My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

The entrance to the underground palace was completely different from what Wang Ping had imagined. There was no grand, ancient structure—just a deep pit in the sandy ground. Its diameter was quite large, though, exceeding five zhang. A spiral path hugged the rammed-earth inner wall, leading down into the earth.

This immediately squashed Wang Ping’s desire to explore. He figured the owner of this underground palace must have been a complete pauper.

"Master, aren’t we going down?" Liu Shuang asked, a hint of anxiety on her face as she saw Wang Ping stop at the entrance while others scrambled to jump into the underground palace.

"Let’s wait a moment..."

Wang Ping held out his hand and could clearly feel a stream of icy Nether Qi pass through his palm. Just then, Yu Lian spoke to him from within his Spirit Sea, "It seems the Array here is still active. Why don’t you fly up and take a look from the sky?"

’Good idea!’

"Junior Brother Zhao Qing, take the others and go down first. Don’t worry about me." He called out to Zhao Qing, projected his credentials from his waist token into the sky, and then ascended with Yu Lian using Tengyun.

"Where is Master going?"

"Don’t mind him. We’re going down first. Once we’re there, don’t run off, understand?" Zhao Qing told Liu Shuang, then gave instructions to the other disciples from their sect.

After ascending, Wang Ping discovered that quite a few other Foundation Establishment Stage Qi Cultivators had the same idea. They flew above the clouds, circulating their Spiritual Qi to observe the land below, trying to find more valuable treasures.

Wang Ping first looked up at the sky, purely out of curiosity. The space above was just as empty and silent as it was over Qianmu Mountain. Looking down, he could confirm he was on a planet. He couldn’t determine its size, as he was unable to enter outer space yet. However, according to the records in the compendiums, it was no smaller than Earth.

Shaking his head, Wang Ping cleared his mind of other thoughts and gazed down at the land below...

An irregular hexagonal mark was faintly visible on the vast expanse of land. This had to be the great Array laid down by the Evil Cultivators. Its furthest points were hundreds of li apart, and Wang Ping couldn’t grasp its full scale from a single vantage point.

「Half a day later...」

After Wang Ping had finished observing the entire outline of the formation, his light screen panel popped up again, just as he’d expected:

[Nine Extremes Array (Incomplete): A vast Spirit Gathering Array constructed using Xuanmen Five Elements Spiritual Qi and the four cardinal energies of the Celestial Gate. The array eye is set to Taiyin, but unfortunately, it only possesses the Yin Yang Attribute of the Celestial Gate and lacks the support of the other two attributes.]

[1: Each array eye requires a Celestial and Earthly Treasure of a corresponding attribute, as well as the support of a corresponding Array. It is best to use a Celestial and Earthly Treasure that has birthed a divine soul, as only then is it possible to communicate with the Spiritual Power Realm.]

[2: This is a Spirit Gathering Array. Therefore, with the exception of the core array eye, you must not place functional Celestial and Earthly Treasures—such as a weapon or a piece of armor—in the other auxiliary array eyes, or it will obstruct the flow of Spiritual Qi.]

[3: The core array eye is not fixed. It can be changed according to the Array’s directional flow. Please study the Array’s directional diagram carefully.]

[Note 1: The Spiritual Qi concentration must reach (60/100) or higher to formally activate the Array. Otherwise, activation may fail. (Current Spiritual Qi concentration: 26/100).]

[Note 2: The Array can help demonic beasts awaken their intelligence. It may also cause some creatures to mutate, such as causing the dead to suddenly reanimate as corpses.]

[Note 3: Please study the directional diagram carefully. The diagram is as follows...]

After the light screen popped up, Wang Ping landed on a nearby mountain peak. He slowly absorbed all this information, and by combining it with his earlier observations of the Array, he quickly had a realization.

"Found anything?" Yu Lian asked, sounding a bit bored. She had been flying with Wang Ping for a long time and had grown tired of it.

"Yes. I need to take another look."

Wang Ping inspected the True Essence in his Qi Sea and checked his body for any pill toxins. Finding no issues, he took out and swallowed two Qi Gathering Pills. Then, after connecting with Yu Lian’s Qi Sea, he once again used Tengyun to ascend into the sky.

「Two hours later...」

Wang Ping hovered in the sky above a dense forest. He focused his divine soul to sense the fluctuations of the Spiritual Power Realm and quickly discovered that the Netherworld Aura here was much thicker than in other places. Following this aura, he swiftly descended.

"Hm?"

He saw a clearing that had been recently cut into the forest. On the ground, Array Runes drawn with splashed cinnabar were perfectly clear. Most importantly, over a dozen corpses lay upon the Array, looking as if they had only recently died. Two items were placed at a key position within the Array: a bone dagger and a small black flag.

Just as Wang Ping’s gaze fell upon these two items, a scorching ray of light shot from the distance, and in an instant, an old man wearing a True Yang Daoist Robe was standing before him.

"Well now, someone found this place even faster than I did. And it’s just a little Foundation Establishment brat." The old man looked at Wang Ping, his gaze brazenly sizing him up.

"Senior..."

"Don’t be so polite. I don’t know you. And I’m not one to take advantage of people. There are two items here. I’ll take the bone dagger. That little flag doesn’t look very useful, so you can have it."

"..."

Without giving Wang Ping any time to think, the old man snatched up the bone dagger and vanished, as if afraid Wang Ping would object.

Wang Ping, however, breathed a sigh of relief. He hurried forward, grabbed the small flag, and without another thought about what had just happened, left the dense forest as quickly as he could.

...

After leaving the dense forest, Wang Ping didn’t stop until he reached the main camp, where he finally caught his breath. By then, the sky had already grown dark. Most of the people who had gone out to explore the underground palace had returned, planning to continue the next day. After all, the Nether Qi in the palace was too heavy at night, and a moment of carelessness could allow it to invade one’s Qi Sea.

The people from Qianmu Temple had also returned. Some disciples were gathered together, discussing their gains for the day. Upon entering the camp, Wang Ping went straight back to his tent and instructed Liu Shuang not to let anyone in.

Seated on a cushion in the center of his tent, Wang Ping first calmed his mind and spirit. Only after his mood stabilized did he pick up the small black flag.

’An item placed at the Array Core of a cultivator advancing to the Fourth Realm can’t possibly be an ordinary object... And as everyone knows, the first step after obtaining an unknown Magical Artifact is to check its attribute.’

’But it seems unnecessary to confirm that step. This thing is definitely yin-attributed. So how should I test its abilities?’

Just then, Yu Lian suddenly said, "It seems to have a living consciousness inside it!"

Wang Ping froze for a moment, his heart skipping a beat. But he quickly relaxed. ’If this thing could threaten me, it would’ve done so the moment I picked it up.’

"You’re saying it can communicate?"

"It should be able to. Why don’t... you give it a try?"

Wang Ping subconsciously glanced at the flap of his tent. He then circulated his Wood Spirit True Essence to isolate the space around him. After hesitating for a long moment, he finally said, "If you can communicate, let’s talk. Otherwise, I’ll..."

"Sigh... let’s talk, then..."

An ancient voice interrupted Wang Ping. Then, a small figure made of a gray mass of energy materialized, coiled around the top of the small black flag. Its appearance was surprisingly comical, like a chibi character from a cartoon.