More than two years ago, Xu Yuan's spiritual power had reached thirty-five thousand.
Now, over two years later, his spiritual power had reached forty-five thousand.
Without deliberately focusing on cultivating spiritual power, his increase in spiritual strength was already incredible. By half a year ago, he was nearing forty thousand, which was the limit of the welfare period after his spiritual power reached the Spiritual Domain realm.
After half a year of cultivation, the bottleneck at forty thousand points didn't hinder him.
Instead, his deep study of magic unknowingly caused his spiritual power to rapidly increase again.
Forty-five thousand points of spiritual power still placed him in the high-level Spiritual Domain realm, and he was only five thousand points away from the threshold of fifty thousand points, which would mark the Divine Origin Realm.
According to Xu Yuan's own perception, under the nourishment of various elements, his spiritual power should have the opportunity to approach fifty thousand points within a year.
If he could delve deeper into other elemental magics, this speed would likely increase even further.
"Rex, name your price?"
"Magic isn't merchandise." Rex shook his head and firmly refused Xu Yuan.
"What do you want?" Xu Yuan directly let Rex set his own requirements.
Sure enough, Rex's expression softened a bit.
"We've had several pleasant transactions and can be considered friends. It's reasonable for friends to exchange magic knowledge," he said, "As friends, I hope you can help me with some matters in the future."
"What kind of help?"
"I've been away from home for a long time. Things have changed drastically. Returning to my hometown in my current state makes resolving many issues inconvenient, so I hope you'll help me out of friendship."
Xu Yuan furrowed his brows.
"In your current state, returning to your Sacred Heart Plane, do you still have enemies?"
"You don't need to worry; my enemies are merely Super God-level. I'll pay what I owe, and you repay accordingly. Over these years, I'll teach you magic of other elements. If you find my enemies too powerful, just help me in the early stages until I regain my peak state. I'll handle the remaining enemies myself."
"Alright."
Xu Yuan didn't feel any psychological burden.
It was something for the future anyway, and whether they could find the Sacred Heart Plane was another matter.
The vast universe was immense, almost endless. It had taken being swept by spatial turbulence to arrive at the Hell Plane, far from Douluo Star. Who knew where the Sacred Heart Plane might be?
Even if traveling in a straight line, Douluo Star might take hundreds or thousands of years to reach it, even if they found the correct direction immediately.
"In that case, I might not have much time to consult you about magic. Why don't you just teach me the magic directly?"
Xu Yuan was preparing to leave Shrek. There was news from the Netherworld calling him over.
"You can bring me along," Rex said.
"Bring you?" Xu Yuan frowned, contemplating whether bringing Rex would cause any inconvenience.
At first, he was skeptical of this guy.
In case of unexpected situations, if Rex interfered and broke the balance, it would be fine if it was for his benefit. But if he took advantage of the situation, it would be disastrous.
However, after a moment's hesitation, Xu Yuan dismissed these concerns.
There was no need.
He had previously roamed around with the Nine Great Dragon Kings; now, it was just a matter of replacing them with Rex.
"Is the fragment of the Holy Tree still with you?" Rex asked.
Xu Yuan raised his right hand, and the piece of dead wood appeared.
The life force and death force within the dead wood were too powerful for the storage space of soul-guiding devices to handle, so Xu Yuan kept it in his Scroll World.
Rex looked deeply at Xu Yuan, his divine consciousness merging into the dead wood, then fell silent.
Xu Yuan packed up the dead wood, combining reality and illusion, overlaying the dream space with the Scroll World, and stored it inside.
The actual body of the dead wood was placed in the Scroll World, while Rex within the dead wood was isolated in a layer of the dream space.
The Scroll World was a real world, and its internal laws might be spied upon by Rex. Xu Yuan hadn't trusted Rex to that extent yet.
On the other hand, although the foundational architecture of the dream space was also governed by strict laws, its essence was illusory. Xu Yuan could control what Rex saw.
After finishing the last bits of business at the academy, Xu Yuan left Shrek with Na'er.
"Senior Brother, what is Teacher's current situation?"
Although Na'er learned that Yun Ming had become the plane master of the Netherworld and controlled it, she didn't know what form Yun Ming had taken.
"Teacher's physical body hasn't changed; he just created the Netherworld. However, the Netherworld consumed too much of his vitality, spirit, and energy, taking up a significant portion. Now, Teacher can only sleep, and I don't know where his physical body is either." Xu Yuan shrugged.
