In the Qinglong World, half a year had passed. Amidst Theodore's time-honed routine of eight hours of Energy Vein Incorporation, another eight hours of dedicated cultivation and eight more hours filled with everything else that needed doing–primarily his regular cleansings as well as Energy Vein collection–the days flew by.
All would have continued in such a peaceful manner, had it not been for the fact that the entire world's various resources had now been very thoroughly harvested. There might still be a few Imperial Han Family members here and there, but finding them simply wasn't worth the hassle any longer. At the same time, Theodore had scoured every nook and cranny for additional Energy Veins. During the last month, he had barely found any, and today, he had officially run out of places to go to. Except for the subterranean base and Qinglong City, there were no longer any other places with a noteworthy Energy concentration around!
Well, that wasn't entirely correct. Technically speaking, wherever he went, his surroundings would turn into a cultivation paradise even surpassing the room in which he had found Faavi. He had improved by leaps and bounds, eventually managing to quadruple his incorporation speed when compared to when he had started. This had allowed him to replace an entire 28.84 percent of his meridians' walls with carefully woven Energy Veins.
This had also caused him to notice that there was indeed another 'hard limit' beyond the natural one. At some point, despite adding more Energy Veins inside of him, the ambient Energy concentration hadn't kept increasing, and he also couldn't feel more of it coursing through his meridians. It was as if the moment after it appeared, it was redirected elsewhere. Strangely, though, the amount of it passively absorbed by his body didn't seem to face this limitation, resulting in his Body Refinement speed growing to utterly mind-boggling levels.
'... previously, I complained about how slowly I was progressing, but now, I simply do not have the gall to say the same. I mean, my current average is more than 270,000 Body Refinement Stage realms per hour...'
Glancing at the number displayed in his Status Panel, it showed 298,347,901, yet it was constantly rising at a breakneck pace. Despite this, his actual power had not seen a meaningful increase–after all, with around 450 billion in each Standard Attribute, the addition of about 3 billion in all of them over these past six months was close to negligible.
Of course, Theodore didn't mind these issues much. He simply wanted to see how far he could currently go. At this point, even when he wasn't deliberately focusing on cultivation, his Body Refinement Stage's realms would still increase every second, almost subconsciously. This was the main reason as to why it had reached such a staggering figure.
Due to all of his cleansings, he now also had around 4.717 trillion Attribute Points at his disposal again. If he wanted to gain any more of them, though, then he would have to visit another world.
And that was exactly what he was currently preparing for. Based on the records that the Hans had left behind, their local empire consisted of a total of 35 states, with the Qinglong State being merely one of them. From the notes of Han Qingchao, he could also be certain that another one of them, Gulong State, had fallen to a member of the Dragon Family.
When he had first found out about this, he couldn't help but raise his guard a little, but then he reconsidered his current position. With him firmly opposing the Hans and having taken over another world of theirs himself, his competitor would certainly develop a hint of fondness for him. And while that would not necessarily guarantee that they wouldn't come to blows, at the very least, this peer of his would likely not resort to underhanded methods. After all, the Dragon Family was well known to abide by a strict code of honour.
But naturally, he wouldn't rely on his opponent behaving this charitably. With all of his Subordinates at his side, he was confident that he could put up a good fight, should it come down to it. Still, he would much prefer it if they simply both went their own way. There was no need for Supreme Pillar descendants like them to clash this early, was there?
All this time, Xie Mei and Han Junqiao hadn't requested that he inform them of how to break through to the Dawning Numen Stage. Whilst Xie Mei had already reached the Mundanity Shedding Realm months ago, approaching the Divine Gate proved to be difficult enough to allow her sister to catch up to her. Right now, neither of them were likely to show any significant progress within a year or so, despite their best efforts.
Vigdis, Cheong Suhyeon and Navya were also 'stuck' at the moment. In other words, their cultivation realms had not improved for a long time, regardless of their hard work–but during the Dawning Numen Stage, that was the norm. Vigdis had yet to break through to the third realm, whereas the other two had not advanced to the second one yet.
All of his other Subordinates had made it to various realms in the Initial Ascension Stage, with Conrad leading the pack at the Mundanity Shedding Realm, and Satoru bringing up the rear with his Faux Dantian Engraving Realm.
As for the ever-dutiful Li Shuying, she had broken through to the Bone Refinement Realm five months ago and was now steadily progressing towards the Viscera Refinement Realm. Although this cultivation speed appeared pathetic in comparison to all of the monstrous geniuses which she was surrounded by, this didn't bother her–nor did anyone make fun of her for it. After all, compared to other people with the same total absence of any aptitude for cultivation, she was growing stronger incredibly quickly.
'The Yulong State sounds like a good target for the Fly Slave Breeding Project. It seems to have the highest number of Imperial Han Family members out of all of the remaining ones, even surpassing Longxin State, which houses the empire's capital.'
