With the mountain-protecting array now fully under Li Ye's control, the minor formations and restrictions around Xu Pingyang's residence naturally posed no obstacle to him.
As he stepped into the grand hall, the already rich and pure spiritual energy that had been steadily intensifying since he reached the mountaintop surged once more. The glow around his body brightened slightly before settling as he adjusted to the environment.
Wherever he went, he dismantled his divine sense sweeping meticulously through every corner, leaving no hidden nook unchecked and no restriction intact.
It wasn't until he reached the back of the hall, Xu Pingyang's true cultivation chamber, that he finally encountered any noticeable resistance. Here, the formations were stronger and more refined, including several spirit-gathering arrays.
Despite the spaciousness of the chamber, the spiritual energy remained stably at the upper tier of the second grade.
Once he broke through the inner seal and entered the cave itself, the concentration of spiritual energy rose further reaching the very peak of second-grade density!
"So this is what it feels like to have an entire second-grade spiritual vein to yourself…"
A look of genuine enjoyment spread across Li Ye's face.
Back on Changcui Mountain, he'd exhausted himself designing formations to create a decent cultivation and farming environment and had to maintain it constantly with great care.
Yet here, with just a few simple arrangements, the results were already leagues beyond what he had built with painstaking effort. It highlighted how valuable this place was.
"With this mountain, all my cultivation needs for the Foundation Establishment stage are taken care of… I won't need to go anywhere until I hit the late stage and begin preparing for Core Formation."
"No… wait. I'll still need to search for cultivation techniques, pill recipes, and higher-tier inheritances. If the chance arises, I can't afford to pass it up."
At this thought, a strange expression flickered across Li Ye's face.
When he thought about it, most of the techniques and inheritances he cultivated were, in fact, incomplete.
As for the many auxiliary arts of cultivation, his level-up panel could improve his mastery, so it wasn't too urgent to pursue those right now.
But the Qingyuan Technique he was using only covered him up to the peak of the Qi Condensation stage he would need to find the next part of the technique to progress any further.
This technique was fairly widespread across various nations. While the Foundation Establishment content was more valuable and typically held by major factions, acquiring it with spirit stones alone might be difficult.
Still, with the right connections, it wouldn't be too hard to track down.
Though he had barely skimmed Xu Pingyang's storage pouch before heading to take over Pingyang Mountain, he had found some materials detailing Xu Pingyang's dealings with surrounding factions from three different countries.
Now that Xu Pingyang was dead, surely they wouldn't mind letting Li Ye take over his contacts… and maybe help him find the techniques he needed?
Despite the gaudy gold décor outside, Xu Pingyang's actual cultivation chamber was quite modest a small meditation room lit with glowing night pearls, containing only an incense burner and a single meditation cushion.
As Li Ye looked around, something under the cushion caught his attention.
He moved the cushion aside, and with a brief scan of divine sense, followed by several precise bursts of spiritual energy, he unraveled the concealed restriction.
Revealed beneath was a storage pouch, its spiritual imprint not particularly strong. Li Ye easily broke it and opened the pouch.
"…Well, well."
His brows rose slightly in surprise.
Inside was a large stash of first-grade spiritual materials of various types, along with a considerable amount of second-grade materials mainly of fire and earth attributes.
In addition, there were over a thousand spirit stones and several jade slips.
With this stash added to what he had already taken from Xu Pingyang's original storage pouch, the man's wealth truly reflected decades of managing the Chidi Mountain Range.
Compared to that Foundation Establishment cultivator surnamed Ding who'd died to Li Ye's "charm bombardment" tactic, Xu Pingyang's assets surpassed his by a mile despite both being at the early Foundation stage.
No wonder that guy had been so obsessed with chasing down Li Ye, back when he was only a first-grade alchemist!
Most of the fire-type materials were of little use to Li Ye, but the second-grade earth-attribute ones could be valuable for formations or farming fields, so he didn't spend too long sorting them.
It wasn't until he picked up a few jade slips and examined them with his divine sense that a wide smile spread across his face.
"Well now… who would've thought Xu Pingyang had a bit of a hoarder's streak? Did he copy every technique that ever passed through Pingyang Mountain?"
There were indeed some intriguing things inheritances from Gu cultivation, beast taming, and puppet arts all of which piqued Li Ye's interest.
Unfortunately, the content only covered the first tier, and second-tier material was sparse at best.
In particular, the Gu techniques were nearly identical to a few second-tier recipes Li Ye had bought from a market stall before so nothing truly new there…
Just barely enough to fill in the basics, really!
Among all the inheritances, the most valuable was a second-tier talisman-crafting legacy, along with some scattered second-tier artifact diagrams and pill formulas.
The diagrams weren't of much use to Li Ye at the moment, and aside from one fire-element pill that could enhance cultivation, the rest were mostly auxiliary types with limited value to him.
However, the talisman-crafting legacy was far more complete than the fragmented techniques Li Ye had previously gathered or analyzed from purchased second-tier talismans.
It even included instructions on crafting second-tier restriction-breaking talismans!
"So that's how he had so many second-tier talismans, despite how rare and expensive they are in this region… He casually tossed out a bunch before, and there were still plenty left in his storage pouch. Turns out Xu Pingyang's skill in talisman crafting had already reached the second tier!"
"But good thing he hadn't mastered the restriction-breaking ones yet… Otherwise, I might've been in trouble."
Li Ye let out a soft sigh, a trace of lingering relief in his eyes.
Xu Pingyang might not have fully monopolized the Chidi Mountain Range, but as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he took the lion's share of its resources.
Compared to some of those minor clan ancestors who also reached the Foundation stage, his setup was probably even more comfortable!
With such abundant resources at his disposal, Xu Pingyang, even if he lacked natural talent in the various auxiliary cultivation arts, could still use his divine sense and ample supplies to raise any of his skills to the peak of the second tier so long as he was willing to invest the effort.
Li Ye could only think that he did win by having enough time…
He stored away the pouch, planning to sort through it slowly over the coming days. After a final check to ensure there were no more hidden surprises, he moved on to explore the rest of the palace.
The palace was divided by function, and as Li Ye went through each section, he naturally made a series of smaller but worthwhile discoveries.
Eventually, he came upon a hall radiating intense heat despite being sealed within layers of formations.
"Sure enough, this must be where the second-tier spiritual vein connects to an underground fire vein the fire energy here is stronger than usual. But this formation is far too crude... It'll need to be rebuilt."
Li Ye murmured as he examined the area, quickly confirming that this was likely an alchemical or forging chamber, so he stepped inside to take a closer look.
Breaking through the restriction and pushing open the door, he was greeted by the sight of a massive cauldron directly linked to the underground fire vein. Despite being constantly scorched by the intense flames, the cauldron remained perfectly intact.
"This cauldron's quality… it's probably on par with top-grade magical artifacts. In terms of material alone, it might even be comparable to a spiritual artifact."
Li Ye was honestly impressed.
Xu Pingyang did have a knack for hoarding quality goods. He'd never shown any talent in artifact forging or pill refinement, and yet he owned a cauldron of such exceptional quality…
Could it have come from that Lava Palace Secret Realm?
That thought led him back to the very place Xu Pingyang had once seen as his chance to reach the Golden Core stage and the reason he'd gone so far as to eliminate Li Ye, who was only a potential threat.
"…It is quite tempting," Li Ye muttered, his eyes flickering with thought. "But if I'm going to explore it myself, I'll need to make some serious preparations…"
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