Full-Power Reading
Lv'e showed no unusual reaction. She continued loosening the soil exactly as she always did.
Afterward, she returned to her cave dwelling in the Beast-Taming Sect and quietly began her daily cultivation routine.
Only then did she finally fail to suppress the excitement welling up inside. She nearly cried out loud.
Under her divine sense, a massive space of three hundred cubic meters appeared within her perception.
The inconspicuous ring in her hand… was actually an extremely precious storage treasure.
Its internal space was more than thirty times larger than the Storage Pouch her master treasured so much!
Without hesitation, Lv'e began using her secret art for refining magical items, attempting to take control of this strange ring.
She originally thought the refining process would be extremely difficult, yet she successfully refined it in an instant.
Moreover, this ring plunged directly into her sea of consciousness, tightly intertwining with her newly awakened innate Life Pattern Planting Grass.
Using this Void Divine Court Dimensional Ring, she had unexpectedly completed a "Spiritual Insight Fate-Forging"!
In the next second, Lv'e's figure flickered, and she descended into the space inside the ring.
At this moment, she felt the entire space completely under her control.
In her understanding, this was unquestionably a real cave-heaven.
And once she completed the refinement, a strange stream of information quietly settled into her heart:
"Honored host of Void Divine Court Dimensional Ring No. 89757, greetings. Welcome to the Dimensional Ring."
"The Void Divine Court is dedicated to nurturing and serving all void-dwelling races. You may use the Dimensional Ring to manage your void cave-heaven."
"As a first-time user, the Void Divine Court gifts you a three-hundred-cubic-meter Cave-Heaven Seed, registered within the Divine Court Network under code Void Realm No. 89757."
"Please patiently nurture your Cave-Heaven Seed. As your cultivation and the seed's growth improve, additional permissions of the Void Divine Court will be gradually unlocked. Please look forward to it."
"The Void Divine Court adheres to the ideals of equality, justice, peace, and development, striving to establish a positive and healthy system that promotes the prosperity of the void and the progress of its races, safeguarding their fundamental rights. Please embrace an open mind, ascend into the void, and witness the myriad worlds and countless races."
Lv'e tried to interpret the meaning hidden behind this message and began forming an image of the so-called Void Divine Court in her mind.
In her imagination, it was a vast, lofty super-faction that spanned countless worlds and heavens.
Within her worldview and understanding of the universe, there had never been anything known as the "Void Divine Court." The sudden arrival of this Dimensional Ring had shocked her deeply.
Little did she know… this so-called Void Divine Court was nothing but a makeshift bluff, invented by a sixth-grade minor cultivator to intimidate others.
The entirety of the Void Divine Court's "core members" consisted of only one person, one ear of corn, and one black cat.
Within Half-Sky Sea, the control over the realm was extremely strict, and rarely did cultivators of the fourth rank Star-Seizer Realm or above appear.
Information about the Daoyuan Shuttle Universe had never circulated here, making this realm incredibly isolated.
Yet this time, someone had managed to pry open a tiny gap in Half-Sky Sea using a very unique method.
Lv'e continued exploring the Cave-Heaven Seed's functions and discovered that for it to grow normally, it required sufficient spiritual energy and material nourishment.
To her, this was both a heavy burden and a joyous responsibility.
A fully controlled, ever-growing cave-heaven was one of the greatest treasures imaginable.
Lv'e left the ring's space without hesitation and secretly made her way back to the Beast-Taming Sect's Nursery Garden.
At the outermost edge of the garden grew a dense ring of white grass, abundant and thriving.
Although this white grass was a type of spiritual plant, it did not rank within the Nine Grades. It was extremely common and widely cultivated throughout the Half-Sky Sea.
This white grass was non-toxic, inedible, and harmless, yet possessed one remarkable property:
It had a simple but mysterious material-to-energy conversion system capable of absorbing ordinary matter and converting it into spiritual energy.
The conversion efficiency was not high, but the cost was extremely low.
Using her authority, Lv'e quietly transplanted ten stalks of white grass into her Dimensional Ring.
She also gathered a small amount of high-grade fertilizer from beneath various spirit plants and took it with her.
Then she returned to her cave dwelling, entered the Dimensional Ring, and diligently went to work.
As a newly promoted core member of the Beast-Taming Sect's Herb Hall, she was already highly skilled in planting and cultivating white grass. Before long, all ten stalks were successfully transplanted.
