Feeling the changes that occurred after his breakthrough, Aotian couldn't help but marvel.
His dantian, now much more solid and less ethereal, retained and stored his vital energy far more effectively. His vital energy had also taken a qualitative leap along with the breakthrough, nourished by the improved energy within his dantian.
'If before I couldn't live much past a hundred years, now around 200 to 250 years shouldn't be a problem—maybe even more due to the perfection of my dantian.'
Aotian pondered with a smile.
He was very happy with his breakthrough, and this advancent didn't affect only him, but the strength of the entire sect.
For example, at that mont, suns away from his main body, his avatars scattered throughout the region under the Bamboo Sword Sect's domain—so in cities, others in mines—had also advanced.
Currently, the Infinite Dao Sect was composed of:
- 1 Nascent Soul Sect Leader
- 21 Golden Core Inner Elders ← Jian Huiyin included here
- 50 Foundation Establishnt Inner Elders ← This part didn't change
And, of course, there was also one last avatar:
[Na: Bao Wuji (aning: Limitless Treasure)
Position: Sect Ancestor (Treasure Pavilion)
Cultivation: 1st Level Soul Formation (3 Major Realms Above Host)
Position Skill: Equivalent Exchange
Affiliation Skill: Storage Space
Position Bonus: Treasure Radar (4 tis per day)]
'So the realm after Nascent Soul is Soul Formation. I can't say I'm unfamiliar or surprised. It's very similar to what I used to read, at least when it cos to cultivation realms. If I rember correctly, the next one should be Void Refinent… that was the most standard order, though so skipped straight from Soul Formation to immortality or so strange realm, but I doubt that'll happen here.'
Aotian reflected briefly before setting the thought aside—his excitent was taking over.
'Damn, I think this is already a very solid realm, even for the inner continents. The return trip will be much safer and faster now.'
But as his excitent grew, his avatars began analyzing their own situations and feeling out their new realms.
And soon, Aotian confird sothing that dampened his mood a bit.
'Haah, looks like I wasn't wrong back then. The foundation of my avatars… is also based on mine.' He thought, disappointed as he confird his theory.
What Aotian had just confird was sothing he'd been suspecting since he summoned his external elders.
When he entered Qi Refinent with his main body and began cultivating, he noticed that compared to Lie Zheng and Bao Hui—while they were still in Qi Refinent—his own dantian was far purer and stronger. At the ti, he assud it might have been due to his lack of spiritual roots back then, which could have negatively impacted the avatars sohow prior to his advancent.
Later, he compared their dantians at the Foundation Establishnt level and noticed they weren't much different from Tian Zhu's at the sa stage.
But when he summoned external elders whose cultivation matched his, he saw their dantians were exactly as pure as his own—identical.
From there, he grew suspicious. And now that he had advanced to Foundation Establishnt with an extrely solid base, he felt the dantians of his external elders—who had now returned to his sa level—had improved sowhat, their foundations now matching his in quality.
Previously, theirs had been a little weaker, since when he advanced with them, Bao Wuji hadn't been inspecting each one for imperfections.
The other avatars had likely received a slight boost to their foundations as well, but Aotian couldn't be sure. After all, they experienced a jump in power from his breakthrough, and he couldn't confirm what ca from a slightly better foundation and what was simply due to the realm upgrade.
But with all these facts, Aotian was certain of one thing: just like the spiritual roots, the foundation of his avatars also mirrored his. And since he hadn’t yet reached the cultivation realm of the strongest among them, they probably had the worst possible foundation.
'Damn, this sucks! That's why I had to put in extra effort to deal with Jian Huiyin, even though Tian Zhu has a much higher realm and should've been able to crush her without much trouble—even holding back to avoid hurting her. So the real problem is probably that their foundations are totally different—her golden core is likely excellent quality, while Tian Zhu's is terrible.'
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Aotian thought, helpless and slightly irritated.
'Haah, guess I can stop fooling myself now.'
He sighed internally, bitter.
He had grown even more suspicious of this fact ever since obtaining the Core-Tier techniques. From the information there and from analyzing Tian Zhu's core, everything pointed to his core being extrely poor in quality.
'In summary, I've got Soul Formation-level power, but I don't have techniques, I don't have spells, and I don't have inheritances for that realm. Worse, his foundation is the worst possible. I can use him to crush any Nascent Soul cultivator, but against enemies of the sa level, he'll just get beaten until he has to go looking for his teeth on the floor.'
Aotian's lips twitched as he thought about all this.
'No, I can't let that happen. Aotian, throw away any ideas of visiting the inner continents for now. You don't want to lose a powerful avatar and sha your sect by getting your ass handed to you, do you?'
He reprimanded himself and took a deep breath, his gaze turning resolute.
'New goal: don't get beaten!'
'I won't leave the four deserts until I've used all their resources and reached the maximum I can achieve here, which should be just the peak of Golden Core. With that realm and my avatars, if I'm cautious, entering the inner continents shouldn't be a problem.'
