On the return journey.
With the escort of the family head, Ye Yuhong, Ye Qingxuan and his group reached Qingmu Prefecture City in just half a day.
After delivering Ye Qingxuan and his two companions to Qingmu Prefecture City, Ye Yuhong headed straight back.
Once Ye Yuhong had left, Ye Qingxuan took his two attendants, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu, and boarded a teleportation array to return to the Xuantian Sect.
The journey was familiar and uneventful for Ye Qingxuan. After several transfers, they arrived safely back within the Xuantian Sect.
The moment they stepped into the sect, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu sensed the spiritual energy here, far denser than the outside world. A flicker of excitement instantly passed through their eyes.
Ignoring their stirred emotions, Ye Qingxuan first led the two to the Blessing Cultivation Court after their return. He found the court’s manager, Bai Zichun:
“Manager, disciple Ye Qingxuan reports back from his mission!”
Bai Zichun looked at the timely returned Ye Qingxuan and smiled with satisfaction, saying:
“Good to have you back safely!”
Then, Bai Zichun’s gaze turned to the two behind Ye Qingxuan:
“These two are the attendants you found for yourself?”
Ye Qingxuan nodded respectfully:
“Yes, Manager. Their names are Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu. I must trouble you to register them.”
Even though they were just attendant positions, a formal procedure was still necessary for them to move freely within the Xuantian Sect.
Bai Zichun gave a slight nod, looking at the two brothers:
“You two, come over. I’ll handle your registration.”
Hearing this, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu exchanged a glance, looked at Ye Qingxuan for confirmation, and only after seeing his nod did they step towards Bai Zichun.
Though it was a simple registration, the due procedures were not skipped.
Under Bai Zichun’s guidance, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu each made the corresponding Dao Oath for attendants. Then, their names were recorded by Bai Zichun on a gray jade ledger.
This jade ledger was different from the one used during Ye Qingxuan’s initiation ceremony.
After completing this, Bai Zichun handed each brother a token.
One side of the token was inscribed with the characters ‘Qingxuan Blessed Land,’ and the other side bore the word ‘Attendant.’
Once the two were registered, Ye Qingxuan bowed to Bai Zichun in farewell:
“Disciple thanks the Manager. If there is anything you need Qingxuan’s help with in the future, you can send someone to the Qingxuan Blessed Land to find me.”
“It’s nothing.”
Bai Zichun shook his head slightly. He didn’t take Ye Qingxuan’s words to heart. While he approved of Ye Qingxuan’s cultivation attitude, he didn’t believe Ye Qingxuan could ever be of help to him in the future.
Taking one last look at Ye Qingxuan, Bai Zichun admonished:
“Ye Qingxuan, I hope you can maintain your cultivation attitude. As long as you don’t give up on yourself, there is always hope.”
Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan nodded solemnly:
“Qingxuan will! Please rest assured, Manager. Take care of your health after I leave.”
“Hahaha, don’t worry. This old bone still has some time left. No need for your concern. Off you go!”
With that, Bai Zichun waved his hand, signaling for Ye Qingxuan to leave.
Ye Qingxuan gave one final bow to Bai Zichun, then led Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu out of the Blessing Cultivation Court, heading directly towards the location of the spiritual land he had previously chosen.
Along the way, the two brothers’ eyes constantly scanned the spirit-rich peaks and scenery around them, flashes of wonder appearing in their eyes from time to time.
Soon, Ye Qingxuan brought them to the mountain where his spiritual land was located.
Leaving Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu at the mountain’s base, Ye Qingxuan instructed:
“Zhaoheng, Zhaoyu, wait here for now. I will arrange your accommodations after I successfully bind the spiritual land.”
Hearing Ye Qingxuan’s words, the two pulled their wandering gazes back and responded in unison:
“Yes, Young Master!”
After Ye Qingxuan flew towards the mountain peak, Ye Zhaoheng and Ye Zhaoyu eagerly began cultivating on the spot.
They were both disciples from the Ye family who had just been tested for spiritual roots this year. Their cultivation time was still short, currently only at the first layer of Qi Refining, and they practiced the Ye family’s cultivation techniques.
Fortunately, as they were becoming Ye Qingxuan’s attendants and would be far from the family, they were exceptionally given the complete technique in advance, enough for both to cultivate up to the Nascent Soul stage.
However, they had also sworn a restriction forbidding them from transmitting the technique to others!
While the two brothers were eagerly cultivating, Ye Qingxuan had already entered the mountain’s interior, the location of the spiritual vein.
Looking at the spiritual land’s core before him, a strange fluctuation passed through Ye Qingxuan’s eyes:
“Over twenty years… finally reaching this step.”
