Looking at the crane twisting in pain and letting out pitiful whimpers, Aotian didn't worry much.
To gain power, even if it meant enduring ten times more suffering, if someone asked that crane whether it would accept it—even after experiencing the pain—there was no doubt it would say yes. In the cultivation world, trading pain for strength was a basic rule, and no one hesitated before the chance to grow stronger.
Aotian was no exception. Even remembering the terrible pain of creating spiritual roots as if it were yesterday, he would still go through it again without hesitation.
Of course, nowadays the pain would be almost negligible for him, with so many avatars available to share the suffering.
Proof of that was when Ancestor Zhen Yinghua used her skill Ancestral Awakening on Elder Snake; Aotian did feel the pain, but it was so insignificant that he had to make the elder pretend to twitch a few times just to show there was pain in the process.
Naturally, those small twitches didn't diminish the disciples' admiration. Compared to them, the crane rolling on the ground and screaming miserably in true agony created a sharp contrast that showed just how strong the elders were psychologically.
Fortunately, the process was quick, and soon the gigantic crane was gasping heavily, sprawled on the ground with its wings spread open, too weak to move. Even so, there was a gleam of joy in its eyes—its feathers were firmer and more elegant, and it could clearly feel that its power had taken a step forward.
If it were only that, Aotian wouldn't have interrupted his meditation in the cave to focus.
"So that's how it is…" he murmured with his main body while looking at the crane's status, which he pulled up after sensing a different trace in her blood during the process of using the skill.
[Beast: Alpha Misty Plume Crane
Cultivation: Perfection of Level Two Beast
Age: 23 years
Bloodline: Alpha Misty Plume Crane
Qualifications: Perfection of Level Two Beast]
The status itself hadn't changed, but a new line appeared below.
---------------------
Option 1 -
[Bloodline: Cloudswallower Crane
Qualifications: Mid Stage of Third-Level Beast]
[Requirements:
Required Cultivation: Perfection of Level Two Beast
Pill: Core-Tier Bloodline Purification Pill — Recipe: …]
---------------------
There were no other options—just that one. But that alone was far better than the complete lack of options from before.
Aotian had never stopped studying the avatars' skills. Although he hadn't made progress in deciphering or copying the patterns that appeared in their roots when they activated their skills—apparently something extremely advanced and complex—he had still achieved great success in understanding the core of many of them.
For example, Observable Evolution, contrary to what one might think, didn't bring mystical ways to evolve a beast and restore its ancestral lineage. In reality, it merely displayed evolutions that were already possible, revealing the paths the beast could naturally achieve but didn't yet know of.
It was like imagining there once existed the first tiger in the universe—a divine beast called the White Tiger—and that it was the ancestor of all tigers. Over time, trillions of years later, the lineages of its descendants degraded until the Red Tiger emerged.
There was nothing in the world capable of making the Red Tiger awaken its ancestral blood and become a White Tiger again, simply because there was no trace of that lineage left in its blood. Maybe a whisper of it remained, but so faint that it was unreachable.
The only way to turn it back into a White Tiger would be to infuse that lineage into its body. But since the lineage would be external, and not something the tiger possessed from birth, this option would never appear in Observable Evolution.
As the name of the ability itself suggests, it was an "observable evolution"—that is, visualizing what a creature could naturally achieve and showing the ideal conditions for it to happen. If an evolution was impossible for any reason, it simply wouldn't appear on the panel.
That's why, even with this ability, Aotian had originally planned to find the blood of more powerful beasts to infuse into the sect's beasts, expanding their growth potential.
But who would've thought that Ancestor Zhen Yinghua's skill would directly break that limitation, saving him the trouble?
From what he understood, Ancestral Awakening worked by awakening the dormant ancestral blood of a beast—normally unreachable—granting it the potential to reach a more primitive and powerful form.
The strengthening that occurred was merely a side effect, the result of the awakening of a purer bloodline.
For beasts, lineage was everything—even a common tiger, if it possessed a trace of spiritual beast blood, would still be far stronger than other normal tigers. The same applied to cranes: just a trace of a more powerful bloodline within their body was already of great benefit.
'If I can use this ability without restrictions every time a beast reaches the limit of its potential, then the beasts of my Infinite Dao Sect will no longer have any barriers in their cultivation!' Aotian's eyes gleamed with excitement, his blood boiling.
