Cave Refuge

In most of the lower martial arts dramas, after eating the Vermillion Fruit that varies by age, one could almost immediately increase the limit of their Inner Strength.

In higher-level martial arts dramas, depending on the age of growth, consumption of certain fruits could increase the upper limit of Life Expectancy, while others might only enhance the Energy limit, and even more exceptional, consumption could improve Talent.

Having never actually eaten them, Dong Tianyu did not know what benefits these Vermillion Fruits would bring after being consumed. At this moment, the plant in front of him had borne three fruits.

Most people, if they came here, would likely choose to simply pick the fruits and leave, while a few would choose to uproot the entire plant.

But Dong Tianyu's choice was to dig up the surrounding soil as well, since he had never planted Vermillion Fruit and did not know if the plant had many roots in the soil, similar to the human body.

If he were to just pull it out of the ground, the damage to the roots could complicate the plant's survival after transplantation. Since there was no shortage of Plantation Areas in Dong Tianyu's Cave, he simply decided to carry away the surrounding soil as well.

With this harvest, Dong Tianyu naturally chose to face the dangers in the next area. To Dong Tianyu, who was at the Golden Core Stage, the so-called dangers he currently faced did not hinder his progress.

Moving straightforwardly, Dong Tianyu passed through several forest areas, transplanting over a dozen special plants into his Cave.

What surprised Dong Tianyu the most was that, while most of the special plants he had previously obtained existed in both lower and higher martial worlds, like the Vermillion Fruit, the plants he obtained later were clearly all growing in planes that contained Spirit Power.

Although Blue Star was currently in a stage of Spirit Power recovery and the density of external Spirit Power was continuously increasing, now reaching a level that could satisfy the Cultivation needs of someone at the Golden Core Stage like Dong Tianyu,

That was only because Dong Tianyu was the sole person who needed to absorb Spirit Power for Cultivation. The situation of Spirit Power in Blue Star was like a pond from childhood, where water was being drained and replenished simultaneously.

Although Dong Tianyu's "drainage pipe" was somewhat large, because he was the only person directly consuming Spirit Power for Cultivation, the replenished Spirit Power greatly exceeded what Dong Tianyu was using, so the density of Spirit Power on Blue Star was naturally continuously increasing.

As for the specific sources of Spirit Power during its resurgence, Dong Tianyu was unclear, but those continuously emerging sources of Spirit Power had only a few possibilities.

Firstly, the most important were the inert Spirit Energy particles that filled the air. Belonging to rootless sources, they were activated in the early stages of Spirit Power resurgence and transformed back into Spirit Energy that other living beings and plants could utilize.

The second source was the large amounts of Spirit Energy embodied in living beings that died and faded into the world; their inner Spirit Power naturally returned to nature over time, replenishing the Spirit Power consumed by other living spirits.

This scenario was almost impossible now. According to Dong Tianyu's understanding, at this time, the only beings likely able to die and feedback Spirit Energy to the world were probably only him.

The third method was similar to how nutrients in the air were absorbed by various plants and emitted back into the atmosphere after processing. Under normal circumstances, most worlds containing Spirit Energy relied on this method to balance the density of Spirit Energy within the world.

However, with the continuous increase in the number of Cultivators within a world, if the replenishment was insufficient for consumption, the concentration of Spirit Energy in the atmosphere would naturally decline. This is the main reason most worlds enter the End of Dharma Era – insufficient resources.

Some might say that as the density of Spirit Energy in the air diminishes, the number of those who rely on Spirit Energy for Cultivation will gradually decrease, and eventually, a balance may be reached over time.

But don't forget that the main goal of most Cultivators' practice is longevity. To prevent the world from entering the End of Dharma Era, the best method would be the second kind of Spirit Energy replenishment mentioned earlier: allowing those with high Cultivation to die and feedback Spirit Energy to the world.

But as the concentration of Spirit Power in the air grew thinner, newer cultivators struggled to reach higher realms—precisely when those with profound Cultivation Levels were in positions of power, their word was law. Advising these powerhouses to commit suicide as a means to give back to nature was akin to seeking death.

Therefore, to wish for a resurgence of Spirit Energy during the End of Dharma Era, one would have to wait until all cultivators with profound Cultivation Levels had died out or, in fact, all cultivators in the world had perished.

Only then, by replanting Spirit Plants capable of dispersing Spirit Energy, and with no cultivators consuming it during the initial stages, would the world's Spirit Energy be able to recover slowly and gradually.

However, if the world were devoid of both cultivators and Spirit Energy, the task of planting Spirit Plants would become nearly impossible.

After all, the majority of Spirit Plants require either an area rich in Spirit Power or the constant irrigation with Spirit Power by a cultivator in order to take root and sprout.

Because of this, once the world entered the End of Dharma Era, returning to a period of Spirit Power resurgence seemed almost impossible, trapped in a vicious cycle unless a way to break through was found.

The last method, and the one most suited to the current situation, involves an external force constantly replenishing the world with Spirit Power.

A simpler method is the creation of a spatial passage between a world abundant in Spirit Power and Blue Star. When the passage opens, Spirit Power flows from the side with more abundance to the side lacking it, much like water between two bottles.

The previous few Otherworldly Creature invasions, though they caused some casualties among the Blue Star survivors, ultimately brought quite a few benefits to the entire Blue Star.

Besides, the most famous method of replenishing Spirit Energy, which most people would have heard of, is the Celestial Stars Array established by the Demon Court.

Most people only know that the Celestial Stars Array matches the Intercepting Sect's Twelve Divine Heaven Array in terms of offense, but another purpose of the Celestial Stars Array is to break down Chaotic Spirit Energy, transforming it into Innate Spiritual Energy more easily absorbed by the Demon Clan.

After all, the Demon Court was established following the great war among the three clans, and the upper echelons of the Demon Court certainly had a clear understanding of the root cause of the war—as at that time, Felix had not yet reincarnated into the Human Clan but was part of the Innate Demon Clan.

The fundamental cause of the three clans' war was the scarcity of resources as the clans expanded, leading to conflicts over those resources.

With the end of the war among the three clans, the Demon Clan gradually took the spotlight as the prominent force of the world. Therefore, the number of demons skyrocketed exponentially, and not to mention their need for various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures for cultivation, the sheer amount of nature's spiritual energy they consumed was significant.

Unlike today's Human Clan cultivators, who need to have their Spirit Roots tested and whose numbers don't even reach one ten-thousandth, back then, any demon born, regardless of Talent, could practice cultivation—all monsters were allowed.

To accommodate the Spirit Energy needs of all monsters undergoing cultivation, the Demon Court's higher-ups specifically arranged the Celestial Stars Array amongst the stars, with the main goal being to absorb the endless Chaotic Spirit Energy from Chaotic Space and downgrade it into the nature's spiritual energy that all monsters could absorb.

Because of the continuous supply of Spirit Energy from the Celestial Stars Array to the Primordial Land, at that time, no matter how many powerful demon saints there were or how many cultivators existed within the Demon Clan, you'd only hear of a lack of cultivation resources and never of an inability to cultivate due to a dearth of Spirit Energy.

This situation persisted until just before the end of the celestial ascension battles, without ever encountering a shortage of Spirit Energy that would impede cultivation.

After the celestial ascension, the Star Lords resumed their places, but most were former followers of the Intercepting Sect, and due to the battles, no teachings of the sect remained on Earth.

When the Star Lords, all from the Intercepting Sect, controlled the transmission of Spirit Energy, and the Earth's cultivators practiced the cultivation techniques of the elucidating sect, the inevitable outcome speaks for itself.