Na'er responded with an "Oh."
"I wonder if I'll be able to see Teacher this time. It's been so long since I've seen him." She pouted.
Xu Yuan smiled.
"If Teacher senses your presence in the Netherworld, he will definitely meet you. You are Teacher's beloved Na'er."
"Hmph, of course!"
Xu Yuan continuously teleported towards the direction of the Endless Mountain Range. In just moments, they arrived at the Endless Mountain Range.
Upon arriving, Xu Yuan felt a slight stir in his heart.
He sensed that Rex's awareness had become more active.
"Xu Yuan, where are we now?" Rex asked.
"The Endless Mountain Range I told you about."
"The boundary point between your plane and the Abyss Plane?"
"That's right."
"It does feel different here. The laws here are unlike those in your academy, adding another nearly complete set of logical laws."
Xu Yuan knew that Rex was talking about the laws of the Abyss.
He hadn't expected the spread of the Abyss's laws to be so profound, prompting Rex to describe it as a nearly complete set of laws.
"If you say the Abyss is an energy plane, you should be careful. The infiltration of laws to this extent means that even through the passage, the plane master of the Abyss could forcibly descend."
"There's no need for you to worry about that. We've already resolved it." Xu Yuan said indifferently.
Rex did not speak further.
Between two planes, there might not be only one passage.
Rex knew that Shrek was connected to the Demon Plane and that Xu Yuan should know there were three passages between the Demon Plane and the Hell Plane.
He didn't think Xu Yuan overlooked this possibility.
So why didn't Xu Yuan mention the possibility of the Abyss reopening another secret passage and the plane master descending onto their plane after solving the issue with this passage?
Rex didn't ask further questions.
His current reason for following Xu Yuan was to teach him magic; he decided to speak less and do less.
Heavenly Forging Peak.
"Elder Long, what happened?"
Xu Yuan directly asked when he saw Long Yueyue.
This time, it was Elder Long urgently recalling Xu Yuan.
Long Yueyue looked at Na'er beside Xu Yuan and revealed a gentle smile, "Na'er came too."
"Yes, Aunt Yue."
"Little Yuan, you've been away for too long, nearly two years. There have been tremendous changes in the Netherworld. Let me give you a rundown."
From Long Yueyue, Xu Yuan learned about the changes in the Netherworld. The Blood God Legion, through repeated probing, had moved all combat-related command centers into the Netherworld.
What remained in the Endless Mountain Range was only the logistics department and the new recruit training grounds.
"Now the fusion between the two planes is becoming deeper. Even within the Netherworld, soul-guiding communication is possible. The changes in the Netherworld are growing larger. The space within is already no less than that of the Star Luo Continent, and its internal ecology is gradually forming."
"The reason we urgently called you back is because of a large-scale battle with the Abyss. You are indispensable."
"Large-scale battle? Will it involve extreme domains?" Xu Yuan frowned.
Ever since Yun Ming created the Netherworld two years ago, Xu Yuan hadn't heard of conflicts on such an extreme scale between the two sides.
Of course, minor skirmishes were inevitable, but if they hadn't reached Xu Yuan's ears, it was likely just playful fighting among two or three Extreme Douluos.
"Do you remember the principle behind the new soul-guiding weapons?"
"Of course, I developed them."
"The Netherworld covered the original celestial phenomena and inherited the rudimentary laws formed by those celestial phenomena, including your mechanism."
"What unexpected happened to the mechanism?" Xu Yuan asked.
"It's not that the mechanism has changed, but the environment has. The most concentrated energy in the Netherworld now is stellar energy. Soul masters who had previously absorbed stellar energy naturally attempted to use it to cultivate and recover themselves, but the efficiency was worrying."
"Then continue hunting Abyss creatures." Xu Yuan said.
Long Yueyue sighed.
"That's precisely the problem. The Abyss has realized the mechanism of our new soul-guiding weapons. The Abyss energy formed from the death of Abyss creatures is no longer being reclaimed, but instead drifts around the Netherworld. This is also a significant reason for the accelerated fusion of the two planes."
"Of course, the Abyss's tolerance is limited. The energy from the deaths of ruler-level Abyss creatures is still being reclaimed. We still have sources of stellar energy, but the number of people serving in the Blood God Legion far exceeds the past."
