This trip to Nanyao City could be called a bountiful harvest.
Ten Ten-Thousand Origin Stones were not only hard currency in the extraordinary world, but could also serve as cultivation resources and supplies for prolonged battles.
The two Grade-A Low-tier Dao arts that Jiang Wuyong had lost to him were a fire-element attack Dao art named Explosive Flame Sparrow and a fire-element evasion Dao art named Flame Meteor.
Although cultivating the Four Spirits Body Refining Method gave him deeper control over the four elements of wood, gold, water, and fire, this method was primarily focused on body refinement. In terms of elemental control, he hadn't reached the level of Wang Changxiang's innate Wind Sparrow true spirit, which wasn't enough to master Dao arts across realms.
These two Dao arts could only be officially cultivated after reaching the Soaring Dragon Realm.
Jiang Wang entered the Taixu Illusory Realm as usual and used the Dao Deduction Platform to deduce these two Dao arts.
It wasn't that his first-layer Dao Deduction Platform was sufficient to optimize these exquisite Grade-A Dao arts. He had previously tried with Binding Tiger, Flame Flower, and Thorn Crown, and for such exquisite Dao arts, the first-layer platform offered no room for optimization.
He mainly wanted to use the Taixu Illusory Realm's Dao Deduction Platform to confirm whether these two Dao arts had been tampered with.
On the way to the Qi Kingdom, Jiang Wang had experienced the February fifteenth blessed land challenge, dropping from Blessed Land Taoshan to Blessed Land Huangjing.
This time, while forging swords at the Sword Furnace, he missed the March fifteenth blessed land challenge. He dropped from Huangjing to Blessed Land Rank Thirty, Lankeshan. His monthly Merit output was now only 1,150 points.
Because he hadn't been matching in battles much during this period, his Merit had accumulated. He now had 5,500 points.
He placed the jade slip manifested in the Taixu Illusory Realm onto the Dao Deduction Platform and selected deduction.
After deducting 200 Merit points, the deduction was complete.
Sure enough, there were some issues!
Jiang Wang picked up the jade slip and examined it. It had only corrected two very inconspicuous hand seals that hadn't been noticeable before. After the correction, he verified it and immediately understood the problem.
If he had directly cultivated the Dao arts given by Jiang Wuyong, mistakes might have occurred during some battle.
It was precisely because they knew he had the Taixu Illusory Realm that Chongxuan Sheng had suggested he choose Dao arts when picking bets.
When he had previously tried to perfect the three Dao arts that Chongxuan Sheng had helped him find, the deduction yielded no results. However, at that time, the Taixu Illusory Realm had shown a prompt—whether to submit this Dao art to the Dao Deduction Platform to obtain corresponding contribution points.
Although Jiang Wang was curious about the subsequent changes of the Dao Deduction Platform, he hadn't chosen to submit because the ownership of those three Dao arts didn't belong to him.
These two Dao arts won from Jiang Wuyong didn't need to be hidden. Although it was now known that the Taixu Illusory Realm wasn't a unique domain, others could likely obtain the Dao arts he submitted by spending Merit on deductions. But these two Dao arts weren't exclusively his to begin with. Jiang Wuyong definitely had copies on his end.
Submitting Grade-A Low-tier Dao art Explosive Flame Sparrow, submitting Grade-A Low-tier Dao art Flame Meteor.
The Taixu Illusory Realm's prompts arrived one after another.
Dao Deduction Platform Second Layer, unsealed.
Contribution points resources opened.
The cost of advancing the Dao Deduction Platform was called "Merit"; what was needed for the platform's promotion was called "Method." The rewards from Sword Discussion Platform victories were "Merit," while what was obtained from submitting and deducing Dao arts on the platform was "Method."
Jiang Wang turned to look at the sundial phantom, where text gradually appeared.
Blessed Land Thirty, Master of Lankeshan. Solitary the Invincible.
Sword Discussion Platform: Seventh Grade (Tongtian Realm).
Required for advancement: Soaring Dragon Realm.
Merit: 5,300 points.
Dao Deduction Platform: Second Layer.
Method: 400 points.
Required for advancement: 10,000 Method. (The Master of Lankeshan's Dao Deduction Platform is in a sealed state; only 1,000 Method is needed to unseal. Not yet unsealed.)
He had possessed the Taixu Illusory Realm for a long time, but only today, with Jiang Wuyong's "sponsorship," was he able to unseal the second layer of the Dao Deduction Platform.
Merit was the merit of cultivation; Method was the method of protecting the Dao.
After advancement, the Dao Deduction Platform's appearance hadn't changed much. It was still that green bamboo table, still that jade book.
Only the green bamboo was more emerald, and the white jade more pristine.
Under Jiang Wang's gaze, the jade book slowly opened.
"Sword Art Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Canon, Military Cultivation Method Four Spirits Body Refining Method, Tracking Dao Art Reminiscence, Dao Art Flame Flower, Dao Art Flame Meteor, Dao Art Explosive Flame Sparrow..."
