The ruins of the Lihuo Palace held a great many things, but most of the opportunities were concentrated within the inner sect's area.
However, the inner sect was monopolized by those who had already entered. Originally, there weren't enough tokens for everyone, and now it had become even more difficult.
Unless those who had entered found enough tokens on the corpses within the inner sect and brought them out for others.
But... because many of the corpses inside had storage rings, they could even empty the entire inner sect of the Lihuo Palace. Naturally, there was no need to let more people covet the things inside.
Otherwise, if the good stuff was taken by them, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
From the perspective of outsiders, the person ranked first on the Lihuo Palace ruins exploration leaderboard was still the old Daoist Bai Nianchen.
No one knew what good things the old Daoist had found to keep him firmly in first place for so long.
And the highly anticipated Li Qingyun, he didn't even make it into the top ten, ranking lower than Zhang Xiaohu. This left the people outside who were watching the leaderboard utterly bewildered.
Many people spreading rumors said that Li Qingyun was going to fail this time.
But what was the reality?
What was Li Qingyun doing? After entering, he had come to the Lihuo Palace's main hall. This hall was also very bloody, with corpses scattered everywhere.
He had stayed in this place for a hundred days, for no other reason than that he had entered a state of enlightenment.
Of course, other people had also come here, but Li Qingyun had blocked them outside.
This was because he had found the storage ring of the Lihuo Palace Master. As the nominal head of a sect, the Lihuo Palace Master was also a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage. His storage ring contained many items symbolizing his status.
There was a formation disk. Li Qingyun took it out and injected spiritual energy into it. He discovered that this main hall concealed a killing formation, which was controlled by this formation disk.
Originally, his strength was already formidable. With the help of this formation disk, others couldn't enter even if they wanted to.
Moreover, the Chaos Divine Lotus within his body had turned into a glutton, developing a strong craving for spirit stones, spirit artifacts, and anything with spiritual energy.
Li Qingyun tried to feed it to the Chaos Divine Lotus. To his surprise, after absorbing them, the Chaos Divine Lotus emitted bursts of radiance, providing many positive feedbacks to Li Qingyun.
With the soul of the Enlightenment Tree within him, influenced by the Chaos Divine Lotus, he quickly entered a state of enlightenment.
And this enlightenment lasted for several months!
This was the normal state for cultivators. After reaching the Golden Core stage, cultivation retreats were usually measured in years. Especially when entering a state of enlightenment, it could take anywhere from a few days to several years. The higher the cultivation, the more time it would take.
Therefore, without the Time Secret Realm, it was impossible to reach the Immortal Emperor realm in three years.
This enlightenment also caused Li Qingyun's entire body to erupt with more potent spiritual energy, greatly enhancing both his demeanor and his strength!
Suddenly, the sky rumbled with heavenly thunder...
Li Qingyun was startled: "Holy crap? Am I going to face a lightning tribulation?"
However, as he thought this, a giant Enlightenment Tree materialized from the void, blocking the descending lightning.
Of course, some lightning still fell, but the Chaos Divine Lotus within him emitted five-colored divine light, directly absorbing those strands of heavenly lightning.
Then... he just stood there quietly, watching the lightning tribulation disappear.
The vortex within his body gradually transformed into a golden core, and his spiritual energy underwent a qualitative change at this moment. Both his strength and spiritual energy were no longer on the same level as before.
He scratched his head and muttered sheepishly, "Did I just break through? It feels a bit like cheating. I actually wanted to try the lightning tribulation..."
However, when he saw the storage rings he had collected, his mouth twitched slightly.
Besides some cultivation techniques and secret arts, all the spirit stones, spirit artifacts, and magical treasures had been devoured by this prodigal Chaos Divine Lotus!
Including the more than ten peak-grade spirit stones he had earned from Chu Yang!
He couldn't help but press his forehead and sigh, "You're truly a glutton. Although I've broken through to the Golden Core stage, why do I feel a bit at a loss?"
Chaos Divine Lotus: "Ying ying ying~"
This enlightenment had emptied his fortune. Cultivation was truly an expensive endeavor.
"I should go out and see if there's anything else left. I'm penniless now..."
The phenomenon caused by Li Qingyun's breakthrough to the Golden Core stage, the descending yet unfallen lightning tribulation, and the sky-obscuring ancient Enlightenment Tree all indicated his identity.
The ruins were not that large, and almost everyone saw it.
Bai Nianchen, upon seeing Li Qingyun break through, showed a hint of helplessness in his eyes.
"So fast! Damn it! How could this poor Daoist not catch up to him?"
Chen Xiaohan clenched her fists tightly. Meng Zibin held her hand and said, "He's been in seclusion during this time, and with the help of the Chaos Divine Lotus, it's easy to achieve enlightenment. This is normal, but he lost the opportunity to explore, so his gains are not as much as ours."
Chen Xiaohan took a deep breath and forced a smile, "I know."
As for Luo Xiaowei, he was already numb, accustomed to the leveling speed of these monstrous geniuses!
"A mere Golden Core stage! That's only... only two minor realms higher than me! What's there to be proud of? Hmph!"
Qin Xiaoxiao said unhappily, "Aren't you the Grandmaster of Sword Cultivation? Why are you only at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment?"
"Damn it! How dare you say that about me? Among all the Heaven's Chosen, your cultivation is the lowest!"
"Heh heh! I'm about to break through, and you'll be left in the dust!"
"What?" Luo Xiaowei exclaimed in shock, "Damn it! Let's hurry up and help Daoist Bai light up all the spots. Our cultivation is falling behind, but our opportunities cannot!"
...
The "Blue Star Cultivation Ranking" and the "Lihuo Palace Ruins Exploration Ranking" had garnered much attention since their release.
Because the current hot topics were the exploration of the [Lihuo Palace] and the [Ascension Tower].
Many video bloggers relied on these hot topics to gain traffic.
The top spot on the cultivation ranking suddenly changed. The list itself remained unchanged; what changed was Li Qingyun's cultivation!
"Holy crap! A Golden Core cultivator has appeared?"
"Brother Immortal said that Golden Core cultivators can fly through the air!"
"Wow! I report this guy for cheating, how can he cultivate so fast?"
"Haha! Who said that Li Qingyun wouldn't make it this time? He was breaking through to the Golden Core stage!"
"......"
Chu Yang stroked his chin. Li Qingyun was too smooth sailing. This wouldn't do. When he returned, he had to quickly send him to the [Ascension Tower] to be hit with some reality checks!