Occupation

"There are still two shares left." Yaoguang felt a tinge of regret. Just as he had guessed, reaching a share of 9.9 was his limit at this moment. After all, he had not yet had the time to allow his three semi-immortal artifacts to fully evolve and completely walk the Human Immortal path. At best, he had traversed only a third of it. "Moreover, the lower realm probably cannot accommodate immortal-level power. Given the ever-strengthening pull of the Immortal Realm, the moment I cast the Great Void Art, I would instantly shatter the void. With the two effects combined... one careless slip could really get me pulled straight into the Immortal Realm." As Yaoguang spoke, his thoughts turned to those mysterious Dao Sovereigns. Many figures at the Dao Sovereign level seemed to have vanished suddenly. Very few truly ascended to the Immortal Realm through the Gate of the Immortal Realm. This was true for Dao Sovereign Diyi, and it was equally true for Dao Sovereign Zaohua and others. Outsiders had absolute confidence in their strength and concluded that they had ascended to the Immortal Realm, but few had witnessed it with their own eyes. Most Dao Sovereigns, after becoming invincible on Beihai Star, ventured deep into the cosmic sea of stars to explore and search for something. Once gone, they never returned. People believed these Dao Sovereigns must have ascended through other Gates of the Immortal Realm in the starry cosmos. Yet now that Yaoguang had reached this stage himself, he could tell that those Dao Sovereigns... Had likely failed to control their own power and accidentally ascended. "The restrictions of the lower realm," Yaoguang mused inwardly. Shaking his head, he paid no further heed to the two surplus shares of the Void. Although those two shares could probably produce two Void Dao Lords, still... Since he could not control them, he could only let them scatter with the wind. He wondered which lucky soul would benefit from them. For now, Yaoguang gathered up the spoils from all thirteen Dao Lords one by one. As he inventoried the resources left behind by the thirteen Dao Lords, he quickly noticed something. There were quite a few Dao artifacts that did not match their paths of cultivation at all. Deducing from these Dao artifacts... "These thirteen people killed at least six or more Dao Lords of other Grand Daos, and that is not even accounting for duplicates..." No wonder those thirteen Dao Lords had been so practiced in activating the Hundred Tribulations Realm Refining Formation and sweeping him inside. Presumably, those Dao Lords who were lucky enough to discover the anomalies of this world had been struck down before they could even figure out what was happening. If a newly arrived Dao Lord proved relatively powerful, they would find a way to pull them into their camp to jointly occupy and seal off this Gate of the Immortal Realm. And this... Was also the choice many Dao Lords would make upon discovering a new Gate of the Immortal Realm. "Judging by the blood on these Dao Lords' hands, Dao Lord Yuanxu was actually favored by fortune when he didn't get around to exploring this star sector back then. Otherwise, in his aged, weakened, and solitary state, he could hardly have escaped being jointly slain by these thirteen Dao Lords." Yaoguang understood clearly. Dao Lords traveling the sea of stars... Were not necessarily one hundred percent safe either. For them, danger did not stem from the universe's unimaginably extreme horrors and disasters, but precisely from other Dao Lords like themselves. No wonder some Dao Lords chose to travel in groups when venturing deep into the cosmos to train. Especially upon returning from their journeys with spoils in hand, they would summon neighboring Dao Lords to travel back together, lest the resources they spent thousands of years painstakingly gathering be intercepted by other Dao Lords midway, letting others reap the fruits of their toil. As he pondered, Yaoguang examined the information jade slips within the storage treasures of several Dao Lords. The records in these slips confirmed his suspicions. The thirteen Dao Lords had indeed accumulated over a vast span of time, bound by strict covenants to ensure they advanced and retreated together. "The earliest batch of Dao Lords has already ascended, tracing back four hundred thousand years... In other words, this Gate of the Immortal Realm was first discovered only four hundred thousand years ago... Over these four hundred thousand years, these factions passed down their heritage from generation to generation, with ten to twenty Dao Lords in every era. In this current era, there were indeed only thirteen coexisting Dao Lords." After reviewing this information, Yaoguang's mind settled. With no threat from other Dao Lords remaining, he turned his focus to the glazed treasure tree within his mental world. With the fall of thirteen Dao Lords, both the [Demon Hunting] and [Merchant] branches hung heavy with "experience" available for leveling up. Yaoguang's gaze lingered on [Dao Integration: Void] and [Artifact Crafting] for a moment. "Thirteen Dao Lords... each provided around 4 points of progress, with a few reaching 5 points. But even combined with the experience gained from the 'Merchant' branch, at most it could only advance my void comprehension by around 65 points—raising it from 101 to 166. That wouldn't necessarily bring about a qualitative leap in strength." Yaoguang glanced at the [Dao Integration: Time] branch. Putting everything into this branch could take a solid step forward toward becoming an Immortal Venerable in the Dao of Time. However... "I'm curious," Yaoguang said inwardly. "I really want to know: once my 'Artifact Crafting' breaks through rank eighteen and reaches the realm of rank nineteen, what kind of scenery will this world unveil before me?" Therefore... His focus instantly settled upon the [Artifact Crafting] branch. As a massive influx of "experience" poured in, the branch grew rapidly. Its progress soon climbed to 51%. "Beyond rank eighteen, the progress each Dao Lord provides is even slower than breakthroughs in 'Dao Integration,'" Yaoguang mused. Extrapolating from past experience... Hunting a Dao Lord likely yielded only a 3% increase