Chapter 5

Imperial Yee Palace, Li Wan Province, Planet Terra

Third Princess Lunalah, Two Hundred and Fifty-Seventh heir to the Imperial Yee Dynasty, studied the Qi-infused tablet hovering before her while sitting in lotus position upon her gilded throne. Hovering about her, six jade urns, each filled with the remnants of ancient artifacts centuries old, circled her body slowly, constantly imbuing her with their essence. She cycled her Qi through them, refining the Qi further through her meridians before feeding it slowly to the secondary soul found deep within the solid core of her Dantian.

She did so without thinking, her abilities now so advanced that she could cultivate passively while her present mind focused on something else. In this case, the Qi tablet hovering before her, now held her attention. Across its marbled surface, charts and figures from the latest commerce reports flashed by as she mentally scrolled through its contents.

She was not impressed by what she saw.

"Arrival figures have decreased again this month, explain."

Through ornate windows, the first rays of dawn spilled onto the jade-infused marble of the imperial throne room floor. Seated on ornate cushions upon it, the six members of her imperial cabinet looked towards her with apprehension. Her question was directed at Wui Lang, the Minister of Commerce.

The tan-skinned Dharmian was thin even for his lanky race, his back—arched from decades of inactivity as a scholar—seeming to only emphasize the fact. Besides that, he was near indistinguishable from a human, appearing as a man in his middle years. His gray-streaked hair was grown long and pinned in a topknot, but his beard was shorn short and dyed red, as was the custom of his people. It was something Lunalah prided herself on—to allow for small semblances of indigenous cultures to coexist within their own. Diversity made for a more interesting tapestry to behold.

"Your majesty," he said in his frail and quivering voice. "Despite the subsidies you have graciously afforded, the expense to reach here by vessel from the core worlds is still not proving insignificant. Despite our efforts, those who embark on the voyage are still very few. In addition, we rely upon the word of return travelers to attract new prospects. With so few arriving, growth is expected to be slow. But with time, I believe we will—"

"You are wrong!" Lunalah snapped. Her voice resonated powerfully within the throne room, causing the urns to glow faintly with the passive strength of her heightened Qi.

"It is slow, because so few visitors ever leave." She then spun her Qi tablet for them to see. "Already there are seven more reports of off-worlders lost to the wilds in Jurin and Zhan Provinces alone. How are we to attract more cultivators from the core worlds if none return with a good report?"

Her cabinet ministers all lowered their heads at the rhetorical question.

So useless and weak, she thought. If not for their various position of rank within the major sects, she would have long since replaced them. But the tendrils of feudal tradition ran deep within the empire. How ludicrous was it that those decrepit old sect patriarchs and elders in the core worlds could exact their influence even here.

"My apologies, your majesty," Wui Lang finally spoke, prostrating himself before her. "You are correct, of course. But unfortunately, the figures do not tell the full reality of the story."

Her eyes sharpened, flaring with Qi. "You dare to contradict me?"

"This One would never imagine to do such," Wui Lang said in an even more obsequious tone. "The truth is, your majesty, the majority of cultivators who arrive are not from the core worlds. Those who can afford the voyage do so from only the neighboring planets. Most are but mid-tier Core Realm cultivators at best. But the beasts grow stronger with each moon. As you well predicted long ago, this planet is a place for higher-tier immortals to advance. I am certain that once we complete construction of the Omni Gate and create a bridge to the core worlds, immortal cultivators will venture here and we will see extremely high returns."

Lunalah brooded inwardly. What Wui Lang said held logic, but it still did not sit well with her. To simply accept such losses was a sign of weakness. "And what is the status of the gate construction?"

Xi Liu, a former general and mid-tier Core Realm cultivator within the Iron Mountain Sect, spoke with a deep and authoritative voice. "Ahead of schedule despite the resource issues we encountered last year, your highness. The mines in the southern continent have proven fruitful, with the extraction of over a hundred Jin of high-quality spirit stones each month. We anticipate completion in now only nine years instead of twelve."

Nine years. A mere blink in her lifespan of nearly 300, but to suffer losses for so long was unacceptable. She was already but a Third Princess of a Sixty-Fourth concubine, given the scraps of her father's domain to cultivate and control. To produce nothing after two decades would be a loss of face that she could not bear to suffer before even her siblings, much less her peers within the lower courts of the core worlds.

She had held high hopes for this planet, but she was beginning to lose sight of that hope.

