On the Ghostly Flood Dragon.

The deck.

Su Ye calmed his mind and focused, banishing all stray thoughts.

After a long while, he opened his eyes and gazed south with a complicated expression.

’So... it wasn’t a delusion after all.’

’It’s not just breaking through to a major realm. Even breaking through to a minor realm comes with some kind of influence.’

"South...?" Su Ye frowned.

Upon breaking through to Late-stage Foundation Establishment, a yearning for the south had surfaced in his heart, just as it had for Luo Qing’e.

However, his symptoms were much milder compared to Luo Qing’e’s case.

The intensity of the urge was as faint as a passing cloud.

After piloting the Ghostly Flood Dragon south of Donglong Island for a while, it had basically dissipated.

Even if he had ignored it, the feeling would have faded on its own before long.

’Perhaps it’s because I didn’t rely on any mysterious external force to break through to Late-stage Foundation Establishment?’

Su Ye speculated.

According to Luo Qing’e, she most likely would have failed her breakthrough without the help of that mysterious external force.

But Su Ye, with the aid of his spirit ship’s Harmony, had broken through to Late-stage Foundation Establishment without any hindrance at all.

’He who is without desire is strong.’

’No cause, no effect.’

In the end, the techniques and methods of the Cultivation Realm had to follow some logic.

The immortal path of this world, with its many Divine Techniques and abilities, also had its own rules and limitations. It was all orderly, not purely based on willpower!

From Su Ye’s understanding, this kind of mental lure, lacking a ’medium,’ would inevitably have a greatly diminished effect.

Therefore, Su Ye wasn’t worried.

’I advance by ignoring bottlenecks using my spirit ship’s Harmony.’

’No matter what, the influence on me should be minimal...’

Besides, he knew that by changing his class to Pastor of the Sea,

he had already become entangled with certain strange, unspeakable things in the unseen world!

’In for a penny, in for a pound.’

’If they really push me to the brink, I’ll just gather the three keys... and open the gate to that secret realm!’

Su Ye snorted coldly, his thoughts turning ruthless.

’My only worry is the range of this influence.’

’Donglong Island? The Cyan Profound Sect’s sea region? ...Or perhaps the entire Yaoguang Islands?’

As Su Ye pondered this, a sense of oppression inevitably rose in his heart.

Currently, it seemed this mysterious, otherworldly power had two effects.

First, it helped cultivators break through realms more easily.

Second, it created an irrepressible urge in cultivators’ hearts to head ’south.’

’I wonder what the upper limit for this breakthrough assistance is... the Crystal Stage? Golden Core?’

’Even... Nascent Soul?’

"That... shouldn’t be possible, right?" Su Ye’s brow twitched.

A Nascent Soul cultivator could be called a ’True Monarch’!

Even during the era when the Crystal Skill first appeared and the immortal path flourished, Nascent Soul cultivators were undeniably high-level existences!

Su Ye shook his head. Breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm couldn’t be that easy.

However, even if it was only effective for the Foundation Establishment Stage, it would still be an astonishing matter as long as the mysterious power’s range was wide enough.

’The number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in this sea region will increase rapidly... and with rising numbers, some will inevitably be unable to suppress the urge and choose to explore the south...’

’So... what will they find?’

Su Ye couldn’t help but wonder.

What exactly was in the south?

What lay beyond the Mist Sea?

...

Reining in his thoughts, Su Ye suppressed his curiosity.

Exploring the unknown was fascinating, but also very dangerous.

Su Ye knew well that in his previous life, during Europe’s Age of Discovery, the crew mortality rate was nearly fifty percent!

There were many explorers who achieved fame and fortune, returning laden with treasure, but far more died without a trace, their bodies never found!

’The area ahead is too dangerous. I’d better explore it later...’

’For now, I should focus on increasing my strength.’

Su Ye shifted his focus.

In terms of his Cultivation Realm, he had just broken through to Late-stage Foundation Establishment.

There was no minor realm bottleneck between Late-stage Foundation Establishment and Foundation Establishment Perfection.

