154. Swordsman Tips the Balance

Han De did not cancel Through the Starlight and instead continued walking across the top deck. The celestial ship trembled once again, but this time it was far too subtle. Far away, a faint energy signature appeared, similar to that of Xin Meili's, but weaker. Han De couldn't tell at this distance, but it was as if he knew that this new energy signature had something missing.

He could feel it in his bones (probably), that they were close to their objective. Soon, they would land.

[Current Realm: Heaven's Gate Realm]

[Fame: Calculating]

[Status: Eligible]

'Heaven's Gate?' Han De cursed in his mind. 'Sounds ominous.'

A bad feeling entered his spine and slowly crawled upward. Was it panic born out of the unknown, or something more substantial? Han De didn't even give it some thought. It was panic. It had to be panic. There was no such thing as a cultivator's intuition. Everything inside his head, all of his techniques, were covered with cold, scientific facts.

Everything was just a transformation of energy, not some para-normal mumbo-jumbo!

Superstition was just superstition.

While still pacing around (but very Profoundly, thanks to his footwork technique), Han De thought about the logistics.

'Food should be easy. Herbs too. I'll gradually recruit mortals for mass production, but a small herb garden should be enough in the beginning. Illusions can be used for basic infrastructure, but buildings or abodes should be made with real materials.

'Hmm… I can use lackeys to set up a few thousand bunker formations around the sect. But…'

Grand Array? All sects needed one. Without exception. It was the Xianxia staple. It was non-negotiable.

Han De the Array Master, felt indignant. Shouldn't a sect's Grand Array, be made by its founder?!

The council of Han De's assembled at once. The most passionate was obviously the Array Master, but a few unexpected voices also spoke. The most surprising being, Han De the Survivor.

Wouldn't ten thousand bunker formations catch unwanted attention? The survivor asked with narrowed eyes.

No one was able to meet his gaze, even the Array Master averted his eyes.

'… It's not really that big of a deal to catch attention, especially with so many experts behind my back…' Han De tried to think about it from a logical standpoint. 'But, catching the attention of high cultivation experts, would cause encounters with those experts. I need encounters at the level of my disciples. They should be the ones running around and getting an authentic Xianxia experience!'

This made sense to Han De. As such, he realized it was better to make a single Grand Array, preferably at Nascent Soul level. Or maybe one realm higher at most.

He could always place a few hundred thousand arrays and keep them hidden. Somehow. He didn't know how, but he could always figure it out. Probably.

'Actually… Formations, or Arrays, or whatever the locals call them, don't seem to affect me as much as Herbalism. Should I… Grandmaster them?'

Han De the Array Master secretly held his breath.

Recently, Han De had been indulging in many activities to keep himself busy. The busier his mind was, the less he would think about the connection of… certain stuff.

Another Black Chrysanthemum bloomed a few feet away.

'… Yes, it makes sense to grandmaster them. Yep.'

Han De ignored the second flower that appeared and concentrated on the System panels.

[Starfall Mountain Standard Formation Scripture (Mortal I)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Comprehension: Master]

'… Wait, now that it's completed, it has a quality? Mortal I?'

None of the other Standard Scriptures in the Utility category were completed, Han De had only comprehended all Formation Scriptures volumes in a moment of panic. Then he forgot to check the System description until that very moment.

'… Should I?'

A third flower bloomed. Han De decided to throw caution to the wind.

Besides, if he didn't test the effects of the scriptures, he wouldn't be able to do anything out of fear. Formation scriptures were a good testbed in that regard.

[Starfall Mountain Standard Formation Scripture requires 137 Profound Points to reach the Grandmaster level]

[Redeeming 8x Method Upgrade Token for 1600 Profound Points]

[Upgrade Complete]

[Profound Points: 497767 -> 495430 (-2137)]

[Starfall Mountain Standard Formation Scripture (Heaven-Defying III)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Comprehension: Grandmaster]

Han De the Array Grandmaster immediately frowned. The difference between now and just a few seconds earlier, was truly akin to the difference between heaven and earth!

