Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Cultivation Tower
Ye Xuan’s refusal, however, only made Elder Kuchen admire him all the more.
Unswayed by personal gain, unfazed by honor or disgrace, and not arrogant despite his accomplishments—such a young man was a truly rare find.
"Since that’s the case, I won’t insist. However, if you ever need any help in the future, don’t hesitate to find me. Within this Soul Master Tower, I can still resolve a few issues."
With the Ten Directions Soul Guarding Array complete, the weight on Elder Kuchen’s mind was instantly lifted. His mood naturally soared, and he laughed heartily.
Hearing this, the nearby attendants all decided they needed to get on good terms with Ye Xuan.
It was obvious that Elder Kuchen’s admiration for Ye Xuan was completely undisguised.
A genius like him was bound to rise to prominence in the Soul Master Tower sooner or later. If they waited until then to befriend or curry favor with him, it would be far too late.
"Thank you, Elder Kuchen. In that case, I wish you a swift breakthrough to the Fourth Grade."
"Hahaha, I’ll take you up on those auspicious words."
After chatting for a little longer, Ye Xuan took his leave. As for Elder Kuchen, he went into seclusion, refusing all visitors, eager to test the efficacy of the Ten Directions Soul Guarding Array.
About two hours later, Elder Kuchen finally emerged from his test.
The results of his test on the Ten Directions Soul Guarding Array left him astonished and overjoyed.
Within the Ten Directions Soul Guarding Array, his Soul Power felt as if it were being nurtured in the womb—utterly serene. And after just two hours of cultivation, his Soul Power, which had stagnated for nearly a decade, actually showed the faintest stirrings of growth.
Although this stirring was incredibly faint, it sent Elder Kuchen into a state of stunned ecstasy, as if he’d been struck by lightning.
For all these years, the sole reason he had been unable to break through to the realm of a Fourth Grade Soul Refiner was that his Soul Power growth had hit a bottleneck, refusing to advance even an inch. Now, however, the Ten Directions Soul Guarding Array had finally offered a breakthrough opportunity for his stagnant Soul Power.
If this continued, he truly had a chance of breaking through to the Fourth Grade Soul Refiner realm in the near future.
Through his test, Elder Kuchen also discovered a most astonishing phenomenon.
Just as Ye Xuan had said, the most critical aspects of the Ten Directions Soul Guarding Array were indeed the concentration of the array fluid within the patterns and the depth at which they were inscribed.
When his Soul Power was inside the Array, it was naturally guided by the Array’s power. It underwent round after round of tempering within the inscribed patterns of varying fluid concentrations and depths, causing his Soul Power to slowly begin to transform.
In other words, the two points Ye Xuan had mentioned were indeed the absolute core principles of the Ten Directions Soul Guarding Array.
’This boy... he’s so young, probably not even twenty, yet he possesses such incredible insight. It’s unbelievable. I wonder who in our Soul Master Tower could possibly have trained such a disciple. I must meet this master.’
After his experiment, Elder Kuchen found himself becoming increasingly curious about Ye Xuan’s background.
The two points Ye Xuan had raised seemed simple, yet they struck right at the heart of the matter. What did this imply? It implied that although he was only a First Grade Soul Refiner, his grasp of Array fundamentals had already reached a level of profound mastery.
A thought struck him. Elder Kuchen immediately rushed out of his research area and asked the group of attendants, "Do any of you know the background of that young man, Ye Xuan?"
In the hall, the attendants all looked at each other, but surprisingly, not a single one spoke up.
"Hmm?" This piqued Elder Kuchen’s interest even more. The attendants assigned to the elders’ floor might not have high attainments in Soul Refining, but they were all sharp, well-connected individuals. There was basically no one of note in the Soul Master Tower they didn’t know.
Yet now, not a single one spoke. Didn’t that mean none of them knew who Ye Xuan was?
That was truly strange.
"Elder Kuchen," one of the attendants whispered, "I saw him come up with one of our service staff, Shi Yan."
"Shi Yan?" Elder Kuchen nodded and immediately headed down from the upper floors of the Soul Master Tower.
In no time, he arrived at the service desk. Upon seeing Elder Kuchen, the staff members there grew flustered and hurriedly bowed in greeting.
Under the watchful eyes of all present, Elder Kuchen singled out Shi Yan directly. Her heart immediately began to pound with anxiety.
’It must be because Ye Xuan failed his task,’ she thought. ’Now Elder Kuchen is furious and has come to make trouble.’
But when faced with Elder Kuchen’s questions, Shi Yan, a mere staff member, didn’t dare to fabricate anything. She recounted everything she knew about Ye Xuan from start to finish.
After listening, Elder Kuchen was stunned. ’No wonder I couldn’t find any information about him,’ he thought. ’He only just registered at the Soul Master Tower today and became a First Grade Soul Refiner.’
He had assumed Ye Xuan was the disciple of some master within the Tower, but that wasn’t the case at all.
What shocked Elder Kuchen even more was Ye Xuan’s age. He looked young, but his words and actions carried a mature, steady demeanor. It had led the elder to believe that while he wasn’t yet twenty, he was at least eighteen or nineteen.
He never expected to learn that Ye Xuan was only fifteen. The revelation stunned the reclusive elder.
