Chapter 48: Vajra Bodhi Liquid

What’s in it for me if I go to the Jiang family to gamble on source stones? Since Yun Shang was no longer an outsider, Li Yao asked the question directly.

For the Sacred Land to dispatch him, one of its disciples, on a source-gambling mission meant cutting into his cultivation time. Without proper compensation, that was entirely out of the question.

Even though he had originally planned to venture out and try his hand at stone gambling to acquire some source for himself, that in no way hindered him from demanding benefits straight from the Sacred Land.

Li Yao felt not the slightest psychological burden regarding this.

After all, when others had attempted to seize his divine metal, the faction of the Sacred Lord had certainly not stepped forward to shield him.

Watching the grudge-bearing Li Yao, Yun Shang could not help but chuckle. Yet, he felt no aversion to such behavior; on the contrary, he found it deeply admirable. One must know how to assess the situation, but one should never lack a spine.

In Yun Shang's view, Li Yao's blatant extortion was rather commendable, and the timing was impeccably chosen. Since they were asking him for a favor, demanding compensation was only natural. Besides, sending a disciple to gamble in another faction's stone-cutting grounds was not something a disciple was normally obligated to do.

After laughing for a moment, Yun Shang finally spoke, "Naturally, there are benefits. The Sacred Lord's faction possesses quite a few treasures. In matters like this, the Rising Sun Island and the Descending Rosy Clouds Mountain will naturally fight to secure them for you."

"Moreover, they have no choice but to give them. Stone gambling is largely a matter of luck; if they don't offer any incentives, who's to say whether your luck will hold up when the time comes?"

As he spoke, Yun Shang even gave Li Yao a playful wink, radiating a youthful charm that bore no resemblance to someone who had lived for hundreds of years.

"That is a fair point," Li Yao agreed. Following that, the two exchanged a glance and burst into laughter.

At that moment, they truly resembled friends across generations, each feeling that the other suited his temperament entirely.

Once the laughter subsided, Yun Shang grew solemn. "The Sacred Lord's faction has promised that all your expenses during this stone-gambling excursion will be covered by the Sacred Land, while whatever you reap will belong entirely to you. Not only that, but they will also grant you an additional supreme medicinal treasure..."

"Vajra Bodhi Fluid!"

When uttering the name of the Vajra Bodhi Fluid, Yun Shang's expression became even graver.

"Vajra Bodhi Fluid!" Even Li Yao was startled. He had not expected the Sacred Lord's faction to be willing to part with such an item.

Vajra Bodhi Fluid was a supreme medicinal elixir used for tempering the physical body. It could assist a practitioner in achieving a physical state of sagehood, culminating in a flawless and immaculate divine vessel.

Such supreme medicinal fluid was exceedingly scarce and rare. The divine materials required to brew it were uncommon, even for the Primordial Chaos Sacred Land.

Following his initial shock, Li Yao suddenly sensed that something was amiss. "They are merely asking me to gamble on stones, yet the Sacred Lord's faction is willing to hand over Vajra Bodhi Fluid?!"

It was not that he was lacking in wits or deliberately rejecting benefits delivered to his doorstep; rather, the situation seemed far too bizarre. The Sacred Lord's faction was not foolishly wealthy and lacking in sense—why would they pay such an astronomical price just to enlist him for stone gambling?

Hearing this, Yun Shang's gaze grew unfathomable. "Perhaps they are placing a bet as well. It seems the Sacred Lord's faction is equally reluctant to see the next Sacred Lord emerge from the Supreme Saint faction."

Initially, he too had found it peculiar because the reward was so extravagant that it felt almost fabricated. But after confirming its authenticity repeatedly, he had begun analyzing the underlying cause and effect.

Ultimately, Yun Shang arrived at a conclusion: the Sacred Lord's faction likely hoped that the next Sacred Lord would originate from the deep-rooted yet politically detached Rising Sun Island.

Li Yao's expression shifted slightly. As the Sacred Lord, Li Daoqing was undoubtedly aware that the faction of the Ruthless Emperor had deeply embedded itself within the Primordial Chaos Sacred Land, and he was actively taking measures to curb its growth.

Saintess Yao Xi was presumably one of Li Daoqing's fallback plans, and Li Yao himself, having recently risen to prominence, had apparently become a candidate as well.

"What is it? Are you feeling pressured?" Seeing Li Yao's heavy expression, Yun Shang asked with mild curiosity.

As a cultivator merely in the Divine Bridge realm, it was entirely normal for him to feel pressured upon realizing he might have been drawn into the crossfire between the Sacred Lord's faction and the Supreme Saint faction.

Li Yao nodded. "A little, but it's manageable. Actually... if the Sacred Lord is truly stepping onto the board, it might turn out to be a good thing for me."

"Oh? A good thing?" Yun Shang probed, looking at Li Yao with keen interest to see what the youth was thinking.

