenced those around him to value agriculture, proving that bringing his farming talent to this world was not in vain.

After returning to the Immortal Sect to re-dye his hair, Chen Mobai also descended the mountain. "Wenbai, if your vitality hasn't fully recovered, you don't need to come for the harvest." When Chen Mobai descended, his three disciples immediately came to greet him. "This disciple's limbs have become a bit stiff from prolonged seclusion," Liu Wenbai respectfully replied. "This is a good opportunity to stretch a bit." Liu Wenbai spoke respectfully. His complexion had returned to a healthy rosy hue, but Chen Mobai could sense that his vital essence and cultivation realm had not yet fully recovered to their peak.

"Haha, good then. It's been a long time since the four of us, master and disciples, gathered together. After the harvest today, come up the mountain and have a good drink with your master." Over the years, Chen Mobai had increasingly developed the demeanor of a true master. After speaking with a hearty laugh, he strode towards an acre of golden rice fields. He plucked a heavy ear of rice, and with an expression of satisfaction, picked a single spirit rice grain from it. Feeling the abundant vital energy contained within the plump grain, he knew it would be another good harvest this year.

"Ming'er, you've done well." Chen Mobai praised Zhuo Ming, whose small, round face flushed slightly in embarrassment, but she didn't forget to be humble. "Senior Brother and Junior Sister also helped a great deal," she said. "Without their rain spells, the yield wouldn't have been this good." Upon hearing this, Liu Wenbai and Luo Yixuan immediately demurred, stating they had only contributed a small effort and that Zhuo Ming had done most of the hard work.

"Very good, very good. Your master is very pleased to see the three of you, senior and junior disciples, getting along so well." Chen Mobai contentedly shook the ear of rice in his hand. In an instant, an invisible sword qi shot forth, sweeping across the acre of spirit fields before him. The sword qi precisely avoided all living creatures, only cutting down the rice stalks. With his intervention, the harvest of all spirit fields was quickly completed. However, subsequent processes such as collecting, threshing, storing, and even brewing wine still required manual labor. Chen Mobai did not complete everything himself, leaving the arrangements to Zhuo Ming.

That evening, the four—master and disciples—enjoyed drinks and merriment on the peak of Little South Mountain. Even Liu Wenbai, usually a reserved gentleman, drank too much and eventually collapsed onto the table, falling asleep. Luo Yixuan's delicate, fair face was covered with a rosy blush, and her already bright eyes became hazy, as if she had suddenly transformed from a demure young lady into a captivating, charming maiden. The new wine seemed particularly potent this time. Luo Yixuan had just stood up, bit her pearly lips, and walked toward Chen Mobai, intending to offer another toast, when suddenly her eyes glazed over, and she toppled forward.

"Ming'er, I didn't expect you to have the best tolerance for alcohol." Chen Mobai reached out and supported his young disciple. He turned to find that while Zhuo Ming's cheeks were slightly flushed, her eyes were still very clear. "Master, I'll take her." Zhuo Ming, who had been sitting upright behind her own table, immediately rose and walked over upon seeing Luo Yixuan's intoxicated state, taking the fallen Luo Yixuan from Chen Mobai's hands.

"Alright, that's enough for today. Take Xuan'er down. Wenbai can stay on the mountain to rest tonight." The more Chen Mobai observed Zhuo Ming, the more he felt she was suitable to inherit his mantle, and he praised her with a smile.