Xu Miao was stunned. She had encountered several once-in-a-millennium geniuses in a small sect.
If this were in any other sect, even gaining one would be a great honor for the entire sect.
What secret was Hua Xia Sect hiding?
High-grade spiritual roots were everywhere, and special geniuses were cutting trees and digging holes.
She couldn't imagine how Chu Huaian managed to do it.
"Falling Cloud Sect is finished."
A sense of powerlessness rose in Xu Miao's heart. Her main purpose in coming this time was to resolve the conflict between the two sides. After all, Chu Huaian, alone, trying to contend with 31 sects, was undoubtedly seeking death.
But now, in her opinion, it wasn't Chu Huaian who was in danger, but those 31 sects!
She had two choices before her.
One was to leave here, take the intelligence on Hua Xia Sect back to Falling Cloud Sect, and annihilate them in one fell swoop before Hua Xia Sect could develop, eliminating future troubles forever.
The second was to stay here and pretend nothing had happened.
Xu Miao fell into a state of confusion.
"The best way now is to persuade Senior Brother Chu to let go of his obsession."
Xu Miao sighed lightly. Although it was difficult, she had to try.
Behind the mountain, by the waterfall.
Chu Huaian slowly opened his eyes, looked at Xu Miao descending, and said coldly, "Do you think I won't kill you?"
"You won't," Xu Miao said with certainty.
Their gazes collided in the air for a few seconds. Chu Huaian turned his head and said indifferently, "Stay in Hua Xia Sect for now. You can go back when the North-South Hegemony Competition begins."
"Alright."
Xu Miao nodded, which perfectly aligned with her wishes.
Chu Huaian stopped speaking, calmly stood up, and flew to the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm.
The Spiritual Energy Secret Realm was equivalent to a spirit gathering array. The more spirit stones were invested, the richer the spiritual energy would be.
Inside the secret realm, there were dozens of rooms, and at this time, more than a dozen rooms were already occupied by other players.
To the right of the door, there was a retractable opening that could adjust the spiritual energy multiplier according to the number of spirit stones.
Chu Huaian put one thousand high-grade spirit stones into it, set the multiplier to twenty times, and the displayed time was one hour.
"One thousand high-grade spirit stones can only be cultivated for one hour?" Chu Huaian secretly clicked his tongue.
Pushing open the ancient door, a rich spiritual energy instantly surged forth, captivating the soul.
The twenty-times spiritual energy room was too rich; taking a breath made one's soul tremble.
Chu Huaian flashed in and closed the door.
Vast spiritual energy surged wildly into his body. In just a moment, his cultivation showed signs of breaking through.
This was simply too insane!
When one reached the Golden Core Stage, the more spiritual power was needed. Ordinary cultivators needed five to ten years of accumulation for each level up.
There was practically no second person in the cultivation world who cultivated as extravagantly as Chu Huaian.
Other sects did not lack spirit stones; what they lacked was auxiliary tools like the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm.
The Golden Core Stage was a very tedious realm, requiring daily absorption of spiritual energy to nourish the Golden Core, and the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm precisely shortened this time.
Once one reached the Nascent Soul Stage, the effect of the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm would be much smaller, because the Nascent Soul Stage not only needed to absorb spiritual energy but also needed to comprehend the laws of heaven and earth, turning decay into magic.
There was a saying in the cultivation world: Below Nascent Soul, all are ants. This was because Nascent Soul cultivators could borrow the power of heaven and earth, moving mountains and breaking rivers with a flick of a finger, plucking stars and overturning seas, being omnipotent.
Now that the Mo Yun Battlefield was about to open, Hua Xia Sect had to improve its strength in a short period.
Especially high combat power, there must be at least several Nascent Soul Stage cultivators to guard it, otherwise, it would be impossible to compete with other sects.
An hour of frantic absorption allowed Chu Huaian to break through to the second level of the Golden Core Stage.
