"Congratulations to the host for completing the third Main Quest!"
"Main Quest Special Reward, issued!"
Non-stop system notifications sounded beside Lin Feng's ear. Upon hearing them, he smiled. "Although I can't control it perfectly yet, at least I found a suitable blessed spot, and thus the System determined that I completed the Main Quest to find a sect headquarters."
"Not bad, not bad at all. Let me see what's the reward."
Excited, Lin Feng opened the mystery treasure chest.
Before him is a single thin vine. To the untrained eye, it seemed not at all remarkable.
But after reading the description, Lin Feng was euphoric.
Cosmic Ray Vine-Root, which can be planted in an independent dimension blessed spot, capable of changing the rate of time flow within the independent dimension as the host commands.
Maximum – hundredfold acceleration or deceleration.
"This is definitely some good stuff!" Lin Feng was elated.
Just think about it, if you cultivate for a hundred years in the Vine's dimension, only a year would have passed in the outside world. How great would the effect be on your strength?
For example, Xiao Yan and Murong Yanran had made a pact to settle it once and for all after three years. If Xiao Yan had entered the Cosmic Ray dimension then for cultivation, by the time three years passed and he emerged for the duel, he would actually have cultivated for a solid three hundred years.
Of course, the lifespan of cultivators has its limits. One's lifespan would only increase as one's cultivation level improves. If you encounter a bottleneck, your lifespan may reach its limit before your level improves.
If you still refuse to exit the Cosmic Ray dimension then, naturally you’ll die of old age inside.
In fact, every major sect would create this variety of time-acceleration dimension, for their own disciples to cultivate and thus have an edge in external competition.
It's just that the extent of acceleration for each sect's dimension differs.
The Sword of Radiance Sect, for example, has one of those dimensions, which is why Lin Feng had been worried about the upcoming duel between Xiao Yan and Murong Yanran.
Now that they have a time-acceleration dimension themselves, they need not worry about being disadvantaged in this respect.
Although he did not know about the maximum time-acceleration of the Sword of Radiance Sect's dimension, Lin Feng believed that the 100x maximum acceleration of his Cosmic Ray dimension should be among the best even in the entire Grand Celestial World.
In addition, the Cosmic Ray Vine possessed the attribute of growth capability. As it continued to bloom and strengthen, the maximum acceleration would increase further.
As Lin Feng was giddy with delight, the system notification rang out yet again.
Main Quest 2.0 – Sect Establishment, Mass Intake of Disciples
Mission Description:
Outstanding immediate disciples, unprecedented self-created mantras, a blessed spot with a first-rate environment.
Congratulations to the host for completing the first phase preparations – the sect can be formally founded now.
From this day, the host must formally establish the fundamentals of the sect and admit thirty disciples with Potential Values above 25, laying the foundations of Phase Two for the sect.
Mission time limit: Ten years, if incomplete by then, the host will be obliterated.
Lin Feng blinked his eyes. "Disciples with Potential Values above 25?"
His heart sank.
Potential Value, that should be referring to the four values suggested by the Talent Analysis Device – Innate Ability, Intelligence, Determination, and Fortune.
If calculating the sum, for the four disciples he had now, Xiao Budian had Innate Ability of 10, Intelligence of 8, Determination of 8, and Fortune of 8, totalling 34.
Xiao Yan had Innate Ability of 8, Intelligence of 9, Determination of 9, and Fortune of 8, totalling 34.
Zhu Yi had Innate Ability of 7, Intelligence of 9, Determination of 8, and Fortune of 10, totalling 34.
Wang Lin had Innate Ability of 5, Intelligence of 10, Determination of 10, and Fortune of 8, totalling 33.
Previously, Lin Feng had always been trying to figure out what criteria the system had used to select these four immediate disciples.
If it was to have at least one attribute maximized, then Xiao Yan obviously does not pass.
If every attribute had a minimum value, then Wang Lin would probably not qualify.
Lin Feng had also wondered if it's that the sum of the four values must reach a certain line.
Looking at it now, this line was probably 30 for the total Potential Value.
The System's standard for immediate disciple could only be met by Potential Value of 30 or more, then the Potential Value of 25 or more mentioned in the mission now was obviously for an Inner Echelon-like group.
