For the rest of that day, Aotian continued exploring the ancestors' abilities.
Huo Meilin, the ancestor of the Alchemy Pavilion, possessed the abilities Pill Tribulation, Herb Realm, and Accelerated Growth.
Aotian had already discovered that Herb Realm was an ability that basically granted a private super spiritual field for herbs, while Accelerated Growth was one he couldn't be more familiar with, considering it was one of the Outer Elders' abilities he used the most — allowing him to accelerate plant growth.
The difference was that, in the hands of an ancestor like Huo Meilin, this ability could mature a Void-Tier herb in two hundred thousand years. For herbs one Tier lower, such as the Transcendent Sky-Lotus of the Formation Tier, there was a tenfold efficiency bonus.
In other words, if she split its use, she alone could fully mature around four hundred of those plants — and she could use the skill eight times.
Thus, she alone could provide 3,200 Transcendent Sky-Lotus every day. Counting the double growth rate bonus within the Herb Realm, the total rose to a terrifying 6,400 mature Formation-Tier herbs per day.
Meanwhile, the current ten Outer Elders of the Alchemy Pavilion together could only produce at most fourteen herbs per day.
6,400 versus 14. That was a clear measure of how terrifying an ancestor could be.
To produce as many herbs as one ancestor, it would take around 4,600 Outer Elders at the ninth level of the Nascent Soul Realm — and that was considering Aotian used dew to accelerate their cultivation to that point, not their original cultivation.
If they were still stuck at the same realm as him, as Outer Elders usually were when summoned — currently at the 2nd level of the Golden Core Realm — it would take a staggering thirty-two million of them to match the efficiency of a single ancestor.
'Thinking of it that way, an ancestor is quite cheap for a thousand epiphany points…'
Aotian took a deep breath as he made these calculations. It wasn't that an ancestor's skills were necessarily more powerful — it was simply that they were three cultivation realms above him, making the power gap absurdly vast.
Finally, there was Huo Meilin's last ability — Pill Tribulation.
Aotian tried to have her perform alchemy first, but nothing happened. Not even a cloud formed in the sky, which left him confused.
Then, from Ancestor Huo's perspective, he looked at the freshly refined pills that had fallen into her jade hand. She rubbed her delicate chin, thoughtful.
Storing them away and leaving only one, she closed her eyes and tried to activate the ability within her body.
Searching for a different sensation while shouting internally "Pill Tribulation! Pill Tribulation!", she visualized the ability targeting the pill in her hand.
Then something clicked. Instinctively, mysterious patterns began spreading through her roots, and the hairs on Huo Meilin's arm stood on end.
Aotian made her open her eyes — and was startled to see a small, dark, electrically charged cloud forming inside the cave.
Before he could react, a powerful bolt of lightning struck directly onto the pill in her hand.
The ancestor tried to throw it away, but everything happened so fast she had no chance.
As soon as the lightning touched the pill, a flicker of doubt crossed her face — she didn't feel any damage in her palm.
Confused, she looked at the scorched pill in her hand.
Passing a trace of spiritual energy over it, the blackened shell crumbled away, revealing once again a perfectly round, red pill.
But this time, there was something different — the pill was only half the size of the previous one, and a lightning pattern had appeared on its red surface.
'The medicinal power doubled…' Aotian observed, impressed by the pill in the ancestor's hand.
Pensive, an idea flashed through his mind.
'What if…'
BOOM!
A new lightning bolt appeared, striking directly at the pill and ignoring all obstructions. Apparently, only the pill could be affected.
'It worked! It can really be used more than once on the same pill!' Aotian's eyes shone as he watched the lightning encircle the pill, electrifying it and causing damage.
Everything happened very quickly, and in a brief instant, the tribulation ceased.
Holding the charred pill, he again passed a trace of spiritual energy over it, removing the burnt part.
An even smaller pill appeared, about one-third the size of the previous one.
A second lightning pattern marked its surface, but this time the medicinal power hadn't increased much — only about a third.
Aotian frowned, not because he thought the increase was bad, but because several holes had formed in the pill, and the medicinal power was slowly leaking out. The pill was damaged and wouldn't last long.
'Looks like it's not that simple. The pills I make are very strong and well-refined, but even they can't withstand a second pattern…'
'If such cracks appear, even if I create a giant pill as I just thought of when I saw its size shrinking, if it can't endure the tribulation, it'll soon become waste. And if I try to form even more lightning patterns, it'll be destroyed directly by the bolt.'
He calculated silently but understood. If one could infinitely condense the pill without limitation, it would indeed be far too outrageous.
'Even so, this is already great. If I can craft pills with better materials, superior recipes, improved cauldrons, and more effort, I should be able to create a pill capable of enduring more lightning patterns.'
Huo Meilin rubbed her beautiful chin, blinking her phoenix-red eyes as she fell into thought.
[Illustrative Image]
At that point, Aotian had already understood all her abilities, leaving only the task of exploring them further to make the best possible use.
His focus then shifted to Lei Xinyi, the ancestor of the Body Refinement Pavilion. Her abilities were Blood Burn, Refinement Field, and Cellular Regeneration.
Cellular Regeneration Aotian already knew, since the Outer Elders possessed the same ability. It was like a super healing spell that could be activated on oneself or others, and being a Position Bonus, it was limited to eight uses per day at the sect's current level.
As for the other two abilities, he was discovering what they did at that very moment.