The indigenous species of humans she had found here were somewhat advanced. Although, they had advanced in the wrong direction, choosing to follow the mundane arts rather than the divine. Few such civilizations lasted long. Some would even progress to the point of space travel as this one had, through complicated and convoluted means. But like a man holding his breath underwater and then diving deeper to somehow find air, their advancement could end only in folly.

It was the duty of the Dynasty to find such backwards worlds and save them from their own conceit and ignorance before they destroyed themselves. Within her short lifetime alone, the Dynasty had successfully integrated three such civilizations, one which had remarkably expanded to populate its moon before being enlightened with the gift of cultivation.

This world was no different. It held potential. And it supposedly possessed something of even greater value.

Supposedly.

The species of this world held remarkable growth capability. A natural accelerant of some kind perhaps born from their mundane roots. Her father, the Great Soul Emperor of the Yee Dynasty, had sensed it decades ago. He had gifted her this knowledge in advance of her making the voyage across the stars from the core worlds. These were a frantic people, constantly on the edge of their short mortal lives. If they could learn to progress in cultivation, the same rate at which they progressed mundanely, then who knew what prodigies this world could eventually produce.

So far however, it was proving fruitless.

The mortals of this planet were weak. D class at best. It had been over a decade already and no prodigies had emerged from the schools or the tournaments. That meant the value of this world now lay only in its flora and fauna which shared the same characteristic as the humans but were perhaps more fruitful in that regards. Under the influence of the Bloodmoon the monsters and spirit beasts had grown exponentially, some already to the point of developing their own highly sought-after cores.

These monsters were now her only means of saving face.

"Min Wei!" she called.

The fair-skinned woman with ruby hair and crimson eyes, indicative of her high ranking within the inner core of the Fire Bird Sect, snapped upright. "Yes, your highness?"

"As Minister of Culture, I commission you to venture to the Core Worlds as my envoy. Once there, deliver this message to the lower courts." Min Wei immediately produced her Qi tablet and began scribing. "The Planet Terra, sovereign domain of Third Princess Lunalah of the Yee Yu Lun Clan, shall hold a special tournament to take place in conjunction with the annual Tournament of Mortal Champions. One hundred high-tier Core Realm cultivators are invited to participate. All expenses, including travel, shall be paid for by her royal majesty, Third Princess Lunalah. The winning prize shall be 100,000 spirit stones."

Wui Lang's mouth fell open. "Your majesty! If I may, the royal treasury can scarcely—"

"I am well aware of the state of our treasury. Put the Omni Gate on hold for a year if you must. It will take far too long to help us at this rate. If we are to be successful as a new arm of the empire, then I will need for this planet's bounty to be known throughout the core worlds. And what better way than to host a tourna—"

Something abruptly interrupted her thoughts. A sudden burst of energy. It was distant and faint, yet somehow very distinct. Like the opening of a sudden void in existence that should not exist.

"Did you sense that?"

Her cabinet stared back at her as if she were mad.

It was a foolish question.

None in her cabinet were over two hundred years old and most had not surpassed even the middle tiers of the Core cultivation Realm as yet. But Lunalah—who had long since awakened her nascent spirit and had now broken through to the higher tiers of the Sacred Soul Realm—possessed the Qi sensitivity to detect what she had. Closing her eyes, she cycled her Qi through her meridians and then further through the circulating jade urns, heightening her senses to their peak.

She felt it again, a strange, chaotic energy.

Was it an awakened demon? Or a devil?

Surely the Bloodmoon had not advanced to that stage as yet?

She focused again, seeking a location. Far to the west it seemed.

As the general location settled in her mind, she reopened her eyes and accessed a planetary map on her Qi tablet. Jurin Province. Why was she not surprised? Those western continents and their inhabitants were even more barbaric and uncivilized than the rest of the planet. It was why she had set her capital within the eastern continents, whose lineage was clearly descended from the Yee progenitors who seeded the universe eons ago. Or so the holy scriptures said. She glanced again at the reports of the missing off-worlders. Was there a connection perhaps?

"Under whose domain is Jurin Province? The eastern district specifically."

"That would be the Silver Leaf Sect, your majesty," Min Wei answered glancing down at her tablet. "Lady Silver Tear. She is Seventh Warden of the Eastern District."

Lunalah grimaced. She had relegated that troublesome Sect to those barbaric provinces for a reason. She hoped that decision was now not returning to bite her.

"Send Lady Silver Tear word to increase security within the city, especially the Bloodmoon zones. There is something amiss within her domain."