Aotian, after showing off to the dragon at the bottom of the sea, spent the next ten days sitting cross-legged, focused on his cultivation.

During this time, since he could not lie with Rihai for the usual four hours of dual cultivation, his speed suffered a small drop, but not enough to delay him much.

Looking at his Golden Core, solid and perfect, extremely condensed, reaching the size of an orange, he knew he was not far from reaching the perfection of his current realm. And, when that happened, with all his knowledge and mastery, he would not even need preparation or inspiration, being able to step into the Nascent Soul realm at any moment.

Unfortunately, with his realm advancement, most of his avatars would not grow in strength, since each of them had used the dragon dew, which made them advance beyond the system’s bonus realm. Even so, the gains would not be small.

The greatest change that would occur when that happened, in fact, would be that the foundations of the avatars would strengthen greatly, and also the cultivation of the ancestors, who would finally reach the terrifying Tribulation Transcendence realm, placing them in the true leagues of power of this world.

Thus, he eagerly awaited that moment, which would make him, although still vulnerable to those old monsters, at least not be crushed immediately in a confrontation.

And while the main body focused on self-improvement, Aotian never stopped working on other fronts.

First of all, the mountain that the sect unearthed was in the process of revitalization.

To explain where this mountain came from and how Aotian set his eyes on it, it is necessary to go back a few months in time.

At that time, the Shadow Pavilion was, besides robbing several sects, also exploring the secrets and locations of the various continents. Among them was the forbidden zone of the Nanyun continent, the place where the Mahayana Mansion and the city of exiles were located.

During the exploration process, it was Bao Wuji, with his super ability to find treasures, who carried out the primary search, and it was in one of these searches in the forbidden zone that Aotian was surprised to find, in that place abandoned by the heavens, known for having nothing, several spiritual veins, with the strongest among them even being a fifth-level mid-grade one.

Such a vein was of the highest quality in a mid-continent like the Nanyun continent, because it allowed cultivators to reach the Soul Formation realm up to the middle stage, which was not far from the peak of the spiritual veins found there.

And besides it, there were hundreds of other veins buried in that desert, ranging from third-level veins to another fifth-level low-grade one in its extension.

But, despite so many veins, that place was one where no one wanted to set foot.

Besides sudden disappearances, caused by the Mahayana Mansion gate dragging people inside in search of an heir, all the spiritual veins there were, in fact, buried and without energy.

For cultivators, without spiritual energy, they were like cars without fuel; they simply would not function. No one wanted to go to such a place and render themselves useless.

However, unknown to most, was that those veins did indeed exist, and they had not dried up, died, or been destroyed. They had not even stopped working; in fact, they were still operating normally.

The great problem of all of them was that their energy, even the smallest drop generated, was immediately attracted to the Mahayana Mansion, barely managing to maintain a bit of their raw energy to continue existing, which was why they seemed to have dried up.

The only formation still partially operational was the one in the City of Exiles. In the distant past, when the Mahayana Mansion fell there, the ancient sect residing in that place had likely fought to reclaim its energy. In the end, however, they had barely managed to preserve a thin strand of low-level energy at the mountain’s highest peak.

What became of that sect afterward, Aotian neither knew nor particularly cared about.

All that mattered to him was the quality of the spiritual vein and its remote location. With some luck, it would allow him and his sect to cultivate for at least one or two years without drawing the attention of powerful adversaries. By then, he hoped to have gained control of the Mahayana Mansion and no longer depend on that mountain, leaving it behind as an external headquarters of the sect.

With the mountain in hand, he did not waste time. During the last ten days, he had been preparing and making the Feng Shui designs of the mountain, and on that day he had started its application, which was the scene that the various residents at the foot saw earlier.

Planting spiritual herbs, from Refiner-Tier glossy grass to Formation-Tier blazing peach trees, reforesting the peak in a delicate balance, harmonizing the elemental energies there and achieving perfect Feng Shui.

Elders with formations came right after, creating protections so that that perfect environment would not be affected by those who lived there.

The result was immediate.

Looking through the eyes of Tian Zhu, the sect leader, Aotian watched the newly reforested peak, far from its previous decay, finally reach the immortal appearance it deserved.

Spiritual energy began to gush from underground, comfortable and vibrant with that place that seemed to be so harmonized with the heavens.

