The scent of a thousand blossoming cherry trees and divine orchids filled the arena, a fragrance so pure and intoxicating it seemed to cleanse the soul. Then, petals of pure, pink light began to drift down from the transparent ceiling, each one a manifestation of a profound and beautiful law.

From this shower of light and fragrance, a figure materialized on the stage. A woman of such impossible, heart-stopping beauty that the entire arena seemed to hold its collective breath.

She wore ethereal robes that seemed woven from moonlight and dawn, and her eyes, the color of twilight amethyst, held a playful and ancient yet dangerous light. This was Xingxing, the Goddess of Beauty and Refinement.

She glanced over the stunned audience with a look of mild amusement before her gaze landed on Lin Mo. She gave him a not-so-furtive wink that made his heart skip a beat.

"So…" She said as her voice, which sounded like a melody of wind chimes and flowing silk, echoed throughout the venue, "... You must be our little shopkeeper who has been causing such a stir. Lihua speaks highly of you. You are… adequate, I suppose."

Lihua's warning of 'Beware of Xingxing. She's a vixen' flashed in Lin Mo's mind. This was not a gentle, harmonious goddess like Lihua. She was quite mischievous despite being like an embodiment of pure and overwhelming charisma.

Her name remained to be the one that made its mark in his head since the first week of managing the store. After all, she's the first divine being who put her name in the product she made for it. The Xingxing Glimmer product line.

They're all commodities every woman loves. From a hair comb, which a customer thought could be used to enhance her agility by brushing her legs with it, to cosmetics and skin care products such as the [Moon Dust Foundation] and the [Scarlet Rye Lip Tint].

To a normal person, they were simply beauty products of miraculous quality. To a cultivator, they were also subtle consumable artifacts or body-tempering elixir disguised as cosmetics. They offered different effects that mostly lean on accentuating one's natural beauty. Enhancing one's natural aura and physical resilience over time were just bonuses.

Before Lin Mo could even formulate a reply, a different presence followed. The sweet floral scent was joined by the rich, complex aroma of ancient herbs, rare minerals, and simmering elixirs. The air slightly warmed up as it became filled with a sense of profound, life-giving potency.

Another figure appeared on the stage beside Xingxing. He was an old man with eyes that seemed to hold the secrets of a million different concoctions and a long, braided beard that was inexplicably tied with a single, glowing spirit herb.

He looked less like a god and more like an eccentric, absent-minded grandmaster who had just wandered out of his laboratory. This was Danzhu, the Sage of Alchemy and Elixirs.

He ignored everyone, his gaze sweeping over the crowd with a critical, appraising eye, as if he were inspecting a garden of potential ingredients.

"Hmm. A decent stock. The spiritual roots of this generation are not as withered as I feared. Good. Very good. This will make the practical portion much more interesting."

His gaze landed on Liu Xiaoyu and his eyes widened with a scholar's glee.

"A Nine Heavens Exquisite Body! And already at the Foundation Establishment Stage! Magnificent! The balance is perfect! The foundation is flawless! A prime specimen!"

Xiaoyu puffed out her chest with pride, while her grandfather, Patriarch Liu, let out a booming laugh of approval from the Divine Patron section.

Danzhu then turned his attention to the stage, finally acknowledging the host.

"Shopkeeper. A pleasure. Your contributions to our research via the Field Test Reports have been… invaluable. The data on how your realm's cultivators react to 'Demon King Chili' has opened up entirely new avenues in alchemical stimulants. Groundbreaking!"

Lin Mo could only offer a wry smile. So, even his customers' suffering was being turned into R&D data. How convenient.

Xingxing clapped her hands, the sound like the chiming of celestial bells, drawing all attention back to her.

"Enough pleasantries, old man. We have a lecture to deliver. The path to immortality in its current state can be said to be clogged, dusty, and, in our little Shopkeeper's terms, dreadfully inconvenient. Let us begin the spring cleaning."

She waved a slender hand, and the air above the stage shimmered.

Lin Mo took a step back and made his way to his seat between Liu Xiaoyu and Wu Meiyu at the frontmost seats reserved for the Golden Patron-tier.

In the corner of his eyes, a small system window was floating as he navigated to the glowing red notification of the Distributor Interface. Yu Qingyan sent a new message.

Although he ought to focus on the lecture that was being given by the Goddess of Beauty and Refinement, he couldn't help but check on it first. After all, she and her team had been out of contact for the past few days. It hasn't been long, considering they're exploring a Secret Realm which was left behind by some immortal expert, it's already a long time for Lin Mo, who had yet to spend a whole month in the realm.

Her message was brief, and it didn't contain any information about her discovery. In fact, it was a simple question.

"Shopkeeper, do you have time to come to my location?"

As he was thinking of an answer, a massive, complex diagram materialized at the stage.

Many gasped in awe and confusion. After all, they didn't know what they were looking at. But those with higher insight, like Xiaoy,u instantly understood what it was.

A beautiful and terrifying map of a cultivator's spiritual sea, meridian network, and dantian. But it was… flawed. Tiny and invisible black threads, like a creeping rot, had infested the entire system.

"This…" Xingxing declared, her playful tone winding down, replaced by the sharp authority of a divine teacher, "...is the state of your cultivation. Every single one of you, from the weakest Spirit Gathering disciple to the mightiest Void Refinement patriarch and even someone at the last realm before Immortal Ascension."

"You call it the ambient spiritual energy of the realm…" She continued, "...however, it was currently tainted. Subtly and slowly by the leaking energies of these so-called 'Outer Realms'. The Highland Realm's 'Highland Energy', the Argent Covenant's… whatever they call it. These are not just different types of energy with a similar root to ours. If not refined, they would turn into those black threads of spiritual poison that accumulate in your core, creating blockages, hindering your comprehension, and ultimately, sealing your path to true ascension."

Somehow, it took a while for the audience to digest what she just said. But when Liu Tianfeng stood up as though someone poked him, the ancestors and sect patriarchs soon followed as they exhaled in understanding.

"Your 'bottlenecks' are not just a lack of talent," Xingxing stated, her amethyst eyes sweeping over the crowd. "They are also a symptom of a systemic infection. To ascend, you must first purify. You must refine your foundation to properly harness the foreign energies you're going to be exposed to."

She pointed a finger at the diagram, and one of the black threads glowed.

"This is the core of my lecture. Refinement is not simply about making your techniques prettier or your artifacts shinier. It is a fundamental principle. The art of removing impurities to reveal the original essence. Like one's natural beauty."

"Your bodies, your qi, your souls… they are all unrefined gems, caked in the mud of our polluted realm."

"Naturally, a few exceptions can be noted. For example, our little Shopkeeper and that prodigy with the Nine Heavens Exquisite Body. Their physique and Perfect Foundation prevented them from being tainted by these foreign energies."