Chapter 2303: Strength Upgraded

Zu An had long been stuck at level 75, unable to go past it because of the limitation of the world’s source. But now that the two worlds had been merged together, that source was greatly strengthened. The cultivators of this world naturally benefited as well, and also experienced their cultivation rising. Even the ones who didn’t immediately make breakthroughs could now cultivate at much faster speeds.

However, Zu An received the most benefits. After all, he held the authority of the world, so the sea of natural ki surged toward his body first. By relying on his absorption ability together with the Keyboard System, he had accumulated a lot of energy after killing so many powerful beings. Now that the world’s limitation was removed, the aura within him began to climb crazily.

Level 76… Level 77… Level 78… Level 79… It continued all the way to level 79 before stopping!

Naturally, the further one went along in cultivation, the harder it would be to make any progress, to the point of becoming seemingly impossible. Many people couldn't make any progress even after exhausting the rest of their lifespans. On top of that, at this point, the system’s levels were each comparable to an entire greater cultivation realm. Even one was like the difference between an earth immortal and a grandmaster.

Even though he had killed so many monsters and stored up all that power, Zu An had expected to reach around level 77 or 78 at most. He hadn’t expected to go straight to level 79!

After all, the experience needed for every subsequent level rose by an astronomical amount. Eventually, the curve was practically exponential. Even though he had killed a lot of monsters, because of the world’s limitations, a lot of the energy had been wasted. And even if it hadn't been wasted, he had never expected to go straight to level 79.

Sensing his confusion, Mi Li explained, “I believe it's because you have both the authority of this cultivation world and the underworld. After you merged the two worlds, the world sources gave you their power as their owner to help bring you to a new level.”

Zu An nodded. He finally realized the benefits of merging with the will of the world. Not only did it give him power up front to make him stronger, more importantly, it made him realize that the power could actually be used this way. However, if he left this world, he wouldn’t be able to use this world’s power at will anymore. He wouldn't be as strong as he was here.

Still, it was more important that he'd come into contact with a source of power like this. His new worldview was something his past self could never have hoped to attain.

“For now, you should cultivate in seclusion to completely get used to this new power. Otherwise, you'll easily run into problems after entering the Monster World,” Mi Li said.

“Of course.” Zu An naturally knew that in a new cultivation rank, whether it was speed, power, or other things, he needed to adapt to them. Otherwise, if his mind and body didn’t match, he'd easily make mistakes for enemies to exploit. When powerful cultivators fought, victory and defeat were often decided by a narrow margin. Even though he had relied on the world’s authority to crush all sorts of powerful cultivators, he didn’t really think he could easily overwhelm such powerful monsters once he reached the Monster World.

“By the way, I heard that the Monster World was facing the danger of the Annihilation Beast earlier. It’s best if you don’t engage in any conflict with that Annihilation Beast,” Mi Li suddenly warned Zu AN.

“Why do you say that?” Zu An asked curiously.

Judging from the description provided by the True Demon Emissary, the Annihilation Beast was extremely frightening. It could use terrifying cyclones to easily destroy powerful celestial bodies. The Monster World had conquered countless other worlds and plundered those worlds' sources to merge into their world, making it incomparably large; to a certain extent, it could already be considered a galaxy. And yet, the Annihilation Beast could easily destroy all that. It was easy to see just how powerful it was.

Zu An naturally didn't want to provoke such a creature. But once he went to the Monster World, things wouldn't necessarily go as he wished. He could end up facing that Annihilation Beast. But Mi Li was warning him so seriously; just why was that?

“The Annihilation Beast isn’t that scary. What’s scary is the master behind it,” Mi Li said with deep worry.

“The Annihilation Beast’s master?” Zu An exclaimed in surprise. A monster that could easily destroy a planet, or even a galaxy, actually had an owner?

“Of course. As for who it is, it’s not someone you can afford to have contact with, so don’t be in a rush to find out. The reason I told you not to fight with that Annihilation Beast is to avoid the detection of that owner,” Mi Li warned him seriously.

Zu An nodded and didn’t continue to ask about the subject. He couldn't even defeat the Annihilation Beast, so why would he even think about facing the master behind it? Sometimes, when the difference in strength was too great, knowing too many secrets would only bring about endless troubles and dangers.

Mi Li had a gratified smile when she saw that he was being so cooperative.

He's now much more mature than before.

Then, Mi Li went back to sleep and Zu An entered secluded cultivation. The other women also made use of the abundant natural ki caused by the worlds merging.

…

After several days passed, all of them made considerable progress.

Pei Mianman had been at the master rank to begin with, but she immediately broke through into the wisdom mortal stage of the grandmaster rank. She created the Fire Butterfly Domain for herself. Her fighting strength was now far more formidable.

