Hammock was answering the question when he said, "Every world king is stuck at rank 6. Only we who are cultivating the Dao of Dao Lords can continue to increase our cultivation. This gives us an advantage over world kings in the Sea of Worlds."
"As for the bad repercussions of this arrangement, the most obvious one is that we have to work for the sects if we want to advance our cultivation. Without merit points, no amount of talent and hard work will help one advance in rank, regardless of how they became divine beings."
"The second handicap is that we can never go against the sect, or our cultivation will be stripped away from us. If we break a rule or betray the sect, our cultivation can be reduced from rank 8 to rank 6."
His voice became faint as if he was recollecting something as he said, "I think it is possible for the rank to fall to rank 5. I have never seen it happen, but I’ve heard it happen before."
Loki was only listening partially at this point. His mind had become clogged with numerous conspiracies when he heard the second disadvantage of the fusion of cultivation rank and Dao Status.
The mass of light that he was using as his avatar flickered as he thought to himself, saying, ’So we have to work for the sects in order to grow stronger, and we can’t betray the sects, or they will remove our power. This is very suspicious.’
’I won’t believe that this arrangement is natural at all. After all, how did the founders of the sect raise their own cultivation to rank 9 before all of these?’
’I don’t think sects were present since the beginning of the world, so there must have been a time when divine beings didn’t need to raise their cultivation rank by working for sects. But for some reason, that way to raise cultivation rank without Dao Status has disappeared.
’The main beneficiaries of the disappearance of the previous method of raising one’s cultivation are the sects. So I am willing to bet that the sects have something to do with the disappearance of that method.’
’If it were anyone else, I might consider that I am overreacting. But I’ve seen how the Four Directions Sect fleeces people, and I’ve seen how they enslave people even beyond death, so making the normal way of cultivation disappear and forcing everyone to work for them seems like just the thing they will do.’
’I have Fenrir, but will Fenrir be enough to help me bypass this restriction. What if they remove my Dao Status one day? Will I lose everything I’ve worked so hard for?`
This scenario is highly possible as it is certain that he will betray the sect. There is just no way that he will be content with toiling away for the sect for the rest of his life. So at one point in time, he will fight the sect.
Since his betrayal is certain, it is prudent that he start preparing for the fallout right now. But even just thinking about the problem was giving him a headache. Even his physical body in the first dimension was now frowning in thought.
While he was embroiled with his thoughts, Hammock had finished with his explanation of how divine beings increase their cultivation. He had now moved on to another topic.
He said, "The most important thing for a divine being is lifespan. Lifespan is even more important than cultivation rank. This is because without a lot of lifespan to use, a divine being would be easy to kill."
"An increase in cultivation rank will provide an increase in power, but without lifespan, the divine being won’t be able to make use of that power. This is why the resources needed for increasing lifespan are so important."
"Fortunately, there are two ways to increase one’s lifespan. There is the essence from the hearts of worlds. And there are the divine resources that can be earned from the second heaven?"
This information made Loki ask in confusion, "What second heaven? Do you mean the second dimension?"
Hammock nodded with his ant head and said, "They are the same thing. Some people also call the second dimension the spirit dimension, while the third dimension is called the astral dimension."
Having got what he wanted, Loki said, "I see. So what were you saying about divine resources?"
Hammock said in reply, "The second dimension is where remnants of the dead go to after they die. When living and nonliving things die, their existence scatters and falls into the second dimension as remnants."
"These remnants rise up to the second heaven in the second dimension, the way things fall to the ground in the first dimension. When they reach the second heaven of the second dimension, some of these remnants like to clump together into ores that can be mined."
"The resources mined from the ores of the second heaven are called spirit stones. They are used together with world essence as currency among divine beings because both of them can be sacrificed to increase lifespan."
"There are other forms of remnants other than ores. There are spirit plants and spirit animals in the second heaven, too. These spiritual creatures are sacrificed to their Life Fire to increase the law fragments of the Cave Heaven."
"However, very few people would directly sacrifice the spirit creatures. Most would keep the spirit creatures in their Cave Heaven to raise them. That way, they can have a continuous supply of law fragments over time."
When Loki heard this, his eyes widened, and he said, "Wait a minute. Aren’t these spirit creatures created from the remnants of dead things? Are you saying they can grow and reproduce?"
Hammock nodded as he said, "They can indeed grow. As long as they have ample energy to absorb, they will grow in size. Then, after they reach the point where their size has become too much for them, they will split into two."