Ye Yun stood atop the skyscraper, gazing at the array of newly erected buildings across the island, a sense of accomplishment filling him.
This life, due to his rebirth, had seen the river of history deviate significantly. Nations were now diligently cultivating their elite teams, preparing for the advent of another world.
The Dragon Palace was no different. Its four thousand combat troops, both within the game and in the real world, grew progressively stronger under the use of the Sky Pot and Earth Cup. Yet, even with this advancement, they were still a considerable distance from Ye Yun's ultimate goal.
What was most disheartening was that the nutrient solution and energy crystals had been entirely depleted during this latest surge in strength. Even the ordinary辟谷丹 (Bigu Dan) that Ye Yun had contributed had been used up by nearly half.
"It seems I'll have to return to the New Mortal Continent to 'harvest' the wool of the myriad races of the cosmos. At the very least, I need to stock up on enough辟谷丹," Ye Yun mused, reclining on a lounge chair on the balcony, gazing at the azure sky.
High above the Dragon Palace skyscraper, at an altitude of ten thousand meters, a colossal floating island hovered amidst the clouds. This was Ye Yun's dojo, and also his new residence.
Currently, within the Dragon Palace, aside from himself, Xiao Tong possessed the greatest strength. However, Xiao Tong was still just a child, so Ye Yun's attention turned to Wang Chen.
"Master, these are the medicinal ingredients contributed by all citizens for refining辟谷丹 in the past few days."
Upon entering the game and just stepping out of his mansion, he encountered Yue Di, who had an excited look on his face.
"Why so much?" Ye Yun expressed his astonishment at the medicinal ingredients Yue Di had traded over.
"Heh heh, this is all thanks to the Master's wisdom. Those fellows in the branch cities saw the flexibility of contribution points for entering the main city that Master had decreed. They all realized that the contribution points required to become a main city citizen would only increase in the future, so they've been putting their all into everything that could earn them contribution points."
"Currently, our Cloud Heaven City has a total of 1350 members. On average, over ten players from each of the twenty branch cities can reach the threshold for entering the main city per day."
Yue Di looked at Ye Yun with admiration, wondering how the Master's mind worked to devise such a method.
One had to consider that every day a person delayed entering the main city meant an additional fifty contribution points. The threshold had risen from the initial two thousand to the current two thousand three hundred and fifty, an increase of three hundred and fifty points. How much more medicinal material or how many more fierce beasts would they need to defeat to compensate for that?
Once inside the main city, their gains would double, which was why all branch city citizens were striving to enter it.
However, besides the fierce beasts in the sky, underground, and in the water, almost all others had been thoroughly exterminated by Ye Yun. They were left with only these more challenging beasts to hunt, or they had to utilize the opportunity to return to their own star domain maps once per cycle to acquire medicinal materials in large quantities.
Looking at the medicinal ingredients that had entered his inventory, Ye Yun was ecstatic. It was truly a case of a pillow arriving just when one was feeling sleepy. He directly proportioned them according to the recipe for辟谷丹 and fed them all into the Gui Yuan Pill Furnace.
Despite the furnace being no larger than a palm, its capacity was akin to a bottomless pit; no amount of medicinal ingredients could fill it.
"Didn't we only have fourteen branch cities before? Six more have joined in the past few days?" Ye Yun asked Yue Di after throwing the ingredients into the furnace.
"Yes, but all twenty of our branch cities are now at full capacity. Within a three-hundred-kilometer radius around our main city, there are no other players except ours."
Ye Yun nodded, understanding Yue Di's words. After all, with a single skill, he had nearly annihilated all players active on the surface of the New Mortal Continent. The fact that these twenty cities could still gather so many players far exceeded Ye Yun's expectations.
Although a significant portion of them were, like the seven races, entering the New Mortal Continent for the first time upon receiving notifications from friends, to Ye Yun, it made no difference. He only cared about the numbers.
"Indeed, with such a vast area, your management cannot be lax. At least within my territory, no matter how deep their racial hatred, they must put it aside!"
"Also, the teleportation arrays for all newly established branch cities need to be resolved by themselves. I don't have that many spirit stones to build them."
For the twenty branch cities, the first fourteen had cost Ye Yun seventy million spirit stones. Although the returns were high, Ye Yun still felt a pang of regret.
