--All beginnings were hard. This chapter had been terribly stuck, so I scrapped it and rewrote it once. Then I ran into tomorrow's year-end summary, so it ended up much slower. Sorry about that. The second update will be around ten o'clock.
The Shangqing Shenxiao Realm spanned more than a million li. Many places were still in the Primordial Thunderstorm Era, with naturally powerful Thunder Dukes and Thunder Mothers, countless barren mountains and treacherous waters, and ferocious demon beasts. There were also many mortal kingdoms, cultivation markets, bustling cities, and barbaric tribes, like a miniature Great Thousand World. Though it possessed only the size of one region, it had all five organs complete; it was more than sufficient for Penglai Sect disciples below the Golden Core Grandmaster level to travel and temper themselves.
Therefore, during the seven years of the sealed realm, the Penglai Sect disciples' normal cultivation had not been affected. Golden Core Grandmasters and Yin Spirit Venerables possessed long lifespans, and a mere seven years meant nothing to them. Moreover, the Penglai Sect had specially compensated them with life-extending pills. Even if the realm remained sealed for another hundred years or so, it would not be a problem. By then, whether things turned out well or ill, the matter should have settled into dust.
Though the Penglai Sect's Primordial Spirit True Persons, Heavenly Immortal True Monarchs, Heaven-Connecting Spirit Treasures, great demons, and Demon Saints were worried, they could still suppress their thoughts and cultivate calmly with focus. Given their strength and realm, worrying would accomplish nothing. They might as well cultivate properly and increase their power. Should the final moment truly arrive, as long as one person escaped alive, they could carry on the Penglai Sect's Daoist lineage in the Tongtian Great World and wait for someone