Chapter 1194: Exploring the Starry Sky

Lu Ye chuckled. "As a junior, I have no advice for you, Senior. I can only wish you a smooth journey ahead, where misfortune turns into good fortune!"

"You rascal, you're not being honest!" Wuchang exhaled, looking at him and waving his hand. "Fine, if you don't want to say it, don't. I'll discover what the future holds by experiencing it myself."

Wuchang departed. In recent times, Kyushu's venerable seniors have been leaving one after another, some venturing out alone, others in groups. Their inherent longing for the starry sky and deep-seated desire prompted most of them to set off immediately after their promotion.

They are the initial pioneers of this current Kyushu era. Their journey will undoubtedly be arduous and fraught with countless perils. Yet, this is the essence of cultivation: while it's safe to remain confined to one corner, it's not what cultivators truly desire.

Lu Ye is not far from reaching this stage himself. With his current cultivation at the seventh layer of the Divine Sea Realm, given his cultivation speed, he would likely achieve this breakthrough in a relatively short time if he were to pursue it diligently.

However, his primary focus at the moment is not on cultivation, but rather on the Talent Tree.

The Talent Tree completed its second transformation. Following a period of new development, it once again manifested as a large plume.

On the surface, the Talent Tree showed no significant visible changes. However, Lu Ye clearly understood that it must have undergone transformations he hadn't yet perceived. He would need to slowly explore to discover what specific changes had occurred.

It had been the same during its first transformation.

After some analysis, Lu Ye determined that the Talent Tree's energy absorption range had significantly expanded. In other words, the maximum length its roots could extend had seen a breakthrough increase.

This was beneficial for him, as the increased reach of the Talent Tree's roots signified a boost in his efficiency for absorbing external energies.

To put it concretely, previously, if there was hidden energy deep underground, he couldn't absorb it because the Talent Tree's roots couldn't extend to such depths. Now, however, he can. As long as he detects absorbable energy within a certain range, he can freely absorb it using the Talent Tree's power.

He then condensed a clone.

He had initially thought that the Talent Tree's second transformation might enable him to create two additional clones. However, this was not the case.

The root that the Talent Tree could split off remained a single one, but it could no longer be merely called a root; it was like a separate portion of the Talent Tree itself. It was as if the entire Talent Tree had divided into two. When this division occurred, the stored fuel within the Talent Tree also split into two equal parts!

This implicitly solved a long-standing problem: the clone's inability to sustain long-term cultivation.

Previously, without the Talent Tree's fuel, the clone could only recover its energy after combat by consuming spirit stones. This method was inefficient compared to the main body, which could quickly replenish its energy by taking spirit pills after expending too much in battle.

However, the Talent Tree's second transformation undoubtedly granted the clone capabilities identical to the main body. Henceforth, the clone can also consume spirit pills for recovery without concerns about accumulating pill toxins.

If this were the only change, it might not bring Lu Ye significant benefits.

However, from another perspective, it's different. Both the clone and the main body can cultivate. Furthermore, when the main body reabsorbs the clone, it can rapidly integrate all the energy contained within the clone.

This implies that, if Lu Ye desires, both his main body and his clone can cultivate simultaneously, thereby achieving double the cultivation efficiency!

This is quite remarkable, as his cultivation efficiency is already exceptionally high. If it were to double, the efficiency would likely reach unprecedented levels.

Of course, for Lu Ye, this particular change holds limited significance. While cultivators prioritize efficiency, there is an inherent limit. Excessive efficiency might not always be beneficial, as it can easily lead to an unstable foundation.

Therefore, Lu Ye typically manages the pace of his cultivation. He strives to enhance his cultivation and strength as quickly as possible without compromising his foundational stability, rather than relentlessly chasing maximum efficiency.

If he were truly to pursue endless efficiency, he would have long since advanced to the ninth layer of the Divine Sea Realm, as he possesses that capability.

The changes in the clone hold no practical significance for Lu Ye; instead, they introduce greater risks.

Previously, the clone contained only a segment of the Talent Tree's root, so losing the clone meant only losing that segment. Now, however, losing the clone would be equivalent to losing half of the entire Talent Tree, representing a far greater loss.

The changes discovered at that moment were limited to these. There are undoubtedly other undiscovered transformations that will require further research and observation.

The Talent Tree's transformation had nearly exhausted its stored fuel, prompting Lu Ye to quickly replenish it.

He still had a substantial surplus of fire spirit stones on hand, so he had no immediate worries regarding this matter.

Days passed. In just under a month, most of the venerable seniors who had once served in the Jadeblood Holy Land within Kyushu had advanced to the Star Constellation Realm, departing Kyushu and venturing into the starry sky.

The only one who remained was Senior Brother Feng Wujiang.

