It took only a few months for Jing to transform the Golden Serpent Sect into her ideal form of what a sect should be. After being made the disciple of Qing Pei, Jing had more status and power than she had since she entered the sect. Just with that position of being the sect leader’s disciple, Jing completed several missions and obtained several spirit objects, beasts, and, most importantly, new SCPs. SCP-049, SCP-096, SCP-682, SCP-3008, and more.
With all this power in her hands, it was a little difficult not to go mad with all of it. Jing had to thank her memories and experience from her past lives. Otherwise, she might’ve plunged the world into chaos after being made the disciple of Sect Leader Qing. She calmed her soul and inner lust for chaos and control as she consolidated her plans.
The first thing she decided to deal with was cleaning up the internal culture of the sect. They were a wicked sect in the eyes of the world, but that didn’t mean they, too, had to define themselves by the eyes of others. It was much better for Jing to change their PR stance, but that was after cleaning up the trash dwelling inside the sect already. Jing silently cultivated for weeks as she ordered Wen to deeply investigate the inner workings of the elders and report back to her about those that would be a problem in her reformation efforts. She then had Wen “take care” of those that were a poison for the sect.
Jing no longer wanted the inner motto of the Golden Serpent Sect to be survival of the fittest. It was such an inefficient waste of profitable human resources. She refused to make their new motto something soft as well, like no man left behind or some crap like that. No, this had to be the thoughts within all of the Golden Serpent Sect members’ hearts as they stayed within the sect.
“The Golden Serpent Sect seeks power for the sake of freedom! Our lust for power isn’t just for the sake of wealth. It isn’t for simple longevity. Not for luxury or status. No! Our journey on the path of power is for eternal freedom! Freedom to live a life without restriction! Who cares about talent?! Who cares about one’s status?! We golden snakes shall live the life that we want without others stopping us just because they can’t understand us! Because they are afraid of us! Because they can’t agree with us! The Golden Serpent Sect will gain enough power to make anyone that dares try to stop us from obtaining our internal freedom will regret it within their souls!” Wen, disguised as an elder, shouted to the tens of thousands of members of the Golden Serpent Sect. His words were met with a thunderous roar in approval.
Jing stood on the podium with a little shiny gold serpent wrapped around her neck, shaking its tail in excitement while Li Li sat perched on her shoulder, trying not to look bothered by his little sister. Xiaolian was her name. It stood for little lotus. Li Li was a little upset after asking her about the origins of his name when he heard of her thinking of a name for Xiaolian. Jing’s response was that he looked beautiful, so she named him Li Li wasn’t good enough for him. He also didn’t like that his name was a girl’s name when he was a boy.
It seems like ever since he learned about his new little sister. He’s not satisfied with anything anymore. Jing only smiled as she knew he was just anxious about not being loved as much by her. She could tell him this would never happen, but it was only with a person’s actions that the truth could be seen. So, while Jing was changing the Golden Serpent Sect from the inside out, she also had to soothe and spoil Li Li’s bratty attention-seeking nature from time to time.
...
“This will make me strong enough to stand by your side?” Zhai Shang asked Jing.
“Hmm...” Jing smiled in a way that sent shivers down Shang’s spine. “If you don’t die or break, you might be a match for Hu Tao by the time you get out,” Jing responded without a clear answer, as usual.
“And if I want to be even stronger?” Shang gathered his courage.
“Don’t rely on any of the spells or gifts I've given you.”
“Understood. I don’t know when I'll be back... but when I do. And I will. I will be a man worthy of standing by your side with pride.” Shang wrapped Jing up in his arms and kissed her deeply on the lips.
“Hey! Back off!” Li Li kicked Shang in the forehead into the formation that Jing created for him.
Shang went flying into the formation with a smile on his face as Jing only rolled her eyes with a smirk on her face. That idiot... She didn’t particularly care about her lover’s strength. What Jing was interested in was their personality and how well they managed to amuse her. It was even dumber when she specifically told him that she didn’t care that he was far below her in strength. Three-quarters of the world was weaker than herself. For the last quarter, Jing thought it was better to be cautious than to assume she was the most powerful cultivator on the planet.
As the formation disappeared into another dimensional space, Jing made her way to her throne room. She called for Wen, and one of his clones appeared in an instant. It was already there just waiting for her return rather than him racing to appear here in the blink of an eye. He grinned as she took a seat on her watery throne. It was a lot more comfortable than it looked. Soft, solid, and able to accommodate to whatever comfortable position she wanted.
“How may I serve you, Your Majesty?” He bowed in a joking manner.
“How has the infiltration gone?” Jing asked, ignoring his humor.