The secret method for binding a spiritual land was included in the Di Yuan Jue technique he currently practiced.
But he did not intend to strictly follow the method, splitting his own essence, energy, and spirit to fuse into the land’s essence.
Ye Qingxuan sat cross-legged on the spot, his consciousness converging into his mind space, fully merging with his Eternal Turtle clone.
Next, his already solidified soul essence body stirred slightly. From his essence, energy, and spirit, specks of brown light began to overflow.
This brown light was precisely the Earth Origin Qi that Ye Qingxuan had absorbed and integrated into his essence, energy, and spirit through years of practicing Di Yuan Jue.
However, after his soul essence had completely solidified, he had gained control over every aspect of himself.
Therefore, separating this Earth Origin Qi from his essence, energy, and spirit was not difficult for Ye Qingxuan.
Gathering the separated Earth Origin Qi within his mind space, Ye Qingxuan then controlled his bound clone, the Eternal Turtle, to separate a strand of its own essence, merging it with the Earth Origin Qi.
Under the control of Ye Qingxuan’s solidified soul essence, the Eternal Turtle essence and Earth Origin Qi smoothly merged, transforming into a mass of constantly shifting, chaos-colored gas.
Seeing this, joy arose in Ye Qingxuan’s heart. He took a deep breath and began operating according to the secret method in Di Yuan Jue, guiding this fused essence to fly out of his mind space and descend towards the spiritual land’s cyan-colored essence core below.
He had tested this before. Although the Eternal Turtle was suppressed and could not manifest in the outside world for now, a strand of its aura or essence was not subject to this restriction.
Under Ye Qingxuan’s control, the chaos-colored essence soon reached the vicinity of this first-grade spiritual land’s cyan essence and began slowly fusing with it.
To Ye Qingxuan’s tense observation, the fusion process proceeded with unexpected smoothness. The cyan spiritual land essence quickly and completely merged with the chaos-colored Eternal Turtle essence, its color also assimilated into chaos.
The consciousness within Ye Qingxuan’s soul body was ecstatic. He hadn’t been entirely confident about the actual effect of using the Eternal Turtle’s essence to replace his own essence, energy, and spirit, but it had succeeded beyond expectation.
Then, a hint of regret surfaced in the eyes of his soul body!
It was slightly unfortunate that his plan had succeeded, but not completely.
While he had successfully used his bound clone, the Eternal Turtle, to bind the blessed land in his stead, the Eternal Turtle was still within his mind space and could not be released externally. Therefore, for now, he could only passively be bound by the blessed land.
“Forget it, I’ll find a way later.”
Ye Qingxuan cast these troubles aside and began sensing this blessed land that belonged to him.
Immediately after the successful fusion, this late first-grade spiritual land began to tremble slightly. A transparent spatial barrier started to slowly form, enveloping the entire core area of the spiritual land.
The core space within the mountain, about ten li in radius, was entirely covered by the barrier.
Ye Qingxuan’s physical body in the outside world slowly opened its eyes, a smile difficult to conceal at the corners of his mouth. Through his bound clone, the Eternal Turtle, he could thoroughly sense and control this forming blessed land.
The bound clone, the Eternal Turtle, was a miraculous existence. It could be seen as another body of Ye Qingxuan’s, completely under his control.
But it could also be seen as an independent entity; any karma it bore would not transfer to Ye Qingxuan’s main body.
Perhaps this was an effect brought by the Eternal Turtle’s characteristic of being impervious to all laws?
Compared to its eternal lifespan, Ye Qingxuan valued this aspect of the Eternal Turtle clone more.
Surveying the forming blessed land, Ye Qingxuan slowly spread his arms as if embracing the air and laughed:
“This… is truly my own stronghold!”
Under Ye Qingxuan’s observation, the blessed land enveloped by the barrier was slowly beginning to detach from the external mountain, shifting towards the inner spatial layer of the Di Xuan Realm.
Only when the blessed land was completely embedded into the inner spatial layer of the Di Xuan Realm would the late first-grade Qingxuan Blessed Land be fully formed.
By then, the external mountain would merely serve as an entry point node for the Qingxuan Blessed Land’s space, no longer the location of the blessed land’s core essence.
Once the Qingxuan Blessed Land was completely formed, the land’s essence would provide feedback, marking the day Ye Qingxuan would break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. In the future, each time the blessed land advanced a grade, there would be a round of essence feedback to enhance the blessed land master’s cultivation.
Ye Qingxuan sensed that it would take another seven days for the Qingxuan Blessed Land to fully form.
Therefore, Ye Qingxuan settled his mind. Sitting cross-legged within the blessed land, he immersed himself in deep cultivation.
