With Tian Zhu piloting the ship, they began approaching the Foundation Establishment cities.

Unfortunately, such cities were quite rare, but there were still around sixteen in the nearby region… well, nearby for a Golden Core cultivator. For Qi Refinement cultivators, it could take years or even decades to travel between those cities.

Out of those sixteen cities, only seven allowed access to outsiders, belonging to cultivation families who benefited from a larger population base. The other nine were sects, with access restricted exclusively to disciples and elders.

These cities had been discovered by Aotian on the Shi family’s maps. Despite the distance between them, with Golden Core speed, it was possible to cover them all in less than two months before reaching the final objective.

Accelerating the flying ship, after only a few days they neared the first cultivation city. This city belonged to a cultivation clan known as the Jing family, which was even stronger than the Shi family from Black Rock Mountain and possessed a mid-tier second-rank spiritual vein.

Tian Zhu looked to Ting Zao, the Refinement Pavilion elder, and to the new Talisman Pavilion internal elder, Fu Zhi.

[Name: Fú Zhī (Meaning: The Possessor of the Talisman)

Position: Elder of the Talisman Pavilion

Cultivation: 7th Level of Foundation Establishment (1 major realm above the Host)

Position Ability: Talisman Derivation

Position Bonus: Talisman Master (Talisman quality increased 3x)]

“You two will be responsible for acquiring the techniques from this city. According to the information we gathered from the Shi Family’s jade slips, the Jing family has only one mid-stage Foundation Establishment and one early-stage cultivator. First go to the city’s treasure pavilions and buy what we need. After that, do your best to acquire the Jing family’s techniques and inheritances. You already have the list of what’s available in this city — don’t miss anything.”

Tian Zhu gave the order with a serious expression and continued:

“After obtaining the items from the treasure pavilions, seek out and purchase information in the city regarding the Gu family. If they are not guilty of serious crimes, just read the Gu family’s manuals and return them. Although it’s still technically theft, I don’t want our sect to bring harm to anyone. If their sins are greater, act as you see fit based on what you’ve learned. But confirm it first — don’t act carelessly and risk harming innocents.”

He finished his instructions and then looked at Bao Hui, who, despite having a bitter expression, still tossed them a pouch filled with spirit stones for their purchases. It contained many mid-grade spirit stones refined by Bao Wuji.

Though it was more economical to trade using higher-grade stones, those were extremely rare and would raise many questions and suspicions if used in normal transactions.

One high-grade spirit stone was worth 10,000 low-grade ones, but Bao Wuji could condense one using only 100 low-grade stones — a 100-fold profit.

Not to mention perfect-grade stones, whose value Aotian hadn’t even heard of — but it surely wasn’t small, considering he used 100 high-grade stones to condense one.

Bao Wuji’s mid-grade stones had a “profit” of only tenfold, since ten low-grade stones were used to create them, and their value was 100 low-grade stones. Although this resulted in a slight loss compared to using high-grade stones, they were the most practical currency for negotiations within the cities of this continent.

“Yes, Sect Leader!” The two elders replied firmly after receiving their orders and the storage pouch.

The ship landed well before reaching the city — or even being able to see it — so as not to alert anyone unnecessarily, and the two elders descended and ran directly toward the city.

Aotian’s goal was to leave two or more internal elders in each city to acquire the necessary resources from each location.

Since all of his internal elders were at the 7th level of Foundation Establishment — that is, the final stage — he wasn’t concerned about their safety.

Moreover, in cities where there were Foundation Establishment cultivators beyond the mid stage, Aotian would send his combat elders, including Lie Zheng and the new elder of the Punishment Pavilion, along with the two Sword Pavilion elders, since their position bonuses involved beyond-the-realm combat, making them much stronger than their base levels.

Thus, the ship did not stay after dropping off the two elders and continued its journey.

Along the way, Aotian couldn’t help but smile internally from time to time. This was all because techniques, spells, and cultivation inheritances kept appearing in his mind.

‘Everything is going according to plan.’ He thought, excited.

Contrary to what one might imagine, these techniques didn’t come from his elders, but from his disciples.

Before sending them off, he had given clear orders: every jade slip they found should be read, copied, and distributed among the mission’s group of disciples, with the original handed over to the sect.

The disciples were thrilled by the sect’s generosity, but what they didn’t know was that from the moment they read those techniques, Aotian’s knowledge feedback function had already been activated.

Everything his disciples learned — whether by experimentation, training, reading, combat, or any other learning activity — generated direct feedback for him.

So, while they copied techniques and shared them among themselves, Aotian was receiving all that knowledge too, just as he had planned.

Unfortunately, Aotian hadn’t properly calculated how fast he could travel, so he had only created missions for a small area around his initial perimeter.

