The Elven Cultivator

The process, from inscribing the array’s restrictions to the final integration, had given him a much deeper insight and understanding of arrays.

With this experience, mastering the Golden Light Prison Array should be much easier.

It was worth mentioning that while Anton had been studying the Separation Fire Shield, the Rock-Horned Dragon had attacked the mining area several more times. Fortunately, every single attack was repelled by the combined efforts of the Great Elder, the Third Elder, and Thorvin.

To guard against the Rock-Horned Dragon’s attacks, the Great Elder had even taken to personally overseeing the mining area.

Anton had also deployed a hundred Yellow Turban Warriors to the mining area, reinforcing its defenses so that production wouldn’t be too heavily affected.

However, everyone’s patience with the Rock-Horned Dragon was nearly at its limit. Dealing with this problem had become a pressing matter.

’Once the array is ready, it’ll be time to make a move on the Rock-Horned Dragon.’

With a thought from Anton, the Crimson Gold Light Curtain receded like a tide, re-forming into the palm-sized Red Gold Bell Cover that hovered above his palm.

He flipped his hand over, storing the Separation Fire Shield in his Dimensional Bag, then stood and stretched. His bones made a faint CRACKLING sound.

Leaving the treehouse, Anton headed toward the storehouse to pick up new materials.

But as he passed Romance’s residence, he heard a series of dull THUDS coming from behind her treehouse.

The sound was extremely rhythmic, like something heavy striking a hard object, and it was clear enough to be heard from across an entire row of treehouses.

Anton paused. His Divine Sense extended forward, past the treehouse to envelop the yard behind it, where he saw Romance locked in a fierce exchange with a Yellow Turban Warrior.

She was barefoot, her long, silver-white hair casually tied back with a vine. Sweat had soaked through her light gray hunting attire, causing it to cling to her body.

The Frost Pattern War Axe flew in her hands like lightning. Every strike was accompanied by a low peal of thunder, its blade crashing against the Yellow Turban Warrior’s armor and sending out dazzling sparks.

Not far away, Eleanor sat cross-legged on a stone stool in a corner of the yard. A thick tome was spread open on her lap, but her gaze followed the Yellow Turban Warrior’s every move. She would nod slightly from time to time, as if studying something.

A faint smile touched Anton’s lips. He retracted his Divine Sense, rounded a corner, and made his way to the entrance of the yard behind the treehouse.

The yard gate was ajar. He raised a hand and pushed it open, stepping inside.

”BANG!”

An especially heavy impact rang out, and a shockwave carrying fine stone chips washed over him.

With a casual wave of his hand, Anton conjured an invisible shield of True Essence that blocked the flying debris.

The fight in the yard came to an abrupt halt.

Romance lowered her axe and turned. Upon seeing who it was, her amber eyes instantly lit up, and a wide smile bloomed on her face.

”Anton!”

She bounded over in just a few steps, steam rising from her body. Sweat trickled down her fair neck, leaving a dark, damp patch on her collar.

”What brings you here?”

”Just passing by.” Anton’s gaze swept over the War Axe in her hand, then glanced at the silently standing Yellow Turban Warrior nearby. ”Training your combat skills?”

”Yup.” Romance lifted her axe and waved it, her tone tinged with pride. ”This Yellow Turban Warrior you gave me is amazing. It’s so tough I can hit it as hard as I want and it won’t break. It’s way more satisfying than sparring with a person.”

She pointed at the Yellow Turban Warrior and grinned. ”Look, I did all this today.”

Anton looked where she was pointing. The Yellow Turban Warrior’s Dark Gold Armor was indeed covered in marks of varying depths. A few of the deepest ones nearly pierced straight through the chest plate.

He raised an eyebrow slightly, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

’To be able to leave such deep marks on a Yellow Turban Warrior... It means Romance’s strength has improved considerably again.’

’Looks like she’s about to have a breakthrough.’

’And she’s still more than ten years away from adulthood.’

’At this rate, she might even break through to the high-rank Silver tier before she comes of age.’

Just then, Eleanor stood up from the stone stool, closed her book, and walked over to Anton, giving him a slight nod as a greeting.

She wore a light cyan robe, and her emerald-green hair was tied in a low ponytail with a silver thread. A few loose strands fell beside her ears, accentuating her jade-like, fair skin.

Anton smiled and nodded back. His gaze fell upon the book in her hands, its gilded title on the spine particularly striking—*Rune Structures and Magic Power Conduction*.

Recalling how Eleanor had been staring intently at the Yellow Turban Warrior just moments before, understanding dawned on Anton.

Noticing Anton’s gaze, Eleanor’s hand holding the book flinched slightly, as if she wanted to hide it. She quickly caught herself and stopped, but the tips of her ears turned a faint red, showing the guilt of someone whose secret has been discovered.

After all, it was Anton who had inspired her to start studying Alchemy Puppets in the first place.

Anton noticed the girl’s small movements, and a hint of a smile flashed in his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.

