Determination

After organizing all the techniques, the two outer elders of the Heritage Pavilion began walking among the rows of techniques.

The techniques were arranged in a grid on the wall. Although they were small jade slips and not large in comparison to the massive wall, their quantity was so vast that there wasn't just a single grid layer against the wall — there were also layers in front of it.

That arrangement was only temporary, as there were other floors, and each one would store techniques for a specific cultivation realm.

For now, although a basic classification had already been made, errors could still exist — and that's where the outer elders of the Heritage Pavilion came in.

[Name: —

Position: Outer Elder (Heritage Pavilion)

Cultivation: 1st Level Foundation Establishment (Realm of the Host)

Position Skill: Heart of Knowledge

Affiliation Skill: Affinity with Wisdom

Position Bonus: Soul Challenge (4 times a day)]

These elders possessed some abilities that Aotian found interesting.

First came the Position Skill, which was being used at that moment. Just like the position abilities of the other outer elders, this one granted the elder a supernatural intuition over a specific subject. Outer elders of forging could obtain nearly perfect information about a mineral, alchemy elders could read everything about an herb, and Heritage Pavilion elders, in turn, could gain a full understanding of a type of knowledge.

For example, even without reading what was written on the jade slips, just by deactivating the fog formation and allowing the elder to see them directly, the energy in their bodies would begin to stir, and insights would start to appear to them.

Then, they would gain a clear answer about the apparent tier of the technique, as well as an understanding of what it did and could do. They didn't actually learn the techniques through analysis, but the slips would practically whisper their secrets and purposes, offering an excellent general understanding.

But analyzing every technique among the hundreds of thousands there would be extremely time-consuming.

Although he wasn't specifically looking for Refiner-Tier techniques, Aotian couldn't resist and ended up bringing all the ones he found, which significantly increased the total number.

Fortunately, since the elders were already at the Foundation Establishment realm, analyzing Refiner-Tier techniques was quite fast. To optimize time and categorize the level of the techniques as quickly as possible, they would first do a superficial check with their ability: if information began to appear almost immediately, they would classify it as Refiner-Tier; if it took a little longer, they would proceed with a deeper analysis to check for any hidden secrets.

Even so, the task wouldn't be fast with so many techniques — but it wouldn't take forever either.

Thus, the two outer elders handled classification while the two inner elders continued studying the techniques.

Wen Tai, the inner elder, sat cross-legged, took a new jade slip, and pressed it to his forehead to begin analyzing it.

'Iron Ox Technique — Body Refinement Technique of Refiner-Tier. Good, I'm getting closer to synthesizing the body refinement technique,' Aotian thought, excited upon seeing the technique.

The truth was that he had been trying to compile a body refinement technique for a long time, but it hadn't been as simple as he'd imagined.

Since martial arts — a degraded version of body refinement — were numerous and easy to find, he initially thought body refinement would be the same. But he was completely mistaken.

As he explored with his avatars, he discovered that any cultivator with a bit of intelligence, knowledge about spell creation, and understanding of martial concepts could create such techniques, since they were extremely basic and crude.

Of course, they were nothing like the synthesized techniques Aotian developed, which granted strength equivalent to a cultivator and allowed progress in just a few months to the Innate level.

No, the techniques created by other cultivators and commonly used among mortals basically took a lifetime — with luck — to reach the Innate level and form scattered roots, achieving strength only equivalent to the first level of Qi Refinement when complete. And that wasn't because martial arts granted that strength, but because upon forming roots they automatically entered that realm.

It was this ease of creation that made countless techniques available among mortals. With enough study, even martial artists could craft their own.

But everything changed when it came to true body refinement.

It's necessary to understand that a mortal will explode if they allow spiritual energy to enter their unprepared body without roots to protect it. Even if they are prepared, they can only receive minuscule amounts of energy.

And to refine the body, it is necessary to use spiritual energy in large quantities, which leads to the inevitable conclusion: to refine the physique, one must possess spiritual roots. And just like with ordinary cultivation, the quality of those roots — and how the cultivator nurtures them — determines how far they can go.

Therefore, body cultivation is not a separate path, but an auxiliary one, which must walk alongside ordinary cultivation. One cannot be a body cultivator at the Foundation Establishment realm while their actual cultivation is still at Qi Refinement. The reverse is possible, but body refinement can never surpass the primary cultivation — unless one obtains a great opportunity.

Obviously, if that were all, body cultivation would be nearly mandatory, and the techniques would be common. But as expected, there's a catch.

Constantly refining the body up to one's current cultivation level can negatively affect the spiritual roots within the body and even cripple them.

That's why high-quality techniques are necessary, combined with the constant use of medicinal materials and pills to protect the roots throughout the process. But in the desert, such resources — especially medicinal materials — are hard to come by, which led to the near-total decline of this cultivation method on the continent.

Despite that, Aotian hadn't given up on synthesizing a body refinement technique. After all, the synthesized technique approached near-perfection, and something perfect shouldn't need something so external like various medicinal materials… at least, that's what Aotian believed.

'I'm close to gathering enough techniques. Even in decline, I was still able to find some Refiner-Tier Body Refinement techniques. With the knowledge-generating ability of the inner elders of the Heritage Pavilion, around 50 techniques should be enough — and I'm almost there,' Aotian thought, excited to be so close to refining his body once more.

From the martial arts he had synthesized himself, Aotian had already achieved a physique comparable to a body refiner at the 4th level of Qi Refinement. And for a long time, he had wanted to further strengthen his body.

'Besides, as strange as it is to think this… I need to send a few idle outer elders to brothels in mortal cities and acquire methods and sexual positions from men and women. And I need to send others to the 16 cities to search for cultivator brothels, though among them, 10 are sects and probably don't even have brothels, which complicates things.'

'I probably won't gather enough samples to synthesize a technique from just 6 cities. After all, I'm not working with complete techniques, just scattered knowledge, and I'll need many different examples.'

Aotian pondered, feeling a bit troubled, but then thought of something that calmed him.

'I've only been thinking of Founder-Tier cities. I need to consider the Refiner-Tier ones too. There are more of them, and they surely have many brothels. But I don't have enough elders to be in so many places, dealing with so many people and asking for their knowledge. I'll have to outsource the work. Even so, I still don't think it'll be enough… in the end, I'll have to invade the territories of other Core Formation sects — for brothels, techniques, inheritances, and materials.'

He reflected, and determination shone in the eyes of his main body.

'In two months, the sect will conduct a new recruitment, and by then the current disciples will have grown enough to be useful. An invasion would be a great training opportunity for them. And I can do this every two months. Invasion, recruitment, two months of training, new invasion.'

Aotian's heart began to race, and he couldn't help but feel excited. More and more plans surged in his heart.

'As more and more disciples grow stronger, I can speed up the invasions and move into other continents as well — and then soon, the Infinite Dao Sect would dominate and become the sovereign of this world. I can also send the Red Tige—' He continued planning, but at that moment, he froze, and his heart trembled.

In his main body, he opened his eyes and looked at his own hands, slightly trembling.

'W-What's happening to me?!' he thought in disbelief, clenching his fists, trying to stop the shaking.

'Since when did thoughts of domination and conquest start flooding my mind so easily? Have I already forgotten the example of when I invaded the Red Tiger Forest?! When did my ambition grow this much?'

Aotian pondered, confused and distressed, with a solemn gaze, struggling to understand when he had changed like this.

But then, he began to remember.

'Black Rock Mountain — I invaded without thinking because I knew the lord of the mountain had a major problem. The Bamboo Sword Sect and the 16 cities were invaded because I was in trouble, didn't feel safe, and needed strength — so I invaded without trying to harm those who didn't deserve it.'

'Then came the Red Tiger Forest, and I attacked again, because I sought justice for the people of the city who had died… but vengeance wasn't going to bring those people back. In the end, it was just to make myself feel better for not having done anything at the time. But in the end, I changed my mind and saved the Tiger.'

'In the end… it was all for my own selfishness. And again, I want to invade other places out of my own selfishness…'

He once more looked down at his clenched fists and slowly rested them on his thighs, a complex look in his eyes.

'I haven't changed… I've always been like this — I just hadn't realized it.'

'I put myself on a morally high pedestal, but in the end, I'm still human. Desires and selfishness also dwell within my heart. But what changes…'

His eyes slowly grew resolute.

'… is what I do with those desires, and how far I'm willing to go for them. I won't stop my invasion plans! If I want to protect the ones I love and see my family again, I have to do this. But I'll follow my principles and establish firmer rules to affect as few people as possible.'

Aotian thought with determination and resolve in his heart.

He would not let himself be lost in the desire for power and domination, but he also wouldn't stop moving forward just to maintain a lofty moral stance.

Decision blazed in his eyes as he understood himself more deeply.

'I'm selfish, I won't deny it. But my heart is not evil.'

"I am Long Aotian — arrogance in name, kindness in heart, determination in mind."

He proclaimed confidently, opening his hands, which no longer trembled, his heart set on pressing forward, no matter what the world threw at him.

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The story is going to speed up now.