After parting ways with a few people, Chen Sheng began to sleep by day and travel by night—during the day, he would find a concealed cave or dense forest to rest, and when night fell, he would mount his horse and travel by the moonlight and starlight.

The hooves of the yellow horse had long been wrapped in coarse cloth by him, and stepping on the ground made only a slight "rustle" sound, not disturbing the animals or passersby along the way.

He deliberately avoided all smoking villages and dusty official roads, choosing instead to travel along barren fields and rugged, open valleys.

These desolate places offered no cover or ambushes, greatly reducing the risk of being surrounded again.

He traveled for another three days and nights. When the first ray of dawn pierced the clouds, Chen Sheng reined in his horse, and the yellow horse stopped, exhaling faint white breaths from its nostrils.

Before his eyes, the endless blue mountain range stood like a giant dragon across heaven and earth. Deep in the mountains, ancient trees blocked out the sky and intertwined to form an impenetrable canopy, exuding a primitive and wild sense of danger.

This was the Yunxing Mountain Range in the Yan Region, the treasure land he had spent ten years of effort to find in his past life.

"Finally here!"

Chen Sheng's tense nerves relaxed slightly. He dismounted, his rough palm gently stroking the yellow horse's mane, which was soft, smooth, and warm to the touch.

The yellow horse affectionately nudged his shoulder, letting out a low neigh as if responding to his sentiments.

"The place I chose truly is remarkable; though decades have passed, and the world has changed, the green mountains remain the same."

He murmured to himself, his gaze sweeping over the depths of the mountain—three sides were sheer cliffs, hardly passable even for birds.

The other side was this primeval forest, home not only to the roars of fierce beasts but also to venomous insects, making it a natural death zone rarely visited by people.

Chen Sheng swiftly removed the saddle and water pouch, tying only the specially made coarse hemp rope, a barbed hook-lock, and a sharp short knife to his back.

He bent down close to the yellow horse's ear and whispered a few words that only the two could hear.

This yellow horse had a certain spirituality, seeming to understand the farewell. It nudged his cheek once more before turning to disappear into a nearby vine-covered hollow, soon out of sight.

Watching the yellow horse leave, Chen Sheng turned and walked into the depths of the mountain, his steps as light as a lynx's.

He avoided the tracks of fierce beasts in the forest, walking along the edge of the cliff until he reached a steep precipice.

The precipice stood about a hundred zhang high, its rocky face barren with only a few drought-resistant shrubs growing sporadically. Below the cliff was a bottomless gorge, where the sound of water striking rock could be faintly heard.

Chen Sheng took a deep breath and untied the coarse hemp rope from his back, fastening one end of the specially designed slipknot firmly to a protruding boulder at the cliff's edge. The slipknot was ingeniously designed to tighten when pulled, never easily slipping loose.

Once secured, he tugged the rope forcefully, producing a humming sound that dislodged small stone fragments, which fell into the gorge below, echoing long after.

Confirming it was safe, he nodded slightly, "Good."

Without further hesitation, Chen Sheng alternately gripped the rope with both hands, slightly bending his knees, and tapping his toes lightly on the rock face—with each touch precisely landing on the outcroppings to control his descent speed.

His body clung to the cold rock face like a nimble wall lizard, the wind whistling in his ears as the gorge's vapor hit his face with a faint chill.

Within seconds, his feet firmly landed on the rocky ground at the bottom of the cliff, the stones beneath crunched softly underfoot.

After landing, Chen Sheng did not rush to recover the rope; instead, he looked up toward a nearby place—a hundred-zhang-high waterfall cascaded from the top of the cliff, the water striking the rocks below, creating a splash of mist and filling the air with a damp scent.

Gazing at the waterfall, his eyes lit up with excitement and anticipation, whispering, "I've arrived!"

He walked straight to the side of the waterfall, placing his hands gently on the rock face.

The rocky surface, washed by waterflows and soaked in moisture year-round, was covered in thick moss and dark green water stains, slick and cold, appearing no different from an ordinary rock face, devoid of any man-made traces.

But only Chen Sheng knew that within this seemingly seamless rock face lay the mystery he had left behind in his past life.

His fingers slowly traced the rock face, feeling the slick of the moss and the coarseness of the water stains.

Finding a spot where the texture felt slightly different, he halted, extending his right hand and tapping the wall with his index and middle fingers together, using a unique rhythmic pattern.

The first was a heavy "dong," followed by a light "da," and finally a prolonged "humm" sound.

These three sets of taps formed a complex combination, with the resonance force delivered by the fingertips precisely calculated each time.

This was the resonance lock he had set up using "Secret Mechanism Skill" in his past life, only activated by specific force and rhythm.

With the final "humm" sound dissipated, a clear series of "ka-da ka-da" mechanical clacks emanated from within the rock face.

Soon, behind the waterfall streaming down, a massive stone slab within the rock face began to slide inward—the slab's surface overgrown with moss, perfectly aligned with the surrounding rock, making no friction sound as it slid.

Once the stone slab slid open, it revealed a dark opening about a zhang high; the waterfall flowed directly over the opening, forming a crystalline water curtain that perfectly concealed the entrance, undetectable from the outside.

"What a Water Curtain Cave! It worked!"

A trace of irrepressible joy flashed in Chen Sheng's eyes—decades had passed, yet his arrangements remained intact, and all the mechanisms were functioning properly.

He did not immediately enter; instead, he turned back to the cliff where he had descended earlier. The thick hemp rope was still hanging by the edge, and if left behind, it would inevitably reveal his traces.

He raised his hand to undo the slipknot, then pulled hard with a reverse motion. With a "whoosh," the rope swiftly coiled up as if it had a life of its own, finally landing entirely at the bottom of the cliff, leaving only a few minor friction marks on the cliff face that would soon be covered by moisture and moss.

