"My first transport mission? Could it be that you have one for me, Fellow Daoist Mo Wen?"
Lu Changsheng's heart stirred as understanding dawned on him.
Mo Wen offered a faint smile. "Indeed. It just so happens that I need a batch of goods transported to the Liuguang Plane. The pay is twenty source crystals, and the deadline is three days. I wonder if you are interested, Fellow Daoist Lu?"
"Three days?"
Lu Changsheng hesitated.
He knew that travel for a World Master was very peculiar.
No matter how vast the distance might be across the Great Universe, on the scale of the Boundary Sea, it was actually just a tiny interval. But in the Great Universe, it would be an immense span.
Yet Lu Changsheng had no idea where the Liuguang Plane was located.
Would the time be sufficient?
As if anticipating Lu Changsheng's misgivings, Mo Wen continued, "The Liuguang Plane isn't very far from the Chaos Plane. At the speed of a normal World Master, one day is plenty—in fact, it wouldn't even take a full day.
"You have only just become a World Master, Fellow Daoist Lu, and are not yet familiar with traveling through the Boundary Sea. Therefore, the deadline has been set at three days, which provides you with a comfortable margin for error.
"However, if the delivery is not made on time, there is a tenfold fine—amounting to two hundred source crystals! If the goods are lost, they must be compensated at full value. So please consider it carefully, Fellow Daoist Lu."
Lu Changsheng grew thoughtful.
If the cargo was lost, one only needed to compensate its actual value.
The penalty was calculated at ten times the mission's reward.
This was very reasonable.
In fact, it was quite considerate.
It wasn't as if losing the cargo demanded ten times the cargo's worth. If that were the case, probably no World Master would ever agree to transport goods.
"Alright, I'll take it!"
Lu Changsheng nodded and accepted the assignment.
Operating his identity token, he successfully took on the mission posted by Mo Wen.
The time limit was three days.
Furthermore, Mo Wen gave Lu Changsheng a map.
It charted the path from the Chaos Plane to the Liuguang Plane, complete with detailed positional coordinates that made navigating there quite simple.
"Very well. There is no time to lose, so I shall set out at once."
With a sweep of his sleeve, Lu Changsheng drew the cargo straight into his True Realm.
The goods bore a special seal.
Even the World Master tasked with transportation could not inspect them.
If tampered with, the seal would shatter and could not be resealed. When the recipient saw that the cargo had been touched, they would refuse to accept it entirely. Should that happen, it would be handled as lost goods.
Lu Changsheng returned once again to the Boundary Sea.
He was growing more and more adept at this transition.
Upon returning to the Boundary Sea, Lu Changsheng resumed the form of his True Realm, which appeared as an ordinary little bubble amidst the vast waters.
Now, following the coordinates of the Liuguang Plane, Lu Changsheng exerted himself to move across the Boundary Sea.
In truth, the Great Universe held few real dangers for a World Master.
Yet the Boundary Sea was different.
The most perilous place for a World Master was precisely the Boundary Sea.
After all, a World Master's immortality rested on the fact that others could not enter the Boundary Sea. But other World Masters could.
If one encountered danger within the Boundary Sea and died here, they would truly be dead.
As Lu Changsheng pushed forward, he spotted several other small bubbles moving through the sea as well.
Evidently, those bubbles were other World Masters.
Yet none of them showed any intention of greeting one another.
In fact, whenever they caught sight of each other, both parties would veer off to keep their distance, clearly wishing to avoid any contact whatsoever.
Relations between World Masters were generally this cold and detached, and for good reason.
Who could tell whether the other party might launch a sneak attack?
Conversely, toward Transcendents who posed no threat to them, World Masters were capable of opening up and becoming sworn friends through life and death.
Lu Changsheng moved through the Boundary Sea for about a day.
It was indeed very slow.
After all, he was still a novice and unfamiliar with the environment of the Boundary Sea.
It took almost a full day and a half for Lu Changsheng to reach the coordinates of the Liuguang Plane.
"This should be the place."
Lu Changsheng then directed his True Realm to rapidly descend from the Boundary Sea.
