As the formation of the sealed mountain cave opened, a dense spiritual energy poured out.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan immediately waved his sleeve, channeling his mana to draw all the spiritual energy back into the cave.
"Enter," he said softly, then walked towards the mountain cave before him.
Flanking him on either side were Zhao Yuebai and Xia Dong, followed by Xu Qiqi, Jiang He, Li Junxian, and Zheng Wanrong.
Qian Nishang and Liu Ruyan led the Zhuang family youth, with Lin Miaoyi, Lu Yuzhe, and Zheng Jiaxing trailing behind them.
As for Li Buwei and Zhou Lianying, they could only walk at the very end.
This was partly due to their insufficient cultivation and status, and partly because as outsiders, they could not precede the inner disciples of the Nine Xuan Sect.
Most importantly, neither of them wished to display themselves too ostentatiously in such a setting; it was not only meaningless but could also displease others.
After all fifteen individuals entered the cave, the previously opened formation closed once more, and the cave entrance transformed into a rock face.
If anyone were to attempt to force their way in, it would be impossible to break the formation here unless two or three cultivators of the Ming Dao realm joined forces.
They proceeded to the depths of the mountain cave, where everyone beheld a spiritual spring shrouded by a formation. Within it, colorful clouds swirled, spiritual energy overflowed, and a supreme Dao principle was contained.
"Each of you select a quiet room and enter seclusion," Ji Yuan said, turning to face them and gesturing to the surroundings.
On the mountain cave's walls, he had already pre-constructed individual quiet rooms, fifteen in total.
Each quiet room was covered by an independent formation, and a pool capable of containing the spiritual spring to ensure its essence was not lost had been carved out, connected to the main spiritual pool via an underground passage.
Without further ado, everyone chose a quiet room. Upon entering, they used the prepared formation plates to activate the concealment formations.
Qian Nishang, Liu Ruyan, and others even took out their own simple formation flags and arranged them within their quiet rooms.
This was not due to a lack of trust in Ji Yuan, but rather to avoid potential awkward situations. As women, any unintentional slip-ups could cause significant trouble for anyone involved.
Ji Yuan waited until everyone had entered their quiet rooms before turning to face the spiritual spring and began forming hand seals.
As the formation was activated, a large amount of spiritual spring from the main spiritual pool flowed through the carved passages into each quiet room.
In less than half an incense stick's time, the spiritual spring before him had become crystal clear, with only sparse spiritual energy remaining. The trace of its origin had shrunk to the thickness of a strand of hair.
He took out a large quantity of spirit stones and spiritual items from his jade pendant and casually tossed them into the spiritual spring, slowly replenishing its origin and spiritual energy.
After completing this, he walked into the last unoccupied quiet room.
As the quiet room's formation was activated, not a sound could be heard in the mountain cave, save for the faint glow emanating from the spiritual spring.
Upon entering the quiet room, Ji Yuan stripped off all his clothes and slowly stepped into the independently carved spiritual pool, finally sitting down in the center.
The spiritual spring, imbued with rich spiritual essence, reached just below his neck. The moment he entered the pool, streams of spiritual essence flowed into every part of his body.
He took a deep breath, his mind immediately becoming calm, and then began circulating the cultivation technique within him.
Initially, he circulated the general principles of the Xuan Tian Dao Scripture. Profound incantations appeared in his mind, and his mana surged along a fixed route.
Almost as soon as his mana began to move, a special warm current condensed within his meridians and circulated throughout his body with the flow of mana.
As the warm current from the spiritual spring seeped into his body and circulated with the mana, wisps of colorful light threads merged into the surrounding flesh and blood from the meridians.
Upon completing a small cycle, a trickle formed in his dantian, containing the purest essence of the spiritual pool.
Simultaneously, Ji Yuan felt a special force enveloping his soul, plunging him into an indescribable and wondrous state.
In this state of enlightenment, any profound cultivation technique seemed incredibly simple before him.
Taking the general principles of the Xuan Tian Dao Scripture he was currently circulating as an example, no matter how diligently he had tried in the past, he had only grasped a superficial understanding.
However, his comprehension of this technique now increased at a astonishing speed. As he comprehended, a faint Dao rhythm emanated from him.
Ji Yuan felt as if he were in the sky, shrouded by a trace of Dao principle. As his comprehension of the cultivation technique deepened, the Dao principle enveloping him grew stronger.
Silently, the Dao rhythm on his body began to change. His mind was no longer solely focused on comprehending the general principles of the Xuan Tian Dao Scripture; the chapters of the Xuan Tian Sword Art also appeared.
Through continuous verification and comprehension of both, the Dao rhythm on his body gradually became more sharp, eventually flowing with abundant sword intent throughout his entire being.
The initial three layers of the Xuan Tian Sword Art's cultivation technique were comprehended to their peak within half a day. The corresponding Enlightenment Realm was the most perfect state achievable by this technique.
Ji Yuan's physical body's resilience was now on par with body-refining martial artists of the same realm, and even slightly superior.
Sword energy continuously condensed within him, giving a sense of inexhaustibility.
In less than three days, he had comprehended the three layers of the Xuan Tian Sword Art corresponding to the Spirit Point Realm to the Great Accomplishment stage, with only half a step remaining to reach the peak.
It was at this moment that he immediately employed a secret technique, gathering all the sword energy within him. It then formed a sword energy seed in his dantian and, under the operation of the secret technique, rose from the lower dantian.
This sword energy seed, like the rising sun, traveled from the lower dantian to the middle dantian, and finally into the upper dantian, the Purple Mansion between his eyebrows!
In an instant, the naturally existing sword energy lake within Ji Yuan's Purple Mansion violently churned.
Sensing the increasingly turbulent power within, he immediately circulated the Wonderful Origin Derivation Divine Law, enveloping the entire sword energy lake with his powerful soul force, which finally caused the sword energy within to slowly calm down.
The next moment, a sword energy seed slowly descended and finally sank into the sword energy lake, receiving nourishment from the surging sword energy.
This seed grew at a visible rate, and as Ji Yuan's comprehension of the Xuan Tian Sword Art deepened, it became increasingly sharp.
As the three layers of the Spirit Point Realm corresponding to this technique were comprehended to their peak, sword cries echoed throughout the entire Purple Mansion.
A white jade flying sword ascended amidst the sword cries, emitting cheerful consciousness fluctuations, while its essence also underwent changes.