In the cultivation world, time has always been the most precious commodity, yet also the hardest to control.
In the Infinite Dao Sect, in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
During this period, something happened that made Aotian extremely anxious.
His original plan was simple: with his cultivation speed and high ability to stabilize his realm, he would never be left behind by the disciples. After all, disciples couldn't just cultivate; they had to complete missions, fight to stabilize their realms, and seek opportunities.
However, due to Aotian and Rihai's recent escape, he was left dependent on the few material samples he had for alchemy. As a result, he could only raise his cultivation to the seventh level before having to stop due to a lack of pills.
If he were in an energy-rich environment, these pills would have been sufficient. But in a spiritually barren desert environment, the pills relied entirely on their medicinal and spiritual power to aid him, leaving him powerless.
It was inevitable that the disciples would grow faster than him, surpassing the outer elders. In fact, many had already surpassed the elders even before joining the sect. But being left behind was not part of Aotian's plan.
It was in this moment of powerlessness that he had a great idea.
'Although I don't have a synthesized technique for Foundation Establishment or Golden Core, and it wouldn't be worthwhile to let the inner elders and sect leader cultivate on their own, the outer elders are different. Since all avatars have the same roots as me, I never considered letting them cultivate before because I advanced faster due to my lower realm. But the outer elders are different; they share the same realm as me, which means they can cultivate at the same speed I would… or even faster, given the resources they have!'
With this thought, he didn't hesitate to put his plan into action.
There were ten outer elders, and to cultivate their five-element roots, five minds were needed for each one, totaling fifty.
Among the enlightened minds available for the task, Aotian had three at the Golden Core level, ten at the Foundation Establishment level, and the outer elders themselves, each with their own enlightened mind, accounting for 20. Altogether, he had thirty-three minds.
He then separated five elders and placed them in isolated cultivation, providing enough pills and allocating enlightened minds to each. In the best cultivation spot on the mountain, an intense cultivation process began.
They only paused to stabilize their dantian, which was quick due to Aotian's experience in controlling spiritual energy. Moreover, they barely needed to adapt to their newly acquired strength, as Aotian already had avatars who had passed through these realms and had mastered their powers.
Thus, in just a few days, five elders reached Qi Refinement Perfection and exited seclusion, making way for another five to repeat the process.
It took less than twenty days for all of them to reach Qi Refinement Perfection. Adding the first ten days when Aotian had not yet thought of this idea, a month had passed.
The progress was incredibly fast due to four main factors:
1. Aotian's cultivation speed, with the enlightened minds, was equivalent to that of a highly talented cultivator with a mid-tier single-element root.
2. The use of a synthesized technique accelerated cultivation a hundredfold.
3. The cultivation environment was favorable, and the pills were abundant.
4. Experience with higher realms eliminated the need for prolonged stabilization.
As a result, what would normally take years of cultivation was reduced to mere days for Aotian and his outer elders.
Unfortunately, he had not yet synthesized a technique for Foundation Establishment. If he had, he could have continued cultivating.
Aside from that, the elders' abilities had also evolved, something Aotian closely monitored throughout the process. This gave him an even greater understanding of the abilities of the outer elders.
The most evident case was Yang Shi, the outer elder of the Alchemy Pavilion, who specialized in caring for spiritual plants.
Previously, when he was at the second level of Qi Refinement, he could mature Refining-Tier plants by two hundred years with a single use of his ability. With each level he ascended, an additional hundred years were added. Now, at Qi Refinement Perfection, a single use accelerated the growth of these plants by nine hundred years. As for a Founder-Tier plant, a single use matured it by only ninety years.
This was already incredible. When the avatars obtained a large number of elixirs, this would prove extremely useful.
Regarding spiritual plants, Refining-Tier ones reached maturity in ten years, while Founder-Tier ones took a hundred years. After this time, their growth was merely quantitative, increasing their medicinal potency.
Of course, quantitative changes could lead to qualitative changes, and an absurd number of years could allow a spiritual plant to attain medicinal power far beyond its realm.
However, this was difficult to achieve in nature, as plants also had a lifespan. Fortunately, the avatar's abilities not only matured the plants but also guided them to reach their optimal state.
The abilities of the other outer elders followed a similar pattern: with each level they ascended, the power of their abilities increased by one fold.
Now, all the elders were gathered in the main hall of the mountain. In the center, a round table. The sect leader occupied the most prominent seat, while the inner elders were seated, and the outer elders stood behind them.
Tian Zhu rose from his chair, his gaze sweeping over everyone.
The elders, who had been whispering among themselves, gradually fell silent, plunging the hall into complete silence.
