Alien Science Cultivation

"Zhang Qiang... hehe... it's so good to see you alive..." Wang Ling whispered, her face filled with relief. She slowly approached Zhang Qiang, tears welling in her eyes. Zhang Qiang didn't know the exact hardships she had endured, but it was easy to guess that as the last members of Guangming Peak to evacuate the Western Forest, they must have faced numerous hardships. This was especially true for the disciples of Guangming Peak, whose attributes determined their crucial role on the battlefield. In this battle, they witnessed the sacrifices of countless fellow disciples and clansmen. Even two of the chief priests of Guangming Peak had collapsed, let alone a new disciple like Wang Ling.

"It's okay... We will definitely survive this war. Where there's catastrophe, there's opportunity... Take this ring..." Zhang Qiang didn't elaborate on the ring's contents, nor did he mention what Wang Ling needed to do. After all, a wise man doesn't need much instruction. Wang Ling took the ring, scanned it with her spiritual sense, and was stunned. Intricate blueprints and over two million pieces of top-grade Guixu Stone appeared before her. Then, with trembling hands, Wang Ling put the ring away. "You must survive well in the underworld. We've seen too much death. If Guangming Peak hadn't given up on the last of us, I'd probably be gone long ago. Now I've given it my all. Since you think so highly of me, Wang Ling, I won't retreat, even if I die. Wait for my good news..." Wang Ling finished, bowing respectfully to Lu Yi without hesitation, then turned and left the tent.

With Wang Ling's departure, Zhang Qiang fell silent. "Elder Lu... excuse me... if there's anything I can do for you, please let me know. Our team hasn't been able to directly participate in the war, and I feel truly guilty..."

"Haha... no need to feel guilty. Although you didn't personally participate in the war, to have made it this far is already remarkable. It can be said that you have made an invaluable contribution to the current turnaround in the war. Young man, live well..." Lu Yi responded forcefully. After a few more pleasantries, Zhang Qiang disintegrated once more, vanishing from Lu Yi's sight. "What a powerful method... Even the Sect Master wouldn't be able to pull it off..." Looking at the place where Zhang Qiang disappeared, Lu Yi's face was filled with emotion.

A moment later, Zhang Qiang reappeared beside Wang Yan and Chen Ying. Without further ado, Zhang Qiang activated the silkworm shell's reverse teleportation ability. The three figures flashed once more, and a moment later... they reappeared in Zhang Qiang's room. A few days later, after paying three years' rent in advance, Zhang Qiang led his team on a flying boat, speeding towards the edge of the Chaos Star Outer Sea. Because Wang Yan had previously slain three rogue demon cultivators from the Outer Sea, they chose not to use the teleportation array this time to avoid unnecessary trouble. Instead, they opted for the flying boat, which, with its help, took them half a month to reach the vicinity of the Chaos Star Outer Sea. Here, their goal was to hunt demonic beasts, comprehend magical powers, and improve their cultivation.

Over the course of a month, the several individuals advanced through slaying sea beasts and practicing. Zhang Qiang began to build his second dantian foundation. As golden thunderclouds slowly gathered in the sky, illuminating the space Zhang Qiang was in with a golden glow, three black thunder dragons descended. This time, they were met by another bamboo leaf, which Zhang Qiang named the fifth bamboo leaf. Each of the first three black thunder tribulations also featured three more thunder dragons than the previous one. The fourth thunder tribulation wasn't a ghostly creature, but rather the phantoms of alien beasts from the Yang Realm, accompanied by the power of black lightning. As the black lightning was absorbed by the bamboo leaf, Zhang Qiang effortlessly shattered each of the golden beast phantoms. The fifth, a golden beast tribulation, manifested forty-eight phantoms of land and sea beasts. However, this time, the energy absorbed was surprisingly from the fourth golden bamboo leaf. The sixth thunder tribulation was a karmic fire tribulation, but the fire of the Yin Realm's karmic fire was black, absorbed by the sixth bamboo leaf. The seventh thunder tribulation was still the Human Emperor Sword, but in the Yin Realm, it was no longer condensed from metallic elements, but from dead energy, which was unwillingly absorbed by the second bamboo leaf. The eighth thunder tribulation, like the Yang Tribulation, was the Shura Tribulation, except this Shura phantom was golden. When the Shura phantom saw Zhang Qiang's face, it was stunned. Zhang Qiang, sensing a familiarity, instantly activated his third dantian at high speed, sealing the space with the power of nothingness. Then, without hesitation, a single punch shattered the Shura phantom.

