Heavenly Dao Sect.
Nine Cauldrons Peak.
Three years ago, the terrifying pressure that shrouded the summit of the mountain had been growing weaker, and was now completely gone.
It was as if a massive celestial body had directly entered another parallel space, no longer able to exert any influence on the existing material world.
This change…
"Cave Heaven evolution has reached its ultimate, next comes targeted adjustments according to the chosen Dao Technique,"
Alkaid’s figure was amidst a distortion in the void.
At first glance, he seemed within arm’s reach, yet upon closer examination, he appeared to be in another world altogether.
"The five Divine Skills I previously cultivated have naturally transformed into Dao Techniques,"
Alkaid said, glancing down at his body, which was being washed over by strands of starlight.
Directly pointing to the Stellar Path, the Starlight Glazed Body.
After a moment, he seemed to think of something, and with a flicker, he appeared at the edge of the peak.
The Dao Technique born from the Nine Transformations of Heavenly Movement—Void Blink.
As for the remaining three Dao Techniques, Rift the Sky with One Strike evolved into the Sword of the Void, Supreme Detachment transformed into Supreme Selflessness, and the Kunpeng Swallowing Sky Technique, whose name remained unchanged, he was too lazy to demonstrate them one by one.
Otherwise, he was afraid that he might accidentally split the mountain with the Sword of the Void.
"I’ve already reached the Hollow Void Realm. The You Long Sword is of little help to my strength now, so... it’s time to try,"
Alkaid formed a sword technique with his hands, and the You Long Sword quickly appeared, circling around him for a while.
Feeling the spirit emerging from the Flying Sword: "Little fellow, I will give you an opportunity for Creation, but whether you can grasp it depends on you,"
He held the sword, his years of careful nurturing finally coming to a point of verifying the results.
"Artifact Refining… begin."
Divine Skills of Entering the Way were deployed, and the next moment, the potential Dao melodies within this top-level Spiritual Treasure were stimulated.
All the potential of the You Long Sword was presented before him.
However, unlike in the past where he could only rely on the Spiritual Treasure itself, this time, having achieved the Hollow Void, he precisely perceived the part of the You Long Sword that belonged to the Void Force…
Specifically, the portion related to "Void Cutting."
Guiding the power of Void Cutting to accommodate all the Dao melodies within the artifact, allowing them to rapidly grow and strengthen.
When the Dao melodies of other materials in the entire You Long Sword were consumed and devoured, the Formless Blade of the Void suddenly burst forth from the sword.
"Done."
A smile appeared in Alkaid’s eyes.
The You Long Sword, directly accomplished its transformation from a top-tier Spiritual Treasure to a Dao Artifact.
And…
It perfectly matched the Sword of the Void, a Dao Artifact capable of executing techniques like the Great Void Cutting.
With the You Long Sword, the power of this Dao Technique in his hands doubled.
With one strike of the sword, not to mention the Hollow Void, even masters of the Void Refinement Realm such as Peak Masters, Vein Masters, and Vice Sect Master Level experts would not dare to block it head-on.
"This is a tactic that can threaten the Void Refinement Realm,"
Alkaid remarked, then turned his gaze towards the Dragon Steed Flying Boat…
"Unfortunately, the Dragon Steed Flying Boat serves as a long-distance travel type flying Dao Artifact, and does not well integrate with rapid activation and space-breaking Dao Techniques like Void Blink. To upgrade a matching Dao Artifact, I must start with the Two Realms Ruler. If the Two Realms Ruler can transform into a Dao Artifact according to my will, then even facing the Void Refinement Realm, even if I am not of equal strength, I have a great chance to retreat,"
Of course, this is assuming that the opponent has not sealed Void Category Dao Artifacts and does not possess similar Dao Techniques.
Even so, his next focus was still on upgrading the Two Realms Ruler.
Pondering this, Alkaid’s gaze fell once again on the You Long Sword.
He recollected the process of the You Long Sword transforming into a Dao Artifact…
Gradually, he had some ideas.
"Ordinary Artifact Refiners trying to create Dao Artifacts not only spend a lot of time gathering materials, but the process from starting to successfully refining the Dao Artifact takes a long time, depending on the skill of the refiner, often requiring decades, or even hundreds of years, and still there is a possibility of failure. For these reasons, Dao Artifacts are both rare and expensive. Even adding together all the Peak Masters, Vein Masters, and Vice Sect Leaders of the Heavenly Dao Sect, less than half possess a Dao Artifact..."
