While the main body continued its usual cultivation routine inside his cave, Aotian's other bodies also followed their daily schedules — training techniques, spells, and abilities, as well as, of course, guiding disciples and managing the sect.

It had already been fifteen days since the mass epiphany, and thirteen since Aotian began taking control of the five allied sects of the Beiyan (Northern Flame) Continent.

In truth, "began" would be putting it modestly, since it took only one day for the leadership of the five sects to silently fall into his hands.

When everything was done, Aotian left behind only one inner elder as a watcher — capable of controlling the shadows and observing his new unpaid employees.

As for the rest of the pavilion members in that continent, he sent them to gather information on what had been happening since he destroyed the twelve powers.

As for Ancestor Mo... well, he had a more important mission.

'I destroyed the twelve Soul Formation powers and secretly copied the high-level heritage of the Mu family. In total, I obtained thirty-one Soul Formation cultivation techniques.'

'Some powers had three techniques, others two, and the weaker ones barely had one. The Mu family, on the other hand, possessed a total of eight techniques, showing they were truly worthy of being the strongest family on that continent.'

'But there are still eight powers left to explore on that land. Even so, it's far from enough to create a Formation-tier technique. Given the quality of such techniques across the mid-continents, I'd need to gather nearly three hundred to synthesize a near-perfect one... it seems that even combining the heritage of all four intermediate regions, it will still be impossible to synthesize a complete technique.'

Aotian pondered with a serious look after finishing his analysis.

He concluded that, in the end, even after scouring all those continents, he would barely gather just over a hundred techniques. As for auxiliary arts inheritances, those would be even rarer.

'Even inheritances of Musical Arts are practically nonexistent among the inheritances I stole from the Twelve Powers and the Mu family. The one I obtained before was discovered purely by luck in an ancient ruin by a cultivator. Even with a treasure radar, finding more of these in the mid-continents would be difficult and extremely time-consuming.'

'I guess I'll have to enter the central continent sooner than I thought if I want to obtain those things.'

He reflected uncertainly, trying to console himself.

'Still, after exploring the intermediate continents, the number of spells shouldn't be a problem. I should be able to synthesize a few. Doing so will raise my strength again, giving me a bit more confidence to enter the central continent with an ancestor.'

With his goal clear, he steadied his mind.

It wasn't that Aotian was impatient or incapable of waiting, risking so much instead of developing quietly and unnoticed.

He could say that the problem was seeing his avatars — on the verge of breaking through to the next realm, which would greatly enhance the power of their abilities — stuck at the perfection of the Nascent Soul due to the lack of higher-level techniques. He considered it a great loss, which was why he was so eager for new techniques. And that would be true.

But the real reason he couldn't wait was something else.

Lately, Aotian had been feeling a strange unease coming from his ancestor-level avatars. The higher the cultivation, the clearer the sensation became.

And it all started after the mass epiphany.

From the moment he felt that connection with the world — when he triggered the special state that caused everyone to enter epiphany, except for him and his avatars due to the difficulty — Aotian felt as if he had established some kind of communication with the will of the heavens.

Through this non-verbal communication, guided by premonitions, the world seemed to desperately plead for his high-level avatars to hurry, as if something terrible was about to happen.

That sent chills down his spine, and he honestly didn't know what to do.

To be frank, he didn't fully trust the world's will. He didn't know whether it possessed personality or consciousness, or if it merely acted by instinct. As a Xianxia reader, he knew of many kinds of wills — some deceptive, some hostile, some benevolent — but most were simply instinctive systems of laws without true self-awareness.

Aotian judged, based on the indistinct premonitions begging him to hurry, that the will of this world seemed to fall into the latter category. It wasn't devoid of wisdom, but neither was it a sentient being with selfish goals — merely a set of instincts and higher laws meant to maintain the balance of the world.

He couldn't confirm if he was right or if it was just a misjudgment. But one thing was certain: when the world warned that something dangerous was approaching, it was not something to be ignored.

Thus, a powerful sense of anxiety rose in his heart — to the point he wondered if he should stop refining his foundation altogether and simply break through to the next realm with the resources he had, increasing his ancestors' strength immediately.

But that would be spitting on all the hard work he had done so far and jeopardizing his entire future.

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And so, Aotian's decision was clear.

'No, I can't do something that self-destructive. There must be another way…' That was his thought five days ago when the world's warning became clearer than ever, along with his anxiety.

Since that day, Aotian had been developing a trump card with all his focus — and the results had finally come that day.

Looking at the crimson pill in his hand, which exuded a chilling aura, he slowly stored it in his spatial ring with a heavy expression.

'I hope I won't have to use this thing…' He took a deep breath and clenched his fists.

Even so, he had to admit to himself that having that pill in hand had greatly boosted his confidence.

Shaking his head and setting the matter aside, he stood up and left his room, heading toward the one opposite.

Knocking on Rihai's door, he called out to her.

"Hai'er, it's time," he said, still a bit lost in thought.

The door soon opened, and a blonde Rihai came out, leaping to hug Aotian's neck, pulling him out of his contemplation.

"Why the distant look?" she asked curiously, gazing closely at her husband's face.

He looked into her eyes and kissed her nose as he began walking, holding her by the waist. Before leaving, he glanced inside the room — where the blue-haired Rihai watched him with an amused smile — and he winked at her.

