Chapter 96: Future Planning

After listening to Qi Rui's slightly proud introduction, Chen Mobai had only one thought in his mind: "What a boast!" His claims were almost comparable to the seven Divine Soul cultivation methods of the Immortal Sect on Earth Star.

The Six Control Scripture of the Kunpeng Daoist Academy claims that once cultivated to the extreme, one can grasp the six major primal energies: Yin, Yang, Wind, Rain, Darkness, and Light. The laws and changes of all things in the universe would be within one's grasp, and the Divine Soul could roam boundless realms.

However, even the Six Control Scripture dared not claim to defeat all Five-Element cultivation methods in the world. This is because the Wood-attribute 'Evergreen Technique,' inherited by the Jumang Daoist Academy, despite its common name, is said to, once cultivated to the Divine Soul stage, halt time and grant eternal youth. Before reaching the end of one's lifespan and passing away, one could forever lock their state at the peak of their life.

Since the Six Control Scripture cannot overcome the Evergreen Technique, it naturally wouldn't dare claim to defeat all Five-Element cultivation methods in the world.

Chen Mobai did not refute. Instead, after listening, he appropriately showed a look of shock, wondering how such a powerful divine ability as the 'Primordial Dao Fruit' could exist in the world! What he was actually thinking internally was, 'If this Primordial Dao Fruit is so potent, why didn't the Primordial Patriarch of the Five Elements Sect break through to the God Transformation stage, but instead died of old age?' This suggested that this 'foremost divine ability of the Eastern Barrens' was likely only powerful in combat. For realm breakthroughs, or even the pursuit of longevity, it probably wasn't as effective as the Immortal Sect's Jade Purity Scripture.

Therefore, there was one statement from Qi Rui that he strongly agreed with: Compared to the unattainable and cultivation-condition-demanding Primordial Dao Fruit, this 'Dual Aspect Technique' was more suitable for him.

Setting aside everything else, just the ability to increase the chances of forming a Core by thirty percent upon reaching the Foundation Establishment Completion stage was enough to excite him. One should know that the Immortal Sect's 'Golden Liquid Jade Return Elixir' could increase the chance of forming a Core by twenty percent. With both conditions met—thirty plus twenty percent—if he could reach the Foundation Establishment Completion stage, it felt as though half of the Golden Core was already within his grasp.

He was thinking a bit too far ahead. Chen Mobai took a deep breath, calming himself down.

"Is this Dual Aspect Technique truly that miraculous?" He was still somewhat skeptical. After all, while there were also cultivation methods in the Immortal Sect that could increase the probability of forming a Core, none of them had an effect as exaggerated as the Dual Aspect Technique's direct thirty percent increase.

"Indeed," he replied, "thirty years ago, our sect's Patriarch Fu successfully formed his Golden Core with the Dual Aspect Technique, becoming the Divine Wood Sect's second Golden Core True Person. It was precisely because of this that the Five Elements Sect, which had previously refused to give up, was willing to sit down and negotiate with us, acknowledging the independence of our Divine Wood Sect and Golden Light Cliff. Ultimately, it was simply because we gained an additional Golden Core True Person, leading to a complete balance of power between the two sides, which allowed this century-long peace agreement to be signed." Qi Rui's words gradually made Chen Mobai believe him.

Before the Five Elements Sect split, with one Nascent Soul Venerable and five Golden Core True Persons, its power was indeed unparalleled in the Eastern Barrens.

"Has Fellow Daoist Qi also cultivated this Dual Aspect Technique?" Chen Mobai asked again. The latter immediately shook his head, a wry smile on his face.

"This is a privilege reserved for true disciples," he explained. "Moreover, cultivating this Dual Aspect Technique requires more resources and time than cultivating a single cultivation method. During the Qi Refinement stage, it's not noticeable, but after Foundation Establishment, every bottleneck breakthrough is extremely difficult. If it weren't for the 'Everlasting Life Scripture' being able to add sixty years to one's lifespan, Patriarch Fu probably wouldn't have reached the Golden Core threshold in the end."