The energy was no longer attracted by whatever the Mahayana Mansion was doing, because there was no better place for it than there.

Smiling lightly in his heart, Aotian watched with pleasure that mountain gain another life in his hands and, seeing from the clouds the hope-filled gaze of the crowd at the foot of the mountain, hugging each other and becoming full of expectations, his heart filled with satisfaction.

‘The world may have many bad things… but the good things, especially when we are there to help, make it shine in a much better way.’

He thought, with a gentle heart.

‘I want to protect this shine. I will not let it go out.’

Determination grew in his eyes, remembering the growing threat of the world’s destruction.

Especially when, in his main body, he looked at his wife, who was focused on learning the Taboo-Tier technique.

The determination and certainty that he would be able to prevent the trillions of lives from being extinguished, to protect everything good he discovered in this world, took over his mind, raising it to a state of firmness and emptiness without precedent.

When that happened, he felt his soul tremble slightly, and his realm, which was not far from completion, with a simple leap, reached the limit. The Golden Core, in the place where his Dantian was, instead of growing, seemed to compress slightly, and a purple glow began to emanate from it.

Aotian froze at the sudden situation, and then blinked several times to see if he was not going crazy, quickly coming back to his senses and rapidly understanding that it had really happened.

His eyes widened and his heart raced, with a sudden euphoria taking over him.

‘What the hell?! This… this was an epiphany?! Was it?! No, wait… it was not an epiphany, my current state makes it impossible to achieve that due to my avatars, besides, it would be a really bad epiphany, such small progress…’

‘But it also cannot be said that it was not. It is like it was a slight epiphany, or maybe a state where I started to have the epiphany, but, due to my many minds and bodies, that state was quickly broken, letting me make only slight progress…’

Aotian quickly identified, in a mix of excitement and discouragement. Excited for having felt his probable first epiphany and discouraged for it having been broken.

Fortunately, he soon swallowed the discouragement, since he, in fact, had a powerful golden finger, and would not trade even ten epiphanies for it.

Clenching his fists and feeling the power flow through his body, he could not help but smile lightly.

[Host: Long Aotian

Cultivation:

Perfection of Golden Core

Body Cultivation: 9th Level of Golden Core

Physique: Mortal

Qualifications: Perfect-Grade (Supreme) Five Element Spiritual Root]

After about one year and five months since reaching the Golden Core, he finally completed this realm and was about to advance to the next.

Looking inside his body, he saw the Golden Core floating lightly in his Dantian, half unreal, half real. Aotian focused on the faint purple light that now surrounded it, making that core even more mysterious, which made him more curious the more he observed.

‘I’ve never seen a purple light in a Golden Core, not even Rihai’s before she advanced to Nascent Soul. The theoretical limit should be the supreme golden core, or more specifically, my supreme supreme golden core…’

He reflected, with his brows furrowed.

In fact, he had already heard about purple golden cores in the stories he read on Earth, but it seemed like a very different state from his current core. He also could not use the xianxias he read as a measure, after all, they were only stories, with different approaches and universes in each one.

‘Purple core… could it be a manifestation because I got close to the extreme of the next realm, bordering the Nascent Soul? Is that why the purple hue? If that’s the case, it would explain why Rihai couldn’t do it, because she couldn’t reach an extreme so close that it blurred the line between realms like I can.’

He imagined that this was the most plausible explanation and intended to study it more while refining his body to also reach the perfection of the realm before advancing.

Decided, he closed his eyes, about to return to cultivation, but suddenly opened them again, with a helpless look as an enormous shadow covered his body and surroundings.

Looking forward, the last thing he did was let out a helpless sigh before being swallowed by an enormous tsunami.

The water left as quickly as it came, and soon Aotian stood up while throwing a piece of seaweed that was on his head away.

His gaze rose, facing with slight irritation the dragon, who watched him back with a glint of amusement and… affection?

Aotian seemed a bit confused upon noticing that particular strange glint, but did not think much about it as he approached Rihai.

The dragon reluctantly shifted its gaze away from its possible reincarnated sovereign and swept it across everyone present.

[“Ten days have passed, and this round has ended! Now, you will be transported to the final test!”]

As soon as the dragon’s voice ceased, everyone shifted uncomfortably.

