Wu Jian's meridians were significantly more robust than those of the 'average' Transcendent being realm cultivator. This advantage stemmed from her extensive use of special pills and elixirs, which she both bought and borrowed frequently. Her ability to afford these resources was due to her status as the leader of a sect, which made her wealthier than most Transcendent Being cultivators. However, while she was above average in financial terms, she couldn’t truly be considered rich. The income from her sect, coupled with her contribution points, allowed her to maintain a comfortable but not extravagant cultivation.
To put it simply, the sect’s contributions and her personal income provided stability rather than abundance. The sect generated an average yearly revenue of around 10,000 immortal jades. However, revenue and profit are two entirely different things. After accounting for all expenses, no more than 50 immortal jades per year remained as pure profit for Wu Jian to use personally.
The sect's expenditures were numerous and unavoidable. They included purchasing pill materials, paying salaries for elders and supreme elders, covering the membership fees to the Infinite Dao Sect, renting spiritual farms, buying seeds for plantations, and hiring guest pill masters and artifact refiners. These costs added up, leaving little surplus. If Wu Jian had chosen to cut back on these expenses, it might have been possible to increase the sect’s net income to a few hundred immortal jades per year. However, she refrained from doing so. Reducing expenditures could weaken the sect in the long run, lowering its revenue and, by extension, its income.
Even so, 50 immortal jades annually wasn’t a negligible amount. Over the years, this modest income accumulated. In a thousand years, it would amount to 50,000 immortal jades, and over a million years, it would reach an impressive total of 50 million immortal jades. Of course, Wu Jian also had her expenses. Most of the wealth she accumulated over the years was reinvested into her cultivation. She spent it on valuable elixirs and resources to enhance her foundation and strengthen her meridians.
Over the course of 37 million years, Wu Jian managed to earn a staggering 2 billion immortal jades. Every bit of it was spent on her cultivation. In total, billions of immortal jades were invested in her development, propelling her to her current cultivation realm.
For perspective, the average income of a Transcendent Being cultivator ranges from 1 to 100 million immortal jades per million years. Meanwhile, true immortals can earn billions in the same time frame. It’s no wonder the Infinite Dao Sect is so eager to support Transcendent cultivators during their breakthroughs. From an economic standpoint, the potential return on investment is astronomical.
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Wu Jian slowly opened her meridians, allowing the dense and highly pressurized immortal energy to enter her body. The sheer weight of the energy would have been overwhelming in any other setting and destroyed any room. Fortunately, she was situated in a specialized room within the Infinite Dao Sect’s branch headquarters in the Crystal Expanse World. Without this advanced facility, no structure she could personally build would have been able to endure such extreme conditions.
“So painful!” she thought as the energy began circulating through her system. She endured the agony for several minutes, letting her meridians adapt to the immense pressure. Once she felt stable, she activated the special ability of the room.
This room, maintained by the branch headquarters of a top-tier sect, was explicitly designed to assist cultivators attempting breakthroughs to the True Immortal Realm. As the room’s unique ability activated, the space within began to shrink, forcing the concentration of immortal energy to rise exponentially. Wu Jian endured the mounting pressure until she reached her limit, at which point she deactivated the room’s ability.
Without hesitation, she retrieved a bright silver liquid from her storage. This liquid, one of the most valuable treasures in her possession, was worth over a billion immortal jades. It shimmered with an otherworldly brilliance as she raised it to her lips. With a deep breath, Wu Jian drank the liquid, feeling its immense power flood her body.
The path to the True Immortal Realm was perilous, but Wu Jian was determined. Every resource she had amassed, every sacrifice she had made, was culminating in this pivotal moment.
Among the treasures borrowed from the Infinite Dao Sect, the 800 million immortal jades were the least valuable. The true treasures were those specifically designed to assist in breaking through to True Immortality.
As Wu Jian drank the entire bottle of silver liquid, the cracks that had formed on the surface of her skin vanished, replaced by a radiant, silver glow that enveloped her body. She felt an intense surge of energy coursing through her, rejuvenating her meridians and strengthening her foundation. After several minutes, she once again activated the room’s unique ability, causing the walls to slowly contract.
As the space shrank, the concentration of immortal energy increased exponentially. The pressure mounted relentlessly until the room reached its limit, becoming so tight that Wu Jian could barely move. Her muscles screamed under the strain, but she endured. Gritting her teeth, she deactivated the room’s ability, giving herself a brief respite.
Without hesitation, Wu Jian retrieved another bottle of the shimmering silver liquid and drank it in a single gulp. This time, she went further. Taking a deep breath, she summoned all the remaining immortal jades in her possession—approximately 1 billion—and directly melted them into energy. A billion immortal jades compressed into such a confined space generated an unthinkable amount of pressure.
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If she had attempted this without proper preparation, the sheer force would have obliterated her. However, her earlier conditioning had tempered her body and meridians to withstand extreme stress. Even so, the process wasn’t without consequence. Her skin began to split, blood flowed freely, and her body was pressed to the ground by the overwhelming force. Yet, her vitals remained intact, and, crucially, her meridians—fortified by the silver liquid—remained unharmed.
After enduring the pain for some time, Wu Jian began to acclimate. Slowly but steadily, she pushed herself upright, her body trembling under the weight of the pressure. Turning her focus inward, she examined her meridians and energy flow. A rare smile crossed her lips.
“Excellent! A large amount of immortal aura has already been absorbed, and my meridians are holding up well,” she thought, feeling a glimmer of hope.
