636: Chapter 636 Second Strike

A few days later.

Daoist Lord Taiyan knew that Liu Xuan had made his start in his early years with Talismans. Talismans were the first thing he came into contact with, and it was by relying on Talismans that he became a Personal Disciple of the Red Pine Sect.

Afterward, Liu Xuan became famous for refining a third-rank pill while in the Foundation Establishment Stage, and to this day, some people still call him Alchemist Liu.

Not only that, but Liu Xuan's most renowned cultivation craft was Artifact Refining. The great sun warship and the thousand star flying sword—these Magical Artifacts, which even Tiangong Immortal City praised, were all created by Liu Xuan.

Alchemy, Artifact Refining, Talismans, and Formations—Liu Xuan was proficient in all of them. No one knew exactly which one was his greatest strength.

"True Lord Wanfa!"

"Are there gaps even among geniuses?"

As a Formation Master who was entirely devoted to the Dao of Formations and considered himself the best in the world, the more Daoist Lord Taiyan understood Liu Xuan, the more he felt his Dao Heart faintly wavering.

"The fifth rank is a major threshold. Countless Prodigies have fallen before this threshold; no matter how fast one is initially, it is all in vain!"

"Right, that must be it. Maintain a calm mind!"

Daoist Lord Taiyan suppressed his thoughts and continued to exchange knowledge about Formations with Liu Xuan.

Then he became even more devastated!

Liu Xuan was completely proficient in all knowledge regarding Formations up to the fourth rank. Even knowledge he hadn't encountered before, he could understand after looking at it twice.

Daoist Lord Taiyan was shocked to discover that he actually had nothing left to teach Liu Xuan.

He knew all fourth-rank Formations, and the fifth-rank ones were beyond the limits of his Divine Soul and mana due to insufficient cultivation.

There was something that devastated him even more.

He discovered that Liu Xuan was neither showing off nor lying. This fellow really just treated Formations as a pastime; compared to the time spent on Formations, it wasn't even one-tenth of the time he spent on women...

It wasn't just Formations; Alchemy, Talismans, Artifact Refining, spirit plants, and spells... these were all pastimes to Liu Xuan. His true primary occupation was taking wives and concubines, living a life of debauchery!

A debauched Cultivator who only treated Formations as a pastime had reached a level of attainment in Formations that even he found Heaven-Defying. This was too absurd!!

"This child... it's better to have less contact with him in the future!"

Daoist Lord Taiyan feared that the more he interacted and understood, the more it would truly affect his Dao Heart.

After realizing this, Daoist Lord Taiyan stopped wasting time with Liu Xuan, threw him a Taiyan Palace token, and left without another word.

...

A few months later.

All was well in Biyou City. Because the reputation of the Teleportation Array was spreading further and further, the only change was that the city had become livelier.

Cultivators from all over the Southern Border were gathering in Biyou City. Some of these Cultivators were there because they saw the business opportunities brought by the Teleportation Array and wanted to take the chance to earn some Spirit Stones.

Other Cultivators were interested in the East Sea and thought about going over to see what was going on. Anyway, as long as they weren't transporting goods, a trip to the East Sea wasn't expensive.

Biyou City was developing steadily and seemed to have no setbacks, but in reality, the high-level officials of the Dao Court had been playing a game of chess.

The appearance of the Teleportation Array gave the Dao Court an opportunity to directly control the Southern Border, so naturally, some among the high-level officials wanted to claim it for themselves.

According to the message Lady Yaoguang sent to Liu Xuan, not long ago, several Dao Court Daoist Lords had joined forces in the name of the Dao Court to negotiate with her, wanting to relocate the Star Academy Teleportation Array to the Central State.

Lady Yaoguang naturally would not agree. The Southern Border Beast Taming Sect was already her territory; this had been decided long ago, and the Dao Court could not change it at will.

Once the Teleportation Array was built in the Central State, it would be uncertain who would really have the final say in the Southern Border Beast Taming Sect in the future.

However, the anomalies in the Spiritual Qi of the Southern Border and the vast, long-term benefits brought by the Teleportation Array meant that even Lady Yaoguang, who was in the Late Stage of Soul Transformation, could not withstand the pressure and had to make some compromises.

