Jiang Chen, the four sacred beasts, and six ancient cultivators spent the better part of eight hours to destroy the pathways through which the restrictive formations’ energy traveled.
He chose to leave the foundations intact in the process. It was a good idea to keep them around for now, just in case there was a need for them in the future.
It was a good idea to keep as many avenues open as possible.
However, even this much work exhausted every participant.
“This is tough work for us all,” laughed Jiang Chen. “There are six supplementary seals, which are maybe only twenty to thirty percent as much work as what we did today. Still, I will need to trouble all of you when the time comes.”
No one found much of a reason to refuse lending a hand to this endeavor. The great work they engaged in was of insurmountable benefit to the public good, which transferred to them personally by proxy.
Without doing all this, they would be pretty much stuck within Veluriyam Palace. Spirit energy was much too thin everywhere else to sustain the cultivation of these divine cultivators.
Thus, everyone felt a sense of urgency at restoring the spirit veins.
Now that the main seal node was undone, the spirit veins were already able to release about half of their outputs. This was a very good thing indeed.
After about a month, many strange things began to occur in the human domain.
In the two or three days after the removal of the main seal, many normal cultivators noticed with surprise that cultivation had gotten easier. The amount of spirit energy they were able to take in was considerably increased.
Factions and sects everywhere were astonished to discover spirit herbs in their gardens growing at incredible speeds, inexplicably gaining ranks in the process.
This phenomenon was peculiarly universal. No spirit herb wanted to be left behind; all of them flourished with a fierceness in seeming defiance to the past two hundred thousand years of scarcity.
Some sects noticed that in addition to the denser spirit energy in the air, unexpected secret realms and treasures spontaneously appeared in many of their sacred lands.
In fact, a handful of cultivators came upon several different ones in the span of only a single day.
What was strangest of all, bottlenecked cultivators everywhere found that the barriers that had troubled them for months and years were suddenly no more. They were able to break through after only a few moments in meditation.
It was as if cultivators everywhere had simultaneously all ingested a number of amazing pills and herbs. Anyone who hadn’t ascended at least twice or thrice over the span of the month was embarrassed to greet their fellows.
The whole of the human domain was overjoyed.
Then, they were mildly bothered by this newfound happiness. What if this was all an ephemeral dream that they would awake from at any moment? They didn’t want to deal with the harsh reality of their former existence.
Gossip flew from the region’s every corner.
Some claimed that the gods had blessed the human domain with gifts and divine favor.
Others said that the wheel of fate was turning in the other direction – that was, for the better.
Yet others bragged that the excellent leadership of young lord Jiang Chen was responsible.
Different brands of hearsay and rumor filled the air.
Jiang Chen remained unfazed by them, instead leading the band of gods under his command around the land to seek out the supplementary seals nodes.
The slip that Great Divine Veluriyam had left behind was a big help.
The landscape was much changed after two hundred thousand years’ passing, but general locations allowed Jiang Chen and his gang to dig the sites up.
Within a mountain’s heart, deep beneath a lake, hidden in dense forest; the seals were found in a variety of locales.
Thankfully, the actual unsealing of these auxiliary seals was much less difficult than the work they had done on the main one. It took only a few months for them to seek out and remove all six. The spirit veins were sealed no more.
The vital energy of the ancients filled the air with renewal.
Even the most foolish of men detected the obvious change in the air.
“Young master Chen, aren’t you going to explain? I’m sure everyone’s confused and guessing at the reason for this,” laughed the Vermilion Bird.
“They should be having a good time, shouldn’t they?”
“Of course, but they’re no doubt worried that this wonderful feeling will leave them as quickly as it arrived.”
“Yes, why not explain?”
Jiang Chen thought for a moment, then nodded. “I suppose the time has come for it. Still, there’s absolutely no reason to divulge the secret of sealing. Great Divine Veluriyam’s idea may yet be used by future generations.”
Everyone nodded in vehement agreement.
After several months of guesswork and conjecture, the Veluriyam Palace finally made an official announcement.
Lord Jiang Chen himself pronounced that the change in the human domain had been caused by the reactivation of the Great Formation of Heavenly Soul Confinement, which had stimulated the spirit veins in the process.
Therefore, there was no need to worry about things worsening any time soon – as long as the spirit veins remained free from vandalism, of course. At the same time, he exhorted all cultivators in the realm to work as hard as possible to return the human domain to its ancient state in might and vigor.
The entirety of the human domain was stirred by this news.
Now that their leader had imparted to them what they thought to be the truth, their worries were no more. What seemed like a dream was very real indeed, something that wouldn’t simply disappear into thin air.
Excitement filled every corner of the land. All sects praised and worshipped Jiang Chen. Even the least conscientious of men couldn’t ignore the young lord’s contributions to the human domain.
His appearance was like a lamp that had lit up their path and future, dispelling the darkness that had hovered over them for the past two hundred thousand years.
The human domain finally saw a glimmer of hope on the horizon!
For a time, his position and authority rose even further.
Jiang Chen didn’t care for all that, though. He knew that such things were ephemeral and transitory.
Raw strength, on the other hand, could be eternally relied on. There would always be new problems in the human domain, and overwhelming strength was the universal solution.