*Buzz.*
He felt a sudden tremor as his True Realm detached from the Boundary Sea and descended into the Great Universe.
"Hmm?"
"It truly is a plane. Is this the Liuguang Plane?"
Lu Changsheng looked upon the realm.
Unlike the Chaos Plane, which remained hidden, the Liuguang Plane was entirely exposed.
Because of that, it could be seen clearly.
And the reason it was not concealed was simple: the Liuguang Plane had given birth to a great Second-Realm powerhouse—the Lord of Liuguang!
In the vast Great Universe, if a plane wished to establish a foothold, it had to produce a Second-Realm powerhouse or lean on large factions that possessed them.
This Lord of Liuguang enjoyed immense renown and held great fame across the Great Universe.
In fact, under the leadership of the Lord of Liuguang, the plane had subtly become a commercial trading hub for many surrounding realms.
For instance, even the Eternal Light Chamber of Commerce's branch in the Chaos Plane had to transport resources here to sell them.
Manifesting a physical form, Lu Changsheng flew directly into the Liuguang Plane.
As a World Master, he still felt the plane's natural repulsion against his True Realm.
This repulsive force was far stronger than what he had felt in chaos, but for Lu Changsheng, its impact was negligible.
Before long, Lu Changsheng located the Eternal Light Chamber of Commerce.
Even in the Liuguang Plane, it was one of the premier merchant guilds, making it very easy to find.
Lu Changsheng walked straight inside.
"Honored guest, may I ask what you require?" a cultivator came forward to ask.
Lu Changsheng displayed his token and said, "I am the World Master delivering a shipment..."
With the token presented, the attendant quickly understood his purpose.
"Ah, so it is Master Lu. Please follow me to the VIP lounge."
Once Lu Changsheng was seated in the VIP lounge, a Transcendent from the Eternal Light Chamber of Commerce soon arrived.
He smiled and said, "Master Lu, I am the manager of the Eternal Light Chamber of Commerce here in the Liuguang Plane. The cargo you brought..."
With a flick of his wrist, Lu Changsheng handed over the spatial ring containing the goods.
The manager swept his divine sense across it and nodded in satisfaction.
"Excellent. The cargo is intact and arrived well within the deadline.
"Here are the twenty source crystals for this mission."
Lu Changsheng did not refuse and accepted the twenty source crystals directly.
This was not the first time he had seen source crystals, but it was the first time he had ever possessed so many of them.
Twenty source crystals.
This was the remuneration for a single journey.
In the Great Universe, Transcendents all required source crystals to cultivate.
As a World Master, Lu Changsheng's primary path of cultivation lay in expanding his True Realm.
Yet a True Realm would not expand out of thin air.
Expansion required energy.
And where did that energy come from?
In truth, it was drawn from source crystals; by refining the source power within them, one could cause the True Realm to expand.
Naturally, a mere twenty source crystals were far from enough to trigger an expansion.
It would take at least a hundred or more to expand the True Realm once.
While the World Master path held extraordinary potential in the vast Great Universe and subtly surpassed other cultivation systems, it was not without its drawbacks.
The primary drawback was its immense resource consumption.
Every time a World Master expanded their world, vast quantities of source crystals had to be refined.
After all, making a world stronger and broader could never happen without a cost; it demanded massive reserves of source crystals.
Of course, expanding a world was also a matter of great intricacy.
This directly touched upon the cultivation methods of a World Master.
World Masters also required cultivation techniques.
After all, there were countless worlds, and they could not all be identical.
World Masters varied in strength, which essentially came down to the power and quality of their respective worlds.
If a world was innately weak, one could only rely on repeated post-natal expansions to elevate it and bridge the gap.
Lu Changsheng naturally understood how crucial a cultivation method was.
He had received a segment of a World Master cultivation technique, but it was only an ordinary one.
If he wished to have greater potential, a higher starting point, a stronger True Realm, and a solid foundation for future cultivation, he had to acquire a superior World Master technique.
