Acting Sect Leader Maximus Radcliffe
Due to the challenge posed by a complete terraforming, the cost of a non-life bearing minor world is almost a hundred times cheaper than a world that can sustain life. Due to the fact that the sect is still under siege in the immortal realm, Maximus will have to postpone any terraforming attempt in the immortal realm. Having more life-sustaining planets is of no use at this point in time when the sect can't can sell any of those new terraformed worlds. The sect's focus will be in the lower realm for the short-term and the fact is, there are so many minor worlds that need terraforming that the sect won't be short of terraforming work for the next one thousand years. If space exploration continues to gain momentum, the number of non-life bearing worlds will increase at such an exponential speed that even if the rest of the cultivation world learn the secret for terraforming, the lower realm will still not run out of worlds that needs terraforming. At the back of his head, the sect currently has more than three hundred non-life bearing minor worlds in its possession (that is just in the lower realm). The one-time investment on buying all the right hardware will not be small and spending a decade for each terraforming isn't exactly a short timeframe but there are very few business opportunities out there that can offer a hundred-fold return for a decade worth of work. Not only that, almost all business opportunities with such a lucrative return involve cultivators risking their life. It is no different than gambling and the Immortal Ascension Pavillion does not gamble when it does business.
This is a one-time golden business opportunity and Maximus bet that all twelve Pavillion Masters is way ahead of the rest of the sect. They have a very keen intuition when massive profits could be made and they have most likely already sent out their Earth disciples to the lower realm to discreetly sweep up all the minor worlds that they can get their hands on. With how slow information travels in the lower realm, he is confident that the sect can sweep up most of these minor worlds before anyone notice the market abnormality. Terraforming might be the exclusive knowledge of the sect for the time being but given the immense profits to be made, all cultivation powerhouses will definitely start hording up non-life bearing minor worlds once the cat is out of the bag. Just like how the dwarves had quickly come up with their own version of spirit battery, it will just be a matter of time before other cultivation powerhouses learn the secret of terraforming. Emperor realm experts are highly intelligent beings and despite the fact that terraforming science is much more complex, discovering how everything work is a lot more feasible when there is a point for reference. Reverse engineering is always easier than inventing something new after all.
On the subject of minor worlds, Earth scientists have asked a question that Maximus couldn't provide a comprehensive answer. Even the twelve Pavillion Masters with their years of experience and vast knowledge couldn't provide an answer that has sufficient depth. Minor worlds came in all sizes and spirit energy density level. One would have assumed that small worlds would have been classified as such but it is not the case or given the importance of spirit energy, it would somehow be related to spirit energy density but it isn't the case either. For worlds that have lower spirit energy density or cultivation resources, it is all classified as fringe worlds. The only general answers that cultivators can agree upon is minor worlds are worlds without sentient inhabitants and opening a portal to these worlds would require almost a few hundred-fold more spirit energy. No cultivators or sects have ever publicized why minor worlds are so much more difficult to access in comparison to the rest of the main worlds. Since minor worlds are difficult to access, there are also worlds that cultivators find it much easier to open up portals. Such worlds are usually trading nexus and also bridge worlds between the immortal realm and the lower realm. Majority of the immortal realm cultivation organizations' lower realm headquarter are found in these worlds. One popular theory Earth scientists have proposed is portals are actually artificial wormholes and for reasons that has not been fully understood, there exist desert zones for wormhole as well. Similar to the creation of artificial rain, it took a lot more effort to make it rain in a desert environment in comparison to areas with an abundance of clouds.
Due to the issue of accessibility, cultivation organizations make do with the limitation by transforming minor worlds into penal colony for resources extraction or spirit herb sanctuaries. With either purpose, the owner of the minor world will only need to access it once every few years to extract the accumulated resources. In the case of the minor world being designated as a spirit herb sanctuary, some cultivation organizations might even access such worlds at an even longer timeframe to allow the herbs within to reach a century old or more.
Eldorin used to be one of the sect's spirit herb sanctuaries and disciples are given access to this minor world once every decade to harvest the spirit herbs within. Using it as a base of operation would have been highly impractical based on past circumstances but the sect was in a dire crisis until recently and what other sects had trouble overcoming, it was not the case for the sect due to its unique circumstances. Based on past practice, it will take either a large gathering of fourth major realm cultivators or burning of spirit stones to open up a portal connecting a minor world to the main world. As such, the value of the resources extracted must be worth the effort for each portal opening. However, it needs to be mentioned that minor worlds are a valuable asset and these worlds are mostly owned by cultivation organizations with its foundation in the immortal realm. The main cultivation organization in the immortal realm will send down a group of fourth major realm cultivators and a few fifth major realm cultivators on assignment whenever there is a need to open up a portal. All cultivators sent on such assignment can't wait to return to the immortal realm the moment their assignment is over due to the less dense spirit energy in the lower realm (staying will greatly slowdown their cultivation progress).
In contrast, the sects have thousands of fifth major realm cultivators and hundreds of sixth major realm cultivators permanently base on Eldorin ever since it was transformed into a training base for Earth cultivators. The sect is under siege and aside from cultivating, there are just not enough job to go around for all the disciples that managed to return. In fact, any assignment on Eldorin is now highly coveted due to all the new development that is happening there. Just the possibility of accepting a group of high-quality disciples made the assignment worth any amount of effort spent to secure it in the first place.
Even then, the disciples needed for portal opening was replaced by the runic fusion reactor the moment the technology becomes viable. The norm of minor worlds being isolated from the rest of the cultivation world will be a thing of the past when the spirit transformation array eventuality leaks. With access to almost unlimited spirit energy, access to the rest of the cultivation world will no longer be a challenge just like what is happening on Eldorin now. With minor worlds turning into permanent human colony for the foreseeable future, this will further blur the line dividing what used to be minor worlds and the main worlds.
Maximus has digressed so far from his original line of thought when it comes to space being the new frontier. As Earth cultivators learn the significance of preserving the environment, Earth governments, especially the economic powerhouses have begun moving most of their artificial constructions up to space. Spirit energy is not static and the environment plays a major role in influencing its property. In areas where life is thriving, the spirit energy will be endowed with life. Any sort of pollution will cause the contamination of spirit energy leading to a possibility of cultivation deviation. It is common sense among cultivators that cultivating in graveyards and battlefield is just asking for trouble. Off course, deviant cultivators will find some of these grounds much more ideal but they are the exception rather than the rule.
The preservation of the environment also brought about another important benefit. There is a very long list of treasure of natures that can't be bred artificially. Some of these treasures are anomaly due to genetic mutation and some forms due to unique ecological or geographical formation over time. What truly matters are these treasures will no form in human inhabited land that has been artificially transformed. One can argue that the statistical possibility for such treasures to form naturally are minuscules at best but most of these treasures are definitely worth it. Spirit trees that produce fruits with ability to upgrade cultivation talent, spring water that has the ability remove any form of curses, crystals that can break any form of immortal bindings or oaths and that is just to name a few.