Chapter 212: Psychic Heart
A rare natural treasure! Yaoguang understood all too clearly the weight those words carried. Anything worthy of being called a rare natural treasure ranked among the absolute top tier within the entire Great Cangwu World. Without exaggeration, its value far surpassed that of one or even two spirit treasures.
If it were put on the open market, people would scramble to pay forty or fifty million to buy it. Such a figure was equal to the annual spirit stone output of the entire Nine Cauldrons Sect.
"This treasure was something Martial Uncle barely managed to preserve with tremendous effort when the Artifact Sect was destroyed back then. It was kept for the day when a peerless genius appeared, someone limited by innate talent and unable to walk the path of qi refinement, so it could be used for him." Li Qingshan smiled. "After more than sixty years, Martial Uncle has finally found the right person."
"Cultivating qi..." Yaoguang looked at the treasure.
Although once he formally stepped into the Dharma Form or Star God Realm, the ancient tree would inevitably grow new branches, still no one knew whether that next branch would point toward qi refinement.
There were simply too many professions in this world. Alchemy, talismans, beast taming, the Fiendish Dao, ghost cultivation, and many more. If the next branch still did not point to qi refinement, he would have to wait until a realm above the Star God Realm. What realm that was, he did not know.
However, with the resources currently available in the Great Cangwu World, pushing cultivation to that level would undoubtedly take an extremely long time. If any unforeseen variables arose during that period... Well, the likelihood was low enough to rule it out of serious consideration.
This treasure had arrived at precisely the right moment. Not only would it allow him to cultivate qi alongside his other paths, but the treasure’s sheer value alone was enough to give his ever-rising status a massive boost in cultivation progress.
Otherwise, once his Dharma Form status spread, relying on the Merchant branch to accumulate experience would become far more difficult.
"This treasure is extremely useful to me. Thank you." Yaoguang closed the box.
Li Qingshan smiled faintly. "We’re all from the same sect. There’s no need to be so formal."
Yaoguang nodded. A treasure worth nearly fifty million spirit stones...
After some thought, he said, "For the next ten to twenty years, I’ll still need a large amount of spirit stones for cultivation. After twenty years, once my cultivation reaches a certain level, I can relinquish one tenth of the profits generated by the spirit-gathering arrays."
Li Qingshan froze. One tenth of the profits after twenty years... Even without factoring in the fact that the East Sea's islands and the Shiwan Mountains would be reclaimed by then, that still meant an annual yield exceeding twenty million spirit stones! If the East Sea's islands and the Shiwan Mountains were reclaimed, it would amount to relinquishing nearly fifty million spirit stones every year!
He immediately said, "That’s not necessary. This is something you deserve..."
"Then I’ll accept it for now." Yaoguang suddenly changed his stance.
He had thought of the evaluation standards of the Merchant branch. Using future profits worth tens of millions of spirit stones to exchange for a treasure valued at fifty million spirit stones would probably be judged as a disastrous loss under the Merchant branch.
So he reframed it. "It’s something twenty years down the line anyway. We can discuss it then. Who knows, by that time I might no longer care about a mere few tens of millions of spirit stones."
Li Qingshan chuckled. "Just accept it with peace of mind. This is our gift to you. After all, you personally led the capture of an entire Sky Patrol Warship for the sect."
"Alright, then we’ll treat this as payment for that Sky Patrol Warship," Yaoguang said in a joking tone.
"Spending fifty million to buy a second-generation Sky Patrol Warship is hardly a loss for our Nine Cauldrons Sect." Li Qingshan nodded slightly. "Alright, get some good rest today. Tomorrow you’ll attend the award ceremony. You’ll be responsible for presenting awards to the Sea Guardian Institute's cultivators. We need to properly reward the disciples of the Sword-Wielding Institute and the Sea Guardian Institute."
Yaoguang acknowledged his words with a sound of agreement. Once Li Qingshan left, Yaoguang went to the residence that Fang Jinxue had arranged for him. He briefly glanced at the Heavenly Spirit Root in his hand, but he did not consume it immediately. Instead, he directed his psychic mind toward the ancient tree within his mental world.
Since this rare natural treasure had effectively become the proceeds from selling the captured Sky Patrol Warship, the Merchant branch's gains were not low. But they were not as high as Yaoguang had imagined. At most, it was equivalent to completing a large deal with a profit of about fifteen million.
Is it because of the manpower costs and the transaction risks involved? After a brief reflection, Yaoguang understood the reason. Ugh, so many constraints. Transaction risks require sufficient strength to reduce, but if my strength increases, manpower costs rise as well...
Still... Yaoguang glanced toward the Sky Patrol Warship outside. Although the transaction risks had reduced the profit, it had taken him just a few days to capture that warship. Completing an order worth fifteen million through artifact refinement would take nearly a year with the Purple Firmament Institute’s current efficiency.
In other words, if he needed to rapidly raise his Merchant branch experience, going to war with other forces and capturing Sky Patrol Warships was more efficient than refining artifacts. After all, what business was faster and more profitable than outright plunder?
"That's the true essence of being a merchant." Yaoguang sighed with emotion.
Then he shifted his gaze to the several branches of the ancient tree. A profit of fifteen million had been credited. He could now push the three branches other than the Psyche Dao to a new tier.
After briefly scanning the Array Caster, Refiner, and Martial Dao branches, he barely hesitated before investing directly into the Martial Dao branch. In the next instant, the Martial Dao branch rapidly bloomed and bore fruit, surging straight into the Star God Realm. And even after reaching the Star God Realm, it did not slow. With remaining momentum, it pushed forward to 22% before finally coming to a halt.
