He took out a complete map of the Earthly Mysteries Realm and spread it out in front of him.
Ye Qingxuan began to carefully examine the different regions of the realm, analyzing the pros and cons of developing in each area.
Although the Earthly Mysteries Realm is vast, the regions actually available for Ye Qingxuan to develop are actually quite limited.
Within the territories of the various overlord-level forces, while it’s safe, any growth would inevitably be very slow.
Without sufficient strength, even if you operate within the sphere of an overlord-level force, the resources allocated to you and the scope of your development would definitely be restricted.
As for the vast areas between the overlord-level forces, while you don’t have to follow their many rules and can expand and develop freely,
given Ye Qingxuan’s Golden Core cultivation, even with all the trump cards prepared for his External Doppelgänger, it would still be very easy to get into serious trouble in these lawless lands.
After all, he’s sending his External Doppelgänger out to build his own business empire, open up new markets, and gather various resources for the development of the Qingxuan Cave Paradise.
In this process, it’s inevitable that wealth will be exposed.
And in the eyes of the powerful cultivators in these chaotic lands, a Golden Core cultivator like Ye Qingxuan’s doppelgänger would look like nothing but a juicy lamb.
So, although the inner five regions of the Earthly Mysteries Realm are rich in resources, they are not the best place for Ye Qingxuan to develop in the early stage.
In the end, Ye Qingxuan turned his gaze towards the remote outer four regions of the Earthly Mysteries Realm.
Compared to the inner five regions, Ye Qingxuan preferred to go develop in the remote outer four regions.
According to the records of the Xuantian Sect’s ancient texts that Ye Qingxuan had read,
the outer four regions of the Earthly Mysteries Realm were formed during a certain advancement of the realm itself.
Because these outer four regions were formed relatively late, both their resources and population are far inferior to those of the inner five regions.
But the key point is this: within the outer four regions, the highest cultivation level among cultivators is generally only the Soul Transformation stage.
With his External Doppelgänger at the Golden Core stage, Ye Qingxuan would definitely be considered a mid-to-high level expert in the outer four regions.
Add to that all the trump cards he’s prepared, and his External Doppelgänger might not be able to strut around with impunity, but at least protecting himself should be no problem.
Without having to worry about dangers from other cultivators, he could focus on rapid development and gather large quantities of spirit ores unique to the outer four regions, thereby speeding up the improvement of the elemental rule completion in the Qingxuan Cave Paradise.
As for why the highest cultivation level in the outer four regions is generally only the Soul Transformation stage, it’s not because the resources there can’t produce beings beyond that level.
Rather, it’s that once cultivators in the outer four regions break through to the Void-Cave Realm, gaining the ability to roam the void and perform spatial travel,
they basically choose to leave the outer four regions and come to develop in the inner five regions.
The spiritual energy density of the outer four regions can support Void-Cave cultivators in reaching even higher levels, but by cultivating in the inner five regions, they can increase their cultivation speed by about fifty percent.
Because beyond the Void-Cave Realm, besides needing to accumulate energy, one also needs to comprehend the laws of elemental essence.
In the inner five regions of the Earthly Mysteries Realm, both the spiritual energy density and the activity of elemental laws are a notch higher than in the outer four regions.
Don’t underestimate that fifty percent faster cultivation speed—a fifty percent increase might mean the difference between heaven and earth in terms of the final ceiling you can reach.
So once cultivators in the outer four regions break through to the Void-Cave Realm, they generally don’t linger there for long; they come to develop in the inner five regions.
Additionally, the outer four regions are located at the four extremes of the Earthly Mysteries Realm, separated by the Endless Sea, making their geographical position very remote.
Apart from some merchant alliances near the Endless Sea that go to the outer four regions for cross-regional trade, other forces, or even independent cultivators, from the inner five regions have little desire to develop there.
Therefore, if his External Doppelgänger goes to develop in the outer four regions, he won’t have to be overly constrained or worry too much about other forces hindering his development.
Even the overlord-level forces merely set up outposts there, established rules against destructive mining and spirit vein damage, and otherwise leave the development of the various human forces in the outer four regions alone.
Of course, if a demon beast from the outer four regions breaks through to the Void-Cave Realm, the experts from the overlord-level forces on duty at their outposts will capture it and bring it back to their sects for captive breeding.
Among the same human race, they can allow the demon beast race and humans to be evenly matched in the outer four regions, using this to temper and train humans.
But they will never allow the demon beast race’s power to rise above that of humanity.
Even the Endless Sea, which is said to have the largest concentration of demon beasts, only has one at the Tribulation Crossing stage: a Sea Dragon King.
The demon beasts left in the Endless Sea are there to provide a training ground for the younger generations of the sects.
The rules set by the human races of the Earthly Mysteries Realm for the Endless Sea are:
No demon beast of the Great Vehicle stage is allowed. Only one demon beast at the Tribulation Crossing stage can exist.
If that Tribulation Crossing demon beast breaks through to the Great Vehicle stage, it will face immediate extermination by humanity.
Allowing only one Tribulation Crossing stage demon beast prevents the possibility of several demon beasts breaking through to the Great Vehicle stage simultaneously, denying them any chance to turn the tables.
“Those not of our race are bound to have different hearts.” In ancient times, when the demon beast race fought humanity for control of this realm, they inflicted considerable casualties on humans.
Although those events are now history, the human races have preserved visual records, to serve as a warning for later generations: when dealing with other races, never let your guard down.
Compassion and mercy can only be extended to one’s own race, not to these alien races.
