After issuing the mission, Lu Qingyang immersed himself in cultivation and thoroughly studied his early fifth-realm abilities.
Compared to the perfection stage of the fourth realm, upon entering the early stage of the fifth realm, Lu Qingyang could clearly feel that his cultivation power had nearly doubled, becoming limitless.
If he were to compete against his former self now, Lu Qingyang was certain that with just a slight movement of his spiritual power, he could easily crush his previous self who was still in the fourth-realm perfection stage.
"Originally, I thought that with the exceptional aptitude of the Celestial Tree Spirit Root, I could achieve instant success and challenge opponents across levels."
"But now, upon calm reflection, although the Celestial Tree Spirit Root gives me many advantages, achieving a breakthrough challenge at each major stage of cultivation is extremely difficult!"
Lu Qingyang pondered inwardly.
If we estimate that the early fifth realm is twice as powerful as the perfection stage of the fourth realm, even with the unique physique of the Celestial Tree Spirit Root, Lu Qingyang estimated that his fourth-realm perfection self could at most contend with mid to late fifth-realm experts.
Now, having entered the early fifth realm, his power has surged again, roughly hovering around the perfection of the fifth realm.
To confront a sixth-realm master,
He would probably only have a slim chance of survival after breaking through to the mid fifth realm.
Moreover,
This assumption is for ordinary sixth-realm masters.
If he encounters a sixth-realm master with profound foundations, Lu Qingyang has no absolute confidence in challenging across realms.
"As my cultivation deepens, the effectiveness of the Celestial Tree Spirit Root's talent may gradually diminish. Although this root continually improves, its increase in foundation accumulation is almost negligible."
"The key to each improvement actually lies in the number of cultivation points infused daily!"
This breakthrough undoubtedly revealed a limitation of the Celestial Tree Spirit Root's extraordinary talent.
However,
This limitation is only relative.
Being able to steadily supply himself with fifty cultivation points daily and matching the strength of fifth-realm perfection experts at the early fifth realm is a testament to the powerful origin of the Celestial Tree Spirit Root.
Shortly after,
Lu Qingyang shifted his focus to other aspects.
"My initial plan to suppress my realm and accumulate more cultivation was thwarted by this forced breakthrough. It means I can store extra cultivation points only up to half of my current realm's limit. Once this limit is exceeded, I will automatically advance."
"In this way, my attempt to exploit the loopholes in the cultivation rules has fallen through!"
Looking at the twenty million points required for the next breakthrough, Lu Qingyang couldn't help but sigh softly.
Previously, he had intentionally accumulated cultivation without rushing to break through, aiming to see if there was a shortcut to gather enough cultivation at the fourth realm, so that in future breakthroughs, he could leap directly to the sixth or even higher realms.
Unfortunately,
Reality ruthlessly shattered his illusion.
Those so-called loopholes in the rules simply did not exist. Trying to find flaws in the cultivation realms was ultimately futile.
Seeing others sacrifice early-stage fourth-realm monsters for only twenty-five thousand cultivation points, Lu Qingyang couldn't help but sigh again.
...
Three days later,
Gu Fang visited again.
Unlike previous visits, this time Gu Fang did not come alone but led a group of the Alliance's top cultivators.
Along with them were eight rapidly flying boats, emitting a roaring sound.
Five of these boats each pulled a thick spiritual chain.
A large net woven from spiritual chains was tied beneath, firmly binding a severely injured and almost immobile monster.
The remaining three boats were similar, but the nets contained not live monsters but the remains of monsters.
These were the live fourth-realm monsters and the fourth-realm monster corpses required by the task Lu Qingyang had set.
In just three days, the Alliance swiftly completed the mission and delivered the required items.
The flying boats slowly landed on the outskirts of the Ten Thousand Mountains. Gu Fang first entered to report the situation. After receiving Lu Qingyang's approval, the boats were allowed to enter the Ten Thousand Mountains.
When everyone followed Gu Fang inside, they were astonished to find that the long-absent Qingyang Celestial Tree had grown to an awe-inspiring size.
An Alliance high-level cultivator who had also reached the fourth realm felt an overwhelming pressure akin to the heavens when he saw the true form of the Qingyang Celestial Tree. His spiritual power instantly froze, and breathing became extremely difficult.
The majesty of the Qingyang Celestial Tree inspired reverence in everyone present.
Almost simultaneously, everyone bowed deeply to the celestial tree.
"Greetings to the Qingyang Celestial Tree!"
"You have completed this mission perfectly. Here are two hundred thousand contribution points, take them."
Lu Qingyang's ethereal voice sounded, and a green token appeared out of thin air.
The back of the token was engraved with a celestial tree totem, and the front bore the characters "two hundred thousand."
The contribution token was no ordinary item. It was an internal currency established by Lu Qingyang in the early years for transactions within the Heavenly Court chat group.
The value of contribution tokens started from one hundred, with no upper limit. To exchange for a specific level of contribution token, one only needed to pay the corresponding amount of contribution points.
Those who obtained contribution tokens could exchange them with other cultivators, and anyone holding a contribution token could convert it to the corresponding amount of contribution points.
After distributing the task rewards, Lu Qingyang unhesitatingly dismissed all the Alliance high command, preparing to explore the function of Memory Extraction.
Naturally, Gu Fang and the others did not dare to have any objections and respectfully withdrew after receiving their orders.
...
Outside the Ten Thousand Mountains, a fourth-realm cultivator exclaimed in amazement.
"What realm has the Qingyang Celestial Tree reached? Facing him, I felt as insignificant as an ant!"
"That existence is unfathomable, we can hardly comprehend. The mere presence of the Heavenly Court chat group is enough to glimpse his unparalleled power!"
Another shook his head in response, also filled with reverence for the Qingyang Celestial Tree.
Mentioning the Heavenly Court chat group, many felt a sense of solemn respect.
Gu Fang said earnestly, "No matter what, the Qingyang Celestial Tree remains the most solid support of our Human Alliance. Why overthink?"
"True words from Master Gu Fang."
Others nodded in agreement.
...
Within the Ten Thousand Mountains, Lu Qingyang was well aware of the discussions outside. People thought that leaving the Ten Thousand Mountains meant escaping his control.
Little did they know,
The five-thousand-kilometer Heavenly Court Domain was not something easily escaped.
Subsequently, Lu Qingyang focused his attention on the two monsters.
He first directed his spiritual power into the dead early fourth-realm monster, attempting to explore its memory traces.
Unfortunately, the monster's consciousness had already dissipated, making it impossible to extract its memories.
Lu Qingyang was not disappointed by this, as he had anticipated such an outcome.
Next, Lu Qingyang decisively infiltrated the consciousness sea of the surviving monster with his spiritual power.
4o