---XiGuang Province, Yijing City---
Close to the center of the provincial capital of the Western Expanse stood a massive tower. This tower was 700 meters tall and built hollow, like a tube. The inside of the tube was filled with rows and rows of terraces and stands.
The massive Conference Tower had been summoned for the Immortal Conference of the Western Expanse Province. The main point of the conference, which had drawn in most of the guests from all of the sects of XiGuang, was the question of the slowly waning spiritual Qi in the whole province.
Like all Immortal Conferences, there were also other points people wanted to bring up, such as the destruction of the bridgehead in the barbarian Lands some of the Sects close to the border had invested in to build.
Master Mountain was also silently sitting on one of the private booths further away from the stage. He had no plans to talk in this place, which was why he chose a seat on one of the higher levels. To his eyes as a fresh first-stage immortal, this distance was nothing. The lowest level someone needed to even enter this place was Peak Nascent soul stage.
When the sun stood right above the tower and its light fell through the prismatic stone that made up the ceiling, a three-dimensional picture of the stage was projected on each level of the tower, for those with bad eyesight.
In the middle of the circular stage stood a wizened old man, he was the only demigod of the province and a progenitor the reigning royal family among mortals in the province, although it had already been tens of generations since he started his journey as a mortal. He was one of the old monsters that usually stayed in the shadows, but today's topic was so important that he personally summoned the immortal tower and organized the Immortal Summit.
“I'm glad so many of you have managed to come today,” he spoke in a clear, deep voice one would not expect from his appearance.
“I will not waste your time with superficial niceties. The reason I have called you all here for is to discuss the recent decline in spiritual Qi in our XiGuang Province. Some of you may not have noticed yet, but I'm sure those of the immortal level know what I'm talking about.”
A great murmur went through the audience. Some of them had noticed, but it was news for most. This wase terrible news for everyone present. Their XiGuang Province was already sparse in spiritual qi and was lacking in power compared to their neighbors.
If their qi declined even further. It would not take long for their neighbors to notice. At that point, they would face the danger of being invaded. Not to mention that raising the next generations and improving their realm would slow down. Especially the sects involved with the business on Urth were dismayed. They had just imported batches of fresh disciples and servants.
“The patriarchs of the Ten Sects and I have already found the cause for this problem. It is the fresh connection to a new barbarian land,” he revealed.
“As many of you should know, our Voracious Cloud Continent will sometimes connect and even absorb new lands it comes across during its journey through the cosmos. Just like this XiGuang Province was once an individual world.
In the old texts, I found that we were already connected to this world before. At that time it was not absorbed but simply disconnected after bringing our province a prosperous era. After a full revolution of the cloud continents path, it was reconnected.
However, we found that this new connection is different. As it stabilizes, instead of absorbing from or exchanging spiritual qi with the new world, this connection is stagnating. Some power from the other side has stopped the Voracious Cloud Continent's actions. This led to the qi from our world to flow to the barbarian lands to normalize the saturation of qi between the two worlds.
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Not only are we slowly losing qi, but our world is also stuck here until this connection is cut off, or the new world was absorbed. The question is how we can achieve this. That is why I have called all of you here. I hope that you can help find the solution.”
Unlike the previous murmur, the crowd felt silent. Master Mountain had a difficult expression, as the elder continued explaining their plans. The first step for him and the ten sects was to work on a seal that would stop any more qi from being lost. They intended to finish before the passage fully stabilized. But this was only a temporary solution.
They needed more information about this anomaly to find a way to fix it. Not even the highest-level cultivators in the central region had the power to sever a connection the continent had opened. Their only chance was to get rid of the anomaly, so the continent could proceed with business as usual.
The problem was the how. This was why the elder had called for the Immortal Summit. They needed the sects of the XiGuang Province to come together and launch a true expedition to these barbarian lands to collect information and find out the source of the anomaly.
Master Mountain frowned. So far it had only been the fiendish path that held interest in the new world. Even the alliance that built the bridgehead in Urth was only made of a few small and mid-sized sects that bordered the entrance to the passage. They were driven by ulterior motives and most interested in easy gains, not really interfering personally with Urth.
This movement was going to be different. Thanks to the summit, a lot of big sects that would not have made a move at this time would be getting involved with the foreign world. He felt quite conflicted, as he had no idea how this would actually play out.
One thing was clear, a peaceful interaction between the cultivators and the natives would be a ...rare occurrence. The old master had no doubts about that. To make matters worse, there wasn't just the righteous path involved in this. About a third of the seats in the tower were filled by figures of the fiendish path.
This would not just end in a conflict between them and the natives, but there was a high chance, that the people would use this chance in an uncontrolled wilderness to settle some debts. As someone who had seen and interacted with the people of Urth and actually had a rather positive image of them, he could only sigh in dismay. The best he could do was warn them before the storm came...
In the next hours, the leaders of several sects stepped to the stage, volunteering to their sects to go and discussing their course of action. Master Mountain was not the only one who knew what would happen over there, so many decided to set up rules beforehand. Although there was no guarantee for anyone to uphold them, at least they could try to persecute the culprits if they broke them.
A historic moment was that this situation actually led to a shaky truce between the two paths, as both agreed that the mission was more important than their conflicts. Whether this truce was trustworthy was a different question.
His own master and sect leader of the Luminous Mountain Sect suggested a pacifistic approach when interacting with the natives, though many called him too weak or even timid for this. Although it sounded plausible, that working together with the natives could enable them to find the cause quicker, it went against the interests of the many participants.
Especially the original Sect Alliance that built the bridgehead in Urth did everything to sabotage any peaceful suggestion. They had lost a lot with the destruction of their base, so they readily slandered the Urthlings as terrible barbarians that could not be talked to or reasoned with.
Yu knew that most people were not as stupid as to believe that, but many accepted it as a ready excuse for their own motives. A new world that connected was always a treasure trove of resources and opportunities.
They always heard the stories and legends from other provinces across the vast Voracious Cloud Continent. The riches, the rise in status and power, many of the rich central provinces owed their power to the passages that connected them to rich pocket planes and worlds in the past. It was finally time for their XiGuang Province to rise, so many were unwilling to give up on that because of something as cheap as humanity.
After long and mostly frustrating debates, the summit came to an end several days later.
“Yu, are you already leaving?” the Luminous Mountain Sect Master asked him, as the fresh immortal exited his booth. The wise old man looked at his disciple, who also looked like an old man.
“ Master, I'm sorry. But the least I can do is warn them.”
The sect master only nodded silently.
“No, I'm sorry. I couldn't really help your friends. Just be careful. You have yet to consolidate your realm. People may get dangerous ideas when you are traveling alone in foreign lands.”
“Thank you, Master. I will make sure to come back safely.”
With a bow, he separated from his master and stepped on his sword, to travel to the next transport array. He would travel to the town closest to the passage and return to Urth.