Through the window, they could see that dark clouds had already blanketed the sky outside.
Inside, their earlier discussion continued.
Jiao Chen nodded, clearly agreeing with Su Jiu. "Most of us merfolk have lived on this land since birth. Once you leave our village, you'll discover that most merfolk actually have a Cultivation Level, and their Cultivation Levels aren't low. Since we don't have to undergo the heart-demon tribulation or heavenly tribulation lightning, both the merfolk and the dragon jiao here cultivate exceptionally smoothly. There are no bottlenecks. Once our Cultivation Level reaches the necessary level, we naturally break through."
Su Jiu couldn't help marveling. This practically amounted to exploiting a loophole. No wonder they refused to leave. If nonhumans with such high a Cultivation Level, who had never undergone any of those trials, truly appeared in the Azure Realm, the Heavenly Dao probably wouldn't spare them. The tribulation lightning would likely make them undergo all the lightning tribulations they had missed in one fell swoop.
Bodies that had never been tempered by the earlier tribulation lightning were also comparatively fragile. Aside from having sufficiently high-level arts, their physical endurance was probably no different from that of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.
Imagine a merfolk at the Spirit Transformation Stage suddenly appearing in the Azure Realm, only to face every lightning tribulation from Golden Core to Spirit Transformation at once, while possessing an exceedingly fragile body. It would be stranger if the lightning didn't blast his soul into oblivion.
Thus, nonhumans like these merfolk, who had long lived within Swallowing Heaven, could essentially no longer be accepted by the Azure Realm. Looking at their own situation, the same was true of them. The longer they stayed here, the greater the chance of assimilation. Advancing a minor stage wouldn't have much effect,