Chapter 1012: Future Plans

Chapter 1012: Chapter 1012: Future Plans

"From now on, aside from digging deeper into the potential of the Destiny Panel and using Martial Performance to raise my cultivation methods’ grade and Great proficiency, the foremost priority is to cultivate a Dharma Body and condense a Primordial Dao Fruit! First, it can help me step over the threshold into the True Immortal sect; second, it can increase my combat strength to face the enlightment tribulation."

"However, the enlightment tribulation is far too perilous—especially for a ’thief’ like me, bearing rebellious heart and defiant bones, long since written into the universe’s will blacklist. I estimate it will be even more terrifying than the Longevity Demon Lord’s tribulation."

"I still have to use every means to elevate my own strength and foundation, and increase the success rate of crossing the tribulation. In addition, if ’one has merit upon the Path, and conduct among the human world’, the Immortal Tribulation will also be somewhat lighter, and the True Immortal Dao Fruit attained will be higher... Apart from slaying Heavenly Demons, sweeping away Evil Spirits, and warding off leftover evil of the old era, spreading the Immortal Path among men can likewise earn considerable cultivation merit." Shen Mo murmured under his breath.

As for what it means to have merit upon the Path, and what it means to have conduct among the human world, the will of heaven and earth of the universe has its own mysterious and yet more mysterious standards of judgment. But after carefully consulting Jade Spring Fairy, Shen Mo could confirm one thing: if one can cause the Immortal Path in a region, or even an entire continent, to flourish, that is a great merit to heaven and earth.

According to Shen Mo’s understanding, once the Immortal Path is flourishing, on the macro level it benefits the entire universe, can further patch up the innate deficiencies in the Immortal Great Path, and slow the End of Era of the Divinity Era; on the micro level, it can nurture more Xian Dao Stronghold to eradicate Heavenly Demons, Evil Spirits, old leftover evils and other harmful existences... Under the entanglement of layer upon layer of Cause and Effect, the one who spreads the Path naturally can share in a vast amount of cultivation merit!

For instance, in the Nine Abysses Sea of Cangwu Continent, there are also quite a few True Immortals who have established sects and preached among the human world.

Though standing from Shen Mo’s perspective, he feels the Nine Abysses Sea is a paradise for Evil Demons, and that True Immortals like the patriarch of the Ancient Demon Palace walk the Evil Magic crooked way; yet if one stands at a higher vantage...

These crooked Evil Magic existences likewise can help complete the Immortal Path, and are of benefit to the universe.

Moreover, even Evil Immortals and Demon Immortals, once their cultivation level reaches a certain height, must go guard the Heavenly Gateway and maintain this heaven and earth. Thus even if they spread Evil Magic and demonic arts, as long as the people karmically tied to them are not Heavenly Demons and have not violated various taboos, they too can earn cultivation merit!

Conversely, some actions not only fail to earn cultivation merit, but will cause karmic sin-power to coil around one. For example, the two top Earth Immortals in the northern part of Dongjie Continent going all-out against each other and turning tens of millions of miles into a dead land; or the Soaring Serpent and Bizarre Dragon relying on devouring a minor world to cultivate; or annihilating billions of creatures so that the Immortal Path of a region declines; or the disciples one shelters and nurtures ending up violating the local heaven-and-earth taboos, and so on.

"Even an Earth Immortal like Jade Spring Fairy can hardly fully fathom the heavenly tally. I need not brood too much. Aside from the relatively clear avenues of accruing merit, making the Immortal Path of Red Flame Sect, Five Dragon Mountain, and even the entire Corpse Mountain Range increasingly prosperous is without doubt the most suitable means at present to earn cultivation merit."

The reason Shen Mo values the Demon Soul host so highly also contains such considerations. If a Seventh-Order Great Demon is nurtured and a demonic calamity stirred up, it would not only affect the spiritual item resources he needs for cultivation, but would greatly diminish his cultivation merit.

"In my spare time from cultivation, I should properly manage Red Flame Sect and Five Dragon Mountain!" Shen Mo made up his mind, then began planning the related matters.

First, he needed to arrange the complete Earth Yuan Array.

With this great enemy, Lord Blue Venerable, hovering around, it is like having a sharp sword suspended above one’s head, not knowing when it will descend to cut.