"Does the chamber carry superior cultivation methods for World Masters?" Lu Changsheng inquired.
The manager's eyes lit up.
"Yes, of course! Not to mention superior methods, we even have top-tier ones.
"Moreover, as an internal member, Master Lu enjoys a ten-percent discount. It is quite a worthwhile arrangement."
Lu Changsheng nodded. "How many source crystals would that require at minimum?"
"For a superior World Master method, the price generally hovers around a hundred thousand source crystals."
"Wait, how much?"
"A hundred thousand source crystals."
Lu Changsheng fell silent.
A hundred thousand source crystals.
Another hundred thousand?
How was he so inexplicably bound to this figure of a hundred thousand source crystals?
Seeming to sense that Lu Changsheng lacked the funds, the manager smiled and said, "If Master Lu does not have enough source crystals on hand, it is no problem at all. You can take out a loan. Internal members of the chamber enjoy lending privileges, though interest does apply..."
Lu Changsheng did not respond.
He had only just borrowed a hundred thousand source crystals, and now he was supposed to borrow again?
With interest, no less.
Still, Lu Changsheng did not dismiss the thought.
A cultivation technique was of paramount importance.
If there was truly no other way, taking out a temporary loan to secure a technique first was not entirely out of the question.
Yet Lu Changsheng was in no hurry.
He had only just become a World Master and had yet to clarify many matters; there was no pressing need to rush for a cultivation method right this moment.
Besides, if he truly decided to borrow, why settle for a superior method? He could simply take out a loan for a top-tier one in a single step.
Lu Changsheng did not leave the chamber immediately, choosing instead to stay for several days.
He took the opportunity to explore the Liuguang Plane.
With his spatial traversal speed, a few days were more than enough to travel across every corner of the realm.
The Liuguang Plane was largely similar to the Chaos Plane.
However, the Chaos Plane possessed an advantage of its own: it was a twin plane.
Its potential was immense.
Yet if the Chaos Plane wished to find true stability, it needed to produce a Second-Realm powerhouse as soon as possible.
Otherwise, it would forever remain vulnerable to the threat of marauders.
Leaving the plane, Lu Changsheng returned to the Boundary Sea.
Within the Boundary Sea, he exerted himself to nudge his True Realm forward, like a small fish swimming in a mighty river.
The Boundary Sea was unimaginably vast.
Whenever Lu Changsheng spotted colossal worlds in the distance, he steered well clear of them.
Those enormous worlds mostly belonged to Second-Realm World Masters.
Such mighty figures were not beings Lu Changsheng could afford to provoke.
Lu Changsheng traveled for several days.
Suddenly, he caught sight of a faint, grayish-white bubble ahead of him.
Moreover, the bubble appeared fractured, bearing unmistakable signs of decay.
It seemed as though it would not be long before it completely dissipated.
A stroke of intuition struck Lu Changsheng, and he instantly understood what this broken bubble was.
It was a ruined world.
Most likely, it was a world left behind by a fallen World Master.
World Masters could die too.
After their demise, their worlds would unravel.
Yet that unraveling was a gradual process.
Without external intervention, the world would only break down slowly.
Such ruined, decaying worlds were essentially ancient ruins.
A World Master who entered might well find some harvest.
Many World Masters roamed the Boundary Sea precisely in search of these remnants.
Lu Changsheng had not planned on searching for ruins so soon.
After all, finding them usually demanded an enormous amount of time.
He had never expected to encounter one by chance on his return journey from delivering goods.
While Lu Changsheng would not actively search for ruins just yet, when one presented itself right before his eyes as a heaven-sent opportunity, how could he possibly pass it up?
Thus, Lu Changsheng nudged his way toward the ruin ahead.
Soon, his True Realm drifted outside the decaying bubble.
Yet Lu Changsheng did not rush his True Realm inside.
One had to keep a fallback plan in all things.
Who knew what lay within?
What if there were hidden dangers?
Or what if another World Master had used this ruin as bait to lure others in and plot against them?
Anything was possible!
In the Boundary Sea, Lu Changsheng had to remain cautious and vigilant; he could never afford to be careless.
