There is a progress bar in my cultivation of immortality

After Diwen and Tiangong left the hall, Ao Hong's serious expression gradually faded. He didn't actually want to disgust these two veteran True Lords at this time, but the Dragon Lord wanted him to do so.

The current situation is beyond even his comprehension, even though he has been by Long Jun's side for many years. Recently, he has often recalled the days when he and Wang Ping stirred up trouble on Zhongzhou Star. At that time, despite being subject to various restrictions, he was able to fully express his ideology.

now…

Ao Hong shook his head vigorously upon thinking of this, then transformed into a dragon, his body shimmering with pale blue light. He easily parted the calm, waveless sea before him and darted deeper into this boundless ocean.

The lower you go, the thinner the light becomes, and the surroundings are gradually enveloped in a deep, almost eternal, dark blue. The darkness here is not deathly still, but rather full of boundless vitality and energy.

Soon, the water elemental energy became so dense that it was almost tangible. Like liquid sapphires, it tightly enveloped Ao Hong's dragon body. Every opening and closing of the dragon scales and the movement of the scales generated rays of spiritual light.

Suddenly the pressure increased sharply, but this pressure was like a gentle comfort to the true dragon's body. The purest water elemental power seeped in and nourished the spiritual veins in his body.

At this moment, all around was silent, with only occasional huge and hazy shadows swimming in the deep darkness in the far distance. These were marine creatures nurtured by the rich water and natural essence of this place. Sensing Ao Hong's pure dragon aura, they all respectfully avoided him and dared not approach.

After descending to an unknown depth, a soft yet highly penetrating light gradually appeared in the dark, deep blue ahead.

The light was formed by countless clusters of light, large and small, which resembled stars sunk to the bottom of the sea or the natural glow of life emitted by a giant creature in its slumber.

The source of the light was a vast underwater palace complex that defies description.

Surrounded by naturally formed underwater mountains and giant corals, the palace's outline appears somewhat blurred in the ethereal light and mist. Pavilions, terraces, and waterside pavilions are all distributed according to a mysterious natural rhythm, blending seamlessly with the entire deep-sea environment.

Outside the palace, nine enormous water veins slowly coiled and intertwined like living creatures, radiating water elemental energy a hundred times purer than the surrounding environment. Like nine guardian dragons, they formed the outermost and most powerful natural barrier of this dojo.

The water here was extremely still, even the undercurrents seemed frozen, yet it was full of surging vitality. When Ao Hong's dragon body swam here, its speed naturally slowed down, with a sense of peace and awe as if returning to its nest, and it silently merged into the trajectory of the nine winding water veins, heading towards the core palace where the light shone the brightest.

He quickly crossed the water and entered the palace. The interior of the palace was completely different from the deep and quiet outside. The light inside the palace was a warm and bright azure, as if the purest seawater itself was shining. The huge dome was made of countless naturally crystallized ice crystals and coral, which refracted soft and ever-changing halos and scattered light spots like flowing water.

Supporting the palace are massive, naturally formed sea ridge stones. The ground is as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the flowing light above, making it feel like walking on water.

The Dragon King's enormous body was coiled in the center, and the golden patterns flowing along the edges of each white jade-like dragon scale were clearly visible, exuding a majestic and profound aura.

And on the "ground" directly below the Dragon King, another dragon was crawling among them.

That was Ao Yi, the eldest son of the Dragon King. His dragon body had bright, shiny scales, but it also exuded an uncontrollable restlessness. His aura fluctuated, sometimes erupting powerfully and causing the surrounding water elemental energy to vibrate violently; at other times, it would rapidly recede, as if it were about to collapse back into his body.

Surrounding Ao Yi, the four water cultivators of Linshui Prefecture sat cross-legged in a mysterious formation. Among them were Ao Jiang, the ninth son of the Dragon Lord, as well as Ru Hui and Du Xue from Linshui Prefecture in Zhongzhou, and Yi Qiu, who had always stayed by the Dragon Lord's side. There were also two newly promoted cultivators of the fourth realm, one of whom was Xia Yao, who had reconciled with Ao Jiang, and the other was also a female cultivator.

Pure water elemental power surged from their bodies, transforming into azure runes guided by the magic array. These runes gently yet firmly coiled around Ao Yi's massive dragon body, radiating light that flowed endlessly across his surface. This subtly echoed the natural pressure emanating from the Dragon Lord above, helping Ao Yi stabilize his foundation.

