The Immortal Emperor had the same ageless look as Yinhu Lanfen. He looked forever struck in his early thirties but with the skin of a baby. He had soft white skin and eyebrows that made Shen think of thunder. His eyes were the deepest black, like his long hair. His stern face promised pain to all his enemies.

He wore a strange white and golden uniform. After seeing some clothing designs on Earth, it looked like a mix of World War II German officer clothes with ancient Chinese robes. That was different from what Shen was used to seeing in the Eternal Empire.

The man kept his hands behind his back and looked straight ahead, above Shen's head.

"I am Carl Jones, Grand Senator of the United Republic of Imperia, Ethereal Realm cultivator, and soon-to-be B-rank of the Multiverse Alliance.

"Hereafter, I shall speak in the name of the Republic, except when I explicitly identify myself as the bearer of any subsequent words.

"In the distant past, the Republic visited and colonized your Earth. Some circumstances made us give up on it. Four cultivator clans stayed behind—three as punishment, one by choice. A lonely cultivator was also left for medical reasons. We were told some additions to the medical device he was put on were defective and prevented it from being moved without killing him.

"But whatever the reason you or your ancestors stayed behind, the time has come to leave the past in the past and unite against a common threat.

"The coming of the Multiverse Alliance is inevitable, but while bowing to external power is undesirable, this one is not as terrible. Not overall. It will, however, bring the Cultivator Association with it. It has come to our attention that this faction will have designs for the lends and people of our qi-rich Republic, and we shall fight for our autonomy. Some in the Senate believe we'll need all assistance we can get.

"We have deliberated and agreed to welcome any long-lost Ethereal Realm cultivator into the Republic in exchange for accepting its rules, one of which being to defend it in the upcoming war. Previous crimes will be forgiven, and we are open to negotiating further concessions.

"I, Carl Jones, find it needless to say, yet I was advised to, that non-criminals will receive better terms. Unlikely but possible Destiny Realization cultivators will be offered the very best conditions to join us.

"Whoever you are, we can train you and are willing to spend part of our war chest resources on you. As a token of goodwill, we shall now preemptively share valuable general cultivation knowledge and techniques with you. They are but a small sample of all secrets we hold. We shall also share our laws and jurisprudence so you better understand who we are. Lastly, we shall share the intelligence we have gathered on the Cultivator Association. We swear we have not manipulated it in any way except to state how trustworthy we believe the data points to be.

"That last part is crucial, for it is not only power and information we offer you but also life as a valuable member of our Republic rather than as slaves to a faction known for its cruelty.

"Make no mistake, the Association will also come for Earth. Your planet is not as attractive to the Association as the Republic, and Alliance law will initially protect you for a time because, unlike us, Earth will have no one as powerful as a B-rank during integration. However, your homeworld has some geographical traits that make it desirable for the weaker members of the Association. Join us, and you can bring your loved ones with you. Or, if you so desire, accrue enough merit in the war, and we shall take Earth under our wing.

"As for how this message will find you, I, Carl Jones, regret to say that when we were pointed towards our long-lost brothers and sisters on Earth, there was no time for a round trip. There was also not enough support to spend resources in a proper portal. The Senate believed the costs wouldn't be worth the potential gains. There was barely enough support to open a small, temporary, unstable, and frankly terrible portal to send a single object through.

"That left some practical and political concerns unsolved. Foremost among them was that this message and the attached information might fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, I, Carl Jones, spent my own resources to buy a drop of blood from the aforementioned lonely cultivator from one of the Republic's High Senatorial Clans, the Feng Clan. I, Carl Jones, also ensured the portal would be linked to the same cultivator's blood drop that can be found on Earth. Lastly, I, Carl Jones, used my resources to purchase and send an expensive artifact that could resist the unstable portal, make contextual decisions after going through it, and withstand the test of time.

"Take this as evidence of how important I, Carl Jones, deem potentially receiving the protection of even one extra Ethereal Realm cultivator, regardless of the Senate's majority's opinion on potential gains.

"We ask the recipient cultivator to share everything here with any other Ethereal Realm cultivator he finds on Earth and believes to be connected to the Republic. That includes anyone who was alive during the time of colonization or their descendants up to the ninth generation.

"Be advised: finding them might not be easy. A loophole in Alliance law will allow the Association to contact and take cultivators from Earth even while the planet is supposed to be on lockdown. The Ethereal Harmonization cultivators will evidently receive the best offers, which might decrease their number on Earth. Regardless, we ask the recipient cultivator not to give up in searching for such beings.

"Lastly, some of the terms used in this message might not make sense until the Alliance arrives. That is on purpose. You'll also need to use the Alliance teleportation network to reach us.

"We expect you at your earliest convenience.

"Such is the will of the United Republic of Imperia."

Then, the Immortal Emperor paused. Shen knew the message wasn't over; he could feel time passing in what was shared with his brain.

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Almost a full minute later, the man continued, "Hereafter, everything I'll say, I'll do it as Carl Jones, not as Grand Senator of the United Republic of Imperia."

He relaxed a little, but not by much. He still showed no emotion on his face. That was a cultivator through and through.

"What I want to tell you calls for a little context. The coming of the Alliance will mean the arrival of the Guardian System. Any Fate Origin realm cultivator or lower who accepts the Guardian System starts at G-rank. It can hinder them greatly. They must spend AP to be allowed to display their full power, even if they break through to a higher realm.

