Mortals get a golden finger for immortal cultivation every year

"That is indeed my purpose, and I am also well aware that even with so many powerful Saints, the Kunlun Realm's chances of winning are still not very high. This is simply because the Kunlun Realm is far inferior to other worlds in terms of numbers. Even those relatively weaker worlds still have far more Saints than the Kunlun Realm. If I hadn't been helping them all these years, the gap would probably be even greater."

"However, although the gap is large now, the quality shouldn't be a major problem. Even so, it's still quite far from being comparable to other worlds. If we were both in the Kunlun Realm, victory would be practically guaranteed. But next, we both need to go to the Guanghan Realm because the Kunlun Realm has some advantages over the Guanghan Realm. Only if we go to the Guanghan Realm will this world not become the next battlefield. Only the two of us brothers have the strength to defy fate for the entire Guanghan Realm. Otherwise, I wouldn't have brought you there. So, do you understand?"

Zhao Shuang's words silenced Zhang Ruoji again, because he understood the meaning behind them.

"So we must leave the Kunlun Realm and choose to help the Guanghan Realm, right?"

"That's right, only we have the power to defy fate. Without us, achieving this would be impossible. Back then, the Guanghan Realm spared no effort in helping the Kunlun Realm, so the Kunlun Realm had no choice but to help them. But the Kunlun Realm has now declined to such a state that helping them is extremely difficult. The only way is for the two of us to go. This is also the condition I agreed to with the Moon Goddess; otherwise, she wouldn't have taken us to the Guanghan Realm. There's no other way; it's a last resort. After all, we owe the Moon Goddess far too much. In that battle ten thousand years ago..." The god nearly lost his life, and now, after much difficulty, he has awakened, only to find his world in such a state. If we don't help, we'll be utterly ashamed. Besides, your only foothold now is this Guanghan Realm. Without it, you have nowhere to stand, do you understand? Therefore, I hope you will agree. Of course, if you don't agree and choose to stay here, I won't have any objections, but the opportunities and fortunes of the Kunlun Realm and other worlds will have nothing to do with you. If you want revenge, battle and war are always the quickest way. I hope you will make the right choice.”

Zhao Shuang continued to persuade him, and what he said was indeed true, without any falsehoods, which was why Zhang Ruoji believed him.

“I understand. I will go to the Moon Realm with you, but I hope you can promise me that if I choose to take revenge, you must not interfere.”

"Of course, that's no problem. I will absolutely not interfere or obstruct you. You can rest assured. The feud between the two of you has nothing to do with me. I'm not stupid; I certainly won't get involved."

Without any hesitation, Zhao Shuang agreed to Zhang Ruoji's condition.

"Then thank you very much, brother."

After receiving Zhao Shuang's reply, Zhang Ruoji breathed a sigh of relief. His biggest worry was that Zhao Shuang would help him. If that happened, it would be much more difficult for him to take revenge. Therefore, he had to make sure that Zhao Shuang would not interfere.

"Don't worry, I will absolutely not interfere with the feud between the two of you. However, after you know the truth, I'm worried you won't even bother seeking revenge. So I hope you can understand that everything he did was for the sake of the Kunlun Realm. I'm not trying to persuade you to let go of that feud; it involves too much and has cost you too much. Your family, friends, and close confidants basically all died in that war. But I also hope you can understand that it was all for the sake of the entire Kunlun Realm, and for your own sake. In short, that's all I can say. Saying anything more would be against the rules. After you know the whole truth, whether you seek revenge or not is up to you. If you really do want revenge then, I will absolutely not stop you in the slightest."

Zhao Shuang's words immediately silenced Zhang Ruoji. After the silence, he looked at his mother, and when she saw her son's gaze, she looked away guiltily, not daring to meet his eyes for the first time.

"Do you know that too?"

Zhang Ruoji questioned his mother. The Empress, upon hearing her son's question, did not answer, but simply sighed and said:

"Just as the Heavenly King said, once you find out, if you still want revenge, your mother will do everything in her power to help you. But by then, you probably won't be able to do it."

"No, how could I not do it? I'm in this predicament because of him, how could I not do it?"

The Zhang Ruoji of today is completely different from before, because he grew up in the black market and experienced far too much there. Therefore, if it weren't for Zhao Shuang, he would definitely be the young master of the Black Market's First-Class Hall.

However, if it weren't for Zhao Shuang, he wouldn't have been able to enter the black market. No matter how much he went through, he would never have been able to enter that hellish place.

It was precisely because he experienced so many things that his temperament changed, and consequently, his beliefs and thoughts also changed.

That's why he said those things; if it weren't for that reason, he would never have said them.

"Alright, whatever happens, it's up to you now. Don't worry about anything else. Just stay here and cultivate for a while. I'll come find you when the time is up, and then we'll head to the Guanghan Realm. I hope you'll seek revenge as you said, because hatred is the greatest motivation. Only with enough hatred can you truly grow. The fiercest fire, the coldest water—I finally understand what the Empress meant back then."

Upon hearing Zhao Shuang's words, Zhang Ruoji fell silent once again, especially those eight words—"the fiercest fire, the coldest water."

"Only the fiercest fire and the coldest water in this world can forge the most powerful weapon. But the fiercest fire is rage, and the coldest water is... think about it yourself."

After patting his younger brother on the shoulder, Zhao Shuang left, leaving only Zhang Ruoji and the Blood Queen and her son behind.

The mother and son looked at each other, not knowing what they were thinking, but Zhao Shuang couldn't care less. He rode a blood beast and headed out of the endless abyss.