Aotian was surprised, as he thought the dragon would ask everyone to display their proficiencies. He quickly looked at the Dragon Peak disciples and saw that although they seemed uncomfortable, they did not appear surprised.

‘Huh? If it wasn’t to display it here, then what was that guy called Chun trying to do earlier?’

Aotian was speechless, looking at Young Master Chun, with a dark expression, who occasionally watched him with anger and suspicion.

But before he could understand, he felt the world spin and, when he came back to his senses, he found that he and everyone else were in a dead land, with twisted trees and gloomy skies.

Without even needing another second, Aotian realized that place was extremely familiar to a place he had been working focused on for practically the last month… that was a Shadowfallen world.

However, when he looked back, he discovered that, just a few meters behind him, there was an enormous barrier that extended as far as the eye could see, seeming to divide the world into two versions:

One that was dark and lifeless, full of impurities, and the other that was a domain of life, full of spiritual energy.

[“This is the border with the battlefield of the fallen. Before us is a piece of land from our Dragon Sovereign Mansion, which was taken by the plague of impurities, which killed many of my people, from ancient times to the present.”]

The heavy voice of the dragon sounded in everyone’s mind, as its gigantic blue-scaled head emerged from the dark impurity-filled clouds in the sky, which slightly burned its body.

[“These impurities were also responsible for polluting the branch of the tree of life where the mansion was built, which resulted in its disconnection and consequent… fall.”]

His words, although seeming to only recount a case from the past, still contained much hidden pain and loss. And even the beast’s blue eyes, when staring at that corrupted world, could not hide a deep touch of sadness.

The Dragon Peak disciples were stunned upon hearing such a story, never having heard anything about it from their elders. They did not know that, in fact, even their elders were unaware of it.

Normally, the dragon only searched for a successor, without much hope or intimacy with those being tested, but this time it was different. Aotian was different.

And, when it spoke about these things, it was actually speaking to Aotian and his companions, who listened to those revelations in surprise.

Rihai, Cang Song, and Hui Lang did not understand much about those things, like the tree of life and the plague of impurities, because they had not experienced much. But Aotian, despite never having seen the tree of life himself, understood very well what it was about.

Blinking his large eyes, the dragon sighed internally and returned to its state of indifference, staring at everyone with its enormous blue slit-pupiled eyes.

[“The final test aims to judge your ability to protect this world with the Dragon Sovereign’s inheritance. The greater the number and the greater the power of the Shadow Beasts you kill with the Weather Control technique, the higher your score will be.”]

[“In the end, I will grant you a certain amount of authority over the world according to the performance you show.”]

It explained, with its voice becoming heavier, as its gaze turned to the horizon, where tens of thousands of cruel beasts were arriving in a frenzied charge, attracted by the spiritual energy of it, Aotian, and the others.

[“Now go, the enemies are coming! I will protect you from evils you cannot face!”]

With a final roar, the dragon launched itself toward those beings, tearing through the dark clouds of the sky, making a beam of light fall onto the battlefield.

Aotian watched all of that happen while seriously analyzing the enemies he would face.

It did not take long for him to notice one thing in common, however disturbing, in those beasts. All of them had a noble aura, although corrupted, and black scales outlining their bodies, which revealed their origin in life.

‘Dragons! All of them are from the dragon family!’

He blinked, surprised at recognizing the lineage those beasts carried, even if diluted to different degrees. There were lizardmen, earth dragons, colossal serpents, and naga-like beings, besides countless other creatures that shared that same ancestral blood.

There were also shrimp soldiers, among other troops belonging to the dragon race.

And, even among those beasts, the one that the blue dragon attacked with the greatest ferocity, fiercely entangling with it, was a hornless dragon that emitted fluctuations of a sixth-level beast, equivalent to the Void Refinement realm among humans.

However, not even ten seconds later, the beast, under the power of the Seventh-Level blue dragon, was torn into pieces, making sour and filthy blood rain across the skies.

But the beasts below did not fear, delighting in the impurity-rich blood raining over them, becoming even more ferocious as they advanced at full speed against Aotian and the others, with pure thirst for destruction.

Seeing the scene, everyone entered combat stances, taking deep breaths, with solemn eyes, as that black tide approached at high speed.

The next part would not be fun.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep