After a full day of classes, it was just in time for the evening clouds. Li Yu refined great sun ascendant purple qi as he cultivated the Purple Glow Art, strengthening his body.
A strong physique would allow him to condense more drops of heartblood essence.
According to the Galaxy Alliance's classifications, anyone who could condense nine drops of blood essence counted as being in late Whirling Illumination and could attempt Illumination.
However, some people with deep foundations could condense more than nine drops. There had once been a body cultivator practicing the Ancient Desolate Dao Body who condensed ninety-nine drops during Whirling Illumination. When he finally entered Illumination, his body mutated into the form of a dragon. But because his foundation was far too substantial, it was not until the Body Integration stage that his Primordial Spirit and flesh fully aligned, allowing him to regain human form.
Thus, Su Wen advised that there was no need to pursue the ultimate foundation during Whirling Illumination. Having enough to reach Foundation Establishment was sufficient.
After all, every major realm utterly overpowered the one below it. Breaking through earlier offered greater safety in an environment as dangerous as the Eastern Lands.
But a foundation that was too shallow would not do either. Nine drops of blood essence were the minimum requirement for Illumination, and attempting it with that much could still result in failure.
Su Wen recommended that Li Yu condense twelve drops of heartblood essence, which would be about right. If circumstances allowed, eighteen would be ideal. Anything beyond that was a waste of time.
Li Yu readily took the sound advice. After all, it came from a Nascent Soul powerhouse whose understanding stood untold heights above his own.
After completing tonight's Purple Glow Art cultivation, another faint, ember-like red glow appeared near Li Yu's heart.
This was the embryonic form of his second drop of heartblood essence. His progress was much faster than he had imagined.
That was because the great sun ascendant purple qi present at dawn and dusk in Haо City was far more abundant than elsewhere.
Li Yu looked up at the Sun God Stone suspended above the city like a blazing sun.
Within the Zhao Kingdom, the purest great sun purple qi was drawn in by the lesser hao grand array and delivered to this divine artifact at its core, where it merged with fifth-tier spiritual energy. After enough was retained to nourish the divine artifact, the remainder was distributed throughout Haо City by the array to meet the cultivation needs of the Rizhao Hao Clan's royal descendants.
The Rizhao Hao Clan possessed profound reserves. All twenty-four townships had inherited Primordial Spirit cultivation methods, but the royal main lineage's Lesser Hao Canon was the source of every one of them.
The Lesser Hao Canon was one of the Orthodox School's Five Canons.
Long ago, the Tianxia Dynasty had united the four lands of Mountain Sea. Seeking a realm beyond the immortal dao pinnacle, Emperor Tianqi gathered every text left behind by the ancient sages. Unable to withstand the Tianxia armies, the Rizhao Hao Clan's ruler of that generation personally carried the Lesser Hao Canon to the Central Lands and presented it to Emperor Tianqi.
That was precisely why, in the final years of Celestial Xia, the Rizhao Hao Clan was the first to rally behind Emperor Tianyi when he planned his rebellion.
After Celestial Xia fell, the Rizhao Hao Clan announced that the Lesser Hao Canon presented to Emperor Tianqi had been abridged, hoping to preserve the prestige of their supreme inheritance. The Western Lands Orthodox School did not respond. After all, the Great Xuan Dynasty was at the height of its power then.
And after Immortal Zhou overthrew Great Xuan, the Rizhao Hao Clan changed its tune again, saying that the Western Lands Orthodox School's interpretation of the Lesser Hao Canon had woven something wholly original, breaking free of the old molds.
The most powerful cultivation method in the Lesser Hao Canon was called the "Golden Crow Sunlight Scripture."
This was the method practiced by successive generations of the Rizhao Hao Clan's royalty.
It was also the only cultivation method capable of controlling the Sun God Stone.
From the very beginning, the Golden Crow Sunlight Scripture required absorbing great sun purple qi to get started. Only those with the lesser hao bloodline who could withstand great sun purple qi were allowed to remain in the main lineage upon reaching adulthood and be called "royalty." Those who could not withstand it could only choose another Primordial Spirit cultivation method and be dispatched to the twenty-four townships. Their descendants would no longer be permitted to use Hao as their surname.
For that reason, great sun purple qi was extraordinarily dense in Haо City. It was a cultivation resource supplied to the entire Rizhao Hao royal family. However, after being tempered by the Sun God Stone and fifth-tier spiritual energy, this purple qi became extremely sluggish. As long as other cultivators did not actively draw it into their bodies, it would not affect them.
While cultivating the Purple Glow Art, Li Yu could use Taiyi Starshine to sense the exceptionally dense great sun purple qi within the spirit vein beneath the inn.
Unfortunately, even though this purple qi had been tempered by the spirit vein, it still possessed its most intrinsic scorching heat. Without the Rizhao Hao Clan's bloodline, he could neither absorb nor endure it.
