Ascending Spirit Valley, located at the waist of the mountain where Taixuan Sect's First Elder Peak is situated, is a vast concave valley.
The entire Ascending Spirit Valley covers tens of thousands of square zhang, and at its very center, there is a circular platform that spans several zhang in circumference.
This circular platform is inscribed with numerous mystical patterns, all of which form a complete and flawless Gathering Spirit Formation.
The grand platform engraved with the complete Gathering Spirit Formation is known as the "Ascension Platform"!
This platform is the place where cultivators who enter the Ascending Spirit Valley sit in meditation and cultivate.
Curiously, encircling the Ascension Platform are rings of bizarre stone pillars that extend outward, and these pillars, just like the platform, are also engraved with their own Gathering Spirit Formations.
Around the entire Ascension Platform, there are six rings of these strange stone pillars, and each ring contains precisely twelve pillars.
Twelve pillars per ring, totaling six rings from the inside out, the peculiar stone pillars surrounding the Ascension Platform number seventy-two in total!
The seventy-two bizarre stone pillars, with their seventy-two Gathering Spirit Formations engraved upon them, connect above the ground with the central "Ascension Platform" formation, ultimately constituting the vast formation of the entire Ascending Spirit Valley.
This majestic formation reaches the "Heaven Rank," specifically, the Heaven Rank Mid-Grade Gathering Spirit Formation of Ascending Spirit Valley!
Such a grand formation was, in the past, only accessible to the elders and Peak Masters of the Taixuan Sect for their meditative cultivation. They used the "Heaven Rank Gathering Spirit Formation" to fuse the true spirit energy of heaven and earth, enhancing their True Qi cultivation.
Among the elite disciples of recent years, Jiang Yao is the only one who qualifies to enter the Ascending Spirit Valley, using it to break through from the True Qi Realm to the Spirit Sea Realm!
Ye Chen became the second unanimously agreed-upon elite disciple by all the Peak Masters and elders to attempt a breakthrough to the Spirit Sea Realm here!
Ye Chen's extraordinary performance in battle against a half-step Rotating Pill expert on the True Inheritance Battle Platform astonished all the elite disciples, as well as all the elders and Peak Masters of the Taixuan Sect!
When Ye Chen expressed his intention to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm, without needing any further word from Fairy Jia Luo, all the Peak Masters and elders immediately suggested that Ye Chen come to "Ascending Spirit Valley" within the First Elder Peak to use the Heaven Rank Gathering Spirit Formation for his breakthrough!
The Heaven Rank Mid-Grade Gathering Spirit Formation within Ascending Spirit Valley, while more than sufficient for Rotating Pill Realm experts to cultivate their True Qi, is somewhat overqualified for a breakthrough from the True Qi Realm to the Spirit Sea Realm.
However, there was no question that this place should be made available to Ye Chen for his attempt at the Spirit Sea Realm, as he was worthy of this privilege!
Let alone the fact that Ye Chen had fought to a draw with the half-step Rotating Pill expert Xue Jia on the True Inheritance Battle Platform, just Ye Chen's ability to thoroughly defeat late-stage Spirit Sea Realm experts with his twelfth layer True Qi Realm cultivation granted him this qualification!
As Ye Chen and Jiang Yao rode the colossal Fire Sparrow towards Ascending Spirit Valley, within the valley, ten Rotating Pill Realm experts had already been sitting in the void awaiting their arrival.
Among these ten Rotating Pill Realm experts was Fairy Jia Luo herself. As Ye Chen was attempting to break through to the Spirit Sea Realm, and as the Peak Master of Floating Snow Peak, it was only natural for Fairy Jia Luo to preside over the event personally.
Besides Fairy Jia Luo, the other nine Rotating Pill Realm experts were the elders in charge of this "Heaven Rank Formation" from the First Elder Peak.
The ten great Rotating Pill Realm experts waited, expecting Ye Chen to arrive in Ascending Spirit Valley.
This wait was not a long one, as the ten great Rotating Pill Realm experts soon saw from afar the giant Fire Sparrow flying through the sky, carrying Ye Chen and Jiang Yao on its back.
"Ye Chen has arrived!"
"Prepare to activate the Gathering Spirit Formation!"
All nine elders stood up.
Fairy Jia Luo also stood up, smiling at Ye Chen and Jiang Yao.
With a crisp cry of the bird, in a matter of breaths, the giant Fire Sparrow, over a hundred and twenty meters in length, unfolded its fiery wings and descended within Ascending Spirit Valley.
"Esteemed elders and Peak Masters, I am humbled by your assistance as I attempt to break through to the next realm," Ye Chen said upon arrival in Ascending Spirit Valley, as he and Jiang Yao flew towards the ten great Rotating Pill Realm experts.
