Void Cavern

"The goods in this auction had a total value of over one hundred million, but after factoring in costs, they are really only worth thirty to forty million in reality... Still, thirty to forty million isn't a small amount." Yaoguang focused his mind on several branches, concentrating primarily on [Martial Path] and [Qi Path]—or more precisely, on the [Martial Path] branch. Over the past five years, though he had had no extra income, his annual dividends from the spirit-gathering formations were no paltry sum. Relying on this accumulation, his [Qi Path] branch had long reached ninety-nine percent, a threshold from which it was difficult to advance further. Even the [Martial Path] branch had climbed to seventy-eight percent. He had originally thought he would have to wait another year or two before raising [Martial Path] to ninety-nine percent, but the influx of thirty to forty million spirit stones brought that timeline directly forward. "The three branches are about to merge into one," Yaoguang murmured. He had previously assumed that when the other two reached sixty percent, the three could complete their fusion. Now it appeared that he had to wait until one hundred percent. As he pondered, his movements did not slow in the slightest. In the next instant, nutrients from the [Merchant] branch were mobilized and channeled rapidly into the [Martial Path] branch. At once, the branch grew wildly, soon touching the critical threshold of ninety-nine percent. Just as it reached ninety-nine percent and more nutrients continued to pour in, this branch, along with the [Divine Path] and [Qi Path] branches, began emitting a hazy gray glow, completely enveloping the three intricately intertwined branches. Within this gray haze, Yaoguang seemed to understand. A path. A new vocation... A new path would depend on his cognition. And the brand-new path he recognized... Or rather, the ultimate realm pointed to by the path of cultivation he walked was... "Becoming an immortal." Yaoguang could not help but whisper those two words. At once... The mist dispersed. Just like the crystal-clear comprehension of the cultivation path within his soul, a brand-new branch appeared before Yaoguang. As for his previous various understandings of the Martial Path, Qi Path, and Divine Path, all dissipated completely. Taking their place was only one: [Immortal Path] A path... Leading straight to becoming an immortal. When Yaoguang focused his mind upon it, the ancient tree swayed. The branch that seemed to probe deep into the void, absorbing information from the boundless emptiness, actually withdrew before its nutrients were fully exhausted. This result took him slightly aback. Soon, realization dawned upon him. "It's not enough!" he said with sudden clarity. "The concept of an Immortal Path I set is too vast, to the point that even with my higher-dimensional cognition, I cannot see the entirety of the Immortal Path! In other words, I cannot achieve omniscience and omnipotence at this stage of the Immortal Path!" However, Yaoguang understood that this was not the limit of his higher-dimensional cognition, but the limit of his personal perception. Just as humans could clearly see the world from an ant's perspective, what a child saw and what an adult saw were obviously distinct. Weak as he was right now, what his higher-dimensional cognition observed was not the entire universe either. At most, it encompassed the Cangwu Great World, the Beihai Star world, and several other worlds. Just as an adult could learn about the entire world through diverse channels, while a child might only be familiar with the tiny plot of land within their living circle. With this thought, Yaoguang slightly adjusted his positioning of the [Immortal Path]. [Immortal Path: Void Cavern] The first realm of the Immortal Path. In the next second, as his nutrients continued to pour in, the branch's growth was no longer stalled, resuming anew. Simultaneously, information regarding the Void Cavern realm flooded in wildly. Soon, progress reached around four percent before the nutrients were exhausted. Yaoguang made a brief calculation and swiftly reached a conclusion. "It will take roughly five hundred million spirit stones in revenue to fill the comprehension of the Void Cavern realm," he pondered. [Immortal Path: Void Cavern] encompassed all the previous body refining, qi refining, and spirit refining. Five hundred million was not high. "However, considering that my fame will definitely grow greater during this process, labor costs will inevitably rise. The spirit stones ultimately required might reach eight hundred million to one billion, or perhaps even exceed one billion..." Having calculated to this point, Yaoguang paused. Rounding it to a nice number, let it be one billion. One billion was by no means a small figure. Over the past five years, he had been busy refining external cores and took few commissions, earning only around thirty million a year. At that rate, gathering one billion would take thirty-three years. He had to expand his revenue sources. "The most stable way to make money is still through spirit-gathering formations. More and more people are mastering the improved spirit-gathering formation layout techniques now. What is lacking is no longer manpower, but enough nodes capable of hosting spirit-gathering formations. For the next five or six years, the nodes will barely suffice, but after five or six years, once the improvements of all spirit-gathering formations are complete, the growth rate will stall..." Although by that time, the Nine Cauldrons Sect's annual revenue would exceed four hundred million, and his dividends would surpass fifty million—and by piecing together earnings from other areas, he could even reach an annual income of one hundred million—still... When it came to income, the more, the better. Aside from improving the Void Cavern realm, his [Artifact Refining] and [Formation] branches were also waiting to break through. He turned his gaze toward the [Artifact Refining] branch. In his mind, countless bits of artifact refining information flowed ceaselessly. "Speaking of artifact refining information, what I can refine isn't limited to life-bound flying swords. There are also many other artifacts, magical treasures that amplify specific spells, defensive magical treasures, including flying vessels and alchemy cauldrons... I can refine them all..." Vast amounts of information were stacked in his mind, and he rarely browsed through them to avoid burdening his mental capacity. Now, as he reviewed them briefly, innumerable refining methods for cauldrons surfaced. One type among them, if used to refine treasure pills, would likely be more cost-effective than the Azure Jade Cauldron, a spirit treasure. Unfortunately, these