Cultivation: When you take things to the extreme

Chapter 409: Chapter 262: Essence_3

Xu Yang currently does not possess the strength to openly contend with the Divine Martial Experts, and rashly expanding his influence would be irresponsible to both his subordinates and himself.

Therefore, he has no plans to contact the Tian Wu Remnants, nor does he have the immediate desire to expand his power.

Given his actions in the past, it’s hard to guarantee that those people haven’t developed a form of “Tian Wu PTSD” syndrome.

Now that they know he is resurrected, all major powers will certainly monitor closely, paying attention to all sorts of unusual movements. If he were to develop his power in secret like he did in the past, under the guise of a medical clinic or some other front, he would definitely enter the radar of the major powers. Then, they would adopt a policy of killing wrong rather than letting go, destroying any potential target.

Although he can Divine Travel Through Worlds and could start over if killed, it’s better to avoid dying if possible. He also doesn’t want to have just taken on a group of disciples, only to have them wiped out, which would be a great injustice.

Expansion is not possible.

But not expanding is also not an option.

The Temple of War God and War God’s Atlas must be acquired.

What should he do?

The answer is simple, start by muddying the waters!

Muddy water makes for easy fishing; as long as the waters are muddied, he could develop in the gaps, regardless of how cautious the major powers are.

As for how to muddy the waters,

First, he needs a certain level of strength.

Even if he cannot defeat the Divine Martial Venerable, he must at least be able to deal with Grandmasters on the Heaven List, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to make any significant waves.

Grandmasters on the Heaven List, Divine Bridge Martial Artists, correspond to the Nascent Soul stage.

Xu Yang is currently at the Foundation Establishment stage of the Martial Path, equivalent to Foundation Establishment.

With a gap of two major realms between Foundation Establishment and Nascent Soul, even with Heaven Reaching abilities, it would be difficult to bridge.

So, the first step is to enhance his cultivation!

Although he doesn’t have the War God’s Atlas, with the insights he gained in the past and the deductions made in later lives, Xu Yang has developed the Martial Path system up to the Yuan Core realm. He can now advance directly, without the obstacle of any realm bottleneck.

The only thing lacking is resources.

In this world, although the Yuan Spirit has revived, it seems that it has been locked away by the major powers using the “War God’s Atlas.” Apart from the gates of the major powers and some special locations, the spirit qi of the Yuan Spirit in other places is not abundant.

With the Heavenly Earth Prime Spirit being so scarce, not to mention other resources,

How can he advance without resources?

Xu Yang took out the Evil Emperor relics.

The Evil Emperor relics, the treasure that helped him achieve his Martial Path accomplishments.

This object is said to have been found by the first-generation Evil Emperor of the Demon Sect in an ancient tomb from the Spring and Autumn Warring States period. It can absorb a Martial Artist’s power and convert it into Essence for storage.

In the Demon Sect, there are various Evil Skills that extract the power of others, but no matter how skilled the practitioner, absorbing someone else’s True Qi is only supplemental or temporary. No one has ever truly been able to take another person’s power for their own permanently, and substantially and endlessly increase their own cultivation.

Even if it were possible, due to the inherent differences in the essence of True Qi, it would be more harmful than beneficial. Misuse could lead to the disaster of energy deviation, and the more skilled method would be through the act of dual cultivation, absorbing Yuan Ying and Yang. But, still, it is only supplemental and not without risks, far from a superior method.

However, the Essence converted by the Evil Emperor relics can be directly absorbed as power, enhancing the Inner Yuan cultivation of the Martial Artist. It truly is a treasure.

After obtaining the relics, Xu Yang also conducted research and found that although there is some consumption in the process when power is converted into Essence, the storage capacity for power Essence is nearly infinite, accepting as much as it comes nonchalantly.

During the Tian Wu era, Xu Yang had enacted a national policy where all Martial Artists at the Condensing Spirit Realm, before their life’s end, could come to the capital and impart their life’s power into the Evil Emperor relics, in exchange for favorable treatment for their descendants.

Over eight hundred years, the Evil Emperor relics absorbed the power of countless Martial Artists, accumulating an amount of Essence that reached a terrifying level.

Xu Yang had even tried using it to forcibly break through Martial Path realms but lacked a proper Cultivation Technique. Several attempts ended in failure, and there was even the risk of his body exploding. He couldn’t ask his disciples to risk their lives, so he eventually had to let go of this idea.

Looking at the relic now, it’s very likely related to the Temple of War God. In fact, all treasures in this world probably have something to do with it, including the Heshi Jade and the Bodhi Tree he had previously acquired.

Bearing this in mind, even after ten thousand years—and despite the Heavenly Demon Sect now possessing the Divine Martial Venerable—they still regard this item as a treasure, relentlessly searching for its whereabouts, even pursuing it to Su Shaoqing’s doorstep.

Xu Yang held the Evil Emperor relics in his hand, sensing the amount of Essence left inside. It wasn’t much.

That’s to be expected. Although a vast amount of Essence was infused during the Tian Wu era, it had since been used to revitalize his physical body with the Mysterious Ice Coffin over tens of thousands of years, naturally leaving very little remaining.

Fortunately, he is currently at the peak of Foundation Establishment Cultivation. The remaining Essence is sufficient to break through the barrier and ascend to the Yuan Core state.