Star Gate

The Divine Path. That was the path of spirit refining. Focusing primarily on cultivating the divine soul. Regardless of whether a cultivator pursued body refining, qi refining, or spirit refining, upon reaching the fifth heaven, they could condense their diffuse mental power into spirit intent with intimidating deterrence, divine sense that could attach to and manipulate physical objects, or a diffuse yet exceptionally acute divine mind. Of course, with the changing eras, the threshold for condensing spirit intent, divine sense, and divine mind had dropped considerably. In ancient times, cultivators had to reach the fifth heaven before condensing these powers, but now... The fourth heaven was enough. By resorting to special methods and paying a price, one could even condense divine sense or divine mind at the third heaven. All three were fundamentally mental power, differing only in orientation—much like how classical mechanics, thermodynamics, and electromagnetism all branched from physics. Divine sense also possessed sensory awareness; it simply was not as acute as divine mind. "Compared to the divine mind of spirit cultivators, I still prefer following the path of qi refining to condense divine sense. By attaching divine sense to external objects and true vitality, one can transition into a sword cultivator, forge a life-bound flying sword, ride the sword into the azure heavens, and slay enemies from ten thousand li away. Or one could pursue the path of a spell cultivator, carpeting the battlefield in arts that scorch a thousand li of earth..." It wasn't that the path of spirit cultivation was inferior, only that... Their orientations were different. A spirit cultivator's divine mind was comparatively diffuse. Though sharp and possessing an immense release range, it was primarily used for scouting, perception, and locking onto enemies; it did not provide an immediate surge in personal combat prowess. At best, with a powerful divine mind, one could better sense one's internal state and enhance cultivation efficiency. The problem was... With his realm already outstripping his raw strength, his cultivation efficiency was already pushed to the maximum. Such auxiliary benefits were not particularly noticeable for him. Furthermore... "Sword cultivators look so cool." Yaoguang felt a twinge of regret. "With a life-bound flying sword, one can already fly upon a sword as a high-tier cultivator. But a martial artist... has to reach the Star Lord rank before taking to the sky. And because they rely on astral force fields for a pseudo-antigravity flight, an extra layer of procedure is involved. In both agility and speed, they can't compare to a sword cultivator of the same realm." After a moment, he reined in his thoughts. Rising to his feet, he waved toward Lei Yun inside the small villa. "Young Master." "I recall the Jishi Society was planning to send over a batch of gifts. Have they arrived?" "They've already arrived. Right now, they're at the inspection checkpoint beneath Mount Yuhuang Villa to check for any hazardous materials," Lei Yun answered immediately. "Have them brought up," Yaoguang instructed. Acknowledging the order, Lei Yun quickly relayed the command. Meanwhile, his gaze shifted over Lei Yun and Su Yaoxue. A moment later, he nodded slightly. "You've been at the Martial Master stage for over three months now. It's time to take the next step and train your internal organs. Have you been taking the Snow Spirit Pills?" "Yes," Su Yaoxue answered. "One every three days, without fail." "Good. With the foundation laid by these medicinal pills, training your internal organs won't be difficult for either of you." Yaoguang nodded. The Snow Spirit Pill was a refined version of the Snow Ginseng Pill. In both efficacy and gentleness of medicinal potency, it surpassed the Snow Ginseng Pill. A single bottle of Snow Spirit Pills cost enough to drain an entire nation's annual fiscal revenue. Of course, that was the retail price; the actual cost was somewhat lower. Even so, more than ninety percent of royal family cores across the globe would never dare use such pills for daily cultivation. At most, they might take one or two when attempting a breakthrough. After all... It was far too expensive. "Go on," Yaoguang waved his hand. "Understood," Su Yaoxue nodded. Half a year... To go from an ordinary Martial Artist who hadn't even reached peak form to a Martial Master, and a peak Martial Master at that—equivalent to jumping from level two to level six... Such efficiency was practically unimaginable. Yet considering who was guiding her cultivation and the medicines she consumed daily... This speed was actually normal. Someone with even greater talent might have progressed faster still. Take Jiang Xuntian, who had become a Martial Saint at twenty-one. The resources she currently enjoyed rivaled and even surpassed what that true dragon of the Jiang family had received, not to mention having Yaoguang, a Heavenly Being, personally guiding her step by step. Even under these conditions, it would likely take her two to three years to become a Martial Saint. Thus, not a trace of pride lingered in her heart. She understood perfectly well why she could partake in such immense resources. Simply because of the blood relation between her and Yaoguang—one that wasn't exceptionally close, yet undeniably existed. For that reason, the only thing she could do was throw herself into cultivation, achieving Yaoguang's expectations as swiftly as possible. Only then would she be worthy of the investment and nurturing he poured into her. *** An hour later, crate after crate of supplies was carried over, including several newly discovered divine weapons. After receiving these goods, Yaoguang did not inspect them one by one. Instead, he immediately turned his focus inward toward his spiritual world. Within his spiritual world, the freshly sprouted branch of the [Divine Path] had in mere moments completed a seven-tier leap. It had grown straight to a level rivaling the seventh tier of the [Martial Path]. Yet despite reaching the seventh tier, it had borne only two Dao Fruits. This caught him somewhat by surprise. He focused his gaze on the ancient tree. At some point, the trunk of the ancient tree had merged completely with the [Martial Path] branch, becoming indistinguishable. Just as with an ordinary tree, if