Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

The Mixed Hole Realm need not be mentioned, as only Divinity Transformation True Monarchs could cross its boundary without the certainty of death.

...

One year later, in the middle layer of the Mystical Spirit Domain

"The universe is boundless, the Seven Stars Guide the way, mumu mumu..."

The Seven Star Ruyi hovered above their heads, the Star Treasure Pearl radiated dazzling light, and a beam of starlight shot out from the end of the Ruyi, extending into the unknowable depths of the Meteor Sea.

At this moment, Zhao Sheng appeared a bit thinner, and the long and arduous pursuit had left a trace of fatigue on his face.

"The position of the spiritual realm has changed again, let's change our course!"

As soon as these words were uttered, Xian Kong Ancestor immediately grumbled in frustration, "Damn it! Another two months wasted on a fruitless pursuit. The location of that thing always keeps changing; no wonder no one can find it."

"It wasn't a waste, we are getting closer to it. Within half a year, we will definitely reach our destination," Zhao Sheng glanced at Xian Kong and said indifferently.

Just then, Yama Ancestor suddenly took out a crystal-clear jade pearl the size of a longan from his bosom.

The Jade Pearl flickered on and off, seemingly containing some special pattern.

Ou Feng saw this and immediately took out an identical jade pearl, which also flickered on and off.

Seeing this, Zhao Sheng and the others revealed joyful expressions and shouted in unison, "There is a Small Spirit Heaven here!"

Ou Feng immediately urged everyone, "Let's go, first to the Small Spirit Heaven to rest and repair."

Zhao Sheng exchanged glances with Yama, Jiu Ming, and Xian Kong, and the four nodded simultaneously.

Following that, the five of them swiftly turned into beams of light under the guidance of the jade pearls and vanished behind numerous meteors in a blink of an eye.

Half a day after their departure, Thunder Roc Ancestor and two other disheveled figures also found the imprint left by the traitor and hurriedly followed the trail.

That day, five streams of light nimbly passed through a densely packed belt of meteors and landed on an enormous iron meteor with a diameter of tens of thousands of Zhang.

The five quickly found a man-made cave and entered it.

Later, after breaking through six layers of light films in succession, they finally came to a vast cavern.

The cavern's dome was hung with a dazzling large light ball, shining like the sun, radiating light and heat, and providing brightness and warmth for the Grotto Heaven.

The spiritual energy in this cavern was incredibly rich, almost comparable to the core spirit acupoint of a Fourth-rank large Spirit Vein.

The surrounding rock walls had holes excavated into them, most of which were closed and seemed unoccupied, only about twenty had screens of light shimmering on the outside.

Looking around, the ground was covered with a variety of precious medicinal herbs and spirit wood, and neatly spread spirit fields filled with Immortal Spiritual Food like Dragon Tooth Rice and Jade Beam Fruit.

A hundred Zhang away, a small workshop appeared before their eyes, with quite a few people entering and exiting.

Zhao Sheng scanned with his Divine Thought and found that each and every person was a cultivator, with most of them in the Foundation Establishment Realm and Golden Core Masters quite common, with very few in the Qi Refining Realm.

And even... he could distinctly sense eight mighty auras scattered throughout Grotto Heaven, each brazenly radiating their own formidable presence.

The appearance of Zhao Sheng and his companions immediately caused an immense sensation.

Eight streams of tunneling light shot out from various parts of the cavern, sweeping over rapidly.

"Yama Ancestor!"

"Yama, Mr. Ou?! It's you two!"

"Hehe, Xian Kong, Jiu Ming, how did you two end up with Yama?"

"Haha, another five Fellow Daoists have come to Gui Mei Small Spirit Heaven, truly a cause for celebration!"

Zhao Sheng's gaze swept over the eight individuals, recognizing five of their identities and origins from their features and demeanors, while he didn't know the other three.

Without exception, all eight were powerful Cultivators who had entered the Nascent Soul Realm.

Zhao Sheng smiled, allowing Yama Ancestor to step forward and converse with everyone.

After exchanging some pleasantries, the group flew into the workshop together, and a grand welcome feast was inevitable that day.

Halfway through the banquet, Yama Ancestor, fueled by the influence of alcohol, half-truthfully and half-fictitiously revealed that the reason for the five people traveling together was to delve deep into the Black Abyss Domain, locate the previously discovered nest of the Void Demon Ray, unite to breach the nest, and plunder the heavy treasures within.

