Chapter 2278: Plans

It took Lu Ye a full half-month for his injuries to completely heal, demonstrating the ferocity of the previous battle. His wounds, both internal and external, were not only sustained during his confrontation with the Mad Lion but were also largely caused by the immense pressure of maintaining the Black Tortoise formation.

He closed his eyes, concentrated, and examined himself, confirming that he had not only fully recovered but also that his physical strength had improved to a certain extent compared to before.

This was entirely attributed to the repeated blessings from the Star Abyss.

In Boundless City, before meeting Chen Gushan, Lu Ye had already slain four Fusion Dao cultivators, including Heart Tiger. Afterward, he sought out old Chen Gushan, who fully assisted him in eliminating the seven Fusion Dao cultivators who had besieged him.

Later, Lu Ye went to support Yan Zhixing and slew a few more Fusion Dao cultivators.

Each Fusion Dao cultivator he slew brought a blessing from the Star Abyss.

It can be said that in this battle alone, he received over a dozen blessings from the Star Abyss!

Curiously, among the benefits from these dozen-plus Star Abyss blessings, only one was a "one-shot soul infusion" type; all the others were for strengthening the physical body. While the effect of a single blessing wasn't very obvious, their cumulative impact over a dozen times was quite substantial.

Throughout history, no cultivator had ever received Star Abyss blessings so frequently, because overcoming the strong with the weak was no easy feat, and killing enemies across cultivation realms was simply unheard of in the Star Abyss.

Lu Ye's unique circumstances created this peculiar situation, which would be difficult for others to replicate.

The benefits of his strengthened physical body had already integrated into his physique. Now, a peculiar warm current still lingered within him—the very kind that could make bone-refinement "one-shot soul infusion" successful.

Lu Ye felt a bit troubled.

Because his current strength had already reached its limit, and the remaining five Dao bones could not be successfully refined, this miraculous power was difficult to utilize.

But if he didn't use it, it would slowly dissipate and couldn't remain in his body indefinitely.

After a brief thought, Lu Ye decided to use it anyway, reasoning that even if it had no effect, it was better than letting it go to waste.

With a thought, the warm current permeated the chosen bone. Dao power was activated, and the bone was rapidly refined.

Lu Ye harbored no hope whatsoever, but to his astonishment, this time the refinement... was actually successful!

His mind's eye gazed at the newly formed, glittering golden Dao bone. Lu Ye found it hard to believe.

How could it have succeeded?

That wondrous power could indeed greatly help cultivators improve the success rate of refining Dao bones, with almost no chance of failure.

But this didn't quite make sense for his current situation, because he had already reached his current limit!

Yet, it had indeed succeeded.

With two hundred and two Dao bones now within his body, fully activating them yielded two hundred and eleven streams of power!

Lu Ye suppressed the doubt and excitement in his heart and began to ponder carefully.

This success was definitely not due to the "one-shot soul infusion" wonder, but rather for another reason.

Previously, he couldn't refine Dao bones because his foundation was insufficient to support stronger power. His current success undoubtedly indicated that his foundation had grown stronger.

Why had his own foundation become stronger?

What changes had occurred within him during this period?

After much thought, Lu Ye could only think of one possibility—the Star Abyss blessings!

All along, Lu Ye had believed that almost ninety-nine percent of the benefits he gained from the Star Abyss blessings were for strengthening his physical body.

But what if these benefits weren't just for strengthening his physical body, but for comprehensively strengthening his entire being? The reason he hadn't noticed was that the improvement in his foundation was indeed very subtle, whereas changes in his physical body were obvious.

Time after time, even if each blessing only improved him slightly, the accumulated effect was quite considerable.

Especially this time, gaining over a dozen Star Abyss blessings at once, this was probably the key to being able to continue refining Dao bones!

Realizing this, Lu Ye's heart surged with excitement.

Since his last sudden surge in strength, he had had no clue how to continue refining Dao bones. After all, he was only five Dao bones away from completion, and he didn't want to fail at the last moment.

Who knew that now, with such an unexpected pleasant surprise, a path that had seemed hopeless suddenly revealed a glimmer of light.

With an excited heart, Lu Ye tried to continue refining Dao bones, but after expending tens of thousands of Dao power, he finally recognized the reality: his foundation was once again insufficient to support further increase in strength.

He still needed to continue strengthening his foundation.

He couldn't yet confirm if his theory was correct, but it wouldn't be difficult to verify. There were so many Fusion Dao cultivators of the Worm and Blood races in the Kaleidoscope; he just needed to kill more of them to gain more Star Abyss blessings. Then he would naturally be able to verify his theory.

"It's almost time to go out," Lu Ye's voice echoed in his Sea of Consciousness, and the raging flames suddenly retracted.

You Die reacted, then obediently replied, "Okay."

A full half-month of refining had brought her immense benefits. In terms of cultivation, she could no longer advance unless she ascended to the Dao Harmonization realm.

But during this half-month, her strength had improved again, and the degree of improvement was quite significant, equivalent to approximately a dozen streams of power.

One must know that she had already reached her limit; without external intervention, she couldn't increase her power by even a single stream, let alone a dozen.

