Cultivation of immortality begins with an eighty-year-old eunuch.

Chapter 419 One year! One month! A strange change occurs at the Qingyun Sect!

Beyond the bowl lies the Qingyun Sect.

Inside the Azure Lotus Hall on the main peak, the Azure Lotus Daoist and Zhou Shan sat facing each other, both with unpleasant expressions.

It's been a month.

A full month has passed since the old eunuch fled that night.

During this month, the two joined forces to lay an inescapable trap. Daoist Qinglian used the sect leader's token to mobilize the entire sect's power, setting up sensing arrays on every inch of Qingyun Sect's land, leaving no stone unturned even a hundred feet underground.

Zhou Shan even took out the "Heavenly Net Talisman" passed down by the Wang family. Once activated, this talisman can imprison a space within a thousand miles, making it difficult even for a Nascent Soul cultivator to teleport away.

But the old eunuch never appeared.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you think that old eunuch... could have already left the Qingyun Sect?" Daoist Qinglian asked, frowning.

Zhou Shan shook his head: "The mountain-protecting formation hasn't been broken; he can't get out."

"But it's been a month!" Daoist Qinglian raised his voice. "If he were truly refining the Nascent Soul Pill, he should have come out long ago! The failure rate for refining this pill is extremely high; if it fails, all the medicinal herbs are destroyed, and he will definitely search for more. But in these three months, there has been no unusual activity in the herb garden or the storeroom. He..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Shan suddenly raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Fellow Daoist Qinglian, have you ever considered another possibility?"

"What's possible?"

"He has successfully refined it," Zhou Shan said slowly, a glint of light flashing in his eyes. "If he had refined the Nascent Soul Pill in one go, he would probably be in seclusion right now, breaking through to the next level."

Qinglian Daoist was taken aback, and then his expression changed drastically.

"Impossible! The Nascent Soul Pill is a third-grade pill. Even a third-grade alchemist has a success rate of less than 30% when refining it. Could that old eunuch be an expert in alchemy?"

"But don't forget," Zhou Shan's voice was low, "He can create the Ascending Yang and Sinking Yin Technique, evade our combined pursuit, and vanish without a trace. Is it strange that someone like him can refine pills?"

The hall fell into a deathly silence.

Qinglian Daoist's breathing became rapid, and his expression changed constantly.

After a long silence, he said in a hoarse voice, "If that's really the case... once he breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, you and I..."

"We're in grave danger," Zhou Shan uttered, his voice icy. "At the late Core Formation stage, he can hold his own against you. Once he breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, even at the early Nascent Soul stage, he'll possess combat power comparable to the mid-stage. At that point, even if the two of us join forces, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop him."

The Taoist Qinglian suddenly stood up and paced back and forth in the hall.

"No! We absolutely cannot let him break through!" He turned his head abruptly, his eyes blazing with killing intent. "Fellow Daoist Zhou, you and I must find his place of seclusion!"

"How are we going to look?" Zhou Shan countered. "The Qingyun Sect has been thoroughly searched over the past three months. Have you found even the slightest trace?"

"Then expand the area!" Daoist Qinglian gritted his teeth. "Although the mountain-protecting formation seals off the mountain, there's still a thousand-mile area within its range. He must be hiding somewhere secret. You and I..."

Before the words were finished, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the hall.

"Ancestor! Ancestor!"

A Foundation Establishment disciple scrambled into the hall, his face ashen.

"What's the matter?" Daoist Qinglian frowned.

"Spiritual...spiritual energy!" The disciple pointed outside the hall, his voice trembling. "The spiritual energy within the sect has suddenly begun to gather! The speed...the scale...we've never seen anything like it!"

Qinglian Daoist and Zhou Shan exchanged a glance and rushed out of the main hall at the same time!

The two rose into the air and looked down upon the entire sect!

Sure enough, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was gathering wildly throughout the entire Qingyun Sect!

At first it was just a gentle breeze, then it gradually turned into a whirlwind, and finally transformed into a visible vortex of spiritual energy.

The vortex was over a hundred feet in diameter, hanging upside down like a funnel, frantically devouring the spiritual energy within a thousand miles!

At the center of the vortex, a faint golden light emanated.

Then they disappeared without a trace!

"This is..." Daoist Qinglian's pupils contracted, "A sign before the formation of the Nascent Soul..."

