After years of development, the number of Divine Bridge Realm (fifth-rank) cultivators on Five Dragon Mountain had now exceeded two hundred!
This did not include the demon beasts, strange creatures, and acquired deities dwelling on the other seventy-one immortal mountains, nor the various nonhuman protectors of the Scarlet Flame Sect. Counting them all, the total exceeded three hundred, and they had begun to display the extraordinary bearing of a True Immortal force and an immortal daoist sanctuary.
Of these two hundred-odd Divine Bridge great cultivators, the Scarlet Flame Sect accounted for half, possessing one hundred and seven... During the dozen or so years Shen Mo had spent completing the final transformation and sublimation from mortal cultivator to immortal, while remaining hidden from sight, two more disciples at the peak of the Origin Core Realm had successfully erected their Divine Bridges.
Of the remaining hundred or so, the Candle Dragon lineage accounted for forty percent, while the Heaven Patrol lineage and the Flower Fairy Clan each accounted for thirty percent.
A variety of factors had created this situation.
The Scarlet Flame Sect possessed the precious land of Azure Cloud Grotto-Heaven. After the mortals within had multiplied and thrived over hundreds and thousands of years, their numbers had increased severalfold. That enormous mortal population supplied the sect with a great many promising talents.
Beyond the living beings within the grotto-heaven, the hundreds of millions of immortal mortals across the nine realms of the Horn Wood Flood Dragon also continuously provided fresh blood to the Scarlet Flame Sect.
Moreover, as Shen Mo's cultivation soared straight into the heavens, the Scarlet Flame Sect's foundations continued to deepen. As Shen Mo's direct lineage, its cultivators enjoyed conditions far more generous than those of any other faction.
More importantly, Shen Mo's fortune had, in the unseen