'… I somehow don't have the urge to make arrays/formations…?'

Was the effect too weak, or was he not suited for the Dao of Arrays, and therefore subconsciously ignored them? Or could it be that he was overly cautious, and blew his expectations out of proportion?

'… Probably just not suited for arrays. Yeah, that should be it.'

In any case, Han De had gained quite a bit of insight. Hiding, nesting, building all kinds of arrays, he knew he could do it in a heartbeat. Such was the intuition and the accumulated experience of a Grandmaster.

'Actually…' A flash of ingenuity caused Han De to narrow his eyes. 'I don't need to rely on mortals, do I? Can't I just make an automated garden?'

Han De the Grandmaster Herbalist shook from his core! Of course! Why rely on unreliable things such as living beings?! Wouldn't an intricate array be able to provide the utmost care for any and all herbs?!

The potential consequences of this collaboration were far-reaching. It wasn't just herbs; the Dao of Arrays was infinitely flexible. Mass production of anything was possible!

As long as Han De was willing to spend some time on it.

A plan started to take shape in Han De's mind. The Black Chrysanthemums disappeared into nothingness in the meantime, but he was none the wiser.

<Peng.>

<Yes, young master.>

<I had ordered copies of all standard scriptures. Where are they?> Han De asked.

<Young master, the patriarch didn't allow the creation of copies, and instead gave you the Starfall Archives as a gift.>

The Patriarch could only mean his grandfather in this context. The old Vegeta always liked to be over the top. Han De couldn't help but smile at his grandfather's style.

A sect, naturally needed an archive! Han De had given it some thought on how to fill one, but with this gift, he didn't need to do anything!

<Bring it to me.> Han De ordered and closed the voice transmission.

In the meantime, the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced. Automation. That was the key. Probably.

Not industrialization. Not creating a rigged economy. Xianxia Automation.

'… Well, I suppose I would still want internet at some point. Sooo… I should still try to increase the level of technology. Just in case!'

Old Peng arrived on the outskirts of his spiritual sense much earlier than he expected. It was as if the trusty lackey was expecting the order!

Han De gave another +1 to Peng. And decided to tally the score one of these days.

"Young master." Old Peng bowed as he presented a storage ring. The design and insignia were similar to Han De's ring, but the two had some strange differences. Han De noticed his personal storage ring looked much more solid, and once he realized it was his Reality Sense doing that, he ignored the discrepancy as best he could.

'… Let's see, yes, that's the building, miniature-sized, but it really is the sect archives!'

Han De internally sighed as he took the building out. Just as he was wondering where to put it, the archive seemed to have sensed his presence. The energy within first swelled up, then receded, opening up an invisible path in its wake.

'Oh sh*t, does this thing have intelligence?'

Immediately, Han De consulted his "AI Containment and Eradication Protocol In Xianxia" series of plans. Though the established plans weren't as polished as he would've liked, it was enough for this circumstance, he decided.

'Ok, I can later either destroy it, or give it to one of my disciples, or preemptively free it before the intelligence fully established itself.'

Han De inwardly nodded and sent his spiritual sense inside. The proto-intelligence led him to the top floor of the archive, inside a room dimly lit by candlelight. Though for Han De's spiritual sense, the room was filled with complex energy lines.

As he began refinement of the archives, he deliberately used nurturing energies. The response was almost joyful, rather than what Han De feared.

Perhaps the archives didn't remember the cultivation idiot, after all. Or perhaps it was faking it! Either way, Han De tentatively put the building on his watch list!

Once the refinement was complete, Han De gained access to the inner workings of the archives.

'… There's a search function!?'

Han De truly didn't know whether to feel relieved or angry. Thankfully, he didn't waste too much time in the archives, and was able to find what he wanted thanks to (Xianxia) common sense, and secondhand MC luck.

But what about the disciples?!

Archive hours was a reward for them! It wasn't even a common reward! Even spending 2 hours inside was difficult for a Foundation Establishment disciple!

And they spent that time blindly looking around!

