Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

After eight hundred years of development, Dome Turtle Island had long been fully developed. The yearly output of the island was limited and had already restricted the expansion of the Dome Turtle Zhao Family, simply put, there wasn't enough benefit to distribute among them all.

When benefits were insufficient, internal conflicts naturally arose.

The solution could be summarized in four words: increase income and reduce expenditure!

Reducing expenditure was akin to self-castration, which was not advisable.

As for increasing income,

for one, the Zhao Family's strength was limited, not even able to cultivate a Golden Core Master. Restricted by their strength and resources, the Zhao Family had hit a "steel wall" in their expansion efforts.

Only if a Golden Core Master emerged within the family could the Zhao Family undergo a second rapid expansion of power.

With the benefit "cake" rapidly enlarging, the conflicts between factions would naturally ease significantly, if not disappear entirely.

Thus, the quickest solution was to have the Dome Turtle Zhao Family cultivate a Golden Core.

The True Golden Core was too difficult to attain, but cultivating a False Core Master could also suffice.

Regarding this, Zhao Sheng already had a general idea.

...

The day after their initial meeting ended on an unhappy note, Zhao Sheng handed two Jade Scrolls to Zhao Daoming and Zhao Luochi, instructing them to return to Dome Turtle Island as soon as possible and to proceed according to the plan.

After receiving their orders, the two felt relieved, vowing over and over again that they would not delay the Ancestor's important matters and that the Fushan Island base would be completed on schedule.

On the morning of the third day, the Treasure Ship "Dome Turtle" rapidly left Star God Island with everyone on board.

On the other hand, Zhao Daojing stayed at the Dome Turtle Hall, handling the family's trade while diligently fulfilling the Ancestor's instructions.

In this manner, two months swiftly passed.

On this day, Zhao Sheng was meditating in the quiet room, earnestly devising the refining steps for his Lifebound Magic Treasure, the Bright Sun Mirror.

At that moment, the Communication Token at his waist suddenly began to flicker.

Zhao Sheng opened his eyes and sent his Divine Sense into the token,

After reading the information in the token, he curled the corners of his mouth, muttering to himself with a flushed face, "After three months of waiting, the Nie Crystals have finally arrived!"

Moments later, Zhao Sheng returned to the quiet room in the cave mansion from outside, holding a bulky black Storage Bag in his hand.

Sitting cross-legged on a cushion, Zhao Sheng opened the Storage Bag and tipped it upside down. A flash of light passed, and piles of sparkling, transparent crystal columns that looked like a combination of crystal and diamond dazzled on the ground. The largest were as thick as an arm and the smallest only as long as a thumb.

Zhao Sheng swept his Divine Sense over the Nie Crystals on the ground, his Divine Sense penetrating the interior of the crystals effortlessly, as if passing through air, feeling not even a slight resistance.

"Good, 99% purity! The Vast Sect really keeps its promises, generous in their dealings," Zhao Sheng praised softly, then waved his hand and collected all the Nie Crystals.

With this matter settled, it was also time to take a trip to Dome Turtle Island.

Resolved to act, Zhao Sheng made up his mind and immediately took off the Communication Token, infused his Divine Sense into it, and sent a message to Zhao Daojing, who was outside, instructing him on some matters.

Afterward, Zhao Sheng rose and from the top floor of the Dome Turtle Hall, he stepped into the air, striding a hundred paces at a time, heading straight for the island's exterior.

...

A month later, above Dome Turtle Island, dark clouds gathered densely, thunder rumbling.

Suddenly,

a Four-winged Sound Falcon with white feathers and iron claws, massive in size, suddenly broke through the thick dark clouds, silently swooping down toward Dome Turtle Island at high speed.

Just when it was a hundred zhang from the ground, the four wings of the demon bird suddenly spread wide, and with a loud boom, a sonic burst echoed, its body instantly halting in mid-air.

At this moment, a figure jumped down from its back.

The Four-winged Sound Falcon, as if pardoned, let out a string of sonic booms, its demon body rapidly turned into a white line, frantically darting toward the sky, quickly disappearing behind the dark clouds.

Zhao Sheng gently landed atop Ao Shou Cliff, his powerful Divine Sense suddenly enveloping the entire cliff, then aimed for his target and transmitted a message.

Soon after, Zhao Daoming and Zhao Luochi hurriedly flew out of the cave mansion and ascended to the cliff top, bowing in unison to the Ancestor.

"Ancestor's presence graces Dome Turtle Island, and we failed to meet you from afar. Our apologies, our apologies! Please forgive us, Ancestor!"

"Hmm, no harm done if you were unaware! No need to worry,"

After Zhao Sheng placated them, he asked, "The matters I assigned you before, how are they progressing now?"

