157. Master in His Natural Habitat

About an hour later, Han De finally saw his disciples leave the sect through one of the secret exits.

He couldn't help but shake his head. 'What kind of an idiot would lace their escape routes with spiritual power? Seriously...' He inwardly chuckled.

It was easy to notice gaps within solid matter through a powerful enough spiritual sense. Locals would obviously want to hide these secret exits, and the most obvious way would be to rely on some form of spiritual power to lower their presence.

Of course, no one could guess that a Nascent Soul realm cultivator would have something called Reality Sense. No one, except Han De. And now that he was reminded what a monumental security mistake it would be to use the naive approach, he could feel a headache coming.

He made a mental note to explore all available options before implementing his own secret tunnels. Something as important as that, could never be left to chance!

Not that he needed some secret tunnels when he had a Transcendent Realm lackey, of course. But Han De still wanted it! The utility of a "secret" escape route was simply too valuable to pass on!

Han De took a few steps and arrived near his disciples, who were leading the captives outside. Were they captives? Or could they be some sort of sacrifice? The most likely explanation in Han De's mind was that they were experimental subjects. Still, he didn't mind not knowing.

"Master." Ning Bi gave a Dao salute, soon followed by others. ""Master.""

Han De slowly gazed at the experimental subjects. Most of the were still inside tunnels, being still herded by Yao Qing. The beads that he condensed seemed to restore their condition significantly, which made Han De the Grandmaster Healer smile; the first debut was a resounding success.

Of course, Han De noticed the zombie-like behavior of the experimental subjects. From a cursory look, none of them had soul damage of any kind, not serious ones at least. Han De the Grandmaster Illusionist guessed that this was trauma, rather than the influence of a spiritual spell.

Han De silently watched the experimental subjects emerge from the secret tunnel. Once Yao Qing emerged, he calmly spoke. "This is the reality of demonic cultivators, those who seek to gain power through any means necessary. Remember it well."

He started condensing his Qi once again, and in no time the blinding light within his hands exploded into a thousand particles, each one embedding itself in one of the experimental subjects. Truthfully, the "light" part was simply an illusion, the energies of the Twilight Phantasm scripture didn't need to be visible. But Han De was a firm believer in the proverb 'Seeing is Believing.'

"Healing bodies is but a simple trick. But minds..." Han De paused for effect, then lightly shook his head. "I shall seal their memories of the horrors they have experienced. But the scars will still remain. Their recovery will be slow, but they will recover."

The precursor was complete, and he started condensing a more thorough treatment in the background.

His eyes caught Liang Cuifen's subtle squirming, along with rapid eye movement. Han De looked at her with a smile. "Are you wondering why am I not using more direct methods?" After seeing a small, but firm nod of hers, Han De instantly gave himself a +1.

He was actually desperately hoping that either Liang Cuifen or Yu Xian would take the bait and ask!

Han De the Grandmaster Illusionist took the reins. "Invoking feelings is a trivial matter, yes. So are implanting memories, beliefs, even personalities. The appearance of a functional mortal, is but a trifle." Han De nodded, regretting not having a Wuxia beard to stroke for additional effect. "But, as you well know, appearances can be deceiving."

Han De paused once more, and his disciples fell into deep thought. Yu Xian in particular, almost frowned, as he thought that the last sentence could be targeted at himself. After a second thought though, he was convinced that it was just a coincidence. If the higher beings could somehow detect his little hammer, they wouldn't have left him alone, he had already concluded beyond any doubt.

'... Hmm, they bought into this more than I thought they would.' Han De evaluated their expressions while giving them a no-look look. The confidence of his inner grandmaster soared.

"Consciousness... is more than the sum of its parts." He let the sentence linger for a moment as he gazed at the survivors. Despite the drastic change of light, none of the recently freed captives were even squinting their eyes. None of them seemed to be aware of what was happening.

With a picture-perfect flick of his sleeve, Han De created illusory clothing to replace the rotting rags on their bodies. Although he could see through the illusions, these period-accurate clothes looked and felt real to others. Not to mention the fact that they were tougher than real clothing, and would last much longer as well! Another win for Han De the Grandmaster Illusionist!

Then, he slightly nodded a few times, his eyes glancing around the timid and unresponsive former captives. "Take one part and replace it, to make them happy again, to make them appear normal again, yes that can work. They will thrive and prosper, by using the replacement as a foundation. And when that foundation fades away..." Han De looked sideways at his disciples. "Everything that they are will crumble."

