Chapter 13: Spiritual Qi Array

Including Liu Cheng as well, his hidden identity is the behind‑the‑scenes helmsman of a top‑hundred state‑owned enterprise of Dragon Nation; although his cultivation time is short, before he began cultivating Liu Cheng had already achieved success in the business world, which may be why someone gave him guidance.

Along the way, Ye Yun learned a fair amount about the Cultivation World from Liu Cheng's mouth, giving him considerable understanding; after all, in his view, no new cultivators would appear within these few thousand years, especially in the Earth Realm, where the ambient spiritual Qi is far less dense than in the Heaven Realm and Underworld, and no newcomers would be expected. Yet, to his surprise, even with this thin Earth spiritual Qi, there are new cultivators, and they have already existed for over a hundred years.

Nevertheless, he remains curious: using the Earth Realm's thin spiritual Qi, how high can the current pinnacle of cultivation be, and what are the cultivation realms of the Cultivation World.

He also wishes to know where his own realm would rank in this Cultivation World, but after thinking he abandons the idea; after all, he is among the earliest gods, and with the current cultivation speed in the Earth Realm, no one could reach his level—perhaps not even half could—considering Ye Yun is the strongest under the Three Purities.

In fact, these people could only compare to his realm, and were it not for the restriction imposed by the Great Way of Heaven and Earth, his realm would be even higher; although cultivators from the Heaven Realm and Underworld may have slightly higher realms, their strength is certainly not greater. After Ye Yun's millennia of cultivation, it is clear that the height of a realm affects only a small portion of power and has limited impact.

Thus, even though he now holds the Human Immortal realm, he can still spar with beings like Heavenly Immortals.

In truth, Ye Yun is also curious about the appearance of the Heaven Realm and Underworld, since he has never been there; moreover, another reason the Great Way of Heaven and Earth appointed Ye Yun as an Earth Immortal is that the Earth Realm serves as the crossroads of the Heaven and Underworld, requiring a powerful guardian, lest its people be bullied by those from the other realms.

In this regard, Ye Yun has performed admirably; since he became an Earth Immortal, beings from the Heaven Realm and Underworld dare not set foot in the Earth Realm, fearing that Ye Yun would shatter their cultivation.

Yet even the strong have their woes; Ye Yun currently cannot gauge how powerful he truly is, and his realm remains locked at the Human Immortal level, causing a stagnation in his perception of the Great Way's spiritual Qi, preventing deeper understanding.

This is why Ye Yun places great importance on this opportunity; he can clearly sense that it may break his Human Immortal realm, perhaps even lift the restriction the Great Way of Heaven and Earth placed on him, allowing him to soar straight to the Heaven Realm or Earth Realm.

When the binding force of the Earth had recently loosened, Ye Yun's comprehension of the Great Way's spiritual Qi deepened, confirming his earlier thought that this opportunity could elevate his realm and break the Great Way's limitation.

What Ye Yun does not realize is that this opportunity was already arranged by the Great Way of Heaven and Earth when it first imposed the restriction on him, and its activation signals an impending misfortune that requires Ye Yun to strengthen himself and act on behalf of the Great Way to carry out certain tasks.

One must admit the Great Way of Heaven and Earth's calculations are impressive; it prepared in advance, having already accounted for everything. This also proves that the Great Way is indeed a fundamental component of the world, even having schemed against Ye Yun, the strongest force under the Three Purities.

If Ye Yun discovers this, shouldn't he immediately confront the Great Way of Heaven and Earth for an explanation?

But then again, the Great Way's actions also reflect its confidence in Ye Yun's strength.

Arriving at the main hall of the Sun Family Courtyard, the group was chatting when they suddenly spotted Ye Yun's figure; as it became clearer, they saw an elderly man of advanced age walking behind him.

"Immortal Ye, who is this?"

"Ye Yun, who is this?"

Li Yan and Sun Liwen both asked the same question.

"He is the real reason I went out earlier."

Sensing the group's confusion, Ye Yun recounted what had just occurred, naturally including the matters of the Cultivation World. He felt favorable toward Sun Gong and Sun Liwen, treating the grandfather–grandson pair as his own, since his only other friend before was a cat.

"I see, Immortal Ye, please sit quickly, Senior Liu, you sit as well."

Hearing Sun Liwen's invitation, Liu Cheng did not sit; instead he turned to Ye Yun and said, "Master, please sit first; the disciple will remain standing."

"No problem, sit quickly; they are mortal bodies, so treating you this way is understandable."

After receiving Ye Yun's permission, Liu Cheng finally sat down, and everyone could see Liu Cheng's respect for Ye Yun in this matter.

However, when Sun Liwen first heard Liu Cheng's name, he was somewhat surprised; he had previously heard some stories about Liu Cheng. Although Liu Cheng's current achievements are not great, industry insiders know that the company he works for has a strong upward trend. Though it is only in the top hundred now, the top fifty is just one step away, arguably within reach.

Moreover, now that they know Liu Cheng is a cultivator, they will certainly help his company on Ye Yun's behalf; even without Ye Yun's influence, merely learning of Liu Cheng's cultivation status would prompt assistance, since cultivators are extremely rare in their world—an ordinary person might never encounter more than a few in a lifetime. This scarcity is largely because cultivators hide their identities to avoid unnecessary trouble.

After a while, Ye Yun stood up, intending to set up a Spiritual Qi Array in the Sun Family Courtyard to more easily absorb the surrounding Great Way's spiritual Qi for Liu Cheng's cultivation, and also to accelerate his own comprehension of that Qi.

The group then entered the courtyard, ready to begin arranging the Spiritual Qi Array. Though the array requires few components, the practitioner must meet stringent criteria—not only strength but also understanding of the array and perception of the Great Way's spiritual Qi. For Ye Yun, however, these are trivial matters.

He can set up a multitude of Spiritual Qi Arrays in a matter of minutes.

As the Spiritual Qi Array took shape, the Qi manifested in a visible form before everyone's eyes, leaving them stunned—especially Liu Cheng, who knows how thin the Great Way's spiritual Qi normally is. The current concentration is several times higher, astonishingly dense!