'…' Han De made another mental note to expose the search function to his disciples, then started browsing.

Though the building didn't look big from the outside, the spatial formations within were nothing to scoff at. As a newly minted Nascent Soul expert, with System certified Reality Sense cheat, Han De could already feel the vastness of the archives.

But, seeing, was believing.

'36 million scriptures? 410 million martial arts?! What the hell? Did those guys add 3 zeros to make it seem more impressive?!'

Thanks to his grandfather, Han De knew the truth of the Starfall Mountain Sect's origins. There wasn't any lofty history; the sect was only there because his grandfather liked the name. As such, the ridiculous number of scriptures looked highly suspect.

He concentrated on a random scripture name, and the archive immediately led his spiritual sense to its location. On the 6th floor, near the balcony, just above the Dao symbol that one could see from the 1st floor.

'Oh… So the space folds in on itself? That's actually neat. Huh… Is it safe though?'

Since this was concerning not only his own, but his disciples' safety as well, Han De narrowed his eyes and inspected the spatial structure. Though, even with his Reality Sense and Grandmaster Formation knowledge, it was virtually impossible to decipher what was happening.

'I guess it should be safe. Yeah, people have been using it for a long time. What could possibly go wrong? It's not like spatial curve could snap without warning, right?'

Although he was trying to reason, power of space, appeared to be increasingly more alien, which only served to heighten the danger factor in his mind. It didn't help that the Nascent Soul realm had limited access to it!

'Well, whatever. I can choose from here, and send someone in to "copy" the scripture, and comprehend through the copy. Easy-peasy. What was the name of that thing anyway? I wish I could statu-'

[Stone Fist of the Earth Dragon]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Roots: Earth]

[Notes: Requires 1 Profound Point(s) to comprehend at Grandmaster level.]

'-s check from… this… distance… What?'

Han De was only habitually using the status check function, knowing that it wouldn't work.

Truly, if one had a status function, why wouldn't they use it? Why would anyone not use it on everything?

It was a shame that Han De's status function had distance limits. And it was even more shame that it only displayed the status of people that had eligible cultivation realms to become his disciples. But Han De tried anyway.

'… Oh… System ignores… spatial formations? Wait, System, did you always do that? Is this something new?'

Unfortunately, there was no response.

'I guess I was never on the threshold of some load-bearing spatial formations? I always acted as if I was reading the scripture when I was in the archives, maybe that's why I didn't notice it?'

Han De stopped speculating about the status function, and started speculating on the scripture instead.

'The cost of comprehension does reduce when the scripture contains overlapping information with something I already know. But is it to this extent already? I don't know any martial art involving fists, and yet it still costs 1 point to Grandmaster the entire scripture.'

Was it something truly worthless? Han De wondered.

'Starfall Mountain Standard scriptures also costs 1 profound points, though they do have multiple volumes.'

Han De inwardly shook his head. This wasn't the time to investigate, idle speculation had to be enough.

After all, in a matter of hours, he was supposed to establish a sect!

'F#$%, I hope there isn't some sort of cerem- Actually, you know what. Let's not plant a flag.'

Han De's thoughts went back to his sub-objective, which was finding an MMO-Grade healing scripture. A (potentially) crucial power for leaving a lasting impact on his disciples. Especially on Yu Xian.

The ex-god-king may have become a disciple, but Han De was well aware of how he was being perceived. A(n arrogant) young master, relying on his family's power!

And that was 100% true! Why wouldn't Han De rely on his family for everything?! A Xianxia universe was a dangerous place!

The fact that Yu Xian's inner thoughts were so on point, made the Harem MC all the more dangerous. If the ex-god-king were to start hinting at this fact to the other disciples, the facade Han De worked so hard for would crumble, even if he kept up his act perfectly!

A show of power was warranted. Probably.

'Well, if the new sect needs to be an average Xianxia sect, some showmanship might be a good thing too. Let's look at it positively for a change…'

Han De immediately went into crisis evaluation mode. Many Xianxia scenarios entered his mind. What would a sect master do? How would they behave? He had given this extensive thought to such matters before, albeit from a different angle. But now that Han De decided to let his disciples experience the world of Xianxia, he had to be… flexible.

