The Hundred Thousand Mountains returned to tranquility once more.
The only change was that after Lu Qingyang expanded the Heavenly Court to a range of two thousand miles, he effortlessly exterminated all first-tier monsters within the Heavenly Court with swift and decisive action.
Unfortunately,
after advancing to the fourth tier, the cultivation points gained from consuming first-tier monsters had become negligible, reduced to just one point each.
This meant that
fighting monsters three major tiers below him would yield no more than one cultivation point, essentially a base reward.
As a result,
Lu Qingyang's efforts to gather cultivation points would undoubtedly slow down significantly.
Currently, most of his followers were still at the first tier, with only a few having the strength to cross into the second tier or slay second-tier monsters.
Regarding this situation,
Lu Qingyang remained unperturbed.
With a lifespan of fifty thousand years, even a slightly slower advancement was not a major concern.
Moreover, once the Heavenly Court broke through to the fourth tier, Lu Qingyang could directly convert the incense points from his followers into cultivation points, aiding his own breakthroughs.
...
Time passed,
and in the blink of an eye, several months had gone by.
During these months, the Human Alliance gradually reclaimed lost territories, shifting from being fully suppressed by monsters to a state of balanced competition between the two forces.
However,
driving all monsters out of the alliance's territory and reinstating humanity at the top of the food chain was clearly not achievable in the short term.
Only with the emergence of fourth-tier or fifth-tier cultivators could humanity launch a large-scale counterattack and completely defeat the monster tribes.
Yet, the birth of a fourth-tier cultivator was extremely difficult. Even after a long time, no human cultivator had broken through to the fourth tier.
Though monsters had appeared fifteen years ago, no fourth-tier monsters had emerged until after the second divine blood baptism, when some monsters broke through to the fourth tier.
This showed
the immense difficulty of advancing from the third tier to the fourth tier, a process requiring an exceedingly long time without special opportunities.
Meanwhile,
the leap from the third tier to the fourth tier was a significant transformation on the path of cultivation.
At this moment—
Lu Qingyang paid little attention to these matters, his entire focus was on his data interface, silently calculating the time, as if waiting for something to arrive.
One day!
Two days!
Three days!
...
On the fifth day, Lu Qingyang's eyes suddenly brightened as an unprecedented, immense power surged towards him from all directions.
Faced with this vast power, Lu Qingyang felt his Immortal Tree body undergoing a subtle transformation, though the process was slow, making it hard to describe the exact changes.
Then,
Lu Qingyang examined his data interface, and his usually calm mind was stirred.
...
[Name: Lu Qingyang]
[True Form: Immortal Tree]
[Lifespan: 16 years/]
[Cultivation Level: Early Fourth-Tier (/）]
[Heavenly Court: Second-Tier (/)]
[Abilities: Immortal Tree Spiritual Root (Fourth-Tier), Immortal Divine Fruit (Fourth-Tier), Immortal Divine Whisper (Fourth-Tier), Insightful Vision (Fourth-Tier), Heavenly Court Domain (Fourth-Tier), Command Wind and Rain (Fourth-Tier)]
...
"Twelve million, six hundred and fifty-one thousand incense points. Indeed... establishing the Heavenly Court chat group is the best way to gather incense!"
Lu Qingyang couldn't hide his inner joy. Although he had anticipated this, seeing the incense points surge still made his blood boil with excitement.
Without the Heavenly Court chat group and sharing his cultivation methods, he would have been content with receiving thirty million incense points at most during this settlement.
It was unimaginable to receive over twelve million incense points in an instant.
Such a vast amount of incense points
was enough to elevate the Heavenly Court to the third tier!
Therefore,
without hesitation, Lu Qingyang consumed one hundred million incense points to advance the Heavenly Court to the third tier.
...
"Boom!"
As the Heavenly Court ascended, Lu Qingyang felt his spirit shake, a sensation that gradually subsided after a long while.
Looking within the third-tier Heavenly Court, there seemed to be no significant difference from the second tier at first glance, but Lu Qingyang clearly felt the structure was much more solid.
Of course, the biggest change brought by the ascension of the Heavenly Court was not just its increased stability.
Now, with the third-tier advancement, the Heavenly Court could directly deduce third-tier techniques and corresponding magical artifacts.
Compared to second-tier items, the consumption required to deduce third-tier items had increased tenfold.
Deducing a low-grade third-tier technique required at least one hundred thousand incense points, while a top-grade third-tier technique needed a minimum of five hundred thousand incense points.
To deduce a breakthrough pill of the same tier, the starting cost was at least a million incense points.
Fortunately,
after upgrading the domain to the third tier, Lu Qingyang still had over twenty million incense points left, enough to initially stock the third-tier market without pressure.
However, with the opening of the third-tier market, the daily maintenance cost of the Heavenly Court chat group also increased to three thousand incense points per day.
Soon, the remaining twenty million incense points dwindled, leaving only about a million points for the daily upkeep of the Heavenly Court chat group.
Lu Qingyang did not exhaust all the incense points, keeping a reserve for emergencies.
After handling the affairs of the Heavenly Court chat group, Lu Qingyang felt his spirit become clearer and brighter, viewing the world around him with renewed understanding.
"This... my spiritual power has increased!"
Lu Qingyang was slightly surprised.
Although intangible and formless, the spirit, like a person's will, could only be perceived after establishing the Heavenly Court.
In other words,
the manifestation of Lu Qingyang in the Heavenly Court was actually a concrete representation of his spirit.
Now,
with the breakthrough of the Heavenly Court to the third tier, Lu Qingyang keenly sensed his spirit transforming along with the domain's advancement.
Aside from other aspects, the strength of his perception had notably increased.
When Lu Qingyang attempted to expand his perception range to explore the limits of his spirit, he faintly sensed a deep, sorrowful emotion.
Grief!
Lament!
It was as if some being was weeping silently.
At that moment,
Lu Qingyang's spiritual perception seemed to penetrate an invisible barrier, and the sorrowful emotion grew stronger, causing a similar sorrow to well up within him.
This uncontrollable feeling shocked Lu Qingyang, heightening his curiosity to uncover the source of this sadness.
Just then,
amidst the sorrowful emotion, Lu Qingyang detected a presence that filled him with deep hatred and an inexplicable anger, as if he wanted to find and utterly destroy it.
However, just as Lu Qingyang tried to track this loathsome presence, his spirit suddenly felt fatigued, forcing him to withdraw from the profound perception state.
The Hundred Thousand Mountains remained unchanged,
but the persistent sorrow in Lu Qingyang's heart reminded him that what he had sensed was not an illusion.
4o