As Yu Huifang was absorbed in her newfound resolve Yu Long sent a message to Dean Zhu Lao via his domain sense.

"Many thanks, Brother Zhu Lao," said Yu Long with deep gratitude showing in his eyes.

Yu Huifang may have thought she had hidden her melancholy well but as her parents, they could see right through her. They had told her countless times how proud of her they were in her achievements and that as long as she lived a fulfilling life, as parents they couldn't be happier but their words seemed to have the opposite effect.

At face value, she'd seem appreciative and glad but when she thought she was by herself her true feelings would emerge which were nothing but sadness, shame, and guilt. It was why they were both happy when Dai Chen came into her life as her smiles seemed genuine and when their circle grew, the young girl who had vibrance in her started to show up.

Even though she wasn't completely herself as she would have bouts of sadness and inferiority here and there, it wasn't as severe as before when she had just broken through to the core formation realm.

"It's nothing brother Yu Long, it's what I should do as her senior and educator. You have a good daughter," said Dean Zhu Lao, replying back via the domain sense.

…..

"Now where was I? Right, Lifespans. As we have established, someone who has just broken through to the palace realm gets a life span of 10,000 years, when they break through to the domain realm that number increases to 40,000 years which continually increases with every minor breakthrough in the domain realm.

The moment you breakthrough into the soul formation realm that number skyrockets to 100,000 years which is a huge life change from a tiny mortal who could only hope to live for atleast 90 years or 120 years at best to a five-digit figure that will enable you to see the rise and fall of dynasties.

Cultivation has changed our whole dynamic as a species. In some regards, it has made our lives worse and in others better," Dean Zhu Lao passionately said."No wonder he is the Dean of cultivation art history and dissection. Just casual words from him and I can already detect the charm of dao in his speech," Yang Qing shockingly thought with awe In his heart.

He doesn't know when but as he was listening to Dean Zhu Lao, his cultivation started circulating by itself. He wasn't the only one as he noticed Mao Yunru's shocked expression.

"The reason I mentioned the lifespan is, despite a human soul formation expert having a lifespan of 100,000 years, we still don't have the qualifications of being considered a long-lived race.

The long lifespan we struggle to get through bitter cultivation to the ancients is something they obtain as a natural privilege the moment they are born.

There are even those who are born with a lifespan of upwards of 500,000 years.

Even spirit beasts have longer lifespans than us, you may find a spirit beast with a foundation level strength but has a lifespan of 20,000 years matching a mid-stage human palace stage expert's lifespan.

But the universe has its balance and is not as unfair as it seems. While spirit beasts have longer life spans they have a slower pace in cultivation compared to humans barring special circumstances and they also reproduce at a slower rate compared to us humans.

We have been blessed with the ability to quickly reproduce, adaptability, and a malleable body that can pick things up easily which is why we have the most diversity when it comes to cultivation arts.

But this only applies to spirit beasts. When it comes to the ancients it's a different matter.

They may have an even lower copulation rate but they have something that makes up for it in spades, TIME," said Dean Zhu Lao as he paused dramatically.

Tsk!!Yang Qing couldn't help but click in envy at Dean Zhu Lao's masterful skills in being a showman.

"No matter how slow your cultivation is or how poor your aptitude is given time that numbers in the hundred thousand of years at least, you're guaranteed to achieve something and that was what the ancients did.

They used their absurd lifespans to their advantage as they muddled their way in cultivation slowly making strides and the more they walked the more absurd their life span became which gave them even more time to grow and explore different facets of cultivation. They passed on some of those insights to their offspring who went on to pave paths of their own.

I don't know how long the ancients have lived but what I do know is their breadth of wisdom and means is more than we or any other organization can compare to including the so-called holy lands," said Dean Zhu Lao with wanton disdain in his tone when he mentioned the holy lands.

"The ancients have a wide array of skills and esoteric means. It is why we had to create a barrier around us. One can never be too careful when talking about them.

There was once a young genius in the soul formation realm who in his hubris mocked the ancients with his fellow disciples within their sect grounds.

In terms of power, if I was to guess, the sect he belonged to had the capabilities of a holy land seeing how they had a chief disciple who was in the soul formation stage.

However, right now that sect along with the chief disciple disappeared. All that was left behind is the present-day Green fog region," said Dean Zhu Lao with an air of somberness.

The news sent terrifying shockwaves to the trio of Yang Qing, Yu Huifang, and Mao Yunru. Even some of the palace stage Order members present had shocked expressions. Only the seniors in the domain realm seemed calmer but even they had some degree of apprehension.

"It is the reason why their information is rarely spread around. There has never been any real sighting of them but evidence of their presence is around us in various shapes and forms.

One of them is what happened to that sect and another is their descendant races who we have records of.

You are familiar with some of them due to their renowned reputations. The likes of dragons, phoenixes, the black tortoise, the white tiger, the vermilion bird, the kunpeng, and enlightened golems just to name a few are descendants of the ancients though they branch from different ones.

This clay tablet of yours belongs to one of the descendant races," Dean Zhu Lao said as he gently traced his fingers along the logo syllabic scripts.

"The tablet belongs to the blue fairies."