He could slowly reach it by spending time cultivating spiritual qi.

’According to the description in the Taiqing Cold Jade Skill, reaching three hundred drops of Liquid Magical Power is the minimum threshold for attempting to break through to the Crystal Stage.’

At his current pace, Su Ye could meet this standard in six years.

However, unlike his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Stage,

this time, Su Ye planned to accumulate as much Liquid Magical Power as possible to build a solid foundation!

’Breaking through to the Crystal Stage means condensing one’s own Magical Power from liquid into crystal, creating a Magic Power Crystal that will serve as the prototype for the future Golden Core!’

’And the deeper one’s foundation, the more Liquid Magical Power one has, the higher the quality of the condensed crystal!’ 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The most direct effect of a high-quality Magic Power Crystal

was that the efficiency of nurturing Divine Technique seeds would be much faster!

’With the panel’s support, I plan to walk the ’Nine Arts upon Core Formation’ path in the future, so I’ll definitely need a lot of divine seeds...’

’Therefore, I must have a powerful Magic Power Crystal!’

To put it simply,

the Magic Power Crystal could be compared to a country’s level of economic development.

And the divine seeds were superweapons like aircraft carriers or nuclear arms.

For a small, poor country, building a single aircraft carrier would be a life-or-death endeavor, requiring them to tighten their belts.

But a large, rich country with a good economy could afford to build several aircraft carriers at once.

’Only a powerful Magic Power Crystal can support the consumption of multiple divine seeds!’

...

Then, he summoned his panel.

A pale blue virtual screen immediately appeared.

[Name: Su Ye]

[Realm: Late-stage Foundation Establishment, Seventh Level Body Refining]

[Class: Pastor of the Sea Lv. 3 (14,033/30,000)]

[Class Attribute Bonus: Damage +42, Protection +22, Evasion +9, Mystery +9]

[Exclusive Skills: Whale-Hunting Spear, Heart of the Vast Sea (3%), Monarch of Calamity (1%)]

[Cultivation Techniques: Taiqing Cold Jade Skill, Six Desires Secret Scripture]

[Divine Technique Seed: Soul-Chasing Life-Reaping (65%)]

Su Ye’s panel attributes had changed significantly.

First was his Pastor of the Sea level.

After obtaining the ’Key of Earth’ from the Pioneer Certificate,

as its holder, he could gain 10 experience points from it every day.

Under these circumstances,

even if Su Ye went into deep seclusion and temporarily stopped overseeing his duties,

his annual experience gain still reached nearly four thousand points.

As a result, his Pastor of the Sea level had already risen to Lv. 3!

The cooldown bar for the Quasi-Technique, Soul-Chasing Life-Reaping, was also more than halfway full, at 65%.

’In another three or four years, I’ll be able to activate this Quasi-Technique again!’

Su Ye estimated the time.

Soul-Chasing Life-Reaping was his greatest trump card.

With this Quasi-Technique protecting him,

his ’Jiuyuan’ persona could go out and bluff his way through the world...

But besides that, what Su Ye valued most

were the progress bars that had appeared after Heart of the Vast Sea and Monarch of Calamity!

These were not cooldown bars!

Over the past few years, as his class level increased and he diligently studied his exclusive skills,

Su Ye could feel that these two exclusive skills, just like Whale-Hunting Spear, were also in the process of generating Divine Technique seeds!

The progress bars

were a manifestation based on Su Ye’s own perception.

Once the progress bars were full, two divine seeds would be born!

’Counting the transformation of my Dao Foundation, after I enter the Crystal Stage... four divine seeds?’

Su Ye couldn’t help but smile and nod in satisfaction.

But just then,

through his Harmony, a sense of craving was transmitted from the Ghostly Flood Dragon into Su Ye’s mind.

"Hm?" Su Ye’s gaze flickered.

’What is the Ghostly Flood Dragon craving?’

’This is truly rare, isn’t it?’

He looked up and saw a spirit ship with a half-broken sail slowly drifting toward him on the distant sea.

...

I feel like I’m in good shape.

I should be able to release another Chapter this afternoon.