The days passed quickly, and the Infinite Dao Sect, along with the regions under its control, remained peaceful.
As time went by, Aotian felt increasingly calm and confident in managing the massive sect and its affiliated cities, which now housed over forty million people and cultivators.
The growth and prosperity of the forces under his command continued to rise, including the regions he had silently conquered in the past by replacing their leaders with his own avatars.
In these taken territories, he discreetly eliminated the rotten apples and began managing them more efficiently, integrating them into the domains under his leadership and turning them into vassal forces of the sect.
The disciples of the Infinite Dao Sect were of great help in this task. Because they were strong, kind-hearted, and reliable — in addition to the high contribution point rewards — their missions rarely, if ever, failed. Thus, several territories across the Beixu Continent (Northern Desolation), without the world realizing, slowly fell into the hands of the Infinite Dao Sect.
This allowed disciples to accumulate many points, and several already had enough to purchase their long-desired cultivation techniques.
But, surprisingly, none of them did. That was because the sect competitions were approaching, and if they managed to rank among the top three in any of them, they would directly earn a technique, saving their hard-earned contribution points, which they could then invest in spells and other resources.
However, if they bought one and then won the competition, they would have two cultivation techniques, which would be a huge waste since they could only use one.
For these reasons, everyone trained even harder, determined to become the best in their fields — a sight that greatly pleased Aotian as he witnessed his disciples' rapid growth.
By this point, four months had passed since the return of the ten outer elders who had been on the Beiyan Continent, and beyond the disciples' progress, the growth of the elders was even more remarkable.
Of the fifty outer elders, Aotian kept twenty of them to progress slowly, their roots enhanced by the lotus but without using the dew. He planned for them to establish a more solid foundation that would serve as a guide for his own path.
As for the remaining thirty, along with the twenty inner elders, he enhanced their talents and let them cultivate with the dew as much as they could, without any restraints.
To understand how much progress the elders had made, a good reference point was Yang Shi — the first to enhance his roots and cultivate using the dew — and to see how much he had advanced in four months.
[Name: Yáng Shī (Meaning: Master Yang)
Position: Outer Elder (Alchemy Pavilion)
Cultivation: Nascent Soul Perfection (Host's Realm [Inactive])
Body Cultivation: 4th Level Nascent Soul (Host's Realm [Inactive])
Position Skill: Heart of Nature
Affiliation Skill: Alchemy Affinity
Position Bonus: Accelerated Growth (4 uses per day)]
He had advanced directly from the sixth level of the Golden Core to the perfection of the Nascent Soul, while his body, refined only after his cultivation could no longer progress, had yet to reach the same level — but had still advanced from the first level of the Golden Core to the fourth of the Nascent Soul.
His advancement had only stopped at that point because Aotian had not yet synthesized Formation-Tier techniques. Otherwise, the avatars might have advanced even further.
However, all that rapid progress came at a cost, and their foundations were not as firm as those of normal cultivation.
Even so, due to the magical properties of the Dew of the Dragon's Lament and the wonders of the synthesized cultivation technique, the avatars' foundations could still be considered solid by most — except for Aotian and the disciples of the Infinite Dao Sect, who understood what it meant to have a truly firm cultivation base.
Thus, the progress — besides being immense — was also of high quality, although such speed could not be maintained for long.
The dragon's dew was rich in spiritual and elemental energy, possessing properties that Aotian was still studying.
He noticed that the dew made the roots more active, allowing them to absorb and process energy more easily, growing at an alarming rate under its abundant nourishment. However, those same properties also generated resistance with prolonged use.
It was still effective for avatars like Yang Shi, but Aotian noticed that absorption was becoming slower as cultivation advanced. He calculated it would be enough for them to progress one or two more levels before the effect faded, becoming equivalent to using normal spiritual and elemental stones — or even inferior.
The inner elders, who had advanced from the early to the perfected stage of the Nascent Soul, showed less resistance since they had used less, but would likely only be able to progress three or four more levels at most.
