999 Days

Yaan chose to leave the Earth Cry Tribe, returning to the core Bloody Totem Province. He had discovered the secret behind the Earth Cry Tribe's rich lands, but it was not something that he could replicate.

Originally, Yaan planned to enter secluded cultivation immediately after finishing his investigation into the Earth Cry Tribe's lands, but his creation of the Reveal Truth spell resulted in a change of plans.

As he stared up at the starry night sky, the sky that made no sense due to the lack of stars on the Blood Plane, Yaan's expression became solemn. He was shocked into silence by what he saw, because it was simply beyond his wildest expectations.

His eyes flashed with a light of inconclusive colour, reflecting the image of the starry sky above. Yaan flew up into the air, going as high as he could manage before the Spiritual Pressure and gravity became too much to endure.

He was unable to reach the 'stars' in the sky, but he could now see the secrets behind this strange phenomena.

"This is…a formation?" Yaan muttered to himself, hardly daring to believe it.

How large was the Bloody Totem Province? How large was this starry sky?

Tens of thousands of miles from end to end!

This was hundreds of times larger compared to the Fragment Sect's core sect detection formation! This was far more grand than the Xuqi Sect's protective formation!

A formation of this size had already surpassed the scope of Yaan's understanding, but as he continued to stare upwards, his eyes only widened further.

"This is the dao of space! I recognise this dao, it was also contained within the trial realms back in the inheritance! Only, the creator of that inheritance did not deliberately manipulate the spatial dao, it simply manifested as a result of his actions, but the creator of this formation clearly made use of the spatial dao in order to build this formation!"

Yaan continued to observe whilst muttering to himself. He felt like his understanding of formations was undergoing a transformation…no, perhaps it was his understanding of this world and its myriad of possibilities that was undergoing a change!

"This is a transportation formation." Yaan finally concluded.

He could deduce this despite the grandeur of the formation, for three reasons.

Firstly, this formation did not attempt to conceal its function. Its aura was completely concealed, meaning that it was impossible to tell that it was a formation unless you investigated it directly, but once you did probe it, it made no attempt to hide itself.

Secondly, Yaan had encountered similar spatial transportation portals within the inheritance. He was familiar with the feeling of the spatial dao, helping him to arrive at this conclusion.

Finally, his recently devised Reveal Truth spell was the most crucial component in this discovery. Without this spell, even if Yaan was a hundred times more competent in the art of formations, he could not have made this discovery!

It was unfortunate that Yaan was unable to fly high enough into the sky to reach this formation right now, he could only observe it from afar. But even if he did have the ability to reach it, would he actually use it? He had no idea where this formation led, there was no way to know this until stepping into the starry array, taking the leap of faith.

After some though, Yaan shook his head, forgetting about this for now.

"In the future, this could potentially become my life saving card. But for now, I cannot even reach the formation…I need to become stronger!"

Strength was the prerequisite for all things in this world. With strength, many limitations and restrictions could be overcome.

With this in mind, Yaan entered secluded cultivation. After the enormous conquest wherein he gained complete control over hundreds of tribes across six former provinces, he accumulated an insane quantity of resources.

To begin with, Yaan found the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader, then sent her out to collect the elixir that he wanted to use first. He meditated, calming his mind, until she returned.

This elixir was one of the strongest that Yaan had found during the expansion. It was nurtured by the Fallen Cloud Tribe, one of the richest tribes out of all those now under his command.

The fruit was quite small, no larger than a grape. It was filled with four different colours of light, each representing a different element out of fire, earth, water and air. The lights moved throughout the small fruit, giving it a stunning appearance.

This elixir had no name, since the Fallen Cloud Tribe had only ever managed to grow this one fruit. They had nurtured this elixir for the past thousand years, it only became ripe for consumption around a few decades ago. Nobody in the tribe had yet used this elixir, because nobody felt themselves worthy enough to use such a treasure.

After returning to the Sky Piercing Spear, the Grand Martial Tribe's elixir cultivation chamber, Yaan swallowed the glowing fruit whole. He did not feel anything special about using a valuable treasure that had been nurtured for so long like this…what was the point of hoarding treasures? Were these resources not produced solely for cultivators to use?

Wealth was meant to be spent, resources were meant to be used. As a cultivator, 'saving for the future' was a pointless idea, because it would become easier to earn greater amounts of wealth in the future after improving your strength in the present. Even from an economic standpoint, it made more sense to use resources as soon as they were obtained, this way, your strength could be boosted and you could procure better resources for your cultivation to continue.

Four elements erupted in Yaan's body. This elixir was far more violent than any other he had consumed until now, the effect was not subtle at all!

Fire burned through his flesh, water sent his blood into turmoil, air threatened to tear his tendons in half, earth weighed him down, making him unable to move.