Sending this piece of information to Kjartan via Kiran's network, so that his Fly Slave provider could prepare himself in advance, he pored over all the other data that he had on hand, finally settling on the next world which would be benefitting from his cleansings: the Chulong State. From what he could find, it appeared that the branches there were especially renowned for their martial prowess. The Energy concentration there should also be the second highest in this entire Han Empire.
'Currently, I have gathered enough Energy Veins to replace approximately 57 percent of my meridians' walls with them. The Chulong World alone should be more than enough for now. Naturally, having a greater number of them at hand can never hurt, as everyone else will eventually need a lot of them too. That aside, they will help with Energy concentration issues, as well as with creating many Arrays that I might want to lay out... Therefore, I should just continue harvesting worlds for the rest of the first round.'
In all honesty, besides raising his own strength and training his subordinates, possibly recruiting more of them over the coming century, he didn't have much to do. Obviously, he would continue to gather Attribute Points and Talents, but his Energy Vein collection efforts shouldn't be stopped either.
'I'm glad that I created those Array Disks. Unfortunately, there were barely enough materials for seven of them, so only that number of my Subordinates can roam the worlds at my side and harvest Energy Veins from them. But that is sure to change once more of them have been searched for the required items.'
With this thought in mind, he rose to his feet, strolling over to the core of the Teleportation Array not too far away. On the way, he sent a message to his four most powerful fighters–Vigdis, Cheong Suhyeon, Navya... and Satoru. They had previously discussed that he would bring them with him upon going to the next world, therefore it shouldn't take them too long to assemble.
As he was patiently awaiting their arrival, he casually paid some attention to his guards' training taking place nearby, as well as to the maids hurrying by from time to time. Compared to half a year ago, there were another nine new faces. All of them were fellow Heaven's Chosen who had started out in the Qinglong World and had not belonged to either the Anti-Winter Alliance or the Neutral Party. Upon noticing the Energy drying up almost everywhere, they saw no other choice but to submit. Naturally, he hadn't turned them away.
Whilst he had been busy extracting the Energy Veins from underneath the plentiful ruins all around, he had also found the bodies of four other competitors, who had unfortunately fallen victim to the traps and various environmental hazards in there.
Unbeknownst to him, there was only one more peer of his hiding out in an unremarkable corner of the Qinglong World, yet it was unlikely that they would ever meet, as that particular individual was fully satisfied with living a normal, happy life. Not everyone chose to participate in the Heavenly Succession for grand aspirations. Some also saw it as an opportunity to escape their unfortunate fates–to start over from scratch. And there was nothing wrong with that approach.
"Master, I'm here! When do we set off?"
The first to appear in front of him was Satoru, whose figure had grown a fair chunk more muscular in the meantime. Now, the powerful aura which he exuded alone was sufficient to make a regular peak Dawning Numen Stage expert treat him with caution. Of course, most of this was due to the massive Standard Attribute bonus that Theodore's Coattail Ascension Talent provided him with. However, he had also grown far more proficient in his fighting skills, and this air of expertise–like a sheathed blade–couldn't be hidden entirely.
"Immediately after the others get here. You remember your instructions, right?"
Smiling slightly at witnessing the youngster in such an excited state, he nonetheless kept calm. Considering that this would be the first time that Satoru participated in such a major operation, Theodore felt it necessary to make certain that he wouldn't cause any significant trouble.
"I do! I'll restrain all Initial Ascension Stage experts around, but will make sure not to accidentally kill them. If I run into any unforeseen trouble, then Miss Rún, Miss Cheong or Miss Aatma will come to my aid."
Hearing him flawlessly recite what he was supposed to do, Theodore gave him a nod of approval, then turned to face the group of three who had only just made it here.
Vigdis wordlessly stopped at his left side, mentally making sure if she had packed all necessities into the Storage Ring which she was wearing. Navya chose to float a meter or two behind Theodore, as if she was haunting him. He had long since grown used to this behaviour of hers, sparing it no mind. As for Cheong Suhyeon, naturally, his right side was hers.
They had grown even closer over this period of time, yet due to him being extraordinarily busy almost every day, they hadn't taken any more steps forward in their peculiar relationship. However, neither of them minded this much, as they had countless eons to spend together, therefore taking things slow now wasn't an issue.
"Everyone, stay put and prepare yourselves. I'll be activating the Teleportation Array now!"
After having double-checked whether or not he had put in the correct details, his reminder rang out. Due to his modifications, this Array had turned from a two-way street into a completely independent creation. He technically didn't even need to utilize the exact coordinates of Chulong City's Teleportation Array, as he could transport them anywhere he wished. However, this new world's state capital was precisely where he wanted them to go.
As the Energy all around them turned into a white light, completely enveloping them in its midst, excitement at being about to encounter plenty of prey again caused a dangerous smirk to play across his lips.