?2004 Once

With Saru breaking through as a Body Overlord, she had suddenly become a massive trump card. Being able to use the strength of an Overlord on the mortal plane was massive!

When the second phase began and the Failed Clans could begin to enter their mortal plane, Saru's role would be crucial.

In fact, she wasn't the only Body Overlord their Mortal Empire had. The other was obviously his own father-in-law and Amphorae's father.

Body Overlords were incredibly rare due to the difficulty of the path. Of course, Soul Overlords like Dyon were even rarer, but this didn't make this formerly stated truth any less meaningful.

Dyon smiled brightly. "This is great. I was wondering why it took you so long to breakthrough. It seems I was worried for nothing."

With this, Dyon could finally sigh in relief. All of those he cared the most about now had the strength to protect themselves. Well There was still Lilith left, but not everything could be perfect. He wasn't a God just yet.

In the last 80 years, he had refined pills like madman. He had hardly cultivated himself, in fact. But, this was the most fun he had had in a long time.

His wives thought he was crazy, but after the meeting ended with those Outer Powers, Dyon started from scratch, laying a new foundation for him.

In his youth, Dyon found Array Alchemy so easy that he hardly put much effort into it. Whenever his soul qi reached a new stage, he would directly start refining a new tier of pill, ignoring what he left behind.

With his talent, this didn't impact him at all. But, if it had been anyone else who took this approach, they would have long been ruined by their teetering foundation. So, Dyon's master advised him to start from square one And he listened.

Dyon spent 10 years madly refining nothing but common to grandmaster grade pills and formations. He spent the next 50 years on the comet, moon, planet and star grades.

Even the most obscure common grade pills, he had refined over a million times each. Even the most useless common grade formations, he had laid over a billion times each.

By the time he got to the comet grade, he knew he couldn't waste that amount of wealth simply for his own practice, so he learned a new technique within the [Dao of Array Alchemy]. It was a God Grade Alchemy Refinement Technique known as [Simulating the Hands of a Deity].

Venerable Grade. Empyrean Grade. God Grade. If this technique appeared on the Immortal Planes, a blood bath would ensue without a doubt. Yet, Dyon was using it to refine mere comet grade herbs.

On the path of alchemy, there were simply too many failures. The amount of wealth wasted would make any rich young scion faint from shock. [Simulating the Hands of a Deity] allowed one to perfectly replicate any Spiritual Herb an alchemist had laid their eyes on before into a virtual world. There, they would be able to use this herb in a refinement as many times as they pleased without wasting resources.

Dyon used [Simulating the Hands of a Deity] to refine countless million comet, moon, planet and star grade pills.

With his already obscene talent, coupled with the effort he had put in, Dyon's understanding of formations and alchemy had reached an unprecedented level.

After 60 years, the rewards for his efforts burst through like a tempest. Every pill he refined seemed to be enshrined by the heavenly dao. Even common grade pills that were normally only useful for Foundation Realm experts proved useful even for dao experts. It was something that seemed to flip reality on its head.

But nothing was fiercer than Dyon's Half-Step Immortal Pills. He couldn't refine true immortal grade pills because he lacked the resources necessary, but these half immortal pills spread across his Mortal Empires like the wings of a tiger.

A pregnant mother, taking a single one of Dyon's half immortal pills, would birth a Essence Gathering Realm baby. An old expert at the brink of death with just one of Dyon's half immortal pills would gain tens of thousands of years of life. An untalented youth with ninth grade meridians would step into the half-step true deity grade with just one of Dyon's pills

Dyon was already certain that if his armies marched on the mortal plane now, no one could stop them. However, now was not the time to do so.

His decades of leisure were about to come to an end. It was just unfortunate that he failed to give his Madeleine a child in this time.

'Once this is all over, even if I have to shake the Heavens themselves, this husband of yours will give you a little one of your own.'

...

The Mortal Empire fell into a state of celebration. Though everyone knew of the coming danger, they had come to have a level of unparalleled confidence in their Emperor. Many here were still old enough to remember a life before the Mortal Alliance turned Mortal Empire. Comparing their lives of back then to now was simply like comparing cow dung to a holy treasure.

Dyon had done a lot to raise the standard of the Mortal Empire. The infrastructure was impeccable thanks to Meiying's hard work, the resources were seemingly endless thanks to Eli and the Array Alchemy Association, and every day seemed filled with a vibrant hope for the future.

Though Dyon had hardly cultivated in the last 80 years, one would be hard pressed to believe this truth.

For one, he crossed 7 cultivation stages, going from the 6th Dao Stage, up to the 13th. For others, this was a leap that should have taken several hundred thousand years, yet Dyon simply popped a few pills into his mouth and let them do the work for him.

Not only was his qi cultivation incredibly high and pure, but his foundation was also sturdy without compare.