Afterward, Chen Sheng carefully cleared away the scattered footprints and stone fragments at the cliff bottom, ensuring no trace of anyone having been there was left.

Finishing all this, he took a deep breath, leaped forward, and passed through the icy water curtain. The water hit him with a piercing chill, but it did not affect his stride.

Upon entering the cave entrance, Chen Sheng took down a bronze lamp from the wall. The bronze lamp was old and antique, with simple runes carved on the lampstand. A wisp of Spiritual Power flicked from his fingertip, and the lamp wick instantly ignited with a ghostly blue flame, illuminating the passage ahead.

The passage was narrow and winding, and reinforcing runes to prevent collapse were carved into the rock walls on both sides, all crafted by him in a past life.

He twisted a mechanism at the passage's end, and a "rumbling" sound came from behind, indicating that the stone slab had closed again, blocking the water curtain once more.

After walking along the passage for a moment, his view suddenly opened up. It was a stone chamber about three zhang in diameter, with walls polished smooth, evidently artificially refined.

In the shadows on the west side of the stone chamber, a carefully arranged trap was hidden. The surface of the trap was covered with stone slabs matching the ground's color. If an unaware person stepped on it, they would surely fall into the spike pit below.

Chen Sheng cautiously bypassed the trap and retrieved a long White Jade Box from a hidden compartment beneath the trap.

The White Jade Box was entirely glossy, emitting a faint Spiritual Qi. The box was engraved with simple "Spirit Lock Array" runes.

Chen Sheng gently opened the Jade Box, revealing inside were several small banners radiating Spirit Light. The Spirit Light from the banners interconnected, forming an invisible barrier that securely protected the item in the box's center.

Approaching for a closer look, he found the Spirit Light from the small banners remained stable without any sign of leakage and nodded in satisfaction:

"Decades have passed, and there's no leakage of Spiritual Power. Excellent!"

In the center of the Jade Box lay a palm-sized Top Grade Storage Pouch.

The Storage Pouch's surface was embroidered with intricate storage runes, precisely where his previous life's Secret Mansion treasures were stored.

Since he had voluntarily removed the Storage Pouch's owner recognition in his previous life, there was no need for a cumbersome recognition process now; he only needed to move his mind to open it.

With his thought, the Storage Pouch's mouth slowly opened, and items glimmering with treasure light flew out one after another.

Looking at these familiar items, Chen Sheng revealed a hearty smile on his face. These treasures would be the crucial foundation for retraining in the mundane world.

Not long after, he put the items back into the Storage Pouch, except for taking out a light-green Grain Avoidance Pill.

The Elixir Pill melted in his mouth immediately, and a warm stream quickly spread from his Dantian, swiftly filling his limbs and body, completely dispelling the hunger and fatigue from days of travel, making him feel refreshed.

"Begin Array Formation!"

Determination flashed through Chen Sheng's eyes as he took out a palm-sized jade Array Disc from the Storage Pouch, with the core rune of the "Small Myriad Phenomena Marvelous Spirit Array" engraved at the center and sixteen small grooves around it, precisely matching the corresponding Array Banners.

The "Small Myriad Phenomena Marvelous Spirit Array" was a Tier One Middle Grade Array. Although not of high rank, it encompassed Gathering Spirit, Illusionary Trace, and Concealing Breath effects, making it perfect for use in this stone chamber.

The experience of array formation from his past life was still vividly present in his mind.

Chen Sheng first placed the Array Disc at the center of the stone chamber, then, holding sixteen small Array Banners, traversed the stone chamber's sides.

Every few steps, he bent down to inspect the ground—there, he had once inscribed subtle secret markings, optimal spots for the Array Banner placement.

Fingers flying, quick as an illusion, the sixteen Array Banners carried faint Spirit Light, sequentially piercing into the chamber floor's secret marker position points.

When the last Array Banner was inserted into the ground, a low "buzz" sounded in the stone chamber, and an invisible veil instantly formed around the central Array Disc, shimmering lightly like water ripples, enveloping the entire chamber within.

At the moment the veil formed, Chen Sheng clearly felt—his own breath was completely concealed, and the waterfall's roar and water flow collision sounds outside the stone chamber were also entirely isolated, leaving only a serene calm within that reassured the spirit.

More wondrous still, a hazy mist subtly began to grow beyond the water curtain at the chamber entrance, swirling fog that blurs visions, and even if someone reached the cliff bottom, they would lose direction due to the mist and be unable to find the cave entrance.

"Next is Gathering Spirit!"

Chen Sheng thought to himself, taking out a small pile of Lower Grade Spirit Stones from the Storage Pouch and neatly arranging them at the Array Hub around the Array Disc.

As soon as the Spirit Stones were placed down, the light of the entire array slightly intensified.

The originally thin Spiritual Qi in the chamber was stirred and gathered by an invisible large hand, gradually forming a distinctly perceptible vortex that slowly rotated within the chamber, with the concentration of Spiritual Qi visibly rising.

Chen Sheng took a deep breath, feeling the increasingly rich spiritual energy in the air, his eyes instantly brightened:

"This Spirit Gathering Array is sufficient to support my Qi Cultivation needs in the early to mid-stage."

He gazed around—the stone chamber was hidden and safe, the array possessed concealment, illusion, and spirit-gathering effects, and the treasures in the Storage Pouch could provide the resources needed for cultivation.

Looking at this simple yet comprehensive "Cultivation Dojo," he felt increasingly satisfied; in this mundane world, finding such a safe, spiritually abundant place for cultivation was beyond his expectations.

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