*Buzz.*
Lu Changsheng detached a small portion of his True Realm and formed a humanoid shape.
This was an incarnation.
In truth, World Masters made frequent use of multiple incarnations.
While their true body remained securely in the Boundary Sea, they could dispatch incarnations to handle many affairs.
For example, transport missions could easily be carried out by an incarnation alone.
Lu Changsheng had only brought his True Realm to the Liuguang Plane to adapt to the journey and observe the conditions of the Boundary Sea.
Now, faced with a mysterious ruin, he naturally exercised utmost caution.
The incarnation stepped directly into the ruin.
*Whoosh.*
Lu Changsheng's vision blurred.
He found himself standing on a broken continent.
It was clear that this world consisted of a single landmass.
The continent seemed boundless, existing under a round heaven and a square earth.
It was completely different from Lu Changsheng's True Realm.
The structures of worlds varied wildly; it was impossible for every world to be identical.
This was entirely normal.
It would be strange if they were all alike.
Judging by the scale, the former master of this world had likely only been a First-Realm World Master during his lifetime.
The expanse of the world was not very large.
In fact, in terms of sheer scale, it could not even compare to Lu Changsheng's True Realm.
Lu Changsheng searched all around, but came up empty-handed.
This ruin was truly... stripped clean.
Yes, completely clean.
It seemed to have been plundered long ago.
And not just once or twice—it had likely been ransacked time and time again.
As a result, there was simply nothing left behind.
"A ruin visited at least a dozen times and pillaged so thoroughly... how could any treasure remain?"
Lu Changsheng shook his head.
As expected, opportunities were not so easily obtained.
To think that one could find precious treasures in any random ruin was purely wishful thinking.
Lu Changsheng's incarnation exited the ruin.
"What a pity..."
Lu Changsheng shook his head. Just as he prepared to leave, he suddenly paused.
He studied the ruin closely.
The area surrounding the ruin seemed entirely devoid of other bubbles.
Furthermore, a faint layer of gray light flickered imperceptibly, perfectly shrouding the ruin within.
"Is that... some sort of grand array?"
Lu Changsheng's eyes brightened.
Indeed, an array.
A defensive array enveloped the entire ruin.
Unfortunately, with no one to maintain it, it had fallen into disrepair long ago, hiding its true wonders.
But what if Lu Changsheng claimed this spot for himself?
It was common knowledge that World Masters were immortal.
Yet if a World Master truly wished to kill another World Master, the path was clear: they had to locate the target's world, destroy it, and then erase their imprint within the Boundary Sea.
Therefore, the crux of any confrontation between World Masters lay in finding the other's world.
Across the Boundary Sea, World Masters placed the utmost importance on their worlds.
It was their very foundation.
Currently, there were two main approaches.
The first was to roam freely.
One did not fix their world in any single location, but instead drifted and wandered continuously, ensuring that no one could pinpoint its exact coordinates.
The risk of this approach lay in the wandering itself—who knew what one might encounter? The more one moved, the higher the chances of stumbling into danger.
If one accidentally provoked a far more powerful World Master and suffered a senseless disaster, the consequences would be catastrophic. Such incidents were far from unheard of.
The second approach was to anchor the world to a fixed location and reinforce it relentlessly with grand arrays, piling on countless treasures like a sect's protective barrier shielding its ancestral grounds.
This method anchored the world in place, eliminating aimless wandering and significantly reducing the associated risks.
However, fixing the world's position also made it easier for others to track down, which carried its own set of dangers.
Neither method was strictly superior; it depended entirely on what suited the individual World Master.
After pondering it, Lu Changsheng found himself leaning toward the second approach: anchoring his world in one place and steadily reinforcing it.
In the future, he could use incarnations to roam and explore, reserving his true body for occasions that demanded his personal presence.
Since he needed to choose a fixed location to establish his True Realm, this ruin seemed an excellent spot.
For the original master to have chosen this place, it surely had its advantages.
Moreover, there was already an array enveloping it.
It simply had not been activated.