His thoughts ultimately converged on power. A sect master had to have power. Though Han De did have power, courtesy of the System, if it was up to him, he would never show it. He would go to extensive, beyond unreasonable lengths to avoid any personal intervention.

'… If I display overwhelming power, once… Just once…' Han De reasoned with himself. '… I won't need to show it ever again.'

In the end, he had to take action after all. Not for himself, but for (because of) his disciples! Han De sighed with resignation, but a tiny, infinitesimally tiny part of him, was secretly excited. This strange enthusiasm had to be hidden from Han De the Survivor, of course. Hence no one in the council of Han De's could notice it.

Another ominous flower bloomed near, and Han De diverted his thoughts in an instant.

'Let's see, can I just sort by healing scriptures?' The list in Han De's mind changed, hundreds of thousands of scriptures appeared. Element of a scripture no longer mattered, thanks to the modification feature of the System. But Han De still narrowed the list further by the Light element. There was no reason not to, since the Light element itself already had various healing properties, more so than other elements. Any difference at the level of "Extremely Weak" would be tiny.

The scripture count though, remained largely the same. Maybe 1/5th of it was gone at most. Han De started doubting whether the filter function was working correctly. Soon though, he noticed the vast majority of the scriptures resided in the sections with the heaviest defensive formations.

'… Did the old man give me the Han family inheritance?' A thought appeared in Han De's mind. 'Yes, it would make sense for grandfather to grab whatever he could to preserve the family's legacy.'

A cursory look confirmed his suspicions. The majority of all scriptures in the archive were in similarly restricted and hidden sections. They all shared a different script than what Han De was used to as well.

These scriptures were perhaps the only remaining written evidence of an entire universe, let alone the grandeur of the Han family. That made Han De fall into deep thought, with complex feelings that were difficult -if not impossible- to untangle. An entire universe was destroyed(?). Why couldn't it happen again?

With a sigh, he brought himself back. Then inspected the hidden sections' layout, and decided on starting at the deepest vault. He felt as if he were to give in to his desire to mull over, sooner or later his mind would go back to forbidden places.

A black chrysanthemum bloomed as Han De started the inspection then faded away as if it was never there.

Thankfully, the inherent physical properties of the Nascent Soul realm allowed him to finish in a matter of hours, rather than days. Close to ten thousand scriptures, Han De took just over two hours to "evaluate."

Of course, Han De could not read them since they were written in an alien script with an alien language. But even if he could, he wouldn't. To Han De, his only gauge of power was the Profound Point cost!

There had to be some reason that one scripture would be more expensive than the other, right? Even if the cost itself had no direct relation to the scripture's power, Han De would still learn the most expensive scripture he could!

[Nine Void Illuminating Star Scripture (Mortal III)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Stage: Up to Transcendent Realm]

[Roots: Light Element]

[Notes: Primitive body, soul, and vital essence restoration scripture. Requires 46 Profound Point(s) to learn.]

'Huh, this is the only one with quality above Mortal I, and it is the most expensive one.'

Han De remembered his grandfather mentioning his illusion scripture, and how it was a more simplified version of what his grandmother used. Considering the Han family history, this scripture could have some history too. That felt… fitting. Somehow.

[Nine Void Illuminating Star Scripture (Heaven-Defying III)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Comprehension: Grandmaster]

[Stage: Nascent Soul (1/3)]

[Profound Points: 495430 -> 493584 (-1846)]

'I kinda want to test this, but I also don't want to test it…'

To test a healing scripture, one had to heal something. Obviously. Han De wasn't willing to hurt himself, or others, just to test!

'Alright, I'll do it live. I still have a one-trick healing spell anyway. I can rely on that if anything goes wrong.'

Han De the Healer -who was just upgraded- felt the urge to get into a heated argument. But he realized he would have to perform in a short time anyway, and wisely stayed silent. His anticipation was contagious, and almost palpable.

