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The sect leaders of the Moonlight Sect all followed the path of pure stellar energy.
Some of the more talented elders did the same.
By cultivating stellar energy, they could always make slight progress through refinement, but each incremental gain was painstakingly slow.
Yue Ruxue was confident that she could break through to become a Limit Douluo.
There were precedents for this in the Moonlight Sect's records—quite a few, in fact.
In about fifty years, by the time she became an old maid, she would naturally break through her bottleneck and reach the limit.
And once she broke through, she would immediately ascend to the half-god level.
Now, with Xu Yuan helping her sense a new region containing at least ten 'moons,' this would greatly enhance her abilities, significantly boosting her overall qualities and allowing her to break through to the limit sooner.
Yue Ruxue cast a deep glance at Xu Yuan.
This time, she had thought she was repaying a favor, but it turned out the debt had grown even larger.
Xu Yuan, however, remained unaware of the impact he had on Yue Ruxue.
At this moment, he was immersed in the ocean of moonlight, like a small boat absorbing energy from the vast sea to strengthen himself.
His spiritual power grew rapidly.
Previously, he had refined his spiritual power using stellar energy—a process akin to grinding. But now, as moonlight infused his spiritual power, it was a gentle, subtle nourishment that gave him an entirely different experience.
The effects of the earlier stellar energy refinement finally manifested, allowing him to absorb a massive amount of moonlight and further increase his spiritual power.
Before coming here, Xu Yuan had tested his spiritual power, which had reached 9,359 points.
Compared to two and a half months ago, it had increased by over 300 points—much faster than before he broke through to Soul King.
Because of the bottleneck near 10,000 points, the growth of his spiritual power had slowed last year, dropping from an increase of 200 points per month to less than 100.
But breaking through to Soul King had caused his spiritual power growth to surge again.
This highlighted the difference in cultivation at the Soul King stage compared to before.
Even so, Xu Yuan still felt his progress slowing down, a sign that he was nearing the 10,000-point threshold.
However, under the nourishment of moonlight energy, his spiritual power surged once more.
He could feel himself drawing closer to that bottleneck.
Closer and closer.
Then, it stopped.
Xu Yuan sighed in regret.
He was close to the limit but hadn't broken through the bottleneck.
Estimating his spiritual power, Xu Yuan figured it was around 9,800 points.
The natural nourishment ended, but Xu Yuan still sensed the abundant moonlight energy around him. Without wasting any of it, he swept his spiritual power across the area, greedily devouring every bit of moonlight.
Yue Ruxue frowned.
Such powerful spiritual power!
He was in the Lingyuan Realm, and extremely close to the mid-stage of the Lingyuan Realm.
Is he really only fourteen years old?
Yue Ruxue couldn't wrap her head around it.
With her Moonlight martial soul, which possessed spiritual attributes, and constant nourishment from moonlight energy, her spiritual power talent was already at the peak of the continent. She had reached the mid-stage of the Lingyuan Realm as a Soul Sage, the high-stage as a Soul Douluo, and the peak at the Title Douluo stage, breaking into the Lingyu Realm at rank ninety-five.
This was already an incredibly impressive achievement.
But what was Xu Yuan?
A Soul King, nearly at the mid-stage of the Lingyuan Realm?
And he's only fourteen!
Yue Ruxue carefully reviewed Zhang Tianxing's description of Xu Yuan in the letter of recommendation, making sure not to miss a single word.
"A new student at Shrek Academy."
This wasn't just any ordinary new student. In the future, he would undoubtedly be a member of Shrek's Sea God Pavilion—and possibly its leader!
As Yue Ruxue was lost in thought, the moonlight energy within the Moon Goddess Hall was completely absorbed by Xu Yuan.
Yes, completely absorbed.
He absorbed as much as he could, but there was still an excess of moonlight energy. Unable to take it all in, he converted it from physical to ethereal form and stored it in his dreamscape.
This time, it wasn't for research purposes. He planned to save it for later cultivation and refinement.
When Yue Ruxue snapped back to reality, she noticed something was off.
Where did the moonlight energy go?
What happened to all the moonlight energy I just converted?
She was utterly baffled.
Looking at Xu Yuan and sensing his state, his spiritual power hadn't broken through. Logically speaking, it shouldn't have been possible for him to absorb so much moonlight energy in such a short time, right?
Yue Ruxue gave Xu Yuan a deep look.
She guessed that Xu Yuan must have some secret method to store moonlight energy.
If that were the case, it was still a remarkable ability.
She continued to oversee the operation of the Grand Moonlight Formation.
As moonlight energy was converted, Xu Yuan stored it in his dreamscape.
"The principle is similar to the observatory platform, but fundamentally different. The moonlight energy converted by the Grand Moonlight Formation is induced naturally, but it's stabilized by the techniques of soul masters, allowing it to retain its properties when stored in the dreamscape."
After a full three hours, Yue Ruxue finally stopped operating the Grand Moonlight Formation.
And those three hours of operation consumed an entire month's worth of accumulated stellar energy for the Moonlight Sect.
The concentration of stellar energy in the entire Moonlight Sect dropped by a whole level!
The mountain where the Moonlight Sect was located was itself a grand formation designed by Zhang Tianxing, constantly drawing in stellar energy.
The amount of stellar energy gathered in a single month was immense, and even after deducting daily cultivation needs, the remaining accumulation was still substantial.
Maintaining this required the continuous operation of the array.
Running the array came at a cost.
Yuehua Entertainment Co., Ltd. was controlled by the Moonlight Sect and served as a way to generate resources. They cultivated stars, formed multiple idol groups, and earned astronomical profits annually. At least eighty percent of these profits went toward maintaining the array.
The rest was used as welfare subsidies for the disciples.
Unfortunately, despite such massive expenditures, Yue Ruxue still didn't feel she had repaid her debt.
"Xu Yuan?"
"Senior Yue, do you have any instructions?" Xu Yuan asked formally.
Yue Ruxue smiled and teased, "Am I really that formal? No need to call me Senior Yue. Just call me Sister Yue from now on."
"Uh, alright, Sister Yue," Xu Yuan said casually.
It was understandable that girls liked being called older sisters.
"Sister Yue, I noticed that the moonlight energy converted by the Grand Moonlight Formation is more stable than the stellar energy converted by the observatory platform. Why is that?"
Since he had already called her "Sister," Xu Yuan decided to ask some questions.
Might as well get things clear.
"The observatory platform relies entirely on resonance from distant projections of stars to imbue vitality into stellar energy. But the true core of our Moonlight Sect's Grand Moonlight Formation isn't those 'moons'—it's the soul masters who operate the secret techniques."
Xu Yuan understood.
Got it.
The stabilization process was simple. Because the higher-ups of the Moonlight Sect cultivated moonlight energy, their bodies were already close to being 'moons.' This allowed them to induce the properties of moonlight more thoroughly, giving it a delayed effect.
Instead of dissipating immediately after losing the support of the array, the moonlight energy would gradually fade over time.
And Xu Yuan's dreamscape could extend this non-instantaneous process to its maximum, allowing him to preserve moonlight energy for extended periods.
"Sister Yue, one more question. Can I cultivate the secret techniques of the Moonlight Sect?"
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