"So that's how it is, the Void Demon Rays have a natural tendency to collect treasures, there must certainly be a great number of rare Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures hidden in the nest. However, the Void Demon Rays live in groups and are exceptionally fierce and troublesome to deal with. If the gentlemen do not mind, Mr. Qian is willing to lend a helping hand!" said a cultivator in a green robe and with a long beard at the Nascent Soul realm.

No sooner had these words been spoken than several Nascent Soul ancestors were tempted.

They often holed up in such cramped spaces just to collect Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, which served as the necessary resources for continuing their cultivation practices, didn't they?

Now that the topic of a Demon Ray nest had been brought up, which Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't be moved by the prospect?

Moreover, among the five of them, there were actually two late-stage Nascent Soul masters, which virtually guaranteed a prosperous and safe journey.

Seeing the fellow daoists greatly stirred, Yama couldn't help but curse inwardly, immediately signaling Xian Kong Ancestor with a covert glance.

Xian Kong Ancestor understood the hint and immediately sneered, "Heh! A mere Demon Ray nest is no big deal, we five are more than enough, there's no need to trouble Mr. Qian with this matter."

Rebuffed by the response, the green-robed, long-bearded elder did not show the slightest irritation; instead, he smoothly brought up the idea of a makeshift trading meeting.

This suggestion hit right home with everyone present, and without any need for further persuasion, they all readily agreed.

Thus, a variety of rare and precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from both realms were casually displayed.

Items like Innate Geng Metal, Star Iron, Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Xuan Iron, and Earth Milk Spirit Marrow, among other high-level spiritual items, were merely considered commonplace.

Even more were the likes of Ice Essence Jade Marrow, Wind God Stone, Moon Night, and Spirit Fire and Spirit Soil and spiritual water, among other Heaven and Earth spiritual objects.

In addition, there were some peculiar and strange items barely recognizable to anyone, such as unknown red-gold bones, incredibly heavy Xuan black gravel, and ore resembling bee hives dripping with blood-like liquid... and so on.

Of course, the most abundant were the small mountains of middle-upper grade spiritual stones.

Zhao Sheng noticed that among the displayed treasures there were few elixir pills, magical treasures, array maps, cultivation techniques, and other such items; instead, most were high-level spirit mines and spiritual items, as well as some nameless oddities from other domains.

From this, one could see the extreme scarcity of certain resources in this Little Spirit Heaven.

After browsing through the numerous Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for a moment, Zhao Sheng repeatedly struck deals, exchanging a substantial number of middle and high-level Spirit Pills for several pieces of Innate Geng Metal, Postnatal Gold Essence, and a few types of Heaven and Earth spiritual objects, with exchange rates generally two to three tenths lower than those in both realms.

Worth mentioning is that he also traded for four or five strange items from other domains, including a piece of extraordinary metal with continuously changing colors, resembling 'mercury.'

Except for him, none of the Nascent Soul ancestors present recognized this substance and let it pass them by, allowing him to pick up a tremendous bargain.

This item was known as Wanlan Illusion Gold, identified only once in the Tianzhu Realm, and later recorded in the secret ancient scrolls of the Supreme Sensing Sect.

Zhao Xuanjing had read about this item and had inadvertently mentioned to Zhao Sheng its special uses, including its critical role as one of the core treasures for constructing an Ascension Array, with significant implications for repairing Ascension Arrays.

The fact that twelve Nascent Soul ancestors didn't recognize Wanlan Illusion Gold, such a unique and peerless treasure, demonstrated what?

It fully illustrated the importance of knowledge and the vast information disparity that existed between different domains.

Due to the barriers of space-time, a great deal of "knowledge" was only circulated within each world, creating numerous isolated "information islands" throughout the cosmos.

Some powerful forces that spanned the heavens considered these "islands" as prey and saw them as worlds filled with untapped treasures waiting to be explored.

Zhao Sheng had once learned from Zhao Xuanjing that the Tianzhu Realm was, in fact, a Constant Sand World that had been "heavily exploited" and was now in a state of "decline" due to rapidly decreasing spiritual energy concentration.

More than a thousand years ago, the Spirit Realm power that had "ruptured" the Ascension Array didn't care at all, simply because the Tianzhu Realm no longer held much value to be utilized.

If the Ascension Array was damaged, then so be it—it was hardly of any use anyway.

After the trading meeting concluded, Zhao Sheng and the four others rested for some time in the Little Spirit Heaven before setting off once again.

Thunder Roc Ancestor and his two associates had actually sneaked into the vicinity of Little Spirit Heaven, but unable to find the right location, they had to begrudgingly hide on the outside, seething with anger.

They dared not take even a step into Spirit Heaven and could only watch helplessly as Tianqiong Wanderer left with ease, unable to interfere, nearly exploding with rage.