Chapter 129 Five Years of Seclusion

Chen Li had also completely immersed himself in it, cultivating without regard for the passage of time. The past felt like a gust of wind sweeping by, and the second year of Chen Li's seclusion had quickly passed.

In the second year of Chen Li's seclusion, Zhu Lingyue broke through to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage.

Chen Songxiao also went into seclusion that year, spending more than half a year to raise his cultivation to the Eighth Level of Qi Refining.

Chen Songli constructed the first Teleportation Array base relying on the space anchor stone, taking a crucial step toward a Fourth-rank Teleportation Array.

That year, Chen Songxuan spent another year investing his time, advancing his Puppetry Art another step. He successfully refined an attack Puppet capable of reaching the Late Stage Qi Refining: the Fire Bomb Puppet, capable of firing ten thousand shots.

Chen Songmei grew slowly inside Concentric Heart Hall, her Talisman skills becoming more and more proficient, and her cooking skills also greatly improving.

That year, Chen Songyan spent his time accompanying Xu Yunqiu. During this year, Xu Yunqiu gave birth to a daughter, marking the debut of the Chen Family's bai generation.

Following the naming convention of "Song and Bai stand evergreen, mountains and rivers share longevity," Zhu Lingyue named her Chen Baizhao.

Zhu Lingyue personally gave Xu Yunqiu fifteen bottles of vitality replenishing pill and twenty bottles of qi overflowing pill at Dongbai Mountain, beginning to reveal a corner of the Chen Family's wealth.

It was this action that greatly shocked Xu Yunqiu. She let go of the urge to investigate every detail, no longer observing the Chen Family with a detached mindset, and her heart began to lean toward the Chen Family.

Zhu Lingyue saw this and understood Xu Yunqiu's choice. Only a fool would press for every detail; having gained value and respect, she would naturally choose to protect them.

That year, there was still no news transmitted back from Yun Tiancheng, the Old Ancestor of the Yun Family in Liangxi County; his life or death remained unknown.

That year, the first batch of Cultivators who undertook infiltration missions for the Alliance began to return one after another. Ten parts went, but less than five parts returned.

It seemed the training had played a significant role. Having such a high survival rate indicated that unified infiltration and unified arrangement also played a considerable part.

It was also this year that the benefits Nanwu Kingdom received from the Alliance gradually became apparent. Some Qi Refining Immortal Clans began to see Breakthroughs to Foundation Establishment, increasing the number of Foundation Establishment Immortal Clans in Nanwu Kingdom.

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Time flowed by in a flash, and another year passed. The spirit jujube tree had grown much taller; it could hardly be called anything less than a towering tree.

Under the tree, the annual Spiritual Root testing welcomed another group of ten-year-old children full of hope.

Seeking Immortality and pursuing the Dao, they yearned and hoped that one day they would be like the Immortals in the heavens.

This year marked the third year of Chen Li's seclusion.

That year, Chen Songyan also began his seclusion, spending several months to raise his cultivation to the Eighth Level of Qi Refining. Xu Yunqiu, relying on the Chen Family's qi overflowing pill, also advanced to the Third Level of Qi Refining.

Chen Songli continued to focus intensely on the Fourth-rank Teleportation Array. Finally, her efforts paid off; she successfully created the Teleportation Array bases for both ends. The refined space anchor stone was only enough to make two bases, meaning the refining technique still needed improvement.

With the two bases successfully made, one end was placed somewhere on the first floor of the Formation Comprehensive Building, and the other end was placed by her somewhere in the Boundless Forest.

A thousand miles away, a beam of light shot up into the sky from Black Magpie Mountain that day, enveloping Chen Songli. The two ends successfully established a teleportation connection, and in just three breaths, she was transported to the other end a thousand miles away.

Chen Songli experimented repeatedly and concluded that this device consumed a massive amount of Spirit Stones, starting at ten thousand Spirit Stones per teleportation.

This was without carrying any other cargo; otherwise, the consumption would be even higher.

Fortunately, the Family had deep reserves; otherwise, she couldn't afford to play with it. She finally felt the strength of her father—the wealth was too immense.

That year, Chen Songxuan also raised his cultivation to the Late Stage Qi Refining, advancing to the Seventh Level of Qi Refining after several months of seclusion.

That year, inside the Great Sun Seed Cultivation Cave Mansion, Chen Li successfully opened up his sixty-first Qi Sea and completed the condensation of the Qi of Returning to the Origin in the fifty-ninth Qi Sea.

Inside the Cave Mansion, Chen Li was still enveloped by spiritual energy, making his entire appearance seem extremely strange.

On the ground lay scattered bottles of Foundation Establishment level vitality replenishing pill. He suppressed the look on his face, his expression resolute, and continued to open up Qi Seas.

Two more years should be about enough.

...

