Into the Heavenly Sacred Border
In the weeks that followed, there was complete upheaval in Glory City. The existing political landscape was shifting at a rapid speed that people were finding hard to keep up with. The Heavenly Marks Family had been the weakest of all the aristocratic families but now they had produced an absolute genius from the younger generation, who managed to win the Younger Generation Tournament against other geniuses who were older and had higher cultivation bases. Given enough time, Nie Li would definitely reach Black Gold Rank at least, which would raise the status of his family even higher at that point.
The Du Family were being elevated from a commoner family because Du Ze had reached Gold Rank at fourteen years of age, qualifying his family to apply for aristocratic status. Similarly, the Zhu, Zhang and Wei clans were about to have their own geniuses from the younger generation reach Gold Rank enabling these families to begin raising their status as well! This was unprecedented, to have four commoner families suddenly have the chance to enter into the aristocracy, and the commoners of Glory City felt their blood boiling as they too dreamed of raising their strength. No longer would it be seen as a privilege given only to the aristocratic and noble families!
Before the city could even stabilise their emotions, the City Lord's Mansion made an earthshattering announcement. The City Lord was reintroducing the system of sects, which had thrived in the previous eras of old! No longer would every family be only self-centered in protecting their own, there would be sects where resources, knowledge and capabilities could be shared for those who demonstrated sufficient ability. Additionally, to have the right to create a sect, it would need to take on a critical frontline of defence against the demon beasts of the St. Ancestral Mountains. This way, even if there were hidden ill intentions, the sect would still need to demonstrate certain altruistic intentions by placing themselves in a location of risk where they would need to invest resources for the betterment of Glory City.
A little suspiciously, two applications were put in almost immediately. Those who were more astute would realise that the unusual actions of certain families over the last couple of months, such as in buying up mining equipment and recruiting more personnel, neatly aligned with the establishment of Glory Sect and Elixir Sect. Since the preparations had been made, these two sects were efficiently put into place, and the various operations that Ning'Er had helped to plan out began to be implemented.
As expected, the Sacred Family were caught off guard and were unable to respond with any ideas of sabotage. On the surface, each clan in Glory City still needed to maintain a guise of alliance due to the constant threat of the Dark Guild and the demon beast horde. This meant that they could not attack the operations of two sects directly, and could only leak out information to the Dark Guild, hoping they'd have some sort of response in the near future, before all the political power in Glory City slipped out of the Sacred Family's hands. Although there had been no open, direct confrontations, Ning'Er's plans had naturally diminished the influence, power and wealth of the Sacred Family.
The branches of influence Ning'Er had built up were difficult to counter. With the platform of these two sects, she could begin allocating the high tier cultivation techniques to those who gained the status of inner disciples, based on their trustworthiness, strength and meritorious deeds for the sects. At the same time, they had access to the best cultivation elixirs, powerful inscription tools such as talismans, and high tier martial techniques, which set them apart from what the clans currently had access to.
The Du and Zhu families even started building innovative new weapons, which would increase the strength of Glory City dramatically. The ranged weapons by the Du Family would support the defensive measures of the northern and southern border of the city by the sects, and the hidden weapons by the Zhu Family would boost individual fighting ability, especially for fighters who did not integrate with demon spirits.
The Heavenly Marks Family started to introduce spirit herbs that were thought to be long lost in the vicinity of the St. Ancestral Mountain Range, which meant that some of the ancient recipes which had been discarded, became useful again. This, in combination with the Lu Family's sudden advancement in elixir recipes, as well as close partnership with the Alchemist Association, solidified the Elixir Sect's position in the city.
Even more significant was Glory Sect, backed by the Snow Wind Family itself, where it had discovered a priceless deposit of Nephrine Jadeite, high quality Iron Ore, and Lightning Essence Stones. Fearing that the Dark Guild would make a play on such a precious resource, this sect would even bring in another major family, the Divine Family, for additional protection and guard duty from its experts!
Within three months, the Sacred Family tried to respond, partnering with the Chu Family to establish the Sacred Sect, which would be situation along the Eastern border of the city, but they had no distinctive advantage other than reinforcing the relationship between these two families. There was a sense of tension in Glory City, as everyone waited with bated breath, to see where the chips would fall, but from what they could see, the Sacred Sect was many steps behind the plans and strategies of the first two sects which had been established.
While all this had been going on, apart from advising on the set up and operations of the two sects, through her father's influence, Ning'Er had been focused on reinforcing her cultivation. It was almost time for her to enter into the Heavenly Sacred Border because she knew that a vital part of her plans would need to include the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword. She had seen its unparalleled power in the hands of Nie Li in her previous life and had even seen first-hand, how he had secured it. She didn't have some of his advantages but she would be entering in at 4 Star Gold Rank, remembering that Nie Li had only been at early Silver Rank when he obtained this sword!
Her heart pounded with excitement as she wondered how powerful this incredible artifact would be in her hands, especially since her soul attribute was of a lightning nature. Theoreticaly, she should be able to draw out even more abilities from this lightning-based sword because of the alignment of attributes!
