All places had a definite similarity with each other — limited resources. If the original population of a single town suddenly grew from several thousand to over ten thousand, the number of cultivators competing over the available resources would greatly increase. Naturally, the prices of items, whether they be heart methods, cultivation techniques, or spells, would also greatly increase.

"So that’s why..." Realization suddenly struck Darius.

He had noticed far more people walking through the inner city just now. At first, he thought it was simply a matter of fact given the city’s peculiar location bordering the demons, but after seeing the news, he knew how wrong he was.

"What a shame. These new cultivators came at such a bad time." Darius pitied the cultivators who had just joined the Sanctuary. The timing they chose to join was just too unfortunate. Of all the times they could have chosen, they joined immediately before John was about to unlock his true potential and the top forces were also moving in. With this, they were destined to be doomed.

The top guilds entering the Sanctuary was a terrifying thing for regular cultivators. However, nobody understood the true meaning of this matter. Only after they experienced it for themselves would they come to understand it fully.

The reason Darius understood this was because of his vast experience. If he wasn’t mistaken, the entirety of the resources, demons to kill, cultivation techniques, spells, and whatnot would be taken by those guilds, and if you dared resist, then very unfortunately, your life would be forfeit.

While rules existed, the Sanctuary was still considered a fantasy world, and people knew this much. There was that tiny trace of the law of the jungle present, or else people would not grow so fast and would not have been able to defend this dimensional realm without much support from Earth’s powerhouses.

’Sigh...’ Darius sighed, feeling a great headache coming his way.

He felt that the main culprit behind hastening the focus on the Sanctuary might be himself.

He reasoned that, in the past few days, he had changed a lot of factors that should have remained untouched or hidden for some time. Aside from the family war, which was a bit insignificant, Wolf Fang was the major turning point, and given that the Dragon City Ruling Family had gained knowledge of it, things progressed much quicker than they were supposed to.

Thinking up to this point, Darius suddenly felt he should be more careful with his future actions.

Due to his good luck this time, he had a chance encounter with John and several other people. This fortunate encounter allowed him to earn a lot very easily. Even now, Darius felt like he was in a dream. Although there had been a few bumps in the road, everything was still relatively smooth. However, after this change of events, it would be practically impossible for him to act so freely.

If he had not earned a large sum of money during this time, now that the major corporations had decided to involve themselves, in addition to possible powerful guilds taking a liking to his pavilion and wanting either a share or the whole thing, his plans in the Sanctuary would suffer severe disruption.

After finishing the reports, Darius thanked John for the information and proceeded to head back to his pavilion to train his body. This was an assignment he had to carry out every single day. Now that the major corporations had entered the Sanctuary, they would surely have poached plenty of experienced cultivators and newcomers with great potential. They might even recruit experts from fighting tournaments. These experts’ standards were entirely different from those of the average cultivators currently in the Sanctuary. They would only need a short time to adapt. With proper guidance, their development would progress rapidly.

The arrival of these cultivators would massively impact the Sanctuary, and Dragon City might face one of the greatest effects due to its location.

In order to maintain an even greater advantage, Darius needed to quickly and diligently train himself. Training his body would hasten the growth of his battle experience, which would automatically translate into an increase in combat power. As for what he meant by body training, it was none other than reviewing Moon’s assassination attempt and Old First along with his teammates’ actions. Since they all possessed the emblem, he could monitor their activities and observe them as though he himself were fighting.

After finishing his training, Darius quickly took a shower and grabbed a few spirit stones, planning to head to Earth to properly set up a bank account and settle various related matters. If he wished to adapt quickly, he needed to move even faster.

Next to his pavilion’s entrance, he saw John diligently standing guard and couldn’t help but praise him inwardly. ’Truly a man of his word, doing all he can to fulfill his duty. Maybe later I’ll make him smile by giving him his Guardian Token.’ Darius chuckled. He refrained from giving John the Guardian Token just yet, trying to find the most suitable time to increase the young man’s loyalty.

There was a difference between giving something casually and waiting for the appropriate moment, and Darius obviously chose the latter without hesitation. He then suddenly recalled something and couldn’t help but ask the system.

’You said something about his physique and talent being unlocked. How can that be done?’

"Host is correct. In the alchemy inheritance you obtained, there exists a pill capable of breaking curses and all forms of sealing. Concoct it and hand it to him while guiding him through the process. If everything is done correctly, his physique shall be unlocked."

’Pills once more. I truly have to focus on what I already have before I focus on other things.’ Taking a look at the pills that he had yet to sell due to the constant stream of events, he couldn’t help but re-evaluate his recent decisions. He swore that after returning from Earth and taking care of John’s curse, he would place all of his effort into developing his pavilion.

In a way, Darius was indeed focusing on his pavilion. After all, he was going to Earth for a bank account and matters related to his pavilion, and John’s pill was also connected to it. However, he felt that his pavilion’s reputation was not truly increasing, and that was all due to him not promoting his services properly, instead running around dealing with one issue after another.