Chapter 886 – Return Voyage to Valen

Sever the channel, sign the contract, establish the “Scarlet Rock Society” through dream-sending.

The Scarlet Rock Realm was a neutral-aligned world. She gave them everything they were owed, and they signed the contract without a word of protest.

Everything went so smoothly that Mo Lan even found it somewhat anticlimactic.

The only shortcoming was that the Scarlet Rock Realm’s ecological environment wasn’t as good as the previous worlds. The human population was much smaller, and after the Scarlet Rock Society spread, Mo Lan’s returns weren’t as high as before.

Perhaps this was why the result had been “minor fortune” when she’d previously used Divination Magic to divine the outcome.

Up until the moment she left, the Immortal Realm never sent another Dao Ancestor.

After leaving the Scarlet Rock Realm, Mo Lan divined the fortune of visiting the last nearby world — the Azure Sky Realm.

The result was still “fortunate.”

“Has the Immortal Realm completely given up on ambushing me?”

Mo Lan pondered this, but her actions didn’t slow in the slightest. She had Clack set the next spatial jump’s destination near the Azure Sky Realm’s ascension channel.

Then she severed the channel, contacted the world consciousness, signed the contract, and established the “Azure Sky Society.”

Across three worlds, she’d only slightly modified the Card Magic names and card art styles.

She stayed in the Azure Sky Society for nearly two years as well, watching magical civilization gradually replace the cultivation system, watching her disposable Mana reserves snowball with rapid growth.

Yet from start to finish, the anticipated thunderous retaliation from the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestors never came. Beyond the boundary membrane, all remained silent — aside from the occasional passing currents of void turbulence, there was nothing.

Only after confirming that all three worlds had successfully embarked on the path of magic and no longer required her constant attention did Mo Lan have Clack pilot the Starsea Ark away.

The smooth success across three consecutive worlds without encountering any resistance was certainly a good thing, greatly accelerating her accumulation. But it also raised a thread of doubt in Mo Lan’s mind.

“Has the Immortal Realm completely abandoned their campaign against me, or… are they brewing an even greater storm?”

Still, she wasn’t particularly worried. If the divination results turned unfavorable, she simply wouldn’t visit that world.

As the Starsea Ark sailed toward more distant, unknown star regions, Mo Lan used the travel time to settle her mind and begin systematically studying and digesting the cultivation methods, divine techniques, and insights related to the “Great Dao” from the memories of the five Dao Ancestors.

Apart from Dao Ancestor Ling Feng’s supremely pure Dao of the Sword and sword cultivation methods — which were utterly different from the magic system and could only improve her close-combat swordsmanship and battle techniques — the knowledge from the other four Dao Ancestors’ memories was nothing short of treasure to her.

Blazing Flame Dao Ancestor’s Dao of Fire, fire-type cultivation methods, and divine techniques could deepen her understanding of fire elemental force. Dao Ancestor of Thunder Light’s Dao of Thunder, lightning-type cultivation methods, and divine techniques could deepen her understanding of lightning elemental force. Dao Ancestor Mystic Ice’s Dao of Ice, ice-type cultivation methods, and divine techniques could deepen her understanding of ice elemental force. Dao Ancestor Everlasting Spring’s Dao of Wood, wood-type cultivation methods, and divine techniques could deepen her understanding of wood elemental force.

Though the systems were different, they provided crucial inspiration and “nourishment” for constructing higher-order mage magic spell structures across the fire, lightning, ice, and wood disciplines.

At the same time, these insights could significantly accelerate the advancement of her Witch Magic levels in the corresponding disciplines, allowing her to more efficiently channel the vast Mana within her body.

The reason the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestors were so weak was precisely because they lacked the magical capabilities that Ninth Rank Dao Ancestors should possess — their shortcomings were obvious. Her current Witch Magic levels lagged behind her Mana rank, and her mage magic levels also lagged behind her psychic power rank.

In terms of total Mana, she was an Eighth Rank Sorceress. In terms of total psychic power, she was a Ninth Rank or even Tenth Rank mage. But in terms of magic levels, she fell far short.

Her strongest Psychic Magic was only Eighth Rank. Her second strongest, Witch Spatial Magic, was Seventh Rank. All other disciplines of Witch Magic and mage magic were only Sixth Rank. If she didn’t draw on her tens of trillions of Mana in disposable reserves and relied solely on the magic she’d cultivated herself…

Using Witch Magic, she probably couldn’t even defeat a veteran Seventh Rank Witch.

Using mage magic, she could likely only hold her own against a veteran Eighth Rank mage.

Mo Lan didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of the Immortal Realm’s Dao Ancestors. She had to raise her magic levels as quickly as possible, converting raw power into real combat strength.

The knowledge from these five Dao Ancestors’ memories alone might push individual disciplines to Eighth Rank or even Ninth Rank, but it was far from enough to achieve comprehensive, balanced advancement.

Having tasted the benefits, Mo Lan desperately hoped the Immortal Realm would send more Dao Ancestors who had mastered different Great Daos.

The Source Mana crystals refined from Dao Ancestor pocket dimensions were secondary — the key was acquiring more magical knowledge.

But things didn’t go as she wished.

Over the following decades, she located and successfully severed the ascension channels of ten more cultivation worlds.

Card Magic took root smoothly in these worlds, bringing her massive Mana returns. Her permanent Mana surged by over two hundred billion Mana, and her disposable Mana reserves reached an astronomical figure.

Yet the anticipated Immortal Realm interception and retaliation never came.

She never saw a single Dao Ancestor again.

With the Starault Hall’s once-a-century gathering day approaching, Mo Lan had no choice but to temporarily halt her advance and issue an order to Clack:

“Set the optimal course, full speed return — destination: Valen world!”

The Starsea Ark’s propulsion system emitted a deep hum as it began a series of long-distance precision jumps, embarking on the journey home.

The Starault Gathering was a vital channel for the high-ranking Witch Explorers within Starault Hall to exchange information and trade resources.

Mo Lan had long since used the Communication Card’s cross-world function to make arrangements with Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph, planning to meet in the Valen world during the gathering — something she couldn’t miss no matter what.

She also needed to go back and ask whether any other Witches in Starault Hall had invitation letters to Thirteenth Rank or even Fourteenth Rank worlds available for trade.

If the Immortal Realm refused to send Dao Ancestors, then finding invitation letters to access higher-level worlds and obtain Eighth Rank and Ninth Rank magical knowledge on her own was another viable approach.

The Witches in Starault Hall had been Explorers far longer than she had — they might well possess invitation letters to Thirteenth Rank or even Fourteenth Rank worlds.

However, for worlds of such high level, invitation letters would certainly be extremely scarce.

If she couldn’t obtain them through trade, then she had only one path left — to wait for the Well of the Sky to post a task issued by a Thirteenth or Fourteenth Rank world.

Worlds of that level were already colossal entities in the universe, rarely encountering crises that required outside help. Even when they did, such tasks appeared in the Well of the Sky only once every few centuries — exceedingly rare — and the competition would undoubtedly be fierce.

As the Starsea Ark jumped steadily along its plotted course, Mo Lan used the return journey to organize the 《Universe Travel Journal》 and 《Starsea Atlas》 she planned to place on her personal bookshelf in Starault Hall.

(End of Chapter)