The result was that the Star Academy Teleportation Array did not need to be moved for the time being. The time was set for one hundred years, at which point it must be moved to the Central State.

In addition, if the trend of the Spiritual Qi anomalies in the Southern Border did not change, or if it intensified, the one-hundred-year period would have to be shortened; it would have to be moved within fifty years at most.

According to calculations by the Bureau of Astronomy of the Dao Court, if the trend of Spiritual Qi anomalies in the Southern Border continued, fifty years later, it would be enough to affect the high-level Spiritual Veins of the Western Desert and the East Sea.

By then, even if the Buddhist Sect and the Joyous Union Sect could tolerate it, the Yao Race in the depths of the two regions would not be able to, and the seeds of war would begin to sprout.

If the trend of Spiritual Qi anomalies continued for one hundred years, the Yao Race in the depths of the Western Desert and the East Sea would intuitively feel the Spiritual Veins beginning to shrink, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi becoming thin, and the growth of spiritual items slowing down; large-scale war would be inevitable.

Spiritual Qi, Spiritual Veins—all resources in the entire Cultivation World, no matter how they changed, were ultimately the evolution of Spiritual Qi.

Therefore, don't look at it as just a small anomaly in Spiritual Qi; it affected the interests of more than half of the Cultivation World.

"Let it be chaotic! If it really comes to that, I'll just run away." Liu Xuan was not very panicked. He currently had over a thousand children and over two thousand descendants; his Family Foundation was already established.

Even if he reached a desperate situation, at worst, he could disperse his Family assets and spread these two thousand-plus descendants throughout the entire Cultivation World. His True Qi had already been laid out on a large scale, and there would always be a day for a resurgence in the future.

The Liu Clan had developed to this day; unless the Dao Court could see through all his secrets right now and spare no cost to slaughter every member of the Liu Family, nothing was a major problem.

But this was impossible. Not to mention whether the Dao Court could see through all his trump cards and secrets, even if they really did, the possibility of them doing so was not high.

Although the Dao Court was strong, there was still the Yao Race in the four directions in the Cultivation World; it was not dominated by them alone. There were also many factions within the Dao Court, not a monolithic block.

Once they discovered that the benefits of destroying the Liu Family were not proportional to the price paid, or that the outcome was uncertain, someone would inevitably withdraw.

"Hum~"

While Liu Xuan was relaxing in the thunder slurry, he suddenly discovered an anomaly in the Spiritual Qi within the Thunder Pool Array.

"The Eldest Son is starting to form his Core!"

Sweeping with his Divine Sense, Liu Xuan discovered that the location where the Spiritual Qi was gathering was the area where his Eldest Son usually practiced Body Refining, and he felt a slight joy in his heart.

His Eldest Son practiced both the Dao and Body Refining, and had also comprehended the Great Five Elements Hunyuan Method. Once he broke through to the Golden Core and his strength stabilized, he should be comparable to a Late Golden Core Stage Immortal Master, making it much more convenient for him to do things in the future.

"Forming a Core before the age of seventy—even placed in the Central State Dao Court, he is a top-tier Prodigy!"

"Boom~"

Before the smile on Liu Xuan's face had faded, another place in the Thunder Pool had an even bigger commotion.

"Roar~"

Accompanied by a low tiger roar, the Thunder Pool Array trembled slightly, lighting up with bright electric sparks.

"Yu Chi?"

His daughter ranked seven hundred and thirty-eighth, Liu Yu Chi, had a fifth-rank top-tier Yao Race Bloodline, and her mother was the White Tiger Saintess Shuang Xue. She was twenty-two years old this year.

Liu Xuan was quite surprised that this girl, Yu Chi, could break through so quickly.

Although she had a fifth-rank top-tier Bloodline, she had always lived at home and had not experienced a single hardship. Liu Xuan had originally estimated that she would need to be nearly thirty years old to form her Core.

With both of them advancing to Core Formation at the same time, Liu Xuan immediately activated the array to conceal the Heaven and Earth anomalies caused, while simultaneously preventing them from being disturbed by others.

The Thunder Pool was built underwater and was directly powered by a fourth-rank top-tier water vein; the mere anomaly of a Golden Core advancement could be easily concealed.