In an apocalyptic world, two figures fought fiercely, using their own fists as weapons and trying their best to wound the opponent without caring for their own safety.
Both were women with wild black hair, and each bore a fierce, horizontal scar across her face.
"HAAAH!!" The two identical women shouted in unison, and their seemingly delicate fists clashed with tremendous force, tearing both arms apart from the rebound impact.
But instead of turning pale or weakening from their injuries, they seemed even more fearless and powerful.
The battle continued, and their auras grew without stopping. However, that was not because of the wounds, but rather due to the blood and spiritual energy boiling within their veins with increasing intensity.
That was the Blood Burn ability of the ancestor Lei Xinyi, who at that moment was fighting herself in a Soul Challenge.
[Illustrative Image]
The one controlling her mirrored figure was an elder from the Heritage Pavilion. Well, that's putting it technically — in the end, both were the same person.
Aotian had discovered some time ago that when the Soul Challenge skill was used on someone from a higher realm, the number of uses doubled.
Since it could now be used eight times per day, an outer elder in the Nascent Soul realm would need to spend two daily uses to summon someone in the Soul Formation realm, and four uses to challenge a cultivator in the Void Refinement realm, like the ancestor.
Even so, that wasn't a big deal to Aotian — it was still one of the most broken abilities he had. Although there were risks, such as losing knowledge if defeated by a stronger opponent, as long as he didn't have the bad luck of facing a Mahayana or immortal, everything would be fine.
In fact, he couldn't even use this ability against Mahayana-level beings or above at the moment, since he was using outer elders. Still, there was always the chance of encountering a reincarnated being in a weaker body. But in lower realms, Aotian was confident that his strength surpassed everyone else's.
The battle between the two women continued, becoming increasingly frenzied, and the fluctuations of their realms only grew stronger.
3rd Level of Void Refinement.
4th Level of Void Refinement.
5th Level of Void Refinement.
6th Level of Void Refinement.
By this point, both women's faces had turned pale. The blood they were burning far exceeded their bodies' recovery capacity, and their spiritual energy could no longer sustain even a few more seconds of combat.
With one final strike, both ended in a draw, completely drained of energy, and then exited the virtual world of the Soul Challenge.
An outer elder and Lei Xinyi — who was no longer dressed in black but instead wore a golden gown — appeared in the hall.
The black clothes she wore during combat had only been an illusion, and in the coming days, Aotian would actually craft those robes, which suited her appearance far better.
In any case, he was very satisfied with this elder, who was currently the strongest in the sect. Although reaching the 6th Level of Void Refinement was still difficult for her, maintaining the 5th Level posed no problem, and she even possessed instant recovery ability.
Thus, the ancestor Lei Xinyi became the sect's greatest combat force.
In truth, she normally wouldn't have been able to go as far as the 6th Level, since the burning of blood and energy at that stage was too intense, but her second ability was assisting her: Refinement Field.
And the uses of this ability greatly surprised Aotian.
When activated, it essentially created a domain filled with special energy that accelerated the recovery of both physical and spiritual energy, allowing battles to last longer.
But that wasn't the most important part. The crucial point was that this energy also accelerated body refinement — and even ignored cultivation limits.
Normally, a cultivator cannot temper their body beyond their cultivation level, since the energy required must be controlled and condensed by the user themselves.
Even treasures, pills, or other methods can hardly break this rule, because in order to provide energy for the cells to evolve, it must be precisely controlled to nourish them without destroying them.
The purer and higher the quality of the spiritual energy source — such as the Dew of the Dragon's Lament, for instance — the harder it is to control.
Thus, it became a common belief that body cultivation was inherently limited by one's regular cultivation level.
But the Refinement Field, as Aotian realized, was about to shatter that rule.
The emitted energy was friendly and easy to control. Under its effects, anyone who focused on refining their body would no longer face those limitations. Even someone with sparse spiritual roots could cultivate their body as far as their short lifespan and talent allowed.
'If I'd had such an ancestor earlier, Rihai could've restored her root without my help, and I wouldn't have worried about her for so long. Fortunately, everything turned out fine in the end…'
Aotian reasoned, smiling faintly as he thought of his wife with two bodies. A subtle warmth rose in the lower part of his main body as his mind drifted toward indecent thoughts.
But he quickly composed himself and refocused.
'The Refinement Field doesn't consume much energy to remain active. I can open a cave for the ancestor to stay in during specific periods and allow the sect's disciples and beasts to enter, paying with contribution points. Fortunately, this ability is highly controllable, and I can adjust the area it covers and who it affects.'
'For the disciples of the Body Refinement Pavilion, I can allow free entry into this body-refinement cave I'm planning to create, or offer a large discount depending on the disciple type — with Core disciples from that pavilion not needing to pay at all. That should increase competition within the pavilion and its appeal to disciples.'
He reasoned.
This system, in fact, was already in place in other areas of the sect. Core, inner, and outer disciples all had different access limits, privileges, and discounts for various resources, making it even more desirable to climb in rank within the sect. And each pavilion had its own attractions for disciples, aside from the guidance of the elders.
After mentally noting a few things to do later, Aotian turned his focus to the sect's two remaining ancestors.
A woman, Zhen Yinghua, who had been assigned to the Beasts Pavilion.
And a man who had come with the sect's level-up, but whose pavilion Aotian only decided on after summoning the female ancestors, now belonged to the Heritage Pavilion.
'Let's see what they can do…'