'Haha! As expected, ancestors never have useless abilities,' he thought, satisfied, then turned his attention to Zhen Yinghua's final skill — Realm of Beasts.
At that moment, in the pavilion, all the disciples were still respectfully watching the sect's ancestor who had appeared out of nowhere and made a crane scream in pain as it grew stronger. Her mere ability to strengthen a beast by simply touching it had already filled their hearts with great admiration for this ancestor.
But she ignored them for now and walked up to Snake, who, powerless, was once again grabbed by her. Then she threw him aside as if he were nothing. But instead of hitting the ground, he was swallowed by a spatial ripple and disappeared, leaving the disciples watching with open mouths, confused.
Without paying them any mind, Zhen Yinghua turned to the elders.
"You go. Tell that boy Bao Hui to announce to the sect that we girls will be arriving in ten days. I'll meet Tian Zhu myself and inform him," she said calmly, her voice naturally authoritative.
"Yes, Big Sister!" they replied in unison, bowing respectfully and quickly sending someone to deliver the message.
Zhen Yinghua smiled faintly as she finished her affairs, then threw a playful glance at the disciples silently watching her and winked at them teasingly before vanishing without a trace.
"..."
The pavilion became so quiet that one could hear a needle drop.
"She… she winked at me!" a disciple murmured, his face flushed with excitement.
Another, just behind him, frowned.
"She clearly winked at me," he said, lifting his chin arrogantly.
"Ha! Two weaklings like you? Ancestor Zhen would never waste time looking at ugly faces like yours. It's obvious she winked at me!" another mocked, his cheeks slightly red as he recalled the beautiful ancestor.
Thus, like a spark in dry straw, the pavilion burst into flames.
"She winked at me!"
"It was for me, idiot!"
"Stop fighting! The ancestor was just teasing; she didn't wink at anyone in particular!"
"Bah! You're so blind you didn't see her look at me for a few seconds before winking!"
Soon, the voices rose, and tumultuous shouts echoed from every direction.
There were a few who had enough emotional intelligence to understand it was just a joke, but that was soon trampled by the fanatical craze that arose in the face of the ancestor's overwhelming beauty.
Soon, it wasn't just the disciples— even the spiritual beasts started claiming that the wink had been meant for them. Apparently, Zhen Yinghua's beauty and charm transcended the boundaries between species… and even between genders, as the girls also began arguing heatedly.
Aotian's mouth twitched slightly at the sight. He had only wanted to play around a little, but hadn't expected to cause such chaos. He also looked speechlessly at the disciples in the corners—those he hadn't even glanced at while in Zhen Yinghua's form—who were still arguing that she had winked at them.
Helpless, he could only do what any good boss would.
"Are you all going to stop? Or do you want us to kick you out of the sect right now?"
Several powerful and suffocating auras descended upon the disciples and beasts.
Elder Coyote, the head of the pavilion, led the others in the act of suppression.
He, who normally had a cheerful personality, now wore an extremely irritated expression, which made all the disciples—who had been grappling and fighting each other—freeze in place. Especially after hearing his words about being expelled from the sect, which terrified them completely.
Quickly, everyone straightened up, standing stiff and lowering their heads like guilty children.
But that didn't convince Coyote, whose frown remained deep.
"You're all brothers and sisters of the same sect. Your duty is to fight side by side, to die side by side. But the moment a beautiful woman appears before you, a single wink is enough to throw you all into chaos, turning against each other. And what's worse—you're lusting after the noble ancestor of our pavilion! I won't even comment on how absurd it is that you, mere Golden Core cultivators without any real power, dare to covet her. Such disrespect alone would be enough to earn you a free trip to the underworld."
He rolled his eyes and threatened mercilessly, making cold sweat run down the backs of the disciples and beasts.
"I don't want to see this happen again, or the punishment won't be as lenient next time. Now, all of you will lose thirty thousand contribution points. Let this not repeat itself, understood?!" he said fiercely.
"Yes, Elder! We were wrong! It won't happen again!" everyone bowed deeply, embarrassed for having lost their composure and spoken aloud of such improper desires, while also feeling the sting of losing so many points all at once.