Zhao Daoming hurriedly responded, "Ancestor, the matter on Fushan Island is progressing quite smoothly. Perhaps you could first move to Dragon Eye Cave, and we can provide a detailed report there."

"Alright, lead the way ahead," Zhao Sheng nodded upon hearing this.

...

Three days later, at midnight, when all was quiet.

Zhao Sheng flickered out of Dragon Eye Cave, his entire being suddenly transforming into a stream of black light. He sped across the sea surface, blinking several times, and in the blink of an eye, he had vanished without a trace.

An hour later, a thousand miles away from Dome Turtle Island, Zhao Sheng reappeared over a secluded area of the ocean.

He calculated briefly with his fingers, looked around, determined his bearings, and swiftly dived into the sea.

A half hour passed.

With a splash, the water flew in all directions, and Zhao Sheng, under a golden light shield, suddenly broke through the sea surface and flew up into the air.

At this moment, he was holding a palm-sized, silver-white shell, resembling jade. A white light pulsed within the gaps of the shell, and innumerable tiny Spiritual Texts appeared and disappeared like specks of dust.

Whoosh!

The Starfall Sword suddenly flew out, circling three times around Zhao Sheng's waist, and then transformed into a sword rainbow, engulfing its master like a bolt of lightning, instantly slicing through the pitch-black sky and disappearing into the vast night.

...

"Hey, have you heard? The Immortal Clan has been incredibly busy lately."

"Hehe, that news is already outdated. You probably don't know yet! A big-shot recently arrived on our island. Both the Family Head and the Great Elder must tread carefully around them."

"My goodness! This is significant, what kind of big-shot is so formidable, and what's their background?"

"Come closer... Now you know!"

"What?! It's an ancestor from Central Continent... Mmph!"

Zhao Qingjie, with a dark expression, walked past the corridor swiftly. He completely failed to notice the ordinary clansmen by the corridor who were covering someone's mouth and flattering him.

As the leading member of his generation with the surname Qing, Zhao Qingjie had already reached Qi Refining Perfection just past fifty and ranked only below the four Foundation Establishment Elders in the family.

Even so, he had not gained favor from the Ancestor; instead, the usually dull and slow-witted Zhao Qingyan got the great fortune to serve beside the old family member.

This was utterly humiliating!

Now, the only way for Zhao Qingjie to regain the Ancestor's respect was through one method: "Advancing to Foundation Establishment!"

With that thought, Zhao Qingjie quickly walked into the Great Elder's cave mansion.

At this time, as dusk fell and the moon began to rise,

at Ao Shou Cliff, Zhao Sheng stood on the cliff top, surveyed his surroundings briefly, spoke a few words to Zhao Qingyan, and instructed him to stay outside and keep anyone from climbing up to the cliff top.

The plain-faced Zhao Qingyan nodded without saying a word, bowed, and withdrew from the cliff top to guard the only path leading up the mountain.

Hum!

A sudden distortion and wavering appeared in the air, but it quickly subsided; a transparent Defense Barrier flashed for an instant and then concealed itself again.

After activating the Defensive Formation, Zhao Sheng then chose a spot, sat down cross-legged, and began to meditate with his eyes closed.

A few hours later, as the moon set and the Star Nebula began to thin out, Zhao Sheng suddenly opened his eyes, leapt to his feet, and with a single flip of his hand, a Star Array Plate appeared in his right hand, ready to begin setting up an Artifact Refining Array.

Refining a magic treasure differed from crafting a Spiritual Artifact, requiring perfect harmonic convergence of Heaven, Earth, and Man. Otherwise, at best, the quality is compromised, and at worst, the refining fails.

To craft a magic treasure, the cost in resources can easily reach hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones, not counting the efforts and dedication of the Artifact Refiner.

A single failure in refining meant a huge loss!

Indeed, Zhao Sheng possessed the Capturing Sky Basket and the Soul-hooking Pole, two top-grade magic treasures of immense power. However, they did not match his True Yuan attributes and were not considered Lifebound Magic Treasures.

Most crucially, the Bright Sun Mirror was tied to Zhao Sheng's future path.

The magic treasure had to be refined, and the more, the better!

Zhao Sheng held the Array Plate, circling the edge of the cliff several times while occasionally glancing at the night sky, muttering under his breath.

Before long, he suddenly flipped his hand to retrieve a Jinli Talisman Pen and began to crouch down, carving on the ground.

It took a full hour for Zhao Sheng to barely complete a huge talisman array, three feet in circumference, filled with dense, ancient, and complex Taiyi Spiritual Texts.

Then Zhao Sheng waved his robe, and a Golden Flame Array Flag flew out and inserted straight into a node on the edge of the talisman array.

He did not stop there; his robe fluttering, flags continued to fly out, one after another inserting into the corresponding thirty-six nodes, perfectly forming a large circular Array.