The Lingzhu endured severe injuries to save and relocate the spiritual beings within his Grotto-Heaven and Blessed Land. While this deeply moved the spiritual beings, it nearly made the Candle Dragon and his companions burst into laughter.
Such fools were truly not worth considering.
Of course, despite their internal mockery, the Candle Dragon and the other two did not hold back. They continued their triangular assault on the Lingzhu, their attacks fierce and relentless.
However, the Lingzhu, empowered by an entire Medium Thousand World, could theoretically recover rapidly from any injury using the world's origin as long as the world itself remained intact. Thus, even after enduring three direct blows and sustaining heavy damage, his body quickly healed, and he counterattacked fiercely.
With a raise of his hand, hundreds of Minor Thousand Worlds were hurled towards the Candle Dragon and his two companions. The Lingzhu, who walked the path of worlds, lacked nothing if not various low-level worlds. His entire fortune was invested in these worlds, with numerous attached Minor Thousand Worlds flanking the Medium Thousand World, and even more small worlds accompanying the Minor Thousand Worlds. The Grotto-Heavens where the spiritual beings resided were countless, clinging to the edges of his world.
However, when dealing with the Candle Dragon and his ilk,
Minor worlds were no longer effective.
The Lingzhu was unwilling to risk his Medium Thousand World, fearing catastrophe.
Therefore, he could only resort to smashing them with Minor Thousand Worlds. While a single Minor Thousand World might be weak, hundreds combined were formidable. The Candle Dragon and his companions were forced to retreat repeatedly, their high-grade Innate Spirit Treasures offering protection but still unable to fully absorb the impact. The sheer weight of a Minor Thousand World alone was immense.
Not to mention the world power it contained.
Nevertheless, the three races were known for their resilience. They sustained no significant injuries and soon began to employ clever tactics, either dodging or using spells to shatter these worlds. Among them, the Candle Dragon's temporal divine art proved most effective. After rewinding time by several hundred eons, those Minor Thousand Worlds regressed into small worlds, which the Candle Dragon easily shattered with a flick of his wrist.
In a short while, the Lingzhu lost over a hundred Minor Thousand Worlds. However, the destruction of these worlds caused the entire space to become unstable, riddled with vast spatial rifts. The Lingzhu, who had no chance of turning the tide, immediately made a decisive choice to flee.
He escaped directly outside the world.
Perhaps it was due to the Lingzhu's previous defiant actions that the Candle Dragon and his companions never anticipated his escape. They had expected him to engage in a head-on confrontation, a fight to the death, or some mutually destructive struggle.
Therefore, they had not considered the possibility of his immediate flight. Furthermore, they were not proficient in spatial laws. By the time they reacted and gave chase, he was already out of reach.
In the end, they could only curse in anger and let the matter drop.
Following this, the Candle Dragon and his allies jointly declared that their three races did not recognize the legitimacy of the spiritual race. Henceforth, any who claimed to be of the spiritual race would be jointly attacked by the three races.
After this maneuver,
the spiritual race's fortune plummeted.
Fortune was intrinsically linked to territory, strength, and recognition. The spiritual race had first abandoned their original territories, taking refuge in Grotto-Heavens, Blessed Lands, and Medium Thousand Worlds. Later, their leader was jointly defeated and forced to flee by the Candle Dragon and his companions, resulting in a significant blow to their strength. Finally, the declaration of non-recognition by the three races led to a decline in the spiritual race's overall recognition.
As a result, the spiritual race's fortune declined sharply.
It was as logical as it could be.
This was not only perceptible to the Lingzhu but also to the individual members of the spiritual race. However, having just been moved by the Lingzhu's selfless protection, they harbored no resentment.
Any feelings they had were gratitude and guilt,
believing they had caused the Lingzhu trouble.
"Alas, I never intended to join the competition for fortune, nor to achieve enlightenment through fortune. I had naively believed that by presenting myself peacefully and explicitly stating my willingness to remain in a corner and abstain from conflict, I would be safe. But I forgot that in this world, conflict cannot be avoided simply by wishing it, nor can others be made to believe such intentions.
This struggle has cost me dearly.
I will need to accumulate the foundation of several more eons!"
After a brief lament, the Lingzhu clearly informed all the spiritual beings within his Medium Thousand World in his dantian that those willing to remain with the spiritual race were welcome to stay. Those unwilling could depart immediately, and he would release them, whereupon they would likely not be bothered if they no longer identified as spiritual beings.
Those who remained would undergo a thorough examination and selection process.
Ensuring their safety and loyalty, they would then cultivate alongside him.
This meant cooperating in their cultivation. He, the Lingzhu, would open all the laws within his Medium Thousand World for them to freely comprehend and replicate within their own worlds.
In return, they would have to completely tether their worlds to his Medium Thousand World. As their worlds grew stronger, they would, in turn, feed back into his Medium Thousand World, indirectly promoting its perfection and growth, reducing the time required for its completion and helping him break through to the Great Thousand realm sooner.
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Most of the spiritual beings had no objections to this. In fact, many found it quite beneficial, as it offered them advantages. The only drawback of tethering their worlds to a Medium Thousand World was that they would likely never surpass the Lingzhu. However, most spiritual beings had never expected to surpass him anyway.
Compared to this minor disadvantage, the benefit of directly comprehending the laws of a Medium Thousand World was immense. This meant that as long as they had sufficient energy, they could accelerate the advancement of their cultivated worlds to the Medium Thousand realm in a fraction of the time it would normally take.
They could achieve worlds that were only one rank lower than the Lingzhu's, for example, if the Lingzhu's world was a high-grade Medium Thousand World, then with sufficient energy and time, they could elevate their own worlds to the level of a mid-grade Medium Thousand World.
This was far faster than improving through their own efforts.
Much faster!
As for those who were unwilling, or even apprehensive, these were naturally the demons lurking among the spiritual race. They were currently uncertain whether the Lingzhu was being sincere or if this was a trap to expose their presence.
They were also unsure if choosing to leave would result in them being released without scrutiny.
And whether choosing to stay would lead to their exposure.
After all, the reason these demons could infiltrate various races was not only due to their stealth and mimicry abilities, but also because most races rarely conducted thorough examinations. This was a crucial factor.
If a powerful being were to conduct a deep inspection of their dantian, soul, and bloodline, these demons would be utterly exposed in an instant.
Therefore, when the Lingzhu announced he would conduct an examination and selection, how could they not feel uneasy?
In the end, half of the lurking demons chose to leave, while the other half decided to stay, gambling on their chances.
Of course, besides the demons, some individuals who did not foresee a bright future for the spiritual race also chose to leave. However, overall, the number of people who left was not significant.
The Lingzhu said nothing about this.
He directly opened the space and allowed them to depart.
They were then transported to small islands far from the battlefields of the three races.
Afterward, he began to meticulously observe, one by one, those spiritual beings who had chosen to remain within his Medium Thousand World.