"A monster... that boy, Ye Xuan, is a true monster," Elder Kuchen muttered to himself. After instructing Shi Yan to notify him the next time Ye Xuan visited, he turned and returned to the elders’ activity area.
Ye Xuan, of course, knew nothing of what Elder Kuchen had done. By the time he returned to his dormitory, it was already evening.
Entering his private chamber, Ye Xuan immediately opened the wooden box.
A multicolored Five Elements Crystal radiated a brilliant light. A dense Power of the Five Elements, like surging waves, transformed into a rainbow that undulated through the private chamber.
’The Nine-Turn Sacred Body is divided into Nine Transformations. It uses the body as a furnace, Profound Power as the true fire, and the martial soul as the origin, tempering them all to forge the Indestructible Sacred Body. However, in the initial stage, I must rely on the Power of the Five Elements to temper my physical body and form a Five Elements Embryo, which can then be converted into the furnace.’
’Now that I have the Five Elements Crystal, it’s time to cultivate the First Transformation of the Nine-Turn Sacred Body. But cultivating with the Power of the Five Elements is extremely dangerous and requires a massive amount of Profound Qi as support. I must find a place overflowing with Profound Qi before I can begin.’
’As the top academy in the Liuyun Kingdom, the Profound Spirit Academy surely has no shortage of such cultivation grounds. I’ll look for one in a couple of days. For now, I’ll just rest and recuperate to get my body in optimal condition.’
With that, Ye Xuan closed his eyes and began to cultivate in his private chamber.
A night passed quietly. For the next several days, Ye Xuan focused on conditioning his body.
「Seven days passed in the blink of an eye.」
The following morning, Ye Xuan rose early, washed up, and stepped out of his dormitory.
"Young Master Xuan, where have you been these past few days? We haven’t seen a trace of you." After being humbled by Ye Xuan, Chen Xing had been training with renewed diligence and was already in the courtyard for his morning exercises.
"I was out taking care of some business." Ye Xuan smiled faintly. "Chen Xing, have you heard if there are any prime cultivation spots at the Profound Spirit Academy?"
Chen Xing’s face lit up with excitement. "Young Master Xuan, I was just about to tell you! Here at the Profound Spirit Academy, there’s a Cultivation Tower. The Heaven and Earth Profound Qi inside is incredibly dense. I heard that even the worst spots are on par with the intermediate cultivation chambers at our old Xingxuan Academy. As for the best spots, they’re supposed to be unbelievably potent."
"That’s right." Just then, Leng Yingying and Feng Rouyi also emerged from their dorm. "We went to check it out a few days ago. The Cultivation Tower is really impressive. We were going to ask you to cultivate with us, but we couldn’t find you anywhere, so we ended up not going."
Ye Xuan’s eyes brightened. "Let’s go, then. Let’s go check it out."
Before long, the group arrived in front of the Cultivation Tower. As they looked up, Chen Xing and the others once again had an expression of awe.
It was a tower over a hundred meters tall—magnificent, majestic, and solemn. Students streamed into it continuously, all with hurried expressions.
Chen Xing began to explain, "Young Master Xuan, the density of Profound Qi in this Cultivation Tower is astounding. Rumor has it there’s a massive Profound Vein underneath it. I also heard that cultivating in the tower calms the mind and sharpens one’s comprehension, making it far superior to training elsewhere."
’Judging by the aura, this must be an intermediate-grade Profound Vein, one grade higher than the one in Blue Moon City,’ Ye Xuan thought. ’No wonder the Profound Qi is so dense.’
Ye Xuan’s Soul Sense seeped into the ground. Although it was blocked by an ancient Array, he could sense the grade of the Profound Vein below from the faint wisps of Profound Qi that managed to escape.
Furthermore, Ye Xuan could sense that the entire Royal City was built atop a large-scale Profound Vein, constantly bathed in the baptism of Heaven and Earth Profound Qi. He figured that back when the Liuyun Kingdom was founded, a powerful Array Master must have used divination to seek out dragon veins and acupuncture points, finally discovering this sacred location.
The group walked into the Cultivation Tower. Directly ahead was a service desk where students could exchange for Cultivation Cards.
Just like at Xingxuan Academy, cultivating here required a significant amount of money.
Behind the service desk was a vast, open area. To their surprise, hundreds of students were scattered across the floor in small groups, sitting cross-legged and cultivating openly.
"Young Master Xuan, the prices in the Cultivation Tower are quite steep. The lowest-tier rooms cost three hundred Profound Coins a day, while the higher-tier ones are five hundred. Some of the rooms on the top floors can even go for a thousand Profound Coins a day. However, to accommodate some students, the academy opened up this public area. Cultivating here doesn’t cost any Profound Coins, but since there are so many students and so few spots, you have to fight for a place every day."
Ye Xuan nodded. A quick sweep with his Soul Sense confirmed that the Heaven and Earth Profound Qi in this open area was two to three times denser than outside. For many Martial Artists, it was indeed a decent place to refine Profound Qi.
However, cultivating in such a crowded and noisy place meant one couldn’t possibly practice any advanced Cultivation Techniques or martial skills. In such a chaotic environment, a single disturbance could easily lead to cultivation deviation. The only thing it was really suitable for was simply refining the Profound Qi within one’s body.
