The Great North Apple Continent was ruled by the Brown Dynasty, but four great sects coexisted with it.
The Browns had five ancestors in the Soul Transformation realm, making them the dominant force. However, the four great sects also had ancestors in the Soul Transformation realm. While the Brown Dynasty was clearly dominant, the four sects were strong enough not to be bullied.
High-level forces strive to avoid conflict with one another. If they fight amongst themselves, foreign forces could take advantage of the situation, potentially wiping them all out in their weakened state. Thus, even though the Brown Dynasty could theoretically win a head-on war with the four sects, they never considered provoking such a war. Immortals are ruthless but also rational; those 'immortals' in stories who fight at the slightest provocation are just that—stories.
The four sects and the Brown Dynasty have longstanding arrangements regarding everything: the distribution of talents, resources, taxes, etc.; Because of these arrangements, conflicts are rare, and even if they happen, they never rarely physical conflict, and even if they do, at most at a divine soul level.
Many members of the Brown family have married the four sects' elders' sons and daughters, and the sect elder's sons and daughters also married into the Brown family; the younger generation of the two sides have a firm blood connection. Many cultivators are members of both the dynasty and a sect.
Despite being very close, their top leaders—the nine Soul Transformation realm cultivators—have different interests.
The five Soul Transformation cultivators of the Brown Dynasty use many spells that rely on their dynasty's golden luck; being rulers of such a vast land brings them a lot of golden luck. The same is true for the four Soul Transformation ancestors of the sects; they rely on their sects' power and influence to gather golden.
If it weren’t for those old, strong cultivators at the top, the sects and the Brown Dynasty might have already united as one entity instead of remaining in this confusing state of being allies and close, but also separate.
The cultivation world is vast and has many strange aspects, such as the power of golden luck. For low-level cultivators, such details are not important, but for Soul Transformation cultivators, the power of luck is extremely important.
After ruling a country or a sect for a long time, one can start accumulating a tiny amount of golden luck energy, depending on how vast and powerful one's land and subordinates are. This golden luck energy is necessary to reach the perfect soul stage; one can also use this golden luck in battle.
This golden luck is why cultivators who rule a sect or country are much stronger than lone cultivators of the same realm. However, everything has a downside.
By using golden luck, the cultivator's fate becomes bound to the force under them. If the force is destroyed, abandoned, or ceases to exist in any way, the cultivator would receive a backlash. The severity of the backlash depends on how long they have been rulers and how deeply they relied on the golden luck.
The Soul Transformation cultivators of the Brown Dynasty and the sects are all old monsters millions of years old. The backlash they suffer would be extremely serious and might even severely injure or kill them.
For this reason, the sects never considered becoming part of the Brown Dynasty. Such an event would be considered the elimination of the sect and would cause severe backlash.
...
After the advancement of the world, Jack and his entire Heaven's Way Sect were transported to the far western side of the North Apple continent as a small island. That’s right, all the land—the republic, the far west barbarian land, and the empire in the far east combined—could at most be considered a small island compared to the North Apple Continent.
The far western side of the continent had the worst energy concentration. Only those with nowhere else to live would stay here. But for Jack, even the worst the continent had to offer was over 100 times better than before.
...
Faith looked at Jack with worry and said, "Master, what is going on?"
She felt the energy concentration, and instead of becoming happy, she became worried. After all, first, the ground shocks, then energy concentration increases; something is going on, and it may not necessarily be good.
Jack, who still hasn't revealed his breakthrough to Nascent Soul, said, "Faith, my most dear disciple, don’t worry. The world has changed for the better."
"The world changed?" she asked with wide eyes.
"Yes, we are now in a larger well and can take longer glances at the sky," he said.
"But master, I don’t understand," said Faith.
"I have a mission for you! Fly east for a month, and then you can see the wider world that I am talking about. Gather as much information as possible; I want you back in less than a decade!" Jack ordered.
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Faith was a little unwilling, but it was an order from her master, so she bowed and left.
Jack sighed; as the creator of this world, he has complete knowledge, but he cannot use that knowledge. That’s why he has to send someone to gather information.
This area, which he was transported to, is a relatively safe area. When designing the world, he made sure his spawn points were safe; after all, it would be ridiculous if he was spawned in the middle of the ocean or right beside a dragon nest. He didn’t leave everything to luck.
This area used to be the lair of a sea dragon in the substance Soul realm. A few decades ago, immortals from the local branch of the Icefall Sect came and captured the dragon.
Dragons are territorial and kill any other strong beast in their lands. This place was a dragon lair until only a few decades ago, so the land around here is very safe. A few talented beasts may have broken through to Nascent Soul, but compared to the vast land, one must be extremely unlucky to encounter them. Jack doesn’t believe Faith to be that unlucky.
...
Faith got prepared and started her journey. Flying in the sky with quick speed, she felt strange; the land and ocean were both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
"What is going on? I don’t understand!" she thought. Although she was usually not overly curious, it was still very disturbing not to know the reasons for such massive changes.
