The Future

An emergency session of the Cangwu League was convened. Representatives from the various sects attended one after another. Naturally, those attending such a gathering were almost entirely the hall masters of each sect's External Publicity Hall. With the Virtual Spirit Realm available, these hall masters could immediately establish contact with the sect masters and Golden Cores backing them. In essence, the will of an attending External Publicity Hall master represented the will of their sect master—and even the will of their entire sect. Unlike in the past... As this conference opened, the hall masters of every sect frequently glanced toward the ten foremost seats. Those ten seats belonged to the Ten Great Immortal Sects that had founded the Cangwu League. Originally, the only ones among the ten who truly had a say were the six major factions: the Wuji Astral Palace, the Immortal Alliance, the Myriad Beasts Sect, the Taiyin Sect, the Fatian Pavilion, and the Golden Divine Temple. The remaining four—the Nine Cauldrons Sect, the Pill Sect, the Yang God Sect, and the God-Fiend Hall—had virtually no presence to speak of. In particular, the Pill Sect, the Yang God Sect, and the God-Fiend Hall were mere puppets echoing the stances of the other immortal sects. Their speeches carried no weight whatsoever. But this time... Things were different. While people's gazes lingered briefly on the representatives of factions like the Wuji Astral Palace, the Immortal Alliance, and the Myriad Beasts Sect, most eyes were fixed upon Zhou Lijian, Hall Master of the Nine Cauldrons Sect's External Publicity Hall. Under the scrutiny of everyone present, Zhou Lijian unhurriedly outlined the Nine Cauldrons Sect's peace initiative. In particular... "Perfected Yaoguang of our Nine Cauldrons Sect once annihilated a squad of Moon Demon Empire remnants. Through interrogating them, he successfully obtained a relatively complete cultivation method. Of course, because we cannot be certain whether these Moon Demon Empire remnants concealed any traps within the technique, it is not convenient to publish it openly right now. However... cultivation methods from Beihai Star should not be monopolized by the Nine Cauldrons Sect alone; they belong to the entire Cangwu Great World." Zhou Lijian's voice echoed through the Cangwu League assembly. Since this concerned a complete cultivation system from Beihai Star, everyone perked up at once. Even the hall masters of the External Publicity Halls of the Wuji Astral Palace and the Immortal Alliance exchanged glances, dumbfounded. Was the Nine Cauldrons Sect... truly that benevolent?! They were actually willing to make this technique public?! "After joint deliberations within our Nine Cauldrons Sect, for the development of the Cangwu Great World and to ensure that none of our world's cultivators ruin their futures on the wrong path, the Nine Cauldrons Sect proposes the 'Cultivation Path Community' initiative. We sincerely invite all sects of the Cangwu League to join us and study this cultivation method together." Zhou Lijian's voice resonated with upright, noble grandeur. "Let us all contemplate this method together and work out the optimal path of cultivation. At the same time, let us join hands to search for any latent traps within it, ensuring that everyone can practice it without suffering adverse effects, correcting the flaws of Cangwu's existing cultivation system, and enabling all to smoothly achieve Foundation Establishment, form a Golden Core, attain longevity, and enjoy a lifespan of a thousand years." The moment these words were spoken, the representatives of the premier immortal sects blanched. As for the large and medium sects, countless representatives broke into smiles of delight. It had already been verified that Yaoguang's ability to defeat the two Golden Cores of the Immortal Alliance and the Wuji Astral Palace stemmed from the superiority of his cultivation method. Now, the Nine Cauldrons Sect was actually willing to share these techniques and contemplate them alongside all sects in the Cangwu Great World... Did that not mean that in the future, they too might nurture experts like Perfected Yaoguang—experts capable of matching the Golden Cores of the Immortal Alliance and the Wuji Astral Palace, freeing them from the oppression of those two top immortal sects forever?! *** "This is an open gambit." Feng Ao, Linden, Luofu, and the others who had been closely monitoring developments learned of what had transpired at the Cangwu League almost immediately. Linden, the Dharma Idol, let out a deep sigh. "An unresolvable open gambit at that." "A complete heritage from Beihai Star... In ten to twenty years, once the powerhouses of Beihai Star return, such heritages won't hold much value. Yet right now, whoever can obtain this complete heritage in advance will seize the initiative in the upheaval to come. For the Nine Cauldrons Sect to release it at this juncture and even propose a 'Cultivation Path Community' theory is truly a masterstroke. With just this modest favor, they will forcibly pull countless medium and large sects into their camp... Despicable." Everyone could see the formidable cunning behind the Nine Cauldrons Sect's move. "We cannot simply sit by and wait for death!" Qiao An said in a heavy voice. "We must find a way to stir up trouble for them. Otherwise, once they build overwhelming momentum, our situation will become perilous." "Agreed." Luofu nodded. "We will directly announce to the public that there is an issue with their cultivation method—that anyone who cultivates it past a certain point will risk sudden death..." "Sudden death is not enough. We should claim that they will be quietly controlled by the Nine Cauldrons Sect—the deeper their cultivation, the higher the chance of falling under their control," another Golden Core added. "This... Many cultivators should still be able to distinguish between a good cultivation method and a flawed one, wouldn't they?" Zhan Ke asked hesitantly. "Public opinion can melt metal. In the end, this world's public narrative and propaganda are controlled by top immortal sects like our Wuji Astral Palace