With the awakening of the last person, Elder Wen Tai, who had been sitting on the stage, also opened his eyes.

Standing up, his gaze swept across the entire crowd, which immediately turned its attention toward him.

Smiling softly, he calmly placed his hands behind his back.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate everyone. Today's sermon managed to attract the blessings of the world's will, which is of great value to all of you," he explained, making the disciples hold their breath, though they remained silent.

They already knew that a mass epiphany was not something common, usually caused by external factors, but they had assumed it might be the result of some sect method. Who would have imagined it was actually a blessing directly from the world itself?

"As I told you, the heavens are not a cruel entity that hates cultivators. The blessing you received today is proof of that."

"Today, this sermon comes to an end. I know you still have much to digest, and continuing to speak would be counterproductive. The next gathering will be in three months, and the information about the location and time will be announced as the date approaches."

"I believe everyone now understands the benefits of participating in such an assembly, so there's no need for me to emphasize that I strongly recommend you attend. Of course, be aware that such blessings will not repeat themselves in a short period of time. Although the blessings of the world's will have no side effects, they cannot be granted frequently."

"With all that said, this assembly concludes here."

As his words came to an end, everyone stood up and bowed respectfully, filled with gratitude and admiration—whether for the elder, who seemed so familiar with the way of the heavens, or for the sect, which never ceased to amaze with its extraordinariness. Even Lei Yun, who always maintained a firm and calm posture, bowed deeply before the elder that day.

By this point, he had already realized that compared to the monsters that were the sect elders, he still knew and had seen very little, even as a former Mahayana cultivator. His conviction that these people possessed absurdly high cultivation realms, sealed for some unknown reason, only grew stronger each day.

Showing respect to his seniors was, therefore, only right and natural.

Under the respectful farewells of all the disciples, the elders gathered in the plaza began to leave one by one… except for one.

"Uhhhh… that's all money, you bastards!" Bao Hui was kneeling, shouting bitterly as he held a pile of ashes — which had once been spiritual and elemental stones, now completely spent after the mass epiphany.

His disciple, Xiao Ling, stood beside him, trying in vain to comfort him.

"Master… don't be like that. Don't call it a loss, call it an investment. If we calculate how many stones were used, we can secretly add a few more numbers and then divide the cost among the disciples. After that, we'll charge them double, saying we used the sect's emergency reserves."

She spoke gently, trying to soothe him, but her voice was anything but quiet. Bao Hui, however, stopped lamenting for a moment and looked at her, stunned.

The disciples, on the other hand, stared at the shameless master and disciple duo in disbelief at the sheer audacity. Doing it was one thing, but saying it out loud was a whole new level of extortion.

"You… you can't do that."

But to everyone's surprise, it was Bao Hui — the elder known as the stingiest in the sect — who first frowned and shook his head in reproach, disappointment in his eyes.

The disciples were surprised but soon nodded approvingly at the elder, silently apologizing in their hearts for having misjudged him. In the end, it seemed it was only Xiao Ling who was being cruel toward them.

But the elder's next words nearly made them fall flat on their faces.

"Why are you charging so little? Don't you know those stones came from the Bao family's emergency reserves? In the coming months, because of this expense, my family will have to tighten their belts, and our members might collapse on the roadside from weakness and hunger!"

"No, no… the price must be at least triple to appease the souls of the Bao family members who won't survive the next harsh winter because of this expense."

He spoke with sincere and righteous indignation, clutching his chest as if on the verge of tears for his family's grim future.

Xiao Ling placed a hand on her forehead helplessly, turning to the disciples and shrugging with a weary, resigned sigh.

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Only then did the disciples realize she had actually been trying to soften the blow—not worsen it.

They all sighed and exchanged bitter smiles, all thinking surprisingly the same thing: 'Looks like Elder Bao is still the same. We were fools to think otherwise.'

"What? You don't agree? Are you trying to bully my poor Bao family?" Elder Bao looked at them with red, sorrowful eyes.

The disciples merely pressed their lips together and shook their heads silently.

It seemed they would be the ones tightening their belts in the days to come.

…

Aotian and Rihai had returned to their cave, and now he sat facing two Rihais.

"So, despite being more difficult, having an epiphany with two bodies and two minds really brings greater benefits than a normal epiphany?" Aotian asked after hearing her explanation.

Both women nodded.

"Yes. Aside from the bonus of progressing and stabilizing realms quickly in two bodies at once, the degree of insight I gain from a dual-body epiphany is much deeper. Although I've never had a single-body epiphany, having two bodies allowed me to roughly understand how it would feel if it happened with only one," the blonde Rihai replied.

Currently, both her bodies had reached the perfection stage of the Golden Core Realm and could break through to the Nascent Soul Realm at any time.