After infiltrating this place, Ao Hong immediately concealed all his aura. His massive dragon body carefully coiled in a corner outside the range of the magic array, even his breathing was extremely light. He looked respectfully at the Dragon Lord in the center, waiting for possible instructions, while also closely monitoring Ao Yi's condition, hoping deep down that Ao Yi would lose control soon.

"You always have so many little schemes."

When the Dragon Lord opened his eyes, his voice reached Ao Hong's ears, but it did not disturb the people in the magic array next to him.

Ao Hong lowered his head and said softly, "I have always been like this since I was a child."

Long Jun sighed softly and said after more than ten breaths of silence, "My cultivation will advance another step in a hundred years at most. The struggle between Lie Yang and the others is irrelevant at this moment. Moreover, Lie Yang caused your third brother's death back then, so he deserves this calamity."

When Ao Hong heard that his third brother had died, he naturally felt a little resentful, but he did not dare to show it at this time. Then he heard the Dragon Lord continue to say: "After my cultivation advances further, the next step will be to plan your fifth realm. This starry sky is too small. You should not limit yourself to the world in front of you. You should learn to turn your gaze to the universe."

"Only when my cultivation advances further will it be possible for part of my consciousness to break free from this starry sky and seek a way to escape this cage. Compared to this, the argument between Lieyang and the others is far too childish."

His words revealed his displeasure with what Lieyang and his group had done, and even a sense of condescension.

After hearing this, Ao Hong cautiously asked, "What level has Changqing's cultivation reached?"

That's what he cares about.

Upon hearing this, Long Jun carefully examined Ao Hong and replied softly, "He is just like Yao Xi back then, as if he has been blessed by the Heavenly Dao. Such a person may not be encountered once in a million years, but in just 100,000 years, three have appeared in our starry sky in succession. The first one was the one from the Xuanqing Sect more than 100,000 years ago, the second one was Yao Xi, and the third one is this Changqing True Lord."

"Do you think all of this is just a coincidence?"

As he finished speaking, his eyes fixed on Ao Hong, he actually questioned Ao Hong, his tone filled with barely suppressed jealousy. However, he quickly suppressed his jealousy, sighed softly, and continued:
"His current cultivation level is beyond your imagination. Having him teach Tiangong and the others a lesson would be a good choice."

Upon hearing this, Ao Hong couldn't help but say, "When Changqing was in the fourth realm, he showed interest in the Great Universe. He may become your rival in the future, Father."

Dragon Lord replied, "It's not the right time yet. Wu Nian is his trap, and he must enter it!"

Ao Hong looked puzzled. The Dragon King offered no further explanation and then closed his eyes.

Ao Hong composed himself, temporarily suppressing the Dragon Lord's words in his heart. Then, his massive dragon body swayed gently, silently sliding into the magic array that stabilized Ao Yi, filling a core vacancy.

The moment he returned to his position, the entire magic array trembled slightly, and the flowing azure rune light seemed to become even more solid.

Subsequently, the entire palace returned to peace, and the war near the Demon Extermination Star and the rest of the star system outside the palace world returned to tranquility.

Fifteen years have passed in a flash.

To the stars, this span of time is but a fleeting breath.

The vast and boundless starry sky continues its silent rotation, the starlight flowing slowly along its unchanging trajectory, converging into a silent, dazzling river. The subtle ripples that were once stirred by the aura of the True Lord have long been smoothed out by eternal silence, as if no disturbance had ever occurred.

The battle near the demon star was still raging, and the bursts of energy were like sparks that burned briefly in the darkness, but on the vast scale of the universe, it was just a commotion in one corner.

Over the course of fifteen years, Wang Ping compensated for the lifespans of Li Miaolin, Que Cai, and Miao Qing. During this process, his progress in cultivating the 'Heaven-Stealing Talisman' increased slightly. However, due to his frequent theft of a large amount of Heavenly Dao life force, his consciousness was affected by the pleasure of this theft, almost causing him to fall into assimilation into the 'Heaven-Stealing Talisman,' which caused his progress to regress.

The feeling was an almost sacrilegious, supremely exhilarating experience that transcended the laws of all things. Each successful theft felt like precisely cutting a tiny crack in the tight and cold network of rules of the Heavenly Dao, stealing a wisp of the most primal vitality from it.

The process of absorbing it is like drinking the finest wine, or being immersed in the warm and powerful primordial fluid of the mother, with every thought and every inch of the spiritual vein rejoicing.

But it can silently erode the mind, giving the practitioner the illusion that they have transcended the rules and can take without limit.

