Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Chapter 562 - 568: Spirit Realm

Hearing Li Chengshuoʼs voice, Li Zhirui confirmed that he was indeed seeing a real person, not an illusion, and said with surprise, ”You have already made a breakthrough to Golden Core?!”

”Of course!” Li Chengshuo said with a look of pride.

”Very good, very good, when your mother comes out of seclusion, she will definitely be very happy.” Li Zhirui repeated his praise. Li Chengshuoʼs breakthrough to Golden Core had indeed resolved one of his worries.

Li Chengshuo pressed on, ”And you, Dad? Arenʼt you happy for me?”

”Of course Iʼm happy!”

Li Zhiruiʼs smile seemed as though it could overflow at any moment. It was as if he had suddenly remembered something and he asked, ”When you made your breakthrough to Golden Core, you hadnʼt passed one hundred years old, had you?”

If he remembered correctly, Li Chengshuo was just over a hundred years old now.

”No.” Li Chengshuo was startled by the question, not understanding why Li Zhirui would suddenly ask about this, but after carefully calculating, he shook his head.

”Thatʼs good!” Li Zhirui immediately breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in satisfaction.

”Dad, why would you suddenly ask about that? Is there something special about reaching Golden Core before the age of one hundred?”

Knowing that she was not fond of browsing through ancient texts, and quite possibly unaware of The Secret Realm of Wanxian, Li Zhirui briefly introduced it to her.

The last time The Secret Realm of Wanxian opened, he had obtained many treasures from it; the Nascent Soul Pill, Cang, and the Void Refinement Realm sections of the Wanling Sutra had all been acquired from the mysterious stone tower within the realm.

”So there is such a magical secret realm! I must enter it and obtain even better treasures.” Li Chengshuo ambitiously declared.

Li Zhirui did not affirm or deny Li Chengshuoʼs lofty claim but simply reminded, ”There is still over a hundred years before the realm opens. You and Sheng must make the most of this time, strive hard in your cultivation, and quickly enhance your realm and strength!”

”Donʼt worry, Dad.”

Li Zhirui changed the subject, and only then did Li Chengshuo remember the Black Stone she had brought back on purpose. Taking out one, she handed it to Li Zhirui and asked, ”Do you recognize what kind of Spiritual Object this is?”

”Hmm?”

Li Zhirui looked at her with a puzzled gaze, not understanding why she would produce a stone that seemed utterly devoid of Spiritual Energy and Spirit Light, and appeared completely mundane.

If it were not for Li Chengshuoʼs encounter with that huge Black Stone covered in Array Patterns, she would not have taken any interest in Black Stones. But after discovering they could not be stored in her magical storage device, Li Chengshuo truly took notice and brought some Black Stones out of the secret realm.

”Dad, arenʼt you curious why I returned so late? Itʼs because these Black Stones teleported me to the Central Region!” Li Chengshuo recounted her entire experience in detail.

Li Zhirui patiently listened to her tale, and the way he looked at the Black Stone suddenly changed, ”Are you sure it was because of the Black Stones? Not some other reason?”

”Iʼm certain!” Li Chengshuo nodded, saying, ”I originally took over a hundred Black Stones, but after leaving the realm, I soon realized that there were only a bit more than seventy left.”

Such a vast number couldnʼt have just fallen without her notice, right?

After hearing the explanation, Li Zhirui did not doubt her further, but as he also could not identify what kind of Spiritual Object the Black Stone was, they would have to wait for Jiang Fengwu to come out of seclusion to see if she could recognize it.

As an Alchemist, if it were a Spiritual Object related to Alchemy, he might have recognized it, but for unrelated Spirit Materials, Li Zhiruiʼs knowledge was not as vast.

”Youʼve also had a hard journey, go rest first. Weʼll discuss this after Fengwu comes out of seclusion.”

”Okay.” Li Chengshuo handed over the rest of the Black Stones to Li Zhirui, then walked into her own separate courtyard.

”Black Stones canʼt be stored inside a Space Artifact, but can they be placed in a space?” Li Zhirui returned to his room and suddenly a thought popped into his mind.

And then he decisively began the attempt, reasoning that even if he failed, it wouldnʼt matter much.

The moment his thought moved, the Black Stone in his hand disappeared from sight, but Li Zhirui could feel it, quietly hovering above in space, and shrinking at a rate visible to the naked eye.

”Eh?” Li Zhirui muttered incredulously to himself, ”The space is actually getting bigger!”

Although the rate was so slow as to be negligible, and had he not been the master of the space, he wouldnʼt have noticed such a minute change, the undeniable fact was that the space was expanding!

Itʼs worth mentioning that apart from when Li Zhirui made a major breakthrough, during which the space would expand on its own, no matter what method he used, he was unable to increase the spatial area.

But now, an inconspicuous Black Stone had accomplished this.

”This Black Stone, not only did it transport Shuo to the distant Central Region, but it also enlarges the space area. Logically, it should be a very famous type of Spiritual Object,” he said in a low murmur to himself.

Li Zhirui continued muttering to himself, ”Or is it that the Black Stone has long vanished in the long river of time, forgotten by the world?”

”Itʼs a pity, there are still too few Black Stones.”

Li Zhirui had just estimated that one Black Stone could expand the space outward by less than one-tenth of a millimeter (approximately 0.03 centimeters).

Even if he used up all these dozens of Black Stones, it would be of little help.

Moreover, the area of the space was already vast enough to satisfy his needs for planting various Spiritual Objects, so Li Zhirui did not continue to throw Black Stones into the space.

——

Several days later.

Jiang Fengwu finally emerged from the meditation chamber.

On this day, Li Zhirui, Jiang Fengwu, Li Chengsheng, and Li Chengshuo, a family of four, rarely gathered together.

Aside from privately celebrating Li Chengshuoʼs breakthrough to Golden Core, they were also there to identify what the Black Stone actually was.

”Iʼve never heard of such a Spiritual Object,” Jiang Fengwu said after listening to Li Chengshuoʼs description. She pondered for a long time and failed to recall any related Spiritual Object from her memory.

”No matter, there are as many types of Spiritual Objects as there are stars in the sky; itʼs normal not to be familiar with some,” said Li Zhirui with a smile. ”Now that we know what the Spiritual Object does, we can focus our research in that direction.”

Jiang Fengwu shook her head again and said, ”Are you talking about the Teleportation Array? Impossible!”

”Not to mention that the related Array Patterns have been lost for a long time, the space in this world is relatively stable. Establishing a stable spatial passage would likely come at a great cost,” she explained.

And that was just for maintenance. Jiang Fengwu estimated that if they wanted to activate the Formation, it would probably require the Spiritual Energy generated by a fourth-grade Spirit Vein over several days!

”Why only focus on teleportation?” Li Zhirui of course knew how difficult a Teleportation Array was, which was why from the beginning, he hadnʼt focused on teleportation.

”We can research the Black Stoneʼs unique properties in spatial aspects,” he suggested.

Li Zhirui smiled and proposed, ”It is rumored that only Divine Transformation ancestors are qualified to open a Spirit Realm, but with the assistance of the Black Stone, perhaps we could open a small Spirit Realm ahead of time.”

The so-called Spirit Realm is actually the precursor to the Secret Realm.

The difference between the two lies in the fact that Spirit Realms rely on Spirit Veins, while Secret Realms become detached from Spirit Veins due to neglect and solidification, slowly integrating into the fabric of the realm.

Of course, the process of a Spirit Realm transforming into a Secret Realm was far more complex than Li Zhirui knew.