“Without a single problem! More than a dozen of my clones have successfully infiltrated both the Nine Swords Sect and the Blossoming Water Palace. I had them equally spread out in the talent department. Outer Court, Inner Court, and core disciples. It might take years before I can do any critical damage to weaken them, but I'm confident in destroying them from the inside. Just give me time, and we’re good.” He relayed.
“Well done. Has Hu Tao, Bing, Ying, and the rest reached the Tian Kingdom yet?”
“They ran into some trouble along the way, but they’re progressing...” Wen rubbed the back of his head.
“Hu Tao?” Jing asked.
“No. Surprisingly, this time it was Ai who accidentally ran into trouble.” Wen shared.
“Elaborate.” Jing was interested.
“He entered a local eating contest within White Claw City and somehow managed to offend the city lord’s only son by beating the participant the city lord’s son betted on winning. The city lord’s son attempted to regain his losses by hiring a bunch of hooligans to beat Ai up and take the prize money he won. Unfortunately, Ai didn’t take well to being threatened and brutally slaughtered them all to the last man. Including, the city lord’s son. The city lord found out about his son’s death through a spirit tool and investigated his last whereabouts. After some investigating, he found his way to Ai and ordered his death and the death of anyone who accompanied him. So, now Ai and the others are on the run while being hunted down by sects who were allied with the city lord, bounty hunters, cultivators looking to test their power, and an assassination group.”
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“Sounds like they’re on quite the adventure.” Jing couldn’t help but chuckle. “I hope they manage to reach the Tian Kingdom’s royal family in one piece. It’d be rather embarrassing if they went through all that trouble just to forget their original goal in the first place.”
“Are you sure we should be knocking on the Tian Kingdom’s door before we’ve even dealt with the Nine Swords Sect and Blossoming Water Palace?” Wen asked.
“Let me ask you a question back as a response. Do you think those two would rather join up with a foreign enemy to go against me or join up with me to go against a foreign enemy?” Jing asked.
“...” Wen was stumped and couldn’t immediately answer.
Both sects were incredibly envious of the large growth in power that the sect had since Jing started changing things for the better. One of the first things Jing did was improve the selection of martial arts and techniques within the sect. Manuals for blacksmiths that included a guide on how to make heaven-ranked spirit objects. Manuals for spellmasters that went in depth for each type of spell and how to increase the ranking for their spells.
There were better martial art manuals within the library. They had bow techniques, shield techniques, fan techniques, kicking techniques, soul techniques, and more. However, there was a distinct lack of sword-based martial arts that were added. Many noticed, but few complained since the ranks of the new martial arts within the library were higher than many of the sword techniques that remained.
Since all the disciples were learning better martial arts, Jing had to ensure that their container could handle all of the water they were trying to force inside its glass. She began to replace the pills inside the sects with her spirit cakes. While she could forcefully increase the talent of all the disciples, that would lead to disastrous consequences eventually. It would be better just to give them a perfect foundation through her spirit cakes and leave their innate talent alone.
“Join us.” Wen finally answered.
“Wrong,” Jing responded back.
“What? The Nine Swords Sect and the Blossoming Water Palace are all about their reputation though. What kind of reputation could they retain if knowledge of them siding with an enemy nation over an ally was spread throughout the region?” Wen asked.
“You aren’t looking far enough, Wen,” Jing told him.
“Far?” He silently contemplated as he tried to understand what she was getting at.
It took him a minute, but it seemed he finally grasped something. “It doesn’t matter what choice they make as long as they ensure our destruction! If we continue to grow as we are now, they’ll inevitably get wiped out as we seek to spread our ideals of freedom throughout the entire region. If they team up with the royal family, we die. If they team up with us, they die just slower.”
“That’s right. Ever since the beginning of the Three Great Sects, they’ve always kept a balance with each other by ensuring one side doesn’t grow stronger than the other two. Whether they had to go back on their morals, ideals, or promises, it didn’t matter. The balance must be kept, or there will no longer be a Three Great Sects.”
“Then why are you sending an invitation for a friendly martial conference with the Tian Kingdom?” Wen got even more confused.
Jing put her finger to her lips as she giggled. “To wipe them all out in one swoop.” The Nine Swords Sect and Blossoming Water Palace won’t be able to resist getting rid of such a powerful, growing opponent and the threat to the balance that’s always been. They’ll join the martial conference regardless of if Jing invites them or not. But before then, she has to ensure all the pieces fall in place exactly where she wants them. Wouldn’t be much of a trap if she couldn’t prepare a few failsafes.
“I’ll get back to you with more details on that later. How is the expansion of the Heavenly Association going?” Jing switched topics.
