A technologically powerful nation: The national treasure is actually myself.

The chilling energy lingered in the room for a while before slowly dissipating.

Clearly, that ghost is not yet able to completely break through a certain rule and descend directly.

This is just a test.

"It must be that so-called boundary rule that restricts this ghost to only being able to come through the spirit communication array for the time being, but it seems that this restriction will be broken soon."

Lin Yang's expression was serious.

He immediately suppressed his thoughts and continued to concentrate on his cultivation.

Thinking too much now is pointless; we can only seize every opportunity to improve, so that we won't be powerless to resist when the Yin spirits break through their limitations and descend in the future.

As his cultivation progressed, Lin Yang vaguely sensed a bottleneck.

The breakthrough from the Nirvana Realm to the Yuanhe Realm has trapped too many people.

Lin Yang believed that his understanding of the Dao was already very profound, but he still sensed the bottleneck.

"To break through, you either need to accumulate experience over time and explore gradually, or you need to have a sudden enlightenment. Simply improving your cultivation level can no longer be done; it has reached its current limit."

Lin Yang thought for a moment, then got up and stopped cultivating.

It is impossible to get closer to comprehending the Dao in this secluded paradise.

However, the "boundary" was still absorbing, preventing him from leaving for the time being.

"When will you finally stop absorbing all this?"

Lin Yang sighed softly.

He still doesn't understand much about the mysteries of the world.

It is also uncertain whether the "boundary" is currently absorbing the power of the cave-heaven itself, or some kind of power within the cave-heaven.

It's even more unclear what will happen to this hidden paradise once the "realm" has finished absorbing it.

Just then, he received a message from Xia Shuang.

"Brother Lin Yang, the ancient ruins have started to expand again. This time, they have covered sixteen cities in several surrounding prefectures. It looks like it will continue and may cover all the surrounding prefectures as well. My master and the others are discussing moving away. The Zhengmu Prefecture probably won't last long before it is swallowed up by those ancient ruins."

Hearing about the expansion of the ancient ruins again, Lin Yang was no longer surprised. He could tell from the previous expansion that it was bound to happen sooner or later.

He replied, "Be careful and evacuate as soon as possible."

"Okay, I'll let you know when we get to the new place." Xia Shuang said hurriedly and then ended the communication, clearly indicating that the situation was urgent and they needed to evacuate immediately.

Lin Yang wondered to himself, with the ancient ruins expanding so rapidly, do those powerful figures really not want to find a way to stop it?
"Is it that they can't stop it, or that they don't want to stop it?" Lin Yang muttered.

For some reason, he vaguely sensed an impending chaos.

He then sighed softly, "Jie, if you can absorb it, then absorb it quickly. I can't just waste my time here with you."

Both the ghostly spirits and the unusual changes in the ancient ruins are unsettling.

If something truly major happens, cultivation is the fundamental thing.

The current absorption rate of "Jie" is simply appalling; he's even considering temporarily giving up on letting "Jie" continue absorbing here.

He was considering whether to leave the secret realm first and wait until he broke through to the Yuanhe Realm.

Just as he finished his reflections, a power suddenly surged within his soul.

Immediately following, some insights into the Tao emerged.

"This is……"

Lin Yang was slightly taken aback.

He then realized that this power was transmitted to him by the "boundary"!

The world is actually helping him comprehend the Dao and cultivate!
This……

For a moment, Lin Yang couldn't believe it.

Can the realm help him cultivate?
"Jie, you don't want to leave this hidden paradise?"

Lin Yang seemed to understand something.

The world seems to be doing this to keep him here.

"To get me to stay, they actually offered to help me cultivate?"

Lin Yang was astonished.

He then calmed his thoughts and sat down cross-legged again.

Without a doubt, judging from the "realm's" performance, the power of this hidden realm is very important to the "realm".

Since the "realm" can help him cultivate, he won't hold back.

Immediately, Lin Yang began to absorb the power transmitted from the "realm" and a certain understanding of the Dao.

Before he knew it, he had entered a state of deep cultivation.

Next, every certain period of time, the "boundary" would send back some power.

With the help of these forces, Lin Yang actually managed to break through that bottleneck.

That day, a soft sound, which only Lin Yang could hear, resounded within his body.

Then, the bottleneck that had been plaguing them for days disappeared.

His aura also underwent some changes.

A sense of enlightenment came over me.

The Yuanhe Realm has arrived!

"Is this a breakthrough?"

Lin Yang opened his eyes, still somewhat dazed.

This breakthrough went too smoothly.

The power of the realm actually helped him break through the bottleneck!
This is incredible!

"World, what kind of existence are you exactly?"