"Well, that sounds great…" Aotian rubbed his chin, imagining what it would be like to have an epiphany with the number of bodies he possessed.

"Well, it's good, but not easy. If it weren't for the blessing of the world's will this time, I would hardly have the opportunity to experience an epiphany in this lifetime." She shook her head.

Aotian nodded with a bitter sigh.

Indeed, entering a state of absolute emptiness and connection with nature with just one body was already extremely difficult — something that even many old monsters never managed to achieve.

For him, it was countless times worse. With so many bodies and minds operating simultaneously, each with distinct sensations and thoughts, it was basically impossible to reach such a state — not even the will of the world could help him with that.

After finishing her explanation, she fell silent, casting a somewhat worried glance at him.

"What's wrong?" Aotian, sensing her gaze, asked in confusion.

"Tian'er… why do I feel like… you didn't enter an epiphany?" she said hesitantly.

He was taken aback.

"Why do you say that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well… you've always been good at concealing your aura, but after an epiphany breakthrough, even for you, there would still be a minimal fluctuation, right?" she questioned uncertainly, though genuine concern filled her eyes.

Aotian looked at her for a moment before shaking his head.

"You're wrong. Even if I advanced several levels or even entire realms in a row, I could still perfectly control my aura with the disguise techniques I've mastered."

He revealed this, making Rihai sigh in relief, thinking her fear had been unfounded.

Unfortunately, his next words made her freeze.

"But you're right. I really didn't have an epiphany." He sighed openly, already guessing the reason behind her concern.

"Tian'er… you're still using the Enlightened Mind Technique, aren't you?" she whispered, feeling guilty for not realizing it sooner and stopping him. "You don't need it anymore with the sect's techniques. Don't use it — epiphanies aren't just temporary aids for faster cultivation; they're a small connection with the world itself, bringing insights that remain useful even many realms later…" she pleaded, anxiety filling her gaze.

Aotian felt helpless seeing his wife blame herself so much for thinking she had harmed him. Without hesitation, he took both of her bodies' hands, pulling them close and embracing the two Rihais gently.

"My love, don't trouble that pretty little head of yours — err, pretty little heads of yours — with that. Anyway, do you really think I'm using the technique just because you gave it to me, or because I ignored the warnings about side effects, or because I don't understand the benefits of an epiphany?" he asked playfully, still teasing her about having two bodies while shaking his head with a faint smile.

"Isn't that it?" She lifted her faces and looked at him adorably, her two pairs of beautiful blue and golden eyes filled with worry and doubt.

Smiling softly, he gently kissed the delicate noses of both.

"Of course not. I'm not that careless with my cultivation." He chuckled and explained: "For certain reasons, just like you, in exchange for some advantages that are in no way inferior to epiphanies, I simply can't have them. So, the technique your great-grandfather gave you and that you passed to me only brings benefits — immense ones, at that. Rihai, this is one of the greatest treasures I possess, and I'm truly glad it was you who gave it to me," he spoke with sincerity and love.

Rihai looked at him seriously, trying to see if he was lying just to comfort her, but found only truth in his eyes.

"You're really telling the truth?" she asked hesitantly.

He nodded firmly.

"I can lie to anyone, but not to the woman I love," he replied solemnly.

She finally allowed a gentle smile to bloom on both her faces, resting their heads against her husband's chest.

"Just promise me that if the technique ever harms you, you won't hesitate to stop using it," she whispered softly.

His embrace tightened.

"Don't worry, just trust your husband," he assured her.

"Humm…" she murmured softly in agreement.

What she didn't know was just how terrifyingly powerful the technique had become in Aotian's hands.

- 21 Void Refining Minds ((6 enlightened minds + 1 own mind) × 3 avatars)

- 12 Soul Formation Minds ((5 enlightened minds + 1 own mind) × 2 avatars)

- 3,045 Nascent Soul Minds ((4 enlightened minds + 1 own mind) × 609 avatars)

- 204 Golden Core Minds ((3 enlightened minds + 1 own mind) × (50 avatars + main body))

Total: 3,282 minds.

The sect had 660 inner and outer elders in total, but Elder Snake, who had transformed into a dragon, was in the Soul Formation Realm along with the sect leader.

Aside from that elder and the fifty others whom Aotian had left to advance at a natural pace—thus paving a smoother path for his main body—all the rest had reached Nascent Soul perfection using the Dragon's Dew, granting him an astonishing number of powerful minds.

Caressing the back of his wife's two bodies, he reflected on the number of minds with an amused smile.

'Soon, with the summoning of the new female avatars, after some time of training, both the number of minds and the workforce will double… and then, I'll be able to do some interesting things.'

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