This was both true and false at the same time. Han De's Primordial Light Qi was tough enough to last a human's lifetime. But such techniques could always be removed by 3rd parties or random Xianxia events. Still, thanks to Han De's cautious nature, it was more truth than falsehood, and as such, it did not produce a physical response from Liang Cuifen. Han De noted this development.

At the same time, just thinking of mental manipulation of such extent, sent shivers down the spine of Han De the Grandmaster Illusionist! In the vast universe of Xianxia, this, was easily in Han De's top 5 most horrific deaths. In fact, Han De was quite thankful for Reality Sense's anti-illusion properties, because of the temptation of turning on the pleasure center of his brain, permanently... he had serious doubts that he could resist it.

"Take more parts, make them more resilient, replace everything one by one. Make them better!" Han De dramatically watched the Primordial Light Qi slowly accumulate on his left hand. "But, would that even be the same person?" When the light in his hand became bright enough to consume his silhouette, Han De released his Twilight Phantasm Scripture.

Horrific memories of the captives -whether related to this incident or not- he completely sealed them. A temporary limiter appeared to reduce the stress hormones in the short term. Mind healing techniques latched themselves to the damaged parts of their brains. A faint structure made of Primordial Light Qi to regulate the brain's hormone levels and gradually fade away. These were all techniques to deal with long-term mental illusions with a high time dilation factor, but they were surprisingly versatile.

Finally, he also placed a veil on them to make their consciousness recede, both to aid in their recovery, and to keep the identities of his disciples anonymous, at least for a while.

"Punishment for the wicked, and relief for the victim." Han De finished. He truly didn't care what would happen to an evil of demonic caliber, he came to realize. Was he always like that? He couldn't even tell. But he took solace from the fact that he did care about the victims. He cared enough to feel indescribable anger for the demonic path whenever he looked at the former captives.

Han De brushed away the unsettling feeling deep within and spoke. "Peng."

Old Peng was high above, and he couldn't hear what Han De said, let alone appear instantaneously. But where his cultivation failed, Xin Meili filled in. The trusty lackey appeared 10 steps behind Han De, bowing. "Yes, young master!" He said with his baritone voice, devoid of any perceivable weakness.

"Establish a village outside the new sect boundaries." Han De ordered. "These people can stay there for as long as they need or want."

"By your order, young master!"

Han De nodded slightly to show his satisfaction, then turned to his disciples. "We are not mindless cultivators that ignore the plight of the weak, nor are we saints that sacrifice ourselves for others. When you can help, help. Help to make them stand on their own feet. Do not forget this."

""Yes, master."" The disciples bowed in unison. Their expressions seemed relaxed, but thoughtful. Han De nodded to himself. This was the first event, and after about 280 or so, he was confident that he could instill in them the basics of a Xianxia universe.

After that, it was all about repetition.

Of course, this training was for his disciples, with Yu Xian being the exception. The ex-god-king's face was a perfect description of neither servile nor overbearing. But now that Han De found a utility for the harem protagonist, he didn't mind his antics at all. Rather, he found them endearing instead!

As long the harem tendencies of the MC were kept away from his disciples, of course.

With a thin smile, Han De enveloped his disciples with the Qi from Through the Starlight. This time though, Han De couldn't feel any joy from the profoundness of this technique.

In silence, they passed the threshold where the thick forest blanket gave way to tall mountains. Even seeing the clouds gently caressing the tall cliffs couldn't slow down Han De's heartbeat.

The location they reached was one Han De had meticulously chosen. The data from the Dao Sovereign realm scout was quite extensive, clearly a testament to the power of higher realms. As such, Han De didn't mind spending a few of his precious hours finding the most optimum Xianxia sect establishment location.

But now, his preparations couldn't bring any solace to Han De. His entire body felt tense with the expectation of his longest battle yet.

As they set foot on the base of a valley, the disciples noticed how the air quality changed. For Liang Cuifen, it became easier to breathe in an inexplicable way. For Yao Qing, it was the clue of a naturally occurring Qi formation.

Beyond the valley, Treebeard saw eight tall mountains, forming a familiar structure. Though he didn't possess the senses of an Immortal Realm expert anymore, he could tell this place could be superior to Starfall Mountain, if developed well.

Han De took a step forward. The true war, was upon him!

He reviewed his rough plan of action once more.

Build the sect gate with the sect name on it.