Later on, standards might be lowered further still, for the admission of Outer Echelon or Taught-again disciples.
Lin Feng grimaced. Thirty did not sound like a lot, but Potential Value of 25 really wasn't attained that easily. The average score across the four attributes must be above 6 – this benchmark might be slightly lacking by the Great Void Sect's standards.
But in the case of the Mount Shu Sword Sect and what was once the Great Thunderclap Temple, that would definitely meet the standard for Inner Echelon disciples or Core disciples.
For lower-tier sects like the Sword of Radiance sect and the Intense Flaming Sword Sect, someone with a Potential Value exceeding 25 would absolutely be something to fight over.
This kind of disciple, and thirty at once? It's really not a small number.
Even if the time limit was extended to an unprecedented ten years, Lin Feng still felt that the System was finally showing its dodgy nature.
"One by one, how impossibly long this would take?" Lin Feng quickly settled on an idea. "Work hard to raise my cultivation level, then get the name out and entice talents to come to the door. This is the way to go!"
At this point, Lin Feng did not want to waste even a minute and immediately planted the Cosmic Ray Vine-Root in the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree's alternate dimension.
The slender vine attached to the diminished Black Heavenly Treasure Tree in the dimension. Upon contact, it firmly rooted itself on and wrapped itself around the tree.
The little vine, initially just over a chi long, started to grow rapidly, continuously drawing nutrients from the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree. In the blink of an eye, it had grown to over ten meters.
Towards the Cosmic Ray Vine leeching off it, the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree did not develop feelings of resentment, but instead proactively supplied nutrients to it.
The two powers – Time and Space – produced a perfect, harmonious resonance.
From now on, this little world shall be named the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World.
It's just that, compared to the gigantic Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, the Cosmic Ray Vine now is but a little sapling.
As the Cosmic Ray Vine proliferated, Lin Feng could clearly sense that his connection with the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, Mount Yujing and the Heaven-Revolving Purple Clouds growing more and more intimate.
The four of them, together, comprised a small world at Mount Yujing, which was perpetually becoming more strong and stable.
To really reach Partial Perfection, Lin Feng has to form his Aurous Core first.
"Acceleration start, rate – 100x!" Lin Feng paused, and then issued a command to the Cosmic Ray Vine.
In the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World, a series of distortions in the space-time fabric occurred. After an interval, everything was peaceful once again.
"What a pity, now that the Cosmic Ray Vine hasn't fully matured yet, only myself, its master, could enjoy the time acceleration." After some silent observation, Lin Feng was greatly dismayed. "Or else I could call Xiao Budian and the others here to cultivate together, that would save lots of time!"
"I guess I could only wait for a period for the Cosmic Ray Vine to fully mature, and then get them in too."
Lin Feng sat cross-legged at the crown of the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree and began his cultivation.
The System's mission time was based on Lin Feng's own time, so regardless of him being in the Heavenly Cosmic Ray World or the outside world, ten years remained ten years.
But Lin Feng still began cultivating without hesitation, because he believed in an axiom – a beard well lathered is half shaved.
Also, if he couldn't increase his cultivation level fast enough to control the Mount Yujing dimension, Mount Yujing would continuously be exposed like this above Mount Kunlun, being vulnerable to others who covet it.
Before the lockdown, Lin Feng made some advance preparations. First, he laid out the Two Elements of Creation Formation on the summit; without the Heaven-Revolving Purple Clouds, at least it will provide some peripheral protection.
Simultaneously, he instructed his four disciples to stay on Mount Yujing to cultivate, and not to leave the mountain. Apart from the world above the Black Heavenly Treasure Tree, they could roam freely everywhere else.
Spiritual Energy was extremely abundant on Mount Yujing, in addition to containing the Way of Time. Xiao Yan and the others were somewhat aware too, and, as expected, focused on cultivating on the mountain.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed in the outside world.
On this day, immense flames abruptly erupted in the distant skies, instantly forming a sea of fire as far as the eye can see and igniting the clouds on the horizon.
From the sea of fire, an enormous fire crow with a wingspan of almost ten zhangs emerged!