As the Shura phantom vanished, the golden thunderclouds slowly dissipated. Zhang Qiang, however, showed no sign of leaving. He simply gazed up at the sky, as if sensing a sense of unease within the thunderstorm. "Brother Qiang... this Yin-Yang battle seems premeditated... The forms of the thunderstorms in both the Yin and Yang realms are becoming so perfunctory... Could it be that this thunderstorm's transformation is... the Heavenly Dao, the Human Emperor..." Chen Ying was about to continue when Zhang Qiang interrupted her. "Don't speculate... that's disrespectful..."

Afterwards, Zhang Qiang led Chen Ying toward the edge of the open sea, heading in the direction of Wang Yan and the other four. Time slowly passed as they hunted sea beasts, and in the blink of an eye, a year had passed. During this time, Wang Yan received several pieces of good news from headquarters: the ghosts in the human area were beginning to retreat, but the ghosts in the sea and desert were becoming more rampant. Faced with the great issue, the various races put aside their hatreds and reservations. The human-beast coalition ultimately decided to support the ocean and desert, seemingly foreshadowing that the desert and the ocean would ultimately become the main battlefields of this war.

Wang Ling also achieved remarkable success that year. After returning to the sect, she directly asked the sect leader to accompany her to various trading venues, exchanging over 200 million Guixu stones for 2200 million top-grade spirit stones, leaving the Qingshan sect leader speechless. On the way, she encountered several ghost cultivators, also carrying around 10 Guixu stones, disguised themselves, and went to one of the exchanges to exchange for spirit stones. They were captured by the Qingshan sect leader himself. The God King, enraged beyond belief, immediately wiped out the ghost clan and the exchange, accusing the exchange of treason and publicly declaring it a traitor. The wealth Wang Ling personally possessed, aside from some priceless treasures, surpassed even the wealth of the Qingshan sect. Subsequently, Wang Ling hired hundreds of skilled craftsmen, who worked tirelessly day and night to produce trading cards according to Chen Ying's designs. In just one month, they produced millions of trading cards, enough for nearly every member of the Qingshan sect to own one. Before Wang Ling could even find other sect disciples to distribute trading cards, countless disciples, elders, and even some sect masters personally visited Wang Ling to request them. As the number of people joining the trading network grew, a professional team of merchants and escorts began to emerge. Joining required a deposit of some sort. Initially, merchants and users worried about reliability, but upon discovering that the "Qingshan Trading Network" was actually backed by the Qingshan Sect, they felt reassured and began depositing spirit stones into their "electronic accounts" at the Qingshan Trading Network branch. The proliferation of electronic accounts insinuated a surge in digital transactions. Over the course of the year, Qingshan's influence grew, reaching a point where even the combined influence of all the holy lands was not as strong as that of the Qingshan Sect. Wang Ling seized the opportunity to recruit various experts as honorary elders of the trading network, including the Qingshan Sect leader and several powerful independent cultivators. The Qingshan Sect leader's divine king status intimidated all the publicly visible forces. These powerful independent cultivators were tasked with eliminating any underground forces hindering the development of the Qingshan Trading Network. Wang Ling also secretly established numerous intelligence networks across the continent. Every day, countless pieces of information were transmitted to the Qingshan Trading Network headquarters at the foot of the Qingshan Sect. After being sorted and categorized by tens of thousands of cultivators, the ultimate goal of the Qingshan Trading Network seemed to far exceed Zhang Qiang's previous expectations. After all, money makes things easier, and Wang Ling's talent ensured that every penny spent would yield the greatest possible return...