'I look like a schizophrenic talking to myself in multiple ways…' Aotian thought, feeling a headache as he reflected on his own effort in role-playing.
"All elders. We have gathered here today to lay out all of the sect's objectives and work together to establish the best strategy."
Tian Zhu declared in his deep yet smooth voice, his gaze indifferent. His hands rested calmly behind his back.
"Elder Bao Hui, from the treasure pavilion, will now present the objectives established by me and the inner elders in consensus."
He said lightly.
"Ahem!" Bao Hui stood up, coughed into his fist, and smiled gently at everyone.
"Before I begin, I would like to thank the sect leader for his kind words. Always majestic, he is a symbol of courage and magnanimity to us of the Infinite Dao Sect. I even dare to say that if there were a world where everyone was Sect Leader Tian, I would die happy just to live there for a minute. I wouldn't say a second, because I would die regretting having lived so little time there…"
Bao Hui had barely started his speech, and many elders' expressions were already contorting with disgust, especially Lie Zheng, who clenched his teeth in anger at the bootlicking he was hearing.
But Bao Hui pretended not to see and continued.
"... But the true regret of my life is that, in my mother's womb, she made me be born a man. If I were a woman, I could offer my hand in marriage to-"
Even the indifferent Tian Zhu, to whom the speech was directed, had an almost visible vein of anger pulsing on his forehead.
Having lost his patience, the sect leader interrupted.
"Bao Hui…" Tian Zhu said lightly, but it was clear that his indifferent words carried a serious warning.
"Eh? Oh! Hehe! Sorry, leader…" Bao Hui was surprised by the warning but understood, then scratched his head in embarrassment before finally getting to the point.
"Well, my dear elders. The sect's current objectives include acquiring cultivation techniques and inheritances at the Foundation Establishment level or higher, as well as rare Refiner-Tier inheritances. Another objective is the recruitment of disciples. This decision was made about twenty days ago and was announced to the entire city. The recruitment will take place tomorrow."
Bao Hui said seriously, and the elders nodded, aware of the situation.
Tian Zhu took the floor again.
"The outer elders must come to a consensus and elect five among you to assist Lie Zheng in the recruitment. Bring along the nine disciples previously recruited. Let them show their faces and raise the confidence and enthusiasm of potential new disciples for our sect."
"Yes, sect leader!" Lie Zheng and the outer elders responded respectfully.
"Good! Continue…" Tian Zhu nodded and turned his gaze back to Bao Hui.
Elder Bao nodded and proceeded.
"The second objective is the most immediate and has already been decided, so let's talk about the first. With the takeover of Black Rock Mountain and the Shi family's treasure, we found five Foundation Establishment techniques, about twenty different spells of the Founder-Tier, and an alchemy inheritance of the same level."
He paused as he noticed an outer elder raising his hand and then granted him the floor.
"Elder Bao, what about the city's pavilions? Did we find any techniques?"
Bao Hui nodded before shaking his head.
"We explored all the city's pavilions, but aside from the Longbao Pavilion, which has one Foundation Establishment cultivation technique for each of the five elements, no other Founder-Tier techniques or spells were found. Not even materials or pills of that level. When we inquired, we were informed that they do not keep items of that level at this branch of the pavilion because the only buyer was the mountain lord. If we want materials of that level, we must place an order, which will take about a year to arrive. According to Manager Mu, this is true, and the former mountain lord followed the same procedure."
He explained seriously.
"From what we deduced, the Foundation Establishment cultivation techniques available for purchase were merely basic ones, used to attract Qi Refiners to spend their money on them in vain hopes of advancement. Other than that, there was nothing else."
Bao Hui finished, shrugging.
"This place is too poor… It's troublesome." Ting Zao, the elder of the refinement pavilion, frowned.
As everyone pondered with furrowed brows, the sect leader took charge again.
"We cannot afford to wait that long to obtain what we need. Ting Zao and Xuan Zhen, you have a mission." Tian Zhu declared, looking at the two.
"Yes, leader!" The two, one a refiner and the other a formations master, were caught off guard by being called but did not hesitate and responded firmly.
Tian Zhu then took out a small and beautiful black boat, placing it on the table and drawing everyone's attention.
He then said:
"The Shi family possessed a Founder-Tier flying boat, which is now in our hands. Tell me, can you remodel it and turn it into something capable of withstanding the power of a Golden Core with the few materials we have?"
Tian Zhu looked at them firmly.
Ting Zao and Xuan Zhen examined the boat carefully, then exchanged glances with bright eyes.
"Leave it to us!"