Having been informed by Jiang Yao that the Heaven Rank Gathering Spirit Formation required the joint effort of nine elders to activate, Ye Chen wasn't surprised to see the nine elders present.
The nine great Elders, just like Fairy Jia Luo, also smiled and looked towards Ye Chen.
"Ye Chen, there's no need to be polite with us old fellows."
"During your time in the True Qi Realm, you could battle on par with a half-step Rotating Pill disciple. We old fellows are also looking forward to seeing just how much your strength will advance after stepping into the Spirit Sea Realm."
"Now, as the early sun rises and the true Qi of heaven and earth abundantly releases, it is an excellent time to cultivate and attempt a breakthrough. Go ahead, to the 'Ascension Platform', and start your attempt to reach the Spirit Sea Realm!"
Ascending Spirit Valley.
Upon hearing the words of the nine great Elders, Ye Chen turned his attention to the circular platform at the very heart of the Ascending Spirit Valley, surrounded by seventy-two peculiar stone pillars.
Ye Chen took a deep breath.
He was about to begin his attempt to reach the Spirit Sea Realm on that very platform!
Ye Chen had already prepared himself and, without any hesitation, nodded slightly towards Jiang Yao, then bowed to the nine great Elders and Fairy Jia Luo before his wings of wind and thunder unfurled behind him, and he flew towards the circular platform at the valley's center.
"Ye Chen said he was confident in stepping into the Spirit Sea. Once he gets past this hurdle, he will be just like me, a person of the Spirit Sea Realm!"
Jiang Yao stood amidst the void, beside Fairy Jia Luo, her clear eyes focused on Ye Chen, her small hands tightly clenched, a face full of anticipation.
A giant Fire Sparrow stopped by her side, the majestic bird also turning its attention to Ye Chen.
As everyone watched, Ye Chen finally arrived above the Ascension Platform. He sat down cross-legged right atop the eye of the Gathering Spirit Formation at the center of the platform.
Seeing that Ye Chen had seated himself, the nine great Elders simultaneously formed hand seals. In an instant, a powerful aura swept through the entire Ascending Spirit Valley, rushing into the seventy-two peculiar stone pillars and the Ascension Platform's Gathering Spirit Formation.
In an instant, all the patterns on the Gathering Spirit Formation began to circulate, and amidst the endless flashing lights, the entire Ascending Spirit Valley seemed to come to life.
This was the display of the Heaven Rank Gathering Spirit Formation, the grand formation of the Ascending Spirit Valley, activating!
"What a strange sensation. It's as if, if only I could attract it, I could gather the endless true Qi of heaven and earth!"
Seated at the eye of the Gathering Spirit Formation on the Ascension Platform, Ye Chen felt the pulse of the land throughout the valley as if the very earth was breathing.
Ye Chen closed his eyes and regulated his breathing to match.
Gradually, his breathing became synchronized with the breathing of the land throughout Ascending Spirit Valley.
Calm and focusing his spirit, Ye Chen entered into a genuine state of attempting to break through.
An attempt to reach the Spirit Sea Realm involves transforming the Qi Sea into the Spirit Sea and changing the gaseous True Qi within the Qi Sea into the liquid form of the True Qi Spiritual Fluid. This process requires the use of the "Rushing Spirit Skills" to stimulate the entire Qi Sea to change.
Seated in meditation, Ye Chen began to channel the True Qi inside his body according to the Rushing Spirit Skills.
This process lasted for a full hour!
After one hour had passed, a golden box suddenly flew out of the meditating Ye Chen's body. The golden box flew open upon its exit, and a peculiar pill leapt out from within, suspending itself in the void right in front of Ye Chen.
On this peculiar pill, engraved with a three-striped golden dragon pattern, was none other than the supreme treasure Ye Chen had acquired in the ancestral secret realm— the "Creation Yuan Pill"!
The Creation Yuan Pill, capable of perfectly transforming the True Qi Realm into the Spirit Sea Realm and giving those within the Spirit Sea Realm a seventy percent chance of stepping into the Rotating Pill, was indeed a powerful and strange Spirit Pill!
Ye Chen was to use this pill to aid in his attempt at reaching the Spirit Sea!
At the very moment the "Creation Yuan Pill" flew out, Ye Chen, who had been meditating and channeling the Rushing Spirit Skills for a full hour, suddenly opened his eyes.
As he opened his eyes, he inhaled towards the void and the floating Creation Yuan Pill shot into his mouth with a "whoosh".
The attempt to reach the Spirit Sea Realm was happening right now!