Chapter 61: A New Discovery

Amidst the soaring peaks, the three of them took their seats once again. Zhang Chong immediately cut to the chase and said, "Li Yao, that Earth Life Fruit—can you give it to me? Of course, I certainly won't take it for nothing; I want to purchase it."

Li Yao produced a jade box, slid it across the table without a moment's hesitation, and replied, "The Rising Sun Island has sheltered me for a long time. There's no need for any source-jades; consider this as a token of respect from a disciple to Elder Xun."

Although Zhang Chong hadn't explicitly mentioned it, Li Yao knew well enough without even having to think that several days had passed without those scoundrels from the Holy Land coming to disturb him. It was undoubtedly the Rising Sun Island that had stepped in to shield him from the trouble.

The Yaoguang Holy Land consisted of twelve factions. Falling Glow Mountain was an ally, while several other factions, though not direct allies, maintained high principles and never involved themselves in factional strife or such matters. Even so, the remaining hostile factions were enough to keep the Rising Sun Island busy. Since others were expending effort on his behalf, he naturally would not remain indifferent.

Li Yao's code of conduct was simple: if someone treated him well, he would naturally repay the kindness.

Moreover, Elder Xun was undeniably the pillar of the entire Rising Sun Island. As a supreme mighty figure, as long as he lived, others would not dare to act too audaciously. He was Li Yao's strongest backing at the moment; before he fully matured, he needed Elder Xun to remain firmly in place to suppress those with ulterior motives.

Zhang Chong gently stroked the jade box, his expression deeply moved. In truth, even if Li Yao had insisted on selling it to the Rising Sun Island, he would have understood. After all, everyone looks out for themselves, and this was an item worth hundreds of thousands of catties of source-jades—no small sum even for him.

Yet Li Yao had given it away directly. This made Zhang Chong feel deeply gratified. Sometimes, favors required reciprocity, even among the closest of kin, let alone between strangers.

Of course, he had no intention of taking advantage of a disciple. The Rising Sun Island hadn't been testing Li Yao; they genuinely intended to buy it.

"Junior Brother Zhang, the Rising Sun Island has truly gained an exceptional disciple," Yun Shang said with a hint of envy. "Before you arrived, I also offered to buy it, but Li Yao turned me down."

With peerless cultivation talent and heaven-defying comprehension, a disciple like this meant the Rising Sun Island would likely soon rival the Holy Lord and Supreme Holy factions in the future.

"Ha, what is there to envy? Your Falling Glow Mountain has a share in this too," Zhang Chong said, lightly shaking the jade box in his hand.

"What?!" Yun Shang stared at Zhang Chong in shock, failing to grasp the meaning of his words for a moment.

"This Earth Life Fruit will be handed over to Elder Yao for refining. With the addition of several supplementary materials, it will be forged into two divine elixirs—one for Elder Xun and one for Elder Luo."

Yun Shang understood now, yet it still felt somewhat surreal. If a single Earth Life Fruit was split into two elixirs, the medicinal potency would be halved. Originally capable of extending one's life by two hundred years, it would now be reduced to one hundred.

"Therefore, this Earth Life Fruit belongs not only to the Rising Sun Island but also to Falling Glow Mountain. You must accept this eighty thousand catties of source-jades," Zhang Chong said, producing a jade purification bottle and tossing it directly to Li Yao.

"Right, right, it must be accepted! It absolutely must be accepted. As elders, how could we possibly take advantage of a junior?" Yun Shang recovered his wits and nodded repeatedly, an irrepressible joy blooming across his face.

Elder Luo, named Luo Qianqiu, held the exact same significance to Falling Glow Mountain as Elder Xun did to the Rising Sun Island; his importance was self-evident.

The primary reason Falling Glow Mountain had been so eager to invest in Li Yao was precisely because Elder Luo was running low on lifespan. They, too, were desperately in need of a future.

However, the current generation of Falling Glow Mountain's disciples lacked ambition and talent. The most promising one, Xu Qi, would likely only ever reach the level of a Supreme Elder. Unless she encountered some heaven-defying opportunity, she would never be able to cross the threshold into the mighty figure realm.

It was for this reason that Li Yao had caught their attention, prompting them to invest in him now so that he could protect the Falling Glow Mountain lineage once he grew powerful in the future.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony." Li Yao put away the jade bottle without further demur.

The Heavenly Book was a bottomless pit when it came to consuming source-jades, and its appetite would only grow more extravagant as time went on. For now, he was only supplying a single Yaoguang Scripture, so the pressure on his personal reserves of source-jades wasn't too heavy. But as he collected more scriptures in the future, the required source-jades would multiply exponentially.

Texts such as fragmentary Emperor Scriptures, Nine Secrets, and taboo arcane arts all demanded astronomical amounts of source-jades.

He could afford to give away the Earth Life Fruit, but since the Rising Sun Island insisted on paying for it, he was more than happy to accept.

The three of them chatted for a long time. It was not until the setting sun slanted across the sky that Zhang Chong finally stood up and said, "I must bring the Earth Life Fruit back so it can be refined into divine elixirs as soon as possible, to extend the lives of Elder Xun and Elder Luo."