Luckily, there had still been quite a few tombs — tombs of different Foundation Establishment cultivators accumulated over countless years. And they were only from rogue cultivators who’d had the luck to reach that realm.

As for cultivators from clans and sects, they were usually buried within the grounds of their respective powers.

Even so, he wasn’t worried that he’d sent disciples to too few tombs. What they were gathering was merely a bonus. His real target was the Golden Core-level sect in that region…

…the Bamboo Sword Sect.

…

As the flying ship of the Infinite Dao Sect continued its journey, the sect leader and elders aboard didn’t waste any time. They began analyzing and breaking down the information gathered by the disciples. Even the already-busy elders and Ancestor Bao Wuji — who was flying at full speed ahead — dedicated their Enlightened Minds to help with the task.

But something made Aotian frown as he studied. The complexity of Foundation Establishment techniques had increased considerably compared to those of Qi Refinement, requiring far more data than he had anticipated in order to perfect a technique.

‘This won’t work. At this rate, I’ll need nearly two hundred Foundation Establishment techniques for the next stage. Can I even find that many in this desert region? And what’s worse — if it continues like this, for the Golden Core and the realms beyond, it’s only going to get worse… this is troublesome…’ He thought, slightly frustrated.

His excitement about the journey dropped significantly after this realization.

‘Sigh… just worry about the problems ahead. Focus on the immediate issue. There should be enough Foundation Establishment techniques in this continent. As for Golden Core, there are still other continents to explore — that shouldn’t be an issue either.’ Aotian reassured himself, though some worry still lingered in his heart regarding future realms.

But while his main mind was slightly disheartened and his other minds were analyzing the received data, he noticed something different about two of his avatars.

They were the avatars from the newly inaugurated Inheritance Pavilion. One of them was Wen Tai, a new elder.

Aotian focused on him and noticed that as he studied a technique called Immovable Mountain Technique, Wen Tai began having insights into new and unexpected ways the technique could function.

But that wasn’t what caught Aotian’s attention. He had previously experienced occasional insights through other avatars while studying techniques. This time, however, it was different — the insights were solid, extremely beneficial, and consistent, making the knowledge gained twice as effective as before.

‘What’s going on?’ Aotian wondered, confused, pulling up Wen Tai’s panel.

[Name: Wén Tài (Meaning: Literary Harmony)

Position: Elder of the Inheritance Pavilion

Cultivation: 7th Level of Foundation Establishment (1 Major Realm above Host)

Position Ability: Sage of Knowledge

Position Bonus: Gift of Teaching (Knowledge Transmission increased 3x)]

‘Sage of Knowledge! So this is the ability’s effect! It allows a comprehension beyond what’s merely read! This could cut the number of techniques needed for synthesis in half — and as this elder’s realm increases, the effect might become even stronger! This could be my turning point!’ Aotian considered, excited.

He had acquired many elders with the latest sect update, and although he had already discovered the utility of some of the new elders’ abilities, he was still in the process of studying others.

Eager with the discovery, Aotian continued testing Elder Wen Tai, trying to better understand the ability and how it worked.

But after further testing, he realized it wasn’t perfect.

‘The effect is excellent, but he has to study the techniques on his own to generate insights, so the time spent accumulating enough knowledge for a synthesis is much longer with only two elders in this pavilion studying solo. If there aren’t enough techniques available, they can be a huge help. But for now, it’s still better to focus on a large volume of techniques, since having multiple avatars studying together builds knowledge much faster.’ Aotian concluded seriously.

Still, he wasn’t dissatisfied. It was, after all, a very viable method in case of technique scarcity.

‘The other ability they have, Gift of Teaching, seems aimed at helping disciples, I suppose… maybe it could also have some unexpected effects for me, or at the very least be useful for Rihai once she joins the sect. Even if it’s just the latter, I’d already be more than satisfied.’ He thought, closing the elder’s panel with a smile.

…

Travel Journal of Bao Wuji (Aotian)

Day 1 – At my speed, I have no idea how many miles I’ve crossed in this short amount of time, but it’s been many. There’s so much to see in this world. Forests, animals, and human cities are everywhere — though most of them are populated by ordinary mortals.

Day 5 – Apparently, there are a lot of humans in this world. I saw hundreds of large mortal cities while flying. If the whole world is like this, maybe the human population has already reached into the trillions, considering the world’s size. Well, I’m not sure — after all, a trillion is a huge number — but there are definitely far more people than there were on Earth.

Day 10 – Can this continent really be called a desert? There is forest and life everywhere, and it’s actually a breathtaking landscape. I think the name “desert” likely refers more to a desert of spiritual energy than a natural environment. Even though it’s a spiritual desert, spiritual energy is still present, and it makes everything much stronger and more vibrant than on Earth. What exactly is this wondrous energy that surrounds us? What is its origin? There is still so much to explore… and so much to learn…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep