I followed behind Qiao Ying making my way towards the chamber where the formation had been prepared for this scrying. I had been quite surprised to learn about the existence of long range communication like this, but in hindsight it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise. Given the kinds of various mystic arts that existed it wasn’t a big stretch to imagine cultivators being capable of projecting their images across large distances.

The thought only made me more excited and hopeful about what could be done in this world. What was possible if these resources and abilities were not limited to just a fraction of humanity. I was already on my Path to making the world this way. And naturally, those in power are not going to be happy about my actions.

After we arrived at a chamber I wasn’t familiar with, Qiao Ying stepped to the side. I stepped forward pushing the gates open, which opened with a slight creak.

Inside I saw a small pool of water set within a circular section made of stone. I could see the lines of Qi running around, creating the formation art. Briefly the thought came in my mind whether the same could be replicated with Chi or if the different energies would react differently within the formation.

The bad part about having access to a brand-new kind of energy was the fact that nobody knew how much could be done with it. Putting the thought aside, I walked into the chamber. Zhang followed behind me.

“Please establish a connection with this formation. When you do, the scrying art will activate, connecting you to the Patriarch,” Qiao Ying instructed me.

“Will Lord Zhou be attending as well?” I asked.

“Lord Zhou has some tasks to see to, but I will be here representing him. He has left the matters of the sect to you,” Qiao Ying replied smoothly.

That made sense, but part of me also wondered if this was a test. To see if I could handle the sect on my own, or if someone else would perhaps be more suitable to take my place.

“Alright, let’s start,” I said, sending a pulse of Chi into the pool of water. As I did, the formation arts lit up glowing with a silvery sheen as the still body of water began to form ripples within it. “Please hold the connection,” Qiao Ying told me.

I didn’t reply, simply focus on the stream of Chi flowing into the body of water. After a minute of shaking, the waters surged, rising upwards to roughly be as tall as I was. A moment later a person’s figure formed from the water, as the Patriarch now stood in front of me. The man was just about what I had expected, he looked to be in his fifties, with a few strands of white running through his long black hair as he wore pristine robes and stood tall and proud, with the arrogance that came with a stature like his. Qiao Ying bowed his head, I did not. Instead, I gave a nod of respect and acknowledgement.

“We had heard the rumors, but to think you really were just a child,” the man said, his eyes looking me up and down as if trying to seek for something.

“As the saying goes, revere not the elder by years alone, but whose visage betrays not the ages they've known,” I replied, smiling to myself for having read a few more books in the little free time I had found.

The Patriarch snorted, Lu Jie noted the barest hints of a smile upon the man’s stern face. “We see that you possess sufficient amounts of arrogance. A quality befitting a young cultivator, and one with talent such as yours. Unlike the old fool Yan, we are not so blind to miss the things you represent. But remember boy, a young dragon though you may be, you step in a world filled with dragons older than yourself. It would do you well to learn humility, and gain allies. Even dragons do not live all on their own.”

I nodded, not cutting back the Patriarch’s words this time.

“Is that perhaps the purpose of this meeting? Talks of alliances?” I asked, looking at the Patriarch with a raised eyebrow.

“You get ahead of yourself. No, we are merely here to see which foolish child decided to take over, and whether you are worthy enough for the right to keep that position,” the Patriarch said.

“Am I?” I asked.

“That remains to be seen. What do you intend to do with the sect that you have obtained, what are your motives? The actions you take alienate many of the nobility and aristocracy. Ultimately you are but a provincial sect elder, and an extremely young one at that, how do you intend to gain the support and respect of those within the jade court,” the Patriarch asked.

I stood silently for a moment. That was the question, wasn't it? I had been thinking over that one for a while, gaining the support of the Lord was important if I truly wanted to pursue my goals. Part of me was tempted to just say that I could do it all on my own, rise without the help of anybody, what did it matter if the Lord did not care for my methods.

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After all, I knew that my methods worked. Unfortunately, reality was different. And in reality, the empowerment of mortals was going to be seen as a threat by the cultivators.

The very thing that made them special, I was trying to give to everybody. There was the point of the demons, and how having more cultivators could only be beneficial, and how it would allow us to beat them and reclaim their lands. After all, it was not just the heavens that I could break with my abilities.

The second Law thrummed in my soul, I could feel its desire to unite heaven and earth back together. But that was not something that the nobility wanted.

I’m sure some of them would love to beat the demons. Lord Zhou would, his domain had to suffer their attacks every winter. But those within the capital? They sat far removed from the conflicts, feeding off of its profits and growing fatter. No, the only thing I could appeal to here was their greed.

I looked up at the Patriarch. “Respected Patriarch, if you do not mind me asking a question in return to your question, how many cultivators does your sect lose every year? To Raiders? To bandits? To Demons? Whether the Jade court would like to admit this or not, the empire is at war. And has been for over a thousand years. And perhaps it is because of that, that people have forgotten. But war costs money. Not only does it cost the lives of your cultivators, the sect members, it costs you resources, weapons, food, goods, and so on.

The Patriarch raised an eyebrow, and I continued to throw my bait.

“Imagine a world where the mortals could fight. A world where mortals could be taught how to do simple Alchemy. How to create spirit weapons. If every farmer could break through and reach the first realm, they will not gain much significant strength, but they will become capable of working for more hours every day.

The more hours they work the more they will be able to feed the Warriors. If the mortals could join and head towards the battlefield without falling sick from the miasma, they could carry resources, weapons and goods, if they could fight against the weaker demonic beasts, protecting them would be less of a hassle. Imagine a world, where every mortal within your territory can hold value, enough to support the cultivators,” I said, leaving out the unsaid half, that such a rapid development will only continue to grow them till there are no mortals or cultivators, only people.

The Patriarch frowned. “Even if we were to believe that mortals could learn such things and achieve them, it would pose the threat of them banding together and revolting. Why take such risks?”

I shook my head. “You fail to understand, honorable patriarch. They will not revolt. To them, we would be the gracious immortals, bringing to them a slice of the very heavens themselves. Every mortal would dream of things they had not dared to, and will work hard to try and achieve greatness. It is what we already see happen with children born of mortal parents and obtaining Qi. They flock to the sects, dreaming of reaching the heavens, and ultimately provide the foundation upon which the rest can rise,” I said, pushing down the bitterness in my voice.

Though I did not lie, the truth did sting. Ultimately it was those who had been born with Fortune, that gained the most. And what I suggested, only served to present this false dream to everybody, instead of just a select few.

I knew I would not let it end up that way, but even so, there had to be some truth within my words, for me to be able to sell them. I saw the Patriarch frowning in thought, and continued. Reaching within my pouch, I grabbed its contents, showing the man the dozen or so Qi gathering pills inside.

“Patriarch, if you were to get this many pills made for your cultivators, how long would it take you?” I asked.

The man looked confused. “Roughly a day, perhaps half a day of the disciples were talented.”

I nodded, closing the pouch. “It takes my mortal alchemist, a single day, to make ten times as much.”

The man looked at me in disbelief, before his eyes went back down to my pouch.

“There is an untold amount of potential waiting to be extracted within these mortals. The very moment one chooses to remove the blindfold from their vision, one can see just how much can be gained.”

The Patriarch heeded my words, before a smile came upon his face. “We see why you gained Lord Zhou’s support, child. Indeed, you have gained our intrigue.”

I almost let a smile slip, but the man continued.

“But this is not enough. You must prove what you have said. The divine tree sect shall become a branch sect upon the seventh peak. But the position you hold within it is only granted to you temporarily. If you can show that you are truly worthy of leading, we will allow you to keep what you have gained.”

I returned a brief nod. I had expected something more or less like this.

“For now, you may use the resources of the sect,” the man said, as part of the water flowed out, forming characters that would unlock the vault. I glanced sideways, as Qiao Ying hastily recorded them on a piece of parchment.

“Do not disappoint us,” the man said, as the water fell back down into its pool, with a splash.

I sighed, feeling the tension finally vanish from my body. Glancing sideways, I saw Qiao Ying clutching the pieces of parchment with the characters. “Well done, sir. With this, we have gained the support of the Patriarch.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “Although I don’t quite feel very happy just yet. There’s still a lot left to be done.”

The boy nodded. “I’ll be doing as much as I can to support you in your path.”

I gave Qiao Ying a nod, dismissing him to let him get to work, allocating and recording the resources we had finally managed to secure from the sect. Trying not to collapse into a puddle, I thought over what I had to do next, before remembering something.

I looked at Zhang. “Where the heck is the old man?”