Chapter 548 - 510: Upheaval in the Eastern Domain

Chapter 548: Chapter 510: Upheaval in the Eastern Domain

’I’ve collected 808 types of poisons. In the last six months, I’ve only added about fifty more. The efficiency is clearly starting to slow down.’

The three Nascent Soul Sects, along with the Five Elements Sect, had all made collecting the poisons on the list for True Monarch Bai their top priority, and they were taking it very seriously.

Thousands of Sect Disciples swarmed the Hundred Thousand Evil, capturing poisons at the risk of their own lives to complete their sect missions.

Over the past few years, no small number of them had died, been injured, or been poisoned.

Yet, those few sects didn’t even dare to make a single request, praying only that True Monarch Bai would be satisfied.

A Sword Cultivator with power equivalent to a Great True Monarch was like a god in the Dian Country’s Cultivation Realm.

His every word carried supreme, inviolable authority.

Sects like the Joyful Sect and the Blood Sea Sect exploited the surrounding factions to a terrifying degree, squeezing them so dry you could render oil from their bones.

Many sects would rather abandon their ancestral Spirit Veins and flee from these Major Sects to the more remote Southern Border, just to find a path to survival.

In the Southern Domain, everyone was used to this.

That was why the Hundred Skills Sect and the other two sects feared the rewards offered by Bai Zichen as if they were venomous snakes and scorpions, showing no intention of ever coming to claim them.

It wasn’t until Bai Zichen noticed something was amiss—that no one had come to claim the rewards—that he realized the crux of the problem.

He took the initiative to invite the True Monarchs of the three sects for a frank discussion, which finally put them at ease enough to dare to accept the rewards.

After a few transactions since leaving the Northern Domain, Bai Zichen’s supply of Spirit Stones was beginning to run short.

His Top-Grade Spirit Stones were almost all spent, with only two Top-Grade Spirit Stones left to keep up appearances.

Fortunately, he still had a large batch of spoils—a dazzling array of Magical Treasures. While he himself looked down on them, they were still sufficiently tempting to Core Formation Cultivators.

For the past few years, Bai Zichen had been a guest at the Five Elements Sect, but he spent most of his time in the Star Palace Secret Realm, diligently comprehending the Taibai Sword Pill.

His skill in Refining Sword into Silk improved daily, and his mastery of One Sword Breaks Ten Thousand Laws was approaching Perfection.

Having used the Taibai Sword Pill to this extent, it had essentially fulfilled its purpose.

A path that would have originally taken decades or even centuries to walk was completed in just a few years.

’This is the benefit of having people under you. You don’t have to handle every trivial matter personally... However, from here on out, the remaining poisons won’t be so easy to obtain. I’ll have to take action myself.’

For other Sword Cultivators, Sword Light Division was a supreme realm they might never touch in their entire lives.

But for Bai Zichen, with his already outstanding Sword Dao Talent combined with a Sacred Body that affected every field of study, breaking through his current realm was only a matter of how much time it would take.

The Fourth Realm of Sword Dao was already within reach.

However, the hundred-plus missing poisons were either powerful in their own right or grew in areas guarded by High-Tier Insect Beasts, making them difficult to acquire.

The progress from here on would inevitably slow down.

Bai Zichen thought for a moment, then took out the few Top-Grade Magical Treasures he kept in his Realm and added them to the rewards.

At the same time, he told Master Qingmu the location of the grotto that produced the Earth Spirit Milk, instructing him to inform the Nascent Soul True Monarchs of the three sects that if they could gather another hundred poisons, the four sects could share the grotto from then on.

He was about to reach the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul Realm, and the last vestiges of the Earth Spirit Milk’s effects would soon be useless to him anyway. He might as well use it as a reward to motivate those Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

The remaining poisons were all tough nuts to crack. If he wanted to see any significant progress, it would require the Nascent Soul True Monarchs to lead the teams personally.

Bai Zichen’s goal was precisely to galvanize Yu Baichan and the others into action, thereby saving himself some more time.

After storing the new batch of poisons, Bai Zichen put on his mask again and returned to the Star Palace Secret Realm to begin his final sprint toward the Sword Light Splitting Realm.

’Upon first entering the Sword Light Splitting Realm, one can manifest a hundred rays of Sword Light, each with a tenth of the main body’s power... When mastered to a profound level, a thousand or ten thousand rays are commonplace, until one reaches the point of "a sword giving birth to all things" and One Sword Forms the Array. That is the pinnacle of Sword Dao in the Human World.’

The Ziwei Dazzling Thunder Sword transformed into Thunder Radiance, weaving and flowing between his palms, occasionally shattering into countless sparks of lightning.

From a literal description, Sword Light Division could increase a Sword Cultivator’s killing power tenfold in an instant, with that multiplier increasing at higher levels.

But Bai Zichen, who possessed the True Understanding of Sword Dao and had personally witnessed Tang Fei fight using the Sword Light Splitting Realm, had a practical understanding of this Sword Dao Realm’s true power.

The divided Sword Lights seemed useful, but against a Cultivator of the same level, their effect was limited, as the opponent could easily counter them.

When translated into actual combat, a forty to fifty percent increase in effectiveness was already considered good.

It was only when facing opponents a level below him that Sword Light Division could truly display the grace of the Supreme Sword Dao, allowing him to instantly slay even ten or a hundred times the number of foes.

Only upon truly cultivating to the stage of One Sword Breaks Ten Thousand Laws would another qualitative transformation occur.

"A sword giving birth to all things" and One Sword Forms the Array—that was the true foundation of confidence for those few Heaven-Defying Sword Cultivators in history who challenged those of higher realms with just the Flying Sword in their hand.

’A breakthrough in my Sword Dao Realm is also a good thing for the Star River Sword Array... The Sword Array is already as vast and boundless as the cosmos, capable of containing all things. If I then wield it with Sword Light Division, it will be like the universe of stars, an unparalleled abyss, its mysteries too profound to describe.’

The Thunder Radiance suddenly swelled into a sea, bursting out of the Tower Temple and dyeing the surrounding hundred-mile region into a scene of golden snakes dancing wildly, like the descent of a Thunder God.

At other times, it would dim until it was lustreless, leaving only tiny, rice-grain-sized specks of electric sparks flashing.

From the moment Bai Zichen first touched a sword, all his knowledge and all his epiphanies in the Sword Dao erupted at this moment, becoming the fuel that pushed his realm forward.

Although he possessed the Mysterious Holy Body, which guaranteed that with enough diligent and repetitive practice, he would one day break through naturally.

It wasn’t like with cultivation, where one automatically advanced when their True Essence overflowed.

Whether it was the Hundred Skills of Cultivation or Divine Power Secret Techniques, the time it took to break through a bottleneck always varied depending on an individual’s talent, the time invested, and other factors.

If he were to rely solely on his Sacred Body, it would take Bai Zichen ten years of steady progress to reach the Fifth Realm of Sword Dao.