...Soon, Zhao Shuang returned to Ziwei Palace. As soon as he returned, Nalan Danqing showed him the list of cultivation resources donated by various sects, clans, forces, and families.

"I didn't expect them to have so many good things. It seems we really succeeded in extorting them. We should have done it sooner. Otherwise, we could have trained even more cultivators, which would have been a huge boon for the Kunlun Realm. What a pity, what a pity. Time is running out, and we probably won't be able to train many talents or Saints with these resources. It's such a waste. We must fully activate the Heavenly Fertility Seal and other spacetime treasures to help them improve their cultivation as quickly as possible. No matter what, no matter the cost, we must increase our Saint-level combat power as soon as possible."

After reviewing the list, Zhao Shuang regretted not having extorted more resources beforehand; otherwise, he would have gotten even more and wouldn't have had to go through so much trouble.

"These resources are probably the limit they can offer. If you make them offer any more, they will rebel. The Empress is not in the Kunlun Realm. If they all rebel, the consequences will be unimaginable, and you may not be able to suppress them."

Nalan Danqing, however, disagreed. He was acutely aware of the current state of the Kunlun Realm. Although it was thriving and its strength was advancing rapidly, it was impossible to overcome the troubles and calamities to come with such limited power. After all, the entire Kunlun Realm currently only had the long-absent Empress as its sole remaining deity.

Therefore, under these circumstances, it is wishful thinking to try to preserve the entire Kunlun Realm. The only way is to take advantage of the rules of the Heavenly Court Realm.

"Don't worry, don't worry, everything will be fine once the Empress returns. What we need to do now is to increase the strength of the Kunlun Realm as much as possible before she comes back. Without sufficient strength, we won't be able to overcome even the minor calamities that are about to come, let alone the major calamities of the future. There are some things we can't rely on the Empress for alone; we have to rely on ourselves. Go and make arrangements now, get them to contribute as many cultivation resources as possible; this is not yet their limit. If they don't contribute, then the first thing we will do after the Kunlun Realm overcomes the calamities is to annihilate them all. If they dare to resist, then we will annihilate them now. In short, everything must prioritize the strength of the Kunlun Realm; everything else can be put aside."

Although Nalan Danqing had some objections to Zhao Shuang's words, he had no choice but to comply, because Zhao Shuang was now the master of Kunlun Realm, while he was merely the chief steward.

“Danqing, I know you have doubts, but the situation in Kunlun Realm is just too difficult right now. If anything goes wrong, it will be a catastrophe for the entire Kunlun Realm. So I have no choice but to use this method to help Kunlun Realm move forward.”

Zhao Shuang could naturally see the worries in Nalan Danqing's heart, but there was no time to worry about that now.

"I know what you're saying, but it's still a bit too much."

Nalan Danqing also expressed his understanding, but while he understood, the actual situation was somewhat difficult.

After all, no one wants their sect's cultivation resources to be taken away like this. You have to know that the amount of these cultivation resources is closely related to the number of strong people in their respective forces. Although the Kunlun Realm is about to face a huge calamity, it is precisely because of this that they have become more selfish.

They can contribute some cultivation resources, but they don't want to give them all up.

"Let them go too far. It's the only way for the Kunlun Realm to save a life these days. That's all we can do; there's nothing else we can do. So I hope those guys can understand. If they don't, then let them go to hell. What I need is a Kunlun Realm that can understand what I'm doing, not one that opposes me at every turn. A Kunlun Realm like that is better off not existing."

Clearly, Zhao Shuang's patience was running out. He had already given enough to the Kunlun Realm, so he hoped that the Kunlun Realm would obediently listen to him instead of opposing him at every turn. If they did oppose him, he would definitely not let the Kunlun Realm off the hook.

"Okay, I will do as you say, but I hope you can understand them."

Hearing Zhao Shuang's increasingly impatient words, Nalan Danqing knew that she had no choice but to do as Zhao Shuang said. Otherwise, once Zhao Shuang left Kunlun Realm, Kunlun Realm would lose its second pillar. It was entirely thanks to the cultivation techniques and supernatural abilities taught by Zhao Shuang that Kunlun Realm had become so powerful. The techniques and abilities he taught, along with his detailed explanations, made cultivation easier and faster for cultivators. With sufficient resources, their cultivation level would be virtually guaranteed, especially in terms of time.

If Zhao Shuang were to leave like this, it would be a major blow to the Kunlun Realm. Moreover, he felt that Zhao Shuang must have left behind other valuable things, and he wanted to see what those valuable things were. He believed that those valuable things would be of great help to the Kunlun Realm.

"It's so great to have a helper like you. This makes things much easier for me. I just don't know how long it will take for the Empress to return. I hope she can come back soon so that I can leave the Kunlun Realm as soon as possible."

"After all, it's not just the Kunlun Realm that needs me now; other worlds need me too, especially the Guanghan Realm."

"But without you, how could the Kunlun Realm survive the next calamity?"

Nalan Danqing was naturally unwilling for Zhao Shuang to leave Kunlun Realm just like that, which is why he tried to persuade her to stay. He knew very well that if Kunlun Realm could continue to have Zhao Shuang, then the upcoming calamities would definitely be easily overcome.

"There's nothing we can do about it. Even without me, the Kunlun Realm still has a good chance of overcoming the troubles ahead. But without me, the Guanghan Realm is unlikely to survive. Under these circumstances, I have no choice but to help the Guanghan Realm first. After all, the Kunlun Realm still has the Empress and you all. Especially since I've created so many Perfected Sacred Bodies recently, it's enough for the Kunlun Realm to get through the upcoming calamities."

(End of this chapter)