During that dark era, only two obscure, lower-tier Buddhist temples had put forth their absolute maximum effort, breaking their vows of non-violence to shield and protect the nearby human refugees.
Consequently, almost every single active Buddhist establishment operating in the Zhuxia Divine Land today was a direct branch developed from those two small temples.
However, because the historical trauma was so deeply rooted, the general population of the Divine Land maintained a severe, systemic resistance toward anything related to Buddhism. This immense cultural boycott heavily bottlenecked its growth. Even after a full century of quiet rebuilding, the highest-ranking High Monk in the entire Divine Land's Buddhist community was only stuck at the Origin Realm. In terms of sheer scale and numbers, it was functionally identical to Fanyin Temple back in Dayu—completely relegated to the tier of a small, backwater country domain.
"The Divine Land belongs to all people of the Divine Land. If you are unwilling to pull your own weight, take accountability, and bear your due obligations when the empire faces an existential crisis, then the Divine Land will simply delete your residency privileges!"
The Wenyuan Pavilion scholar delivered his final, biting summary as the two of them stepped out of the academy gates.
Li Xuanxiao cupped his hands, bid the scholar a polite farewell, and began his journey back to the Ancient Martial Mystic Court.
Walking down the bustling streets, he couldn't help but feel a profound wave of philosophical melancholy. Man, it really be your own people sometimes.
History was funny like that: the elite executives at the top tier commit massive fraud, but the interns and local branches have to bear the brunt of the bankruptcy. The benefits are never shared, yet the systemic liabilities are divided equally among the survivors.
How innocent were the monks of those two small, heroic temples? After thoroughly triggering the entire population of the Divine Land, the corrupt corporate leadership of the Great Buddhist Sects simply filed for spiritual bankruptcy, patted themselves clean, and skedaddled to parts unknown. Meanwhile, the localized negative repercussions had to be absorbed entirely by the small, grassroots temples left behind. The monks who had literally spent their lifespans saving human refugees with everything they had were forced to endure a century of systemic prejudice and public cancellation.
It was a textbook case of bad luck.
Li Xuanxiao sighed softly. As a direct beneficiary of high-tier Buddhist Dharma tech, his view on the matter was entirely objective. Back in Dayu, with the sole exception of Jingtu Temple—who were literally caught trading corporate secrets with the Demon Race—the rest of the establishments like Fanyin Temple or the twin sanctuaries of Tianxuan and Qingluan were incredibly normal, respectable organizations. When the Myriad Demon Nation launched its offensive, those monks didn't hesitate for a single second to break the killing precepts, enlist in the regular army, and fight on the frontlines.
"One must always view systemic corporate failures through a dialectical lens..." Li Xuanxiao muttered under his breath.
With the server-wide apocalypse of the Heavenly Abyss looming over their heads, his current logic was incredibly straightforward: mobilize every single asset on the map and build a grand alliance.
He had personally experienced the absolute utility of Buddhist magic. It possessed unique, premium advantages in specific utility paths—such as emergency burst-healing, purging debuffs, and cleansing abnormal mental states. If the massive corporate monopolies of the Great Buddhist Sects had simply agreed to function as a dedicated support class alongside the frontline Martial Artists a century ago, the human race wouldn't have suffered such catastrophic casualties. Countless vanguard warriors could have been saved by a clutch heal.
But history has no "what-if" scenarios. The corporate fraud was committed, and the public eviction notice was well-deserved.
Li Xuanxiao mapped out a mental itinerary. The moment his schedule cleared up, he was definitely going to audit the remaining small Buddhist temples in the Divine Land. First, he would raid their Scripture Pavilions to check for any hidden, low-value assets he could optimize with his system. Then, as a form of mutual compensation, he would casually hand down his refined, high-tier Dharma tech to boost their stats.
Taking from the system and investing back into the local branches was a win-win arrangement. Since these specific temples had stood on the right side of history and bled alongside human warriors during the last patch, it proved they were a reliable faction worthy of long-term investment.
Relying entirely on his own solo queue efforts, even if his individual build was cracked, his ultimate output would always be limited by action economy.
Lost in his thoughts, Li Xuanxiao arrived back at the Ancient Martial Mystic Court before he realized it.
The exact microsecond he stepped through the main entrance, he instantly realized that the ambient vibe in the room had shifted drastically. The way the surrounding disciples looked at him held a completely different flavor.
