Third, Merit. The Merit he had gained over these five Epochs was nearly comparable to the Merit he had gained from cleaning up and repairing the Three Clans Battlefield over twenty Epochs.
If his cultivation realm had been at the Perfected Great Firmament Golden Immortal stage, this Merit would have been absolutely sufficient to raise his cultivation to the Early Primordial Golden Immortal stage. This showed just how much Merit he had obtained and how valuable it was.
Therefore, Yuan Lun's gains over these five Epochs had indeed been greater than what they had gained previously from cleaning up and repairing the Three Clans Battlefield.
"I did gain quite a lot over these five Epochs, but my expenditure was just as great! I used up a full third of the Origin Power accumulated by refining the corpses of countless races with my own Great Dao while cleaning up and repairing the Three Clans Battlefield."
"If I continue using it like this, it will be completely depleted in at most eleven or twelve Epochs."
"Even if we take turns, switching every five Epochs, it will be completely depleted in at most thirty or forty Epochs."
"When that time comes, how are we supposed to continue repairing the Earth Veins of the Western Continent?"
"Relying solely on our own power is not impossible, but the repair efficiency would be painfully slow. Repairing the Western Continent would most likely go from being vastly beneficial to not being worth the cost."
"As the saying goes, those who plan ahead succeed, while those who do not fail. We should come up with a proper plan and method now!"
At those words, Yuan Jie and Yuan Ling both fell silent, deep in thought. After pondering for a long time, neither of them had any ideas.
The reason their efficiency in repairing the Earth Veins of the Western Continent was so high now was because they had used the Origin Power they had accumulated earlier.
When cracks and fissures appeared in the Earth Veins, they all had methods of using large amounts of Origin Power to manifest the profundities of Creation Dao, allowing those cracks and fissures to rapidly heal on their own.
When they wanted the Earth Veins to grow and extend but their Origin Power was insufficient, they also had methods of converting vast quantities of Origin Power to replenish the Earth Veins' origin.
But without Origin Power, they could only rely on their own strength. Though they could divide off their own power in place of Origin Power and accomplish the same thing.
However, if they expended too much of their divided power, they too would fall into weakness.
Although recovering to their peak would not be as difficult as recovering from injuries to the Dao, without vast amounts of heavenly treasures, Innate Spiritual Fruits, and medicinal pills, merely absorbing Innate Spiritual Qi would likely require one or two Epochs for each recovery.
They consumed Origin Power extremely quickly while repairing the Earth Veins. At their previous rate of expenditure, it would take less than ten thousand years for most of their strength to be depleted, forcing them to stop and recover.
Wouldn't the speed of repairing the Earth Veins then fall to barely one-twentieth of what it had been?
Though they could also comprehend the Dao and cultivate during that time, comprehending the Dao and cultivating while repairing the Earth Veins and recovering their depleted strength would definitely be less than half as efficient as focusing wholeheartedly on cultivation.
Combined with their other gains, it would most likely still make up for the losses.
But there was another issue. Absorbing Innate Spiritual Qi to restore their depleted strength once or twice, or even a few times, would be one thing.
But if they did it too many times and absorbed too much Innate Spiritual Qi from the Primordial World, then either the Merit they gained would be greatly reduced, or they would owe the Primordial World an immense karmic debt.
Either outcome would turn repairing the Earth Veins of the Western Continent into something not worth the cost.
Of course, they did not have to absorb Innate Spiritual Qi. They could consume heavenly treasures, Innate Spiritual Fruits, and medicinal pills to restore their depleted strength. They could even draw in and refine Chaos Qi directly through the Boundless Void to replenish themselves.
But how many heavenly treasures, Innate Spiritual Fruits, and medicinal pills could he possibly have on hand?
While they could restore his losses quickly, no matter how abundant his wealth was, it could not withstand such enormous and unceasing consumption!
The heavenly treasures in his possession would not last long at all!
Moreover, unless they were specifically meant for recovery, using heavenly treasures, Innate Spiritual Fruits, and medicinal pills to restore depleted strength was an utter waste.
After all, the most important thing about such treasures was the laws, Great Dao, and Dao resonance contained within them, which could help one rapidly comprehend the laws and Great Dao they held.
As for directly drawing in and refining Chaos Qi through the Boundless Void to recover his losses—
Because the Chaos Qi within the Inner Chaos had already been filtered once by the World Membrane, its corrosive and assimilative power was not as strong as that of the Outer Chaos. He could manage it.
However, the Chaos Qi of the Inner Chaos was still far from weak and still possessed corrosive and assimilative power. At the very least, one needed the cultivation of a Great Firmament Golden Immortal to refine it.
Although he could refine it, he would suffer no small amount of depletion during the process, and the refining speed would be extremely slow.
If he refined and absorbed Innate Spiritual Qi, he might need only one or two Epochs to recover to his peak. But if he refined and absorbed Chaos Qi, he would be lucky to recover within ten Epochs.
His recovery speed was already not fast. If it fell another six or sevenfold, calling it not worth the cost would not be enough. It would be more fitting to call him a sucker doing hard labor.
How wonderful it would be if we could obtain Origin Power continuously! Then we would not have to worry about this, Yuan Jie thought at that moment.
But in the next instant, Yuan Jie shook his head inwardly. It was practically impossible.
The Primordial World would not see another calamity that swept across the entire world anytime soon, so there naturally would not be so many corpses that had failed to return to heaven and earth for various reasons.
Without an endless supply of corpses numbering in the hundreds of millions and trillions for him to refine, how could he possibly obtain Origin Power without end?
After thinking for a long time without coming up with anything, the three simply returned to the Great Awakening Blessed Land and began a deep deduction.
No one knew how long they deduced for, but the three finally worked out a solution that could barely be called a solution:
They would use Earth Veins, Innate Spiritual Treasures, or Innate Spiritual Roots as formation foundations to manifest and set up one grand formation after another. Each formation had to possess at least the power of a Great Firmament Golden Immortal so that it could continuously draw in and refine Chaos Qi through the Infinite Void, converting it into the power they needed.
Perhaps a single grand formation could not draw in and refine much Chaos Qi, not enough to provide him with sufficient power.
But what about a hundred? A thousand? Or even ten thousand? That would probably not only provide him with enough power, but leave a great deal left over.
Of course, it would not be easy for him to set up so many grand formations with the power of a Great Firmament Golden Immortal!
Manifesting and setting up each grand formation would require a considerable amount of time, as well as a certain amount of heavenly treasures or the corresponding formation flags—
But that did not matter! He was in no hurry. He could simply take it slowly!
He could repair the Earth Veins while using the repaired Earth Veins, together with Innate Spiritual Treasures and Innate Spiritual Roots, to set up grand formations.
Although this would slow the repair of the Earth Veins considerably, they still had enough Origin Power on hand. It would not become a losing venture; it was merely a matter of earning more or earning less, of making a little less.
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