Zhou Shan's face turned ashen: "He really is breaking through! And... he's already making such a big fuss even before he's broken through?"

Many disciples of the Qingyun Sect were shaken to their core upon witnessing this scene!

Looking at the vortex of spiritual energy gathering in the sky, their eyes were filled with disbelief!

Qingyun Sect, Main Peak Plaza.

Hundreds of disciples were meditating when they suddenly felt the surrounding spiritual energy stagnate.

At first, no one paid attention, taking it as a normal fluctuation. But in less than half a day, the spiritual energy thinned by 30%. After another day, it thinned by more than half.

"What happened? Is the spirit-gathering array broken?" A disciple opened his eyes, his face full of confusion.

"I just circulated my spiritual energy, and the flow into my body was like a trickle, several times slower than usual!"

"It's not just slow, look at that spiritual spring!"

The crowd looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the ancient spring in the center of the square, which was originally bubbling with water and filled with spiritual energy, had now dropped three feet in water level and the mist was so thin that it was almost invisible.

"The sacred spring has dried up!"

Exclamations erupted from all sides.

Not only the main peak, but also all the spiritual energy in the thirty-six peaks and seventy-two caves of the Qingyun Sect, and in all the places where the spiritual veins are located, is rapidly being lost.

In the herb garden, the medicinal herbs withered at a visible rate; in the alchemy room, the furnace fire flickered due to insufficient spiritual energy; and in the weapon-refining room, the earth fire veins were so weak that only sparks remained.

The entire Qingyun Sect seemed to be being devoured by an invisible giant maw, its spiritual energy being ravenously swallowed up.

"Quickly report to the Ancestor!"

An elder sensed something was wrong and rushed toward the Azure Lotus Palace.

Before they even reached the front of the hall, they saw two figures already standing in mid-air atop the main peak.

It was Qinglian Daoist and Zhou Shan.

The two men had solemn expressions, and their divine senses spread out like a tide, covering an area of ​​a thousand miles.

"How is it?" Qinglian Daoist asked in a deep voice.

Zhou Shan closed his eyes and sensed for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "The flow of spiritual energy is strange. It doesn't flow to any particular place, but rather... it disappears into thin air."

"Disappeared into thin air?" Daoist Qinglian frowned. "How is that possible?"

"But that's the truth." Zhou Shan opened his eyes, a look of surprise and doubt flashing in them. "The spiritual energy seemed to have been directly devoured by some being, leaving not even a trace. I've lived for eight hundred years and have never seen anything like this before."

Qinglian Daoist's face turned ashen.

The Qingyun Sect has been established for three thousand years, relying on this thousand-mile-long spiritual vein. If the spiritual vein dries up, the foundation of the sect will be destroyed.

"It must be that old eunuch's doing!" he gritted his teeth. "Who else could have such methods?"

Zhou Shan pondered, "A spatial magic treasure... if that magic treasure has the ability to devour spiritual energy, then it makes sense."

"But where is he?" Daoist Qinglian scanned the entire sect with his divine sense, even penetrating a thousand feet underground, yet he still couldn't find a single clue. "The mountain-protecting formation is sealed; he can't get out. He must still be inside the sect. But for the past month, you and I have practically turned the Qingyun Sect upside down, searching even the smallest ant three times over. Where is he hiding?"

Zhou Shan remained silent.

This is also what he can't understand.

The old eunuch seemed to have vanished into thin air; no matter how they searched, they couldn't find a trace of him. Meanwhile, the sect's spiritual energy continued to drain away, worsening day by day.

"We can't wait any longer," Qinglian Daoist suddenly said. "At this rate, the spiritual veins of Qingyun Sect will be completely depleted in less than three months. At that time, not only will the disciples be unable to cultivate, but even the mountain-protecting formation will be unable to maintain its strength."

Zhou Shan looked at him: "What are your plans?"

A cold glint flashed in Qinglian Daoist's eyes: "Since we can't find him, then we'll force him to come out."

"How do we force it?"

"Break through the mountain-protecting formation and slaughter the Great Abyss." Daoist Qinglian said, enunciating each word clearly. "Although that old eunuch is elusive, he is not a heartless person. He comes from the Great Abyss and has a master-disciple relationship with Emperor Jianwen. If the Great Abyss is afflicted, he will surely show himself."