He still only dared to cultivate the Purple Glow Art at dawn and dusk.
But precisely because of this, the great sun ascendant purple qi released at dawn and dusk each day was ten times denser than usual.
In the eyes of the Rizhao Hao royalty, this was inferior spiritual energy. Absorbing and refining it with the Golden Crow Sunlight Scripture would compromise the purity of their true essence.
Yet this barely qualified as great sun purple qi, so the lesser hao grand array identified it and transported it to Haо City. The Sun God Stone had no use for it either, however, so it was released directly to dissipate into the air.
For Li Yu, this was like a mouse tumbling into an oil vat. His cultivation at dawn and dusk became even more diligent, and his progress with the Purple Glow Art advanced by leaps and bounds.
Even after the sun had sunk entirely below the mountains, the surrounding great sun ascendant purple qi had yet to dissipate completely. There was still enough to sustain another hour of Li Yu's cultivation.
By the time Li Yu reluctantly stopped cultivating, the second drop of blood essence in the Crimson Palace of his heart had already taken shape, though it was exceedingly tiny.
Yet with this drop of blood essence formed, Li Yu's Whirling Illumination realm was fully stabilized. Even his Taiyi True Interpretation broke through alongside it, restoring his upper limit of true essence to the eighth level of Qi Refining.
After his previous failed Foundation Establishment attempt, he had cut his true essence ceiling down from the ninth level of Qi Refining once his injuries healed. Although he had known he could quickly cultivate it back, this speed still surprised him.
Feeling the greater abundance of taiyi true essence he had regained, Li Yu could not resist entering the metaverse again and opening the arena.
After using up all his attack flags, Li Yu returned his consciousness to his real body, took out his tablet, and began filming a short video, intending to open up a new track.
He had previously gathered over a hundred followers by hunting pearls in the Thundering Sea Region and wanted to build up this account. But his followers were growing tired of pearl-hunting content, and the view counts on his most recent videos had been sliding steadily.
So Li Yu decided to make a big splash.
First, he appeared on camera with his back to the lens and explained why he had stopped posting recently. The title was: "My sect sent me to clean house, and I picked up two storage bags nobody wanted."
Unfortunately, he had not been able to film his battle with Ying Ruomu and Ying Feiyun on his tablet, so Li Yu could only describe how it had unfolded. That was just as well. The Galaxy platform catered to all age groups, and footage containing blood or violence would not pass review. Even when recounting the fight aloud, he needed to keep the details of the killings as brief as possible.
"This junior brother of mine remained stubbornly blind to reason. He actually colluded with a clan cultivator to harm a disciple from a sect allied with ours. I could only put righteousness before personal ties and painfully steel myself to slay him and that Ying Clan disciple..."
Once he had explained the causes and consequences, it was time for the video's main event.
Li Yu pointed the tablet at the two storage bags on the table.
"Everyone, we're not opening pearls today. We're opening these two bags instead. According to a junior sister at the branch, the junior brother I dealt with had previously found a Supreme Spirit Pearl. I wonder if it's in his storage bag..."
After building up plenty of anticipation, Li Yu solemnly took out a stick of incense and prayed for Heaven's blessing.
In truth, he had already inspected both storage bags. But before his audience, he still put on an eager, nervous expression and opened Ying Ruomu's storage bag first.
After penetrating it with Micro-Yi Qi Control, he carefully tipped it over. Soon, a large pile of spirit stones spilled out.
"We've struck it rich, everyone! These spirit stones alone will cover the pills and talismans I used answering the sect's call this time."
Feigning delighted surprise, Li Yu tipped it again. Soon, several changes of clothing fell out of the storage bag.
At the sight of these, Li Yu sighed, then tipped it once more. This time, several pill bottles came out.
"That's it?"
After confirming that he had emptied the storage bag, Li Yu wore a look of disappointment.
"There's no Supreme Spirit Pearl! Could that have been a false rumor they spread just to lure people from the Mount Lao Sword Sect over...?"
Li Yu sighed as he spoke, but, clinging to that slim possibility, he opened the pill bottles one by one. The first few bottles all contained fasting pills.
When he reached the final bottle, Li Yu gave a startled hum.
"Why does this one feel a little heavy? Could it be...?"
As though something had suddenly occurred to him, Li Yu hurriedly pulled out the stopper. In an instant, a brilliant azure spiritual glow shone from the bottle's mouth like a beam of light, illuminating the ceiling. Had this not been an upscale inn with formations and restrictions to isolate it, everyone on the street would probably have seen that azure radiance.
"Everyone, we've hit the jackpot! My junior brother wasn't lying. He really did have a Supreme Spirit Pearl!"