Lin Yang's eyes flickered.

Unfortunately, he was unable to communicate with the "boundary".

The power that the "boundary" fed back to him also stopped after his breakthrough.

Lin Yang could only suppress his thoughts and begin to strengthen himself.

Before we knew it, another ten thousand years had passed.

Lin Yang has completely stabilized his cultivation level at the early stage of the Yuanhe Realm.

Then, he took out the communication jade slip and looked at the information from his seclusion to stabilize his cultivation.

Nothing special happened.

Xia Shuang would often send him messages about various situations, mostly related to that ancient ruin.

Ten thousand years have passed, and the ancient ruins of Baichi City have now covered four prefectures.

The expansion is happening at an alarming rate, and it's getting faster and faster, with no sign of stopping.

The other neighboring prefectures were constantly in turmoil, all fearing that they would be swallowed up by the ancient ruins.

Some people even started to spread rumors that the ancient ruins might eventually swallow up the entire prefecture.

Although, this sounds a bit exaggerated.

After all, it only covers four prefectures at present.

Not many people took it to heart.

However, it still makes people a little worried.

Because the time it would have taken for ancient ruins to cover an entire prefecture, which was initially tens of thousands of years, has been shortened to a mere thousand years.

This speed is frightening; rumors are already flying everywhere over there.

After reading the messages, Lin Yang called Xia Shuang back. Once the call connected, he asked directly, "Xia Shuang, haven't any adults tried to handle this?"

"Brother Lin Yang, I don't know the specifics. It's said that some officials are trying to suppress it and deal with some rumors, but the effect is not significant. Anyway, it's very chaotic here now. Some people have even started betting on the speed at which the ancient ruins will expand and swallow up the city next time. After betting no more than five times, the ancient ruins may continue to expand at the speed of swallowing up a prefecture every hundred years."

Xia Shuang said softly.

"Then you must be careful. It's a pity that I'm too far away from you now and it's difficult for me to help you. If anything happens, tell your master immediately." Lin Yang could only offer this comfort.

Xia Shuang said, "Brother Lin Yang, don't worry. Now, because of the ancient ruins, we can leave without paying for the teleportation array. However, we can't teleport too far at once. We can only teleport for free when the ancient ruins are about to expand. We want to save on teleportation costs as much as possible." "As for other things, there's nothing wrong. My master is very good to me and takes good care of me."

"That's good." Lin Yang didn't say anything more.

He's too far away to be of any help right now.

News of the ancient ruins quickly reached Xiwu City.

Zhao Hu also spoke to him about it.

However, Zhao Hu did not think that the ancient ruins could eventually expand the prefecture too much, nor was he worried about anything. He simply viewed it with a spectator's mentality.

This was also the unanimous attitude of everyone in Xiwu City.

Nearly a thousand prefectures away, no matter how much damage the ancient ruins cause, it can't possibly affect this area.

The rapid expansion of ancient ruins was merely a topic of conversation among the people of Xiwu City.

Since the expansion of ancient ruins is somewhat predictable, and evacuation can be done in advance, the only loss is the territory.

Apart from the initial massacre in White City, which resulted in too many deaths, subsequent expansions only saw one or two particularly devastating incidents. After that, the city was always evacuated in advance, so the casualties were relatively manageable.

Compared to the expansion of the ancient ruins, the last invasion of the ancient ruins was what frightened the people of Xiwu City even more.

People are too far away to truly empathize.

However, not everyone thinks this way; some people also find it unusual.

For example, Yu Qing.

Yu Qing sent a message to Lin Yang, saying directly: "Fellow Daoist Lin Yang, have you heard about the ancient ruins in the inner palace? I have a feeling that something big is about to happen."

Lin Yang said, "I just heard that something big is going to happen?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have a bad feeling about it. The ancient ruins first started invading cities in an unusual way, and then the ancient relics started invading multiple prefectures in an unusual way. It's all too strange," Yu Qing said slowly.

"What are Fellow Daoist Yu Qing's plans?" Lin Yang asked.

Yu Qing was silent for a moment, then said, "We can only wait and see. The ancient ruins are too far away from here. Even if there is something strange, it won't affect this area in a short time. The most important thing is to find a way to make more money and improve our strength."

At this point, he extended an invitation to Lin Yang: "Fellow Daoist Lin Yang, would you like to come with me to Bixia City for trade? I've found some connections. While both cities are still recovering, if we do this a few times, we'll have plenty of cultivation resources."

"Well... let's forget about it for now. I have something to do and can't get away. We can talk about it another time." Lin Yang sighed.

To be honest, he also really wanted to go to trade with Yu Qing and make some money.

