At Yuhuang Mountain's villa, Xie Yi'er stood up immediately when she saw Yaoguang approaching. "Lord Yaoguang."

Yaoguang nodded to her. His gaze fell upon a jade box, a sword case, and a cubical crate about 1.2 meters wide, its surface carved with exquisite patterns.

Seeing his reaction, Xie Yi'er didn't hesitate. She smiled and opened the jade box first. "These are Psyche-Concentrating Pills. Our Xie family brought these medicines from the Artifact Sect. A trained alchemist personally refined them, and they possess a staggering effect on tempering the psychic mind. Theoretically, a single bottle can strengthen a person’s psychic will or psychic thought to a value of 20, which is the peak of a psychic-will martial paragon."

Yaoguang glanced at the box; there was exactly one bottle inside. Next, Xie Yi'er moved to the crate. After she entered the password, the crate opened automatically. A set of full-coverage battle armor was held up by a built-in support structure, appearing before Yaoguang.

"This is the Mystic Moon Armor," the princess introduced. "The entire suit utilizes superb craftsmanship. Not only does its defensive power exceed level 5S armor made of Golden-Black Thread, but it also possesses immense heat resistance. Wearing this armor, one would face no danger for a short time even if engulfed in flames of several hundred degrees. Furthermore, the patterns on the armor are actually a simplified array art..."

She paused for a moment. "The atomic arrangement within different materials causes those materials to undergo different changes. This is, in fact, how array arts manifest at the microscopic level. Once these patterns are connected to the right kind of energy, specifically spirit stone energy, their internal atomic arrangements can be easily activated. This gives the armor an excellent neutralizing effect against kinetic energy. Much like an inviscid fluid, different forms produce different effects against different forces."

"Array patterns," Yaoguang said with a nod.

Although he had already unlocked the Martial Dao and Refiner professions, which involved arrays, and despite the Refiner profession being only at the first tier so far, all paths led to the same destination. Even if the pure Martial Dao profession reached a high tier, it was inevitable to encounter auxiliary fields such as arrays, talismans, alchemy, and refining. Naturally, he had some understanding of the array patterns mastered by array masters.

Arrays were somewhat similar to chemistry, but the concepts they represented were far more grand. Through the utilization of spiritual power, an energy that existed everywhere in the world, they allowed this omnipresent energy to create chemical reactions within all things, manifesting various incredible abilities. These included plasma shields, repulsion shields, and quantum jumps. In scientific terms, it was the use of dark energy to drive and manifest the various changes of the universe.

However, just as manipulating atomic arrangements was no simple task for modern society, using array patterns to produce reactions that manifested traits like defense, attack, support, and recovery was just as complex. The fact that the Mystic Moon Armor possessed such technology was enough to prove its immense value. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"In addition, this is the Thunderclap Sword." Xie Yi'er opened the sword case once more. A divine sword lay inside, radiating a flowing light. It was significantly larger than the Divine Shadow Sword; including the hilt, its total length exceeded 1.4 meters.

"Array patterns are also engraved on the Thunderclap Sword. As you can probably guess from the name, it contains the power of lightning. The Thunderclap Sword can release highly penetrative electrical currents to paralyze an opponent during a clash, interfering with the circulation of their qi and blood. Furthermore, if activated with spiritual power, it can manifest two special properties: Thunderclap and Purple Lightning. The first releases infrasonic shock waves to strike the opponent, while the latter releases visible lightning."

Xie Yi'er smiled slightly as she finished her explanation. "Lord Yaoguang, I wonder if you are satisfied?"

Yaoguang stepped forward and took the two treasures. While he examined them, he observed the changes occurring as the Merchant experience transferred to the Martial Dao branch. Originally, his Martial Dao branch had reached 91% of the ninth tier. As the two treasures came into his possession, the progress surged again, quickly reaching 98%, moving further to 99%, and at the final moment...

It bloomed and bore fruit! The shackles were broken! He was pushed into the realm of the great cultivators he had been yearning for, the Star Lord Realm.

Even though Yaoguang had experienced many trials by now, a smile still appeared in his eyes at this result. "Very good. I am quite satisfied."

"It is good that you are satisfied." Xie Yi'er smiled back. It had made their Xie family’s heavy investment of cold, hard cash worthwhile.

"In addition to these divine weapons, we have prepared ten spirit stones for Lord Yaoguang." Xie Yi'er paused. "However, because the coordinates of our world in the endless void are not in a region abundant with spiritual power, the conversion efficiency for spirit stones remains extremely low, and their numbers are scarce, even with arrays to gather power from the void. We ask for your understanding."

