The drifting consciousness, like rain after a long drought, immediately rushed towards that glimmer of light.
As you get closer, the light reveals its true form—a round, scorching ball of golden crow blood essence, filled with a familiar aura.
Without needing to react on its own, Zhenru's consciousness had already automatically summoned that drop of essence blood.
Unlike collecting the previous essence blood, which required so much effort, this ethereal summoning only caused the drop of essence blood to pause slightly before it moved towards Zhenru on its own.
In Zhenru's consciousness, the drop of blood essence appeared very obedient, but moved very slowly. However, he was unaware that the speed of that drop of blood essence was actually extremely fast.
Because what appears to be a short distance is actually separated by countless realms.
The rapid "return" of the Golden Crow's essence blood also alarmed the three thousand old beings in the lower realm.
Not only from the Sun Realm, but also from the outer realms.
Some people are involved, some are not; some have ulterior motives, and some are just watching the show.
Of course, everyone wants the treasure now that it's in the world, and everyone is eager to get involved. Even those who just want to join in the fun will want to get involved. Unfortunately, the essence blood is too fast, and no matter what those people are thinking, they simply can't catch up.
The people of the Sun Realm were even more helpless, because the place where the essence blood was located was a place they simply could not enter.
The essence of the golden crow flashed into the illusion and headed precisely towards the true reality on the viewing platform.
This time, after the Golden Crow's essence blood entered Zhenru's brow, it no longer needed time to be slowly refined, but instead, the moment it entered the brow, it automatically evaporated and dispersed, actively merging into Zhenru's entire body.
As expected, after the drop of essence blood completely merged, her cultivation level rose steadily once again. It was unaffected by the changes in the spiritual energy of the Sun Realm and there were no obstacles. It was as if she had already stored enough power in her body to support her cultivation to advance without hesitation.
Ultimately, Zhenru's cultivation level broke through directly from the Nascent Soul stage to the Perfected Nascent Soul stage, all naturally and without any forcing.
This wasn't the end. Even after completing her advancement, Zhenru hadn't opened her eyes, and her consciousness of searching for companions outside hadn't even returned to her body.
After the storm subsided on the observatory, Zhenru refocused her attention on her drifting consciousness.
With the success of the first search, the second search process was not so difficult, and the second success was a natural outcome.
And so, Zhenru sat on the observatory for who knows how long, like a statue.
By fusing with a drop of Golden Crow essence blood, his cultivation smoothly broke through to the next level.
Fuse another drop, and break through to the next level.
After successfully absorbing the last drop of Golden Crow essence blood, Zhenru's cultivation level also successfully broke through to the Mahayana stage.
Perhaps it is because the Sun Realm has not had anyone advance to the Mahayana stage for a long time, or perhaps the Sun Realm is in turmoil and unable to withstand the power of Zhenru who has just advanced to the Mahayana stage.
At the moment of success, all living beings within the realm trembled, and the realm hummed.
Zhenru withdrew her consciousness, slowly opened her eyes, and with a single touch of her upper and lower eyelashes, she appeared precisely in front of Wuchen.
A long time had probably passed when, apart from the group that had come with her, all the people Zhenru knew and who were supposed to be there appeared before her.
However, these people, by some unspoken agreement, automatically divided themselves into several distinct areas.
One of them, led by Wuchen, was followed by people who had all been to the ancient secret realm with Zhenru.
Led by Venerable Xian'en, this group of people, as she could see, were all her predecessors who had expressed goodwill or helped her, such as Chunyu Changfeng, Wenxi Daojun, and some of her former companions' lineage of masters.
There were also some people she didn't know well, or almost didn't know at all, but she could sense their kindness.
Among all these groups of people, there was only one type who did not appear: those truly powerful ancestors of the Sun Realm, those old fogies who tried to exchange their resources for the younger generation.
Therefore, given his current cultivation level, he would be overwhelmingly superior to all these people and wouldn't need to bow to anyone.
However, Zhenru still humbly bowed to her former seniors, politely nodded to strangers who showed goodwill, and then went straight to Wuchen to ask what exactly happened.
The other companions weren't fully aware of the situation, but Wuchen knew the most and was the one Zhenru trusted the most.
"What's the situation now?"
Wuchen had already come forward, showing no surprise at Zhenru's cultivation level, and his tone was as clear and peaceful as ever.
"You have been in seclusion for twenty-eight years. The area outside the Sun Realm has become chaotic. These people all agree to repair the Sun Realm and are ready to contribute their efforts with you."
After explaining the basic situation, Wuchen hesitated for a moment, then transmitted his voice to Zhenru:
"Do you... really have a way?"
Just as Zhenru was about to answer, Venerable Xian'en stepped forward, his gaze fixed intently on Zhenru, and said:
"Everyone is willing to put in the effort to repair the Sun Realm, but we would like to ask Fellow Daoist Zhenru to transplant the Mother Tree to the Earth's core."
Just as Zhenru had predicted.
Zhenru was used to being insincere, but in the next instant she realized that she was now in the late stage of Mahayana, and only needed to repair the Sun Realm to ascend. She could directly express her wishes and thoughts.
“I do have a Fusang sacred tree, but it is not yet mature and cannot become a true mother tree.”
"Of course, even if it were possible, I don't plan to plant it in the Earth's core."
After saying the previous sentence, Venerable Xian'en wanted to say that it was alright, as long as the Sun Realm could be repaired, its vitality could be revived, and a connection could be successfully established with the new Mother Tree, then the Mother Tree's growth could be delayed.
These are not problems, but if someone suddenly says something that sounds like they've turned on you, that's a big problem.
"What do you mean by this, Fellow Daoist Zhenru?"
Zhenru's voice was faint:
"I said, I don't want to be someone else's bride."
Venerable Xian'en pursed his lips, understanding Zhenru's meaning, but insisted:
"But you can't ignore the people who support you, including many of your friends and people who have helped you."
"Moreover, from the perspective of righteousness, you cannot disregard the lives of all living beings in this world just because you are reluctant to part with the Fusang Divine Tree."
Not only did Venerable Xian'en express his disapproval, but most of the people who had been paying close attention to this place since Zhenru appeared also showed their dissatisfaction.
Although the people here all seem to be on Zhenru's side, they are not actually on Zhenru's side, but on the Fusang Divine Wood that Zhenru presented.
When it comes to those who are truly willing to make sacrifices, few people speak up; they simply look at her with puzzled expressions.
Unfortunately, despite their dissatisfaction and even their inability to resist chattering and deliberately raising their voices so that Zhenru could hear them, no one dared to take the lead and actually provoke her.
As Zhenru sighed inwardly, "Indeed, a big fist is powerful." He just didn't know if his fists would be enough in the end.
Zhenru lowered her eyes slightly, not looking at anyone, and said in a flat voice:
"I only said I didn't want to be a stepping stone for you, I didn't say I would ignore the Sunrise Realm."
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