Laughing heartily and pretending to be overjoyed, Li Yu poured out an egg-sized Spirit Pearl. Its entire surface was azure like a gemstone, with faint patterns of wind, thunder, and clouds inside. He held it in his palm and admired it, unable to bear putting it down.
After expressing his delight for a while, Li Yu returned the Supreme Spirit Pearl to the bottle.
"Everyone, it looks like this Sect Mission has earned me a huge windfall. If another chance to clean house comes up, I definitely won't turn it down. I'll actively volunteer."
Based on his previous analysis, Li Yu knew that viewers liked watching him reap rewards. Compared with opening clams for pearls, opening storage bags as mystery boxes was surely more exciting.
He had even pulled out a Supreme Spirit Pearl. He refused to believe that would not bring him more followers.
Next, Li Yu aimed the tablet's camera at Ying Feiyun's storage bag.
Following the same procedure as before, he poured out the contents one item at a time. First came the spirit stones again, and this man had several times as many as Ying Ruomu.
The two storage bags had netted Li Yu thirteen hundred spirit stones, making him wealthy in a stroke. At least he no longer needed to worry about paying for a ship ticket to the Southern Lands.
Aside from spirit stones, Ying Feiyun's storage bag also yielded a cultivation manual: the "Golden Light Sword Thunder Art" he had practiced. Li Yu knew that cultivation methods were the last thing the Galaxy Alliance lacked, so after briefly reading through it, he put it back.
Finally, there was a very strange box. Opening it revealed several fragments of blue-green eggshell.
"Everyone, does anyone know what this is? My hand goes numb when I touch it, just like I've been struck by a lightning technique..."
After filming the fragments from every angle, Li Yu used them as the video's ending, leaving the question for his followers to discuss in the comments.
After filming the entire process of opening both storage bags, Li Yu spent the whole night editing the video he intended to upload. The main problem was his shortage of Star Coins, which meant he could only use free editing software. It frequently lagged and left watermarks he could not remove.
But Li Yu took it in stride. What his followers liked was his authenticity.
This served as proof of his struggle to survive as a human from a remote star region.
After uploading the video, it still needed to pass review before it could be released. Li Yu glanced outside and saw that dawn was approaching. He meditated briefly to rest, then began cultivating the Purple Glow Art again.
After finishing his cultivation, he immediately entered the metaverse. Before class began, Li Yu went to the arena again and used up the attack flags that had accumulated overnight.
This time, however, he encountered an exceptionally formidable defender who not only possessed a full suit of defensive armor but was also a body cultivator. Li Yu failed twice in succession, exhausting his true essence without breaking through his opponent's "turtle shell."
Only after using his third flag did he exploit the AI opponent's inability to adapt. He barely managed to strike with the Yi Light Edge-Condensing Slash where the armor could not protect, slicing open the opponent's throat and narrowly securing victory.
This also made Li Yu feel that his offensive methods were not strong enough. Perhaps he should cultivate another powerful sword art alongside his current techniques.
For instance, the Supreme Clarity Mystic Sect's Formless Sword Qi!
"That isn't important. Once you've saved enough virtual currency, buy a powerful flying sword, and you'll naturally be able to break through your opponent's turtle shell..." After hearing Li Yu out, Su Wen merely shook his head and advised him not to waste time on this.
"Teacher, I can buy equipment in the arena, but what should I do if I encounter an opponent like that in the Eastern Lands?" Li Yu was a very practical person, and Ying Feiyun had also taught him that beyond every person stood someone greater. At the very least, he felt he should not have any glaring weaknesses.
"Use Taiyi Starshine to anticipate it and simply run. Students of our Grand Evolution Academy always compete in the late game. Take our Dean Sun, for example. When he was young, his combat strength was poor, and his peers defeated him time and again. But after he cultivated a Mahayana Dharma Body, he turned the tables and crushed every opponent who had overpowered him in his youth..."
Su Wen began instilling the Grand Evolution Academy's doctrine in Li Yu: focus on growth, then emerge from seclusion after mastering Thousand Mechanisms Evolution in the late game, using formations to draw upon the laws of Heaven and Earth and borrowing the power of the universe's galaxies to overwhelm all opposition.
"Teacher Su, I feel that with my intelligence, I probably won't manage to master Thousand Mechanisms Evolution in this lifetime." Li Yu, however, had a very clear understanding of himself.
Su Wen thought Li Yu had a point. After all, even someone with his own world-shaking intellect made slow progress in comprehending Thousand Mechanisms Evolution. Still, as a teacher, he offered his student some reassurance. "If you can master the Supreme One Divine Chapter, you won't be too weak either."
"Teacher, when I went to clean house earlier, I accidentally awakened a Spirit Sword, communicating with the sword intent contained within it, and obtained a sword art. Could you help me take a look?" Seeing that he had set the mood just right, Li Yu revealed his true purpose.
Before you continue