Even so, Aotian was extremely satisfied with the immense progress achieved.
With the rise of the outer elders, the power of their skills had also increased considerably.
The elders of the Alchemy Pavilion, for example, saw their plant growth acceleration skills soar upon reaching the Nascent Soul realm. Each use could increase the maturity of a Nascent-Tier plant by a thousand years. Upon reaching the ninth level, each use could age a plant by nine thousand years.
Thus, with controlled use and a margin for loss, each daily use divided into two thousand years could fully mature four Transcendent Sky-Lotus. With four daily uses, sixteen seeds could grow into mature lotuses.
Finally, with four outer elders in that pavilion, sixty-four of these herbs could be nurtured daily, greatly accelerating Aotian's research.
He had already attempted to use Bao Wuji to synthesize a hundred Transcendent Sky-Lotus into a more advanced version, but without success. This time, he was gathering a thousand of them to try again through equivalent exchange.
'Perhaps it would be easier with an ancestor from the Alchemy Pavilion. Considering my theory that the ancestors are advanced versions of the outer elders, maybe instead of accelerated growth, they possess abilities related to synthesis or plant evolution.'
'But ancestors are precious, and I won't be getting many once the sect advances. I'd rather the next one be more combat-oriented, since what the sect needs most right now is time and safety to grow…'
Aotian pondered as he watched the lotuses piling up inside Bao Wuji's storage space, which already exceeded two thousand units.
'Haah… it's the moment of truth,' Aotian thought, feeling a trace of anxiety in his heart before steadying his mind.
He was about to attempt synthesizing the herbs once more.
In addition to cultivating and managing the sect over the past few months, he had been enhancing the roots of his seventy-two avatars and carefully analyzing the true power of the lotus, seeking ways to make the most of it.
Although, after all these attempts, he still couldn't learn how to replicate what the lotus did — since some sort of heavenly rule seemed to be involved, and his cultivation and understanding were still too limited — that didn't mean it had all been in vain.
First of all, whenever an avatar consumed a lotus, he would visualize and record the entire process along with his thoughts and theories.
With each new avatar, he made slight adjustments and documented everything again. Then, using the synthesis ability of Tian Zhu, the sect leader, he refined the process further. Thus, his absorption method became increasingly efficient, and he noticed that with every absorption, the avatars seemed to draw slightly more energy from the lotus, strengthening their roots a fraction more than usual.
Another discovery from his studies was a theory he strongly believed to be correct: Equivalent Exchange would definitely create a superior lotus.
This conclusion came from his observation that, to create a more perfect spiritual root, all the herb needed was a more powerful effect — nothing more. There was no need for additional properties.
The theory didn't come solely from studying the herbs, but also from examining the spiritual roots of several vile and evil cultivators he had captured. A low-quality root and a perfect-quality root differed only in the size of their inner space, solidity, and adaptability of their channels.
If multiple lotuses were synthesized together to create a stronger version, the improvements such a herb would cause in these aspects would be enough to increase the quality of the root. Aotian firmly believed this.
For that reason, he felt that his path toward a perfect root was already set. All he needed to do was accumulate a large number of Transcendent Sky-Lotuses.
At the same time, he was nearly certain that the perfect root was the limit of what this herb could achieve. Special physiques — even the simplest spiritual ones — required far more complex properties to form, properties that the Transcendent Sky-Lotus simply did not possess.
Aotian, however, wasn't worried. After all, his path to a perfect root was already laid out. He only needed time and had no reason to desire too much when such a great gain was right before him.
Inside a cave, Bao Wuji, wearing a serious expression, waved his hand, and a sea of flowers appeared on the ground. Large, beautiful dark-blue lotuses speckled with white created a scene that made it look as though a piece of the sky had materialized within the cave.
The spiritual energy in the air grew more intense merely by their presence — after all, these were two thousand Nascent-Tier herbs placed together.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Aotian — or rather, Bao Wuji at that moment — didn't hesitate to extend his energy to touch all the thousands of herbs before him.