a branch grew thicker and sturdier than the trunk itself, people would naturally treat it as the trunk. "I previously thought [Artifact Refining] only yielded two Dao Fruits at the ninth tier because of how that profession was divided. Now it seems the [Martial Path] branch has become my primary profession, while everything else is a secondary profession? So their Dao Fruit conception..." Yaoguang lightly sensed the secret arts derived from the two Dao Fruits. "...means the newly conceived Dao Fruits must also center around the [Martial Path], serving as support for the primary profession?" Of the two Dao Fruits, one was Awareness. The effect of this Dao Fruit heavily overlapped with Perception. The only difference was that Awareness was more comprehensive and acute. Not only could it accurately differentiate between martial artists, demons, and cultivators, but it could also gauge their realm and strength. A thought stirred in Yaoguang's mind. He soon recalled a device Xie Yier had delivered not long ago. Shaped like a pair of glasses, the device could roughly estimate a person's physique, true essence, and divine soul strength. A Grandmaster at the limits of the human body had values of 9 across the board, while a Martial Saint who broke those limits reached 10 or higher. Using those numerical formulas, Yaoguang slightly fine-tuned this secret art. When he looked at Su Yaoxue again, the value 6 surfaced in his mind, while Lei Yun's value reached 7. "Not bad at all. At least it allows me to know both myself and my opponent to a degree." Yaoguang smiled faintly. Of course, these numbers served merely as a reference; a martial artist's strength never relied solely on physique. For both himself and the Rebirth Society, slaying foes across realms was effortless. What was more... "The acuity of spirit intent is far inferior to divine mind," Yaoguang pondered. Fortunately, however... The second Dao Fruit, [Soul Splitting], solved this issue completely. "A human brain cannot harbor two distinct states of consciousness at once—it is either spirit intent or divine mind. Conflating the two easily creates a muddled mess. Even the Moon Demons, who specialize in spirit cultivation, focus on only one path when possessing a living creature. For instance, a Moon Demon following the Horned Demon path focuses on body refining, and only at the final moment do they refine qi into spirit, transforming all spirit intent into divine mind to nourish themselves..." Yaoguang quietly perceived the passive effect granted by this Dao Fruit. "Based on my unique circumstances, the Soul Splitting talent unearthed the lingering remnants of consciousness—the imprint of the 'original host'—and forged a second divine soul, which can be used to condense divine mind..." This... could be considered the final gift the original host had left him. "Seventh tier in body refining, seventh tier in spirit refining... Dual cultivation achieved. Unfortunately, concurrently practicing qi refining is now completely out of reach." Yaoguang couldn't say whether this was good or bad. After a long silence, he shook his head. Good or bad hardly mattered. What mattered was that spirit refining was already in hand, while qi refining remained distant. That was enough. "Then again... the combined value of these supplies is tremendous. Why hasn't the growth progress of the Divine Path branch reached one hundred percent of the seventh tier? This is far slower than the progress of the Martial Path back then." Yaoguang focused his concentration to sense it for a moment. Before long, an idea struck him, and he directed his gaze toward the [Merchant] branch. "Labor costs have gone up." He quickly arrived at this conclusion. Previously, he had been merely a Grandmaster or Martial Saint, but now... He was a Heavenly Being. A Heavenly Being's labor cost was naturally leagues higher than that of a Grandmaster or Martial Saint. "It's essentially like being high-level and getting no EXP from killing weak mobs," Yaoguang mused with a sigh. Fortunately, the [Demon Hunting] sub-profession's calculation didn't take labor costs into account. He glanced over the progress of the [Martial Path]. Previously, relying on the Five Emperors Soul Refining Furnace, he had managed to jump more than a full level. To advance further now... It would be as difficult as ascending the heavens. At least in this world. In that case, the next EXP he gained would have to be funneled into bringing up [Demon Hunting] and [Merchant]. He didn't need to push them too high—just up to a level comparable to the seventh tier, enough to yield two Dao Fruit secret arts each. *** Over the following days, adopting the mindset of making use of his free time, Yaoguang cultivated the Divine Path alongside his training after honing his physical body to its limit, condensing his own divine mind. This process hadn't gone on long when Xie Yier sent word. The Star Gate... was fully calibrated. *** Mount Yujing. Yaoguang stood before the towering, hundred-meter-tall Star Gate, an austere look on his face. Beside him stood Xie Yushu, Gu Wanquan, and more than half of the Xie family's upper echelon. Among them was Xie Tiandao, who had newly succeeded to the Xie family's throne. "Holy Lord Yaoguang, please rest assured. After the Star Gate opens, it will undergo six months of maintenance, followed by another six months to recalibrate the coordinates before it can be opened once more. When that time comes, we will certainly return and bring you the latest news from Cangwu," Xie Yushu solemnly promised as he stood before the Star Gate. "I naturally trust you all." Yaoguang showed no intention of stepping through with Xie Yushu and the others. He would let Xie Yushu... as well as Zong Yan, Ji Pingtian, and Hong Chuan scout the path first. Indeed. In addition to the Xie family members, several figures from the Jishi Society were also going along. To some extent, they served as a form of surveillance over the Xie family. "May Holy Lord's auspicious words hold true." Glancing at the Star Gate, Xie Yushu said, "Without further delay, we shall depart." "I wish you all smooth travels." Yaoguang cupped his hands solemnly toward the group. Xie Yushu and the others gave heavy nods. Then, without hesitation, they turned and walked resolutely into the Star Gate, stepping into the brand-new, unknown world beyond.