Only upon entering the Golden Core Realm did one truly count as a cultivator.
The Righteous Alliance had gathered the Eighteen Sects, with over twenty thousand Golden Core cultivators, more than sixty at the Nascent Soul realm, and the fewest at the Spirit Transformation realm—only seven in total. Apart from Luo Xue, the other six were all Lin Bai's puppets.
Normally, every sect would have one or two Spirit Transformation ancestors to uphold its prestige.
However.
Spirit Transformation cultivators needed Soul Condensation before they qualified to enter the Void Insight realm, and most of the Heavenly Treasures required for Soul Condensation were controlled by top-tier sects such as the Seven Righteous Sects. Thus, Spirit Transformation cultivators would leave their sects to travel in search of opportunities.
However.
Heavenly Treasures growing in the wild were exceedingly rare. Finding such treasures often required an extraordinary stroke of luck.
Thus, no matter how astonishingly talented the cultivators of lesser sects were, entering Golden Core at twenty and Nascent Soul at fifty...
Most ultimately stopped at the Spirit Transformation realm because their souls were insufficiently condensed, remaining there until their lifespans ended or they failed to break through to Void Insight...
True Person Li of the Returning Dragon Temple had concealed the Spirit Realm Rift in Jiamao City merely to preserve a sliver of hope that he could find Soul Condensation fruits within it.
It had to be said.
The Seven Righteous Sects and Five Demon Sects exercised such overbearing control over the lesser sects' resources that even another twenty thousand years would not let those sects challenge the Seven Righteous Sects' position.
True Person Li, Sword Immortal Cangming, Sword Ten, Jian Shijiu, and other Spirit Transformation cultivators had provoked Lin Bai one after another, only to be turned into his puppets.
Thus, even