"I heard the Zhongshan clan still has a Divine King in other void battlefields. Let me meet him and make the Zhongshan clan understand that there is a price to pay for killing a Divine King of the White Jade clan."

"Moreover—"

"In the void battlefield with the Beiyue clan, it will be up to the two of you to handle it. Do not clash head-on with Zhongshan Dongxuan. The strength of the Rule Divine King is unmatched by other Divine Kings.

If a full-scale conflict erupts, you may fall.

Our White Jade clan can no longer afford to lose any more Divine Kings."

The loss of two Divine Kings.

Has already destabilized the White Jade clan.

If another Divine King falls, the White Jade clan might as well announce its withdrawal from the Eternal Ancient Continent.

Without a foothold in the Eternal Ancient Continent, attempting to return after the fact would require an immense cost.

Furthermore.

As time goes on.

Other clans will inevitably widen the gap with the White Jade clan.

At that time.

The possibility for the White Jade clan to truly return to the Eternal Ancient Continent would be minimal.

Over countless ages, many forces have found it impossible to return once forced out of the Eternal Ancient Continent.

Although the Eternal Ancient Continent is vast, every piece of land has been claimed by other races. Even those areas that are not ownerless are not especially desirable.

Additionally.

The resources in one domain are limited.

An unexpected force entering to share resources is something no other power desires.

As a result.

Some forces that left the Eternal Ancient Continent find, when they believe they have regained enough strength to return, they can no longer do so.

Yan Emperor does not wish.

For the White Jade clan to face such a situation someday.

——

During this month, Shen Changqing remained silently within the Candle Sect, refining divine crystals.

This time.

He did not refine all the divine crystals in one go as he had done before, but refined a little at a time, pausing to let his body adapt.

Thus.

To fully refine over nine thousand divine crystals took him a whole month.

By the time the last divine crystal was completely refined, the divine fire in Shen Changqing's sea of consciousness had transformed from its previous pale cyan to a nearly pure cyan.

And his cultivation realm.

Had reached the perfection of the fourth level of the God Realm.

"God Realm fourth level perfection. If I were to use the Purifying Stone, leveraging the faith of the Green Bee clan, I should be able to advance to the fifth level of the God Realm.

But doing so would come at a great cost—"

Shen Changqing abandoned the idea of using the Purifying Stone to make a breakthrough.

The Purifying Stone exchanged for fifty thousand battle merits could, if sold outside, fetch tens of thousands of divine crystals. If all these divine crystals were exchanged for Heart of Spirit Vein, they would advance the Heaven and Earth Profound Technique significantly.

The Divine Path is only temporary.

Martial Dao is the true path I want to follow.

The weight of importance.

He understood clearly.

Thus.

It was unnecessary to consume the Purifying Stone solely for the sake of breaking through to the fifth level of the God Realm.

His current foundation was somewhat unstable, but entering the void battlefield once more, battling some powerful beings, would stabilize it.

Life-and-death combat.

Though high in risk and consumption, after surviving the risk, reflecting on the experience enables the divine soul to stabilize.

This kind of insight.

Cannot be gained through mere painstaking cultivation; only through the trials of life-and-death combat can such effects be achieved.

Upon re-emerging.

After staying put for a month, stepping out of the main hall now felt invigorating.

Immediately.

He used the Messaging Jade Token.

Soon thereafter, Cui Fu hurried over.

"Welcome the Peak Master back!"

Looking at the steward of Qiu Peak before him, although outwardly unchanged, Shen Changqing's keen insight detected the difference.

Then.

He inquired.

"Have you entered the Rebirth Pool?"

"Thanks to your blessing, Peak Master, I had the opportunity to enter the Rebirth Pool and become a cultivator of the Zhongshan clan!"

——

PS: Recently, my health had some issues, and I have a check-up scheduled during the day. If everything's fine, I'll post a major update at the beginning of next month. It's been quite a while since a major update!