Could even such powerful stellar power fail to break through the bottleneck? Mo Caihuan stopped her sustained assault and prepared to gather her strength, stockpiling stellar power in her meridians before forcing her way through in one burst.
With that thought, she endured the pain and held the stellar power inside her meridians. They were about to burst, but she had to bear it. She could not let go before reaching her limit.
As she gathered strength, the Dao Patterns inside her mysterious aperture sensed the danger and gathered their own power, blazing with golden light. They would never allow anything that defied heaven to happen.
Endure, endure, endure!
Pain, pain, pain!
It felt as though a giant python were squeezing forward through her meridians, heedless of whether they could withstand it. They were about to split apart.
Cracks had already appeared in her meridians when, at that hairbreadth moment, Mo Caihuan released her restraint, sending all the stellar power accumulated within them rushing toward her mysterious aperture.
The surging power collided with the dazzling golden light. In that instant, Mo Caihuan felt as though lightning had struck her. Her slender body trembled violently, blood streaming from all seven orifices.
A trace of blood mingled with the misty fragrance.
Ignoring the pain, Mo Caihuan concentrated on breaking through, even gathering the power of the misty fragrance and directing it toward the vortex.
Ding! With a clear, crisp sound, the Dao Patterns on the little vortex shattered. The vortex vanished, replaced by a mysterious aperture that shone like a star.
But the danger was not over. Having broken through the bottleneck, the immense stellar power lost its target and rampaged throughout her body. Unless she controlled it, her flesh-and-blood body would be torn to pieces.
With a body tempering cultivation method, the stellar power would have gathered to assault a second mysterious aperture. But without one, the power had nowhere to go and could only search chaotically.
Mo Caihuan marveled inwardly that her newly strengthened body was already on the verge of being destroyed by stellar power. She had no choice but to carry out her backup plan.
She forcefully pried at the movable stone in the formation, pulling it free to dismantle the formation.
The gravity vanished instantly, and the stellar power dispersed. Though Mo Caihuan's body had suffered grievous injuries, she was still alive.
"Third Sister!" Mo Fengwu immediately rushed over to help her.
"I'm fine." This time was better than the last. She had not lost consciousness.
Yet even after the stellar power had coursed through her entire body, it had failed to find a second mysterious aperture. Cultivation was far too difficult.
Taking up spirit stones, she activated her Indestructible Body to repair her injuries. Assessing herself, she felt she should now be at the level of the early Foundation Establishment Stage.
Her first breakthrough had taken her from mortal to the Qi Refining Stage. This time, she had advanced from the Qi Refining Stage to the Foundation Establishment Stage.
That applied only to her physical strength. Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators would not fight her at close quarters. With spells and magical treasures at their disposal, they would surely attack from a distance. Her body was not yet impervious to blades and spears, so she still could not defeat a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator.
Unless her opponent refrained from using spells. Then she was confident she could beat them to death with her fists alone.
She had known all along that cultivation was difficult, so she was not upset. Immortal cultivation was already hard; body tempering piled hardship upon hardship. Cultivating both magic and the body was a path only someone with something wrong with their head would choose.
Mo Caihuan thought Han Li must be gathering resources with all his might by now, preparing for core formation. She wondered whether he had gone to the Outer Star Sea to hunt demon beasts and accumulate resources.
With the Little Green Bottle, he could quickly build up his initial wealth and purchase the best resources. Even damaged plants could be restored with the Little Green Bottle.
Opening one mysterious aperture had extended Mo Caihuan's lifespan by a hundred years. Still, she knew that without a cultivation method for the next steps, this was as far as she could go.
Thus, while asking others to search for a cultivation method, she also promoted the integration of technology and mystic arts.
Steam engines, generators, internal combustion engines, spirit stone mechanisms-every kind of power source that could replace human labor was put to use, and the Mo Kingdom grew ever stronger.
Many Rogue Cultivators stopped begging to enter sects and instead chose to join the Mo Kingdom's "City Immortal Bureau." This was a trade agency primarily responsible for commerce between the Mo Kingdom and immortal cultivators, much like a customs office.
Apart from trade, the Mo Kingdom did not interfere with immortal cultivators.
Through its purchases, the Mo Kingdom also mastered the refinement of Foundation Establishment Pills. Sects were no longer the only option. There was no need to participate in the bloody battles of the Ascension Conference; anyone who took the imperial examination and joined the Imperial Court had a chance to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.
One was a contest fought in blood, the other a contest fought with words. Clearly, the latter was safer.