'Hmm. Not bad, the rest of the healing scriptures' cost got reduced to almost nothing. The next most expensive one costs only 2 now.

'The only thing remaining now is a sealing scripture.'

There were many things to learn, many gaps in his Xianxia scripture repertoire, but Han De focused on the essentials. And since he only needed a sealing scripture to show off, and hide to the involvement of his lackeys (if need be), he didn't need to search far and wide.

[Starfall Mountain Standard Sealing Scripture Volume 1]

[Notes: Contains extremely limited knowledge about basic sealing techniques. Includes surface-level knowledge of 17173 combinations of restriction algorithms, 9108 combinations of counter-restriction algorithms, 339 combinations of counter-counter restriction algorithms, 56 combinations of counter-counter-counter restriction algorithms, 49 fundamental theorems of restrictions. Requires 1 Profound Point(s) to comprehend at Grandmaster level.]

The numbers and their contents made Han De's eyes glaze over. If he were to really evaluate the scripture itself, Han De knew he would probably never comprehend it. Rather than suffering self-inflicted anxiety, he chose to soldier on with ignorance. Sealing techniques were fundamental to hiding the involvement of his more powerful lackeys. And thus, essential to his Powerful Sect Leader persona.

[Starfall Mountain Standard Sealing Scripture (Heaven-Defying III)]

[Power: Extremely Weak]

[Comprehension: Grandmaster]

[Profound Points: 493584 -> 490575 (-3009)]

The result was satisfactory, though it still left Han De dissatisfied!

'F#$% this. I really should just get my lackeys to compile all volumes into one. I don't want to comprehend 618 individual volumes ever again. This is the last time!'

After shaking his head, Han De tentatively reviewed both healing and sealing scriptures, wondering what kind of effect they would have on him in the future. For now though, he felt content not getting sudden urges to heal or seal!

For the next 5 hours, Han De reviewed, re-reviewed, and made alternate versions of his "Sect Establishment in a Cinch" series of plans. Then he re-re-reviewed them once more. But Han De realized that wasn't enough. More contingency plans were necessary, clearly.

Personal intervention was a possibility that he had considering months ago, when he faced the random MC during Ning Bi's tournament event. Only now, Han De realized how unprepared he was.

He called the scout and got detailed descriptions of the landscape once more. Then he dived into the cultivation levels of the locals once again. Double and triple checking he had already done, but quintuple or sextuple checking, those would never prove to be harmful, right?

After two hours of intense debriefing (definitely not an interrogation), he felt reasonably convinced. And another two hours of fierce deliberations later, the council of Han De's felt reasonably satisfied. Reasonably, was the operative word of course.

'… This…' In a moment of self-awareness induced by his strong survival instincts, Han De felt stunned at his own recklessness. 'No, it makes sense, yeah. If I don't do this, there won't be any opportunities to teach them common sense.' Han De took a deep breath, using every bit of his sensibility to convince himself. 'Yes, I have a bunch of nuclear weapons with me; everything will be fine. If not, I will make it fine, one way or another.'

The plan was a rush job still, but it would have to do! Han De couldn't lock his disciples up until he came up with a perfect plan, after all.

'… Wait, what if I enter a cultivation realm? Wouldn't I have even more time then?!'

The thought… was difficult to ignore.

But. That would be seen as Han De entering closed-door seclusion, without a doubt! If Han De was the cultivation idiot, his grandfather would be a seclusion maniac. The connection was just too strong, there would be no other way to spin it.

Even worse, if anybody asked in the presence of Liang Cuifen the Lie Detector, could Han De's reputation come out unscathed?

Everyone would simply think that he made a last-second breakthrough. Which was a reasonable assumption, since Han De really did make last second breakthrough via the System. But the truth would certainly lessen the impact of his plans! He had to appear to be casually "fighting" to protect his Profound Master (A through G) image.

Han De closed his eyes and reviewed his plans one last time, hoping that he wouldn't do or say anything that would tip Liang Cuifen off about how many plans he made.