...
On her way, Faith saw many magical beasts. At first, she was astonished, and she started collecting the ones she found, intending to bring them to her master and show them to him. After all, magical beasts are rare and precious.
But as time went on, she saw more and more magical beasts, some even in the realm of Core Formation; they didn’t seem rare. It was then that she finally, deeply understood that the world had really undergone some unknown, world-shaking transformation.
She released all the magical beasts she found; after all, there were so many she could catch a few if she looked for a few days, so there was no need to keep them. She could catch them back on her way back.
...
After a month, she finally passed the ocean. She couldn't imagine how vast it was and how long it took her, a peak Core Formation cultivator, to cross it. Faith thought this was vast, but in fact, the substance Soul Sea dragon could have crossed the distance Faith took a month to cross in just a few seconds.
On her first day on the land, she found a human city.
After a month of just flying in the air, Faith was a bit tired, so she decided to rest in the city. Of course, as a Core Formation immortal, she used spells to clean her body and clothes and could even rest her mind while meditating at the same time as flying, but still, it had not been that long since she was a mortal, and she kept some habits. So even though her body was not tired, her mind felt a slight sense of mental fatigue.
Even if it wasn’t for resting, she would still have visited the town to gather information.
When she landed on the ground, the guards who saw her bowed. Other than bowing, however, they didn’t do anything else. This was surprising; she expected mortals to fall on the ground, kowtow, and beg from her; that was what she encountered in the past.
"These guards didn’t show much reaction, even though they saw me flying in the air; that means that such sights are not that rare for them," she thought.
Approaching the gate, she paid a medium-sized energy stone and passed the gate, going into the city.
"Master! I can show you around!" A boy around 13-14 years old came running.
Faith thought that it would be good to have a local show the way, so she nodded and said, "Before showing me around, tell me about the forces around here!"
The boy nodded; it was natural for someone from outside to not know the details. "Sure, you see, the ruler of this town is Mayor Ray, who is a knight and has a cultivation base of Core Formation! Also, the Icefall Sect has a branch in the city! Master Immortal Buttons is a nascent soul cultivator who was recently appointed as leader of the branch; they say he reached the nascent soul stage at the age of 14 and is extremely talented!"
Faith was impressed, not only by master immortal Buttons but also by this boy! This mortal 13-14-year-old boy knew so much about cultivation, which was unimaginable for her.
"How can you know so much?" Faith asked.
"Master, I am a member of the Thieves Guild! I have my connections," he said.
It was the first time Faith saw someone proudly proclaim their profession as a thief.
"What is the Thieves Guild?" she asked.
"Well, it is..." The boy looked with innocent eyes, not talking, waiting for something.
Faith rolled her eyes and threw another medium-sized energy stone.
The boy smiled and said, "Master Immortal seems to be the daughter of an aristocrat; otherwise, how can you not know it? The Thieves Guild is an association of us little mortals, who gather information and share it amongst ourselves!"
"Only mortals?" Faith ignored the boy's suspicion and asked.
"Yeah! There is also an immortal Thieves Guild. Our small thieves are not comparable," he said.
"So, you say even mortal thieves such as yourself know so much about cultivation?" she asked.
The boy said with innocent eyes, "These are common knowledge; I am making a profit selling them to you!"
"Honest boy!" Faith smiled. She started to like the boy, who seemed straight and honest.
Despite being quite old compared to mortals, Faith spent very little time with ordinary mortals, so now that she actually started talking to one, her previous thinking about mortals changed slightly more favorably.
"What is the Icefall Sect?" she asked.
The boy looked at her with wide eyes. "How can you not know, master? Have you been living under a rock, or deep in the mountains? The Icefall Sect is the ruler of immortal circles in most of the west of the continent. How can you reach this level without knowing them?"
"Hey, I am the one asking questions!" she said.
The boy shook his head with disappointment.
"Next question, tell me about the surrounding area, the big cities, important locations, etc.," Faith said.
"I can sell you a map for a thousand medium-sized energy stones!" the boy proposed.
"A thousand? Isn’t that too expensive?" Faith was startled; she hadn’t brought this many. After all, the sect didn’t have spatial storage items.
The boy smiled and said, "I can give you a big discount if you answer one of my questions!"
"What question?" Faith asked.
"Who are you?" the boy asked.
"I am a loose immortal who cultivated far from civilization," Faith lied with a smile.
The boy's eyes secretly went cold, and he said, "But that’s a lie! As a Core Formation, you must know of the Icefall Sect. The Icefall Sect has a monopoly on the breakthrough tokens; so the question is, how do you not know?" he asked.
"Ok, I will find a map myself," Faith said, turned around, and left the city entirely; she had a bad feeling about the boy.
...
The boy pursed his lower lip; he was very curious.
Flying up, he began following Faith, secretly monitoring her. After all, as the leader of the Icefall Sect's local branch, it's his responsibility to monitor suspicious people.