I might have been playing a fake cultivation game.

Section 048 Foundation Building... Success!

The journey of a Foundation Establishment cultivator? The Trials of Hell begin?

Zhou Yunshen's face showed a hint of interest as he reached out and clicked on the newly pinned post.

The post contained a long paragraph of text and several game screenshots.

Zhou Yun Shen carefully read the text in the post, and an expression of interest quickly appeared on his face. He muttered to himself, "The Hell Trial... This is really something to look forward to. Once I break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, I must go in and experience it properly."

According to this post, once a player's cultivation level breaks through to the Foundation Establishment stage, a trial icon will appear in the game interface.

Clicking the trial icon will bring up an option called "Hell Trial".

Players can enter a place called Hell to undergo trials.

The goal of the trial is simple: to kill all the ghosts in hell.

This is a game instance, a public instance that all Foundation Establishment players can participate in.

Players have a chance to obtain valuable items by defeating monsters.

If a player is killed in the Hell Trial, they will not actually die; they will simply be unable to enter that Hell instance for a period of time.

Once players clear out all the ghosts in Hell, the Hell Trial is complete. When the Xuan Yuan Realm invades Earth, the invasion level will be reduced by one level, and the strongest force that can invade will be reduced from the Golden Immortal Realm to the Celestial Immortal Realm...

After reading this text, Zhou Yun thought to himself, "No wonder this post was pinned to the top by the government. It turns out that this hellish dungeon can reduce the invasion level of Xuan Yuan Invasion. Based on this alone, the government will definitely spare no effort to encourage players to conquer this hellish dungeon."

As Zhou Yunshen was thinking about these things, his phone vibrated.

This is a message Chen Xin'an sent him.

Chen Xin'an: "Have you seen that post about the Hell Trials pinned to the top of the government's page?"

Zhou Yunshen typed back: "I saw it, what's wrong?"

Chen Xin'an: "It's nothing, it's just that this game feels a bit like a game now."

Chen Xin'an's words seemed a bit strange, but Zhou Yunshen understood what he meant.

Previously, the game Xuan Yuan Invasion was becoming more and more like a real world.

Now, however, this kind of game instance has been released.

Such game instances certainly do not exist in the real world.

Chen Xin'an then sent another message: "Tell me, who exactly created this game?"

Zhou Yunshen paused for a moment, then typed a reply: "Who knows?"

He thought of creator gods and saviors in myths and legends, as well as omnipotent god-like civilizations in science fiction novels.

He didn't believe in these things before.

But now, after the game Xuan Yuan Invasion appeared, Zhou Yunshen began to believe in the existence of gods and god-level civilizations.

But he was unwilling to think about these things deeply.

Because it doesn't make any sense.

Thinking about these things is pointless and only makes you upset.

Just like the possible apocalypse three years from now, if you think about the apocalypse every day, you will become very depressed. How can you live happily and have fun?

After receiving Zhou Yunshen's reply, Chen Xin'an fell silent.

Zhou Yunshen typed: "Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Do you know what kind of monster that dark cloud we saw today was?"

Shortly after, Zhou Yunshen received a reply from Chen Xin'an: "I asked the ancestor of the Chen family who fought there. He said that this thing is called a vengeful ghost, which is formed from the soul of a dead person absorbing the yin energy of heaven and earth."

Zhou Yunshen: "A vengeful ghost? Are all the ghosts in this world this terrifying?"

Chen Xin'an: "Not all vengeful ghosts are terrifying. The ancestor said that ordinary vengeful ghosts are very weak and can't even harm ordinary people. This vengeful ghost was a Foundation Establishment cultivator before it died, so it was already quite powerful. It also had a fortuitous encounter and absorbed a lot of Yin energy, which is why it became like this."

Zhou Yunshen: "I see."

After thinking for a moment, he typed again: "This vengeful ghost says his name is Du Huaimin. Did your ancestor know this Du Huaimin?"

Chen Xin'an: "I know him. I asked the ancestor about it. He said that the Du family used to be a prominent cultivation family in Luchuan Prefecture, with a Golden Core cultivator in charge. They were once very powerful, but later they declined. More than ten years ago, the family's only Golden Core cultivator passed away. Without a Golden Core cultivator to lead them, some families with grudges against the Du family joined forces to deal with them. Before long, the Du family collapsed. Some of its members died, and others fled. At that time, Du Huaimin was just an insignificant Foundation Establishment cultivator with little presence. I never imagined he would become so powerful now."

Zhou Yunshen looked at the text message Chen Xin'an sent and typed with a sigh, "This cultivation world is truly cruel."

Chen Xin'an agreed: "Yes, it is indeed cruel. Fortunately, my Chen family has three Golden Core cultivators in charge, and it's still very prosperous. It won't be a problem for it to remain prosperous for several hundred more years. I don't need to worry about such things happening, haha."

Zhou Yunshen: "That makes sense."

Chen Xin'an: "Once you break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, I'll arrange a guest elder position for you in the Chen family. That way, you'll receive three spirit stones and three hundred taels of silver every month. With this status, it will be more convenient for you when you travel. Don't worry, it's just a nominal position; you won't have to do anything."

Zhou Yunshen didn't refuse Chen Xin'an's kindness and typed his thanks: "Thanks a lot, bro."

Chen Xin'an: "Don't be so polite. We're friends, so we should help each other out."

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was already noon in the real world.

At this time, it should be getting dark in the game world, but Zhou Yunshen's character is currently in a meditation room and cannot see the change of day and night.

Zhou Yunshen was too lazy to go out today, so he simply spent a few dozen yuan to order takeout.

After lunch, Zhou Yunshen browsed game forums on his phone for a while before lying down on the bed and falling into a deep sleep.

Even when he was sleeping, Zhou Yunshen's hand was taped to the phone screen.

As his character's cultivation level increased, his character also became more and more tireless. When cultivating, he could go without sleep for a day and a night, or even two days and two nights, without any problem.

But his body in the real world can't take it; he has to sleep on time every day, otherwise he'll become mentally confused and exhausted all day long.

Fortunately, sleeping in the real world doesn't interfere with his character training; he just needs to stick his finger on the phone screen.

After falling asleep, Zhou Yunshen had a dream.

In his dream, he was also cultivating, condensing his own Dao foundation in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Then, patches of fiery clouds emerged from nothingness and converged from all directions toward the center of the sea of ​​consciousness.

At the center of the sea of ​​consciousness, a huge fireball was burning.

The giant fireball burned brighter and brighter, and its size grew larger as it burned.

I don't know how much time passed, but it seemed to have reached a critical point. It shone brightly and then suddenly collapsed inward!

As the light dimmed, a red circular platform, seemingly carved from red crystal, appeared in my sea of ​​consciousness.

This is the foundation of the Way.

Foundation building... complete!