The area was originally desolate mountains and wild land. Our founder, Master Fayuan, came here to cultivate diligently and achieved enlightenment after eighty-one days and nights, finally reaching the Nascent Soul realm.
"Then your ancestor must still be alive, right?" Ye Bufan asked.
After reaching the Nascent Soul realm, cultivators' lifespans would increase significantly. Ye Bufan guessed that the founder of Fayuan Temple, Fayuan, might still be alive.
Yuanzhen shook his head and said, "The restrictions of Blue Star have always had a heavenly seal. After exceeding the Nascent Soul realm, almost no one knows their whereabouts."
"Shouldn't the heavenly seal appear only after the restrictions are lifted?" Ye Bufan asked.
"The first heavenly seal has always existed. It's just that with the breakthrough of the restrictions, the heavenly seal will ascend to a second level, and the constraints on cultivation will become less and less," Yuanzhen explained to Ye Bufan.
Upon hearing this, Ye Bufan finally understood the nature of this heavenly seal.
"Currently, there are two theories. One is that after reaching the Nascent Soul realm, one might be automatically transported to another world by Blue Star's restrictions. Another theory suggests that one might be absorbed by Blue Star and become a part of it," Yuanzhen said.
Therefore, cultivators in the Core Formation stage are rare, and those in the Nascent Soul stage are even rarer. Even those in the late Core Formation stage would abandon their cultivation and live in seclusion, hoping to survive until the restrictions are broken. Those who couldn't endure would remain in the late Core Formation stage for a hundred years and eventually disappear from this world.
Ye Bufan listened to Yuanzhen's explanation and felt fortunate to be living in such a good era.
"If you are interested, Master Ye, you can enter the back mountain and try your luck," Yuanzhen said to Ye Bufan. "With your talent, perhaps you can unravel the secrets left by our ancestor."
When Ye Bufan heard this, he realized he was being teased. They said his talent was high enough to unravel the secrets, but by setting the bar so high, if he failed, wouldn't he be ridiculed?
The two looked at each other. Yuanzhen's face was full of smiles, indicating that he was confident Ye Bufan wouldn't be able to comprehend it.
Ye Bufan turned to look at a dense forest in the back mountain and walked into it without a word. Yuanzhen called out to him, "Old monk here wishes Master Ye success in unraveling the secret in advance."
"Go to hell," Ye Bufan cursed Yuanzhen in his heart, simultaneously strengthening his resolve to unravel the secret.
"I refuse to believe it. If I unravel this secret, I really want to see what kind of expression you'll have then."
As soon as he entered the dense forest in the back mountain, Ye Bufan felt as if his spiritual power was being restricted.
Fortunately, Ye Bufan had cultivated the Heavenly Gang Wheel, allowing him to barely use his spiritual power within this forest, though its effectiveness was greatly reduced compared to the outside.
At this moment, a white mist drifted out from the depths of the forest. Ye Bufan frowned, feeling his sense of direction weakening. For a moment, he couldn't tell which way was which.
"This is something," Ye Bufan remarked. However, he had learned many methods for surviving in secret realms under Lin Xiaoyao's brutal training.
According to Lin Xiaoyao's teachings, in such a situation, it was highly likely that a formation was at play. After all, Fayuan, whom Yuanzhen mentioned, was only a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage, and his spiritual power had not reached the level of a Great Ascension cultivator who could create a small world.
The immediate priority was to escape this white mist.
Ye Bufan traversed through the mist for a while, calculating the likely location of the formation's eye using the Eight Trigrams and Nine Palaces index taught by Lin Xiaoyao.
This kind of mist generally contained an escape route and a death route. The escape route was the key to leaving.
The mist disoriented people, but Ye Bufan, due to the Heavenly Gang Wheel, could still faintly sense his surroundings, making finding the escape route relatively easy.
After about five minutes, Ye Bufan found the location of the escape route. Standing there, he stomped hard on a rock. Instantly, a strong gust of wind swept through, dispersing the white mist in the forest.
Outside the forest, Yuanzhen, who had been waiting to watch the show, was stunned. He stood there, bewildered, wondering what had happened. Ye Bufan had only been inside for about five minutes, and the mist formation was already broken? Yuanzhen rubbed his eyes in disbelief and looked back into the forest.
Ye Bufan had now entered the second illusionary formation, which presented him with familiar scenes.
"If I'm not mistaken, this stage should test one's inner demons, right?" Ye Bufan chuckled, finding such tests utterly uninspired. It was merely an illusion plus inner demons, designed to disturb one's mind.
Before Ye Bufan appeared scenes of him and Lin Xiaoyao together during their time.
Looking at the scenes unfolding before him, Ye Bufan's eyes welled up with tears. Without Lin Xiaoyao, he wouldn't be where he was today.
"I don't believe you can pass the inner demon test!" Yuanzhen chuckled. "The inner demon trial set by our ancestor is not something ordinary people can pass. Those who passed the first stage by luck have never succeeded in the second..."
Halfway through his sentence, Yuanzhen froze.
"This... This is impossible! How could he have passed in such a short time?"
While Yuanzhen was muttering to himself, Ye Bufan successfully passed the second stage and finally arrived at a desolate hillside.
A gentle breeze blew, sending a shiver down Ye Bufan's spine.
The moon, which had been high in the sky, disappeared. Without moonlight, the surroundings were utterly silent. Ye Bufan observed his surroundings quietly, occasionally hearing the caw of crows from the distant forest.
"What is going on?" Ye Bufan looked around, slightly taken aback.
"Thump—"
Suddenly! In the darkness, a muffled sound appeared out of nowhere. Ye Bufan looked around vigilantly.
"Thump—"
Another sound, as if something was banging on a door.
"Wuwuwu—"
Ye Bufan looked around, confirming no one was present, when he suddenly heard a girl's sobbing, crying very sadly.
"Who's there?" Ye Bufan followed the sound and saw a girl in white clothes who had appeared behind him at some point. In front of her was a tombstone with no inscriptions.
"Wuwuwu—"
The sobbing sound came again. Ye Bufan cautiously approached the girl in white clothes...