In a private courtyard in Divine Wind City, adjacent to the Infinite Dao Sect, a young man sitting cross-legged slowly opened his eyes.
"An entire year has passed…" he murmured as he stood up and clenched his fists, sensing his cultivation level.
In a year, he had gone from the 4th to the 5th level of Qi Refinement. And this was no small feat, for the young man possessed five-element roots. Even if they were of perfect quality, that still could not compensate for the disadvantage of having such roots.
That young man was Shen He, who had been staying in the city throughout this entire period, waiting for the recruitment to begin, leaving only occasionally to gain combat experience against beasts or cultivators.
With the Enlightened Mind technique, he could generate only one additional mind with the cultivation of a Qi Refiner, but even so, his cultivation speed had increased to that of a four-element root—several times faster.
To put it in perspective, a perfect five-element root took on average seventy-five to eighty years to complete Qi Refinement, while a perfect four-element root took forty-eight to fifty years.
Thus, taking only a year to advance one level was far from slow… it was extremely fast.
But this had not been a natural nor solid breakthrough, for he had anything but time to solidify his realm. In truth, he was constantly using pills, which greatly harmed his foundation in exchange for rapid advancement.
Under his master's teachings, he had become a skilled alchemist in the two years since becoming his disciple, which brought him enormous advantage while living in Divine Wind City.
Master and disciple both had to admit that the cities under the administration of the Infinite Dao Sect were truly superb when it came to opportunities and safety for small cultivators.
Disciples of the Infinite Dao Sect constantly arrived with abundant resources to put up for sale, and many cultivators—drawn by the name of that mysterious and powerful sect—constantly came, bringing many items with them.
And when these outsiders noticed the impurity-free environment surrounding them, most decided without hesitation to settle in the cities of the region.
But even this influx of people could not disturb the order of those cities, which, besides having powerful soldiers guarding them, were also protected by mighty formations.
During the year Shen He lived there, he easily found materials for sale and could purchase them safely. Thus, he produced many pills, used most of them, and sold the rest, earning enough spirit stones to support himself.
Following this cycle, he managed to advance to the 5th level of Qi Refinement in just one year, which greatly satisfied him.
Meanwhile, inside the necklace, his master watched all his disciple's effort with a sigh.
'The boy is hardworking and has outstanding comprehension… but his roots condemn him.'
He thought helplessly.
Although it seemed strange, the idea of using large quantities of pills to accelerate cultivation came directly from his master, for that was the boy's only hope.
If he cultivated normally, his lifespan would be far too short to endure the slow progress of the subsequent realms, and he might fall before even reaching them if he followed the traditional path.
If Shen He reached Foundation Establishment at forty years old, he would gain one more mind, and his cultivation speed would become equivalent to that of a three-element root. However, if he cultivated normally in that realm, even with two additional minds, he would still need six hundred years to reach perfection.
And the lifespan of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was only two hundred years, making such a feat impossible.
Of course, this was the worst-case scenario. Just being in the impurity-free environment around the Infinite Dao Sect already doubled his cultivation speed, but the current energy intensity could not meet the needs of Foundation Establishment. The energy level of the sect's outer environment had reached its limit—the perfection of the First Level.
Without a stronger spiritual vein to supply it, that was the current limit of that environment.
Thus, it became clear that Shen He could not go very far following the careful, realm-by-realm perfecting path. The only option was to cultivate using pills.
Being a wise and experienced old man, the boy's master calculated that he could help him balance the impurities in his body and reduce the weakening of his foundation caused by pill usage.
The goal was for Shen He to reach the perfection of Golden Core while still young and then allow him to spend the hundreds of years saved through rapid advancement reinforcing his deficient foundation, only afterward attempting to advance to Nascent Soul.
Normally, such a thing would be impossible, but with the powerful cultivation technique he had given the boy and his direct supervision, the chances were still much higher than letting him cultivate at his natural speed.
Although his supervision might soon come to an end…
'Unfortunately, the best cultivation techniques do not accelerate cultivation speed—and it is already fortunate when they do not slow it. Otherwise, I would not have to leave him with such an uncertain fate,' he lamented, but nothing could be done.
Indeed, there was such a peculiarity. Techniques that accelerated cultivation speed too much were, for the most part, self-destructive.
Cultivating immortality was like erecting a building. Techniques were the blueprint, and cultivation was the construction.
The better the blueprint, the more complex it became, and the slower the construction. Accelerate too much, and it compromises quality, making the building collapse if it rises too high.
The same was true for cultivation. The best techniques did not guarantee higher speed, but a much stronger foundation able to support higher realms.
Creating techniques with rapid cultivation made it harder for people to reach higher realms, and imperfections made advancing even within the same realm troublesome.
In that world, only the techniques of the Infinite Dao Sect could accelerate cultivation while also building a firm and powerful foundation.
For that reason, the synthesized techniques were far more impressive than one could imagine.
