Chapter 871 – The Celestial Profound Society

Mo Lan steadied her mind, knowing this was the critical moment to lay out the stakes and secure cooperation.

Through Star Language, she transmitted a more complex yet clearer stream of thought:

“…You see, the Immortal Realm uses the ‘Ascension Passage’ to suppress you, sealing off the Well of the Sky. Under the guise of ‘ascension,’ they plunder the source power you bestow upon cultivators, taking the cultivators themselves along with it.

Your growing weakness, the drain of your source power, the decline of spiritual energy — this is the root cause of it all.”

Mo Lan extracted from Duan Yan’s memories the truth of how the Immortal Realm siphoned the source power of subordinate worlds through the Ascension Passage, and displayed it all for the world consciousness to see.

She could clearly sense the violent fluctuations emanating from the world consciousness as it received this information — a tempest of shock, rage, and total comprehension all intertwined.

“…So… that’s… how it was…”

The world consciousness’s response carried a heavy, mournful weight.

“…I always… thought… my children… were pursuing… a better… future…”

“That was never a future — it was a trap.” Mo Lan’s voice was resolute. “I’ve severed the Ascension Passage for now, but the Immortal Realm could send a Dao Ancestor realm expert here at any time to rebuild it. If you want to permanently rid yourself of the Immortal Realm’s threat and eliminate this danger once and for all, the best course of action is for you to stop converting your source power into spiritual roots and bestowing them upon the beings of this world.”

This was, without question, a proposal that would overturn the path of transcendence that this world had followed since time immemorial.

From the moment intelligent beings first touched upon the extraordinary to the development of a mature cultivation system — who knew how many wrong turns had been taken, how much time had been spent along the way.

The world consciousness instinctively hesitated.

Mo Lan understood its concerns and immediately offered a more concrete, more actionable solution to bolster its resolve. “I can use my Card Magic to rapidly disseminate a mature mage magic knowledge system among the humans of this world.

Mage magic develops the psychic power innate within the human soul. It requires no bestowal of source power from you to cultivate, nor does it require tribulation-crossing or ascension. This way, the Immortal Realm will never again be able to steal your source power through tribulation and ascension.

My Card Magic can give more humans access to magical knowledge, breaking the monopoly on knowledge.

The Celestial Profound Realm will quickly transform into a world where magic is dominant.

The era of cultivators will gradually come to an end, but far more humans will gain the opportunity to wield power.

And you will be able to preserve your source power and truly escape the fate of being plundered.”

These words were like a beam of light cast into the darkness. The world consciousness’s thoughts sank into a prolonged silence, as if painstakingly weighing this earth-shattering transformation.

Finally, a thought carrying the resolve of one who has burned all bridges came through:

“…I… agree… I will no longer… bestow spiritual roots…”

“…The new… path of the mage… I leave it… in your hands…”

“Excellent!” Mo Lan struck while the iron was hot, raising the matter of potential combat coordination and the division of spoils going forward.

“If a Dao Ancestor realm cultivator comes from the Immortal Realm during this period, you must prevent his physical body from entering the boundary membrane.

As long as you keep him outside the boundary, I have my own ways to kill him in the void.

When that time comes, all the source power extracted from his grotto-heaven — we split it fifty-fifty!”

“Agreed…”

“…The boundary membrane… shall be… guarded by me…”

“Then,” Mo Lan’s tone grew more formal, “for the sake of our future cooperation, let us sign a contract.” She produced a contract she had prepared well in advance, written in the common script of the Celestial Profound Realm.

Upon its Parchment-like material, the glow of magic shimmered and flowed. The terms clearly outlined the responsibilities and obligations of both Mo Lan and the world consciousness, solidifying everything they had just verbally agreed upon into a magically binding form.

Having witnessed the utter lack of principles from an evil-aligned world like the Immortal Realm, Mo Lan had become far more careful and cautious in her dealings across the cosmos.

Even though the Celestial Profound Realm currently displayed a good or neutral alignment, she was no longer willing to act on trust alone.

After all, she was currently traveling the cosmos on her own. She hadn’t taken on this task through the Well of the Sky, which meant she had lost the powerful protection of the 《Cosmic Covenant》.

A solid contract was the best safeguard for both parties.

The world consciousness of the Celestial Profound Realm, having followed cosmic convention by granting a world invitation token and source power as rewards to Mo Lan for saving it, took no offense at the contract. On the contrary, it felt all the more reassured.

A wisp of source power bearing the world’s brand descended from the sky, leaving at the end of the contract an imprint that belonged solely to the Celestial Profound Realm.

Mo Lan also left her own magical seal upon the contract.

The contract split into two, transforming into twin streaks of light — one falling into Mo Lan’s hands, the other soaring into the sky to be kept safe by the world consciousness.

With the contract sealed, Mo Lan decided to remain in the Celestial Profound Realm for a period of time to drive the spread of mage magic and help this world rapidly transform.

Whenever she thought of the powerful Immortal Realm watching hungrily from beyond the void, she dared not let her guard down for even a moment.

They had lost a Dao Ancestor — they would never let this rest. It was entirely possible they would soon send a new Dao Ancestor to rebuild the Celestial Profound Realm’s Ascension Passage.

With such a formidable enemy looming, it was best to divine the outlook before taking action.

Mo Lan cast the Fortune-Telling Spell once more, divining whether any danger awaited her during the period of spreading mage magic in the Celestial Profound Realm.

“Great fortune?”

Seeing this result, her spirits lifted. “The luck spell is working again?”

With all doubts banished from her mind, Mo Lan threw herself into intense preparations.

She took every piece of mage magic knowledge in her mind — from the most fundamental psychic power meditation techniques, to complex spell structure analysis, to application techniques for various types of Elemental Magic — and crafted them all into individual Knowledge Cards.

To ensure this system could seamlessly integrate into the Celestial Profound Realm, she put in considerable effort on localization.

Mo Lan used Transfiguration to transform into a white-bearded old man, donned a blue robe, and wreathed herself in an ethereal, luminous glow. Under the title of “Avatar of the Heavenly Dao,” she personally recorded all the accompanying instructional image cards.

When users activated the cards, what they would see was an Avatar of the Heavenly Dao — one that matched their aesthetic sensibilities and expectations — personally imparting wisdom and teachings.

Beyond the Knowledge Cards, she also prepared Talent Detection Cards for testing initial psychic power and elemental affinity, as well as resource cards containing various magical materials, ensuring that beginners could obtain both magical knowledge transmission and material support from the Card Shop.

All of these cards were categorized and listed in a special “Celestial Profound Society” edition of the Card Shop, built exclusively for the Celestial Profound Realm.

The appearance of the cards themselves also eschewed the Valen aesthetic, instead adopting the Celestial Profound Realm’s traditional jade base and auspicious cloud patterns, making them look more like ancient jade slips or magical artifacts.

Having completed all of this, Mo Lan surveyed her work with satisfaction.

This “Celestial Profound Society,” from its visual presentation to its core content, appeared in every way to be a gift bestowed by the Heavenly Dao — greatly lowering the barriers to acceptance and reducing any resistance among the native inhabitants.