After absorbing the fertilizer beneath them, the white grass began releasing faint strands of spiritual energy into the Cave-Heaven Seed.
Although the amount of energy was small, for the person behind the seed Jing Qian, this was his first time receiving nourishment from someone else.
His "Empty Realm" was a small fragment of the larger Void Realm. As the Empty Realm grew, it in turn stimulated the advancement of the Void Realm itself.
Lv'e's arrival meant that Jing Qian had found a new human pillar, someone capable of cultivating and feeding a dimensional realm on his behalf.
Her existence represented an entirely new, fully realized method of expanding the void and nurturing dimensions.
Deep within the Sumeru Dimension, Jing Qian and Good Corn watched Lv'e through the membrane of the spatial boundary and began discussing her.
Good Corn asked:
"My lord, this girl's cultivation is low, and she doesn't have many resources. It'll be a while before she can contribute much."
"We used a third-grade Dragon Tooth just to refine a dimensional ring, plus a lot of power consumption. When will this girl ever pay back the cost?"
Jing Qian shook his head and waved his hand. A string of numbers appeared in the air:
[Total Contribution: 0.02 Blue-Blood Life Essence]
Lv'e's tinkering with the white grass and fertilizer might look insignificant, but it had already generated twenty units of White-Fang Life Essence for the Void Realm.
As the white grass slowly produced more spiritual energy, the rate of contribution continued to increase steadily.
Jing Qian spoke:
"Xiaomi, you need a long-term perspective on this. Her cultivation will eventually rise, and she'll gradually accumulate more resources."
"As long as we keep enough appeal for her enough for her to treat the Empty Realm as her own cave-heaven, the contribution will naturally grow higher."
"With time, we'll surely recover our costs."
"Moreover, the location of each Dimensional Ring acts as a spatial coordinate. That alone is extremely valuable to us."
"Go back and talk to Ao Hua again. Borrow his dragon tooth and dragon scales for now."
"We'll refine more Dimensional Rings and find more ring bearers."
"Next time, try to pick someone with higher cultivation and deeper pockets."
Good Corn nodded, rode off on a streak of escape light, and left off to peel dragon skin and pry dragon teeth.
Compared with his brothers, Ao Hua wasn't dead, but he was being targeted by bad people and was about to suffer the misery of being skinned alive. Life was worse than death.
Jing Qian continued patiently observing Lv'e's actions. The girl displayed her diligence and endurance to the fullest, shuttling back and forth like an ant moving house. Soon, she had filled the space with white grass.
With this added support, the Void Realm itself expanded ever so slightly.
For Jing Qian, acquiring resources and nurturing the Void Realm through his own effort was, of course, far faster than relying on the girl.
But he had far too many cultivation tasks to handle. Once his attention shifted elsewhere, the realm's growth would stop immediately.
After splitting off the Empty Realm, he could now rely on others' strength to nourish his realm. To him, this was the difference between active income and passive income.
Both types of income were extremely important.
In fact, as more Dimensional Rings were sent out, the day would eventually come when his passive income surpassed his active income.
Just stripping Ao Hua alone would allow him to refine at least ten thousand Dimensional Rings. In Jing Qian's heart, a grand plan was already forming, one hundred thousand prodigies supporting his ascension to Daohood.
Hard work was important, yes… but transforming into a capitalist and harvesting the value of others' labor?
That was the true path to wealth and success.
Once enough people joined the system, it was very possible that the Void Divine Court he invented would actually become a real organization.
A massive power spanning worlds beyond the heavens, just imagining it was enough to see how enormous the profits would be.
He held great expectations for the future.
While Jing Qian was envisioning and planning, Lv'e finally finished her hard work. Feeling the gradually thickening spiritual energy inside the cave-heaven, she felt deeply satisfied.
All her labor and sweat had been worth it.
Then she slipped out, brought in a large bathtub, and filled it with mountain spring water.
Afterward, Lv'e undressed, removed her undergarments and stockings, and submerged herself in the water, beginning to bathe.
While she washed away the fragrant sweat from her body, she had no idea she was being watched clean through, and had suffered a tremendous loss.
Seeing that everything was running smoothly, Jing Qian left the area, letting Lv'e do whatever she liked inside the Empty Realm.
With a flicker, he returned to the mortal world.