"Humph!" the elders snorted before departing.
Indeed, Aotian's solution was the same one a company boss would use: cause the problem first, then punish the employees for it.
'Always works.' He nodded in satisfaction to himself.
In truth, Aotian also had ulterior motives for doing that. He feared that when the female elders arrived, he would have to deal with constant harassment from disciples trying to court the beautiful elders, so he thought it best to give them a warning in advance.
Just as he had already been warning the female disciples not to bother the male elders since the sect's second recruitment—stating that such actions could lead to severe punishment or even expulsion.
These warnings weren't enough to stop them completely, but they wouldn't dare act too brazenly, and most would give up altogether, making life much easier for Aotian.
With his objectives accomplished, he turned his attention to Elder Snake, who was currently within Ancestor Zhen's Realm of Beasts.
At that moment, the little snake was submerged in a deep lake, eyes closed in pure comfort. That realm functioned much like the Herb Realm, creating the perfect cultivation environment—but this one was meant for spiritual beasts.
Although Snake couldn't cultivate in his current state—where his human and beast sides were still in conflict—he could clearly feel the environment's benefits. His cultivation there would be at least twice as fast as outside, a tremendous advantage.
'Unfortunately, humans can't enter… If I could, my cultivation speed would double as well. That would be incredible…' Aotian thought, sighing bitterly.
He had tried, but even Zhen Yinghua herself, the owner of the ability, couldn't enter—only spiritual beasts could. Even so, the skill was still extremely useful for nurturing powerful beasts for the sect.
It could also function as a storage space, albeit with some limitations. If something inanimate was in contact with the beast, it could be taken inside; but once contact was lost, the object was immediately expelled.
Still, it was a highly valuable feature.
With that understood, he shifted his gaze to the last ancestor, whose abilities he had already discovered in the meantime.
[Name: Zhao Wenming (Meaning: Enlightened Scholar of the Zhao)
Position: Sect Ancestor (Heritage Pavilion)
Cultivation: 2nd Level of Void Refinement (3 Major Realms Above Host)
Body Cultivation: 2nd Level of Void Refinement (3 Major Realms Above Host)
Position Skill: Knowledge Restoration
Affiliation Skill: Wisdom Domain
Position Bonus: Soul Challenge (8 times a day)]
He was an elderly man with a long beard and white hair, a gentle, kind smile at the corner of his lips. His bluish-gray robes had long white sleeves and elegant floral patterns.
With that serene smile, a scholarly calm seemed to emanate naturally from him.
At the moment, he was in the Heritage Pavilion, sitting relaxedly while enjoying a cup of tea as he explored his abilities.
[Illustrative Image]
Soul Challenge needed no explanation, as Aotian was already well accustomed to it—and knew just how useful it was.
As for the Position Skill, Restoration of Knowledge, it took him a few tests to understand its function, which was actually quite simple.
If he possessed a fragment of a technique or any piece of knowledge, this ability would immediately restore it. Although not particularly useful at the moment, Aotian knew it could become a valuable tool in the future if the opportunity arose.
But to him, Zhao Wenming's greatest skill was undoubtedly the Wisdom Domain, which was very similar to the Refinement Field of the ancestor of the Body Refinement Pavilion.
While the latter generated a special energy that accelerated physical and spiritual energy recovery—and was also excellent as fuel for body refinement—the Wisdom Domain worked in another field.
It produced a special energy focused on mental recovery. Its greatest feature was that those within its area of effect could process information and gain insights more easily. It was like a scaled-down epiphany, without the effects of cultivation acceleration, and with a much smaller bonus to insight.
Even so, it was incredible to allow disciples to remain in a constant state of mini-epiphany. It was also extremely useful for Aotian's avatars, who could process information and learn much faster under that energy.
'It's decided. The Dao preaching assemblies will include Zhao Wenming's presence to provide this energy, while the inner elders will continue preaching, since they have Knowledge Transmission increased by 4x.'
'Combining the two, plus my knowledge of cultivation, I refuse to believe I won't be able to farm some epiphany points over the years, even without Heaven's Will assisting me.'
He thought determinedly as a smile crossed his face.
'With everything in place, all that's left is to focus on cultivation while waiting for the elders to return with the Soul Formation techniques.'