Back in Qingming, Wei Yuan emerged from his seclusion and immediately gathered the cultivators of the Palace of Grand Beginning for a council.
A moment later, once everyone had assembled, Wei Yuan activated the token left behind by Patriarch Xuanyue, and the figure of True Monarch Xuanyue materialized in the room. In this way, True Monarch Xuanyue could communicate with them without having to enter the Shattered Lands, leaving him free to roam far and wide to attend to other matters.
However, once the magical treasure was activated, True Monarch Xuanyue's figure appeared quite faint, and his voice cut in and out intermittently.
Among the cultivators present, Bao Yun, Xu Henshui, and Cui Yu were all people of broad experience.
Bao Yun and Cui Yu simply pretended not to notice, but Xu Henshui, being a newcomer, habitually blurted out, "This Shadow-Reflecting Jade is merely a dharma idol-grade treasure; using it to channel a True Monarch's dharmic power is already stretching it. On top of that, its quality is among the worst even for a magical treasure. You should hurry and replace it—it hardly costs anything anyway."
The projection of True Monarch Xuanyue suddenly shuddered, nearly dispersing on the spot.
Wei Yuan acted as though he hadn't heard a thing and said, "During my trip to the Nether Cold Realm, I managed by sheer luck to infiltrate the realm of the Nether Shaman Shu Li and uncovered quite a few of his secrets. But right afterward, he activated some unknown secret art and displaced me to a bizarre location. Everyone, please take a look!"
Wei Yuan projected an image depicting the spatial environment he had sensed around him.
The cultivators focused their senses to examine it carefully. Yu Zhizhuo even released his dharma idol—a tiny golden bird that flew into the projection, pecked here and there, and then began chirping.
Yu Zhizhuo said, "The material above is metallic iron imbued with nether qi—it should be Nether Cold Iron. Cold iron is extraordinarily heavy by nature, and judging from the pressure you felt, there must be an entire mountain overhead. The ground below was likely ordinary Nether Soil originally, but under such immense pressure, it underwent an anomaly and gradually crystallized. There should be a considerable amount of Nether Crystal inside."
Old Daoist Chuhe's eyes lit up. "Nether Crystal! That's wonderful! This old Daoist has a Nethersea Shaman-Devouring Flower that sorely needs Nether Crystal to upgrade its quality!"
Sun Yu chimed in as well. "Nether Crystal can elevate the tier of many poisons. It is indeed a fine thing."
Yu Zhizhuo said, "Nether Crystal is currently in high demand. A few days ago, when I checked the Hall of Merits, the exchange rate was fifty heavenly merits per liang."
Feng Tingyu, who had been dozing off, immediately had her small face light up with excitement. She picked two muscle fibers at random to do the thinking and arrived at the correct answer: two liang of Nether Crystal could be traded for an ordinary dharma idol.
"Can this stuff be brought back?" Cui Yu asked.
Yu Zhizhuo replied, "Even Nether Soil can be brought back, and Nether Crystal is of an even higher tier, naturally capable of shifting between substance and illusion. It can definitely be retrieved."
Old Daoist Chuhe suddenly looked thoughtful, his gaze turning deep and solemn. "Nether Soil? That's right, this aura is indeed Nether Soil! Hmm, so to speak, the little bit of Nether Soil this old Daoist obtained..."
Yu Zhizhuo said mildly, "That doesn't matter. Think about why the palace stopped accepting Nether Soil in the first place. And think about why Nether Soil became completely worthless."
Old Daoist Chuhe's gaze grew even darker. Stroking his beard, he fell silent.
Wei Yuan gave a dry cough, quickly pulling the attention of those harboring grudges or greed back to the main topic. "All of my realm beacons in the nether realm have been shifted to that spot, so if I return to the Nether Cold Realm, I will still appear there. The problem now is that under such intense pressure, I can probably only hold out for the time it takes an incense stick to burn. What should I do?"
As expected, everyone shifted their focus and began worrying about Wei Yuan's safety.
At this moment, True Monarch Xuanyue spoke up: "That place is capable of compressing soil into crystal; even an ordinary True Monarch couldn't withstand such pressure for long. The fact that you can hold out for the span of an incense stick is already remarkable. Had it been one of those fragile dharma idols, their origin soul would have been annihilated in a single breath."
The cultivators present exchanged glances, feeling that if Wei Yuan was the benchmark, they would likely all be categorized as 'fragile dharma idols.' Feeling thoroughly slighted, they bristled with indignation, though none dared voice it.