The turmoil within the Sea of Vengeful Souls had completely dissipated. His divine eyes saw that Ying Hao's refinement of the Revolving Heavenly Son Seal was also nearing completion.
Ying Hao was the Crown Prince of the Ying Clan, practically the wealthiest individual in the entire Ying Pagoda Realm.
When he decided to join Yanfu Dao, he brought along every last scrap of Yin Bone accumulated by the Ying Divine Dynasty.
He lacked nothing for refining the Heavenly Seal.
As for the Fate Pattern required to bear the Heavenly Seal, he easily forged a Black-Rope Hell Seal of violet-pupil grade.
Everything progressed smoothly. The Revolving Heavenly Son Seal condensed successfully, and the foundation of Ying Hao's Yanfu Dao cultivation was fully established.
His future cultivation would require him to spend much time in the Sea of Vengeful Souls, capturing malevolent ghosts.
After leaving him a voice transmission, Jing Qian departed first.
With a flash, he returned to Hunzou Island, arriving once again at the administrative offices.
But this time, he found the entire Fate Island completely transformed.
A Heaven Palace made of black jade suspended high above the island, pouring down pure Yin spiritual energy.
The One-Origin Barrier had been perfectly refined. Most of Hunzou's spiritual energy was now gathered on Hunzou Island, and half of that was being absorbed by the Heaven Palace.
Looking up, he saw Lady Sheng seated inside the palace, patiently instructing Sheng Yao and the other four disciples in their cultivation.
He did not disturb them and instead descended straight into the Hunzou marketplace.
There, he found Luo Tian taking advantage of a break, setting up a small mobile stall selling grilled skewers, doing brisk business.
The cooking skills of a Kitchen King Sect successor naturally dominated this region. A long line had formed at his stall.
The moment Jing Qian landed, Luo Tian immediately noticed him and sped up his cooking. After a short while, he handed a few skewers to every person in line.
He didn't even bother taking money; he simply packed up and left.
He approached Jing Qian and said:
"Daozi, I've finished digesting all of the Great Sun True Flame. When will you pass me more?"
Jing Qian replied:
"Come on. We're heading to Juzhou. I'll explain on the way."
After speaking, Jing Qian turned and flew toward the edge of the island, with Luo Tian immediately following behind.
Jing Qian summoned the Dingyuan warship once more, dropped it onto the sea surface, and then called out the ship-spirit girl, Mo Pin'er.
The female ghost, newly restored to a physical body, was still not fully adjusted; her whole being foggy and confused, but piloting a ship was no challenge at all.
"Pin'er, head to North Up Pass. Follow the Heaven River Waterway. No need to stop along the way."
The Human Emperor of the Ying Clan had already redirected a branch of the Heaven River Waterway to Hunzou Island, and the island's current prosperity was directly tied to this.
After several rounds of journeys, Xu Xi's Hunzou merchant fleet had established trade connections with multiple upper continents, forming a proper trade network.
At this point, Mo Pin'er could navigate the waterway and reach North Up Pass in less than a month.
Meanwhile, Jing Qian and Luo Tian entered the cabin again. After more than a year, they were once again attempting to collect Great Sun True Flame.
In the past year, both their cultivation levels had improved significantly. This time, in rekindling the stove and passing the fire, they were far better prepared.
Jing Qian said:
"Old Luo, the Great Sun True Flame, you receive and guide it into this void rift of mine first."
"Once it can't hold any more, pour the rest into your Gluttonous Wok-Shovel."
Luo Tian nodded to confirm. Jing Qian then activated his Sumeru power and cast out a line toward the direction of the Great Black Heaven.
After two trips to Book Mountain, Jing Qian's understanding of the cosmos had become far more complete.
His knowledge of the Great Black Heaven had also deepened.
Compared with the Sea Realm, the so-called Heaven Realms each required at least one first-rank powerhouse to suppress and stabilize them.
And in the Daoyuan Shuttle Universe, the Five Heaven Realms East, South, West, North, and Center each had a proper first-rank grand cultivator in charge, making them far stronger than the Great Black Heaven.
During the endless years that the Shuttle Universe drifted through the void, it passed by countless independent realms far more than the "myriad worlds" spoken of by common cultivators.
These realms were known as Heavens Beyond Heaven, prime destinations where the great powers on the shuttle sought further advancement.