Once he activated the array, he could gradually improve and reinforce it, saving himself a great deal of trouble.
The only problem was that the ruin still occupied the space.
If Lu Changsheng wished to claim this location, he had to let the ruin collapse entirely.
Only when the ruin thoroughly dissolved could he take its place.
Waiting for the ruin to unravel on its own might take countless years—perhaps a thousand, perhaps ten thousand.
Fortunately, Lu Changsheng could give it a helping hand.
After ensuring there were no hidden traps within the ruin, Lu Changsheng moved his True Realm directly into it.
*Rumble!*
How terrifying was the mass of Lu Changsheng's True Realm?
The moment it entered, the sheer volume burst the fragile ruin open.
The ruin could not bear the weight of such an immense world.
*Crack!*
The ruin began to fracture, collapsing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Lu Changsheng did not even need to do anything further; he simply had to wait quietly.
One day, two days, three days...
In just a few days, the ruin collapsed completely.
The ruin was gone.
Only a single True Realm remained.
"Hmm?"
"What is this...?"
To his astonishment, Lu Changsheng discovered that after the ruin dissolved, a pearl remained behind.
The pearl was the size of a fist, crystalline and snowy white, radiating a brilliant light.
At a glance, it was clearly an extraordinary treasure.
With a beckoning motion, Lu Changsheng drew the pearl into his hand.
It was surprisingly heavy.
The moment it entered his True Realm, Lu Changsheng felt the entire realm tremble slightly, as though growing instantly more solid.
"A Realm-Stabilizing Pearl?"
"What a marvelous treasure! A single Realm-Stabilizing Pearl can strengthen a world, allowing it to withstand far greater impacts. As long as the pearl remains, causing a World Master's world to collapse becomes exceptionally difficult.
"No wonder this ruin endured for countless years without dissipating; it was all thanks to the Realm-Stabilizing Pearl.
"It had fused completely with the ruin. Unless the ruin was utterly destroyed, the pearl would never reveal itself, which is why it survived repeated rounds of looting..."
A flicker of excitement shone in Lu Changsheng's eyes.
This was a Realm-Stabilizing Pearl!
Such pearls were exceedingly expensive, costing at least two hundred thousand source crystals apiece!
This single pearl was enough to pay off his debt to the Eternal Light Chamber of Commerce.
Of course, Lu Changsheng had no intention of using it to repay his loan.
He needed the Realm-Stabilizing Pearl himself.
Without delay, Lu Changsheng began refining the pearl.
The Realm-Stabilizing Pearl naturally integrated with worlds, making the refinement process remarkably smooth.
After only two shichen, the pearl vanished from Lu Changsheng's palm.
In truth, it had fully merged into the True Realm, making Lu Changsheng's world incomparably resilient.
Once his True Realm had stabilized, Lu Changsheng turned his attention to the surrounding array.
An array was indeed present, though heavily damaged.
In the past, it had likely been an array of extraordinary caliber, but too much time had elapsed, and it had sustained severe harm.
Even so, it remained repairable—it would merely take time.
As a former Mortal Immortal blessed with supreme comprehension, Lu Changsheng was exceptionally accomplished in arrays. He could take his time to slowly restore it.
He had no idea how much time passed.
*Buzz.*
Lu Changsheng's message transmission stone vibrated.
It was a special transmission stone capable of receiving messages even within the Boundary Sea.
"Qingluan has exited seclusion?"
Lu Changsheng's heart stirred.
He immediately knew what Lin Qingluan intended to do: she was going to advance to Emperor!
Lin Qingluan's breakthrough was no ordinary endeavor; she would need Lu Changsheng to help shield her from the backlash of the entire Dark Domain.
Previously, Lu Changsheng might have had to rely solely on a World Master's immortal nature to endure it.
Now, things were different.
With the Realm-Stabilizing Pearl reinforcing his True Realm to an extraordinary degree, he was confident he could withstand the backlash of the Dark Domain.
Thus, Lu Changsheng directed his True Realm to slowly make its way toward the Chaos Plane.
