On average, an Earthly Fiend cultivator slew three abominations, while a Heavenly Spirit cultivator slew twelve—er, Han Li and Jun Weizhi had each slain over thirty, and Fuyao had taken down more than twenty. Deducting those three inhuman monsters, the Heavenly Spirit average hovered around ten per person.
Ten abominations' worth of grey sand was enough to refine an Earthly Fiend dharma body, and twenty grains could forge a Heavenly Spirit dharma body.
Essentially, fighting three battles would yield enough to duplicate the entire roster with surplus to spare. It was a simple arithmetic problem.
The dharma body Dao soldiers' maiden deployment had been extraordinarily effective; the abominations they had slain were already approaching nearly a tenth of what Wei Yuan had wiped out in his previous major battle. Furthermore, these dharma bodies received enhancements from the Hall of Dao Soldiers—the greater their numbers, the greater the enhancement. With their present headcount, they were still far from unleashing their true potential.
The abominations were not infinite, either. Winnowing them down bit by bit would steadily deplete their overall numbers. When Wei Yuan had suppressed and slain that mysterious woman back then, he had been forced to expend a vast amount of dharmic power just clearing out the surrounding abominations first. If there had been fewer abominations at the time, his fight would have been far easier.
With several thousand grains of grey sand in hand, Wei Yuan channeled half into the soil of vitality to further boost its efficiency in absorbing and expelling chaos, while blending the other half with additional materials to forge new dharma bodies.
For this new batch, Wei Yuan lowered the threshold a bit further, strictly capping their strength at early-stage dharma idol.
By now, the first building had appeared in the land of vitality. It was quite sizable, though in design it was nothing more than a hexagonal roof propped up by a few pillars, counting as a chamber. Wei Yuan had refined this structure piece of earth by piece of earth, adhering to the principle of simplicity, convenience, and maximum material conservation.
This building—or shed, rather—Wei Yuan christened the Eternal Platform.
Although it was neither high nor possessed a raised terrace, among pavilions, terraces, towers, and kiosks, the character for "Platform" carried the most imposing aura. Thus, he had settled on the name.
Inside the Eternal Platform, Wei Yuan set up multiple formation arrays specifically for refining dharma body puppets. Taking out all the usable materials on hand, he finished blending them and cast them down in a single sweep.
A moment later, over two hundred specks of light emerged within the array, which then glowed with lunar light. Rippling like water, the moonlight nurtured those specks of light as they grew bit by bit.
Wei Yuan was thoroughly pleased. The spoils of a single battle had produced over two hundred dharma bodies in one go, with enough leftover to expand the conversion of heaven-and-earth primordial qi. This was what it meant to sustain war through war.
The combat strength demonstrated by the cultivators from the Splendor of the Many Realms had vastly exceeded Wei Yuan's expectations, and the disparity between individuals was exceptionally stark. For instance, all thirty-six Heaven-grade dharma bodies possessed identical power, yet Jun Weizhi had slain thirty-seven abominations, while the lowest scorer had managed only four. In fact, half of the Heaven-grade dharma bodies hadn't even reached double digits.
Among the cultivators piloting Earth-grade dharma bodies, three had slain more than ten, though most fluctuated between two and four kills.
Refining the dharma bodies would still take a little time, so Wei Yuan took a moment to observe the reactions of the cultivators within the Splendor of the Many Realms. Sure enough, the vast majority were exceedingly excited, gathered in small groups to dissect the battle's successes and setbacks.
Jun Weizhi, on the other hand, had shut himself in his room and was writing a summary report. He meticulously compiled all the abominations' data and weaknesses into a booklet, which he then submitted to the Creation Immortal Venerable.
Wei Yuan greatly appreciated this proactive initiative to seek out work; consequently, the others looked all the more irritating by comparison.
Han Li and Fuyao were discussing the abominations' fighting styles and exchanging insights. Unable to get a word in, Lei Ling decided to seek out Dugu Cangqiong. Since she couldn't take part in high-level discussions, surely she could debate the Dao with that idiot Dugu, right?
To her surprise, when she knocked on his door and explained her visit, Dugu Cangqiong merely said coldly, "Not interested!" and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
Lei Ling was flabbergasted, having no idea what fit possessed him. But Dugu Cangqiong lost his mind on a regular basis, so Lei Ling could only curse herself for going to him.