It makes cultivators obsessed with this act of stealing the Heavenly Dao, with the ultimate goal of completely merging the cultivator's consciousness with the concept of "stealing," thereby forgetting themselves and becoming a greedy tentacle extending from the rules, endlessly repeating the act of "stealing the Heavenly Dao," until they themselves also become nourishment for the rules.

Only now did Wang Ping realize that the real karmic obstacle to stealing life force was not the traces that had been cleared away, but his inner desire to peek at great power, just like a poor man standing next to a pile of gold, yet trying to maintain a calm mind.

Therefore, his original plan to steal a large amount of life force for cultivation in a short period of time after resolving all matters was not feasible; he could only proceed slowly and quietly.

One day, Wang Ping suddenly woke up from his meditative state. This time it was because his puppet had completed the first step of cultivation as a demonic cultivator in the ecological experimental zone next to the star barrier.

When Wang Ping's consciousness, through the mirror array, fully descended upon his puppet body at the edge of the outer realm, an unprecedented and strange perception instantly seized all his attention.

The spiritual vein network inside the puppet's body was showing a cold, hard metallic luster, radiating a sharp aura that was extremely penetrating and destructive. Wang Ping could clearly observe the nine kinds of demonic energy remaining in the starry sky through the puppet's consciousness, but he could only sense them and not observe them. This was because the puppet's cultivation level was too low.

Wang Ping didn't waste any more time reflecting. He manipulated the puppet and carefully activated the second step of the method recorded in the "Extraterrestrial Demon Scripture (Erosion Blade Chapter)," absorbing the 'Erosion Blade' demonic energy he sensed through his spiritual veins.

It went very smoothly. The process was similar to Qi cultivation, requiring only the use of demonic energy to complete one cycle within the spiritual veins.

A few breaths later, fine and mysterious runes resembling metal cracks involuntarily appeared on the surface of the puppet's body. These marks shimmered with a gray-gold light, which was the external manifestation of the energy patterns of the "Erosion Edge" demonic source slowly taking shape.

Wang Ping concentrated all his thoughts, maintaining the puppet's absolute clarity of consciousness, and strictly guided this painful and dangerous cycle according to the requirements of the secret method.

The first attempt was completed quickly, without any unexpected issues.

Wang Ping then made a second attempt. After the two attempts, the demonic energy in his spiritual veins began to circulate autonomously. Wang Ping also sensed the puppet's own consciousness. Because the puppet's consciousness had been tainted by a lot of destructive desires related to the rules of destruction during this training, it immediately stopped as prompted by the light screen panel.

Subsequently, he summoned a puppet from another location that practiced a side sect's secret method of cultivating the Golden Spirit Qi to protect the puppet that practiced the secret method of Demonic Source, so that the puppet practicing Demonic Source could maintain a clear mind when it tried twice a day.

After completing these steps, Wang Ping documented the matter in writing and sent a copy to Xuan Qing.

Ten days later, Xuanqing had his disciple bring Wang Ping six portions of 'Nether Abyss' demonic source, which was something he had promised to give Wang Ping before. Moreover, these six portions of demonic source did not need to be tested in their shared experimental ecological zone.

Wang Ping spent some time trying to cultivate using puppets in the experimental ecological zone he had secretly built. The process went relatively smoothly, since with his current cultivation level, suppressing demonic cultivators who had not yet entered the realm was just a piece of cake.

After completing these tasks, Wang Ping continued his meditation on Mount Jiuxuan, observing the characteristics of the Wood Spirit's rules while using divine arts to grant believers temporary lives.

Sixty years have passed quietly.

On the third day after the progress of the 'Stealing the Heaven Talisman' increased by one point to (83/100), which was the morning of September 15th in the Dao Palace Calendar 1461, the Star God Alliance's Zhixin Daoist suddenly came to the Ascension Platform outside Jupiter's atmosphere to request an audience with Wang Ping.

After waking from his meditative state and calculating for a while, Wang Ping had the puppet take Zhixin to Mount Jiuxuan.

After Zhi Xin respectfully bowed, he said to Wang Ping, "I wonder if True Lord knows about the Gray Taoist in the rebel army?"

Wang Ping nodded slightly and said, "Of course I know. According to my intelligence, when Wei and Qian were in seclusion, he was in charge of most of the affairs of the rebel army. I also personally suppressed a wisp of his fantasy consciousness during the war with the extraterrestrial planet."

Zhi Xin quickly clasped his hands in a fist and said, "He has escaped the rebel-controlled starry sky and wants to come and join you!" (End of this chapter)