With that decision made, he closed his eyes once more and focused on stabilizing his cultivation.
…
The next day had arrived, and Aotian had completely stabilized his foundation.
It was the first ti he had spent so many days isolated with his main body, but it didn't bother him—he had gone even longer periods with his external elders in the past.
Leaving his private cave for the first ti in ten days, he walked toward the center of the main cavern, where everyone was gathered.
In the center of the cave, despite everyone's presence, there was no conversation. The tiger and Rihai stood respectfully beside Bao Wuji, in complete silence.
Still, it was clear that the tiger was casting discreetly irritated glances at the old man.
Over the past few days, his beautiful and radiant cave with a crystal floor had been transford into a dark cavern with a dirt floor. Even his bed—a small mountain of dium-grade spiritual stones—had been shalessly pocketed by the old man.
He even had the audacity to say, "These things lying around might make soone trip, better if I get them out of the way."
And he said this while removing the very stones the tiger had been lying on.
That almost gave the tiger a rage attack.
He only held back because they were about to leave and those things wouldn't be useful to him anymore... it had nothing to do with fear of the old man's power, he swears.
Smiling and ignoring the two, Aotian went straight to Rihai and took her hand, as she still looked stunned by the speed of his breakthrough.
In truth, she was quite worried. It wasn't just the fact that he had ascended so many realms in just ten days that shocked her, but that for such a thing to even be remotely possible, he would have to ignore stabilizations and refinents at each stage, severely compromising his foundation.
And the worst part: Aotian had a low-grade five-elent spiritual root—the worst of them all, excluding scattered roots—which only worsened the situation.
Sensing her concern, Aotian smiled and kissed the top of her head.
"You didn't have to worry. My cultivation isn't unstable like you think. Explore my roots, check for yourself." He said, squeezing her hand and looking at her confidently.
Rihai was surprised by the request and stared at him. But seeing in his gaze that he truly ant what he said, she hesitated whether or not to look.
"Hai'er, you don't need to be like that. Just look, it's nothing. I know you don't doubt , but I don't want you worrying with 'what ifs.' Just look." Aotian said firmly and sincerely.
And he was right. Rihai truly trusted and believed in him. His words alone had already cald her down a lot, but even so, her concern for his well-being didn't vanish just like that.
Realizing that he understood she trusted him but was simply worried for his health, she sighed in relief. The recent events surrounding the Infinite Dao Sect's revelations had made them both more sensitive to each other's opinions, which had complicated their once smoother relationship.
But they knew they would fix that little by little. Soon, things would return to normal. They believed in that—and they would fight for it.
Stopping her hesitation, she held his hand firmly and began to explore.
As she did so, Rihai couldn't help but be shocked by what she saw.
Sturdy and powerful roots, where the five elents intertwined without any flaws. They were the strongest roots she had ever seen at the sa level, which was remarkable, especially considering they were five-elent roots. Although they were still a bit smaller than what they ideally should be, indicating they were still Low-Quality roots.
Progressing further, she soon reached the dantian. Beginning to analyze it from every possible angle, it didn't take long for her to notice sothing terrifying: that was the most perfect dantian she had ever seen in her entire life.
Even she, who had access to all the resources and best techniques of this world, had never been able to establish a foundation as perfect as the one before her eyes.
Withdrawing her energy from his roots, she lifted her head and looked at him, stunned.
Aotian smiled and affectionately patted her head.
"I told you, I'm fine. Rihai, our sect is incredible, and what we can achieve is beyond your imagination. Believe in , we can—and will—help you recover everything you've lost. I swear." He said, looking at her with seriousness and resolve.
Rihai stared at him, dazed, then hugged him tightly, burying her head in his chest.
She didn't cry or anything like that; she just stayed there, holding him with everything she had, drawing strength and hope from her beloved.
"I believe in you, Tian'er." She replied with her voice muffled against his chest.
After a few seconds, she stepped back and lifted her head, looking up at him with a smile.
That was when they heard a yawn and a rough, loud, and lazy voice interrupt them to the side:
"If you two are done, can we leave? I'm tired of watching you."
They both turned and saw the tiger, lying on the ground, staring at them with boredom.
Aotian and Rihai exchanged glances and smiled at each other.
"Well, I believe so. Ancestor Bao, we're all ready." Aotian said, turning to Bao Wuji, who was polishing a spiritual stone with a cloth.
"Huh?" Bao Wuji 'startled' and lifted his head from what he was doing. "Oh, you're ready? Then let's go." He stored the polished spiritual stone under their strange gazes and summoned his wooden board to initiate flight.
Climbing onto it, followed by Rihai and Aotian, he prepared to begin their journey.
But just before they could depart, they were once again interrupted by the enormous red tiger.
"Hey! Hey! Wait, I don't fit on that thing!"
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