“No problems whatsoever. The Heavenly Association has successfully integrated itself with the mortals and cultivators within the Evergreen continent. We’ve spread from border to border with businesses all throughout. Any problems that pop up are swiftly solved by the disciples disguised as tasks for the sect. Once the disciples solve the problems that are sent by the Heavenly Association, the Heavenly Association then sings praises of the righteousness and freedom of expression shown by the Golden Serpent Sect disciples.”
“Is it spreading well?” Propaganda only does well if it can influence even outside of its target audience.
“That’s one way to put it...” Wen rubbed his head. “People are mostly confused. After all, the Golden Serpent Sect is known for causing atrocities, murdering indiscriminately, and being wicked. When people are suddenly saying they’re heroes helping for a just cause and the like, they don’t know how to react.”
“Just give them time. Actions speak louder than words. Continue as is.” Jing ordered.
“Yes.”
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Jing sat on her watery cloud with her angels next to her side. Li Li and Xiaolian eagerly looked at the millions of people fighting below them. Golden Serpent Sect vs. the Tian Kingdom, Nine Swords Sect, and Blossoming Water Palace. Some clans, sects, and other groups were mixed within those three, but overall, the situation was the Golden Serpent Sect vs. the world. Either they come out on top somehow against superior numbers or get exterminated and wiped from history here.
Jing couldn’t help but laugh as she saw the strongest of the enemy forces heading straight toward herself. Since they decided to deliver such a grand present to herself, why shouldn’t she eat it!? A single droplet of water exited from Jing’s finger. That water droplet was shot toward the incoming cultivators, and as it passed near them, it instantly expanded.
Heaven’s Angels watched as the water droplet that was smaller than a bead grew large enough to swallow several hundred kilometers. Millions of cultivators were instantly engulfed in water. Those on Jing’s side had a bubble of air around their heads that allowed them to breathe. Those that didn’t died gruesomely in various ways from the water controlled entirely by Jing. Suffocation, impalement, decapitation, crushed organs, and even more terrible deaths. Then just as soon as it appeared, it disappeared along with the deaths of millions from one move from Jing.
“Ah, this is really going to be fun.” Jing giggled like an innocent virgin girl as she thought about ruling the world through her sect.
Who cared about eternal life and reaching the heavens when she could do whatever the hell she wanted down here!? Haha! Plus, even if something did happen, she probably had another reincarnation ready to go after dying in this china-inspired world. Maybe next time she’ll arrive in a science fiction world with aliens while exploring galaxies?! Who knows!?
“Heaven’s Angels shall keep watch for the Heavens,” Jing stated for all to hear.
Ying stood proudly with her pregnant belly poking out. Bing kept his face neutral as he wondered how the hell did he even get to this point in his life. That crazy chick who enslaved him all those years ago somehow managed to become the strongest person in the world. He didn’t know whether to consider himself lucky or unlucky. Well, actually, he did. If it weren’t for this crazy chick, he never would’ve met his wife. He wouldn’t even be alive right now.
Hu Tao grinned as he looked toward the wider world, eager to see what kind of fights were waiting for him out there. Runt stood next to his side with a baby girl around his neck, pulling his hair and babbling nonsense. He didn’t look particularly happy with that annoyed look on his face. Jue held onto his arm with a proud look on her face, overflowing with joy and love. Jie smiled softly as she saw the sight. Maybe bringing her newborn child to a war wasn’t all bad. She certainly seems excited about it.
Lei Zhi frowned as he saw the sight. It made him wonder if the means really justified the end. All this bloodshed, millions of lives snuffed out in an instant. Was so many deaths worth it for the sake of worldwide peace? Was worldwide peace even a worthwhile dream to have if this was the cost for it?
Su Su held Lei Zhi’s hand after seeing his face. Her face was as cold as always, but Lei Zhi could feel her concern and warmth through that hand. He let the tension within his body escape with a breath. Right, he was doing this for the sake of a better world for all. He may disagree with Jing’s methods, but that doesn’t mean that his own efforts have to stop. Lei just had to continue doing what he did best. Living life one step at a time with the purpose of making it better.
Lin Shu frowned as she saw all the fun was done already. He Wenqing smiled and shook his head at her childish behavior. Xiucai mimicked him, and they both were swung at by the girl. The two flew away on their clouds while Lin Shu chased after them with her cloud.
Wan Qing held two identical children in her arms with a largely-built young man next to her side. The children babbled to one another incessantly, and Wan’s heart filled with absolute joy. She looked toward the woman that made her greatest wishes come true and vowed to continue to serve her for the rest of her life. Even if it came at her own life, she would see that Jing’s dreams, too, came to fruition.