Chu Mo sat cross-legged inside his cave abode, engrossed in cultivation.
Within his Golden Vault, clouds of multicolored qi churned, faintly outlining a Pill Furnace, yet its shape remained elusive, unable to fully take form.
After a moment, he opened his eyes, a dark gleam stirring in them.
"Just a little short... there still aren't enough thoughts."
The number of thoughts from living beings that the Pill Furnace required far exceeded his imagination. Had the souls within the Soul Banner not continuously offered their thoughts over these past three years, he probably would not have been able to form even a single furnace brick.
"Still, what ghost creatures lack in completeness of quality, they make up for in sheer quantity. Now I just need to make up the shortfall in quality."
Chu Mo's gaze shifted slightly as he decided to expand the reach of the Karmic Reflection Method.
His gaze traversed vast distances, looking through the Banner Spirit's eyes toward the dozens of rogue cultivator markets where the cultivation method had already spread. Disputes there grew more frequent by the day and month; recently, there had even been numerous casualties.
Although this might attract attention, it won't harm the foundations. After all, I'm not directly refining people into resources, merely collecting their dissipated thoughts. The dead also died in private fights, which have nothing to do with the cultivation method.
Chu Mo considered this silently. Rogue cultivators already lived lives that could end between dawn and dusk, their fates like drifting duckweed. As long as no large-scale upheaval occurred, it would not draw too much attention.
"Compared to methods that truly harvest people as resources, I'm still too kind."
Chu Mo sighed, then thought again of the Eternal Night Sea.
Unfortunately, cultivators were scarce in that world, and all the