Therefore, aside from the emergence of Void-Cave Realm demon beasts or someone damaging spirit veins,
the experts stationed at the outposts of the Earthly Mysteries Realm’s overlord-level forces in the outer four regions will not easily intervene in other conflicts.
Don’t think that just because the distance is great, no one would know about secretly damaging a spirit vein.
Although the Earthly Mysteries Realm is only a peak-tier medium world and hasn’t yet given birth to a Heavenly Dao,
it still has well-established rules.
If someone damages a spirit vein, the rules of the Earthly Mysteries Realm will naturally send out a warning, and the overlord-level forces will naturally sense it.
In a large world that has already given birth to a Heavenly Dao, such minor matters wouldn’t even need a warning. Violating the rules of the Heavenly Dao would result in direct punishment from the Heavenly Dao.
However, each world has its own different rules. Not every world that has a Heavenly Dao punishes cultivators for damaging spirit veins.
But based on Ye Qingxuan’s many years of living in the Earthly Mysteries Realm and his analysis of the many texts from the Xuantian Sect,
both the world’s rules and its high-level cultivators place great importance on spirit veins.
Because every single spirit vein represents a hope for the Earthly Mysteries Realm to advance further.
So Ye Qingxuan suspects that if, one day, the Earthly Mysteries Realm can upgrade to a large world,
then the Heavenly Dao that emerges will inevitably include rules for protecting the spirit veins within the realm.
As for areas in the Earthly Mysteries Realm without spirit veins, as long as they don’t cause too much damage and disrupt the balance of the earth’s energy,
other minor disturbances are nothing more than the world’s energy transforming into another form—hardly harmful.
Given the current structure of the Earthly Mysteries Realm, as long as spirit veins aren’t destroyed and the realm’s primordial energy can steadily increase, the overlord-level forces won’t concern themselves with other matters.
These overlord-level forces are not babysitters. As long as they control the fundamentals and the general direction of the realm’s development, ensuring it isn’t adversely affected, they won’t excessively intervene in other matters.
So, considering all the above factors, Ye Qingxuan finally decided that his External Doppelgänger’s early development destination would be one of the outer four regions: the Eastern Extreme Region.
Because the Eastern Extreme Region is the closest to the Eastern Region, saving a lot of travel time.
After making this decision, Ye Qingxuan’s main body remained hidden behind the scenes within the Xuantian Sect, quietly cultivating.
Meanwhile, his main consciousness descended upon his External Doppelgänger, ready to use the opportunity of his doppelgänger heading to the Eastern Extreme Region to see the outside scenery.
When the main consciousness descends onto the External Doppelgänger, it’s just a matter of shifting focus—it doesn’t affect the main body’s daily cultivation or actions.
Deep within an uninhabited mountain range not far from the Ye Clan Immortal City, Ye Qingxuan’s External Doppelgänger emerged from a temporary cave dwelling he had carved out.
Using spiritual energy to create a mirror, he examined his current ordinary and unremarkable appearance, then nodded in satisfaction and said:
“Not bad. From now on, this persona shall be called Gui Xuanzi!”
Gui Xuanzi is the alias Ye Qingxuan created for this External Doppelgänger, with the identity of an independent cultivator.
After choosing the external name for his new alter ego, Ye Qingxuan changed into a simple gray cloth outfit, took out the fifth-tier flying boat, and headed towards the Qingmu Prefecture.
Now that his new persona was just an independent cultivator, he wouldn’t get any discounts on using the teleportation arrays.
Fortunately, the spirit stone cost was trivial to Ye Qingxuan now.
After traveling through the prefectural teleportation arrays and the commandery teleportation arrays to reach the provincial capital of Qing Province,
Ye Qingxuan began using a series of provincial-level teleportation arrays to quickly leave the Xuantian Sect’s sphere of influence and arrive at Dongbin Prefecture.
Dongbin Prefecture is one of the major prefectures in the Eastern Region that borders the Endless Sea, and it’s also within the sphere of influence of the overlord-level force, the Tianyuan Sect.
The provincial capital of Dongbin Prefecture, Dongbin City, is the closest city in the prefecture to the Endless Sea. So after arriving at Dongbin City via the provincial teleportation array, Ye Qingxuan didn’t need to use any more arrays.
After leaving Dongbin City’s teleportation plaza, Ye Qingxuan didn’t rush to set off immediately.
Traveling to the Eastern Extreme Region, separated by the Endless Sea, would be impossible to reach safely on his own.
The near-shore areas are manageable, with countless islands for cultivators to rest on and with weaker sea demon beasts, so no great danger there.
But once you enter the deep sea areas, the number of high-tier sea demons living there is countless. Relying on himself alone, Ye Qingxuan would have no way to safely reach the Eastern Extreme Region.
And even if Ye Qingxuan were confident he could avoid these demon beasts, relying solely on a fifth-tier flying boat, the journey to the Eastern Extreme Region would be endless and seemingly never arrive.
The Endless Sea is no joke—its area is no smaller than the land area of the Earthly Mysteries Realm.
And every year, as the Earthly Mysteries Realm expands, the Endless Sea expands along with the land area.
Back in ancient times, when humanity in the Earthly Mysteries Realm was fighting for ultimate control of the realm and suppressing the demon beast race of the Endless Sea, that was the period when the most high-level human cultivators fell.
If it weren’t for several Great Vehicle stage cultivators breaking through to the Immortal stage one after another at the critical moment, humanity might not have been able to overcome the demon beast race and gain final control.
Even now, the human race’s leadership does not underestimate the Endless Sea and maintains strict control over the demon beasts within.
