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Outside the secret hall.
Once prominent figures like Zhan Soul Valley's Sha Wuyi, Blood Cloud Pavilion's Pavilion Master Xu Changlin, Red Star Child, Cang Xue, Yang Song, and others stood respectfully at the entrance, patiently waiting.
Despite having stood for more than an hour, no one present showed the slightest sign of dissatisfaction. The master inside the secret hall was a terrifying existence who could reduce them to ashes with a mere thought.
In the world of cultivation, strength is revered. Those weaker are at the mercy of the stronger.
Now, with the territories of Blood Cloud Pavilion and Zhan Soul Valley merged, along with numerous vassal forces, they collectively possess twenty-three floating lands of varying sizes in the void. The largest spans over 120,000 miles, and the combined population of mortals exceeds 15 billion.
Over 3,000 Divine Soul Realm cultivators survived the great war, along with more than 200 in the True Person Realm and over thirty in the True Unity Realm. Resources for various industries remain plentiful.
All of this now belongs to the master within the secret hall. If those present wish to live comfortably in the future, they must act according to his wishes.
Inside the heavily guarded secret hall, Qing Muling sat cross-legged on a cloud bed, cultivating.
Deep within his sea of consciousness, the innate Harmony Spirit Seed floated quietly. The phantom of the five Blue Lotus leaves had solidified significantly, radiating a clear and pure light, with the pervasive Dao Rhyme becoming even more intense.
Specks of chaotic spiritual light continuously emerged from the Harmony Spirit Seed and the Blue Lotus leaves, carrying profound and mysterious insights of Dao Rhyme. They silently whirled and sped around for a moment, tracing countless dazzling paths like shooting stars across the night sky, before merging into his Divine Soul body.
A warm and pleasant sensation spread throughout his being, indescribably delightful, almost rivaling the blissful experience of dual cultivation with his senior sister.
A realization dawned on Qing Muling. Without external aid, if he continued to cultivate step by step, it would take roughly ten years to advance a minor realm. In a hundred years, he could smoothly step into the True Unity Realm without any bottlenecks.
Given the current state of The Great Void , even the monstrous talents among the major powers would see their rapid progress slow down after reaching the True Person Realm, no longer advancing as swiftly as before.
To reach the True Unity Realm in about a hundred years was remarkable, especially since Qing Muling's foundation was significantly stronger than those so-called monstrous talents, defying conventional expectations.
However, Qing Muling now had a dual cultivation partner and could draw upon a vast amount of spiritual herbs and wood essence for cultivation. With the sect's high-end resources readily available, shortening this process wouldn't be difficult. Perhaps in just twenty or thirty years, he could reach the pinnacle of the True Person Realm.
This pace was terrifying. For high-level cultivators, a few decades could pass in just one session of secluded cultivation, and it might not even be enough.
"…I just wonder when the Misty Illusion Secret Realm will open again?"
Qing Muling pondered silently. The space within the Blue Lotus leaf phantom had expanded further, also storing a batch of high-end cultivation resources left to him by his master, Mu Yinghua.
According to the Supreme Elder, Qing Muling's special ability was undetectable by any divine means in The Great Void, making it the safest place to store his belongings, beyond anyone's reach.
Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace had prepared numerous large-capacity Space Bracelets and rings and constructed more secret realms, all in anticipation of the next opening of the Misty Illusion Secret Realm to plunder its riches.
Although the remnants of the Heavenly Human Clan must have sensed something amiss, they couldn't ascertain the truth. With Qing Muling's cultivation growing stronger and Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace maintaining a low profile in the secret realm, there shouldn't be any major issues.
If Yu Lingzhou and the other ladies' speculations were correct, the operation trajectory of the Misty Illusion Secret Realm could be controlled, at least to some extent. The Emperors of the Heavenly Human Clan remnants could join forces and pay a certain price to align the realm's trajectory with The Great Void, thus meeting the conditions for the secret realm's opening.
Interrupting his wandering thoughts and refocusing on the innate Harmony Spirit Seed, Qing Muling noticed a subtle change in the Blue Lotus leaf phantom. A thin layer of merit golden light had appeared on its surface and was slowly increasing.
Qing Muling was slightly startled and puzzled, but after some reflection, he understood. This must be a reward from the heavenly laws for using his innate divine power to purify the dead zones on the floating lands, restoring their environments to normalcy.
This was understandable. The entire Great Void was in a period of recovery after a calamity, characterized by the revival of Dao Rhyme, increased spiritual energy density, and the gradual restoration of many floating lands' environments.
In such a trend, if a cultivator acts in accordance with the heavenly way and benefits the world, the laws of heaven and earth naturally grant rewards commensurate with their contributions.
Some legendary ancient sages, each endowed with immense merit, were invulnerable to all evils and demons. Some even transcended the ordinary and achieved eternal enlightenment, simply because their actions benefited the supreme heavenly way, thus enjoying such supreme fortune.
The dead zones purified by Qing Muling were now suitable for the proliferation of life, accelerating the world's recovery. Receiving merit golden light was a natural outcome.
The Dao Lineage, especially Buddhism, places great value on merit, as it has a wide range of uses. Whether for healing, alchemy, artifact refinement, cultivation advancement, changing physique, or improving innate talent, merit can be applied with excellent results and no side effects, making it highly sought after by Buddhist powerhouses.
The Daoist sects are no different, and any normal cultivator would not refuse the opportunity to acquire vast merit. With enough merit, the benefits to one's destiny and fortune are evident. Therefore, many orthodox cultivators focus on accumulating external merit.
"It seems I've found another way to rapidly improve my cultivation?"
Murmuring to himself, Qing Muling operated his spiritual sense and soon reached a conclusion: by purifying all the floating lands he controlled, he could accumulate enough merit to attempt the True Unity Realm by the time their environments were restored.
However, deploying this innate divine power for half an hour would deplete all his mana. Even with the Harmony Spirit Seed's powerful recovery speed, it would take a moment to return to its original state. In a day, he couldn't use it many times, and the area he could purify and restore was limited.
By the time Qing Muling was ready to attempt the True Unity Realm with complete merit, it might be close to ten years later.
"So, I still need the aid of elixirs to save time."
Qing Muling took out a bottle of Ziyu Return Spirit Pills from his Space Bracelet, one of the many resources Mu Yinghua had allocated from the sect's stores. It was a high-grade spiritual elixir that could quickly replenish a cultivator's mana loss. One pill could restore a True Unity Realm cultivator to peak condition.
Although Qing Muling was in the early stages of the True Person Realm, his mana was much more profound than that of a True Unity Realm cultivator. It would take at least two Ziyu Return Spirit Pills to quickly replenish his expended mana.
In the outside market, a Ziyu Return Spirit Pill could fetch between 6,000 and 9,000 top-grade spirit stones, depending on the quality of the elixir. For ordinary True Unity Realm cultivators, it was a luxury, sparingly used only in life-and-death battles.
Qing Muling counted the inventory in his bracelet, totaling over 15,000 pills, a testament to Mu Yinghua's generosity. Under normal circumstances, this batch of elixirs would last a long time.
But now, with new plans in mind, these resources were insufficient, and Qing Muling would have to find another way.