Plant the standard of the sect (with the sect name on it) in the middle of the sect.

Construct the sect hall (with the sect name on it).

Declare the establishment of the sect. Once with a whisper, once normal voice, and once with a shout.

Build an outer wall and display the banners of the sect (with the sect name on it).

Send declaration texts (with the sect name on it) to nearby sects, cities, and dynasties.

Get local sects to send congratulations - forcefully if necessary.

Put up fliers (with the sect's name on them) in nearby cities, proclaiming the existence of the sect (a second time).

Hold a banquet, and have local sects make formal greetings (have them recite the sect name in full).

Let the disciples enter an existing one, or hold a Xianxia tournament in the name of the sect. Collect sect disciples, have them recite the sect allegiance pledge twice a day.

Get the nearby mortal dynasties to pledge allegiance to the sect and make them celebrate the sect's establishment every year.

Get local sects to pledge allegiance, make them celebrate the sect's establishment with an annual martial event.

Increase coverage every two years.

??????

Panic Button: Get the Transcendent ruler of this realm to acknowledge the sect, celebrate the sect's existence, and pledge allegiance, in that order.

Panic Button 2: Use a higher being to make the sect's name heard across 999 realms. Make those realms subsidiary if necessary.

Last Resort: Negotiate with the higher ruler of the heavens. Somehow.

Though Han De didn't know if this much was enough to get the System to recognize the sect, he still had some time on his hands.

[Time Remaining: 4.99417 years]

It was going to be close, but he was going to try everything he could! Even if that meant adding more Last Resort options, he did not mind! Failure meant double Privilege level strikes after all. Whatever that meant, Han De had no idea; this was the System after all. It was certain that nothing good would come out of a failure penalty!

Han De conjured the most quintessential Xianxia gate image in his mind. Four pillars, with the sect name held up high within the inner two. He was already planning to upgrade the sect gates as he built up the sect, so for now he chose a simple look and made everything from stone. Of course, it wasn't real stone, but illusory stone, which was a deliberate decision in one of his sub-plans. Later, he would (secretly) come back and redo the ceremony with real materials.

'Here we go.'

The Qi of the Wandering Mirage manifested as black and white mist first, then condensed into two types of stone. One pearly white, and the other pitch black, both swirling in harmony. The name "Imperium of Chaos" above had a slight illusory suggestion in it as well, courtesy of the Twilight Phantasm scripture. The final touch came from his Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture, where Han De embedded his own aura, to make anyone directly looking at the name feel as if they were about to be cut in half!

Truly, this was the bare minimum expected of a Xianxia sect! Han De hurriedly suppressed his enthusiastic grin and turned to his disciples. "From now on, you are the disciples of the Imperium of Chaos." He spoke with a heavy tone, then continued without giving his disciples a chance to respond. "Ning Bi, Yao Qing, Jin Shu, you three will be the core elders in the account of your cultivation. You may accept disciples, should they fulfill the criteria of the sect."

""Yes, master."" The three girls bowed.

"Treebeard, Liang Cuifen, Yu Xian, you three will be reserve elders until your cultivation improves. Work hard."

""Yes, master."" The second trio too, bowed deeply.

Han De gave a satisfied nod well within the parameters of the Profound Teacher Template A, but inside, he was quite moved. Just five months ago from his perspective, he was eating a burrito while browsing for a new novel to read. In that five months, he ended up establishing a Xianxia sect! He felt the urge to slap himself, just to make sure that this wasn't a dream. But he decided not to, just in case it was a dream!

[Quest Complete!]

[Congratulations!]

[Notes: You have established an independent sect inside the weakest region, of the weakest kingdom, of the weakest continent, of the weakest world, of the weakest cluster, of the weakest galaxy, of the weakest super-cluster, of the weakest universe, of the weakest reality, of the weakest plane, and assigned adequate amount of disciples as core elders.]

[Quest Reward: Sect Management System]

[Warning: Sect Management System (Resolved: B35L7...Z84E4 V3.914.1a) has incompatible dependencies with Unrivaled Master System (Resolved: 00000...00000 V0 CL: 3516961)]

[Considering options...]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[Suitable option found]

[Warning: Insufficient privilege level to confirm preservation of modules]

[...]

[Success: Sect Management System (Resolved: B35L7...Z84E4 V3.914.1a) has been dismantled]

[Time Taken: 0.0000000001 seconds]

[Privilege level upgrade secondary requirements met]

[Bonus Reward: Sect Management Interface]

'... What?' At first Han De thought he was dreaming. Despite the gravity of his current situation, he blinked a few times just to make sure that the blue panel was really there, and that he wasn't seeing things. He even tried to make sure it wasn't an illusion of sorts by relying on his Reality sense. But to his surprise, though the blue background was somewhat transparent as always, the text itself was completely solid. It was a regular System panel; not a dream, or a sign that he was losing his mind. Probably.

'Seriously? It really is complete?' Even though he had >99% confidence in the accuracy of the blue panel, Han De inwardly continued doubting. 'Just like that?'

A few moments passed as Han De read over the whole thing twice. 'Looks like the System intercepted the reward?' Why or how, Han De decided not to question. The important part was that his sect was recognized by the System. There was even a reward this time, that was more than enough.

It took Han De a solid moment to come down from his war mode. All those plans... were now useless. Which was the best-case scenario without a doubt. He decided to take a moment later and properly appreciate this development!

Han De glanced at the almost pillar-like mountains. "Each of you will take one peak." He said Profoundly, mostly out of habit. "Your first training is to learn how to be self-sufficient. You will find food yourselves, cook, and clean yourselves. And you will build your dwelling yourselves. None of you are allowed to use your cultivations for these tasks, for a week."

""Yes, Master.""

Seeing his disciples respond in unison, Han De gave an affirmative "Nn" sound before leaving.

He had a lot of work to do!

Meanwhile, the disciples looked at each other with various thoughts. The silence that lasted for some time was broken by Ning Bi. "I'll help you!" She said while looking at Liang Cuifen. This was a given, since, she was the most senior disciple! And Liang Cuifen was the weakest among them. A natural smile started to form in the corners of her lips.

"Help?" Muttered Yu Xian while shaking his head.

"Master wants us to rely on each other." Ning Bi responded. Her master really did say so, not once but twice.

Naturally, she remembered every single word or sound that her master had ever uttered!

The very idea though seemed ridiculous to Yu Xian. "How can you be self-sufficient if you rely on others?" He rolled his eyes and started walking to the sect, unaware of how Ning Bi's smile froze in the background.

Yu Xian really did walk away, thinking that none of the other disciples could see his faint smirk. Inwardly though, he was rather surprised with himself. Why did he even argue with that girl? She was an enthusiastic child, he had understood that during their first encounter when she made a compelling case for her 'warglaives.' There was no need to create rifts with other disciples, especially now that he was certain how unstable their master really was.

Still, Yu Xian continued walking away, with his smirk transforming into a mild frown from the disappointment of his own behavior. While walking toward the farthest peak, he evaluated his own mood, and the effects that his new body had on his psyche. He did not notice Ning Bi's gaze from behind, and he wouldn't even bat an eye even if he did.

Perhaps though, Yu Xian not looking behind was a good thing. For him of course. What if his eyes met with Ning Bi's? Yao Qing questioned in her mind. The little girl's thoughts were sometimes predictable to a worrying degree, but once in a while... Once in a while, she was something else.

"Um, thank you." Liang Cuifen filled in the void, perhaps feeling uncomfortable with the eerie silence. "I... know how to fish, but, I don't know how to... make..." Her words came to a complete stop once Ning Bi met her gaze. Those fiery red eyes, were glowing ominously? Liang Cuifen blinked, and the little girl's eyes were normal once again. Still glowing, but not as ominously. Probably.

"Our village used to get frequent rains so I helped around whenever I could." Ning Bi said while lightly tapping her chest, clearly a gesture to put Liang Cuifen at ease. The latter was reminded of the fact that this little girl was actually in the Core Formation realm. Which was one realm below their master. Perhaps she really did now?

Being curious, Liang Cuifen asked. "Used to?"

"One day rain just stopped." Said Ning Bi with shrug. It really had happened one day! And the seasonal floods were gone, just like that.

"We seemed to have missed the rain season by a slight margin." Said Treebeard, looking at the sky and taking in the smell of soil. He didn't need to rely on his spiritual power to determine the weather after living for over a thousand years.

Jin Shu though, wondered if her bloodline counted as her cultivation base. She was sure that she could argue her case, but, she saw Yao Qing's gaze, slightly shaking her head. Jin Shu clicked her tongue and joined others in their walk.

The sect grounds were unexpectedly large. The size of the mountains had a misleading effect on their sense of distance. After an hour of walking, they were nowhere near the center!