Flowers bloom and fall, year after year, time flies like a white colt through a crack.

The fourth year of Chen Li's seclusion passed silently. This was the fourth year of Chen Li's seclusion.

That year, Chen Songli went into seclusion and raised her cultivation to the Eighth Level of Qi Refining.

It was also this year that Zhu Lingyue continued her Alchemy, refining over a hundred foundation establishment pills. She was now also a Fourth-rank Formation Master and could create Formations suitable for the early to Middle Stages of Foundation Establishment.

That year, Chen Songmei's cultivation advanced naturally without needing seclusion, and she also raised her cultivation to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining, reaching the standard of Mid-stage Qi Refining.

She was barely around ten years old at this time. With her Dual Spiritual Root Aptitude, she didn't need to rely heavily on pills; she could achieve Breakthroughs just by eating Spirit Chicken every day.

That year, quite a few Cultivators from the prefecture who had completed missions for the Alliance returned, including those who did infiltration, production, and maintenance of Formations.

Among them, the Fang Family head from Liang'an County failed his attempt to reach Foundation Establishment. The Lu Family had another clansman reach the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. Zhu Zelin of the Zhu Family successfully advanced his Formation skill to become a Fourth-rank Formation Master.

After his successful advancement, Zhu Zelin signed up for the Alliance's artisan production missions and had already departed.

In Liangxi County, Yun Chengyue, the current head of the Yun Family, successfully advanced his cultivation to the Late Stage Qi Refining, reaching the Seventh Level of Qi Refining. Yun Tiancheng still had no news, his life or death unknown.

At this point, Chen Li had been in seclusion for four years, attracting the attention of quite a few people.

Zhu Lingyue immediately released news stating that Chen Li had already advanced to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining and was still in seclusion attempting to achieve Foundation Establishment.

Zhu Lingyue also raised her public cultivation level to the Eighth Level of Qi Refining.

After Zhu Lingyue announced the news, people dismissed their doubts. Some Qi Refining Immortal Clans saw the Chen Family's strength rise again and were extremely envious; they still needed to take on Alliance missions.

Everyone attributed the Chen Family's rapid progress to the benefits Chen Li obtained from the Alliance. They heard he even participated in some escort mission and obtained eighty thousand Spirit Stones. Recently, those who returned had been gradually leaking some details.

Every Family was envious. Eighty thousand Spirit Stones! No wonder the Fang Family reached Foundation Establishment right after returning; it turned out he also participated in the escort mission and successfully survived.

The major Immortal Clans in Nanwu Kingdom saw the tangible benefits obtained from the Alliance. Many incidents occurred in various prefectures where Qi Refining Immortal Clans advanced to Foundation Establishment Immortal Clans. They were extremely eager, and the enrollment rate for their Family Cultivators signing up became unprecedentedly high.

...

The Non-Clan Cultivators at Immortal Learning Tower on Black Magpie Mountain had long since moved to Qingfeng Mountain.

Over these few years, through accumulating mission rewards, Li Chun had obtained quite a few contribution points. That year, he exchanged all his accumulated contribution points for six bottles of qi overflowing pill.

His Puppet making skill remained stuck at the level of Early Stage Qi Refining because he was busy with various miscellaneous tasks for the Non-Clan Cultivators, and he had no time to refine his skill level.

Meng Chong had done breeding, worked as a shop assistant, and engaged in spirit wood planting, etc. All the contribution points he accumulated were exchanged for three bottles of qi overflowing pill.

The few snakes Luo Anyue was nurturing had also slowly grown. He exchanged his contribution points, accumulated over many years, for four bottles of qi overflowing pill.

All the Non-Clan Cultivators received their share and were full of vigor, offering the Chen Family just two words: loyalty.

Xu Yunqiu often brought Chen Baizhao to Black Magpie Mountain. She was now completely a part of the Chen Family and belonged to it in her heart.

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Time turned another page, and the fifth year arrived—the fifth year of Chen Li's seclusion.

Inside the Cave Mansion, the spiritual energy surrounding Chen Li was even denser.

He had successfully completed the opening of eighty-one Qi Seas, lacking only seven Qi Seas to fully condense the Qi of Returning to the Origin.

Time waits for no man, seasons flow; autumn arrived.

On this day, Chen Li successfully completed the condensation of the Qi of Returning to the Origin in all his Qi Seas—eighty-one Qi Seas, with nine wisps of the Qi of Returning to the Origin in each, all complete!

Scattered on the ground were over nine hundred bottles of Foundation Establishment level vitality replenishing pill. Chen Li recalled the spiritual power overflowing from his body. One month later, Chen Li emerged from seclusion within the mountain. Only direct Family members knew about it.

Next, preparations would be made to depart for the Nine Nether Secret Realm. Chen Li summoned Zhu Lingyue and the five members of the song generation.