This was naturally because impurities in her soul body had been incinerated, causing her soul body to become purer and more condensed.

You Die felt she still had some room for further improvement, though not much, so she no longer insisted on it. With her current state, attempting Dao Harmonization would increase her success rate by at least ten percent compared to before!

This was undoubtedly a great and unexpected surprise.

"I need to go to Boundless City. You stay here and look after Old Chen and the others," Lu Ye instructed, then stood up.

The matter of Boundless City ultimately needed to be resolved. There were too many humans there, and now that Boundless City offered no resistance, Lu Ye had no good idea how to deal with them.

Seeing this, Ziying quickly sent a spiritual message to inquire. Upon learning that Lu Ye was going to Boundless City, she also stood up, intending to accompany him.

Ziying's injuries were much lighter than Lu Ye's, and her cultivation was higher, so she recovered faster than he did.

As she wanted to go along, Lu Ye naturally wouldn't refuse. The two flew out of the insect lair together and sped towards Boundless City.

A moment later, above Boundless City, Lu Ye's spiritual sense surged, probing in all directions.

He saw that the former prosperity was gone, replaced by pervasive feelings of unease and panic.

In the last battle, the various battlefields had a wide reach, and the commotion was great, causing many accidental injuries. This also made the inhabitants of Boundless City aware of the external invasion.

After that battle, all Fusion Dao cultivators, including the city lord, Mad Lion, had disappeared.

Many corpses of Fusion Dao cultivators still remained in the city.

As a result, anyone could guess that Boundless City's Fusion Dao cultivators had likely met a terrible end!

With widespread panic, those who could escape Boundless City had already fled. Those who remained were unable to leave, consisting mostly of cultivators who had not yet entered the Dao realm.

There were also many who had entered the Dao, but they were all human bone-vessels!

Enslaved and exploited their entire lives, these bone-vessels had clearly resigned themselves to their fate and grown accustomed to it. Thus, even to this day, the bone-pools still contained the seated figures of bone-vessels.

This filled both Lu Ye and Ziying with immense sadness.

"Little Brother Ye, what do you plan to do?" Ziying asked.

The number of beings remaining in the city was large, most of them being what were called "beast-kind." Although these beast-kind cultivators weren't highly cultivated, many of them had oppressed humans.

But precisely because their numbers were so large, it was somewhat difficult to handle. If they were enemies capable of fighting, a battle to the death would suffice, but those who couldn't escape Boundless City were clearly no match.

They couldn't just kill them all.

Lu Ye pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, I have some concerns."

"About that Xiaoyue?" Ziying asked, looking at him.

Lu Ye nodded. "It seems Sister Ying also thought of it. According to the information we currently have, our current location is the outer realm of the Star Abyss. Xiaoyue is in the inner realm of the Star Abyss, and we can't rule out the possibility of him returning from there. When he left that day, he also said that the grudge of Boundless City wouldn't just be forgotten. The power he projected onto Mad Lion was already so strong; if he himself returns, we will definitely be unable to resist. However, we know nothing about where the inner realm is, how to get there, or how long it would take for him to return."

Ziying said, "Regarding the inner realm... I might have made some discoveries."

Lu Ye turned to look at her, somewhat surprised. "How so?" he asked.

Ziying shook her head. "I can't explain it clearly yet; I only have some clues for now. I'll explain it to you after I've confirmed it. But either way, Xiaoyue is indeed a hidden danger."

Lu Ye said, "So staying here is definitely not a good idea. If Xiaoyue returns and attacks, we'll all be in trouble. Since Boundless City is a Dao weapon, it can be refined. I want Sister Ying to refine this Dao weapon and then send it into the Kaleidoscope!"

"Send it into the Kaleidoscope?" Ziying was startled.

Lu Ye nodded. "There are many humans in Boundless City, and we can't ignore them. Given this, sending them into the Kaleidoscope is the only option. Afterward, I'll have the Kaleidoscope continue to drift, moving far away from this place. This way, even if Xiaoyue returns, he won't be able to find us."

"That is indeed a method," Ziying said, "but are you sure Boundless City can be refined?" She had indeed never refined another's Dao weapon.

Lu Ye smiled. "Boundless City has stood here for untold tens of thousands of years. It definitely isn't Mad Lion's Dao weapon; it must be a Dao weapon left by some powerful beast-kind cultivator many years ago. Mad Lion had to refine it to control it. If he could, then Sister Ying certainly can too."

Ziying's eyes lit up. "Indeed!" she exclaimed.

"Then let's go find its core," Lu Ye said. "It would be best if Sister Ying refines it quickly."

Having finalized their discussion, the two immediately set off, splitting up.

Boundless City, this Dao weapon, was actually somewhat similar to the Kaleidoscope, except that in terms of both size and level, the Kaleidoscope was far superior.

But regardless, Boundless City must have something akin to the Kaleidoscope's core. As long as it could be found, Ziying could refine it.

It should not be difficult.

As for why he didn't refine it himself, Lu Ye already possessed the Kaleidoscope and genuinely didn't value Boundless City much. Moreover, his cultivation realm was ultimately a shortcoming, so his refining efficiency would definitely not be as good as Ziying's.