The Dao arts and cultivation methods he had deduced and those he had voluntarily submitted slowly turned past, and the jade book gained a second page.
Among these, the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Canon, Four Spirits Body Refining Method, and Reminiscence were all strengthened through spending Merit on the Dao Deduction Platform. Although they were recorded by the platform itself after deduction, the contribution points obtained were naturally not much.
This Taixu Illusory Realm had no detailed explanation. Jiang Wang had previously communicated with Chongxuan Sheng, but Chongxuan Sheng's understanding of the Taixu Illusory Realm was also partial. Unlike Jiang Wang, who had "inherited" it from Zuo Guanglie, Chongxuan Sheng had been chosen by the Taixu Illusory Realm.
The only thing Chongxuan Sheng was certain about was that the Taixu Illusory Realm was not a product of any conspiracy, and must be beneficial and harmless.
The reason was simple: a Taixu Illusory Realm with such a wide radiation range couldn't be concealed by any existence, nor could it hide from all the powerful figures across the world's nations and sects.
In other words, although the existence of the Taixu Illusory Realm had not been made public, it must have been tacitly allowed by all the world's nations and sects.
From this, it could be inferred that the core principles of the Taixu Illusory Realm must follow fairness and neutrality.
But at the same time, because the Taixu Illusory Realm was so secretive, everything about it could only be explored on one's own.
At most, one could be like Jiang Wang and Chongxuan Sheng, knowing each other's identities within the Taixu Illusory Realm and communicating privately.
Considering that the Taixu Illusory Realm only showed the prompt to submit Dao arts when he was deducing Binding Tiger, it indicated that the Dao Deduction Platform had high requirements for the Dao arts themselves.
To verify his own thoughts, Jiang Wang successively submitted some basic Dao arts he had learned at the City Dao Academy—Flame Blade, Wind Blade, Golden Light Arrow, and the like.
The Method displayed by the Dao Deduction Platform remained unchanged.
Jiang Wang then submitted the grafted Dao art he had created independently—Entangling Wall of Vine-Snakes grafted with Flower of Consumption.
The Dao Deduction Platform increased by three Method points. It was still a common Dao art, but because it had variations, there was reward. Though this reward was barely worth mentioning.
"So, Dao arts submitted to the Dao Deduction Platform don't just receive different contributions based on their power; rarity also has a significant impact."
Jiang Wang fell into thought.
The Dao Deduction Platform's ability to advance through contribution points was clearly meant to encourage more cultivators to contribute their unique techniques.
Actually, during his battle with Jiang Wuyong, he had already made some speculations. Because the Purple Qi Comes from the East Sword Art and Jiang Wuyong's sword art had a similar lineage quality, presumably someone had also contributed the Qi Emperor's imperial sword art to the Taixu Illusory Realm.
He just wondered if the Taixu Illusory Realm contained the Supreme Purple Star Central Heaven Canon.
He thought it was unlikely.
Take Jiang Wang himself for example. The three sword arts he had created independently hadn't been submitted to the Dao Deduction Platform for deduction.
The Taixu Illusory Realm's Dao Deduction Platform might be able to deduce a sword art to "perfection" through the vast ocean of various sword arts, but that might not necessarily be the best sword for Jiang Wang.
Everyone had their own path, and must have their own sword.
Whether it was the sword of sun, moon, and stars or the sword of mountains and rivers, both were based on the forging and refinement of Jiang Wang's own essence, qi, and spirit. He only needed to continue walking forward.
He hadn't thought about submitting these three sword arts to the Dao Deduction Platform to exchange for contribution points and unseal the platform sooner.
Perhaps only when he no longer needed these three sword arts would he consider such a thing.
Because this was something truly unique to him, his strongest means at present.
Thanks to Zuo Guanglie's legacy, Jiang Wang could now advance the Dao Deduction Platform much more easily, needing only one-tenth of the Method to unseal. And up to now, Jiang Wang had only just unsealed it to the second layer.
It was hard to imagine how many resources Zuo Guanglie had invested in the Taixu Illusory Realm back then. He had pushed the Dao Deduction Platform all the way to the nineteenth layer! That was an astronomical figure.
But when considering Zuo Guanglie's world-renowned unique Dao arts—Flame Flower Burning City, Prairie Fire, Sunburst—everything seemed to fall within reason.
Such a person, such a genius...
He had blazed across the sky like a daytime meteor, and the light he left behind still shone upon Jiang Wang to this day.
……
……
PS: Merit is the merit of cultivation; Method is the method of protecting the Dao. Actually, for point calculation, using traditional Chinese numerals壹贰叄肆伍 would best match the ancient flavor and fit the story's temperament. But the author worried some readers might not recognize traditional numerals... Considering the reading barrier, it was later all changed to numbers. However, some readers said 12345 felt too out of place.
So as a compromise, from now on, calculation will be uniformly done with simplified Chinese一二三四五.