Of course, perhaps some people keep their Dao Artifacts secret in order to conceal their skills, but the proportion of those in the Void Refinement with Dao Artifacts is at most five to six percent.
This also indicates the preciousness and rarity of Dao Artifacts.
"Other Artifact Refiners labor intensively to create Dao Artifacts, but I can enlighten the Artifact Spirits of Spiritual Treasures, then use the Spirit Nurturing Art and Treasure Refining Art, allowing the Spiritual Treasures to cultivate themselves. When the time is ripe, I try ’Entering the Way.’ Although there is a certain failure rate, but relying on my fifteenth level, capable of refining even top-level Dao Artifacts, the success rate is definitely over fifty percent,"
Alkaid weighed this.
A fifty percent success rate is not low.
The key point is efficiency; it does not require much effort, just occasional "nurturing."
Through this method, he could bring a top-tier Spiritual Treasure to the standard of Entering the Way in just three to five years.
Even accounting for the bad luck leading to failure, ten to twelve years were enough to produce a Dao Artifact.
"The cost of one Dao Artifact can be reduced to less than a million Pure Yang Great Pills if I’m conservative. Even if I spend a bit more for faster efficiency and a higher success rate, the cost of one or two million Pure Yang Great Pills is the limit, but once it transforms into a Dao Artifact, it’s worth over a billion in sales, a hundred-fold profit."
A hundred-fold profit!
How much would that increase his [Businessman] experience!?
Thinking this, Alkaid couldn’t sit still any longer.
He "looked" at the ancient tree in his spiritual world...
[Alchemy] branch had finally been activated, but he had no use for it currently.
The income from selling Dao Artifacts was enough to maintain his daily expenses.
Moreover, moving from Hollow Void to Refining Void does not require stacking quantity.
However, the practice stage of the Void Refinement does demand a high quantity.
As for the Shattered Void...
It seems to be a realm that also emphasizes "insight."
Observing the Three Thousand Great Daos enhanced his understanding of the Great Dao until he perfected his lifebound Daoist art. With the Dao seed cultivated from his lifebound Daoist art, he could merge with the Dao and achieve the status of Dao Lord.
In such a realm, thanks to high-dimensional cognition, Alkaid had always found it relatively easy.
"Following this trend, Refining Void... will take some time, but as long as I survive this phase of Refining Void, the time for me to become a Dao Lord won’t be far off, roughly a hundred years?"
Alkaid pondered and shook his head.
He had not even reached the Shattered Void Realm yet, and his understanding of it was based on hearsay; the details were unclear. Under these circumstances, thinking about becoming a Dao Lord in a hundred years was indeed arrogant and conceited, disregarding those who painstakingly lingered at the threshold of Dao Lord and those who had gone through life-and-death ordeals to merge with the Dao in the Shattered Void Realm.
After slightly concealing the Dao rhyme emanating from the You Long Sword that had been promoted to a Dao Artifact, Alkaid waved his hand, and the clouds covering the main peak immediately dispersed.
As the clouds surrounding the main peak dispersed, Lu Suoyu, the Grand Steward of Nine Cauldrons Peak, and the nine stewards immediately realized Alkaid had ended his seclusion. Without needing a summons, they quickly gathered at the base of the main peak and awaited his call.
"You may come up."
By the side of the plaza, inside a rather elegant pavilion, Alkaid called out.
At once, the group ascended the main peak.
"Greetings, Junior Sect Leader."
"Has anything happened in these three years?"
Alkaid looked out over the endless sea of clouds and asked.
Visit freewebnoveℓ.com for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience.
"Elder Chi Yu from the Chi Family has sent a generous gift, claiming it was the spoils of annihilating the Xuan Family."
"Elder Tong Ming from Heavenly Vein Hollow Void visited two years ago and also left a gift, apologizing for the issues concerning the Sea of Turmoil and the Deep Blue Sea."
"The Ling Family’s Hollow Void Elder, Ling Ruogu, came to visit you. After learning that you were still in seclusion, along with Ling Xi, he too left a generous gift before departing..."