If she truly mobilizes forces from within the Immortal Realm to come kill at the door, although Shen Mo can flee to the Lower Realm via the two-realm pass, the sect disciples who cannot hide in the Fairyland in time, and the other powers upon the mountain, will inevitably be slaughtered to the last—likely even Five Dragon Mountain would be wiped out, and all the meticulous management up to now would be a bamboo basket scooping water, all for naught.

Second is the enhancement of Red Flame Sect’s foundation and overall strength.

After two to three hundred years of development, the number of creatures in the cave paradise has grown five to sixfold; the Red Flame Sect Members now exceed ten million. In total, thirty-three people have cultivated to the Divine Bridge Realm, with nearly one person attaining enlightenment every ten years.

But in the last thirty years, not a single person has shown signs of erecting the Divine Bridge. The reason, upon examination, lies in the fact that thanks to the unification of the Red Flame Zone and the grand opportunity of Ascension to the Immortal Realm, the cultivators accumulated over many years in the Red Flame Zone broke through in succession, causing a sudden boom of Great Cultivator within the sect. Now the foundation has already been largely exhausted; barring accidents, a very long and gentle flat period will follow.

Thus Shen Mo planned to work from two directions. On one hand, to increase the sect’s foundation as much as possible—for instance, finding a way to open up the cave paradise into a true Minor World; or having the Divine Bridge cultivators within the sect continue to excavate treasures from the Dreamland; or drawing on the underlying heritage and legacy of Heaven Patrolling Temple and the Torch Dragon faction. On the other hand, to reform the current system of Red Flame Sect and Five Dragon Mountain, using all sorts of methods to promote the development of the Immortal Path in this region.

Of course, all this had to be advanced gradually; it is the work of centuries and millennia.

"Let’s first arrange the Earth Yuan Array!"

With a flicker of thought, Shen Mo left Green Cloud Cave; in the blink of an eye, his figure appeared at the outer mountain gate.

On Five Dragon Mountain, because the distance was relatively short, he did not employ the clairvoyant consciousness method of the Formless Realm to transmit thought, but directly used a Communication Talisman to inform Shi Nianyao and the other two Formless Masters!

Before long, three streaks of escaping light rose from the southern slope, soon appearing outside the Mountain Protection Array.

The outer mountain gate also lay within the Yin-Yang Five Elements Array; but the purple-robed Elder watching over the Formation had already received Shen Mo’s order. Seeing the three streaks of escaping light flying over, he hastily opened a passage!

"Greetings, Qingyun fellow daoist!" The three figures landed one after another before Shen Mo, bowing in salute.

Shen Mo naturally returned the salute one by one. These three were all Great Cultivators of the Torch Dragon Mountain Range, who along with over a hundred million immortals and mortals had been brought to Five Dragon Mountain by Shen Mo a few years prior. By now they had firmly established themselves on the southern slope. Among them, Palace Master of Heavenly Phoenix Palace Shi Nianyao was late-stage Formless, Eight Trigrams Sect Supreme Elder Tiansuan Zi was Formless Intermediate Stage, and Dou Clan Clan Leader Dou Fei was early-stage Formless.

"Three fellow daoists, I, Shen Mou, intend to move eight medium-grade Immortal Mountains and sixty-three Lower Grade Immortal Mountain to lay down an immortal big array to guard Five Dragon Mountain. However, I have lately been busy with cultivation and truly lack the ability to spare a Separation, so I wish to entrust the mountain-moving task to the three of you. I wonder if this is feasible?"

After exchanging a few polite words with the three Great Cultivators, Shen Mo explained the reason he had summoned them.

"Qingyun, you jest. With our cultivation level, don’t say medium-grade Immortal Mountains—even Lower Grade Immortal Mountain, we can’t budge." Shi Nianyao, looking like a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl and possessing the highest cultivation level among the three, evaluated her own strength after hearing Shen Mo’s words, and immediately shook her head with a wry smile.

Hum——

Spirit light flashed in Shen Mo’s hand, and a Mountain-moving Whip, hideous in shape and resembling dragon bones, appeared before the three. He smiled faintly and said, "This is Shen Mou’s Lifebound Magical Artifact. Its attack and defense powers are mediocre and unremarkable, but it possesses the ability to drive mountains and fill seas. Once I open up part of its permissions, outsiders can also activate this treasure. However, to fully bring out this magic treasure’s might, one must at least have Formless Realm cultivation. At present, throughout Five Dragon Mountain, apart from you three, no one else can take on this task!"