But her relief was short-lived. Suddenly, she felt a searing pain, and her expression darkened. “Oh no, cracks are forming again!”
In a flash, she pulled out two additional items from her storage ring: a jar of silver cream and another, larger bottle of the silver liquid. Without wasting a moment, she drank the liquid and began applying the cream to her skin. The cracks that marred her body started to heal, but the process was agonizingly slow. Worse still, new cracks formed just as quickly as the old ones were mended.
“No! It’s failing! I can’t stop now. If I retreat, I might survive, but I’ll never reach the True Immortal Realm!” Wu Jian’s heart sank as the weight of her predicament pressed down on her. Her mind raced, and she realized she had only one option left.
Clenching her jaw, she retrieved all the remaining treasures provided by the sect. A pile of silver liquids, jars of creams, and, most notably, a single pale golden pill. The golden pill radiated an overwhelming aura so potent that even glancing at it made Wu Jian’s eyes sting.
This pill was no ordinary treasure. It had been given to her under strict conditions. If she used it, she would be bound to complete 100 tasks for the Infinite Dao Sect, tasks that could take billions of years to finish. If the pill wasn’t used during her breakthrough, it would have to be returned intact. Wu Jian had initially vowed to avoid using it—who would willingly take on such a colossal debt? But now, with her life and future on the line, she had no choice.
“If I fail to break through, none of this will matter anyway,” she thought bitterly, as her resolve solidified.
The cracks in her skin began spreading rapidly, visible to the naked eye. Flesh peeled away, exposing raw wounds that gushed blood. Her body seemed to be falling apart, piece by piece. Although her vitals and meridians were still intact, the rest of her was in shambles. If this continued much longer, she wouldn’t survive.
Acting swiftly, Wu Jian slathered her skin with a thick layer of silver cream, her hands trembling as she worked. Simultaneously, she drank the silver liquid in desperate gulps, consuming bottle after bottle without hesitation.
Every second was a battle between life and death. The pressure in the room was suffocating, and her body was barely holding together. But Wu Jian’s determination burned brighter than ever. She wouldn’t give up—not when she was so close to the pinnacle of cultivation.
Her thoughts sharpened as she prepared for the next step. There was no room for error. If she faltered now, her dream of reaching the True Immortal Realm would shatter and, with it, her very existence.
The cracks on Wu Jian’s skin gradually began to disappear. Even the new cracks that had formed were swiftly filled with the silver cream and vanished shortly thereafter. Meanwhile, the silver liquid worked internally, reinforcing her meridians and reducing the immense pressure that had been threatening to crush her body. For the first time in hours, she felt a semblance of relief. The situation, though still perilous, was stabilizing.
To ensure her breakthrough proceeded without further complications, Wu Jian made a decisive move. She took out the pale golden pill—the most precious item in her possession—and swallowed it whole. Doing so sealed her commitment to completing the 110 tasks for the sect, tasks that could span billions of years. Yet, for Wu Jian, this was a small price to pay. For an immortal, time was not the limiting factor. Achieving True Immortality was her ultimate goal, and she was willing to shoulder any burden to succeed.
As the pill entered her stomach, it dissolved almost instantly. Wu Jian’s body reacted immediately. A bone-chilling cold enveloped her, and she felt as though she had been plunged to the deepest, coldest depths of an unfathomable ocean. The pressure was suffocating, and the cold was so intense that her body seemed on the verge of shattering like fragile glass.
“The pale golden pill made things worse!” she thought, alarmed. Though the pill effectively halted the formation of new cracks, it came at a steep cost—her body now felt brittle and delicate, as if it had turned into a fragile block of ice.
Despite the terrifying sensation, the effects of the pill were undeniable. Over the next hour, streams of immortal aura flowed effortlessly into her meridians. Without cracks forming or disruptions to the energy flow, her body absorbed the immense power smoothly and efficiently.
Gradually, the overwhelming pressure in the room began to fade as every last trace of the immortal aura was drawn into Wu Jian’s meridians. By the time two hours had passed, the room was entirely devoid of its suffocating energy. At the same time, the icy sensation gripping her body subsided, and she no longer felt as though she was at risk of shattering. Her body was whole, unbroken, and no longer vulnerable.
“Now, the last step!” Wu Jian muttered to herself, her voice filled with determination. She closed her eyes, preparing for the final and most pivotal phase of her breakthrough.
This final step was the defining moment of every cultivator’s journey to True Immortality: the bestowal of a complete law. The will of the world itself would recognize her achievement and gift her the knowledge of a complete law. This law would become the cornerstone of her power as a True Immortal.
Though critical, this phase was far less dangerous than the grueling trials she had endured earlier. Those who had made it this far in their cultivation journey had a high chance of succeeding in this final step.
As Wu Jian waited, the will of the world stirred. A vast, incomprehensible power descended upon her, its presence both awe-inspiring and overwhelming. This power penetrated her mind, bypassing her defenses effortlessly. For a moment, her consciousness was engulfed in a brilliant light, and she felt herself connected to the world's very essence.
Then, the knowledge came. A flood of critical insights, mysteries, and truths poured into her mind. It was as though a cosmic voice was speaking directly to her, revealing the intricacies of a complete law.
Piece by piece, the knowledge coalesced, forming a perfect and seamless understanding of the law. It was hers now—a gift from the will of the world, and the foundation of her existence as a True Immortal.