What exactly did the [Garden of Eternal Joy] look like?
Relying on the token left by Patriarch Nether Whisper, Lu Yang quickly communicated with this inexplicable place that seemed to exist and yet not, illusory and ethereal yet tangibly present.
Facts proved that humans cannot imagine things they have never seen.
Even with talent like Patriarch Nether Whisper, this was still the case. So the [Garden of Eternal Joy] he created naturally referenced the one thing he interacted with most in his daily life—
The [Myriad Spirits Banner].
Looking around, Lu Yang saw that the so-called [Garden of Eternal Joy] was actually a super-giant black box. Inside were countless pitch-black coffins. In each coffin lay a cultivator, with expressions of smiling, pain, or numbness, fully displaying the myriad states of the mortal world.
"My goodness..."
Lu Yang blinked. Relying on the highest authority of the [Garden of Eternal Joy] personally granted by Patriarch Nether Whisper, Lu Yang quickly grasped all the intelligence of this place.
First was the [Garden of Eternal Joy] itself.
The essence of this inexplicable place is very similar to [Wu You Heaven], exerting the changes of void and reality to the extreme, located at the critical point between existence and non-existence.
As for the members recruited by the [Garden of Eternal Joy], besides the high-level members of those large and small sects in Jiangnan, there is also a considerable scale of mortals and Qi Refining disciples. The [Garden of Eternal Joy] helps them cultivate and become stronger, while they execute missions to maintain the operation of the [Garden of Eternal Joy].
This was a symbiotic relationship.
And undoubtedly, this relationship further strengthened the connection between all living beings and [Wu You Heaven], also strengthening the blockade against Perfected Lords.
Added about... ten years.
Lu Yang pinched his fingers to calculate and soon had an answer: "In the previous life, the blockade lasted sixty years, but Perfected Lords could manifest by burning their Grotto-Heavens in thirty years."
Patriarch Nether Whisper had optimized based on this.
With the expansion of the [Garden of Eternal Joy], the time before Perfected Lords could forcibly descend to the lower realm was extended to forty years. Although at first glance it didn't seem like much.
But everything depends on comparison.
The original [Wu You Heaven] had already been optimized to an extreme by Perfected One Primordial, Mu Changsheng. This Perfected One who held the calamity fortune of heaven and earth was equally brilliantly talented.
In this situation, for Patriarch Nether Whisper to still be able to design the [Garden of Eternal Joy] and achieve improvement and enhancement for [Wu You Heaven] was actually quite exaggerated.
If one had to say what flaw the [Garden of Eternal Joy] had, it wasn't on the hardware level.
It was that the design logic was wrong.
Lu Yang frowned while reading the intelligence of the [Garden of Eternal Joy]:
All cultivators recruited by the [Garden of Eternal Joy] will receive the blessing of the [Garden of Eternal Joy]. The [Garden of Eternal Joy] helps them improve their cultivation base and Dao comprehension.
Seeing this, Lu Yang was stunned instantly.
How did the [Garden of Eternal Joy] improve its subordinate cultivators? Patriarch Nether Whisper referenced the Dao Court's system; it was actually the blessing of [Wu You Heaven]'s Dao Fruit power.
However, this had limits.
Unless it's a Dao Fruit like [Eternal Flowing Water] possessing boundless concepts, Dao Fruit power isn't inexhaustible. Using too much will cause self-damage!
Compared to the expended Dao Fruit power, most of the recruited cultivators were Qi Refining, or even mortals. There were very few Foundation Establishment ones, so they couldn't collect much resources.
In this situation, it was impossible to recoup the costs.
In other words, the [Garden of Eternal Joy] was actually consuming [Wu You Heaven]'s power to support its subordinate members.
This might seem worth it to Patriarch Nether Whisper, after all, the [Garden of Eternal Joy] could help Lu Yang increase his chances of seeking the Golden Core, but it was different in Lu Yang's view.
"All that precious Dao Fruit power, all distributed to Qi Refining cultivators?"
"What a waste."
Lu Yang looked heartbroken: "a mere Qi Refining cultivators, not even considered human... Patriarch is too good to them! How can the [Garden of Eternal Joy] become bigger and stronger like this?"
With this thought, Lu Yang immediately began to modify the settings.