Yao Qing's eyes saw Yu Xian from far away, still walking, though his gait seemed slightly unstable. Which was an expected result considering the density of the spiritual energy. "Why not take a break?" Yao Qing threw the question. "There is plenty of fish in this river." She continued.

Liang Cuifen raised her head instantly. The moment she heard the word "fish," the world seemed a little bit brighter. She looked at others to see their reaction, perhaps expecting some opposition, but everyone seemed to agree.

Then, the world seemed darker once more. She realized it was just a shadow this time, rather than her hunger. Seeing the others look at something behind though, she turned around. Rather than a cloud blocking the sun, it was a floating mountain, moving at a speed neither fast nor slow. In the span of a few breaths, the mountain was cut into two large and two small pieces, then placed around the opposite perimeter of the sect. There was no sound, nor any vibrations. Disciples would've missed it had they continued their path.

Treebeard took a deep breath. "The spiritual energy feels richer." He said with closed eyes.

"Master is making a natural array," said Jin Shu. What they saw couldn't make an instant impact on their environment of course, but it became obvious that what they witnessed wasn't the first piece. "Higher spiritual energy will make it harder for you." She spoke toward Liang Cuifen and Treebeard, but mostly meant the former. "But this way, simply moving around will improve your physique and cultivation."

Was the spiritual energy really higher? Liang Cuifen couldn't tell. Still, it was obvious that an hour-long walk shouldn't leave her this tired! "But why wasn't it like this in that place though?" She asked. "The ship I mean."

Treebeard suddenly opened his eyes. The question seemed unimportant, but in hindsight, it was something he should've noticed.

"Because the celestial ship of the Long family had its own natural laws. You only felt spiritual energy appropriate for your cultivation." Yao Qing answered. In truth, she was just guessing. It was an educated guess of course, but the difference was enough for someone to notice. The statement was mostly accurate, save for the last part of the first sentence.

* * *

An hour ago, right after Han De left his disciples.

'Alright, Peng is settling the captives to a village 100km away. Not bad. It's a physical village too, not made of illusions. Excellent. The odds of having a potential MC there isn't non-zero after all. Crippled Qi Condensation disciples are also getting compensated, though their memories should be wiped first...'

Should he be the one to do that? Han De wondered. He was worried about divinations (as anybody would, in his opinion) but anyone that could divine a high cultivation master's involvement would be another high cultivation master. Considering he had at least seven lackeys with overkill cultivations, perhaps doing so didn't matter.

To be on the safe side, he decided to refer to his flow charts. Unfortunately, the result wasn't as clear-cut as he had hoped.

'I should make Peng do a preliminary analysis on whether there are any anomalies among them. If there are any, I could do it on my own. No need to get cocky when it comes to MC or MC-adjacent topics.'

Han De nodded to himself and gave the order to Peng. If an MC proved to be too elusive for trusty Peng's nose and became a problem later, that would belong to another series of plans.

After going over his checklist thrice, Han De took in a deep breath as he Profoundly Looked Below. He wasn't acting for anyone, he just wanted to act profoundly only for himself!

In any case, it was good to keep up his act at all times to make a second nature out of it. Probably.

'... Isn't there too many mountains and peaks?' Was his first thought. For camouflage purposes, it may not be a bad idea, but he had already decided on a classic sect, rather than a Hidden one.'

The massacre he committed an hour ago had already left Han De's mind. Demonic cultivators of the suffering-oriented type, were less than animals, or insects, only fit to be exterminated without mercy; an acceptance that Han De didn't know he reached.

'... I wonder if there's a construction scripture in the archives. This is going to take a long time if I can't rely on illusions.'

Higher level Qi could also be used to manifest objects. Not illusive ones, or temporary ones. However, would they be counted as illusions by his Reality Sense? The answer was uncertain, and Han De's Nascent Soul realm Qi wasn't up to the task anyway. So he shelved that line of thought.

'First thing's first.' He took a sharp breath, to psyche himself up! 'I can't grow a spiritual garden with this much variance in spiritual winds. I'll need a passive array to gather and contain spiritual energy...'

Han De the Array Grandmaster's eyes shone brightly. All manner of possibilities appeared in his mind. Although without actual treasures of certain Qi characteristics, the arrays themselves wouldn't be as robust, Han De's Primordial Light Qi was still suitable for a temporary array.