Wei Yuan grew curious as well, wondering what the fellow was actually up to. Exercising a sliver of the Creation Immortal Venerable's might, he slipped into Dugu Cangqiong's divine sense and peered inside.
"Information on the extra-realm foes has been distributed. Please review it promptly..."
Inside Dugu Cangqiong's head, there was nothing but the notification prompt Wei Yuan had configured, looping line after line on repeat—and apart from that, literally nothing at all!
Wei Yuan had never imagined this fellow's brain could be a total blank, practically resembling the single-cell particulate life that had just emerged in the extra-realm world. And what was the point of him listening to this notification prompt on repeat? Had he become obsessed?
Glancing around and finding nothing else, Wei Yuan had no choice but to withdraw gingerly. Although he enjoyed numerous divine perks as the Creation Immortal Venerable, the Splendor of the Many Realms was immense, and its inhabitants were far too numerous. In a forest that vast, all kinds of strange birds nested.
Dugu Cangqiong didn't seem very bright, but he had nevertheless fought his way out among tens of millions of living beings to reach the apex of cultivators. Who knew if he had some hidden trump card? If his snooping got caught, Wei Yuan felt he couldn't afford the embarrassment.
After pulling out of his divine sense, Wei Yuan didn't go far. Instead, he left behind a wisp of divine sense concealed in midair to keep observing, watching to see if the fellow had noticed him.
Dugu Cangqiong had been wearing an expression of pure intoxication when he suddenly sat bolt upright, wearing a puzzled frown. "Why did I suddenly get a palpitation just now?" he muttered to himself. "Was I peeked on by some pervert?"
Dugu Cangqiong was visibly restless. After a moment, he made up his mind and muttered, "Jun Weizhi said that our thoughts can actually be viewed as... thought streams? That's what it was called, right?
"He also mentioned that in the realm outside, there's a new algorithm that can inspect thought streams. If someone stealthily intervenes, they'll always leave traces behind, and running the calculation will reveal everything. He said it's a divine technique for dispelling mind-enchantment, illusions, and inner demons. Should I go ask him to take a look for me?"
Wei Yuan was profoundly startled. Has Qingming mathematics really developed to this extent? A quick search through his records showed that it really did exist!
It was an essay published several years ago. At that time, this template cultivator's Dao companion had been skilled in mind-enchanting Dao arts and tampered with his sea of consciousness, making her face appear as gorgeous as a celestial fairy in his eyes.
Over time, the template felt something was amiss. Why did he find her breathtakingly divine while everyone else reacted lukewarmly? More importantly, why would such a celestial beauty ever fancy an utterly unremarkable template like him?
Suspicion aroused, he developed this set of mathematical tools and discovered that his consciousness had indeed been altered. He then used this toolset to break the other's Dao art, restoring her heavily filtered face to its true appearance—whereupon he let out a bloodcurdling scream on the spot! The lovebirds separated immediately.
Following that tragedy, the template cultivator refined the mathematical tools and published them, hoping his fellow Daoists wouldn't repeat his mistake and would keep their eyes wide open. Afterward, the various cultivators discovered that this was actually a miracle technique for dispelling illusions, and it quickly spread far and wide, subject to increasingly deep research.
Wei Yuan's mathematics wasn't half bad. Skimming through the article, he immediately realized: trouble was afoot!
Seeing Dugu Cangqiong on the verge of heading out to find Jun Weizhi, Wei Yuan had a flash of inspiration. He activated the system at once, and the notification chimes echoed once again through the Expedition Hall: "Rewards from the previous battle have been generated. Fellow Daoists, please return to your respective meditation chambers to settle your battle merits and claim your rewards. Friendly reminder: the brand-new Glazed Heavenly Phoenix dharma body has been refined. Comparable to Scenery Command, there is only one in existence. Daoists interested in piloting it may consult the relevant requirements..."
The moment he heard the new notification chime, Dugu Cangqiong threw his previous thought completely out of his head.
Wei Yuan let out a sigh of relief, then stared at the glazed dharma body he had refined using the Central Spirit Mansion's yin-yang twin qi, pondering what would be an appropriate piloting rental fee to set.
Seeing the cultivators scramble to rush into their meditation chambers and eagerly step into the Dao Soldier Hall's illusory realm, an idea stirred in Wei Yuan's heart. Since everyone loved this format so much, why not refine more special magic treasures, weapons, Dao arts, divine abilities, and the like, and establish a dedicated pavilion where they could exchange battle merits for them?
Chapter 1407