'Master, the competitions of the Infinite Dao Sect are about to begin. I intend to participate in the alchemy and combat competitions,' Shen He said, pulling his master out of his thoughts.
The old man inside the necklace pondered, stroked his beard, and finally nodded.
["You may go. Perhaps your talent will draw attention and make it easier for you to enter that sect."]
He spoke firmly.
But those words left Shen He, who previously seemed determined, with a bitter mood.
Entering the Infinite Dao Sect meant a great chance that his master would burn his own soul to reach his peak and then send him, along with that girl, to the Liu family. And that was something he did not want to see.
But he and his master had discussed this many times, and Shen He knew there was no other choice.
Nodding slightly, he opened the gate of the small courtyard and stepped out into the street.
Walking along the long sidewalks, he admired the city's architecture, which grew more and more each day.
The city was filled with cultivators and mortals walking through the streets.
Some cultivators displayed obvious disdain for mortals as they passed, and some mortals showed clear fear, while there were also many from both sides who seemed at ease with each other's presence.
Shen He did not find this strange.
Under the laws of the Infinite Dao Sect, casual murder or enslavement of mortals was strictly forbidden, and if discovered, the accused would be captured, judged, and depending on the crime, killed, imprisoned, or subjected to forced labor, among other punishments.
Thus, as long as they remained in the territory observed by the sect, those mortals were very safe.
Although it was not a utopia, there was still considerable order and equality in the cities under the Infinite Dao Sect.
This fact inevitably made the pair of master and disciple develop a better opinion of that sect, for helping mortals did not seem to bring any apparent benefit to such a powerful entity.
Shaking his head, Shen He ignored those people and headed toward a nearby stable.
There, he rented a mount called a Stone Lizard, a very docile and fast First-Level beast.
Mounting it, he quickly dashed through the streets, crossing the great city that now must have had an average population of around five million people, and which grew more each day.
After a few minutes riding the lizard, he passed through the great city gates and once again found himself in the beautiful scenery of the outer grasslands, which he was already very familiar with.
Without stopping to admire it for long, he dismounted, rubbed the beast's head, and let it go. The creature immediately turned around and returned to the city after enjoying the affection.
Then, he turned toward the horizon, where, far away, at the foot of the Infinite Dao Sect, the form of the 19th city—built only a few months ago—stood tall.
Even from a distance, it was clear that the city was larger than the other eighteen combined, making it a massive city.
That would be the place where the competition and recruitment would take place.
"Five Elements City…"
Pronouncing the name thoughtfully, Shen He stepped forward as runes wrapped around his legs.
Slowly but surely, his speed increased, and he soon became another blur traveling toward that place.
In the skies, hundreds of floating ships crossed the horizon, piercing the clouds, and many other silhouettes were also heading toward that single city.
Talents gathered from all over the continent were about to witness the power of the Infinite Dao Sect.
…
Aotian meditated calmly in his cave, nurturing the Supreme Golden Core within his body, now far larger than before.
If when he reached the first level the core had the size of a thumb, now it was no smaller than a baseball, and its golden glow was even stronger, accompanied by powerful energy fluctuations.
[Host: Long Aotian
Cultivation: 7th Level of Golden Core
Body Cultivation: 7th Level of Golden Core
Physique: Mortal
Qualifications: Perfect-Grade (Supreme) Five Element Spiritual Root]
A strong smile formed on his face as he checked the rapid progress he had made in nearly six months since upgrading his root and advancing to the 3rd level.
'The speed of a sacred-level root is truly terrifying. The time I would originally need with my former low-quality root would be at least 14 years for such progress, which is extremely slow compared to my current cultivation speed…'
He pondered, satisfied.
Along with the Dew of the Dragon's Lament and the skill of the elder from the Body Refinement Pavilion, he was able to quickly refine his physique to match the level of his actual cultivation.
And such an increase in power was not reflected only in him, but also in all the ancestral-level avatars and in the sect master, which represented an incredible advancement.
'Even so, I still do not dare to recklessly steal from a power like the Celestial Mist Sect…'
'Let alone the 5 Void Refinement ancestors guarding it, with one of them being near perfection. Just the Void-Tier formation protecting it is already too much for my avatars to handle. Although I could infiltrate it with my knowledge of Mahayana-level formations, that formation is under the direct control of a master and not in an autonomous state like the one at the Shadowfallen Burial Mountain, which greatly increases the risk of being discovered and counter-attacked.'
'It's better to play a slow infiltration game with them, trying to find information about why the will of the world is warning me, while I wait to reach a higher realm and then take whatever I want. I'm not in much of a hurry to acquire Void-Tier techniques at the moment, anyway.'
With that decided, he felt more at ease and closed his eyes, ready to resume cultivating, but had to stop as someone knocked on the door and the soft yet determined voice of his beautiful wife came from outside.
Knock Knock!
"Tian'er… the event is about to begin. We have to go."