Upon hearing this, Chen Mobai, however, wasn't bothered. He had long understood that while the major realms in the Sky River Realm were the same as those in the Immortal Sect, the division of minor realms was completely different. In the Sky River Realm, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul only had four minor realms: early, middle, late, and completion. In the Immortal Sect, however, like Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul were divided into nine minor realms. The reason for this was that breakthroughs would face much smaller bottlenecks.

In fact, when the Immortal Sect first imparted cultivation methods on Earth Star, the three major realms after Qi Refinement were also divided into four minor realms: early, middle, late, and completion. However, over several centuries, due to a lack of resources, the bottlenecks in these minor realms trapped ninety-nine percent of cultivators. Consequently, the God Transformation Patriarch of the Heaven-Mending Daoist Academy later created cultivation methods for nine layers of Foundation Establishment, nine layers of Core Formation, and nine layers of Nascent Soul. After these methods were taught to disciples, two hundred years later, the Immortal Sect finally produced its first native Nascent Soul Venerable on Earth Star. It was proven that after the original four-layer minor realm bottlenecks were divided into nine layers, the difficulty of breakthroughs significantly decreased, and the probability of eventually cultivating to completion increased by nearly fifty percent.

Chen Mobai felt that if he could join the Divine Wood Sect, he could first choose to cultivate the 'Everlasting Life Scripture,' then become a true disciple, acquire the 'Dual Aspect Technique,' and replace the accompanying Fire-attribute cultivation method with his already prepared 'Pure Yang Scroll.' If he truly succeeded in Foundation Establishment, then during the nine layers of Foundation Establishment cultivation of the Pure Yang Scroll, it would gradually refine the spiritual power essence cultivated from the Wood-attribute Everlasting Life Scripture. And for Divine Wood Sect disciples, the most difficult minor realm bottlenecks might not be too challenging for him. Furthermore, after cultivating the Pure Yang Scroll to Golden Core Completion, he could elevate his spiritual root attribute to Heavenly Fire Spiritual Root, which would perfectly meet the requirements for comprehending the 'Primordial Dao Fruit.'

Although he felt this 'foremost divine ability of the Eastern Barrens' should not be as good as the seven Divine Soul cultivation methods inherited by the Immortal Sect, hearing Qi Rui boast so much about it made him think it wouldn't hurt to try cultivating it in the future, if the opportunity arose.

In an instant, Chen Mobai had roughly planned his future cultivation path. However, whether it would truly come to fruition still required careful consideration.

But first and foremost, he needed to join the Divine Wood Sect.

That night, Chen Mobai and Qi Rui had a long, heartfelt conversation, feeling as if they had met too late. Shi Pengyi, after listening for a while, held a spirit stone, closed his eyes, and diligently meditated beside them. Luo Lin, on the other hand, whose arm bones had just been set, had to rest, but listened with great interest as the two discussed everything from the Divine Wood Sect to cultivation methods and then exchanged talisman crafting experiences.

In this regard, Chen Mobai was naturally not as skilled as Qi Rui, who was a first-grade talisman crafter. However, the Immortal Sect's system he had learned was completely different from that of the Sky River Realm. Occasionally, he would share small bits of knowledge he had learned in class, which astonished Qi Rui, who exclaimed that Chen Mobai would surely become an excellent talisman grandmaster in the future.

Chen Mobai could only be modest about this; his theoretical knowledge was decent, but his practical skills were a mess.

After discussing talisman crafting, the two then talked about combat experience against demonic beasts like the Black Plague Birds. During their exchange, they would occasionally ask Luo Lin how their small team could better cooperate to survive the island defense battle while simultaneously killing more demonic beasts.

It wasn't until the red sun appeared over the horizon of the lake, and Wang Yuanwu came over to distribute the day's spirit stones, that Chen Mobai and Qi Rui felt their conversation was still unfinished.