If these invested spirit stones had been used to purchase attributes, it would have been enough to elevate all Dragon Palace members by another realm!
"Alright, I'll issue the instructions shortly."
"However, Master, among the citizens of our lower branch cities, there are six or seven newcomers. They are reportedly from races in Master's universe. Master, do you wish to meet them?"
Yue Di had grown accustomed to Ye Yun's stingy ways.
"Races from the Tenth Universe? What races are they?" Yue Di's words made Ye Yun's heart skip a beat.
"God race, Human race, and a Ghost race. A total of eleven, distributed across three different branch cities."
God race?!
Ghost race?!
Damn it, and Human race too!
If he were to meet them, they would undoubtedly launch an invasion against the Blue Star in the real world. He was not privy to their strength in the real world. While he himself would not fear them, the twenty billion humans on Blue Star would suffer.
"Not yet. And do not let them know of my existence!" Ye Yun said coldly.
In just eight days, after this cycle ended, he would be able to forge an army entirely composed of True Human realm cultivators. At that time, he could construct the first formidable defensive net before the domain gate, eliminating all invading aliens before the fusion of the two star domains.
Meeting them prematurely now would only expose his identity and strength. It might end without incident, but it was only a possibility.
However, were there only a dozen or so players from the Tenth Universe entering the New Mortal Continent? Absolutely not! After all, there were millions of players on the New Mortal Continent now, and it was unlikely that the Tenth Universe would be so lacking.
"System prompt: Congratulations to the player for successful alchemy. Completion rate: 50%. Quality rate: 30%. Congratulations to the player for obtaining Low-grade辟谷丹 *3520, Ordinary辟谷丹 *5200, Good-grade辟谷丹 *2560, Excellent-grade辟谷丹 *900, Ultimate-grade辟谷丹 *1. Gui Yuan Pill Furnace growth value +1400."
…
In Cloud Eleven City, three players walked out of the city gates. They exchanged glances behind them as they looked at the city, then silently walked into the distance in tacit understanding.
They were completely encased in thick armor, with only a three-finger-wide strip for their eyes.
"Big brother, the adult's objective is for us to enter the main city and get close to that human. Why haven't we handed over these medicinal ingredients yet and entered the main city?" a player in silver armor, walking at the rear, asked in confusion.
"We have been systematically investigating human families in our star domain, but it will likely take some time. Furthermore, our King has already sent notifications to other racial star domains to search for this human."
"Our goal is to infiltrate, get close, and gain trust. Rushing things too much could easily expose our purpose."
The leader was also clad in silver armor, but what distinguished him were two red stripes on his armor. He was the eldest of the three, and the silent one beside him was the second.
"Is it possible that this person is one of the bait from Blue Star?" the second suddenly asked.
"Impossible. Blue Star, that star domain where there's no spiritual energy, how could such a powerful individual emerge? One skill could annihilate our God race's Heavenly God team? Second brother, you jest." The third, walking at the rear, chuckled.
The God race's Heavenly God team consisted of one hundred people. They were the strongest cultivated by the God race with the power of their entire people. In the real world, each of them was a Day Realm expert! Yet, here, they were defeated by a single human, and left to languish in the Sea of Bitterness for a whole month!
Moreover, the God race's base in the New Mortal Continent had been destroyed, effectively forcing them to start all over!
"Indeed. Even if a person in the Blue Star possessed all the resources of the entire Blue Star, could they achieve this level? You've witnessed the inferiority of human infighting, third brother. Besides, we send people into Blue Star periodically, and there are also overseers stationed at the domain gates. Let's wait until the other star domains have finished their investigations. After all, all races are currently conserving their strength, ready to face the invasion from the Ninth Universe at any time."
Upon hearing his elder brother's words, the second fell silent and stopped speaking. He also knew that the possibility of Blue Star was almost negligible. However, the resources of other star domains were not enough to cultivate such a powerful individual!
"These are not things we should be concerned about. Come, let's see if we can pick up any scraps. Tomorrow, we'll hand in the medicinal ingredients, and by the next cycle, we'll also be able to enjoy a twenty percent dividend."
While they had their mission, becoming stronger themselves was the priority!