in progress. By that logic, once [Artifact Crafting] reached rank nineteen, a single Dao Lord would probably yield a mere 1%. "What exists at rank nineteen? The pinnacle immortal artifacts crafted at rank eighteen essentially borrow the shares that Immortal Kings and Immortal Venerables do not command. But rank nineteen corresponds to the level of a Dao Ancestor, and a Dao Ancestor has fully mastered an entire Grand Dao—what shares would be left for an artifact to borrow? So what exactly are the immortal artifacts crafted at rank nineteen?" Yaoguang looked at the 51% progress on the [Artifact Crafting] branch. At the same time, he continuously digested the influx of information brought by the increased progress... He genuinely wanted to know what changes would occur when the time came. Unfortunately, the 51% progress in rank-eighteen crafting made no mention of any information regarding rank-nineteen crafting. The 51% progress provided many traditional methods for crafting pinnacle immortal artifacts, as well as tricks to accelerate crafting speed and improve success rates. Yet these tricks were of no use to him, who possessed the "Dao Sacrifice" Dao fruit. If this 51% progress was equivalent to drastically enhancing his scientific research and business management capabilities, the "Dao Sacrifice" Dao fruit divine ability was equivalent to directly printing money—directly plundering. No matter how fast business moved or how advanced scientific research became, nothing was as fast as outright robbery. "At best, I've merely mastered the crafting techniques for numerous pinnacle immortal artifacts. As for these artifacts... there is no need for me to even look at categories belonging to other Grand Daos, because looking is pointless if I can neither use nor craft them. The only ones truly worth considering are those of the Grand Dao of the Void and the Grand Dao of Time, as well as directions I have dabbled in, like the Grand Dao of the Soul, Grand Dao of Flowing Light, and Grand Dao of Destruction." Yaoguang understood clearly. The Ten Directions Heavenly Realm had already been forged. Next, he needed to allow the Endless Tower and Wuji Sword to complete their metamorphosis as quickly as possible. And after that... He would have to choose the promotion paths for these three immortal artifacts. However... "In the cosmic sea of stars, immortal artifact materials are already exceedingly rare. Over a lifespan of one to two hundred thousand years, ordinary Dao Lords might find only one or two pieces, or three to five at most. As for the even more precious high-grade immortal artifact materials... the only kind I've encountered so far is time golden sand. Furthermore, a mere eight or ten grains of time golden sand cannot even be considered high-grade immortal artifact material; only when the count exceeds fifty and undergoes refinement can it be used to forge a high-grade immortal artifact." Yaoguang sensed the various materials stored inside the spatial treasures. High-grade immortal artifact materials were already so precious and nearly impossible to come by; pinnacle immortal artifact materials were basically out of the question. Unless one ascended to the Immortal Realm, finding them was utterly out of reach. "I'll look around some more. In any case, given my current attainments, I no longer need to worry about ascending to the Immortal Realm. Even outside the opening cycle of the Gate of the Immortal Realm, I can ascend whenever I wish." Yaoguang suppressed the thoughts of upgrading immortal artifacts sparked by his increased crafting progress. Stepping into the void, he arrived at the center of the formation. He swiftly took control of the formation, restoring its seal over this world. Yet as he took command of the formation, he sensed something. Void Shattering cultivators were rushing toward him. Without guessing, he knew these were factions established in this world by the thirteen Dao Lords. There was no need for words. Shaohua, piloting the Dao artifact warship, had already arrived and taken over the task of controlling and modifying the formation from Yaoguang. As for Yaoguang himself, he immediately descended below. Down below, more than twenty Void Shattering cultivators were hurrying upward. When they sensed him descending with the Grand Dao of the Void, radiating a Dao rhythm that did not belong to any Void Dao Lord known to them, these Void Shattering cultivators panicked and scattered in disarray. At such close range, these Void Shattering cultivators had clearly sensed the fall of one Dao Lord after another and realized that this world had undergone an invasion battle. Such battles were also documented in their sects' ancient records, and without exception, their side had always emerged victorious. Yet this time... It was distinctly different. The one who ultimately entered their world was an entirely unfamiliar Dao Lord. Yaoguang glanced at the scattering Void Shattering cultivators... After a moment's contemplation, he showed them no mercy. With a flick of his hand, twenty-three Void Swords swept forth, instantly overtaking the fleeing Void Shattering cultivators. In an instant, the battle ended. Immediately afterward, Yaoguang arrived in the sky above this world. Compared to Beihai Star, the rules of this world were far more rigid and dense. The reason... Was probably that the energy and mass in this star sector were too sparse and meager, barely enough to sustain a Gate of the Immortal Realm, such that the entire world had been drawn into the gate's surrounding orbit. In other words, entering this world brought a sense of oppression akin to going deep into the core of Beihai Star. The harsh environment made it nearly impossible for anyone to live or reside on the planet's surface; only thirteen palace complexes floated within the atmosphere. The beings living within these palace complexes were predominantly at the Void Piercing realm. Yaoguang swept his divine sense across them; the total population of all thirteen palace complexes combined was fewer than two thousand. Cultivators of such cultivation levels and numbers... "This Gate of the Immortal Realm can be considered claimed," Yaoguang remarked. Next would be the matter of utilization and development.