However, "Jie" needed to absorb the power of this secret realm, and even helped him break through to the next level.

He couldn't just leave.

Besides, he's not exactly short of money right now.

He helped the Zhao family acquire a lot of resources and territory, and the portion he monopolized brought him considerable wealth.

Furthermore, now that they have broken through to the Yuanhe Realm, the Zhao family's position in Xiwu City will be even more secure.

Therefore, I had to politely decline Yu Qing's invitation for the time being.

Upon hearing this, Yu Qing didn't say much, only saying, "Then Fellow Daoist Lin Yang, you go ahead with your work. This time, I plan to venture deeper into the territory of the Ancient Void Clan to explore, so that if anything unexpected happens in the future, I'll have a place to escape to."

"You're going to venture deep into the city of the Ancient Void Clan? You'd better be careful," Lin Yang said immediately.

Although there is currently no conflict between the Ancient Void Clan and the Human Clan, they are ultimately different races.

They get along fairly well in the border areas, but there is still some danger if they really go deep into each other's territory.

"Haha, I'll be careful." Yu Qing smiled and then ended the message.

Lin Yang put away the communication jade slip and continued cultivating.

After breaking through, you can use various cultivation resources to further improve your cultivation level.

However, Lin Yang soon discovered that after reaching the Yuanhe Realm, the consumption of cultivation resources to improve his cultivation level was more than ten times that of the Nirvana Realm.

"Is this really that outrageous..."

Lin Yang was speechless.

I also understand a bit why progress slows down after reaching the Yuanhe Realm.

It's not just about needing a deeper understanding of the Tao.

Even the demand for resources must be enormous.

He had only just broken through to the stable early stage of the Yuanhe Realm, yet his energy expenditure was already so enormous.

It's easy to imagine what will happen in the mid-to-late stages.

The resource consumption would likely be hundreds or thousands of times that of the Nirvana Realm.

"No wonder the major families in Xiwu City are mostly composed of one Yuanhe Realm cultivator, and most of them are in the early to mid-stages. As long as there is one more Yuanhe Realm cultivator, the entire family can immediately rise to a higher level. It is indeed not easy to support a Yuanhe Realm cultivator. Only super families like the five major families are exceptions."

Lin Yang couldn't help but sigh.

Breaking through to the Yuanhe Realm is a watershed moment, and the improvement after the breakthrough is roughly the same.

He had just thought he wasn't particularly short of money.

But now he immediately changed his mind.

Such a terrifying consumption of resources was far beyond what he could possibly get from the Zhao family.

Even if the Zhao family did their best to support him, it would probably still be difficult.

Because the Zhao family also needs to support Zhao Yuan.

Unless, of course, they fight for more resources and territory!

Lin Yang remained silent.

Sometimes, even if a person has no desire to compete, reality may still leave them with little choice.

For example, right now, if we don't compete, we won't have enough resources to support our own cultivation.

We have no choice but to fight!

"The struggle for resources and territory cannot be rushed. If we compete with the top five families, that is obviously unrealistic. If we want to seize the resources and territory of other first-class or even second-class families, we need to plan carefully."

After pondering for a moment, Lin Yang finally decided to put the matter aside for the time being.

Firstly, the resources we currently have are barely enough for a while.

Secondly, Zhao Yuan still possesses the same strength as before. Although he has made a breakthrough, he is not yet qualified to challenge the five major families.

As for taking action against other top-tier families, there must be a suitable opportunity; otherwise, it may provoke other top-tier families to unite against them.

In that case, the losses will outweigh the gains.

Even if he and Zhao Yuan combined, they would still struggle to cope.

This matter needs to wait a little longer.

It will be much easier once he reaches the mid-stage of the Yuanhe Realm.

At that time, he will have combat power comparable to the late stage or even the peak of the Yuanhe Realm.

In this Xiwu City, while you might not be able to roam freely, seizing a few resource-rich territories shouldn't be a problem.

After making a brief plan, Lin Yang patiently continued his cultivation.

Then, he didn't know if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the absorption speed of the "boundary" seemed to have increased a little bit.

Furthermore, the "boundary" would occasionally give him some power in return.

Although the power he received from each feedback was not much, not as much as when he broke through to the Yuanhe Realm, there was indeed feedback, and the frequency of feedback was higher than before.

This made Lin Yang's eyes light up.

Although the quantity is small, the frequency is high.

Over time, these small savings can accumulate and definitely save a lot of cultivation resources!

"Jie, you're amazing!"

Lin Yang couldn't help but shower him with praise.

"Lin Yang..."

suddenly.

A voice resounded directly in his mind. (End of Chapter)