If a cultivator managed to monopolize a Heaven Realm, the influx of resources would allow their cultivation to skyrocket.
For many who were stuck at second rank and unable to break through, traveling to the Heavens Beyond Heaven was the only viable path.
Especially the battle maniacs of Pure Yang Heaven, once their cultivation rose high enough, the internal conflicts aboard the shuttle were no longer exciting. Going to the Heavens Beyond Heaven became inevitable.
Someone like Zhu Yun, with only third-rank "Patch-Heaven" cultivation yet daring to wander the Great Black Heaven, was following the old Pure Yang Heaven tradition.
If he successfully devoured the Great Black Heaven, he would surely advance to the second rank.
But of course, it would be a long and arduous process.
Even a Pure Yang master never had a smooth cultivation journey.
When Zhu Yun and Luo Tian, roasting under the Great Sun, sensed Jing Qian's aura again, they were extremely excited.
During the year they were separated, Jing Qian and Luo Tian's lives were colorful and eventful, but the two seniors had remained trapped in a fiery prison all along.
Now that the fire-transmission channel was reconnected, the two finally breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Luo Tian slowly began channeling Great Sun True Flame across, easing the pressure on both of them.
As the flames flowed, his heart stirred with surprise.
Zhu Yun also commented:
"In this year, that kid across the way sure didn't stay idle."
"His capacity for bearing Great Sun True Flame has risen a lot."
"At this rate, we might even get to stroll around shadow-side again."
Luo Tian nodded, visibly invigorated. In just this short period, the flames he had delivered already exceeded three times what he sent last time, and the transmission remained extremely stable, with no sign of breaking.
What they did not know was that, inside Dingyuan's cabin, Luo Tian was equally shocked by the void rift Jing Qian provided; it was like a bottomless pit, impossibly deep.
The other end of the rift was a newly separated Empty Realm Jing Qian had prepared beforehand.
After advancing to the Spirit-Subduing Realm and awakening his Saintly True Form, his spatial capacity had increased dramatically.
The Empty Realm he had carved out was the size of a football field, and now countless streams of Great Sun True Flame rolled within it like living dragons of blazing sunlight.
The black cat, Xi Li, revealed its true body and soaked in the flames, purring in absolute bliss.
Its nature matched perfectly with these top-tier fire fiends. Already at Earth Fiend cultivation, being forged by Great Sun True Flame was extremely beneficial.
Furthermore, with the cat governing the flames, there was no danger of the fire losing control.
The fire-transmission lasted a full three days, filling the Empty Realm.
Jing Qian received roughly twenty percent of the fire fiends Luo Tian had accumulated, reaching the very limit of what he could bear.
This greatly reduced the seniors' burden and earned him a massive fortune of flame power, an unquestionable success.
Afterward, the two small entities each went off in different directions to digest the fire.
As for Jing Qian, since he had not yet reached Earth Fiend, using Great Sun True Flame directly on his Saintly Form was still a bit overwhelming.
His Saintly Form had not yet fully absorbed and harmonized all of his Spiritual Construct, nor reached its perfected stage.
His core cultivation priority now was rapidly advancing the refinement of his five major Spiritual Constructs:
Sumeru Immortal Sword Embryo
Pure Yang Immortal Sword Embryo
Wheel of Reincarnation
Good Corn
Six-Path Reincarnation Three-Life Eye
His goal was to refine each to perfection as soon as possible.
For this work, Great Sun True Flame was extremely useful.
He summoned Spirit Sword Mountain, tossed in all his Spiritual Construct except Good Corn, and then commanded Xi Li to channel the Great Sun True Flame into Spirit Sword Mountain, strand by strand.
Each stream of flame was smashed apart effortlessly by the Spiritual Construct, most of which were above second rank.
The flames were immediately absorbed by Spirit Sword Mountain and converted into power used for refining the Spiritual Construct.
For Jing Qian, this was currently the most efficient method of refining his treasures:
Absorb Great Sun True Flame
Refine Spiritual Construct
Perfect his Spirit-Subduing-realm cultivation
Aside from exhausting the black cat, the entire process was practically automatic, with little need for Jing Qian's focus, leaving him free to return to Book Mountain to study.
Everything was perfect.
Thus, as the Dingyuan warship slowly advanced, Jing Qian entered yet another period of secluded cultivation.
