Cultivation of Immortality: This is what unorthodox methods are like.

After worshipping the sun, he also worshipped the moon, stars, and even the four seasons, the twenty-four solar terms, all directions, mountains, rivers, lakes, and so on.

After the ritual, he discovered that the sun, moon, stars, and the twenty-four solar terms were all a deep crimson, filled with an ominous atmosphere.

Ying Jiaren spoke first: "How are you feeling?"

Wang Quan shook his head: "Very bad!"

"It feels like the world has completely decayed and died."

Ying Jiaren nodded: "I feel the same way."

"Do you think our worship has any impact on the sun, moon, stars, or the world?"

Wang Quan laughed: "Our worship is insignificant to this world, like dust."

"But it is precisely because there are many people like us that we can accumulate little by little, and make a difference."

"We can't change the general trend, but we can change the place where we stand."

"At least... that should be the case here in the House of Commons."

Ying Jiaren nodded.

Upon hearing this, the other cultivators nearby nodded in agreement: "Brother Dao is absolutely right."

"We'll go back and bring in the Yin Spirit cultivators."

"They enjoy the benefits, but they must pay the price!"

"Ugh!"

One day later:

Some Yin Spirit cultivators appeared cautiously.

They are prepared to flee at any time.

Upon appearing in the second layer of the world, they discovered that their Yin spirits had not only not dissipated, but had also not been affected by the strange wind and fire.

On the contrary, it felt unusually comfortable.

A cultivator with profound knowledge can even clearly sense the Yin Spirit becoming more solid.

This speed is comparable to the efficiency with which they personally refine Yin spirits.

"A blessed land!"

"A treasure trove!"

One of the spirits exclaimed in surprise, "This place is wonderful!"

"I'll never go out in my life, and I feel like nothing will happen!"

The other spirits nodded in agreement: "Indeed, this is a wonderful place!"

"Even without cultivation, I feel that it won't be long before my Yin spirit is qualified to transform into a Yang spirit!"

Snapped!Snapped!Snapped!

A cultivator in his true form cracked his whip, yelling, "Stop your nonsense!"

"Quickly, let's all go up on the stage to worship the sun, moon, and stars, and to worship the spring, summer, autumn, winter, and the twenty-four solar terms!"

"Each person is allowed ten bundles of incense. Anyone who fails to burn them all will be banned from entering during the day!"

Upon hearing this, many of the underworld deities wailed in despair.

When cultivators worship heaven and earth, what they deplete is not their magical power, but rather their own will, thoughts, essence, spirit, and other intangible things.

Burning ten bundles of incense with these things would be enough to exhaust them.

One of the monks muttered, "Could you reduce the bundle by one?"

The cultivator in his true form sneered, "Heh, not a single bundle can be missing."

"Either offer sacrifices, or get out!"

"You choose for yourselves!"

Several pre-arranged spirits exchanged glances and roared, "Get out of the way, I need to perform the ritual first!"

"Even if I'm exhausted and collapse on the ground, I can still make my Yin Spirit stronger!"

"It's far more efficient than cultivating one's own spirit, and it saves money too!"

As they spoke, these Yin spirits ascended the five-colored altar.

They held bundles of sandalwood and began chanting incantations.

Sandalwood is burned in various ways: some to worship the sun and moon, some to worship the stars of the four seasons, and some to worship the twenty-four solar terms.

In the short time it takes to drink a cup of tea, ten bundles of sandalwood incense were burned out.

Then, the spirits turned pale and lay stiffly on the ground, motionless.

A spirit checked their breathing and its expression changed drastically: "Oh no, they're not breathing!"

"It looks like it's going to be a flop!"

"Idiot, we are all spirits, we don't breathe through our nostrils."

"Oh, I've just become a spirit, I'm not used to it yet!"

At this moment, many Yin spirits discovered that several of the first Yin spirits they worshipped were rapidly recovering under the various special powers of the safe zone.

This scene gave many Yin God cultivators a sense of reassurance.