An incarnation would not suffice for this task; his True Realm had to deploy in person.
***
Meanwhile, within the Tianyuan Holy Sect of the Dark Domain.
Lin Qingluan had emerged from her seclusion.
The Tianyuan Holy Sect was far different from what it once was.
Lu Changsheng's identity was no longer a secret.
Everyone knew that Lin Qingluan's Dao companion was a renowned World Master!
Although neither chaos nor the Dark Domain had yet produced a peak First-Realm powerhouse, Lu Changsheng, as a World Master, held the undisputed status of the foremost figure.
The reason was simple: Lu Changsheng had enlisted the Eternal Light Chamber of Commerce to eradicate the Blood Oath Alliance.
That feat had sent shockwaves through both the Dark Domain and chaos, making countless cultivators realize just how formidable a World Master truly was.
Naturally, the title of the foremost expert across chaos and the Dark Domain could only belong to Lu Changsheng.
Lu Changsheng cared nothing for such superficial fame, but it brought tangible benefits.
At the very least, fortune gathered into Lin Qingluan at a much faster rate.
As Lu Changsheng's Dao companion, she shared in his fortune as the realm's foremost figure.
Even better, Lin Qingluan possessed the Divine Tree of Fortune.
Relying on the tree to actively absorb fortune, the reservoir she gathered was immense.
This was an excellent development: the greater her fortune, the more assistance she would have when breaking through to Emperor.
"Holy Maiden, are you truly going to strike for Emperor?" Luo Yang, Sect Master of the Tianyuan Holy Sect, asked with great care.
"Yes," Lin Qingluan replied succinctly.
Luo Yang's brow furrowed tightly. He parted his lips, hesitating.
"Holy Maiden, ascending to Emperor is not something accomplished overnight; you must proceed with caution. Without dual cultivation and without grasping the tenth Great Dao, attempting this breakthrough rashly could prove exceedingly perilous," Luo Yang urged.
Luo Yang did not yet know about the Divine Tree of Fortune.
With the tree, reaching the Emperor realm was not an insurmountable hurdle.
Rather, the breakthrough itself marked the beginning of true danger, as it would invite the wrathful backlash of the entire Dark Domain.
That was the truly terrifying part.
Lin Qingluan turned to face Luo Yang.
She understood the Sect Master's concerns clearly.
He feared she would fail and perish during the attempt. If she died, the bond linking the sect to Lu Changsheng would be broken.
Would Lu Changsheng still care about the Tianyuan Holy Sect then?
Though the sect was at the peak of its prominence now—so much so that even Emperors dared not lightly offend it—without Lin Qingluan and Lu Changsheng, what would the Tianyuan Holy Sect amount to?
Hence, Luo Yang did not wish to see her take such risks.
Even if Lin Qingluan never became an Emperor, simply remaining alive brought tremendous advantages to the sect.
Yet that was merely maximizing benefits from the sect's perspective.
Lin Qingluan saw things differently.
She had to follow in Lu Changsheng's footsteps.
Otherwise, this Dao companionship would not last.
How could a dragon dwell alongside a serpent?
With Lu Changsheng having become a World Master, Lin Qingluan was determined to become an Emperor and a Transcendent no matter what.
Only then would the distance between them not widen into an impassable chasm.
"My mind is made up. There is no need for further words.
"Moreover, even if I fall, I will ensure Changsheng looks after the Tianyuan Holy Sect. Rest assured on that front, Sect Master; the sect will not decline anytime soon."
Lin Qingluan's words were resolute, leaving no room for doubt.
Seeing that further persuasion was futile, Luo Yang could only fall silent.
*Boom!*
The void trembled violently.
Immediately after, an immense world descended, warping the very fabric of space and radiating an incomparable, terrifying aura.
Yet this aura was exceedingly familiar.
In the next instant, the massive world shrank slightly, condensing into a familiar figure.
"Changsheng has arrived..."
Lin Qingluan looked up, a soft smile gracing her lips.
Lu Changsheng was finally here. Now, she could strike for the realm of Emperor in peace!
Chapter 497