In fact, even before the great calamity had ended, the cultivators of the Western Continent and the Human Dao Hundred Schools had tacitly joined forces to retreatâthey were truly worried that the Demonic Tao would ambush or block them on the way, so they intended to withdraw early.
After all, their karmic ties had already been resolved, and in the process of fighting the Sea Clan, they had even accumulated some merit.
At first, they didnât immediately choose to retreat because, as members of the human race, they felt they should not sit idly by while the Sea Clan grew in strength.
But now, with the great calamity about to end, the most important thing was that after the calamity, the world would be clear and bright, the Heavenly Dao would manifest, and the Laws would become easier to comprehend.
Such an excellent opportunity to improve oneâs realm and cultivationâthey naturally would not be willing to give up easily, so they chose to leave before the calamity was truly over.
Moreover, because the two major camps were withdrawing together from the West Continent, even if the Demon Cultivators had any hidden intentions, they didnât dare expose them and could only watch them depart.
However, to be honest, the Demon Cultivators hadnât really considered ambushing themâfirst, the Western Continent had become a battlefield and was now devastated; who knew how long it would take to recover.
Second, with both the Immortal Tao and the Human Dao joined together and their power immense, any attempt might yield no benefits, but instead cause further damage to the Demonic Tao, which had already suffered heavy casualties.
Third, the Western Continent now faced threats from the Sea Clan and the Ghost Clanâthe latterâs strength could be ignored, but the Sea Clan required the Demonic Taoâs full effort, and who knew when they might have to seek assistance from the other two factions.
Thus, under such circumstances, how could they possibly risk offending the Immortal Tao and Human Dao at this time?
...
Meanwhile.
On Mount Wanxian, because he cultivated the Purification Principle, Li Zhirui was particularly sensitive to Tribulation Evil Energy, so he was among the first creatures to sense the changes in heaven and earth.
As the great calamity drew to a close, the entire world felt much lighter in spirit.
Afterward came the acknowledgment of contributions and rewardsâthat is, the Heavenly Dao bestowed merit upon individuals according to their unique contributions.
In an instant, it seemed as though the Primal Spirit Realm was showered in a golden, gentle rain, covering the entire world.
Though the spectacle appeared grand, in reality, compared to the sum of all living beings, those who had resolved their karma and also obtained merit were still rather fewâperhaps only thirty or forty percent.
Yet, someone like Li Zhirui, who did not receive merit but had resolved his karma, was exceedingly rare, for there were not many in the whole Primal Spirit Realm who could directly expend merit to dissolve karma as he had done.
After all, not everyone could produce or was willing to sacrifice such a substantial amount of merit in this way.
And though he hadnât received merit, at least his karma was settled, so the changes in heaven and earth after the calamity were open to Li Zhirui as well.
Therefore, he notified his clan early, instructing his clansmen to prepare for seclusion and meditation, to seize the chance to improve their cultivation. By the time the calamity ended, he had already adjusted his condition and, at once, calmed his breath and focused all his energy on comprehending the Purification Principle.
The entire Primal Spirit Realm was immersed in peace and silenceâalmost no battles broke out.
This was not only because most living beings were seizing the opportunity and unwilling to waste precious time, but also because, with the calamity just ended, all living things yearned for peace!
Although no one counted the casualties of each camp and force in this great calamity, it was surely not a small number.
And if someone were to calculate, they would find that nearly thirty percent of the living beings in the Primal Spirit Realm, whether directly or indirectly, perished in the calamity!
This was an extraordinarily astonishing figure, showing just how terrifying the destructive power of the great calamity was.
Having survived the calamity, naturally, the living beings did not wish to resume fighting so soonânot even the Sea Clan and the Demonic Tao, whose conflicts remained unresolved.
...
Through the passing of springs and autumns, several decades flowed by in silence.
During these years of settling, although the numbers did not recover swiftly, the overall strength of the Primal Spirit Realm grew considerably.
Moreover, during this period, Thunder Tribulations erupted almost without pause in every region!
It seemed as if, for a time, the difficulty of cultivation across the world had lessened.
But in truth, this was nothing more than an illusion. The real cause was that many beings, after the calamity, made breakthroughs in their cultivation, which thus frequently triggered Thunder Tribulations.
Yet, if one were to carefully tally, one would find that those who died under the Thunder Tribulation far outnumbered those who succeeded in breaking through.
It was simply that the world only paid attention to the victors and did not focus their eyes on the failed, with their bodies and souls annihilated.
In these decades, above Mount Wanxian, Tribulation Thunder occasionally struck down as wellâamong the clansmen, some failed and some succeeded.
Benefitting from the Li familyâs cultivation of their own, aided by pills, and the fact that most of these clansmen had survived the brutal great calamity,
thus, the success rate of those undergoing Tribulation was as high as sixty percent.
This was an exceptionally high rateâunder normal circumstances, probably only forty percent could succeed.
And Li Zhirui, in this period of cultivation, also reaped some gains; his realm had improved slightlyâthough not much, he was already quite content.
However, he now faced a very serious problem: after all these years of cultivation, he could clearly feel that his comprehension of the Purification Principle had reached its limit!
Not a bottleneck, but an actual limit!
In simple terms, Li Zhiruiâs mastery of the Purification Principle could no longer be advanced.
It wasnât that he had completely mastered the Purification Principleâsuch a thing was not possible for a mere Heavenly Immortal Cultivatorâbut rather, within the Primal Spirit Realm, he could derive nothing more from the Purification Principle.
If it were another Outer World, the Laws might develop differently, and he could continue his comprehensionâbut the problem was, where could such a place be found?
Whatâs more, for them, the Outer Worlds suppressed and oppressed such intruders as much as possibleâhow could they possibly allow him to comprehend the Laws without reason?
Faced with such a result, Li Zhiruiâs best solution would be to venture into The Void, to further temper and elevate himself.
Another option was to directly choose transcendence and leave the Primal Spirit Realm!
In that case, Li Zhirui would no longer need to worry about further bottlenecks in his cultivationâonce leaving the Primal Spirit Realm, what would those matters matter any longer?
By rights, for the sake of his own Dao Path, he ought to try to resolve all residual karma and transcend directly, whether his journey then led him to seek opportunities in The Void or to a higher-level worldâeither would be better than the current situation.
He had already mastered the Laws of this realm, could gain no further experience, and could no longer improve his cultivation even the slightest.
Yet matters such as these are hardly simple, and for the moment, Li Zhirui could not make a decision.
Especially with the clanâs current circumstanceâLi Zhixuan had still not returned, Jiang Fengwu had been in closed-door cultivation for many years with no sign of emergenceâif he chose transcendence and left, leaving only Li Mingyao to support the family alone, the clan would truly be in danger!