w.a.n.g Wei and the group sat in the City Lord's Mansion and reviewed the situation, planning for the future. w.a.n.g Wei looked at his King Token and saw it was activating, meaning killing these devil races was effective.
"How was our lost?"
"The Slaughter Legion suffered minor deaths and a few injuries. But the Undying Legion had no death," replied Li Jun with some envy. Since Tie Gang linked the lives of each soldier in the Undying Legion, it was challenging to kill one of them.
"Where is the scripture based on your Innate Talent?"
"Do you think I'm you guys and can easily create powerful and unique cultivation scriptures? It's still coming," complained Tie Gang.
"We offered you our help."
"I have my own pride. Plus, my intuition tells me this might be an opportunity if I created it on my own."
"Well, you better hurry since the Heaven Will Battle is coming, and I need the scripture before him so I have enough time to train my men."
"Li Jun is right," said w.a.n.g Wei. "After the Clean Up, ask the sect for Enlightenment Inducing Resources to help you."
"Thank you."
"Alright, what's next?"
"The Fate Shadow Guard discovered a Medicinal Garden in a small world full of mortal food and spiritual herbs. Someone tried to destroy it, but we stopped them," reported w.a.n.g Ju.
"Normally, mortal farming is separated from Spiritual Gardens. But someone placed them together," commented Yan Liling. "They designed the city to maximize food production and to destroy the resources when needed. And if you consider the formation the city is connected to, the devil race has been preparing this game for quite some time."
"The question is, are they doing this just to survive, or is there something else?" added Li Jun.
"Don't worry about that for now," w.a.n.g Wei stated. "How are the soldiers recuperating?"
"There is enough food to deal with their stamina. I've used the spirit herbs in the garden to make Energy Recuperating Pills for them. Luckily I have the Automated Cauldron, so I don't have to slave day and night for these pills."
"What horses and animals for traveling?"
"We found a few, but not enough to form a cavalry."
"That's not good," muttered w.a.n.g Wei. "Yan Liling, I need you to try to recreate the constructs to see if we can use them for travel and battle."
"And it would be great if we could use the Soaring Phoenix for transport," commented Li Jun. However, w.a.n.g Wei and the group were not too hopeful. Heavenly Dao seemed to target them while also having detailed information about them.
And anyone who enters the Dao Opening Sect's Domains would know about the constructs. So, it's almost guaranteed they would be restricted in this game.
The group continued their conversation for a moment before scheduling for another day. Some plans cannot be immediately decided without knowing the situation of transportation and other things.
A few days later, outside the Alchemy Room, everyone waited until Yan Liling walked out. She immediately shook her head.
"So, it's restricted?"
"Not even that. A mysterious power suddenly appeared and prevented me from refining the constructs."
"So, even the Heaven Hiding Formation was useless," muttered w.a.n.g Wei. "What about the horse construct?" He suspected the constructs that replaced cars, helicopters, or even planes would be restricted. So, he tasted her by refining a magical artifact or puppet in the shape of a horse and powered by Spiritual Energy to replace animals or demonic beasts: it was an attempt at circ.u.mventing the rules.
"Useless," replied Yan Liling. "I have even tried establis.h.i.+ng a Teleportation Array, and it did not work."
"So, we have to rely on mortal means for everything?" sneered Li Jun.
"It doesn't make sense to me," commented Tie Gang. "While the rules restrict us, it also restricts the development of the devil race."
"We destroyed the devil race civilization. So, if they want a chance at survival, they must bring us to their level and play their game," a.n.a.lyzed w.a.n.g Wei. "They would lose miserably if they tried to catch up with us in such a short time of recuperating."
Everyone felt a sense of suffocation. Although these people did not have the same goal as w.a.n.g Wei, no cultivators enjoyed having restrictions on them. Most cultivate to have power so they can be lawless, doing anything they desire between Heaven and Earth.
"There is good news," said Yan Liling as she led them to the Medicine Garden, showing them a large farm of grown food.
"The Good Fortune Seeds worked?"
"Yes," nodded Yan Liling. "In just a few days, with abundant Spirit Qi, we cultivated enough food to feed our 10 million troops for three months."
