Power Vacuum

Fortunately for the universe, the gray fog that Rachel spread throughout was not harmful.

Except for the area near the illusion world where the office appeared, nothing else was destroyed. Mortals inside the worlds didn't notice anything, but immortals did notice the fog. However, even among immortals, the overwhelming majority didn't know the cause; only some high-ranking immortals who knew the inside story about the battle that happened millions of years ago could guess it.

Regarding the event millions of years ago, when it happened, nobody knew what it was, but after the office disappeared not long after, many began connecting the dots.

Today, high-ranking immortals know that the event a few million years ago caused the office to disappear, and those who managed to guess the previous event could surely connect the dots once more; a few million years is a really short time, so the memories are still fresh.

In any case, immortals were very pragmatic and continued doing what they were doing.

As a result of Rachel's gray bullet, a relatively large part of the endless space in the universe was now vacant; the shock waves were severe and could have wiped out much more if Rachel hadn't been careful. Fortunately for many, Rachel was careful, so the part that was wiped out was not big, considering the massive size of the whole universe.

...

One of the biggest sects in the universe, the Heaven's Way Sect, was recently undergoing some transformation.

The Heaven's Way Sect is one of the biggest cultivation sects in the universe, with over 100 universal laws. It is still much smaller than the Clear Water Sect, which has over 1,000, but compared to most rank 13s, Heaven's Way is a powerhouse.

Rank 10 immortals have no limit to their lives; they can live forever, but many still die as a result of fights or accidents. The same is true regarding rank 11s; they don't die of old age, but some rarely die in other ways. Rank 12s and 13s, though, are on another level; with a universal law, it's extremely difficult to kill them in battles, and nearly none die in accidents; there is nearly no accident that can kill a rank 12.

The patriarch and sect master of the Heaven's Way Sect, Daoist Heaven, was the sect's leader for so long that very few remember.

Most rank 12+ immortal organizations register their universal laws in the name of the organization and not in the name of the person because if it is for a specific person, once that person is dead, those licenses will be revoked.

The Heaven's Way Sect was an outlier; its 133 universal laws were registered to the name of individual cultivators and not the sect.

Recently, in the last million years, Daoist Heaven announced he would retire from the sect master position and would assume the position of the supreme ancestor.

Aside from cultivation levels, Daoist sects have other classifications to decide seniority; in general, seniority is very important for Daoist sects, so these matters are taken very seriously.

The first rule is whoever has a higher cultivation base is the more senior person, regardless of real age. An old man who has been in the foundation establishment for 200 years must bow down and call a senior a 15-year-old boy who, due to his talent, reached core formation at a young age.

It might sound weird that an old man calls a boy a senior, but it really must not; in the cultivation world, and maybe in the entire creation, power is everything; one cannot win battles with age and white hair.

In the mortal world, some may see it as ridiculous to confuse age and seniority with power levels, but in the cultivation world, everyone accepts this rule, and nobody has a problem with it. Even if there are some who have a problem with it, they cannot do anything because, again, power is everything.

Words without power are just air; no matter how rational and reasonable one is, as long as they don't have power, few will bother listening.

The second rule is that if the cultivation level is the same, one's master determines seniority.

The third rule is that if both master and cultivation levels are the same, the person who has been a disciple of the master for the longest will be senior.

The fourth rule is that all the first three rules are overridden if the patriarch gives conflicting instructions.

The first three rules summarize how the system works in a generic Daoist sect, while the fourth rule is a feature of the Heaven's Way sect.

The least senior person in the Heaven's Way Sect is a handyman disciple. Handyman disciples are official members of the sect, but most would only hover around qi cultivation and have no hope of going further in their paths; they usually serve more senior disciples.

The cultivation ranks include Qi cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent soul, Soul transformation, Void, Grand tribulation, dao seeking, False immortal, True immortal, Law immortal, Universal immortal, and Universal master immortal.

The next level of seniority is ordinary disciples; they are usually the mainstream of the sect and have a shot at becoming elders in their old age.

