Naturally, no one involved would be willing to do something like this. Hence the argument in the main hall. One steward was trying to secure a Foundation Establishment Pill for his grand-nephew. The others, however, had differing opinions: some were just watching the spectacle, some were making sarcastic remarks, some were in favor, and some were against it.
Like Han Li, Lu Xuan naturally wouldn't pay attention to these things.
He was now standing in front of a strange valley.
The Crimson Trial is an important dungeon for mortals in the early stages of their journey. The dungeon's location is the valley before Lu Xuan. However, the true trial grounds have nothing to do with a valley. That place is sealed by some ancient restriction. Passing through the seal leads to another place entirely.
However, that's not the main point. The main point is that although that place was sealed, it was filled with spiritual energy, like a small world. Therefore, all sorts of spiritual creatures grew freely. Before it was discovered, it had existed for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Therefore, compared to the outside world, it was practically overflowing with spiritual treasures.
The seven major sects naturally wouldn't let such a guaranteed entry pass them by. Therefore, they immediately dispatched personnel to enter. However, strangely, the restriction prevented all cultivators above the Qi Refining stage from entering.
In this way, the trials in the forbidden area became a competition among lower-level disciples. However, the word "competition" is far too mild. It should be described as a bloodbath.
Entering a forbidden area filled with rare treasures, how can one maximize their gains while minimizing their opponents' gains? The answer is simple: eliminate your opponents and take their spoils.
From the moment the forbidden area opened, no more than a third of the disciples ever managed to leave alive. Sometimes, there were even near-total annihilation.
After several such incidents, all the major sects could no longer hold out. After all, those who went inside were all elite disciples. Such losses were unbearable for anyone. Moreover, due to the heavy casualties, most disciples were no longer willing to enter.
Left with no other choice, the major sects could only offer generous rewards to entice their disciples to participate. Any disciple who signed up would receive a mid-grade spirit stone and a spiritual artifact from their sect as a prior gift, as encouragement.
Once someone successfully brings out spiritual herbs from the forbidden area, the sect will bestow even more generous rewards based on the quantity and quality of the items they bring! These rewards range from spirit stones to magical artifacts and elixirs. Even higher rewards include Foundation Establishment Pills secretly stored within the sect—something that would tempt lower-level disciples to risk everything.
Such a high reward indeed caused a surge of registrations among the cultivation sects, but this situation only lasted for two or three short periods before it completely declined.
The bloody reality made the disciples realize that this great reward was not so easy to obtain!
Before the hefty reward was offered, nearly a third of the disciples survived the forbidden area competition. However, after the reward was given, less than a quarter of them were able to leave the Blood Forbidden Trial. Furthermore, among the surviving disciples, very few were able to bring out spiritual herbs; most, besides being severely injured, gained nothing, let alone exchanged for Foundation Establishment Pills.
Even so, the major sects still had no choice but to grit their teeth and invest. There was no other way; rare and precious resources were scarce during the day, and failing to seize such an opportunity would damage the very foundation of their sects.
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Chapter 478 The Art of Celestial Talismans
In Yellow Maple Valley, Old Demon Han finally succeeded in entering the sect. However, he lost his Foundation Establishment Pill.
There was nothing he could do; he was just a new disciple, and naturally, he couldn't resist the coercion and enticement of someone in charge. He wisely handed over the Foundation Establishment Pill in exchange for a menial task in the herb garden. After that, he focused on quietly developing his abilities.
Lu Xuan stood in front of the ancient restriction, his right hand forming an ice sword which he gently thrust forward.
The previously empty void suddenly shattered, and endless blades instantly covered an area of tens of meters around it, enveloping Lu Xuan within them.
"Who goes there?" The barrier was naturally guarded by disciples from the seven major sects. They rushed over upon hearing the commotion. However, they only saw the barrier entrance gradually subsiding and didn't notice the intruder.
The disciples dared not delay and immediately reported to their sect. However, after investigating, they found nothing. This matter caused a stir among the seven major sects, but ultimately it was dropped.
Lu Xuan found that he could enter. That strange restriction was basically ineffective against Nascent Soul stage cultivators. So after making some preparations, he entered the forbidden area again.
The ground was a rotten, grayish-black color, with murky puddles constantly bubbling. There were strangely twisted trees, unidentified blood-red grass growing underfoot, and a pungent, unpleasant odor permeating the air.