The Good Fortune Seed is a project w.a.n.g Wei thought of since his Qi Luck Trial. He wanted to create these seeds or crops that could grow quickly by absorbing Spiritual Qi from the environment. His original goal was to feed his Grand Xia Dynasty's citizens. Unfortunately, he did not have the capability back then. However, over the years, with his power and understanding of the Good Fortune Flame, he finally created the seed.
With this seed, the mortal in the Dao Opening Sect never has to worry about food. He plans to use this seed to feed the entire Myriad Emperor World and ama.s.s a ton of merit.
Additionally, the seed has another benefit: it's beneficial for cultivators in the Body Tempering, Divine Sea, and even Divine Altair Realms. Cultivators can acquire the Spiritual Qi they need from the products grown from the Good Fortune Seed instead of hard cultivation. It makes cultivating in these realms easier and faster.
Over the years, the Dao Opening Sect has cultivated many low-level disciples with these seeds. And w.a.n.g Wei tasked Yan Liling to bring some into this continent to ensure the troop no longer have any problems.
"There is some bad news," added Yan Liling.
"As expected," Li Jun's mouth twitched.
"It's not bad. After testing, I discover that the Good Fortune Rice can only replenish a quarter of the soldiers' Origin Essence. They still need to take pills to recover completely."
"At least your workload will decrease," comforted Li Jun, and Yan Liling nodded.
"The era you're about to create will truly be brilliant," suddenly said Tie Gang as he looked at the field.
"What brings this on?" asked w.a.n.g Wei.
"The idea just popped into my head," he replied. "Do you have a name for it?"
"Now that I think about it, you never told us," added Li Jun.
"If you think about it, the core of everything, the name is easy to guess."
Everybody's eyes lit up.
"Indeed," commented Li Jun. "But aren't you worried about some Third Cla.s.s Emperor ruining all your hard work after inheriting such immense power?"
"Third-Cla.s.s Emperor?" said w.a.n.g Wei with a sneer. "Only First Cla.s.s can continue my legacy, and I won't even accept Ascendant. Plus, even First-Cla.s.s won't be guaranteed. I will leave tests based on intelligence, tactical strategy, leaders.h.i.+p, and charisma. I won't leave a back door for the Dao Opening Sect, and I might make their tests harder.
"I want my era to be the most prosperous but also the longest."
w.a.n.g Wei knew his era couldn't last forever; things that rise must fall, which is the balance rule of Heaven and Earth. However, he can take steps to ensure the new era lasts as long as possible by preventing weak and unworthy people from inheriting his legacy and power.
"Finally, I'll have you guys to keep them in check," added w.a.n.g Wei.
"No problem," replied Li Jun. "Have you considered what will happen when another race proves the Dao?"
"That will be part of the test: they have to show that they can show some level of impartiality. I'll also leave some of my strength to punish anyone who tried to abuse the system."
"As long as you've thought of the possible consequences and prepared," nodded Yan Liling.
"Don't mention these things since it's too early," said w.a.n.g Wei. "What's our next step?" His king entrance token was nowhere near the activation level, so they needed to continue killing.
"Do we need to establish a dynasty like the Great Xia?" suggested Tie Gang. "We don't have to worry about food issues. However, I feel this would make more trouble than it's worth."
"You're right. Governing the devil race would be a nightmare because of their hatred for us," commented Yan Liling. "Such a dynasty would have too many rebellions, and with the lack of transportation, the larger our borders, the worse the situation would become."
"It also does not help when we cannot use death to instill fear and control the citizen," added Li Jun. "Dynasty or religion is not viable–especially if we consider the time we have in this continent."
"So, what's the best course of action?"
"Continue with our army, sweeping one city after the other," said Li Jun.
"In that case, we need a map of the surrounding. A map of the continent would be ideal, but I doubt we will find that," said w.a.n.g Wei. "Did we find one in the City Lord's study room?"
"No. It appeared they purposely did not leave any written records of a map," replied w.a.n.g Ju, who stood behind w.a.n.g Wei.
"Did you search the City Lord's soul?"
"He killed himself and erased his mind."
"I admire the devil race's determination, but they are just making things more annoying," commented w.a.n.g Wei. "In the next city, make sure to get a map. Otherwise, Yan Liling and I will have to figure out the terrain based on the large-scale formation that each city is part of it."
Everybody went to accomplish their task to prepare to march.