At this moment, the Sky Piercing Spear was activated by the recruited cultivators down below. This time, Yaan conscripted a 5-Star Realm powerhouse to lead the activation of this large-scale formation, resulting in a more powerful Spiritual Pressure and gravity descending upon him. The spear intent was also amplified to a greater degree, causing Yaan to sweat heavily.

The pressures both inside and outside of his body were immense, he did not have the luxury to do anything else like practising his sword arts. All he could do was stand still on the point of this spear, enduring the strain that his body and Vital Qi were undergoing.

He was worn down rapidly, but the elixir replenished his energy, allowing him to continue resisting. Elixirs were extremely useful tools for recovering from long-term, gradual strain, making them excellent cultivation resources for training the physical body.

Elixirs also cultivated a person's Vital Energy. Yaan possessed Vital Qi, but there was still a significant effect. After the most recent battles, he had killed so many powerful cultivators, including a 6-Star Realm warrior…

Even after consuming the 6-Star Realm Vital Core, the amount of Slaughter Aura that he had refined was more than enough to support his entire foundation until he reached the peak of the Vital Qi Core Realm! Yaan's progress towards the next realm was now at 72%, and he intended to cultivate constantly until he reached the peak of the realm!

The elixir, which Yaan decided to name the four elemental grape, had never been used before by any member of the Fallen Cloud Tribe. In fact, nobody even knew its effect! All elixirs had a beneficial effect on a body temperer's overall cultivation when they physically exerted themselves, but the duration of effect and the specific benefits varied from elixir to elixir.

Time flew by. Day after day, week after week, month after month, Yaan stood atop the spear point silently and with closed eyes, enduring the strain and absorbing the elixir's efficacy.

Yaan was extremely focussed in this time. He did not concern himself with anything that might be happening outside of this formation. He did not worry about his recently formed empire. He only cared about his cultivation.

At some point, the old immortal from before returned. He did not say anything, but simply watched as Yaan cultivated.

Yaan noticed this person, but he did not bother greeting him. Since the immortal said nothing, and since he kept his distance, Yaan also continued on, as if he had not noticed. Of course, since he had even noticed this old immortal last time, when the old man was concealing his presence, the immortal did not believe that he was unable to notice him this time.

Eventually, the immortal left without a word.

There was only one other event during this period of Yaan's cultivation that he considered worth paying attention to. That was, the mysterious golden elixir, force-fed to him by Old Thief, finally expired completely.

This elixir was illusive from beginning to end, its effect subtle but very real. This elixir even assisted Yaan with the recovery of his Dantian, and it had played a large part in helping him pass the Fragment of Qi's harsh tests.

Time marched on…

In the end, the four elemental grape lasted for 999 days, almost three whole years. Aside from the golden elixir, this was the longest lasting elixir that Yaan had used…it was also by far the most powerful, far more powerful than he had expected.

After emerging from his cultivation, Yaan's Vital Qi had reached 95%! He was now at the Late Vital Qi Core Realm, just one step away from the peak of the realm!

This last step was also the longest step, it would take others quite some time to pass over. But, Yaan was no typical cultivator, the resources that he had available to him could not be underestimated.

When he left the Sky Piercing Tower, Yaan looked around and frowned. He could see the various tribesmen who had been activating the formation, all collapsed on the ground in exhaustion. He also saw an anxious looking individual from the Bloody Totem Tribe, one of the ordinary elders that he was not overly familiar with, hurriedly rushing to his side.

He could not see the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader, or anyone else he knew for that matter. He had told the Bloody Totem Tribe Leader to remain in this tribe until he returned, so that she could quickly arrange for another elixir to be brought to him after he finished with the four elemental grape.

She was nowhere to be seen…was it because he had taken far longer than expected? Did she get bored and leave? No, that was unlikely, meaning…

"E-Elder Red! Tribe leader asked me to inform you that we are currently engaged in various battles with the Lunar Song Tribe's vassal tribes! She did not want to disturb your cultivation, but the situation is-"

"I understand." Yaan cut off the younger man with a casual wave of his hand. The young warrior became silent...

He had only become a 4-Star Realm warrior recently, his battle strength was not great, so he was tasked with informing Elder Red of the worrying situation. He had met this 'Elder Red' on a few occasions, but this was their first time speaking.

Even though Yaan did not release his aura, his reputation alone was enough to cause this tribesman to feel heavily pressured. Combined with Yaan's calm demeanour, even in the face of such shocking news, the tribesman ended up falling silent, tentatively awaiting his response.

"Where is the tribe leader now?" Yaan asked first.

"She is fighting against the White Bat Province. The White Bat Tribe rules the province, but they are still a vassal of the Lunar Song Tribe, they have caused us no end of trouble. They-"

"No need for concern, I will resolve this shortly." Leaving the stunned tribesman with these parting words, Yaan's body blurred, then he disappeared without a trace.