371: He was stabbed in the back and died by suicide!

The answer was obvious.

It would surely be like a pack of wolves circling, waiting for an Opportunity to feast and replace them!

"In that case, why should I personally be the one to stick my neck out and gnaw on a hard bone like the Li Family?"

Lu Ming's thoughts instantly became clear.

He only needed to be a messenger, 'accidentally' leaking the news that the Lancang Li Family's Golden Core Perfection Old Ancestor, Li Daoxuan, had suspectedly fallen.

As for the rest, he wouldn't have to do a thing!

When the time came, countless greedy eyes would naturally fixate on the fat meat that was the Lancang Blessed Land.

Undercurrents would surge through the Profound Spirit Domain, overt and covert struggles would ensue, and various forces would move at the slightest scent of blood.

Regardless of whether they were testing the waters, forming alliances, or launching direct attacks!

The Li Family would inevitably fall into a desperate situation of internal strife and external threats, precarious as a lamp in the wind!"

And he would only need to hide behind the scenes, watching the situation unfold.

Waiting until all parties had fought to a mutual exhaustion and the Li Family was on the brink of collapse, he would then quietly enter the fray to fish in troubled waters!

Operating this way meant the final profits falling into Lu Ming's pockets would certainly be less than if he swallowed the entire Li Family alone.

However, this method was superior in its safety and secrecy; he wouldn't need to charge at the front lines himself, exposing his own strength and existence.

Most importantly, it wouldn't attract too much attention, minimizing risk while keeping the returns substantial.

Besides... a deep glint flashed in Lu Ming's eyes.

"Who says fishing in troubled waters can't yield the greatest benefits?"

His mind raced, and a plan quickly took shape in his head.

"That old ghost Murong Jingyang has been secretly developing the 'Tianli Cult' for so long; it's time to take them out for a spin!"

If handled correctly and operated skillfully, perhaps the chess piece known as the 'Tianli Cult' could become the biggest winner in this gluttonous feast targeting the Lancang Blessed Land.

That is, to ultimately replace the Li Family and become the new controller of the Blessed Land!

In this way, he could not only achieve his goal of obtaining Golden Core Perfection resources.

He could also realize the strategic objective of "secretly controlling a Blessed Land"!

At that point, sitting upon the resources of a Blessed Land, Lu Ming would have the qualifications to head to the locations of the Seven Grotto-Heavens of the Inner Domain!

"If nothing else, the fact that the Inner Domain Grotto-Heavens are opening soon is enough for me to take down the Lancang Li Family as a springboard!"

From Li Daoxuan's memories, Lu Ming had already glimpsed many secrets and rules regarding the Seven Grotto-Heavens of the Inner Domain.

The Inner Domain, as the true core of the Profound Spirit Domain, had always been heavily fortified and extremely xenophobic.

Under normal circumstances, they would only open their mountain gates once every hundred years or so, and even then, it was extremely limited access to the outside world.

The primary purpose of opening was merely to select the top-tier, most promising Genius Disciples from the Thirty-Six Blessed Lands of the outer domain to infuse fresh blood.

As for ordinary Loose Cultivators or Cultivators not born of a Blessed Land?

Heh... without a massive Opportunity, they were basically all regarded as "unrelated personnel, no entry allowed!"

Furthermore, as the Seven Grotto-Heavens of the Inner Domain accumulated and developed over long years, they had already formed a complete talent cultivation system, possessing the ability to be "self-sufficient."

Therefore, over the past thousand years, the quotas for recruiting Disciples from the outside had decreased year by year, and the intervals between opening the mountain gates had become irregular.

Sometimes it would even be hundreds of years before they opened once, all depending on the whims of the masters in the Grotto-Heavens.

However, the near future was an exception!

Because the once-in-a-millennium grand event of the Profound Spirit Domain—the Xuanling Secret Realm—was about to descend upon the world!

This caused countless Cultivators in the outer domain to wait with bated breath; after all, this might be the only chance within a thousand years to soar to the heavens in one bound!

Even those Cultivators from the Inner Domain with noble births and abundant resources would never miss such a grand gathering; they would certainly intervene and participate in the struggle for Opportunities.

But that wasn't the most critical reason prompting the Inner Domain Grotto-Heavens to decide to "open their mountain gates wide."

The most critical core lay within the Xuanling Secret Realm, which contained world-class treasures capable of helping one condense a Nascent Soul!

Such an Opportunity was a must-contest item for any Cultivator aspiring to the Great Dao, enough to trigger a storm of blood and gore!

But a problem followed: what if a Loose Cultivator not from a Grotto-Heaven or Blessed Land was lucky enough to obtain it?

Well, there was no "what if."

The Seven Grotto-Heavens, as the actual rulers or rather the vested interests of the Profound Spirit Domain, would never allow an uncontrolled, emerging Nascent Soul power to rise in the outer domain, potentially breaking the existing balance and challenging their authority.

So, if anyone had crooked thoughts about monopolizing the Opportunity to set up their own shop or found a sect...

Then congratulations, the Grotto-Heavens might refrain from direct robbery for the sake of appearances, but covert suppression would definitely be relentless.

And the most likely outcome would be you ending up with ten thousand swords in your back, ruled to have died by suicide.

In short, the rules of the Grotto-Heavens were the laws of the Profound Spirit Domain!

However, the Grotto-Heavens ultimately had to worry about their reputation not looking too ugly; they at least had to maintain a facade of fairness and morality.

Thus, they came up with a solution that satisfied both ends.

That was to use the momentum of the opening of the Xuanling Secret Realm to wide open their mountain gates and recruit Disciples!

The subtext was clear: join us, become one of our own, and only then will you be qualified to enjoy the Opportunity.

So no matter who obtained that world-class treasure in the Secret Realm, they ultimately had no choice but to join a Grotto-Heaven and become a part of it!

Of course, it wasn't only those who obtained the Nascent Soul Opportunity who were qualified to join. Those Cultivators who made gains within the Secret Realm also had hope of entering the Inner Domain.

For the Inner Domain Grotto-Heavens, this was also a guaranteed profitable business.

After all, Cultivators who could stand out in the brutally competitive Xuanling Secret Realm, regardless of anything else, were bound to be individuals of superior Luck, strength, and intellect.

Absorbing such talent into the Grotto-Heavens would surely add new blood; why wouldn't they do it?

Of course, this was only the ideal scenario; reality was often far more cruel.

Because wanting to enter the Xuanling Secret Realm was not a simple matter in itself; it required a crucial credential.

That was—the "xuanling token"!

The number of these tokens was limited, and the vast majority had long been divided and controlled by top-tier forces like the Seven Grotto-Heavens of the Inner Domain and the Thirty-Six Blessed Lands of the outer domain.

From the source, the vast majority of Loose Cultivators and small-scale forces were already excluded.

Even if one occasionally had the fortune to obtain one by accident, upon entering the Secret Realm, what they would face would be a joint siege from the various Immortal Clan giants and Blessed Land families!

These vested interest groups would never allow outsiders to carve up the Secret Realm resources they already viewed as their private property.

Those lone Loose Cultivators were often the first targets to be cleared out in the Secret Realm.

This was precisely one of the fundamental reasons why the landscape of the Profound Spirit Domain had remained stagnant and classes were difficult to transcend for thousands of years.

The channels for upward mobility, from start to finish, had been firmly held by the top-tier forces, with numerous barriers set in place.

If you wanted to get ahead, you either joined them and became one of their own, or... well, if you weren't one of their own, why would they waste any more words with you!