With my newfound understanding of karmic energy, I had ShouLi implement a series of reforms to how we sold and managed the valuable resource.
We substantially lowered the cost of purchasing a stint as a nominal city lord, but at the same time, we implemented a rule that city lords would only be allowed to keep a third of whatever karmic energy they harvested. Each year, I would visit the acting city lord and extract any karmic energy generated by members of the Su Clan. I would also extract roughly half of the energy generated by outsiders.
I kept the Su Clan energy for myself, and ShouLi sold off the rest at a slight markup. Because of this, if anyone used the rotation of our city lords to judge how many Martial Lords we had, they would end up severely underestimating us.
After I reached Peak Lord, we would begin selling off the Su Clan energy as well, though at a much steeper markup. Was using such energy when advancing as a Ruler beneficial? Maybe not, but I wanted to use it just in case, and I was certain that many people in my clan would feel the same way.
With this new structure in place, I returned to my study of Laws and cultivation techniques.
Before long, the nine new cities surrounding Dragon Gate were fully operational. While their defenses might not have been impenetrable, they were at the limit of what our Formation Lords could accomplish, considering the sparse qi levels in the Wastes.
Shortly after this, the bones of ten more cities were constructed around Rosehill, and ten more were started around Mount Jiang. Before these cities could generate karmic energy, we would need to increase their populations substantially, but their mere existence was enough for the moment.
These cities, with their powerful defensive formations, would serve as a shield to protect us from any invasions. And with our flanks secure, we were ready to unlock the next section of the Wastes.
The primary danger in the cavern beneath the Rosehill Hot Springs was the immense heat generated by its spirit fire. Without access to qi, the only people who would be able to survive in the area surrounding the cavern’s formation were Rank 3 body cultivators. And even within that group, only a select few would be able to break the formation’s outer ring.
To break the formation beneath the Su Clan, we had needed to destroy five white gems. Because these gems had been infused with metal energy, they were incredibly sturdy, and to even damage them, TongBin had first needed to infuse them with fire wu.
To break the Rosehill formation, we would need to destroy five dark blue, water-infused gems around its perimeter. And since these gems would likely need to be infused with earth wu before they could be damaged, this was a job that only an earth body cultivator could accomplish.
Like with the formation under the Su Clan, a single cultivator should be enough to make this happen, but the fact that the formation was surrounded by a lake of lava worried me. So, we sent a team of five Peak Rank 3 earth body cultivators just to be safe. Working together, they would be able to shatter all five gems at once and, hopefully, escape before the changes to the formation affected the surrounding lava.
After sending this team on its mission, I joined a group of Martial Lords and waited at the border between Dragon Gate City and the Rosehill Hot Springs.
The wait was interminable.
Hours passed one after the other.
It wasn’t until sixteen hours after the team of earth cultivators had set out that a powerful earthquake rocked the Wastes. When this earthquake subsided, a brilliant shimmer appeared in the air, high above Rosehill.
This shimmer lasted for only a moment, and once it was gone, the group of Lords I was with looked around at their leader. The younger man nodded silently, took a deep breath, and cautiously walked toward Rosehill with both hands extended.
At first, he slowed down with each step, but after passing the 10-meter mark without obstruction, he began to speed up.
As soon as it was clear that we would be able to enter Rosehill’s territory, he turned around and waved.
Upon receiving this signal, the earth cultivators among us raced forward at a blistering pace, eager to begin enhancing the territory’s defenses before outsiders could take advantage of this opportunity and invade.
I was in an even greater hurry than these earth cultivators, but as I had yet to cultivate my body, if I wanted to travel at the swiftest possible speed, I was relegated to using a carriage.
Still, I needed to hurry. If I didn’t, I would miss an important meeting with an old acquaintance. Opening up Rosehill had taken longer than I had hoped, and I was almost out of time.
As I approached the western edge of the Wastes, I carefully scanned my surroundings for any signs that I was being watched. Twice, I noticed a small anomaly in the flow of environmental qi. These might have been nothing, but with Emperors and Sovereigns in play, I didn’t want to take any chances, so I took detours to avoid them.
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When I was only a step away from losing the protection of the Wastes’ formation, a black portal suddenly appeared in front of me.
The first person to walk out of this portal was RuLan. Upon seeing me, she cupped her fists in a martial salute. “Greetings, Senior Brother.”
While RuLan appeared normal enough, I could sense a deep sadness hidden beneath her cheery façade.
Understanding the seriousness of the situation, I saluted her back. “Greetings, Junior Sister.”
Then, she stepped to the side, and a decaying old man walked out of the portal. His elegant blue robes looked two sizes too big, and his skin hung loosely from his bones. However, his body was still filled with an indescribable aura of power.
Upon seeing me, he let out a light snort. “You finally decided to make your appearance, you unfilial disciple.”
I cupped my fists and bowed to him. “Greetings, Emperor Li.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “We don’t have much time. Send RuLan away before she’s noticed.”
I moved to do as he said, but before I could, RuLan held up a hand to stop me. She turned and gave Emperor Li a deep bow. “Thank you for your training, Master. I will do my best to make you proud.”