Closing his eyes, he focused inward and activated the Equivalent Exchange ability, visualizing a superior herb — a Formation-Tier Transcendent Sky-Lotus.
To his delight, he felt patterns forming within his roots and a surge of power rising.
When he opened his eyes, the false sky that had once covered the cave floor had turned into a sea of ashes. Just seeing the result made Bao Wuji's lips curl into a smile.
His gaze immediately turned to the center, where two large lotuses emanated intense fluctuations typical of a Formation-Tier herb.
They were stunning — their color far less blue, leaning instead toward black. Their white specks shone brighter than those of the previous lotuses, as if they were on the verge of becoming stars.
Bao Wuji grinned broadly and approached the two plants, which were twice the size of the Nascent-Tier Transcendent Sky-Lotuses.
With a wave of his hand, he swept the ashes from the cave floor and sent them away.
Once he was done, three figures entered the cave.
They were avatars.
One of them was an inner elder who had previously absorbed a lotus, and another was Aotian's only avatar who had yet to consume a Transcendent Sky-Lotus, meant precisely for this experiment.
As for the third, it was Yang Shi from the Alchemy Pavilion, who was the first to approach the two herbs, placing his hands over them and activating his rapid growth skill.
Immediately, under the effect of the ability, the two lotuses became somewhat stronger, healthier, and more mature, soon gestating small seeds in their cores, which quickly grew large and robust.
Without hesitation, he carefully collected them using his spiritual energy, bowed respectfully to Bao Wuji, and departed in haste.
'With the seeds secured, we can begin experimenting. Let's see if there's any difference in their use…' Aotian thought, still smiling at having managed to synthesize the new herbs while also ensuring the next generation of them at the same time.
The two elders each picked one of the herbs and began absorbing them, following the method Aotian had been refining over the past months.
The lotuses soon turned into points of light and sank into their bodies.
Seeing this, Aotian felt much more at ease.
He had feared that, since one of the avatars had already absorbed a Transcendent Sky-Lotus before, the new higher-tier herb might reject the fusion. If that happened, he would have to wait until creating an even more powerful herb before his main body could absorb it. Fortunately, that problem did not occur.
Some time later, the process ended. There was no difference compared to the absorption of a Nascent-Tier herb, and Aotian was long familiar with this scene after more than seventy uses.
Bao Wuji approached the two avatars, placed his hands on their heads, and closed his eyes, comparing the changes.
'Hmm… I don't know if I should consider this good or bad, but using a superior lotus directly or only after consuming a lower-grade one doesn't change the result. The roots of my two avatars are identical — neither stronger than the other, not even by a fraction. It seems there are certain limits and rules that determine how much a herb can strengthen a cultivator's roots, and accumulation won't surpass that. Only the final quality matters.'
Aotian reflected, yet he was still satisfied with the result. After all, what resided in those two avatars now was no longer a medium-quality root but a genuine high-quality one — the same as what most of his disciples had. He could finally raise his head high and no longer feel untalented compared to others.
He had come a long way, from having no root at all to now standing on the threshold of achieving a perfect-quality one, which filled him with pride.
'Well then, in that case, I finally have no more worries and can let my main body absorb a Nascent-Tier Transcendent Sky-Lotus. As for the Formation-Tier ones, I'll let all my avatars consume them first, refining the absorption method before allowing my main body to do it.'
He reasoned, feeling excited to finally be able to truly enhance his own roots.
'I'd like to improve them to medium quality right now, but it's a pity I'm a bit busy at the moment…'
Despite thinking that, his excitement didn't lessen in the slightest — in fact, a small smile even appeared uncontrollably on his main body's lips.
Because before him, he was watching a crowd of thousands of disciples seated in a not-so-large stadium, staring seriously at the many competitors in the arena.
The atmosphere there was tense, and the lively, excited chatter of the crowd only made the occasion feel even more special.
The sect's internal competition was about to begin, and that could only mean one thing for Aotian.
'By the end of this day, the Infinite Dao Sect will officially be recognized by the system as a Nascent Soul sect.'