This is where Lu Xuan appeared. After carefully observing the surroundings, this should be a place called Wulongtan (Black Dragon Pool). It seems that Han Li entered around this area as well. This is one of the least valuable places in the forbidden area.
Lu Xuan wandered around for a while, found a few clumps of cold tobacco, and then left the area, heading towards the core region of the forbidden zone.
The original novel doesn't describe what the forbidden area actually is. However, after observing the area from his flight, Lu Xuan discovered obvious fissures or rifts. He guessed that this special forbidden area was likely carved out of another place in ancient times by some powerful divine force, causing dimensional chaos. Only by passing through that special restriction could one enter.
This also explains why Munenori entered this place in the original work. Besides being bored and entertained, he was most likely looking for information about spatial rifts or something similar.
He believed that in the mortal world, due to the excessive number of cultivators, spiritual energy had severely declined, making it impossible for cultivators to advance to the mid-stage or even late-stage of the Incarnation realm. Therefore, Xiang Zhili had been searching for a shortcut to the Spirit Realm.
Lu Xuan guessed that he probably wanted to forcibly cross over through spatial nodes, or even spatial rifts. In the original story, it seems he ultimately failed, which was a bit of a pity.
While he was pondering, Lu Xuan had already crossed the outer perimeter and entered the so-called core area.
The core area contained even more spiritual herbs, and they were of higher quality. However, Lu Xuan wasn't particularly interested in most of them. After all, he had already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and these things held little significance for him. He simply gathered a few, intending to leave them for others. Afterward, he began searching the stone chambers in the core area one by one.
Lu Xuan believed that this area was most likely originally a place where an ancient sect cultivated spiritual herbs. It was only later separated and allowed to grow wild until now. This suggests that the cultivation world of this world must have been extremely powerful in ancient times.
After casually slaying a few reckless demonic beasts, Lu Xuan finally found the stone chamber from the original story and discovered the golden treasure chest. The original novel didn't elaborate on what Nangong Wan obtained there, but it must have been something extraordinary.
Lu Xuan stepped forward, preparing to open the treasure chest. Suddenly, the pool beside him burst open, and a giant, jet-black python leaped out. Lu Xuan didn't move, staring blankly at the creature. His aura subtly leaked out.
The black python, which showed faint signs of transforming into a dragon, suddenly scurried away like a mouse seeing a cat. Its entire body abruptly curled up in mid-air, forcibly flying back and shrinking into a corner.
This guy is about to advance to a higher level, and his intelligence is much higher than that of other demonic beasts. Therefore, he can sense the mountain-like aura emanating from Lu Xuan's body.
Lu Xuan ignored him and instead reached out to open the treasure chest.
There were some small restrictions on the treasure chest, but they weren't complicated. Clearly, they weren't meant to block anyone. Lu Xuan casually untied them and saw what was inside.
It was a set of armor-like items, but they were scattered. There were twelve pieces in total, neatly arranged in the box.
Lu Xuan picked up a piece and discovered that it was engraved with countless hidden runes using an extremely sophisticated technique. No, one could even say that the thing itself was an aggregate of runes.
The same applies to the remaining armor fragments. Each piece has a different effect, but when combined, they enhance each other's power. This is a combined rune artifact.
The original novel mentions that an elder of the Heavenly Talisman Sect once went missing in the forbidden area. This is likely one of his belongings.
Lu Xuan prided himself on being a rune master and had created his own Mother-Child Rune System. However, after arriving in this world, he discovered that this technique was not uncommon in the mortal world (in the original novel, Han Li's Mother-Child Golden Dragon Scissors were a magical artifact that controlled the mother rune to make the child rune attack). This left Lu Xuan quite frustrated for a time.
But then I thought about it again, and realized I created this world myself from scratch. This world had evolved over tens of thousands of years, so I understood. After all, it was almost inevitable that such creative ideas would emerge in such a mature cultivation world.
However, the runic armor before him dealt him another blow. He discovered that he couldn't understand this runic system at all.
Combining runes is common, and Lu Xuan himself is quite skilled at it. The Five Elements Mirror of the Hidden Immortal Sect requires the simultaneous collection of five different types of runes, which interact with each other, mutually reinforcing and restraining each other, and then merging and operating.