Trading system, I exchanged vegetables for golden pills.

Just as Ye Chen had expected, this old man was indeed like him, a self-taught individual.

No wonder his methods are so limited, and he's even poorer than him.

He had nothing but money.

"How do you cultivate normally? With spiritual energy so scarce, it's impressive that you've reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining!"

Ye Chen asked again.

This is also a question he is quite concerned about.

Moreover, judging from what the old man said, there were other cultivators who seemed to be more powerful than him.

There is also the so-called orthodox tradition.

Since the old man wasn't a legitimate successor, Ye Chen didn't believe that he could cultivate to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining just because he was a rogue cultivator.

He was more concerned about how the old man cultivated on a daily basis, since people in the Xuanmen sect usually cultivated in this way.

He had spirit stones and elixirs, so he sang his way to the eighth level of Qi Refining.

But could there be spirit stones in this world?

The old man didn't want to tell Ye Chen, but he still instinctively blurted out, "I accidentally obtained a spirit-gathering array plate from someone... I accidentally obtained a spirit-gathering array plate. It can be used to set up a simple spirit-gathering array. Although the spiritual energy is still thin, it's barely enough for cultivation. Over time, I've still made some progress!"

Ye Chen's heart stirred, and he activated the Spirit Gathering Array!

Holy crap, they actually have this thing.

No wonder the spiritual energy here is slightly denser than outside; although not much, it is still quite concentrated.

Even in this state, the old man still knows how to cover himself up.

His immediate thought was that he had stolen the Spirit Gathering Array Plate from a young man.

Ye Chen did not expose his pretense.

"How do you inscribe a Spirit Gathering Array?" Ye Chen asked again.

A moment later, Ye Chen learned how to inscribe the Spirit Gathering Array through the old man's mental sharing.

This is the beauty of the Divine Sense Communication Technique: as long as a mental bridge is established, Ye Chen can clearly perceive what appears in the other person's mind.

Although it's not as direct as the so-called soul-searching technique shown on TV, it's still very effective.

With the addition of the Bagua Mirror, Ye Chen's control over the luminous body was stronger than his opponent's.

With a strong will, one can almost always ask what they want to know.

So after Ye Chen asked, the old man instinctively thought of how to set up the spirit-gathering array and naturally transmitted it to Ye Chen simultaneously.

"Where did you get so much money if you're just running a scrap metal yard?" Ye Chen glanced at the other person.

"With our level of cultivation, making some worldly money is a piece of cake, isn't it? Just acquire a few antiques and you'll have everything!"

The old man spoke in a lecturing tone, seemingly quite displeased with Ye Chen's question.

Why would you need to ask such a simple question?

Ye Chen originally thought the other party was exchanging something from the Xuanmen sect for money, but it turned out they were just dealing in antiques.

Okay, you asked for nothing.

Ye Chen ignored the other person and continued to press, "Where are the others from the Xuanmen sect? Are there any major sects or cults? What is the highest cultivation level they have reached?"

"The people of the Xuanmen do not gather in a fixed place. Some of them live in seclusion, while others are engaged in worldly affairs. They can usually be found in places with abundant spiritual energy. The Sanqing Sect is a recognized large traditional sect. As for the cultivation level of those old guys, I don't know."

After answering these questions, the color of the luminous body slowly began to fade.

Perhaps it couldn't withstand being exposed to the elements for a long time after being separated from the physical body.

"Besides cultivation methods, do you have any other secret techniques?"

"No—no—!" The old man's reply was already somewhat slow, and his mental energy seemed to be beginning to dissipate.

It seems there really isn't one.

Ye Chen wanted to ask a few more questions, but he could already sense that the other person's thoughts were wandering and that they were having difficulty answering questions properly.

Ye Chen cursed inwardly, "So weak, is that all it takes?"

Just as Ye Chen was thinking about how to deal with the luminous object, it began to rapidly dissolve, turning into specks of starlight that merged into the white light of the Bagua mirror.

Ye Chen could sense the old man's last instinctive fear.

Then all spiritual thoughts about the old man vanished completely.

The starlight and the white light from the Bagua mirror blended together.

The white light from the Bagua mirror acts like a filter, enveloping and filtering the starlight.

Some starlight was filtered out and dissipated in the air, like dregs.

Some were directly purified and absorbed by the white light of the Bagua mirror.

Ye Chen was completely dumbfounded. Holy crap, what is the Bagua Mirror doing?

This was the first time he had ever seen such a situation, and he was a little confused.

Ye Chen was startled. Could it be that the Bagua Mirror had undergone some kind of change?

He hurriedly looked inside the Bagua mirror to check its condition.

The Bagua mirror was still the same as before, with no difference.

If I had to point out a difference, perhaps the light is a bit brighter.

It's like it's fully charged.

As the Bagua Mirror finished absorbing the energy, Ye Chen could feel a small ball of light slowly rotating inside it.

This must be the pure energy that the Bagua Mirror just filtered and absorbed.

Ye Chen tried to communicate with the small ball of light, but it had lost its independent consciousness.

To be precise, it is a pure spiritual energy entity without consciousness.

Therefore, Ye Chen couldn't communicate with it even if he wanted to.

After the Bagua mirror finished its work, the white light slowly dissipated.

It still floated slowly above Ye Chen's spiritual sea, scattering starlight to nourish it.

It was as if nothing had happened.

It seems like there's more starlight falling from the sky now.

Ye Chen carefully sensed it for a while, but did not detect anything unusual.

In the end, he ignored the Bagua mirror and dealt with the scene.

The old man was indeed very poor; apart from a ten-figure balance on his phone, he had nothing else.

Ye Chen went to the security room and found the spirit-gathering array plate that the old man had mentioned.

The array plate is about the same size as a compass and appears to be made of pure gold.

It was covered with dense symbols, none of which Ye Chen could understand.

Based on the formation layout, Ye Chen dug out eight fist-sized jade stones in eight special locations.

Some symbols were also engraved on the jade, which seemed to correspond to the symbols on the array plate.

They were combined to form what is known as the Spirit Gathering Array.

However, these jade stones were somewhat dull and lacked luster, as if they had lost their essence, and some of them had cracks.

It looks like we need to replace the jade, otherwise the effect of the spirit-gathering array will be greatly reduced.

These jade stones look like they're about to break; they might break after a little more use.

This old man is so rich, why doesn't he go and get some better jade?

Seriously, why waste money on the dark web?!

Ye Chen cursed and swore, and then found another ancient book, "Lüshi Xiaoyao Jing".

He glanced through it briefly; this should be the cultivation method the old man had obtained.

With a thought, Ye Chen opened the system panel and found that there was indeed an item that could be temporarily traded, which was the ancient book "Lüshi Xiaoyao Jing".

The tradable item is "The Essentials of Formation".