Chapter 873 – The World Transforms

After a brief moment of shock and silence, it was the father—the head of the household—who steadied himself first.

His rough, calloused hands gripped the jade tablet that belonged to him, as if clutching the entire family’s hope for the future. His voice was hoarse with excitement, yet carried the plain-spoken decisiveness of a farmer:

“Yaya’s mother, Ma, look… this immortal—no, it’s the ‘Heavenly Dao’ that bestowed this treasure. The dream made it clear—it’s meant for us to learn new abilities.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over his bedridden elderly mother, his teary-eyed wife, his bewildered young son, and finally settling on his daughter Yaya, who clutched her jade tablet tightly, eyes sparkling bright. His tone grew ever more resolute:

“A heaven-sent opportunity like this—if we just hold onto it and something goes wrong… it’d be better to use them right away, just to be safe!”

The old woman lying in bed also struggled to prop herself up, her wrinkled face showing a rare determination: “This old woman has lived more than half her life and never once heard of anything like this… But that old immortal in the dream—just looking at him put my heart at ease. What he said can’t be wrong! Our family is poor. For generations, not a single one of us has shown the potential for cultivation. Now that the Heavenly Dao has given us a way out, we can’t let it slip by!”

Yaya’s mother nodded vigorously, gripping the jade tablet in her younger son’s hands even tighter: “You’re right! Our Yaya went to get tested for spiritual aptitude before and came home crying for three days… Now it’s fine—she doesn’t need that blasted spiritual aptitude to learn real abilities! Use them! Use them right now!”

“Yes, yes! Dad, Mom, Grandma, let’s hurry and figure out how to use these treasures!” Yaya could barely contain herself, her little face flushed with excitement.

With everyone in agreement, Yaya’s father took a deep breath. Recalling the vague hints from the elder in his dream, he turned to his wife: “Yaya’s mother, bring me a needle!”

Yaya’s mother immediately understood her husband’s meaning and hurried to fetch the brightest sewing needle from the needlework basket, passing it through the flame of the oil lamp.

“Here, let me try first!” Yaya’s father took the needle and without hesitation pricked the pad of his thumb, squeezing out a bead of crimson blood. He carefully let it drip onto his cloud-patterned jade tablet.

When the blood droplet touched the surface of the jade tablet, it didn’t slide off. Instead, like a drop of water absorbed into a sponge, it was instantly soaked up without a trace.

Immediately after, the jade tablet flashed with a faint glow, and a warm stream of light rose on its own, merging into his body.

The father’s body trembled slightly, and with a wave of his hand, the Celestial Profound Society’s magic light screen appeared before his eyes.

“It works! It really works!” Yaya’s father exclaimed in shock and delight.

“Dad, let me try!” Though Yaya was a little afraid of the pain, her curiosity and longing for “immortal arts” overwhelmed everything else. She held out her small hand, squeezed her eyes shut, and scrunched her little face into a knot.

Yaya’s father gently pricked her fingertip. Yaya hissed through her teeth, and the blood droplet fell onto her jade tablet, which absorbed the blood just the same, transforming it into a stream of light that sank into the space between her brows.

The little girl immediately forgot about the pain. Looking at the Society shop she had seen in her dream, her face was full of wonder.

Next came Yaya’s mother and the bedridden grandmother, and finally the little brother who was still babbling his first words.

Seeing the glinting needle tip, the little one seemed to sense danger and puckered his lips, on the verge of tears.

Yaya’s father gently but firmly held his small foot, while the mother, quick as a flash, gave a light prick to the baby’s tender little toe, squeezing out a droplet of blood onto the miniature jade card.

Before the little one’s cry could even leave his mouth, his attention was captured by the stream of light sinking into the space between his brows and the magic light screen appearing before his eyes.

……

That night, every single person in the Celestial Profound Realm received the Heavenly Dao’s dream revelation.

Cultivators witnessed in their dreams the conspiracy behind ascension, felt the pain and indignation of their world’s Heavenly Dao being suppressed and growing ever weaker, and saw this realm’s determination to sever the path of immortal cultivation and turn to magic instead. Ordinary people saw in their dreams an immortal granting them the opportunity to change their fate.

What they all had in common was that every person received a jade-colored card and heard the name of the Celestial Profound Society.

When the dreams faded, most of the ordinary people didn’t think twice and joined the Celestial Profound Society, testing their initial psychic power values.

Regardless of whether they had talent for studying mage magic, as human beings, everyone possessed at least some initial psychic power. After signing the contract, they still had some left over to save up for buying cards.

As for the cultivators, they were far more cautious.

But whether they were suspicious, resistant, or half-believing, the cruel reality soon corroborated the dream’s prophecy.

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth was thinning at an even faster rate than before. Exotic flowers and rare grasses that depended on spiritual energy began withering in vast swathes. And what drove every cultivation family to despair was that among all newborn infants, not a single one could be found possessing spiritual roots!

The path of immortal cultivation was severed.

With no road ahead and nothing but uncertainty, this sudden Celestial Profound Society Invitation became the only visible beacon in the darkness.

The flying carpet hovered above the cloud layer as Mo Lan lounged lazily against it, her fingertip lightly tapping the Management Card of the Celestial Profound Society floating before her.

The number representing the member count on the card’s surface was leaping wildly like an unbridled horse, refreshing her understanding almost every second.

“My, my, this growth rate…” she couldn’t help but murmur in amazement, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. “In just one day, ninety percent of the ordinary people have joined, and seventy percent of the cultivators have signed contracts too… At this pace, it probably won’t even take a week before every single person in the Celestial Profound Realm is a Society member.”

A thought crossed Mo Lan’s mind, and she conveyed her sentiments to the Celestial Profound Realm’s world consciousness through Star Language: “You world consciousnesses really know what you’re doing. The efficiency of this dream delivery is tens of thousands of times faster than what I managed back in Valen and White Crystal Star.”

Before long, a pulse of will came in response.

Utterly different from its previous state—feeble, exhausted, and faltering—this pulse of will was now clear and much more stable, even carrying a hint of long-absent ease and vitality.

“…The new path is good… The cards are wonderful… A pleasant collaboration…”

Mo Lan could clearly “hear” the change within it. She asked with keen interest: “Sounds like you’re recovering well?”

“…Yes… No longer bestowing spiritual roots… No longer generating spiritual energy… Much lighter now…”

“…Although the newly born mages are weak… their numbers are so vast… I draw energy from the void… and the speed at which I convert it into my own fundamental essence… has actually increased considerably…”

“…Even though the world’s level… has temporarily dropped a little… the foundation is more stable… The future looks promising… Thank you…”

Mo Lan gave a slight nod, understanding completely.

It was like a patient who had been constantly hemorrhaging—though the body was somewhat weakened now, the biggest source of bleeding had been successfully stanched, and its own ability to produce new blood had even strengthened.

A smile curved at the corner of her lips: “It seems we took the right path after all. Just focus on recuperating. Now even if the Immortal Realm reopens the ascension passage, there’s nothing to fear.”