Find exclusive stories on freewebnovel
The group responded one by one.
"Has any true disciple achieved Hollow Void?"
Alkaid spoke and asked, "Not just Heavenly Dao Sect, but also the Taiyi Immortal Sect."
"Not yet."
Grand Steward Lu Suoyu replied, "No true disciple in the Ten Great Immortal Paths has been promoted to Hollow Void within these three years. The top rankings of the Hollow Void waiting list also remain unchanged, however... "
"No one from all Ten Great Immortal Paths has achieved Hollow Void?"
Alkaid was not interested in the changes in the Hollow Void waiting list, but...
"Every true disciple who cultivates a Deep Blue Golden Core usually has a thirty to forty percent chance of advancing to Hollow Void... yet now, after three years, not a single true disciple from the Ten Great Immortal Paths has advanced to Hollow Void? Counting up, there surely must be at least a thousand true disciples combined in the Ten Great Immortal Paths?"
He was truly surprised.
"There are exactly one thousand one hundred thirty-eight classified as true disciples in the Ten Great Immortal Paths."
Lu Suoyu truthfully said, "Moreover, Junior Sect Leader, the difference between the promotion of Deep Blue Golden Core disciples to Hollow Void and true disciples to Hollow Void is not the same. True disciples over three hundred years old who do not enter Hollow Void are automatically converted to stewards, but before the age of three hundred, very few truly have a thirty to forty percent certainty of making a breakthrough to Hollow Void. In other words, most Deep Blue Golden Core cultivators are often over five hundred or six hundred years old when they attempt to reach Hollow Void, and they are not true disciples."
Alkaid, upon hearing this, was somewhat enlightened.
Age.
If he remembered correctly, MingHe was already over two hundred and sixty years old.
Ling Xi had also been cultivating for over two hundred and thirty years.
Although this is equivalent to just twenty-six or twenty-three years in human terms, considering the thousand-year lifespan of a Golden Core.
"Moreover, in places like Northern Sea Star, the competition is extremely fierce. Like the Deep Blue Golden Core cultivators, less than half manage to live until the moment they can challenge Hollow Void. Many either fall midway or are forced to switch to War Immortal. In other words, of eighty-eight true disciples in a generation, less than ten actually succeed in achieving Hollow Void."
"Less than ten..."
This was even after extending the timespan of that generation of true disciples to five hundred to six hundred years, and even up to seven hundred or eight hundred years.
Alkaid, upon hearing this number, dimly realized why the emergence of each Hollow Void cultivator warranted a grand celebration by a top-tier sect.
He himself had found the breakthrough to Hollow Void rather straightforward, hence he felt the challenges faced by others in reaching Hollow Void should be similar.
However, in reality, the path to Hollow Void was much more difficult than he had imagined.
So...
The weight of his status as Junior Sect Leader promoted directly from a true disciple was, indeed, heavier than he had anticipated.
"What about the gifts from these elders?"
Alkaid asked.
Lu Suoyu quickly presented several Storage Treasures.
Alkaid inspected them one by one.
Inside were mostly Void Dao Elixirs, and additionally, some Void Category materials.
These materials were perfect for his special Void Category constitution.
Alkaid browsed for a moment, then suddenly noticed something. "Void Boundary Stone?"
They were ready to give away such a treasure worth millions of Pure Yang Great Pills!?
"Whose Storage Treasure is this?"
Alkaid immediately asked.
"Elder Tong Ming’s,"
Lu Suoyu promptly replied.
As Alkaid "looked" at the Void Boundary Stone inside, he realized why this elder’s gift was so substantial.
Recalling how this elder had "targeted" him, there had been friction, but it hadn’t caused him any substantial harm, and what he had done hadn’t exceeded his authority...
Of course, in a place like Northern Sea Star, considerations of authority are irrelevant—mistakes have consequences.
And a Void Boundary Stone...
Worth millions, it could potentially allow his Two Realms Ruler to also undergo a transformation into a Dao Artifact.
As a settlement, it was roughly appropriate.
He had just become Junior Sect Leader, and it wasn’t suitable to make too many enemies while starting his maneuvers in Heavenly Dao Sect.
He nodded slightly. "Prepare a banquet for me; I wish to invite Elder Chi Yu, Elder Tong Ming, and Elder Ling Ruogu to discuss matters."