Was this true?
Everything I had eaten and worn in my life had come from the bones and blood sold by human prodigies?
Li Mingyuan stood stunned. His entire view of life had taken a crushing blow.
The Golden Core cultivators around him patted his shoulders, then walked with Zhong Limo toward the depths of the Grand Dream Sword Realm.
There lay their Dao Path and their future.
Li Mingyuan stood motionless for a long time.
Then he silently followed these fellow cultivators he had known for years.
They passed through layer after layer of strange dreams, through layer after layer of illusory worlds. The road ahead grew clearer, while the way back grew hazier.
Behind them, bewildered Qi Refining prodigies began to appear in the dream realms of the past. Their faces were uneasy, youthful, and untested, just like theirs had been years ago.
There were ten thousand of these Qi Refining prodigies.
They could not help looking up toward the clouds.
There, a boy in azure robes sat upon a throne and slowly spoke. "I created the Grand Dream Sword Realm for the humans of the boundless starry sky, for all living beings, and for my own gain.
"I created it to forge my personal Dao from the bones and wisdom of the boundless starry sky's prodigies and heroes. You are free to come or go. Choose for yourselves..."
A new cycle had begun.
The difference was that the Supreme Great Sun Sword Scripture taught to these Qi Refining prodigies was a little more complete and a little more stable than the version Zhong Limo's generation had received.
That was progress.
Zhong Limo and the other twelve traveled through the dreams, struggling onward. From time to time, fierce astral winds swept over them, buffeting their souls and