cauldrons required exceedingly high refining techniques. Unless Yaoguang were willing to spend eight or ten years guiding Dong Liushui and the other Artifact Refining Grandmasters hand-in-hand, even if he laid the cauldrons' refining methods before them, they would never be able to refine them. "The Nine Cauldrons Sect's pool of technical talent is too shallow. Previously refining ordinary magical treasures and artifacts was fine, but the more advanced the artifacts and magical treasures, the more I have to rely on myself." Yaoguang's thoughts lingered on several cauldrons for a moment before he ultimately gave up on the idea. Refining high-grade treasure-weapon-level cauldrons was not worth it. If he was going to refine one, he would refine a spirit treasure directly. "Progress in the Void Cavern realm will inevitably be extremely slow next. I might as well elevate my artifact refining techniques first to possess the ability to craft spirit treasures, or even high-grade spirit treasures. If I can forge a high-grade spirit-treasure-level cauldron, it will definitely boost Sheikh and Wu Qingying's alchemy efficiency. Furthermore, equipping Li Hanqiu with high-grade spirit treasures will make his combat prowess even more formidable." Yaoguang set his mind on this plan. Having finished his summary, he refocused his gaze on the [Immortal Path] branch. "Speaking of which... after the three branches merged into one, did they not blossom and bear fruit? Did they simply devour the three 'innate' divine abilities?" It was understandable that the qi refining innate ability had been swallowed—he had refined qi first before sprouting the qi refining branch, making it a special case. Yet now, with the three branches fused into one, none of the innate divine abilities remained. This letdown was quite substantial. After a good while, Yaoguang reined in his mind. If they were gone, so be it. Innate divine abilities were inherently products derived from comprehending a realm to the utmost. Since his Star God, Golden Core, and Dharma Idol had all been shattered and restructured, failing to form a dao fruit was somewhat understandable. ... With Dengxian Tower's successful extortion, the unrest surrounding the Immortal Alliance came to a temporary close. Following that, the situation on the Tianxing Continent remained relatively stable. While the Great Sun Sword Sect developed quietly, its cooperation with the Wuji Astral Palace grew increasingly deep. The dispute between sword and qi within the Shouyang Sect was gradually drawing to a close, with both sides trending toward reconciliation. The Xuanming Sect continued licking its wounds and gathering strength. The remaining Ancient Immortal Sect, Dayue Dynasty, and Astral Sea Sect all behaved themselves. However, in the Brahma Divine Kingdom, a new Sect Master, Zhai Di, assumed power. A leader of great vision and ambition, he possessed an all-embracing mindset and sought to absorb the Brahma Cult and Brahma Gate into the Brahma Divine Kingdom. If he succeeded... The Brahma Divine Kingdom was bound to leap into becoming a colossal force second only to the Six Great Immortal Sects, earning the qualifications to further contest the throne of hegemon of the Tianxing Continent. On the other continents, the Wuji Astral Palace remained bogged down in the quagmire of war with the Black Feather Sect. Meanwhile, the competition between the Myriad Beasts Sect and the Immortal Alliance gradually ground to a halt. Originally, the Myriad Beasts Sect not only had to vie with the Immortal Alliance for hegemony over the Riyao Continent, but also had to divert significant energy toward supporting the war involving the Black Feather Sect on the Heiyan Continent, leaving them struggling to manage both fronts. Thus, they simply shelved their disputes with the Immortal Alliance for the time being. The Immortal Alliance was also glad to let the Myriad Beasts Sect free up its hands to fight to the death with the Wuji Astral Palace on the Heiyan Continent, leading to a temporary lull between the two. The Taiyin Sect and Fatian Pavilion, the two sects competing for hegemony over the Lengyue Continent, also showed signs of reconciliation. It seemed they had realized that continuing to fight would only lead them further away from their strategic goal of "unifying the world" in the future. Consequently, both sides had no choice but to call a truce and focus on recuperation and rebuilding. In this manner, the Lengyue Continent achieved a rare peace. When this state of affairs persisted for a while, people suddenly realized that the Cangwu Great World had entered an unprecedented era of peace. Among the five continents, apart from the Heiyan Continent, the other four were entirely free of war. Without wars, ties between sects naturally grew closer, and commercial exchanges flourished as well. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Zixiao Institute vigorously promoted its flying swords. Orders flooded in endlessly, and a continuous stream of spirit stones poured into the Nine Cauldrons Sect. As for the Immortal Alliance's spirit pill dumping plan aimed at the Nine Cauldrons Sect... It went quite smoothly at first. Relying on bargain prices, they aggressively seized the Nine Cauldrons Sect's market, squeezing the sect's native alchemy institutes so severely that they could barely breathe. Yet several years later, once the Immortal Alliance had achieved dominance over the Nine Cauldrons Sect's spirit pill market and wanted to raise prices... Their market personnel were astonished to discover that the Nine Cauldrons Sect seemed to have changed tracks. Due to shifts in cultivation methods, their demand for pills had changed as well. And the required pills were ones the Immortal Alliance could not provide at all. Nor was it possible for the alliance to establish dedicated production lines solely for the Nine Cauldrons Sect's market just to manufacture pills that could only be sold to them. Of course, not everyone in the Nine Cauldrons Sect had switched methods, but because the Immortal Alliance had previously dumped cheap pills to capture the market, the Nine Cauldrons Sect had stockpiled a substantial quantity—enough to sustain the daily consumption of those who had not switched. This outcome naturally left the Immortal Alliance deeply dissatisfied. Yet confronted with Li Hanqiu's constant habit of showing up at their doorstep threatening self-detonation, they had no choice but to swallow their grievances. It could only be said that their skills fell short. And so, amid this calm, another ten years slipped away. These ten years were referred to by the world as a precious decade of peace. The Nine Cauldrons Sect, meanwhile, called it the golden decade of sect growth and transformation.