'S#$%, what if...' Han De facepalmed for missing something obvious. His inner swordsman was absentmindedly staring at the mountains, wondering if he should cut a few just for the sake of it. In the defense of Han De the Grandmaster Swordsman, these pillar-like mountains really looked like they were meant to be cut!

The logistics seemed rather troublesome, and that was the prime reason for Han De's reluctance. But an offer made by Han De the Grandmaster Sealer came just in time.

'... I can seal its mass.' Han De abruptly opened his eyes. The standard sealing scriptures could in fact, seal the natural laws, space among them. The energy consumption would linearly scale with the amount of mass, but he didn't need to make those mountains float anyway. He just needed to gently place them in different locations. Gently was the operative word, because he did not want to disturb the local wildlife too much.

Then, another realization hit Han De. 'Oh. Oh S#$%. This is how they make stuff float, isn't it? Well, at least in lower realms I suppose...'

Han De wanted to check his flow charts once again, but he knew he didn't have one for this scenario. It was quite understandable, and eye-opening at the same time. Why wouldn't a Xianxia sect do something with a random mountain? Slice it, dice it, float it, a mountain was truly a no-brainer way to establish a sect.

Testing had to be commenced at once, therefore Han De traveled some distance away to try. Considering the location and angle of his first cut, he chose a smaller peak to the east. Sects A through C were more than a thousand kilometers away in that direction. Perhaps a good cut could both be a warning and a tourist attraction.

'... I could also make it a mission location or something.' Han De made a special note of this, and then operated his Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture at full force, using every available technique known to his Grandmaster level comprehension, he made a diagonal cut. His Qi went clean through as if there was nothing. The connection between the peak and the sliced part was gone, he could sense it clearly. Yet the peak wasn't moving.

'I guess I can't expect it to cleanly slide off like a cartoon or something.' He shook his head with a smile.

He made another slice, but this time at an 80-degree angle, choosing a relatively heavier top section. The lower and thinner sections cracked, giving way to the top side to finally "slide" with a heavy rumble. Han De activated his sealing scripture before the velocity of the cutoff piece increased, and just like that, he had a huge boulder floating away from the mountain peak.

'Wow, the consumption is really... Manageable? I can float this piece for a good while, but for a mountain, it should be manageable in short bursts.'

Moving was the easiest part, as he only needed to tap into the power of Through the Starlight scripture. It didn't matter if it was slow, since the boulder itself didn't have (valid) mass anyway. The interaction though, felt weird. Han De's Grandmaster knowledge theorized the problem on the spot, and he concentrated on his test once more.

Han De gently lowered the boulder. Considering it still had his aura from the cut, he reckoned he didn't need to do something about the wildlife below. And true enough, his Nascent Soul eyes could see a wide variety of critters running away. Han De's eyes gaze didn't leave the piece even after it landed on the ground. Like his tests on Yu Xian's tutorial planet, he once again witnessed his own power, in terms that he could relate to as a human from Earth.

'Maybe I am not using my cultivation enough...' His thoughts trailed off for a moment. But soon, firm rejection came back. 'I just wiped off a sect from the face of the planet, or whatever this place is called. Isn't that enough?'

Though it was Han De that posed the question, Han De himself couldn't answer it. Maybe he didn't feel threatened enough by the inhabitants, and his inner desires were leaking, making him act out. This was a dangerous path, so Han De made five different mental notes for later. But even then, he still couldn't answer the question.

He shook his head in the end and activated the Profound Master A mode. 'That's enough meandering. I should just get on with it.'

His spiritual garden wasn't going to build itself.

Not every mountain could become a part of a natural array of course. So first, Han De flew (walked) high up in the sky to create a plan of attack. At this range, his spiritual sense could barely pick up the composition of the mountains. Barely, as in he could only sense the rough amount of mass in them. Too much or too little, and they would imbalance the spiritual energy flow.

'With these sizes, I'll need at least... 32? Damn, that's going to take a long time.' According to his calculations, he could place at most 2 with his remaining spiritual energy. Cutting was easy; the trick was in placing them correctly.

Han De chose appropriate pieces and placed mental marks for their location. For the first move of the gathering array, he chose a practical stroke. Something that would protect the balance, rather than increase the amount and quality. Then the subsequent 31 strokes would build and enhance, with the sect grounds being the perfect eye of the storm.

In essence, he was creating low a spiritual energy pressure zone in the middle by forcing the free Qi flow to follow a certain way. From then on, an active spiritual gathering array's job would be far simpler, and far more efficient.