In terms of age, he was still relatively young and thus not particularly urgent about his promotion. Moreover, he needed to compensate for decades of separation from his Senior Sister, so he was in no hurry to leave Kyushu.

With the venerable seniors having departed, the next group to begin contending for opportunities were cultivators at the level of the Sect Master, Pang Zhen, and Long Bai.

Although their accumulated cultivation in the Divine Sea Realm wasn't as profound as that of Jian Guji and others, they were still qualified candidates to take that pivotal step.

However, their contention was significantly more amicable than that of Wuchang and his peers. Given their current harmonious relationships, they avoided overly intense conflicts, generally stopping short of full-blown confrontations.

Some were able to exercise patience and continue waiting, such as Yun Xuechu, who showed almost no inclination to participate in the contention.

Overall, the most significant activity in Kyushu currently centers on that surge of spiritual light that enables cultivators to break through the Divine Sea and ascend to the Star Constellation Realm. The sounds of conflict frequently echo above the various continents, a phenomenon to which both mortals and cultivators have grown accustomed.

While Kyushu buzzed with activity, the areas beyond Kyushu were also beginning to stir.

Since the powerful cultivators of the pre-Kyushu era crafted the Heaven's Secret Compass and used its abilities to relocate Kyushu to its present starfield, there had been almost no prior instance of cultivators venturing beyond its borders.

After countless years of accumulation, the cultivation resources within this starfield remained remarkably abundant. Spirit jades, formed from condensed stellar energy, could be found within drifting meteorites, dead stars near Kyushu, and even in the void itself.

This starfield could be described as a completely undeveloped wilderness. As the first cultivators from Kyushu to venture into it, almost every one of those venerable seniors reaped substantial rewards.

Knowing that spirit jades were essential resources for cultivators in the Star Constellation Realm, they naturally hastened to seek and collect them. This particular group found themselves in an environment where treasures seemed to be abundant at every turn.

This was also why, despite so many having left, not a single one had returned to Kyushu.

They weren't excessively far from Kyushu; returning wouldn't take much time. However, with the current prime opportunity to seek cultivation resources, no one was willing to waste time traveling back.

The initial group of cultivators who left Kyushu undoubtedly held the greatest advantage, having reaped the first benefits. As more and more cultivators depart Kyushu in the future, finding spirit jades within this starfield will become increasingly difficult, inevitably forcing them to venture further afield.

Almost every major realm's cultivators share similar experiences: as they journey to seek spirit jades, the areas they explore become more numerous and their scope expands considerably.

Kyushu has recently seen a significant exodus of cultivators, yet when viewed against the vastness of the starry sky, they are but drops in an ocean. Consequently, cultivators rarely encounter each other in space, typically operating alone. Even if chance encounters occur, they quickly separate, as treasure hunting is ill-suited for group efforts; ownership becomes contentious if a discovery is made.

Within the starfield near Kyushu, on a vast, lifeless meteorite, a lone figure was meticulously searching.

Locating spirit jades is not a simple task. While they do emit faint energy fluctuations, these are exceedingly weak, making them difficult to detect unless one is in very close proximity.

Therefore, even though Kyushu's venerable seniors had advanced to the Star Constellation Realm and their spiritual sense had vastly improved, merely sweeping it wouldn't reveal spirit jades. Finding them required meticulous investigation.

It was simply due to the considerable number of spirit jades in the starfield near Kyushu that everyone managed to find something.

Such a colossal meteorite, having drifted through the starry sky for countless years from an unknown origin, was, by experience, likely to yield spirit jades due to the accumulation and convergence of stellar energy. Zhao Shoumu had achieved considerable success using this very method in recent days.

As one of the many venerable seniors, his strength was neither exceptionally powerful nor weak, falling into the intermediate tier. However, that was prior to their recent advancements. Now that everyone had just ascended to the Star Constellation Realm, the differences in their abilities had largely been neutralized. Who could progress further and become stronger in the future would depend entirely on their individual fortunes.

As the most crucial cultivation resource, spirit jades were, of course, indispensable.

After some searching, he indeed made a discovery. Neatly arranged within a crevice of the rugged rock were three spirit jades, which he gleefully extracted and collected.

Continuing his search along the same crevice, he surprisingly discovered yet another spirit jade.

Pressing onward, he found even more…

Such a stroke of luck left him ecstatic. He recalled that during previous searches, any findings typically amounted to just one or two spirit jades; never before had he encountered such a substantial collection at once.

He could only marvel at his good fortune that such a treasure-rich location had remained undiscovered by others.

He continued all the way to the end of the crevice. After retrieving the last newly discovered spirit jade, Zhao Shoumu's body suddenly went rigid.

He stared intently at the spot directly in front of him, instantly understanding.