First, the [Garden of Eternal Joy]'s behavior of using Dao Fruit power to improve cultivators could no longer continue. it was purely a waste of money, without any real benefit.
Lu Yang's new settings were simple, summarized in four words:
increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
From now on, the main bodies of all cultivators joining the [Garden of Eternal Joy] will be sealed away, replaced by fake bodies created by the [Garden of Eternal Joy] using Dao Fruit power.
from now on, all strengthening and improvements from the [Garden of Eternal Joy] will be applied to the fake bodies... This way, the matter becomes the [Garden of Eternal Joy] temporarily lending Dao Fruit power to cultivators to use, which can be withdrawn at any time. Essentially, it's still my stuff. Hasn't the labor cost been successfully saved?
Besides this, sources must be opened.
From today on, the [Garden of Eternal Joy] officially launches the Eternal Joy Treasure Note. all improvements and strengthening in the [Garden of Eternal Joy] must be exchanged using Eternal Joy Treasure Notes.
Completing missions can earn Eternal Joy Treasure Notes.
Turning in obtained spiritual materials, spirit treasures, dao arts, and rare treasures can also be exchanged for Eternal Joy Treasure Notes... Of course, this stuff is just numbers to me.
Essentially, it was getting something for nothing.
After all, the cultivators exchanged for Eternal Joy Treasure Notes to improve themselves, but after all the improving, didn't it all fall on the fake bodies he created?
Equivalent to him spending not a single cent, and just making people work for free!
Lu Yang didn't care about this at all. After all, if he didn't squeeze the value of these people dry, how could he progress? The strong should ruthlessly exploit the weak!
In the end, he never expected these [Garden of Eternal Joy] cultivators to help him fight others. After all, most of them didn't even count as people. Their use, besides helping him attain [Heavenly Fire], was to serve as his cannon fodder, helping him collect resources and explore dangerous places.
Even so, they still have to thank me!
After all, the main body was sealed in the [Garden of Eternal Joy]. Only the fake body went out to act. Even if it died, it could be recreated, at most losing a little bit of spiritual thought.
In other words, as long as the [Garden of Eternal Joy] wasn't discovered and breached.
Then these cultivators were unkillable!
But they can't know about this. Best to design a resurrection count. The first three times are free, subsequent resurrections require payment of Eternal Joy Treasure Notes...
Besides this, Lu Yang also added dozens of paid points within the [Garden of Eternal Joy], preparing to thoroughly stimulate the potential of these talents.
Expand to Jiangbei and overseas!
With the [Garden of Eternal Joy], I don't have to worry about the issue of actual governance anymore. As long as they are absorbed by the [Garden of Eternal Joy], it equates to becoming my subordinates!
Of course, [Wu You Heaven]'s Dao Fruit power was limited. Lu Yang couldn't send everyone into the [Garden of Eternal Joy].
Just like in Jiangnan, as long as he picked the high-level member governing a region to absorb, the people under their rule would naturally become people under Lu Yang's rule.
Soon, under Lu Yang's promotion, a brand new [Garden of Eternal Joy] began to operate, quickly spreading to the four borders of the world.
...
Several months later.
Lu Yang sat upright in the Tianwu Hall, pushing the unconscious Empress Xiao aside in boredom, routinely checking the operation of the [Garden of Eternal Joy] these days.
At this moment, [Heavenly Fire] in the vault of heaven had been completely lit up. The dazzling light could be seen whether in Jiangdong, Jiangbei, Jiangnan, or overseas. These were all manifestations of Lu Yang's "authority." So far, only the Deep Bliss Pure Land in Jiangxi remained untouched by him.
However, Jiangxi had the World Honored One; he couldn't act too hastily.
In comparison, Lu Yang had another unexpected surprise, which was also one of his biggest gains in the months since the [Garden of Eternal Joy] began expanding.
The next second, Lu Yang entered the [Garden of Eternal Joy].
Soon, his gaze fell on a cultivator under the rule of the [Garden of Eternal Joy]. The other party was a disciple of the Saint Sect and had recently encountered a problem—
He was possessed.
Possessing him was a fragment shaped like precious jade, inside which was a figure completely shrouded in smoke, who had been guiding his cultivation recently.
[Sky-Shrouding]!