Aotian stretched lazily with his arms raised as he walked down the stairs of his cave mansion.
"Haah… back home."
A relieved sigh escaped his lips, accompanied by a faint smile.
He had just returned from his visit to the Tree of Life, and with many plans in mind — which he had assigned his avatars to carry out — he could finally relax in his main body.
But at the very moment he sighed in relief, the door of an inner corridor suddenly opened, and a blonde head with a faint smile peeked out.
"Someone seems to be in a good mood," Rihai teased her husband, raising an eyebrow at him.
"That someone got into an even better mood now after seeing a beautiful lady," Aotian smiled and replied, winking at her.
"Oh… I hope that lady is me," she said playfully, leaning her shoulder against the doorframe.
"It's undoubtedly you." He stepped forward, pulled her by the waist, and hugged her tightly, breathing in the fragrance of her beautiful golden hair.
"Then I'll believe you this time." Rihai slightly raised her head and smiled at him, sliding a finger along his cheek.
Aotian leaned in, the corners of his lips lifted, and gently took her lips into his.
For a few minutes, they indulged in their own world, sharing a prolonged kiss before slowly pulling apart.
"Were you about to head out?" he asked curiously, analyzing his wife's body and noticing that she had upgraded her equipment to a higher level.
He knew that her robes, which now appeared to be nothing more than beautiful garments devoid of any artifact aura, were actually powerful. At the moment, however, that aura was concealed.
It was a Nascent-Tier artifact, but strangely, its energy was well hidden. Yet, anyone able to perceive it would notice it flowing in a more… lively manner.
"Master, how about you get this brute off me?!"
A feminine, haughty, yet childish voice suddenly sounded between them.
A helpless expression appeared on Rihai's face upon hearing it, while Aotian, already knowing the source, smiled in amusement.
Lowering his gaze, he grabbed the sleeve of his wife's white robes with two fingers and gently lifted it.
"Who are you calling a brute? Want me to have you reforged into a carpet?" a malicious smile appeared on his lips as he threatened the piece of clothing.
"Hiiiii! Master, help!" a squeal rang out as the robes shrank slightly in Aotian's hand, trying to escape, but their movements were limited.
Fortunately for the Long residence's future carpet, its savior arrived.
"Tian'er, don't provoke her." Rihai chuckled softly at the two's quarrel and rested her head on her husband's chest, drawing Aotian's attention back to her.
"Okay, but you'll have to pay in her place," he said teasingly, a playful glint in his eyes.
Bending down slightly, he lifted his wife into a bridal carry and took her inside with a gentle smile, her charming laughter echoing as his mind nearly forgot about the talkative artifact spirit.
Yes, that was an artifact spirit. Every treasure of Nascent-Tier and above — that is, those that entered the Soul realms or higher — had the ability to develop spirituality.
The problem was that, for treasures below the Void-Tier, it was almost impossible for that to happen, and even above it, it wasn't easy. But with the ancestors' abilities, that small possibility was all that was needed.
With the Soul Growth ability of the ancestor from the Puppet Pavilion, combined with the Spiritual Enlightenment ability of the ancestor from the Formation Pavilion, a soul could grow and be enlightened in an instant.
The benefit was clear: with a soul regulating the artifact, formation, or puppet, the efficiency of use increased drastically, and the power the treasure could display became much greater. It could even conceal its aura, making it seem like an ordinary treasure.
If before, for example, a sword in hand was like a static rock, requiring forced manipulation — and even resisting, making control difficult — after gaining a soul, everything changed. The sword itself would proactively accept its master's energy, accelerate energy circulation within it, and could even assist in cutting, sharpening its edge.
These were only the basic benefits. With the aid of the soul assisting in efficient control, the artifact could become twice as strong—or even several times stronger—than others of similar quality, fully displaying its advantages without requiring a higher realm or excessive energy consumption.
The benefit of this in battle was undeniable.
'Unfortunately, the Soul Growth ability has daily usage limits for each avatar that possesses it. But it's understandable; after all, the Formation Pavilion's Spiritual Enlightenment, despite being unlimited, is an ancestor-exclusive ability, while Soul Growth is an ability that outer elders of the Puppet Pavilion also possess, so there's a balance.'