Each passing day, he managed to refine and digest dozens of strands of Great Sun True Flame. Meanwhile, within the Sumeru Dimension, the three thousand ghostly prodigies and the Void Divine Court's lone recruit, Lv'e, continued providing small but steady contributions.
Jing Qian felt completely fulfilled. Even though the looming threats of the Blood River and the Three Poisons still hung over his head like twin blades, they no longer disturbed his state of mind.
He devoted his entire focus to Book Mountain.
With all external matters handled properly, he immersed himself wholly in study.
He intended to spend a concentrated period reading as much as possible, hoping to finish absorbing all the knowledge required to advance the Sumeru Dao Stele.
He plunged into the ninety-fifth floor, picked up the tomes related to "Stars," and patiently began reading.
This floor contained a massive quantity of essential knowledge about Life Stars, required for cultivation in the Star-Seizer Realm, all extremely valuable to Jing Qian.
Once more, he became deeply absorbed.
And as he read more books, he discovered that his ability to comprehend their contents steadily improved.
This was the natural interconnection of knowledge and the proof that his intellect, nourished by a flood of information, was rapidly evolving.
In practical terms, it manifested in his reading speed, which had become over five times faster than when he first arrived on Book Mountain.
In barely ten days, he finished reading all the knowledge related to the void.
Without hesitation, he descended straight to the first floor.
Most of the books in Book Mountain focused on cultivation.
The first three floors covered Nourishing Essence, Body Tempering, and Fate Fire Tempering.
They contained endless methods for nourishing vitality, cultivating Fate Fire, building the Life Furnace, and tempering one's body and destiny.
These were stages Jing Qian had long since completed seven times, at that.
Nevertheless, he patiently began studying everything from the beginning.
After all, his Destiny-Forging had relied almost entirely on brute-force golden-finger miracles.
When it came to laying solid foundations and understanding the underlying knowledge, he was sorely lacking.
Now, these three floors were the perfect chance to fill in his foundational gaps.
This knowledge contained the fundamental laws of this world's cultivation.
Even though the methods here were basic and low-level, Jing Qian read with great enthusiasm, completely enthralled.
He absorbed the vast amounts of knowledge like a sponge. His divine sense pulsed, as if some marvelous transformation was on the verge of happening.
Throughout the Wuji Celestial Dynasty, the divine marvel of Book Mountain, personally forged by Emperor Egao, was something no cultivator could avoid.
Almost every high-level cultivator had suffered through agonizing sessions here, scratching their heads and nearly splitting their skulls open.
Almost every student had fantasized:
"If only I had perfect memory and supreme comprehension… If only I could wear a golden robe and move floor by floor, memorizing the entire Book Mountain."
Such a cultivation experience would be unimaginably beautiful.
Yet now, the thing everyone fantasized about was being realized step by step by Jing Qian.
If others knew, they would be consumed with jealousy.
Another ten days passed easily. Jing Qian officially became the person most proficient in Destiny-Forging in the entire Wuji Dynasty.
His divine sense underwent another mysterious transformation, becoming denser and more crystal-clear.
In both quality and quantity, his divine sense far exceeded what a Spirit-Subduing cultivator should possess.
He then stepped into the fourth floor, where the collection of Life Pattern refinement techniques began to accumulate by Emperor Egao using the resources of the entire Wuji Celestial Dynasty.
From here up to the twentieth floor, excluding the layer of the Imperial Classic of Ehuang, sixteen full floors stored the methods for refining, advancing, and applying Life Patterns.
Aside from those secret techniques locked away as core inheritances of the major Dao schools, almost all low-tier Life Patterns were included.
This was the true treasury of cultivation knowledge, the kind Jing Qian had dreamed of.
Once he began reading, he simply could not stop.
He ignored the flow of time, ignored the outside world, and focused solely on comprehending Life Pattern techniques.
In terms of the quantity of Life Patterns refined, Jing Qian far surpassed ordinary cultivators.
But the differences in refining methods between various patterns brought him even greater insight.
He was so absorbed that he didn't even notice when the Dingyuan reached North Up Pass.
Mo Pin'er didn't disturb him. She simply guided the Dingyuan back onto the Heaven River Waterway.
Thus, a small ship carrying two people and one ghost drifted along the endless Heaven River, wandering across the Ying Pagoda Realm.
It was a remarkably wondrous training experience, one that marked a critical transformation of Jing Qian's entire being.
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