The Blood Spirit Sect had been destroyed.
Blood flowed like a river through the sect. Not a single disciple had survived.
No one had expected the once-greatest sect in the Southern Region of Qing Province to be wiped out just like that.
All because of a single line in the Diary of the Immortal Great Emperor.
Only now did some factions finally understand. The next time the Great Emperor's Diary was revealed...
It would leave certain people and certain sects unable to sit still.
Top powers like the Liyue Immortal Dynasty and the Jade Pool Holy Land left the Blood Spirit Sect's territory one after another.
To them, a minor sect like this had no value.
But for Xuanqing Sect and the other smaller sects, things were different.
The resources left behind by the Blood Spirit Sect were immensely valuable.
Its treasured cultivation manuals, pills, spirit herbs, and the like—
All were precious resources.
After all, it had dominated the Southern Region of Qing Province for tens of thousands of years. It had some reserves, even if they weren't much.
The storage rings and fragments of magical treasures left behind on the battlefield were worth a great deal, too.
However, the sects that stayed behind to clean up the battlefield knew their place.
They knew what they should take and what they shouldn't. Without a word, they left most of the spoils to the people of Xuanqing Sect.
After this battle, Xuanqing Sect was the greatest sect in the Southern Region of Qing Province!
Yan Changkong, of course, didn't stand on ceremony.
He ordered the Great Elder to stay behind, then sent more people over in succession. He wished he could haul away every last thing in the Blood Spirit Sect.
They sawed down the palace buildings and hauled them back in batches.
They uprooted towering spirit trees useful for cultivation and worked together to transport them back to the sect for planting.
They even carried away strange mountains and rocks, as long as they could move them.
They weren't willing to leave a single thing behind.
The other sects felt a little embarrassed by this, but they weren't particularly surprised.
That was how the Cultivation World worked. Resources were everything.
Whenever an opportunity arose, you had to use every means at your disposal to fight for resources. That was the only way to survive better.
Otherwise, what good was it to have a sect with a long history?
The powers like the Liyue Immortal Dynasty might have left so casually because they simply didn't care about the spoils. Those resources were useless to them.
They would only be a burden.
But if the resources were something they wanted, they'd gnaw the bones clean!
Otherwise, what made an Immortal Dynasty so powerful?
Everything had been won through struggle.
No one was born that strong.
When Yan Changkong and the others returned to the sect, it was deserted.
Most of the disciples had been sent out to seize resources.
He reckoned it would take ten days or half a month just to haul everything back.
There was simply too much.
Soon, Xuanqing Sect disciples began returning with a steady stream of resources.
The elders registered everything and arranged to store it in batches...
Yan Changkong was in high spirits, beaming from ear to ear!
Lately, everything had been going his way, one good thing after another. But he knew that the more things went his way, the more important it was to stay steady!
Staying steady while making progress was what mattered most.
"Ancestor Lin Feng was right. Keep your head down and stay alive—that's the way!"
Yan Changkong murmured softly, then turned to the Great Emperor's Diary, which he hadn't finished reading that day.
The diary remained on the Projection Screen.
Diary of the Immortal Great Emperor, page fifteen:
[Haha, I heard that old crook Yan Shan was practically going mad. He's running around looking for people like a beast gone berserk!]
[He can't trace it back to me. Looks like I'm safe.]
[Still, I'd better not open Yan Yu's storage ring for now, in case someone tracks it.]
[Lately, while keeping my head down in the sect, I've learned a little rudimentary alchemy.]
[There's something else, and I don't know whether it's good or bad. Lately, I've been feeling dazed, and once I fall asleep, I can't wake up!]
[What a strange thing.]
[In my dreams, I enter a mysterious state. Sometimes, I can't even tell whether I'm awake or dreaming.]
[Is this a side effect of immortality, or my cheat?]
After reading the page, Yan Changkong's pupils contracted, and his expression turned serious once more.
The information revealed in this diary entry was extremely important!
He murmured, "Entering a mysterious state in his dreams?"
"A side effect of immortality, or a cheat?"
Yan Changkong instinctively felt that these lines contained vital information.
If he could decipher it, perhaps he could uncover the secret behind the Immortal Great Emperor's rapid rise.
The Immortal Great Emperor had needed only six thousand years!
In that short time, he had become an unparalleled emperor, unrivaled throughout history. No one would believe he'd done it without some heaven-defying opportunity.
After all, which elder in those Holy Lands wasn't a peerless talent, gifted beyond compare?
Yet many had cultivated for tens of thousands of years and still remained at the Mahayana realm!