Supply cannot meet demand.
Seeing that Long Yueyue had more to say, Xu Yuan didn't interrupt further, giving her time to explain everything clearly.
"However, it seems Yun Ming also noticed this issue. Strange objects began appearing in the Netherworld a year ago."
"Strange objects?" Xu Yuan's heart stirred slightly.
Could it be that the karmic opportunities of the celestial phenomena were about to emerge?
"These strange objects possess transformation abilities and are connected to the Netherworld, only functioning within it. Their role is to transform energy, converting stellar energy into forms easier to absorb, such as stellar essence or the natural energy of Douluo Star, or even Abyss energy. Moreover, both natural energy and Abyss energy can be mutually transformed."
"In this way, the problem isn't too severe. Although we and the Abyss compete for these strange objects, their numbers are sufficient to temporarily stabilize the needs of the Blood God Legion. Our frictions remain under control."
Long Yueyue paused here, sighing with great helplessness, "The real problem arose when we conducted an experiment using these strange objects, converting Abyss creatures into soul beasts."
"What?"
Xu Yuan exclaimed in surprise.
"That's right, stripping them from the Abyss entirely and transforming them completely into soul beasts aligned with our Douluo Star side. Their life structures now belong to our Douluo Star faction."
"Moreover, the Spirit Pagoda and the Research Institute collaborated, replacing the souls of the original Abyss creatures with soul spirits during the transformation process, eradicating the souls of the Abyss creatures and only converting their bodies, then fusing them with soul spirits."
Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
This Gu Yue had actually found such a method to resurrect soul beasts.
"Has the Beast Arena been established?" Xu Yuan asked.
"That's right. The technology for the Beast Arena has been well-prepared by the Spirit Pagoda for a long time. As soon as they arrived here, they built the Beast Arena, providing numerous soul spirits and spiritual power to the frontline warriors over the years."
"They haven't done anything sneaky, have they?" Xu Yuan asked.
"The construction and operation of the Beast Arena have been fully supervised by the Research Institute without any violations."
"Resurrecting soul beasts has provoked the Abyss." Xu Yuan muttered.
"That's right. The reaction from the Abyss side was more exaggerated than we imagined. When we began our research, they dispatched three emperor-class ultimate combatants. Three emperors descended simultaneously, attacking Xingdou City."
Xingdou City, established after the emergence of the Xingdou Battle Network within the Netherworld, was fully supported by the Federation Parliament for the Blood God Legion's construction. To this end, the Federation specially sent another Extreme Douluo, the Fierce Wolf Douluo Dong Zi'an, to oversee Xingdou City.
Xingdou City served as the headquarters of the Xingdou Battle Network within the Blood God Legion. The number of Xingdou ships equipped inside even exceeded the combined total of other cities.
Xu Yuan's pupils contracted.
The significance of the Federation Parliament's move was substantial.
Were they preparing to abandon consolidating the authority of the Xingdou Battle Network under existing departments, opting instead to establish a new department based on the technology of the Xingdou Battle Network?
"You probably guessed it. The Federation Parliament indeed has this intention. The management of the Xingdou Battle Network within Xingdou City falls under the War Heaven Department, whose high-ranking appointments have no connection with the War God Hall."
This Federation sure knows how to stir things up.
Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
It seemed that the creation of the Netherworld had given the Federation great confidence. The easing situation allowed the Federation to start long-term planning.
But in fact, even with the appearance of the Netherworld, the tripartite balance couldn't last long.
Xu Yuan wouldn't allow such a situation to continue.
"Fortunately, Zhang Huanyun was also present in Xingdou City at the time, and together with Dong Zi'an, they held out until reinforcements arrived, preventing a severe counterattack from the Abyss."
"But since then, the Abyss's counterattacks have become increasingly intense. In the past month, we've had near-daily battles at the extreme level."
Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
Gu Yue's proposed experiment was like igniting a powder keg.
What the Abyss feared most was undoubtedly being poached.
Absorbing Abyss energy was already enough, but you're even using Abyss creatures, directly transforming their very life essence!
How will the Abyssal Sage King stand in the future?
What if the emperors under him are also swayed?
Who knows how advanced your technology has become.
If there are any emperors who dislike the Abyssal Sage King, secretly colluding with Douluo's side, the consequences would be unimaginable.
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