At the moment, Rihai had not yet revealed her second body within the sect. Aotian had even considered letting her be an elder with one body and a disciple with the other, but since the aura the two emitted was identical — especially the aura of the soul — it would be easy for others to eventually discover they were the same person. That would cause confusion and could even expose her Divine Physique.

Thus, he decided it was better to keep her second body hidden, focused on cultivation, while her main body appeared publicly. Rihai agreed, finding his reasoning valid, and followed her husband's decision.

"Just thinking about a few things… Rihai, drastic changes may occur in the world soon, but trust in the sect. We can handle it. Just… be prepared, and when something happens, don't panic or act rashly, okay?" he warned with a serious look, staring into her beautiful blue eyes that showed surprise.

Despite the grave tone, he didn't let go of her waist and continued walking. Rihai's mood, however, darkened at the news.

"Changes…" she murmured, and her arms around Aotian's neck slowly loosened, letting her feet, clad in white boots, touch the ground once more.

Rihai began walking on her own beside him, holding his hand, but with her head lowered and her brows furrowed.

Seeing her like that, Aotian was puzzled.

"Hai'er… did something happen?" he asked softly.

She hesitated, then nodded.

"I wasn't sure, I was thinking about telling you…" she said uncomfortably, looking at him with some difficulty. "...But ever since the mass epiphany in the sect, I've been feeling a kind of unease and the impression that trouble was approaching. It was a hard and fleeting sensation to interpret, so I wasn't sure… I wondered if I was just overthinking or if something was wrong with my cultivation, but it seems it wasn't just in my head," she explained in a low voice, her tone tinged with confusion.

Aotian was surprised by the revelation.

It should be known that Rihai was still at the perfection of the Golden Core, refining her foundation in preparation for the breakthrough to Nascent Soul. That she could hear the voice of the world was truly shocking.

Until now, only ancestors could hear it clearly. There was also the sect leader, Tian Zhu, who was at the 2nd level of Soul Formation and could barely make out some confused murmurs.

From Rihai's description, the clarity of what she heard was lower than that of the ancestors, but a little better — or at least equal — to the sect leader's.

'If Rihai can hear it, then the world's call for help doesn't have a specific target within the sect, but is directed generally toward us, the Infinite Dao Sect. The will of the world is a high-level consciousness, so it must have sensed something extraordinary within the sect and recognized that there's something here capable of helping it…'

He thought, and his gaze toward Rihai slowly brightened with sudden realization.

'...And that something could be Rihai!'

As his mind worked, he quickly formed a theory about what was happening.

'Perhaps the world's consciousness isn't very strong, and that's why it doesn't fully understand what's extraordinary about the sect. But Rihai is, essentially, the daughter of the world.'

'From what Rihai told me, there's normally only one Divine Physique in a world at a time, since they are the world will's greatest investment, created to bring growth and strengthen it. Rihai is that current investment, and that must be why she can hear the world's plea for help even at such a low realm.'

'But she also told me that her father possessed divine roots. According to her, that had never happened before in history, which made it relatively easy for him to hide the truth — as long as he was alive, no one would imagine there could be a second Divine Physique existing at the same time, let alone that it was his own daughter. Creating essentially two Children of Fate at once shouldn't be easy even for the world's will itself; otherwise, it wouldn't have limited itself to only one per era before.'

'But thinking about it, when something that has never happened before suddenly occurs… it's not without reason. Perhaps her father wasn't enough for the problem the world faced, and so, unexpectedly, the world created a second Divine Physique.'

'But who could have imagined that her father would die along the way, and she would have her roots destroyed? Maybe the world lost all hope… until Rihai joined the Infinite Dao Sect. Not only did she recover her peak, but she also restored her roots and began advancing rapidly once again, rekindling the world's hope.'

'On the day of the Dao sermon, perhaps it wasn't just because my speech was good that the will of the world was awakened, but mainly because we were being blessed for restoring Rihai and nurturing her in the best possible way.'

'Of course, maybe the world also realized that my sect wasn't simple and began crying out for help from everyone. But most likely, all of this revolves around Rihai.'

The more he thought about it, the more he believed he was close to the truth. His heart steadied, and a gentle, serene smile formed on his lips.

He looked at his wife, whose face was filled with worry, and softly caressed her beautiful blonde hair he loved so much.

["Hai'er, don't think too much about these things. The sect is already aware of it. What you're hearing is the world's cry for help, and because of your physique, you can hear it. But this plea isn't limited to you — it encompasses everyone in the sect. So don't trouble that beautiful little head of yours with it. You just need to focus on your cultivation and leave these problems to us."]

He transmitted his voice directly to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, gently pulling her close in comfort.

His words drew her out of her tangled thoughts, and she rested her head on her husband's chest, leaning on him softly.

"So that's how it is…" she murmured and nodded, still somewhat distant.

Rihai only came back to herself once they exited the cave, lightly shaking her head before smiling again, trying to leave those thoughts behind.

She was still too weak to do anything about it at the moment. There was no point in worrying too much. Then she remembered why they were going out that day.

"Are you happy you get to show off today?" she asked, raising an eyebrow with a playful look as the cave door closed behind them.

Aotian smiled and shrugged.

"Well, if we don't flex our muscles every now and then, people might start underestimating us." he chuckled, removing his arm from her shoulders and taking her delicate hand as their feet lifted from the ground.

Rihai smiled playfully and followed her husband as they flew toward a dark tower rising in the distance.

That day marked the inauguration of the sect's challenge tower.

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