"However, the Alliance values B-ranks and lets anyone with comparable power bypass those rules. Due to how cultivation works, the Guardian System can't tell whether an Ethereal Realm cultivator should be classified as C- or B-rank unless they accept the system first. A secret agreement allows any Ethereal Harmonization cultivator who accepts the system to be immediately classified as at least C-rank, with all its advantages and privileges and no need to spend any AP. They can also accept the system without undergoing any trial.

"There are absolutely no disadvantages to receiving the system then and multiple advantages.

"Yet, it will be impossible for you to find any C-rank cultivator on Earth.

"For one hundred years, Earth's upper-rank limits will be set by those who received the Guardian System in Earth's 'Pioneer Tutorial.' The highest rank any tutorial taker reaches, during or after the tutorial, as long as they step on Earth, will determine the highest rank allowed in the world by anyone else.

"The caveat is that tutorials are in place to help the weakest race members grow, not to give more power to those who already have some. Whoever has touched a Concept cannot join. In other words, no one in the tutorial can reach C-rank.

"So, any Ethereal Harmonization cultivator that takes the system will turn into a C-rank, be forced to leave Earth, and be allowed to receive messages from interested parties. The Association can not force them to go to the Association's lands, and many factions will be interested in bolstering their forces with a C-rank cultivator. At the very least, to better study qi and ways to counter it. The offers will be outstanding.

"All that is to say: beware of the Ethereal Harmonization cultivators you were asked to seek.

"Those who stay behind will either be incredibly selfless and worried about Earth or be working for the Association—who can contact them before they accept the system.

"As you can see, Alliance law is a mess, resulting from untold ages of decentralized power and conflicting interests vying for personal gain. But I digress.

"On the note of tutorials, I was informed that the Cultivator Association will use a legal loophole to pump resources into up to ten commoners, likely less than five. Commoners, not Guardians; the Association won't be allowed to touch the latter for a while. Said commoners will be given ways to unlock the system outside the tutorial and reach the maximum permitted rank—the highest any trial taker reaches. They will then use their influence as local top rankers to subvert Earth and prepare the terrain for the coming of the Cultivator Association.

"I highly recommend identifying and killing them for treason. Not for the Republic; for Earth. As you'll see in the attached information, Earth will not fare well if it comes under the Association's rule.

"You have been warned."

With that, the Immortal Emperor blinked out of existence. The tendrils in Shen's mind retreated, and only the thicker link to his mind remained.

The next instant, some information was pushed into his mind. It revealed how to use the antidron to get the techniques and information inside it.

The thing was a veritable treasure trove. It had everything, from martial arts to movement arts, to enchanting, to cultivation techniques, to intelligence data. And Shen could select whatever he wanted at will.

He didn't, though, not yet.

First, he assimilated everything he had learned.

The Eternal Empire had relocated and rebranded itself into the United Republic of Imperia. It also had a fake background story about how it had colonized Earth. Shen might've believed it if not for the Emperor himself delivering the message.

An Emperor that was now disguised as Grand Senator Carl Jones. Shen was confident the man would know the contents of the Feng Clan's message to Shen, which meant he had not only preserved the message to ensure Shen would get it but even gave Shen precisely what he would need to start any clan: techniques.

The techniques weren't much, to be honest. They all were for Fate Origin realm cultivators at most, a tease for any C-rank cultivator that might receive the message instead of Shen. For him, they would, at most, remove rough edges in his Path-converted techniques that had gone unnoticed by the Drow Maiden. He doubted it would be more than a handful if any. Shen was now aiming at the C-rank, not D.

However, they were still good enough for humankind at this point in time. They would let him pull in people walking all kinds of Paths into an organization, thus giving him a broad sample to select the best from before investing in them.

So, the Emperor had just indirectly given Shen permission to create a clan if he wanted.

Shen wasn't sure he did, though. He had been aiming at that because he had thought it was his duty. Now? He would think about it—later. He also had to wonder if that was what the Emperor wanted, but he had other concerns now.

Many other things could be read between the message's lines. For one, the Immortal Emperor was probably physically incapable of unintentionally digressing from a topic. If Alliance law was a mess due to decentralized power and competing selfish parties, the Cultivator Association was likely the same.

Also, joining the Association or another organization might be better for a C-rank Shen than the Republic. It hadn't been a coincidence that the Emperor had mentioned how valuable such a cultivator would be.

Also interesting was that tidbit about stepping on Earth to change the upper-rank limit. Maybe the Drow Maiden would eventually tell him about it, but it was good to know it before leaving for the Summit.

If he ever reached C-rank out there, he'd better not return to Earth until someone else did, or he'd have to deal alone with C-tier rifts. Probably only someone like the Drow Maiden could accomplish something like that, and he wouldn't reach her level anytime soon, if ever.

More importantly, the man had indirectly told Shen not to bring the antidron to anyone else. That was evident in the warning against Ethereal Harmonization cultivators, most of which would come from criminal clans. When matched against another data point, that became even more obvious: there weren't many cultivators around, were there? Shen had only seen two cultivators that belonged to one clan out of four that had been left behind. He could guess a lot of time had passed, and only those who were selfish enough to steal resources to stay alive after so long would be around. That or someone had been as loved as Shen had been by his father, except by an entire clan instead. Not likely.

Finally, the reason Shen had been left behind might be a lie. Earth had been moved by the Alliance before he woke up in the coffin. It could have been brought to the Republic. Either his clan or the Emperor had elected not to.

Or, well, it was also possible that the Alliance was simply superior to the Empire on that front like it was in soul healing.

Whatever the case, Shen was highly interested in two things: general knowledge of cultivation and information about the Cultivator Association. The former would likely fill many gaps he had in his cultivation knowledge.

And the latter would tell him whether to kill some people or not.