Aotian pondered as he carried his wife to their bedroom.
Even so, he did not consider this limitation a major issue.
He had forty outer elders assigned to each of the fifteen pavilions. With eight daily uses of the Soul Growth ability per elder in the Puppet Pavilion, he had a total of 320 uses per day—more than enough to produce soul-infused artifacts for elders, core disciples, and inner disciples within just a few days.
As for the sect leader and the ancestors, it would be enough to let the ancestor of the Puppet Pavilion work directly on evolving the souls of their equipment.
The outer disciples, unfortunately, would not be able to enjoy such benefits for now, as their number was far too large compared to the daily usage limit of the ability.
Aotian soon set those thoughts aside as he reached the bedroom and laid the beautiful golden-haired girl on the bed, positioning himself above her.
Since Rihai's second body was in the meditation room, she would only join the fun later.
But just as Aotian lowered his head toward his wife's neck to start heating things up, he froze.
A flash of helplessness and irritation suddenly appeared in his black eyes.
"Tian'er?"
Rihai, who had already gently closed her eyes, slowly opened them, confused when she felt her husband stop. And the moment she saw his face, she knew the fun would be canceled that day.
"Trouble?" she asked softly, seemingly already understanding.
"Trouble." He sighed, tired, and got off her, sitting beside her.
Although his main body was relatively free—aside from cultivating every second of the day—his avatars never were. As now, while using them to create missions and assess danger levels to gauge the state of the world, a discovery was made.
This time, the level of danger in the Mid-Continents had risen abruptly. The Central Continent would also require greater discretion in his next moves.
"It seems some Tribulation Transcendents will soon descend upon the continent to cause chaos…" Aotian muttered, in a bad mood, and lay down beside his wife, his hands crossed over his stomach as he stared at the ceiling.
Apparently, his period of peace was coming to an end. And since he had chosen to act rather than hide, he would have to be prepared for the consequences of his decisions.
Rihai was startled by the news and was the one who sat up this time. But her expression turned strange as she saw her husband lying there, staring at the ceiling.
"Tian'er… you… I don't know… shouldn't you do something?" she asked, half confused, half exasperated.
"Huh?" Aotian snapped out of his thoughts, surprised, and looked at her with wide eyes. "Me?"
He pointed at himself stupidly.
Rihai's mouth twitched.
"Aren't you the young master of the sect?" She rolled her eyes at him.
"And aren't you the young miss? Want to take on a few Tribulation Transcendents?" he teased, rolling his eyes at her in return.
Rihai pressed her lips into a thin line and stared at him with narrowed eyes.
Seeing her expression, Aotian smiled awkwardly.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" He scratched his head helplessly.
"..."
Amused by her silence, and not embarrassed in the slightest, he pulled her by the hand and dropped her into his embrace.
"Okay, okay… don't sulk. I was just joking." He gently kissed Rihai's pale cheek, looking deeply into her blue eyes with affection. "Don't worry, the sect already has a plan to deal with them."
A cold glint crossed Aotian's black eyes for a brief moment as he spoke about dealing with the enemy, which Rihai noticed but did not comment on.
She let out a soft sigh of relief and rested her head on his chest, lost in thought.
Rihai wasn't truly afraid. Her great-grandfather had become very powerful, and the sect was filled with immortals. She only feared that a war might begin too soon and that there would be casualties on their side.
Aotian shared a similar concern, after all, many disciples were still exploring the Nanyun Continent, where they currently were.
Fortunately, through the missions, it seemed that the desert continents were, for now, free of danger.
…
In the great hall of the Infinite Dao Sect, numerous elders arrived in an orderly manner, but without delay.
Soon, the place was filled with elders, and Tian Zhu, the sect leader, sat upon his black throne, observing the crowd of hundreds of elders below.
"Elders and ancestors," his firm and solemn voice echoed through the opulent hall, silencing everyone. "We have discovered that soon, Tribulation Transcendents will come to each of the four mid-continents to cause chaos and will bring about the deaths of billions of beings."
Jian Huiyin's and Liu Taixuan's hearts stirred among the crowd. But seeing the calm faces around them, they forced themselves to calm down.
Tian Zhu waited a moment for his words to settle, then looked directly at the old Liu.