As she stood back upright, tears flowed down her face.
Emperor Li just grunted. “Don’t cry, girl. We’ll see each other again. Though, at that time, I might be the one saying goodbye to you. Spend these years well. Live them without regret.”
She bowed again. “Yes, Master.”
Seeing their conversation was at an end, I flicked a finger and sent RuLan into my inner world.
The grandfatherly look on Emperor Li’s face vanished, and a predatory glint appeared in his eyes. He looked me up and down, appraising me. “So, you’re finally ready to become a Sovereign.”
I nodded silently.
The corners of Li’s mouth turned up in a wolfish grin. “Good. With any luck, I’ll finally be allowed to leave this wretched place.”
Suddenly, Li looked up and stared into the distance.
“Our time is almost up.” His head dropped, and he looked me in the eye. “You don’t need to worry about the breakthrough to King. No one is going to send their Lords into this deathtrap. Once the Wastes is open to Emperors, however, you will need to be a lot more careful. As for the final breakthrough to Sovereign, make sure that you are fully prepared. The moment you advance, they will come for you.”
Without waiting for me to respond, Emperor Li walked back through his portal.
Worried that someone might be on their way, I turned around and fled deeper into the Wastes at the fastest possible speed.
Taking Emperor Li’s words to heart, I talked to ShouLi about accelerating our plans.
Having been trapped within my inner world for over two decades, ShouLi had been unable to advance her cultivation base, so, instead, she had spent every spare minute trying to understand what needed to be done to advance to Rank 4 of body cultivation. We now needed that knowledge if we wanted any hope of unlocking the section of the formation.
While her research wasn’t exactly complete, it was complete enough for her to attempt a breakthrough.
So, without informing anyone of our plans, I slipped out of the Wastes and snuck into a small village along its northern border. Once I was hidden inside someone’s rundown barn, I set up an anti-eavesdropping formation and pulled out ShouLi, Liang, NiangBa, and several other body cultivators.
As everyone was already aware of our purpose, Liang and the others formed a semicircle around ShouLi without needing me to prompt them.
I walked up to ShouLi and placed a hand on her abdomen. “Relax your mind.”
Then, I pushed all my stored-up Su Clan karmic energy into her dantian.
ShouLi took a deep breath and sat down in the lotus position.
She looked at me, and I handed her a storage bag.
Opening it, she pulled out a hunk of raw meat from a Rank 4 demon beast.
After a shiver of disgust, she started eating.
With each bite, she pulled a thread of karmic energy from her core and infused it into the meat.
When the meat reached her stomach, her blessing extracted the combination of wu and karmic energy and infused it into her skin.
ShouLi then directed this energy into her tendons, her bones, and finally, into her muscles.
This process continued, one bite after another. After eating nearly three kilos of raw meat, something within ShouLi snapped. Her muscles rippled violently, and black oil oozed out of her pores.
She turned to look up at Liang, but before she could, her body froze in shock as an enlightenment poured into her. When it was over, she slumped to the ground.
With a nod of satisfaction, I sent everyone back into my inner world, dismantled the formation, and headed back into the Wastes.
While creating an entirely new cultivation technique was difficult, ShouLi had benefited greatly from the assistance of her blessing. It had been able to extract the energy of the raw beast meat and convert it into an ideal power source for her advancement. Taking her technique and transforming it into something usable by the entire clan, however, was a different challenge entirely.
The key to making her technique work had been a realization that when a demon beast died, the karmic energy in its body evaporated while the demonic energy remained behind. By infusing the raw meat with new energy, ShouLi had used a shortcut to create the proper blend of demonic and karmic energy.
This was why she had needed to eat the meat raw. Cooking it would have disrupted the demonic energy, causing the infusion process to fail.
However, without ShouLi’s blessing, none of this would have worked. Trace amounts of incompatible demonic energy in the beast meat would act as potent impurities, poisoning anyone else who tried this. Additionally, small-scale tests proved that absorbing karmic energy from meat was far more difficult than ShouLi made it look. Without a proper cultivation technique, it was, essentially, impossible.
That said, for every problem, there was a solution.
I was of the belief that there had to be a way to reach Rank 4 in body cultivation without relying on beast meat. However, even if there was, such a method would take several more decades to develop. So, instead, our clan focused on raising beasts within enclosures that had been flooded with only a single type of wu. This negatively impacted their growth, but it prevented them from absorbing any impurities.
As this had been one of the first initiatives ShouLi set up after our takeover of the Su Clan, several beasts had already reached Rank 3 and were nearly ready for harvest.
In contrast, creating a cultivation technique that would allow a person to draw karmic energy from meat was far more challenging. But with the enlightenment she had received, ShouLi was able to piece together what needed to be done.
So, five years after ShouLi’s initial breakthrough, we returned to that abandoned barn, and Liang and NiangBa became the next two people to advance to Rank 4 in body cultivation.
After that, it was only a matter of time before we would be ready to take down the next ring of Dragon Gate City’s formation and allow people to advance to King.