"You all go about your business, I need to be busy too."
Mingzhi Tian felt lingering fear. Upon learning that Emperor Piaoyan had struck Empress Xingchen, his heart became restless, feeling an inexplicable discomfort. Though they were merely a couple having a dispute, he felt bothered, which only strengthened his resolve to break through quickly. Once he became powerful enough, there would be no one he couldn't protect.
Mingzhi Tian took Mo Li Shenzun and headed towards the back mountain. Seeing Piao Ling'er following closely behind, Mingzhi Tian stopped and frowned, "Why are you following?"
Piao Ling'er immediately halted, almost stumbling into Mingzhi Tian. She shyly dodged, "I... I just want to see what you're doing, is that okay?"
Mingzhi Tian nodded, recalling Empress Xingchen's parting instructions to look after her daughter, Piao Ling'er:
"Don't wander off. The Divine Sect is full of primeval beasts."
Mingzhi Tian was naturally referring to the intricate mechanisms, traps, and various explosive talismans that would trip up anyone unfamiliar with them.
Reluctantly, he decided to bring Piao Ling'er along. "Be good and listen, don't wander off."
Seeing that Mingzhi Tian had agreed, Piao Ling'er's heart bloomed with joy. "Okay, wherever you go, Ling'er will go."
Mingzhi Tian couldn't help but glance at her again. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that her features bore a striking seven-tenths resemblance to Empress Xingchen.
As they walked, Mingzhi Tian said to Mo Li Shenzun, "Moli, you said you had a way to help me rapidly break through my cultivation. What is it? I need to know."
Mo Li Shenzun looked at Piao Ling'er. Mingzhi Tian added, "She's one of us, so you can speak freely."
Piao Ling'er's entire face flushed red with shyness. She grumbled inwardly, *Who is one of us? What nonsense! Annoying.*
Mo Li Shenzun said, "Little one, I would have told you even if you hadn't asked. For us Law Cultivators, cultivation is accumulated through meditation, requiring cultivation manuals and the consumption of elixirs. For you Martial Cultivators, the most direct and simple method is to gain experience through constant combat, thereby accumulating power for your cultivation."
Mingzhi Tian said, "I understand the principle, let's get to the point."
Mo Li Shenzun continued, "The method for Martial Cultivators to improve their cultivation is simple, crude, and easy to understand. However, this is why fewer and fewer people choose to cultivate martial arts. First, Martial Cultivation requires greater resources. Second, improving cultivation is too slow. These two points alone make most cultivators give up."
"But you are different, because you possess the unique perseverance required for Martial Cultivation. But have you ever considered why, upon reaching the Awakening Realm, your cultivation becomes increasingly difficult to improve?"
Mingzhi Tian listened intently and nodded repeatedly, "Why?"
Mo Li Shenzun explained, "Besides the fact that higher cultivation requires more resources, this is not the bottleneck for breaking through. The real difficulty is obtaining resources, which is harder than the resources needed for cultivation itself. If you have no resources, how can you discuss how many resources are needed for breakthrough? It's the same logic."
Mingzhi Tian sighed, "I'm already trying my best to find opportunities for combat. Unfortunately, they are either at the third level of the Divine Luo Realm or at the seventh or eighth level. Even with my bloodline connection, at the first level of the Awakening Realm, I truly cannot defeat them."
"Moreover, due to my constant battles, I have already offended quite a few factions. There have been a few times I nearly lost my life, unable to escape. How could I possibly find resources to improve my cultivation?"
Mo Li Shenzun shook his head, looking at him with eyes that expressed disappointment in his lack of progress. "You're a successor to a Master of Mechanism Arts, yet you're no better than this."
Mingzhi Tian immediately felt displeased. "You can insult my character, but you cannot insult my title as a successor to a Master of Mechanism Arts. What do you have to say for yourself, you puppet?"