and the Immortal Alliance," Luofu said. "Whether they believe it or not, as long as we repeat it often enough, we can naturally muddy the waters and cause faction after faction to hesitate." "Not only that, but we must also immediately release our own brand-new cultivation method," Linden chimed in. "Ours?" Zhan Ke paused slightly. "Do we possess a complete heritage method from Beihai Star?" "Of course not, but haven't we obtained the Nine Cauldrons Sect's Xuan Yuan Creation Technique? We only need to alter it slightly and claim it as our own." As Luofu spoke, he immediately added, "Furthermore, once our method is released, people will certainly claim the two techniques are similar. Thus, we must leverage our vast propaganda power to spread private rumors in advance, claiming that the Nine Cauldrons Sect's Xuan Yuan Creation Technique was actually stolen from us, which is why flaws arise during its cultivation." His words inspired Linden as well. "We should also put out word that only by cultivating our method can one truly reach the Great Dao to Heaven! The reason Yaoguang achieved such formidable power so quickly is entirely because he took a radical, unconventional shortcut at the expense of his own potential. Our path may be slower, but its strength lies in its stability." "Precisely. Let those medium and large factions practice according to our method first. Whether it produces results doesn't matter; we can simply blame any slow progress on our method being too orthodox. The crucial point is to disrupt the Nine Cauldrons Sect's plans! As long as we can stall for ten or twenty years, everything will be settled once the powerhouses from Beihai Star arrive." After deliberating, these Dharma Idols and Golden Cores quickly forged a counter-strategy. Regardless of anything else, their first priority was to muddy the waters in the Cangwu Great World. The Wuji Astral Palace and the Immortal Alliance had held supreme power for so many years that their deep foundations remained intact. Other factions held an instinctive awe toward them and an innate trust in their words. As long as the waters of the Cangwu Great World were stirred into chaos, dragging things out for ten or twenty years would not be difficult. *** Nine Cauldrons Sect. After observing the proceedings of the Cangwu League for a time, Yaoguang withdrew his attention. After all, the top powerhouses had already agreed upon the main points long before; holding the assembly was merely going through the motions. As for the treaty forbidding Golden Cores, Star Gods, and divine beasts from interfering in the affairs of the Cangwu Great World... It restricted him, but it restricted the top immortal sects just the same. At the Nine Cauldrons Sect's current pace of development, they could establish a new battle institute almost every year, and launch a new warship every two years. That included fifth-generation warships. In another eight to ten years, not only would the Nine Cauldrons Sect have over forty battle institutes, but their sky-patrol warships would number well over a dozen. Crucially, the combat capability of those dozen-plus sky-patrol warships would be sufficient to sweep across the combined fleets of every sect in the Cangwu Great World. Under such circumstances, a pact barring top powerhouses from interfering in the Cangwu Great World was hardly a bad thing for him. "This battle... yielded quite a harvest." Sitting in his residence within the Zixiao Institute in the Jiuxiao Domain, Yaoguang turned his gaze to the spoils he had obtained from the two Golden Cores, Zhan Ke and Miller. There were nine ordinary spirit treasures! These nine spirit treasures were worth at least a hundred million spirit stones. Still, compared to peak spirit treasures like the Sky-Cleaving Plate and the Heaven-Disrupting Ruler, the value of these nine spirit treasures fell a notch short. After inspecting the spirit treasures, Yaoguang diverted a portion of his mind to sense the experience growth in the [Merchant] branch. "It's roughly equivalent to an income of three hundred million spirit stones." This figure... was somewhat low. After a moment, however, realization struck him. "It's not that the value of these spirit treasures has decreased, but rather... my labor cost has increased again. That battle against Zhan Ke and Miller truly placed me at center stage on the world stage. Especially after this Cangwu League session, practically no top cultivator in the entire Cangwu Great World will remain ignorant of my name. Under these conditions, even if the total value of these eleven spirit treasures far exceeds three hundred million, the ultimate experience boost granted to [Merchant] is only equivalent to about three hundred million previously..." Understanding this left him with a touch of regret. Yet... It was inevitable. Strength and fame naturally went hand in hand. Unless a top powerhouse never acted and never revealed himself, remaining obscure was impossible. "Three hundred million it is, then." Yaoguang shifted his gaze to three branches: [Immortal Dao: Void Piercing], [Artifact Refining], and [Formation]. Advancing his immortal cultivation realm right now held little practical significance. His current cultivation system already far exceeded the standard of the Cangwu Great World. It was like a horde of multi-billionaires flocking into a tiny county town; more often than not, they had plenty of money but nowhere to spend it. No matter how high his realm was or how many techniques he mastered, if the Cangwu Great World lacked the corresponding resources for him to employ, what was the point of a higher realm? Therefore... "Right now, [Artifact Refining] has the highest progress. I'll continue stacking points into this branch to see what brand-new domain unlocks beyond Artifact Sage." With that thought, the experience belonging to [Merchant] swiftly poured into the [Artifact Refining] branch, causing it to blossom and bear fruit at tremendous speed. And as this branch completed its metamorphosis, Yaoguang came into contact with a domain of artifact refining beyond spirit treasures. "Dao artifacts." Artifacts of attaining the Dao.