True Monarch Xuanyue continued, "From what I see of the environment, you are likely beneath a treasure mountain of metal and iron. In all likelihood, some formation has been refined into the peak. However, even an immortal would find it difficult to refine such a treasure mountain. For a mere Nether Shaman, carving a small formation atop the peak is the absolute limit of his ability. Enduring for an incense stick's time shouldn't be difficult for you, and that gives you plenty of time to accomplish a great deal."
Taking advantage of True Monarch Xuanyue's good mood, Wei Yuan quickly seized the opportunity to ask about Shu Li's avatars.
True Monarch Xuanyue took on a contemplative expression and said, "Back when I fought him, I did indeed blow something to pieces. I couldn't tell from outside the heavens back then, but thinking about it now, he must have used his avatars in the Nether Cold Realm to absorb my attacks, and they were blown apart. However, I obliterated two of his avatars at most; there couldn't have been more. If you say he's missing six avatars, he must have faced another formidable foe."
Wei Yuan then asked for guidance on waging war against a realm, but this was not True Monarch Xuanyue's forte. His words suddenly turned arcane and cryptic, full of esoteric mystery that practically no one could understand.
After True Monarch Xuanyue had droned on for quite a while, discoursing extensively on the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, Zhang Sheng, who had remained silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "What the Patriarch means to say is that he doesn't know either, so asking him is a waste of breath."
True Monarch Xuanyue's figure warped again as he glared and bristled with indignation, thoroughly displeased.
Yet Zhang Sheng didn't care in the slightest. She turned to Wei Yuan and said, "You do not cultivate the Sovereign Time Scripture of the Pure Heaven Orthodoxy, so you aren't familiar with the differences. Let me explain it simply."
In just a few words, Zhang Sheng laid out the distinction clearly.
The mindscape worlds cultivated under the lineage of Sky Azure Hall were not renowned for vitality or spiritual life; instead, the mindscape world primarily served to augment the cultivator themselves, boosting the power of their strikes and Dao arts. This was actually the most common path.
True Monarch Xuanyue's mindscape world consisted entirely of vast, boundless mountain ranges. What few living creatures existed within it were low in spiritual intellect, with hardly any formidable ones among them. If one spoke of spirituality in his realm, it was the spirit of mountains and the spirit of the earth, not the spiritual consciousness of living beings.
The Sovereign Time Scripture of the Pure Heaven Orthodoxy could draw upon the power of a mindscape world to an extent far surpassing ordinary cultivation methods. Reinforced by such a dense, weighty, and thriving mindscape world, True Monarch Xuanyue commanded the faint might of an entire mountain range with every gesture, a force that ordinary Scenery Command cultivators could scarcely withstand.
The other path, however, placed its emphasis on the spirituality of the mindscape world, pouring all effort into nurturing sentient life within it and relying on those spiritual creatures to fight. This was the path walked by Immortal Monarch Tinghai.
Cultivators on this path suffered a distinct disadvantage in combat strength at the Scenery Command stage, but the advantages would manifest once they reached the immortal realm. When True Monarch Xuanyue achieved Unity and attained immortality, he would still need to make up for this deficit in sentient life.
Wei Yuan's plan to destroy the Nether Shaman's realm relied primarily on mindscape warfare, but since True Monarch Xuanyue was not adept in this area, he could offer no meaningful guidance.
With Zhang Sheng's explanation, Wei Yuan understood.
In truth, on the path of mindscape spirituality, Wei Yuan's Smoke and Fire of the Mortal World stood virtually at the pinnacle throughout all of history; even while still in the dharma idol realm, he already possessed the capacity for mindscape warfare.
Having had his bluster undercut by Zhang Sheng, True Monarch Xuanyue glared and put on a show of throwing a tantrum before finally grumbling, "Considering your new Dao Foundation is halfway decent—only several times stronger than those rubbish immortal foundations—I'll let you off without punishment for now."
The moment these words left his mouth, all the Dao Foundation cultivators present, whether possessing immortal foundations or Heaven Foundations, felt thoroughly uncomfortable. Everyone inwardly grumbled: *Old Daoist Xuanyue, if you want to boast about your own disciple, just boast! Why must you step on everyone else while doing it?*
Like True Monarch Xuanyue, Zhang Sheng also walked the path of channeling the vast might of her mindscape world into herself. In terms of her Dao Foundation alone, she was already significantly stronger than Xuanyue had been in his day. At this moment, within the Palace of Grand Beginning, she already stood at the pinnacle of this path.
Chapter 539