Becoming an emperor in six thousand years was a miracle in itself.
Now, was the story behind that miracle finally going to be revealed, bit by bit?
He wasn't the only one. At that moment, everyone in the Cultivation World was filled with intense anticipation.
Yan Changkong's breathing grew heavy as he abruptly turned to the last diary entry!
Diary of the Immortal Great Emperor, page sixteen:
[I opened a cave abode not far from the sect.]
[At last, I've finished setting it up. Nobody should come here, so it ought to be safe.]
[Time to sleep here for a long, long while!]
[Cultivating in dreams sounds like a fantasy, but I've tested it. It really works!]
[In that mysterious state within my dreams, my cultivation advances by leaps and bounds every day. It's unbelievable...]
[The only thing I'm worried about is how long it'll take me to wake up once I fall into a deep slumber.]
[Forget it. I've been feeling more and more dazed lately. I have to sleep.]
[Getting stronger just by sleeping is actually pretty great.]
[Ruoyu, wait for me. If I wake up with a huge boost in cultivation, I'll go find you in Central Province!]
[Heh, I guarantee I'll leave you screaming in shock.]
The diary entry ended there.
The entire Cultivation World was thrown into an uproar once more.
Countless sects, Ancient Clans, and rogue cultivators were abuzz, discussing what the diary had revealed that day.
Jade Pool Holy Land.
Yuan Ruoyu looked stunned. It took her a while to recover before she murmured:
"So he really hadn't been lying to me!"
"He really could get stronger just by sleeping. After every long slumber, his cultivation made a tremendous leap!"
"So this was the Dream Cultivation Technique?"
Yuan Ruoyu couldn't help recalling the first time Lin Feng had come to Central Province to see her after they parted.
Memories of the past welled up...
Back then, when she saw Lin Feng, she was still a little angry. She'd blamed him for taking decades to come find her.
Lin Feng had said he'd gone to sleep and woken up fifty years later.
How could she possibly believe that?
Yuan Ruoyu had even mocked him, saying he couldn't come up with a more plausible excuse.
But Lin Feng's cultivation had truly left her screaming in shock!
When they parted in the Cloudfall Mountain Range, Lin Feng had been at the Qi Refining stage, while she was already at the Golden Core stage.
More than fifty years later, when they met again,
Lin Feng's cultivation had surpassed hers outright, reaching the late Nascent Soul stage. It was simply heaven-defying.
At first, Yuan Ruoyu had worried that he was cultivating some demonic technique to improve so quickly.
Then, after thoroughly examining him from the outside in, she had no choice but to believe that Lin Feng wasn't cultivating a demonic technique.
Every realm he'd reached was solidly grounded, far surpassing that of ordinary cultivators.
Lin Feng hadn't hidden the truth from her. He'd said that when he slept, he could enter a mysterious state, and that was why his cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.
He'd even used this as an excuse to invite her down the mountain time and again...
To sleep and cultivate together, and see if he could bring Yuan Ruoyu into that state as well.
They'd tried all sorts of moves... and methods.
But Yuan Ruoyu simply couldn't enter the state Lin Feng had described.
She'd always thought Lin Feng was just making up an excuse to fool her.
Who would have thought that the diary would be revealed today?
Only then did Yuan Ruoyu realize that it might all be true.
Liyue Immortal Dynasty.
In the bedchamber.
Ye Qingge bore none of her usual lofty, imposing, domineering air.
She clutched the Little Leather Doll in her hand, her pretty face flushed as she apologized:
"I'm sorry!"
"I was wrong to blame you. So the Dream Cultivation Technique you told me about was real!"
"I thought you were deliberately trying to fool me!"
Ye Qingge's eyes turned alluring. At that moment, the empress was the picture of seductive charm as she whispered:
"It's a shame I couldn't learn it. You put so much effort into it, trying with me so many times, and still nothing worked!"
"But!"
"Next time, I'll do exactly as you say. You can... do whatever you want."
As Ye Qingge spoke, she bit her lower lip, her face turning even redder.
She wondered to herself: Lin Feng had tried to teach her so many times, yet she still hadn't learned the Dream Cultivation Technique.
Could it be because she was too forceful, and sometimes refused to cooperate?
But whenever she thought of those strange and unusual moves...
Ye Qingge's heart raced, and she felt terribly embarrassed.
Still, when she thought of the Dream Cultivation Technique Lin Feng had created—getting stronger just by sleeping—
A look of determination flashed in her eyes. She gritted her teeth and said:
"Fine. From now on, I'll do everything exactly as you say. I refuse to believe I can't learn it!"
Before you continue