He fully immersed himself in digesting the many extraordinary changes that came with reaching the Star God Realm. Most of them matched the information he already possessed. However, a small portion of details that did not exist in the Great Cangwu World left Yaoguang faintly stunned.
Wait... The human body has more than 108 acupoints?! The cultivation method here marks 365, corresponding to the number of Heavenly Stars in a full celestial cycle?! As he processed this revelation, he was genuinely astonished.
Could the path of a star god have already evolved to the fourth generation?
"I knew it," Yaoguang said solemnly. He had long suspected that if the Golden Core path could evolve through so many generations, there was no reason the star god path should stop at the third.
"Before forming the Crimson Golden Core, the Golden Core path went through the original Golden Core Realm, the Fission Realm, and the Fusion Realm, three generations of evolution. The Crimson Golden Core is theoretically the fourth generation of Golden Core. Yet the star god path only followed a step-by-step progression of Meteor Star, Heavenly Star, and Primary Star, stopping at the third generation. No wonder ordinary star gods couldn’t contend with a Golden Core cultivator who had formed a Crimson Golden Core. If I can cultivate the star god path to 365 acupoints, matching a Crimson Golden Core would be effortless—No, hold on!"
Light flickered in Yaoguang’s eyes. As long as I can withstand a Crimson Golden Core cultivator's repeated assaults, then their Crimson Golden Core will collapse on its own because of its instability!
With that thought, he shifted his gaze to the Primordial Unity Bell in his hand. The order associated with the Primordial Unity Bell had not yet been fully completed, and its profits had not been fully recorded. He wanted to know how far he could push the Martial Dao branch once the profits from the Primordial Unity Bell came in.
"365 acupoints may not even be the limit of the star god path. Theoretically, the human body has 720 acupoints. As for how far it truly goes, once the Star God Realm progress surpasses 40%, the answer should naturally reveal itself."
Yaoguang calmed his mind and turned his attention back to the Dao Fruit that had condensed when Martial Dao advanced to the Star God Realm.
"Psychic Heart!" He sensed the extraordinary nature of this Dao Fruit.
Gradually, his expression grew serious. The divine ability derived from this Dao Fruit was even more astonishing than he had anticipated.
Choose a star, or a world, and plant the Psychic Heart there. The Psychic Heart will gradually grow until it becomes the heart of that star or the heart of that world, thereby granting control over the power of that star or the entire world. The growth speed of the Psychic Heart depends on the strength of the star or world, as well as the cultivator’s own psychic mind. The stronger the world, the slower the growth, but once fully matured, the ultimate power it provides will be correspondingly greater. However, this ability can only be exerted within the star or world to which the Psychic Heart belongs. Once the cultivator leaves that planet or world, the Psychic Heart will no longer offer any assistance. Yaoguang absorbed the implications of this Dao Fruit.
After planting the Psychic Heart, it could still be retrieved, but the process offered only two outcomes. Either the Psychic Heart would revert to its initial state, rendering all the long years of growth meaningless, or it would absorb the power of the entire star or world, causing that star or world to collapse and perish.
Compared to the 108 thousand peripheral stars, the Great Cangwu World is undoubtedly far stronger. Just from its diameter of 15 million kilometers, one can tell how staggering its mass is. More than ninety percent of stars are insignificant before it... Planting the Psychic Heart in the Great Cangwu World wouldn’t be a bad choice. Yaoguang pondered.
The key point was that the benefits brought by planting the Psychic Heart were simply too great. Thanks to the most basic function alone, he would be able to mobilize far more of the stellar force field wherever the Psychic Heart was planted. Whether cultivating or fighting using the stellar force field, everything would rise to a higher tier.
Without exaggeration, if he reached the Star God Realm in the future and the Psychic Heart's growth exceeded fifty percent, the stellar force field he could invoke would be powerful enough to withstand the detonation of a Crimson Golden Core head-on!
"The level of safety this ability provides... is absurdly high," Yaoguang said sincerely. So what am I waiting for?
He immediately activated his psychic thought and sent a message to Tang Fenghua. "Bring me back to the Purple Firmament Institute in the Nine Heavens Domain."
"Alright."
Tang Fenghua nodded. "You’re scheduled to attend the award ceremony in Nine Heavens City tomorrow anyway. Shall we head there early?"
"Sure. Go make the necessary preparations."
"Understood."
Tang Fenghua did not ask further. After making brief preparations, he quickly returned, brought Yaoguang along, and flew on his sword through the air, heading toward the Nine Heavens Domain at over thirty times the speed of sound.
Upon arriving in the Nine Heavens Domain, Yaoguang wasted no time. He planted the Psychic Heart right at the center of the mountain peak outside Longxiang City, close to where the Purple Firmament Institute was located.
Guided by psychic thought, the Psychic Heart seemed almost alive, seeping toward the world’s core deep beneath the earth. Because he already possessed the Star’s Child trait, once the Psychic Heart merged into the depths of the world, he clearly felt that this trait had undergone an upgrade.
It advanced from Star’s Child to the level of Star’s Lord. With every movement, he could draw upon immense stellar force fields to reinforce himself. The sheer strength of the stellar force field he could now invoke almost made him want to test it directly against Tang Fenghua’s life-bound flying sword.
He immediately suppressed that thought. No matter how powerful the Psychic Heart was, it could not enhance him to that extent in such a short time. In the future, once the Psychic Heart's integration progress reached ten percent, or once he cultivated a god-fiend body, he would give it a try. But for now, it was too soon.