Before she went to see Vice-Principal Ye Sheng, she remembered that she would need to find a solution for the spirit of one of the founders of Glory City, Ye Yan, because his soul was currently attached to the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword. She did not have access to the designs of the Soul Puppet that Nie Li had used in the past but she had studied the inscriptions that could bind spirits to inanimate objects as long as the object was of a high enough quality to handle the soul power of the soul.
As she thought through this problem, she realised that the best object to bind Ye Yan's soul to, was actually to the sword itself! Currently, the binding force of Ye Yan's soul to the sword was one that came about by pure chance, where at the point of his physical death, his powerful soul had attached itself to the closest artifact as part of a natural survival instinct. This tenuous link had then been sustained by the constant pulses of pure soul power that churned within the unique realm of the Heavenly Sacred Border.
This meant that if she could use her inscriptions to permanently bind the soul to the sword, it would truly become a legendary artifact! From the ancient times until now, there were few objects that had gained true sentience but for those that somehow did from a fortuitous encounter, if an owner were able to gain the approval of such an artifact, the power it could unleashed in partnership with its user would be insane!
As she thought through the implications, she began to see glimmers of hope in her final confrontation with the Sage Emperor. The Thunder God's Meteorite Sword's power was of a nature that would grow along with its user, limited only by its owner, and if Founder Ye Yan's legend ranked soul could partner along to draw out the potential of the sword, along with Ning'Er's own growth in strength, the results would be truly miraculous!
.....
As Ning'Er walked into the Heavenly Sacred Border, countless images flashed across her eyes as though she were passing through endless time and space. She looked around and saw the surroundings were filled with large swathes of lush vegetation and multi-coloured flowers. Her breath caught in her throat as it hit her how beautiful this sacred realm was.
Then, the familiar feeling she remembered from her past life hit her as she felt a boom in her soul realm. She hurriedly sat down cross-legged and began circulating her Lightning Dragon cultivation technique. Her soul force felt as though it were exploding and expanding nonstop, causing her soul realm to stretch and expand past her current limits. The forceful increasing of the soul realm was excruciating and she gritted her teeth as she grunted in pain.
The Heavenly Sacred Border was truly a sacred land for increasing soul force! She had forgotten how effective it was and she felt her soul force churning as she circulated her cultivation technique over and over. In those moments of extreme discomfort, she focused on cultivating and forgot that Founder Ye Yan would naturally be hidden somewhere observing her. Another miraculous effect of this realm was that time flowed differently and three days of cultivating here meant that only one day had passed in the outside world.
She would need to bring her friends in her any time they needed to focus specifically on soul force. However, she also remembered its risks where if an individual did not have the capability to control the rampaging soul force and volatile spikes, their soul realm could crack, destroying their potential for the future. This meant that even for herself, after a period, she should exit to reinforce her cultivation with real life experience, and martial comprehension and insights.
As she immersed herself in the initial rush of expanding soul force and the stretching out of her soul force, she lost sense of time and entered into a unique state of training that allowed her to rapidly grow in strength. Three days later, she woke up from this training state to feel an intense sense of a dam bursting within her as pure soul force rushed in like a whirlwind.
5 Star Gold Rank!
Just one more big push and she would be able to reach Black Gold Rank! She opened her eyes and stretched out her hands above her feeling her tight shoulders tense and then loosen in relief. She could feel that her strength had increased significantly, and on top of that the Panterran demon spirit within her had benefitted even more from the environment she was cultivating in!
"Little girl..." A hoarse voice spoke up in her consciousness. "How old are you?"
Ning'Er hid her smile as she knew Founder Ye Yan couldn't hold back his curiousity any longer. "I'm fourteen years old. Can I know who is speaking to me, please?" She spoke politely, deciding not to let the founder know that she knew his identity already.
"I'm one of the five founders of Glory City, Ye Yan." He replied in a lofty tone, pleased at the manners of this young girl in front of him.
She got up quickly and bowed deeply, cupping her hands towards a random angle, since he had not revealed himself physically yet. "Founder Ye Yan, Xiao Ning'Er of the Winged Dragon Family pays her respects."
"Hmmm..." He finally appeared in a floating, transparent form in front of her, stroking his smoky white beard as he smiled. "It's good to see that Glory City has a genius of the younger generation such as you. Fourteen years old and I can sense you're at the peak of gold rank already! And that miraculous cultivation technique, I've never seen anything quite like it! Do you mind if I have a look at it?"
Ning'Er purposely looked uncertain and tentative. "I'm very sorry, Founder Ye Yan. I don't mean to be disrespectful but my Master imparted this technique to me and told me I'm not to show it to anyone else."
"Oh, I'm not here to steal it. I'm just a spirit anyway! There's no use if I learn it now, it's just for my curiousity. Maybe with my experience I can help to guide you and point you in the right direction for future growth." He hurriedly explained.
She bit her lip as she appeared to think for awhile. "Founder Ye Yan...actually the reason why I came in here was because I heard of an incredible artifact here. If I show you my cultivation technique, would you give me the permission to try to subdue the Thunder God's Meteorite Sword?"