Xie Daoyun reached the essence mortal soul stage, which was the peak of the master rank. She was now only a single step from the grandmaster rank. Her main strength came from runes and formations, so the increase in her cultivation realm mainly provided her with more mental strength and ki.

Yun Yuqing had been the one with the highest cultivation rank to begin with. When Zu An first met her, she had already been at the master rank level. Whether it was Zu An, Chuyan, Manman, or the others, they had only been around the sixth rank. Now, she went straight to the ascension mortal soul stage and cultivated her yin spirit.

Suolun Shi was a Demon race genius, so she also reached the master rank.

The most surprising was Jiang Luofu. She actually reached the grandmaster rank as well. As she said, her students were all so amazing, so how could a principal like her fall too far behind?

Zu An knew Jiang Luofu was the perfect example of good preparation. Among the women, her foundation was the sturdiest. Someone like Manman had experienced miraculous encounters again and again, and increasing her cultivation too quickly like this could make it unstable. But Jiang Luofu was the late libationer’s personal disciple, as well as one of the great teachers of the rear mountain.

In the past, she had deliberately kept her cultivation rank lower because of the crown princess candidacy to avoid attention. However, she didn’t have such misgivings now. Together with the fact that she had to protect Xiaoxi on this trip, she went all out with her cultivation, naturally resulting in a powerful breakthrough.

Ji Xiaoxi’s cultivation rank was a bit lower, only reaching around the beginning stage of the ninth rank. When she saw that everyone else’s cultivation far surpassed her own, she was about to cry.

After being around each other for some time, the others had formed a good impression of this kind-hearted and gentle little sister. All of them comforted her.

But the more they comforted her, the more Ji Xiaoxi felt that she was useless.

Zu An couldn't help but smile when he saw her, though. He said, “Xiaoxi, you're already improving pretty quickly. In the past, reaching the ninth rank at your age would have already been considered impossible. It’s something that would actually be recorded as an amazing achievement in cultivation history.”

Ji Xiaoxi pouted. “Big brother Zu is lying to me again. Didn’t you and the big sisters easily reach the ninth rank too?”

Zu An’s expression froze. “Uh… We're a bit special. Your cultivation speed is already at genius level. Besides, you're good at medicine and pill refinement. Cultivation isn’t even your main strength.”

“But big sister Xie is also good at talismans and formations, and she's already about to reach the grandmaster rank.” Tears appeared in Ji Xiaoxi’s eyes as she spoke.

Xie Daoyun had a weird expression.

I probably wouldn’t have been able to reach this level too if I just cultivated normally.

It was mainly because she had followed big brother Zu and experienced all kinds of miraculous encounters. She had obtained the three magical talismans and Sun En’s inheritance, which was why she was able to grow like this.

Zu An said with a smile, “You are the youngest. If you were given another year or two, you'd probably be able to catch up too.”

“Really?” Ji Xiaoxi was not fully convinced. To go from the beginning of the ninth rank to the peak of the master rank in a year just felt a bit like a fantasy.

“Of course,” Xie Daoyun said with a smile. “If you stay at big brother Zu’s side, you'll improve really quickly. Also, some of your strength lies in medicine. Not only can you poison your enemies, you can also use pills to increase your own cultivation. You’ll definitely cultivate faster than other people.” She mainly practiced with runes, so she sympathized a lot with that experience.

“But my father said that increasing cultivation with medicine would easily create instability in my foundation.” Ji Xiaoxi excelled at medicine, so she naturally understood that worry.

Zu An paused for a moment before saying, “That's all in the past. Now that the world has merged, the world’s natural ki is abundant. Use pills to assist in cultivation, and the rest of us will help you dissolve the medicinal strength. It’ll be fine as long as you don’t purely rely on the pills to increase your cultivation.”

In the past, the world’s ki hadn’t been as rich as the ki stored in pills. If cultivators relied purely on natural ki to cultivate, it would be much slower. But if one used pills to attempt breakthroughs, even if it resulted in increased cultivation speed, thee huge difference from the world’s ki would make it like going against one's fate. That naturally led to a great deal of trouble.

However, the world’s ki was now richer than before, shrinking the disparity between the two sources of ki. The side effects of using pills to cultivate were now much weaker as a result.

“Okay, I’ll listen to big brother Zu.” Having found a way to become stronger, Ji Xiaoxi immediately had a big smile.

The women all cursed inwardly.

We said so many words to persuade you, but they weren’t as useful as a few words from your big brother Zu at all. Hmph, people really do forget loyalty when it comes to love.

…

After a few more days passed, they all completed their preparations. The group gathered around the formation. They took out the Four Symbols Stones, ready to investigate the Monster World and see what was really going on there.