Pacing lightly, Li Yao reached out to gently stroke a celestial bloom. "While the Sacred Lord's faction entering the fray makes me stand out far more to the Supreme Saint faction, it simultaneously forces the other side to think twice before making any reckless moves."

"Hahaha..." Yun Shang laughed heartily, a flash of satisfaction gleaming in the depths of his eyes. Though so young, the boy possessed a piercing clarity when observing matters, acted decisively, and dared to pluck chestnuts from the fire.

He felt increasingly certain that the Descending Rosy Clouds Mountain had made the absolute right choice by standing behind Li Yao and escorting him through his trials.

At that moment, Li Yao had also lapsed into deep thought.

The Ruthless Emperor's faction had rooted itself deeply within the Primordial Chaos Sacred Land, but it merely parasitized the organization without having truly replaced it.

Even the foundational heritage of the Sacred Land was likely divided into two camps: the orthodox Primordial Chaos faction and the inheritors of the Ruthless Emperor.

These two forces maintained a mutual equilibrium, locked in an evenly matched stalemate—at least until the Primordial Chaos Saint Child rose to prominence.

The Ruthless Emperor's faction only truly gained control of the Sacred Land after the rise of the Saint Child, but that was already well into the middle and later stages.

These were merely Li Yao's conjectures, yet they were not entirely without foundation. Judging by how Weiwei would eventually rise to prominence and successfully expel the Ruthless Emperor's faction in the future, it proved that the Primordial Chaos Sacred Land had certainly not rotted to the core.

Otherwise, someone with a special constitution like Weiwei could not have survived long within the Sacred Land, let alone found the time to rise.

Due to its limitations, the Celestial Spirit Eye was not considered overwhelmingly powerful in the early stages, but that did not mean the constitution itself lacked might.

From the original text, even when Ye Fan altered his appearance using the Heaven-Revolving Earth-Shattering Grand Magic, Weiwei still managed to pierce through his disguise. That alone demonstrated the formidable power of the Celestial Spirit Eye. One had to realize that the Heaven-Revolving Earth-Shattering Grand Magic was a technique that even mighty figures at the Great Power level could not see through.

Yet at that time, Weiwei, whose cultivation realm was at most around the Dao Palace realm, had managed to penetrate Ye Fan's disguise.

Eyes capable of perceiving all secrets might only serve an auxiliary function in the early stages, but when it came to comprehending the Dao in the later stages of cultivation, they were invincible. Under such eyes, all manner of Great Dao had nowhere to hide.

While others were still desperately racking their brains for answers, the bearer of the Celestial Spirit Eye was essentially taking an open-book test.

To say that the Ruthless Emperor's faction felt no temptation toward such a constitution would be sheer nonsense.

The reason the Ruthless Emperor's faction had never succeeded must be because they had reached some sort of pact with the orthodox Primordial Chaos faction.

"If I wish to genuinely contend against the Ruthless Emperor's faction, I must secure the full support of the orthodox Primordial Chaos faction. Otherwise, I'll end up like Yao Xi, packing up and running for my life at the earliest opportunity."

"Well then, have you thought it through? Will you accept this task?"

A voice rang out, interrupting Li Yao's train of thought.

"Naturally. Whether it is for the Golden Body Bodhi Fluid or striving to win the support of the Sacred Lord's faction, this matter is something I must undertake." Recovering his senses, Li Yao replied without hesitation.

"However, it will have to wait for a short while."

"Is there an important matter that requires your attention?" Yun Shang asked, curious.

"I need to refine my source techniques a bit further... Besides, my cultivation realm is nearing a bottleneck. Reaching the Other Shore realm is a matter of the next month or two." Li Yao did not conceal it, speaking with complete candor.

Li Yao had never intended to hide his cultivation progress. At present, he was akin to an entrepreneur, and his cultivation realm was his primary business venture.

He needed to showcase his value so that investors would continuously place bets on him.

True to expectation, as Li Yao's words fell, even Yun Shang, a half-step Great Power, could not help but experience a momentary surge of shock.

The Other Shore realm was the final stage of the Wheel and Sea Secret Realm. Reaching this step meant one of the human body's five great secret realms had been fully traversed.

To Yun Shang, the Other Shore realm was naturally of no great consequence, but Li Yao's cultivation span, all things considered, was merely eight or nine months!

If it were merely a matter of rapid cultivation speed, that would not amount to much; within the Wheel and Sea Secret Realm, provided resources were sufficient, others might not match Li Yao's pace, but they certainly would not be slow either.

The criterion for a heaven-defying prodigy was not just rapid cultivation speed, but a corresponding combat prowess to match.

Possessing cultivation speed alone without the matching combat capability would render one of little value in the eyes of a Sacred Land.

Yet Li Yao's current situation was that, alongside a terrifyingly fast cultivation speed, his combat prowess was equally horrifying, enabling him to fight enemies above his realm and challenge immortals by going against the current.