With that, he looked at Li Yao and added, "You can cultivate in the Holy City with peace of mind. As for the Holy Land, the Rising Sun Island and Falling Glow Mountain are holding the line for you, and the Holy Lord's faction is also leaning toward our side. Those restless elements won't dare to make any moves in the short term."

After saying this, Zhang Chong turned and left. Shortly after, Li Yao also took his leave, departing from the mountain peaks.

...

Returning to his cultivation chamber, Li Yao sat cross-legged on the straw mat. From the gambling-stone duel until now, he finally experienced a long-lost sense of tranquility.

"Now, I finally have time to sort through my gains from this period," Li Yao thought to himself.

He began to mentally tally his harvests. In the Jiang family's eighteenth-layer stone garden, he had cut open many rare treasures, totaling a value of around eight hundred thousand catties of source-jades, with the initial cost being a little over two hundred thousand catties.

However, the source-jades for this stone-gambling hadn't been paid by him, but by the Yaoguang Holy Land. Therefore, he had incurred zero cost, which equated to a net profit of eight hundred thousand catties of source-jades.

Following that was the gambling wager of two hundred thousand catties of source-jades, and the eighty thousand catties paid by the Rising Sun Island for the Earth Life Fruit. Add it all together, and he had reaped a total of one million eight hundred thousand catties of source-jades.

That human-head-sized piece of divine source was hard to value accurately, but counting it as five to six hundred thousand catties of source-jades was entirely reasonable. Combined, the source-jades currently in his possession amounted to around two million four hundred thousand catties.

Such an astronomical fortune was something even mighty figures could not casually produce on the spot. Of course, it wasn't that they lacked it, but rather that source-jades had become akin to copper coins in the mortal world for them—used merely as a transactional currency, not something they carried around in massive quantities.

Yet this did not change the fact that Li Yao's current net worth was staggering.

"With so many source-jades, leaving them sitting there just taking up space is a waste if I don't consume them," Li Yao thought, feeling a surge of temptation.

True to his word, he immediately began to spend. First was the Grand Sun Divine Radiance. This was currently his only offensive technique; until he mastered the Holy Light Technique and the Primal Holy Light Technique, he needed this divine technique as a reliable substitute.

The original Grand Sun Divine Radiance was by no means weak—it had been created by a brilliant and talented Holy Lord in Yaoguang's history, possessing at least the caliber of a mighty figure.

A mighty figure-tier divine technique was technically sufficient for him at his current stage, but since he now had the means to acquire something even better, why wouldn't he?

Ten thousand catties of source-jades were absorbed by the Heavenly Book, and the light of enlightenment flashed brilliantly. Li Yao experienced a momentary daze, feeling as though he had entered an esoteric realm.

Back when his cultivation was weak, he had barely felt anything while deducing divine techniques, only realizing the deduction was finished when new scriptures flooded into his mind.

However, after breaking through to the Other Shore realm, he could genuinely perceive the process by which the Heavenly Book deduced the scriptures.

It was an esoteric realm where he could distinctly feel that he himself was participating in the deduction.

Yet, it lasted merely a fraction of a breath before the deduction concluded, and the Saint-tier scripture of the Grand Sun Divine Radiance appeared in his mind.

"That feeling just now... was that law-creation?" Li Yao's emotions remained turbulent.

He could sense that his mastery over the Grand Sun Divine Radiance was profound. In the past, when new scriptures were deduced, he would gain a deep familiarity with them, but it was utterly incomparable to this experience.

These were two entirely different concepts. Previously, when the Heavenly Book deduced a scripture, it felt as though he had practiced it for a year; but this time, it felt as though he had practiced it for at least three years or more.

"As my strength increases, the Heavenly Book allows me to experience more profound mysteries during its deductions. It's as though the Heavenly Book is leading me along to create laws. Does that mean once my strength reaches a certain level, the Heavenly Book's deductions will be equivalent to me creating laws myself, allowing me to achieve miraculous results without even needing to cultivate?" Li Yao felt a surge of excitement.

"Wait, does that mean once I break through to the Dao Palace realm and perform a deduction for the Grand Sun Divine Radiance then, the time I experience law-creation will be even longer, my comprehension of the scripture even deeper, and the moment it is deduced, it will be equivalent to an even longer period of self-cultivation?"

"It seems... I've found yet another pathway to rapidly grow stronger by utilizing the Heavenly Book?"

For now, this was merely a hypothesis, but Li Yao felt that verifying it wouldn't be difficult, and he wouldn't even need to wait until the Dao Palace realm.

Cultivation in the Other Shore realm consisted of two steps: the first was advancing one's cultivation level and raising one's realm; once one reached the peak of the Other Shore, one would begin the nine transformations of the Other Shore.

Although the initial Other Shore realm and the transformed Other Shore realm existed within the same overall realm, the difference in strength was worlds apart.

If his hypothesis proved true, then once he completed the nine transformations of the Other Shore and used the Heavenly Book to deduce scriptures, the time he lingered in that mystical realm would undoubtedly be even longer, resulting in an even deeper mastery over the newly deduced scriptures.

"If utilized properly, the Heavenly Book can truly play an immensely powerful role."