"No use. The Void Realm world war must be won by every world.

Once you start a war, it means you have discovered the connection between 'world war' and 'ascending to immortality.'

Then every world that knows the secret of ascending will know you, and sooner or later they will come at you.

In that case, allies cannot exist.

Because you do not know whether your allies know this secret. If your allies know, they will seize the chance to attack you when you are unprepared, since you are also one of their targets.

Everyone becomes a hunter in a forest; once you draw the bow there is no turning back. Either you fight other hunters to the death, or you become their prey."

What Void Realm dark forest!

After that conversation with Shen Yang, you gained a lot.

The outline of the entire Void Realm, and the events hidden in the fog of millions of years of history, gradually became clear.

Your thoughts returned to reality, and you began to discuss some "practical matters" with Shen Yang.

"Brother Shen, look, I found you a Dual-Soul Sacred Physique, which saved you a lot of possessions, right?"

"Exactly, you helped greatly."

"If you possess someone, the Shen Family must organize a Mirror Wielder selection each time, consuming huge amounts of money, materials, and manpower."

"That is true."

"Now I've saved all that for you, shouldn't you give me the resources you would have spent?"

You moved like a tiger, and Shen Qingshan beside you was stunned.

In just a few days, his innocent little heart had been completely shaken by you.

You were so street-smart, making Shen Qingshan seem like a raw recruit.

Shen Yang smiled and pointed at you.

"Alright, alright, wait here for me, but what you said has merit."

Is "Chinese-Style Succubus" really that strong? He agreed to such demands?

"But your appetite is too big, I can't satisfy everything. I'll give you a price."

Apparently it had nothing to do with "Chinese-Style Succubus"; Old Shen was fairly generous.

Shen Yang gave you a list to collect from the Shen family warehouses.

The list was so long it disappeared from sight.

You suspected Shen Yang was clearing out the Shen family's overstock and handing it all to you.

So you argued for the right to exchange items equivalently.

If you didn't need a certain material, you could swap it for an equivalent one.

"Brother Shen! I'm not taking these resources for myself, this is part of the plan to resist the Dragon-Man tribe!"

Old Shen could not argue further and reluctantly agreed.

"By the way, there's one more thing you must handle, Brother Shen."

"What is it?"

"At present, the head elder of the Shen Family Elder Council, Shen Wanquan, has made contact with the Dragon-Man tribe and become an inside agent."

Shen Yang's expression instantly darkened.

"Such a thing could happen?"

"I believe you have a hundred ways to make him tell the truth. This is an internal family matter, so I will not interfere."

"Of course. Before I combine with Shen Qingshan, I will clean house and thoroughly investigate top to bottom, ensuring the Shen family stands united. After all, internal problems are more terrifying than external enemies."

Year twenty, age thirty-nine. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Over the years Shen Wángzǔ seldom left the Star Force Mystic Realm, but this time he made a rare appearance and the whole clan gathered to watch.

He then announced that, inside and outside the star domain, the Shen family would conduct a major sweep.

They would check whether anyone was colluding with otherworldly alien races, trying to sell out the human world for personal gain.

Shen Wanquan was finished.

You did not follow the details closely, but you knew he had been ritually punished by Founding Ancestor Shen.

You stayed in the star domain and lived with Third Sister's family.

In daily life you were busy with cultivation and studying formations, artifact forging, pill refining, and the Faith Dao.

Teaching resources were also part of the arrangement; according to your agreement with Shen Yang, the Shen family had to provide instructors.

Practice materials for learning also had to be supplied.

You said to the simulated version of yourself outside the simulation,

"Brother, give me some learning-system trait tags. I'll be staying with the Shen family a while, observing whether they take action to assist human martial artists in increasing combat power and unite against the Dragon-Man tribe."

Simulated Chen Yi said, "Received."

Year twenty-one, age forty.

You replaced Serious Punch with Formation Master.

You swapped Treasure-Sniffing Nose for Alchemy Sage.

You replaced Senior Tomato User with Artifact Refining Sage.

You replaced Trait Slingshot with Man and Sword as One.

The star domain's scholarly atmosphere was rich.

Conferences, competitions, and lectures across the eighteen Dao paths happened constantly.

Your Dao of pills, artifacts, formations, and swordsmanship, and even the Faith Dao which had no trait aid, all advanced continuously.

"Oh—my God! Really, I seem able to channel the power of faith, but only enough to convert into a tiny amount of cultivation. It's far too little, practically nothing."

"The Faith Dao is like that. Those with little knowledge call it useless; those who understand much know its wonder."

"Say it in plain terms."

"You received too little faith-power. Only when it reaches a certain amount does the Faith Dao have meaning."

The one explaining the Faith Dao to you was an old gentleman in the star domain known as the "Old Man of Peace."

He had spent his life traveling the human world, dedicated to enlightening ordinary people and teaching them basic culture and knowledge.

He had no merit-temple, but the Faith Dao does not require a temple to be effective. If people remember your merits, it works the same.

As the most profound practitioner of the Faith Dao in the star domain, the Old Man of Peace was formidable; he was one of over thirty Martial Saints in the Shen family.

Only, he was very old—already over four hundred.

A Martial Saint’s theoretical lifespan is four hundred years, and he was genuinely in his twilight.

"It is not easy for you to grasp even the surface. To master higher applications of the Faith Dao requires talent."

The Old Man of Peace phrased it politely.

With a teacher like him giving hands-on lessons and Old Shen's high-level research results as textbooks, you had only just begun to scratch the surface. Going deeper right now might be a waste of time.

You were self-aware.

Better to wait for trait tags before researching the Faith Dao further.

In your spare time, you "phoned" Xie Guihong from the Free and Unfettered Holy Land.

This "phone" was the Free and Unfettered Token.

"Island Master, any movement in the Saint finals?"

"Rest assured, it's still early. Take care of your family matters first, and come back when you're ready. If you encounter difficulties, even from afar in the Five Regions' Holy Lands we can send people to help."

"Thank you for your trouble. Are all my masters well?"

"They are... well."

Confirming the Saint finals were still a long way off, you decided to undertake a major project.

Forge the Immortal Artifact Ten Thousand Souls Banner!

Not to craft a Heaven-Grade Spirit Artifact and then use Enhancement! to make it an Immortal Artifact.

But to directly forge an Immortal Artifact—the genuine, original Ten Thousand Souls Banner!

What Enhancement! would do to it once applied remained unknown.