Yaoguang had not unlocked professions like [Qi Refiner] or [Array Caster], so he did not know the methods for acquiring spirit stones. However, he could guess from Xie Yi'er's words that these items were extremely precious. Moreover, this special existence drawn from the endless void, similar to zero-point energy or dark energy, was everywhere and could be used in all aspects. From the information Yaoguang obtained from the Martial Dao branch, spirit stones remained the core currency. Alchemy, artifact refining, and setting up arrays were all inseparable from this solidified energy source. Their importance in the cultivation world exceeded that of electrical energy in modern society.

"Given the level of the Mystic Moon Armor and the Thunderclap Sword, these ten spirit stones will have no problem sustaining a high-intensity battle," Yaoguang said with a smile. There was a deeper meaning behind his words.

Xie Yi'er heard this, and a hint of well-timed embarrassment appeared on her face. Both sides understood each other perfectly, so there was no need to expose each other. They knew they were trying to take advantage of each other, and being aware of that added to the reliability of their cooperation.

"I will adapt to these two pieces of equipment as quickly as possible. You may also identify several strong figures in the Rebirth Society to use as bait to force the others to act," Yaoguang said.

"We have currently locked onto three director-level figures and one vice president of the Rebirth Society. Lord Yaoguang, just notify us whenever you are ready. Naturally, we will also do our best to search for the location of President Mo Guang and will inform you immediately once we find him," Xie Yi'er said quickly.

"Good." Yaoguang nodded. "I will notify you once my preparations here are complete."

"Then we shall await your good news, Lord Yaoguang." Xie Yi'er gave a slight bow and withdrew.

After Xie Yi'er left, Yaoguang looked toward Yue Xingzhou, Lei Yun, and the others. "The rest of you may also go back."

The group did not dare to disturb Yaoguang. They immediately bowed and took their leave.

After everyone had left, Yaoguang did not immediately test the Thunderclap Sword or the Mystic Moon Armor. Instead, he immersed his psychic mind into the ancient tree within his mental world.

It was now hard to distinguish the main trunk of the ancient tree from the Martial Dao branch. Or rather, as his Martial Dao broke through to the Star Lord Realm, this branch had effectively become the primary trunk.

Yaoguang sensed it for a moment and suddenly felt his mental state detach from his physical body, casting itself into the ancient tree. This immersion was different from his previous actions of manipulating branches or allocating nutrients; he was now completely merging with the tree, becoming a part of it.

As his psychic mind melded into the ancient tree, the world before him seemed to undergo a silent transformation. Human perception gradually blurred and receded, replaced by an unprecedented sensory experience.

What is this!? Shock surged within Yaoguang. At this moment, the senses he possessed were utterly different from when he was human. He saw no scenes or images. In his vision, there was only an infinite amount of information.

The information included what light was composed of, what matter was made of, and what the essence of life was. Everything was dissected in its most fundamental form and presented before him; no secrets remained. However, because the volume of information was so vast, Yaoguang’s human mind simply could not process it. Receiving this data felt like an immense struggle. In just a few moments, his thoughts became a blur, and he fell into a dreamlike state of grogginess.

"Ugh!" The grogginess lasted for a while before severe weakness washed over him. Yaoguang let out a muffled groan and quickly withdrew from that high-dimensional perception that reached directly into the essence of all things. His consciousness gradually descended, returning to his physical body.

Feeling the exhaustion in his psychic mind, Yaoguang felt as weary as a person who had stayed awake for three days and three nights, desperately wanting to close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep.

"Was my psychic soul damaged!?" Yaoguang was startled. He forced himself to stay awake, using the exhaustion of his psychic mind to visualize the Great Solar Psyche-Suppressing Diagram and strengthen his psychic soul. Simultaneously, he quickly swallowed a Psyche-Concentrating Pill brought by the Xie family from the Artifact Sect to aid his cultivation.

This state of slight psychic soul damage was like just having finished an intense workout; if he could maintain his focus, it would undoubtedly serve as a training session that broke through his limits. With his extensive experience in nurturing the psyche, Yaoguang naturally would not miss this opportunity.

More than two hours later, Yaoguang opened his eyes again. The fatigue in his gaze had not entirely vanished, but the light deep within his eyes was even stronger than before. Clearly, this was a sign of significant progress in his psychic will.

He narrowed his eyes and looked around the room, feeling slightly out of place. Recalling that strange vision from when he merged with the ancient tree, he whispered, "Truly incredible."

In that brief instant, it was as if he had possessed the ancient tree's understanding and perception of the world. It was like a human infant opening its eyes in a daze, seeing the rich, colorful, and vibrant world for the first time.

Before becoming that infant, he had been an ant, a mayfly. The world he lived in for his entire life was not even as broad as a single glance from a human child. This impact, brought about by the essence of life, the dimension of vision, and transcendent cognition, shook his psyche.

It also made Yaoguang realize the origin of the ancient tree for the first time. It was a high-dimensional cognition, the type that surpassed human understanding.