This was why Lu Yuan had never considered bestowing great era providence upon himself from the beginning.
To him, such a thing was merely the icing on the cake, offering little significant benefit.
He was so certain of this first because his strength had already reached such a level, and second, because he was already a master of destiny power. Having studied great era providence for a long time, he understood it thoroughly.
Right now, his thoughts were quite simple: he merely wished to watch the crowd refine that strand of great era providence and see what kind of changes it would bring.
Of course, Lu Yuan also knew that these people would not break through directly during the refinement process. The reason was simple: while great era providence indeed augmented every aspect of a cultivator, that did not directly include raw cultivation strength.
Providence was simply like that. Having dealt with it for so long, how could Lu Yuan not understand?
If providence could truly elevate someone's cultivation realm instantly upon bestowal, then given the vast amount of destiny power Lu Yuan possessed after gathering the Nine Cauldrons, how immense would it have been? And to what heights would he have ascended? Yet, in reality, it simply did not work that way.
However, if one encountered a bottleneck, the augmentation of destiny power could indeed allow for a direct breakthrough within a short time. Lu Yuan was well aware of this.
Yet within the Heavenly Court, after Lu Yuan had bestowed destiny upon them multiple times, many had already pushed their potential to the absolute limit. Over this period, their strength and cultivation had undergone earth-shaking changes; though all were currently in the Immortal Realm, not a single one was close to the Grotto-Heaven Immortal realm. Therefore, even with great era providence bestowed upon them, they could not break through immediately—it would take time.
At that moment, Lu Yuan looked at the crowd on Jade Emperor Peak. Everyone sat with their eyes closed, surrounded by purple qi. As if favored by heaven and earth, each was cloaked in a unique power.
This was the great era providence. Though only a single strand, it was enough; any more would yield diminishing returns.
"It seems refining it will still take some time."
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Lu Yuan's face; he was in no hurry. The Great Tribulation had not yet fully descended, so he indeed had time. Besides, by his estimates, refining the great era providence would not take excessively long.
He then closed his eyes. His primary task right now was essentially to stand guard over them, ready to intervene should any unexpected accidents occur.
Naturally, he could not let time go to waste either. He could seize this opportunity to deepen his understanding of great era providence and see if it could grant him any inspiration to draw ever closer to the Supreme Immortal realm. That had been his tentative goal all along.
Even though he knew he could not rush things, he had no choice. The crucial question was whether the two major factions and the extraterrestrial heavenly demons would leave him any time. Thus, Lu Yuan had to exhaust every possible means.
Nurtured by heaven and earth, great era providence carried the will of heaven and earth, which happened to offer him some enlightenment. On this point, Lu Yuan knew clearly that he had to seize every opportunity.
Yet whenever he thought about this, a sense of helplessness inevitably rose in his heart. It had been like this at every stage of his journey—he always had to face stronger foes.
Of course, this time was somewhat different from before: Lu Yuan knew full well that the enemies he had to face now would surpass anyone from the past.
Setting aside the extraterrestrial heavenly demons, the Domain Lords of the two major factions had long been Supreme Immortals, and they even showed faint signs of breaking through the pinnacle of the Immortal Realm. When they joined forces back then, even Jiang Taiyu had suffered at their hands. What was certain was that the two Domain Lords were terrifyingly formidable. Within this Xuanhuang Universe, at least, no one was a match for them anymore.
Thus, if those two mighty experts attacked right now, the situation would be exceedingly perilous for Lu Yuan.
But what could he do? He was trying to find a way to break through and take another step forward, but the critical problem remained: time was too short.
*Rumble!*
Yet just as Lu Yuan was pondering these matters, a sudden rumble interrupted his train of thought.
Looking up, he discovered a powerful energy slowly coalescing around Zhu Qingyu as she sat cross-legged on Jade Emperor Peak, seemingly reaching a certain limit.
"She's already on the verge of reaching Grotto-Heaven Immortal?" Seeing this, even Lu Yuan was utterly astonished. He had originally thought that even after refining the great era providence, breaking through in cultivation realm would still take time. Yet now, she was already close to taking that next step—something he had not anticipated.
Without overthinking it, Lu Yuan raised his hand. A surge of power emerged and suppressed the aura swelling from Zhu Qingyu. If he did not do so, it could easily disrupt the refinement of the others around her.
"Still, whether you can break through directly will depend on your own fortune," Lu Yuan muttered after finishing this. Great era providence had merely bestowed benefits upon her, bringing Zhu Qingyu closer to the Grotto-Heaven Immortal realm; a true breakthrough was still impossible for the moment—though he could not rule out that she had accumulated enough foundation to pull it off at the crucial juncture.
*In that case, I cannot delay any longer either.*
After a moment's thought, seeing that the people present were in no major danger, Lu Yuan left Jade Emperor Peak directly. He sought out Jiang Ningxian and bestowed a strand of great era providence upon her as well.
"Didn't you say to wait until the Heavenly Court members finished refining theirs?" Jiang Ningxian could not help but ask in confusion. That had been what they agreed upon earlier, and she did not know why he had suddenly changed his mind.
"This great era providence holds immense benefits, and I know your cultivation recently hit a bottleneck," Lu Yuan explained briefly. "You are close to reaching the Creation Immortal realm, yet you haven't been able to take that final step. We don't have much time left. The sooner, the better."
He did not want Jiang Ningxian to grow stronger merely so she could be of assistance against the upcoming Great Tribulation; rather, he wanted her to possess the strength to lead the Heavenly Court and protect herself. Breaking through a step earlier and growing stronger was naturally for the best.
"I understand." Jiang Ningxian nodded.
Without another word, Lu Yuan took his leave.
Jiang Ningxian then sealed off her residence and set about refining that strand of great era providence in earnest, knowing full well how important it was and that there was no room for carelessness.
Lu Yuan returned to Jade Emperor Peak. To his pleasant surprise, someone had already completely refined the providence and gained numerous benefits—not in their cultivation realm, but in an entirely different aspect.
Chapter 574