The sects did not mind either. Foundation Establishment Pills were scarce to begin with, insufficient even for their own descendants, let alone Rogue Cultivators. It was better if those cultivators did not come seeking masters.
To escape humiliation at the hands of the Ghost Spirit Sect, a small portion of the Yan Family's younger generation also chose to leave their family and take positions in the mortal world. They knew the sects' shady dealings inside out and had no affection for them. They would have been more than happy for the Imperial Court to replace the sects.
Unfortunately, the Imperial Court was weak and lacked the strength to stand against the sects. Those with heavenly spiritual roots whom it discovered were still sent to the sects, but only after reaching the tenth level of Qi Refining and completing their compulsory education.
Besides the Qi Cultivators of the Heavenly South, Worldly Cultivators from the White Dew Academy also came to cultivate in the Mo Kingdom. They generally served as advisers and strategists in the Hanlin Academy, however, and few were posted elsewhere.
Even without outside postings, these cultivator officials could still determine the Mo Kingdom's direction.
Immortal cultivators practicing the Confucianism Cultivation Method made considerable progress through worldly cultivation in the Mo Kingdom, because the kingdom truly put many Confucian ideas into practice.
For example, placing the people first.
In the Mo Kingdom, Confucian scholars allied themselves not with the emperor, but with the common people, accepting their oversight. It was no longer a case of His Majesty governing the realm alongside the scholar-officials, but not alongside the common people.
This was the first time the immortal cultivators had seen such a situation. Only then did they realize that an emperor was not indispensable.
The Mo Kingdom developed steadily. Airships, airplanes, and steamships grew increasingly numerous, while annual automobile production rose to three hundred thousand. More and more people drove, and fewer and fewer rode horses.
One day, Mo Caihuan received a letter from Daoist Wealth, leaving his entire estate to her.
Daoist Wealth had a great talent for business. After the Mo Kingdom's founding, he had studied opportunities far and wide and built a commercial empire worth five billion taels of silver. Now that his lifespan was nearing its end, he had sent his final testament.
Though he had been romantically involved with many women, those had all been fleeting affairs, like dew upon water. He had never married and had no children. Mo Caihuan was his sole heir.
In his letter, he wrote that he would find a cave in which to pass away in meditation. There was no need to search for him, hold a funeral, or erect a gravestone. Immortal cultivators kept everything simple. He had already enjoyed himself while alive; things could be simpler after death.
If there was another life, he wished to be Mo Caihuan's family again.
The plump figure of that nouveau riche appeared before Mo Caihuan's eyes. She had never expected him to pass away so suddenly.
"Ah." She could not help feeling an aching sense of loss.
But there would be more such occasions in the future. Even if everyone cultivated immortality, they could not all reach the end together.
Immortal cultivation still imposed limits on lifespan. Even without those limits, there were heavenly tribulations, battles, and the five declines. Death still awaited. Lifespan was not its only cause; immortal cultivators died in all manner of ways.
The longer one lived, the more farewells one faced.
Still, she did not remain immersed in grief. She quickly composed herself and took over the Wealth Group.
Daoist Wealth's business spanned the Heavenly South. He had even intended to use airplanes to open a trade route across the Ten-Thousand-Mile Desert. His ambitions had been great.
To the north, trade with the Mulan Grasslands was also substantial.
The Mo Kingdom had established three border trade markets in the north-large trading venues dedicated to commerce with the Mulan people. Now that the Mulan people could make money, they could hardly be bothered to wage war.
Daoist Wealth had made a great deal of money trading with the Mulan people, purchasing medicinal herbs unique to the grasslands at high prices and selling them everyday goods.
When snow disasters struck the Mulan people and large numbers of livestock died, the Mo Kingdom also gathered supplies through the border trade markets to provide humanitarian aid.
Of course, immortal cultivators and Mulan Magicians still fought a small war every ten years and a major war every twenty.
"Since opening a route across the Ten-Thousand-Mile Desert was my elder brother's dying wish, I will personally lead you in continuing this plan."
"With Your Majesty leading us personally, we will surely achieve twice the result with half the effort." The Wealth Group's directors and shareholders were all thrilled to hear that Mo Caihuan would lead them herself.
Mo Caihuan was the Mo Kingdom's spiritual totem. Everyone believed there was nothing she could not accomplish.
The Extreme Western Lands west of the Ten-Thousand-Mile Desert were simply too far away. Even immortal cultivators found the journey difficult, let alone mortals. But mortal machines were becoming ever more formidable, which was why Daoist Wealth had thought of using airplanes to open a trade route.