Completely oblivious, Romance continued on her own, ”Anton, what have you been busy with lately? I barely see you around anymore.”

”Crafting a new piece of Magic Equipment,” Anton explained casually. ”Don’t mind me. You can continue your training.”

”Okay, I’ll train a little longer then.” Romance didn’t stand on ceremony with him and nodded with a cheerful laugh. ”But don’t run off. We haven’t eaten together in a long time. Let’s have a barbecue later.”

Anton smiled and agreed.

Only then did Romance pick up her War Axe again and walk back toward the Yellow Turban Warrior.

As he watched Romance throw herself back into her training, a thoughtful look crossed Anton’s eyes.

Ever since the idea of establishing a sect had first occurred to him, he had been constantly thinking. Besides popularizing the cultivation system from scratch, what other methods were there to let others enjoy the ’benefits’ of cultivation and thereby enhance the Clan’s strength?

After all, establishing a sect was a massive undertaking. The current conditions were not yet ripe, making it difficult to implement.

The most immediate problem was the scarcity of resources.

As a lone cultivator, he could still find ways to acquire resources and barely sustain himself.

But establishing a sect would require a sea of resources.

At this stage, there was simply no channel for acquiring resources that was large and stable enough.

It would be more appropriate to make the attempt only after his Cultivation Level was higher and the Silver Moon Clan had grown stronger.

With this in mind, Anton had occasionally consulted the relevant texts within the Taoist Jade Scroll over the past two years, and he had actually found a potential path.

It turned out to be related to the different paths within the cultivation system.

The cultivation system was divided into three major paths.

Qi Dao, Fa Dao, and Li Dao.

Qi Dao practitioners breathe in vital essence, focus their efforts on attaining the Dao, and achieve the Unity of Heaven and Man.

In simpler terms, this is the path of refining the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The path Anton currently walked was Qi Dao.

It was also the path chosen by the vast majority of Cultivators.

Fa Dao practitioners comprehend opportunity and virtue, participate in creation itself through their merit, and exhaustively study the profound principles of heaven and earth.

To put it bluntly, they do not use Cultivation Techniques or temper their physical bodies. Instead, they focus solely on comprehending the profound principles and ultimate Dao between heaven and earth, thereby gaining a clear understanding of all things and achieving the Great Dao.

However, there are no set rules for how to comprehend these profound principles. It’s impossible to grasp systematically and depends entirely on an individual’s personal opportunities and comprehension, making it far too uncertain.

It was more likely one would die of old age before ever reaching enlightenment.

Therefore, the vast majority of Cultivators only pursued Fa Dao as a supplementary path.

Li Dao practitioners are nourished by external medicines, tempered by their Inner Core, and forge an Indestructible Golden Body.

Simply put, it is a cultivation path focused primarily on tempering and refining the physical body.

Unlike Qi Dao Cultivators, who focus on breathing in vital essence and refining the energy of heaven and earth, Li Dao practitioners use all their vital essence to strengthen their own bodies. They do not rely on Spiritual Qi or True Essence, but rather pursue the ultimate state of sanctifying the flesh and breaking all techniques with absolute power.

The advantage of the Li Dao path is that one can cultivate it without the legacy of a high-grade Cultivation Technique, and the requirements for individual aptitude are extremely low.

Its disadvantage is its extreme reliance on external items. It requires vast quantities of external aids (including Pills, beast essence blood, Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and so on) to nourish the physical body and promote its transformation.

Therefore, in the Cultivation Realm, only beast cultivators—who lacked Cultivation Technique legacies but were born with powerful physical bodies—would choose the path of Li Dao.

However, on the Dawn Continent, the path of Li Dao was actually the most suitable for a Warrior like Romance; one could even say it was tailor-made for her.

She wouldn’t need to condense Spiritual Qi from scratch. As long as she chose a Li Dao cultivation technique and tempered her body step-by-step, she could rapidly increase her strength and ultimately achieve an indestructible body.

In terms of potential alone, the Li Dao path was not much inferior to the Qi Dao path.

’Li Dao’s combat style is simple and direct, emphasizing the use of absolute power to crush all techniques and transformations. That fits perfectly with Romance’s fighting style, too.’

Anton nodded to himself. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Li Dao was perfect for Romance.

As for the issue of resource consumption, the solution was also simple.

He just needed to get the support of the Elder Council.

The Silver Moon Clan, with its control over half the Frost Pattern Silver mine, had more than enough resources to support Romance’s cultivation of Li Dao.

Anton now had a plan.

Once he dealt with the Rock-Horned Dragon and finished crafting the Sword Pill, he would find a suitable Li Dao cultivation technique for Romance.

Meanwhile, Eleanor sat back down on the stone stool and opened the tome on her lap, but her gaze involuntarily drifted toward Anton.

Seeing him staring intently at Romance, she couldn’t help but press her lips together, thinking, ’Anton really pays a lot of attention to Romance.’