After coming out of the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm, he went to his personal secret realm.
The function of this secret realm was only one: it would materialize an identical version of the challenger based on their cultivation, cultivation technique, physical body, and soul.
The challenger had to defeat himself within the specified time to pass the challenge.
Each successful challenge would grant an opportunity for physical body and soul reinforcement.
In the days that followed, Chu Huaian spent most of his time moving between the Demon Subduing Pagoda, the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm, and his personal secret realm.
As for other players, contribution points became their problem.
To level up quickly, one had to enter the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm to cultivate, and the Spiritual Energy Secret Realm required the support of spirit stones, which in turn required contribution points to exchange.
No contribution points meant no leveling up, forming a dead loop.
So how did contribution points come about?
Either by doing daily quests, or by spending money to acquire them, or like Fang Yuan and the others, by performing tasks assigned by Chu Huaian. Besides these, there was no other way.
Currently, there were five factions within the sect aggressively acquiring contribution points.
They were the Qin family, the Chen family, the Luo family, the Fang family, and Shen Qinghan.
After two days of price wars, the five families finally united their front and set the price at five thousand spirit stones for one contribution point.
This price immediately drove other players crazy, ultimately resulting in players cultivating frantically day and night to raise their levels.
Only by having a higher level would they obtain more contribution points.
This made the group of demonic beasts in the secret forest suffer. In less than half a month, all the demonic beasts were eradicated.
Wherever the players passed, not a blade of grass grew; it was a barren expanse.
Several Foundation Establishment Stage demonic beasts, led by the Flower-Patterned Lightning Leopard, collectively ran to the Hua Xia Sect mountain gate to beg for refuge on their knees to save their lives.
Chu Huaian did not kill them all. After all, they had been neighbors for four years, and there was still some old sentiment.
Thus, Hua Xia Sect welcomed its first batch of spirit pets.
These demonic beasts initially had some resentment, but once they entered the sect, they were so captivated by the spiritual energy inside that they worked even more frantically than the players.
Food, lodging, and cultivation techniques were provided for them to cultivate. Even more absurdly, there were even three major secret realms to improve their cultivation. This was simply heaven on earth!
The only downside was that no matter where they went, they would be petted by their senior brothers and sisters, which greatly annoyed them.
Among the fifth batch of players, Li Taibai and Chu Heshan made the fastest progress.
Both of them had extremely high comprehension, learning cultivation techniques instantly. On top of their original foundations, they integrated Blue Star cultivation techniques, creating their own.
Chu Heshan and Li Taibai were both ancient martial arts successors, with extremely solid foundations, so their cultivation speed far exceeded others, subtly showing a trend of catching up from behind.
As an outsider, Xu Miao witnessed all of this, from initial shock to current numbness.
She had also tried to persuade Chu Huaian but was repeatedly rebuked by him. Later, she gave up and spent her days wandering around the sect, occasionally offering guidance to the players' cultivation.
It is worth mentioning that Luo Xi established a reading club, whose members included Fang Guohua, Luo Zhongtian, Old Man Qin, Old Man Chen, and Xia Ling.
These few people stayed in the Scripture Pavilion all day, not stepping out of the main door, focusing on research.
Xia Ling was occasionally taken away by Chu Huaian to learn various magical arts and divine abilities.
As Chu Huaian's personal disciple, a once-in-a-millennium Chaos Body, Xia Ling almost broke through a realm every day, as easily as drinking water.
Seeing the cultivation of Hua Xia Sect disciples growing daily, Fang Yuan and the others who were left outside immediately became anxious, clamoring to return to the sect.
One week before the North-South Hegemony Competition began, everyone except Fang Yuan, Qin Hao, and Zhao Shijie returned to Hua Xia Sect.
On the same day, Fang Yuan and Qin Hao did something that shocked the entire Hehuan Sect.
The two of them broke into Liu Meiqing's secluded cultivation place and kidnapped her!