Finally, led by the crowd, the group of spirits began to ascend the platform to offer sacrifices.

Bundles of sandalwood burned, and plumes of blue smoke rose into the sky.

Wang Quan and many other cultivators who possessed the true essence could clearly sense it:

The sun above the safe zone grew even brighter.

At the same time, the light emanating from the safe zone became even brighter.

Many cultivators were overjoyed.

Wang Quan coughed: "Gentlemen, it seems the worship really works!"

Many cultivators nodded: "This isn't just effective, it's extremely useful!"

"At this rate, I'm afraid that in the next ten years or so, this safe zone will expand on its own without us doing anything!"

Wang Quan smiled: "How many Yin Spirit cultivators will still be in this Drowned Lower Academy a decade or so from now?"

"Um?"

Upon hearing this, many cultivators' expressions changed slightly: "Fellow Daoist, what do you mean?"

Wang Quan sighed, "Nowadays, many orthodox cultivators have switched to practicing new methods for various reasons!"

"Although many new people come in every month, the number of cultivators who follow the orthodox path is decreasing."

Many cultivators remained silent.

Others may not know why the number of orthodox monks has decreased, but they do.

Wang Quan continued, "A cultivator who has mastered the three thousand volumes of Daoist scriptures, even the lowest-ranking orthodox cultivator, is far better than a cultivator who practices the new methods."

"If we allow these orthodox cultivators to take the new path because of resources, family orders, or power requirements, we will ultimately be the ones who suffer."

"Everyone, in the present world, we can make spirits and new-style monks do things."

"However, in the second layer of the world, what we need are orthodox monks."

"A genuine Yin spirit that cultivates itself is far cheaper than a Yin spirit that you create."

The numerous cultivators remained silent.

Seeing this, Wang Quan said nothing more, but stood up and said, "Everyone, I still need to go cultivate!"

How this second layer of the world develops is up to you.

As he spoke, he turned and returned to the present world.

Ying Jiaren and Qian Xiuyue, who were standing nearby, blinked and followed suit.

The present world:

Standing atop the foundation platform at Linjiang Mountain, Wang Quan sat amidst the seventy-two trails of smoke and dust, spitting out a beam of light from his mouth.

This band of light is the spiritual light of foundation building.

The power of the king has never lacked foundation-building spiritual energy.

Now we have no shortage of them.

Now, for each additional layer of the Foundation Establishment Platform, he places a ray of Foundation Establishment spiritual light into it.

This thing moves around inside the platform, collides with it, and complements it.

The altar, illuminated by the spiritual light of the Foundation Establishment stage, became even more mysterious.

The spiritual light of Foundation Establishment is refined by the Dao Platform, becoming more pure and also giving rise to profound mysteries.

Outsiders cannot perceive the changes.

However, the spirits and martial arts masters working in the Taoist temple could clearly sense it.

Originally, martial arts masters with innate abilities were not qualified to work there.

However, the martial artists were more clever. They used trickery and other methods to bewitch the flower fairies and millstone spirits who were acting as minor leaders. Then, they replaced the spirits and entered the Taoist temple to work.

They could clearly feel their strength increasing rapidly within the Dao Platform.

In just six months, one can go from a Xiantian martial artist to a clan-level martial artist.

After becoming members of the royal family, these warriors found that there was no future for them.

Some of these masters, looking at the carvings on the royal altar, hoped to gain some insight.

Some masters even tricked the monsters into splitting open their chests, exposing their muscles, bones, and flesh, so they could study them.

Wang Quan knew all this, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

After all, whether they are spirits or martial artists, as long as they don't cause trouble or delay his progress, it's fine.

The rest is none of his business.

— Five names were finalized, all of which received high praise from fellow readers; however, the phrase "send a woman" was deemed inappropriate and was modified for fear of censorship.

The five names are in the author's bio. When I was choosing, four had the most likes, one was relatively mediocre, but I liked it. I initially said I'd choose two, but in the end I chose four highly-rated names and one I liked—I kept my promise.