"Elder Liu, in the coming period, remain cultivating within the sect. We may require your service at any moment," he ordered seriously.
This served both to leave a powerful guardian for the sect and, if a desperate measure became necessary, to allow Aotian to find him easily.
"Yes, Sect Leader." Liu Taixuan immediately bowed deeply, without a trace of disrespect.
"Hmm!" The sect leader nodded and offered, as compensation: "In the coming period, you may consult Elder Dan about the Dao of the Phoenix. Even with his memories sealed, he can give you some guidance."
Liu Taixuan's eyes shone intensely, and his breathing halted for a moment.
He quickly bowed again, even deeper, barely able to hide his joy.
Old Liu was truly excited about this news. Ever since discovering his Dao, he had been having some difficulty figuring out how to proceed.
"Thank you, Sect Leader!" he thanked Tian Zhu loudly, and then, still bowed, turned toward a red-haired elder with crossed arms nearby. "And thank you in advance as well, Elder Dan!"
Dan Hong, Cang Song's master, merely grunted and nodded, apparently not taking it too seriously.
Aotian did not offer that casually. In the past few days, since Liu Taixuan's breakthrough, he had been studying this mysterious and ethereal power called the Dao.
Perhaps the greatest challenge for someone walking the path of the Dao is direction. It is like trying to understand mathematics: without a progressive path, the difficulty increases countless times over.
For example, without knowing addition or subtraction, it would be difficult to understand the logic of multiplication and division. And without even mastering the basic operations, trying to jump straight to derivatives or integrals would be basically impossible.
Such was the Dao. If, in the Dao of fire, someone tried to jump straight into studying the ability to burn reality without even understanding how fire heats the environment, it would be countless times more difficult. And even worse — where is the foundation? What is fundamental? Without a clear direction, it is easy to jump straight into the hardest questions.
Of course, difficult does not mean impossible. After millions of years of trial and error, it is evident that a cultivator who relentlessly sought to burn the very fabric of reality would eventually learn, at some point, why fire is hot, and much more.
But Aotian's goal was to use his broad perspective, born from all the nonsense he had read on the internet in his past life, to create a more structured method of learning the Dao. And Liu Taixuan, who had made no progress in the past month since his breakthrough, would be the perfect test subject.
If everything went wrong, he could simply blame the sealed memories of the elders or the old Liu's lack of talent.
Of course, if Aotian believed the chances of success were low, he would not execute this plan. With the sect's Feng Shui established over the past two days, he was already able to better touch upon the Dao and test some of his theories, seeing that there was indeed a foundation to them.
It might not be perfect, but it was still a better path than the one Old Liu currently had.
In this way, his mastery of the Dao, even if not by much, was already actually superior to Liu Taixuan's.
But this was not the time to dwell on that.
The sect leader's gaze left the old man and fixed on a spot where nine figures had appeared out of nowhere.
Jian Huiyin, elder of the Sword Pavilion, held her breath at the sight of them.
Among them was Bao Wuji, an ancestor whom anyone who had been in the sect for more than a year had seen or heard of. And the other eight stood comfortably beside him, indicating that they were likely all ancestors of the sect.
Tian Zhu rose imposingly from his throne and clasped his fists in respect toward those nine figures, though he did not bow.
"Ancestors, thank you for coming."
He spoke softly, receiving nods from the ancestors, who also clasped their fists toward him. Tian Zhu then continued, adopting a serious expression:
"Ancestor Mo Yexuan, Ancestor Bao Wuji, Ancestor Zhao Wenming, I ask that you select four outer elders from the Shadow Pavilion and locate these enemy cultivators."
The sect leader's heavy words captured the solemn attention of everyone present.
Especially the three ancestors mentioned, belonging to the Shadow Pavilion, Treasure Pavilion, and the Heritage Pavilion, respectively.
"Your mission is to capture and replace the targets without alerting the world. Can you do it?"
The question was simple, but the old ancestors looked at him with amusement.
Mo Yexuan sneered, a malicious smile at the corner of his lips, Bao Wuji simply smiled and placed his hands behind his back, while Zhao Wenming, with his scholarly aura, merely raised an eyebrow.
Then the three of them answered, casually, in unison:
"It's easy."