Like before, cuts were the easy parts. Though of course, this time he didn't leave his aura behind; there was just no need to. Five slices divided the mountain into five. One big, two small, and two medium-sized pieces. The energy consumption from his sealing scripture was just as high as he expected, though there was an 8% increase due to organic matter on top of the mountain.

Ten minutes was enough to land everything perfectly in place. Han De could feel the spiritual winds change direction just from the clash generated by the mountain pieces seeped with spiritual energy.

'I got about 22% left. If I leave 10% as buffer I could move another one I bet.'

Perhaps due to seeing the results of his labor, Han De felt strangely motivated. He even decided to cultivate on the spot to restore his spiritual energy reserves to a sane 25% minimum. Just so he could make progress!

'Who would've thought I would take pleasure from manual labor...' Han De thought with a smile.

Technically speaking, it really was manual labor. From his perspective at least. If spiritual energy was an extension of his own strength, then what he was doing was really certified Xianxia manual labor! Technically speaking.

Half an hour later, despite having beads of sweat trickling down his forehead, Han De felt fully content, in ways more than one. Cutting down literal mountains, perhaps this was the most Xianxia thing he had ever done. And with a little luck, the "bricks" he had placed around would stay there, even after he left this planetary fragment.

Perhaps in time, a new sect would settle in, and discover the remains of Han De's sect.

The thought itself was simply too enticing! Han De decided to bury random scriptures in random spots, just so he could participate in this Xianxia cycle. He even considered creating burial grounds just for this purpose, but he realized it would be putting cart before the horse.

He decided to check in on his disciples. Surprisingly, he spotted Yu Xian alone, trekking through the landscape toward the farthest mountain. Han De shook his head at the god-king's antics. He was about to observe the others, but he almost felt a strange sensation. At the current distance, Yu Xian wasn't visible at all to his naked Nascent Soul eyes. His spiritual sense was picking him up, but it was only surface-level information. And yet, he could tell that the harem MC was cultivating.

Han De didn't feel that he was an expert, not really. He knew how to move spiritual energy through certain meridians, and he knew how to absorb and how to expel. To him, that was the extent of his knowledge, the rest were variations of the same theme.

Except for Yu Xian, and whatever the hell he cultivated! Han De could tell the ex-god-king was under considerable pain. He was overloading his meridians somehow by his sheer will. Absolute madness, in his eyes, probably to adhere to some obscure verse that told him "how to" feel pain. He didn't think watching someone cultivate would be so frustrating!

And now, he also needed to prepare punishment! How would he even punish a god-king, without incurring future troubles?! He tried to in the past, in a moment of weakness, and harem S#$% actually thanked him! To his face! In front of Liang Cuifen! And it wasn't a lie!

'F#$%, now I know how those side characters felt when they met a shameless MC. Holy F#$%&@# S#$% F#$% those kind of MCs...'

Han De pushed the brainstorming session for Yu Xian's punishment to a later date. Instead, he tried to reason, and give actually valid advice, from one (fake) transmigrator to another. He sent a voice transmission.

<There will come a time when even your cultivation base will disappear.>

He observed the harem protagonist pause, perhaps he was saying something, perhaps he was overthinking something else entirely. Han De gave one more sentence. If he still cultivated after that, the punishment would have to be really... really creative.

<You didn't have a cultivation a few days ago...>

He moved his attention toward the five others. They were fishing, with spears, and... rope? Did they carry ropes? Actually, Han De was fine with them putting in rope in their storage rings. Ropes were cool, they could be used in a variety of situations. But did they use their storage rings? He somehow doubted that. Surely, they wouldn't even think of trying to use... sophistry... right?

'Holy S#$% they actually might...' Han De's eyes became unfocused. Sophistry, was the bread and butter of all Xianxia, not even remotely exclusive to MCs.

'No no, I would expect it from Yu Xian, but not from the girls, or Treebeard.'

He could, of course, focus his spiritual sense and take a look. That was always an option. But his disciples were now at the Core Formation realm. They could detect, or at least tell something was wrong, if Han De tried to sneak a peek into the nature of the rope. Asking his lackeys to do it was too embarrassing, and so was making a divination for it.

Despite that, Han De found himself smiling. His disciples, were doing disciple things! Going against their master, trying to find holes in the rules, that too, was part of a disciple-master relationship arc.

'Let's see where these things will go...' He sighed, audibly, profoundly.