But when this person returned to his family, the family was destroyed. Having already become a high-level cultivator, he easily annihilated the thieves who had destroyed his family.
Following this, the person spent hundreds of years wandering in the cultivation world, reaching the late stage of the Golden Core realm. He began to prepare for breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm.
Regarding the Nascent Soul realm, although Zhang Ling was not yet within its scope, he had gained considerable knowledge from various ancient books.
The Nascent Soul realm is not so easy to break through; opportunity and temperament are indispensable. When condensing the Nascent Soul, there is an invisible barrier, the Demonic Tribulation, which most cultivators fail to overcome.
The Demonic Tribulation is the most difficult trial to pass on the path of cultivation. As Zhang Ling understands it, the Demonic Tribulation consists of a cultivator's thoughts, distractions, and various desires.
These desires can motivate cultivators to move forward, but they can also trap them for hundreds or thousands of years.
It is said that when condensing the Nascent Soul, these thoughts, whether good or bad, will transform into various illusions that interfere with the cultivator's mind. Failure occurs if one cannot see through these illusions.
The so-called unblocked thoughts mean not being burdened by these illusions.
Of course, the Demonic Tribulation illusions are different for everyone. Even if one is not condensing the Nascent Soul, these various desires can hinder a cultivator's breakthrough during ordinary cultivation.
It can be said that the Demonic Tribulation cannot be eliminated; it always exists in the cultivator's cultivation path. Only by facing one's true heart and understanding one's nature can one cultivate better.
This is what is often referred to as a bottleneck.
The jade slip recorded that this cultivator with the surname Xiao made many preparations for this. This person collected many spiritual objects, but he didn't have much confidence in breaking through. However, during a casual tour, he obtained a key to an ancient secret realm, which gave him hope.
That secret realm was no ordinary secret realm. It is said that people had found Longevity Fruits and various rare spiritual medicines inside, as well as treasures passed down from ancient times.
That secret realm is called "Tianyuan." As long as they are cultivators in the Liuyun Sea, they all know about it.
The Tianyuan Secret Realm is said to have been jointly opened up by several major sects in ancient times. It has existed in the Liuyun Sea for tens of thousands of years from ancient times to the present.
It appears once every three hundred years, but the location is not fixed. Only those who possess the token can enter it.
This secret realm has no restrictions on cultivation; anyone can enter. It is said that many Nascent Soul old monsters enter each time it opens, so it is extremely dangerous.
Legend has it that when the secret realm is about to open, the token will provide guidance.
This cultivator surnamed Xiao had entered once and obtained many treasures from it while also coming out safely.
After coming out, he began to break through in seclusion, but fate was fickle. Even with the assistance of some spiritual objects, he still failed in the end. Although this person saved his life, his cultivation level greatly declined, and this serious injury meant that he would not live long.
The place where this cultivator surnamed Xiao was in seclusion was the Yin meridian under the Shuiyun Island he had recently visited. The male corpse in that cold pool was this person's body.
This person was a demonic cultivator, and the cultivation technique he practiced was also inclined towards yin and cold.
The white jade tower in the other space was also built by him. It contained all the treasures he had obtained in his life. The ancient treasure, the purple bell, that Zhang Ling took was obtained from it.
But this person would naturally not leave the treasure to future generations for nothing. In addition to storing treasures, the white jade tower also had an evil formation that could attract all the demon ghosts of the Yin Spirit Meridian to slaughter all the cultivators who arrived there.
Seeing this, Zhang Ling couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart. At the same time, he thought of when he was talking with Tu Fei, he had asked Tu Fei how he was injured.
According to Tu Fei, not long after he left, the space changed and attracted a large number of demon ghosts. The remaining people desperately tried to break through, suffering heavy casualties. In the end, only he and the gray-haired old man rushed out.
Now seeing the information on the jade slip, Zhang Ling couldn't help but feel secretly grateful. At the same time, his encounter was quite miraculous. He not only encountered the white-haired giant rat who was extremely humane, but also found this person's body.
And this jade slip was found in the storage jade belt on this person's body.
There were not many things in that storage jade belt. Apart from some spirit stones, the other things are now on the table in front of him.
After reading the jade slip, Zhang Ling turned his attention to these items. He first picked up an ancient white stone tablet and examined it.
This object is like a token, circular in shape. It is the token for entering and exiting the Tianyuan Secret Realm. It is said that there are more than three hundred such tokens, but many have been lost to this day.
The last time Tianyuan opened seems to have been more than two hundred years ago. Counting it, it is not far from opening again, and he can just make it.
Zhang Ling held this token and pondered for a while. With this thing, he can also enter and exit the Tianyuan Secret Realm. Although it is extremely dangerous inside, it also has extraordinary opportunities.
After all, he is now a Golden Core cultivator, and he naturally wants to go further.
Although he has a mysterious bead, the resources he uses for cultivation are not few. With these resources, he believes that it is not a big problem for him to cultivate to the late stage of the Golden Core.
But to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, no amount of these ordinary resources will be useful.
Even for the genius disciples of the Heavenly Spiritual Root, the great sects can only guarantee success in the Golden Core stage. If they want to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, they can only rely on their own opportunities and good fortune.
Zhang Ling carefully looked at the Tianyuan Token in his hand for a while.
This token is only the size of a palm and is circular overall. The front is engraved with dragon and phoenix patterns, and in the center of these patterns is a vortex, like a black hole.
The back is a picture. It depicts a scene in the sky, with the sun, moon, and stars appearing together, as well as ancient beasts and cultivators flying in the sky. They all seem to be gathering towards a certain place.
After looking at this token back and forth several times, it looks like it is made of some kind of stone, but Zhang Ling urged his spiritual power into it without any reaction. Even using his spiritual sense to explore the inside, there was no obstacle, and it seemed to be made of ordinary stone.
Looking at the picture on the back, Zhang Ling suddenly felt a little familiar. After pondering for a moment, he remembered the shadow stone left over from ancient times. Several of the pictures shown in it were very similar to the patterns on this token.
He couldn't help but guess that there seemed to be some kind of relationship between the two. But these things involve ancient secrets, and it is not something that a small cultivator like him can understand.
Zhang Ling shook his head and didn't think too much. He put the token away and decided to wait and see when the Tianyuan Secret Realm opens.
After putting away the token, Zhang Ling sorted the other items on the table into his storage bag.
Only a black stone mirror, a purplish-red bell, and a fist-sized gray stone were left. These things are the treasures he obtained on this trip that can increase his strength the most.
Two of them are ancient treasures.