Now that the absolute meme-tier reality of Li Xuanxiao's Dual Cultivation build was no longer a state secret among the top executive circles, the information had naturally leaked down to the general player base. Intensely curious as to how a human brute could naturally manifest holy light, the disciples of the Mystic Court had launched a massive, collective background check on him.
And the results of that data-mining left them completely flabbergasted.
Li Xuanxiao had literally joined the Ancient Martial Mystic Court just a few months ago. Furthermore, according to his entry logs, his baseline stats were stuck at a measly Qian Realm Fifth Layer. Yet now, after a ridiculously short developmental window, he had somehow bypassed the entire progression ladder and stepped directly into the Void Realm!
The disciples exchanged glances, their internal chat channels completely melting down with pure shock.
To be exceptionally scouted outside the standard recruitment season was already rare. But to rocket from the mid-tiers of the Qian Realm all the way to a major threshold like the Void Realm in a matter of months?
With all the data points synthesized, the entire academy immediately went into deep-dive conspiracy mode.
"Bro, this guy's family tree must be absolutely astronomical!"
"He's 100% the secret legacy hire of some mythical corporate director in the Central Continent!"
"Bro, that's nothing. During the corporate trip to the Northern Region, I personally saw an elite influencer from the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan clinging to his arm like a personal maid!"
"Wait, for real?! The last guy who pulled that specific demographic was the legendary Profound Saint..."
"Are you implying Li Xuanxiao is a direct descendant of the Profound Saint's secret bloodline?!"
"Hold on, aren't you guys completely coping right now? Even if his background is cracked and he has an immortal master feeding him premium EXP pills daily... jumping five full cultivation tiers to enter the Void Realm in a few months is literally impossible for a normal human body! His baseline talent specs must be illegal!"
Hearing this, the crowded gallery of disciples instantly fell into a heavy, defeated silence.
As elite trainees of a top-three global faction, none of them were stupid. The only reason they were inventing wild conspiracy theories was because Li Xuanxiao's progression speed had violently shattered their fundamental understanding of the game's physics. It wasn't that they lacked logic; they were simply going through the stages of grief, unwilling to admit that a casual newcomer had completely broken the server leaderboards.
Dual cultivation alone was a major balance issue, but this level of speed-running proved his innate talent was completely off the charts. With these two factors combined, even though Li Xuanxiao's official HR status was still listed as a mere B-rank disciple, his actual political weight within the Mystic Court was easily on par with an Imperial Court Envoy.
Li Xuanxiao completely ignored the whispers and the wild stares. His quest objective was locked in, and he had zero time to debate his lore with NPCs.
His sole purpose for returning to headquarters was to leverage the Mystic Court's premium satellite intelligence network to plan his next grinding route. He needed real-time heat maps indicating where the highest density of Demon mobs was located—specifically keeping the difficulty tier within a range he could comfortably solo without triggering a boss fight.
After running a few search queries through the library systems, Li Xuanxiao secured a comprehensive breakdown of the Central Continent's four major quadrants.
In the Northern Region, due to the massive, permanent military presence of the human Three Great Factions, the local Demon cells were hiding so deep in the dirt they were practically invisible, terrified of accidentally catching a stray tactical nuke from the human vanguard. If he wanted to fast-track his DVP accumulation, trying to find mobs here would be an absolute waste of time.
The Eastern Region was the sovereign territory of the Qilin Clan. Although Commander Liang Jianqiu had personally given Bian Qing a stern corporate warning, telling the Qilins to focus on the global threat, whether those arrogant lightning lizards would actually comply was a total gamble. Li Xuanxiao had zero intention of trusting his survival to the diplomatic compliance of an enemy faction. Hard pass.
The Western Region was the home turf of the Nine-Tailed Fox Clan, where Ya Qin was currently stationed. While Ya Qin herself posed zero threat—considering she had signed a permanent soul-binding contract and was actively trying to speed-run their marriage—the middle-aged executive Han Mei had looked at him like she wanted to liquidate his entire lineage. Being permanently marked on the mini-map by a Supreme Realm powerhouse was a massive hazard. Another hard pass.
After running the elimination matrix, the Southern Region emerged as the only logical destination.
He had zero history or diplomatic relations with the Bai Ze Clan. But in this specific context, having a blank slate was the absolute best possible modifier. After all, the factions in the East and West were actively hostile, whereas the completely unfamiliar Bai Ze Clan offered a neutral environment with a much lower risk of targeted ambushes.
The Southern Region it is.
After finalizing his tactical assessment, Li Xuanxiao decisively locked in his fast-travel coordinates and prepared to move out.