The next is the core disciples; they are the cream of the crop of ordinary disciples and have a chance at becoming grand elders in their lives.

The next level is direct disciples. Elders and ancestors have a chance to choose some from among the handymen, ordinary, and core disciples to be their direct disciples. Direct disciples have far better education opportunities and resources. Usually, talented disciples are chosen by elders and ancestors to become direct disciples; it's very rare for talented disciples to remain only core disciples.

The next is grand disciples, who are disciples of grand elders, grand ancestors, and other unique positions within the sect.

Next are the Master disciples, who are disciples of the sect master. Sect master and patriarch are two different positions, but both are occupied by the same person.

The next is an elder.

What is the difference between a disciple and an elder?

Firstly, an elder is someone who reaches his or her potential and decides to spend his or her time helping with sect management instead of focusing on cultivation. It's not that elders don't cultivate; it's just that they spend less time on cultivation.

If one only considers the first three rules, a core disciple with a cultivation rank of false immortal is senior to an elder with the cultivation of a nascent soul. Should the elder bow down to the disciple? The answer is no because of the fourth rule.

When acting in an official capacity, the sect rank seniority rules all matters regarding seniority. If the two meet in the sect conducting official business, the elder is senior, and even though the disciple in the false immortal realm is so much stronger, the disciple must still bow down to the elder; this is the instruction of the patriarch.

If they meet outside the context of the sect, however, the disciple, with a much higher cultivation base, is senior.

In practice, no elder with a lower cultivation level dares to intervene in matters regarding disciples with a higher cultivation level, so in practice, this has not been an issue.

When dealing with disciples of the false immortal realm, the sect uses at least grand elders of the true immortal realm.

The next level is ancestor.

An ancestor of the sect means those who do not want to be associated with the sect as closely.

Disciples always must perform sect tasks and receive allotments from the sect; the same is true for elders. However, ancestors receive far fewer resources and are not obligated to perform tasks regularly.

Ancestors have the same seniority as the elders.

The next is the grand elder, which are elders who have reached at least the true immortal stage; these elders are true leaders of some smaller branches of the Heaven's Way Sect.

The next is grand ancestors, who have at least reached the true immortal stage; their role is the same as normal ancestors, and they have the same seniority as grand elders.

The next is the supreme elders, who are at least at the universal, immortal stage and are the sect's decision-makers.

Next, there are supreme ancestors who are at least in the universal immortal stage and wish to live without associating with the sect as much; they have the same seniority as supreme elders.

Next are young masters. They are disciples of the patriarch and the highest rank a disciple can reach; their seniority is the same as that of the sect master!

The next is the sect master, who is the leader of the sect's executive branch. Although technically a distinct position, it has always been held by Daoist heaven.

The highest position is the patriarch of the sect.

Patriarchs are usually the highest position in a cultivation family, but that doesn't mean the name is solely for cultivation families. Many sects have roots in cultivation families, so the rank of patriarch is stuck in many sects.

The same is true of Heaven's Way; it used to be ruled by the Daoist Heaven's family, but that ancient family gradually disappeared.

Daoist Heaven was the patriarch and the sect master, but now he has resigned from the latter position and will remain the patriarch.

...

Daoist Heaven resigned and assumed the rank of supreme ancestor, which indicated his unwillingness to dedicate his time to the sect any longer.

That has caused a power vacuum.

Power vacuums are dangerous; they can topple even big forces.

In the Heaven's Way Sect, the supreme elders' council acted as a legislature and judicial body.

But until now, the council has not been really useful; with Daoist Heaven at the helm, in practice, the judicial body and legislative bodies completely obeyed his will and didn't really do anything important.

If Daoist Heaven leaves, however, the next sect master will be less powerful, so positions in the elders' council suddenly become much more attractive.

Not all universal immortals of the sect chose to be elder; many chose to become supreme ancestors, some of whom left the sect completely and created their own forces in the endless space.

After the news of Daoist Heaven's retirement spread, however, all those supreme ancestors long gone began returning, vying for positions within the supreme elder's council or even entering the race for the sect master.