Chapter 77: The Wenda Alliance’s Savage Development

Chapter 77: Chapter 77: The Wenda Alliance’s Savage Development

That night, the previously dormant watch finally released a burst of Demon Qi, which seeped into Li Ye’s body.

There could only be one reason for this: Senior Sister Mu Xue had successfully forged the watches.

’I have to admit, once you have some internal motivation, you become much more proactive.’

The Cyan Sun Sect, despite having "Sun" in its name, seemed to have its yin and yang reversed.

The most powerful fighter, Peak Master Yu Lanxin of Evergreen Peak, was a woman. The Peak Master of Changle Peak, Lu Qingling, who spent her days clanging away while controlling fire for Artifact Refining, was also a woman...

’It might really be a matter of feng shui.’

Among the new disciples the Cyan Sun Sect later recruited, the most promising talents in combat and Artifact Refining were also mostly female.

This led to a situation where combat and Artifact Refining, two fields that should have been dominated by men, were now filled with women, a classic case of yin flourishing while yang waned.

’Any other transmigrator in this situation would have long since become a regular visitor to both peaks, if they hadn’t already tried to turn all the female disciples of Evergreen Peak and Changle Peak into a personal harem.’

But Li Ye had never considered such things. He was only in this world for a year; personal relationships and romance were meaningless to him.

’Only strength is the foundation for survival.’

’Cultivating relationships is far less efficient than binding them together through mutual interest.’

At least now, with the establishment of the Wenda Alliance, he had teammates to do the heavy lifting, and the stagnant Demon Qi had begun to flow again.

This proved he was on the right path.

’What’s all this nonsense about not choosing a demonic item with Attributes similar to your own?’

’That’s bullshit. You should always choose a demonic item that plays to your strengths.’

’This time, I suffered because I was misled by the demonic item’s superficial appearance and its previous users.’

’Otherwise, why would it have been so difficult just to get started?’

’To promote a watch, I had to go and cook up a whole mastermind organization in the Otherworld... ’

’What a fucking joke.’

But at least things were finally off to a good start. As long as those simple-minded Cultivators worked hard for him, it was only a matter of time before he could feast on all the Demon Qi benefits the watch had to offer.

From the very beginning, Li Ye’s target had always been the Mortal World.

Cultivators were too aloof; only Mortals were prone to comparison and envy.

If they had a keepsake watch issued by the Wenda Alliance—a hidden organization powerful enough to shake the world—they most likely wouldn’t keep it to themselves...

This was especially true for high-end individuals who controlled societal resources. The moment they showed it off, ordinary people would see it as a top-tier luxury item.

Once people started imitating it, his plan would be a success.

Cracking the mystery of Ascension and all that was just a byproduct, a pie in the sky he had drawn for Shen Weifeng and the others.

Whether it succeeded or not had nothing to do with him, a mere passerby in this world...

The goal Li Ye had set for himself was to raise his cultivation to the Golden Core Realm within a year.

...

Threads of Demon Qi seeped into Li Ye’s body. It was as if the watch was actively trying to curry favor with him, squeezing itself dry just to give him a taste of its benefits.

’This was normal. Its previous users were too idiotic. Now that it finally saw a glimmer of hope, if it didn’t suck up to me, it would probably never amount to anything.’

However, the amount of Demon Qi the watch provided was minuscule compared to the Team Emblem. Li Ye couldn’t even be bothered to use it for his cultivation.

He had always wanted to figure out the fundamental reason behind a dormant demonic item’s massive growth.

It didn’t seem to be just a matter of matching Attributes; it felt more like it was related to promotion and influence.

In the last world, after he had created the league, the Team Emblem’s Demon Qi had poured out as if it were free. In just a few short months, it had pushed his combat power to the peak of the world.

’But is it really about influence?’

Li Ye couldn’t be sure.

After all, the three Derived Skills that came from the Team Emblem were a bit too bizarre and didn’t match its basic Attributes at all.

Li Ye sighed. ’I still have too few samples to study...’

...

Early the next morning, Mu Xue delivered a large pile of watches in various styles, divided into nine models ranked from highest to lowest.

The highest-grade model, the Saint Master, looked simple and unadorned. But upon closer inspection, it exuded a sense of profound restraint, like a fine aged liquor that grew more alluring the longer you looked at it.

The standard student model, on the other hand, was utterly extravagant. Even on Earth, it was a masterpiece that only a top designer could create.

At a glance, it looked like a top-tier luxury item, even more eye-catching than Li Ye’s Jiang Shidan.

Most importantly, the watches Mu Xue designed actually told time, giving them practical use.

"...Junior Brother, I engraved a small projection Array Pattern inside the watch face. It doesn’t require Spiritual Qi. You just press the knob, and the watch’s grade will be displayed on the face. An Artifact Refiner might be able to crack it, but a Mortal could never replicate it." Mu Xue proudly demonstrated her new creation to Li Ye. "What do you think?"

"They’re fantastic. Even the best craftsmen from my world couldn’t have designed styles like these." Li Ye praised her generously. "Senior Sister, you’re truly talented."

"The craftsmen from your world are amazing too." Mu Xue shook her head and sighed. "After all, they’re just a group of Mortals, lacking the powerful control of an Artifact Refiner. Still, they managed to design such an exquisite mechanism. It’s incredible.

The gear structure inside the watch gave me a lot of inspiration. A series of gears using a faint force to keep the watch running for a long time—the concept is magical.

I think if this gear structure were applied to Dharma Artifacts, it could save a lot of Spiritual Qi when controlling them.

Little Junior Brother, you were right. There really are many geniuses among Mortals. We were too arrogant before..."

"It’s never too late to start." Li Ye smiled, selected a few of each watch model for himself, and pushed the rest back to Mu Xue. "I’ll have to trouble you, Senior Sister Mu, to deliver these watches to Senior Brother Yin and the others. Tell them to use the watches flexibly and not be bound by rigid methods.

When they start proselytizing, they can work in pairs. If they run into any problems they can’t solve, they can come back and ask me anytime..."

...

「Over the next few days.」

First Senior Brother, Yin Feihuai, and the others were exceptionally busy, often leaving the mountain for two or three days at a time.

Fourth Senior Brother Ge Rui, eager to prove himself, got a pile of watches from Mu Xue, requested permission from Xu Jingxing, and left the mountain directly under the pretext of traveling.

He left with the grand ambition of not returning until he had made a name for himself.

With his "employees" busy, Li Ye’s days naturally became more leisurely. Aside from occasionally instructing Yang Tianrui on how to keep the Wenda Alliance’s logs, he spent most of his time cultivating. Sometimes he would help Yin Feihuai and the others who returned to the mountain, advising them on how to better control the resources under them.

The Demon Qi began to gush forth a month later.

「By then.」

More than thirty people from the Five Sects, including the Cyan Sun Sect, had joined the Wenda Alliance, averaging six to seven people per sect.

Theoretically, recruiting so many people into an alliance at once would increase the risk of exposure. Moreover, many of them didn’t actually meet the Wenda Alliance’s standards for selecting "geniuses."

First Senior Brother Shen Weifeng raised his concerns about this.

But Li Ye couldn’t be bothered with that anymore. He brushed the issue aside, using the excuse that the alliance needed to grow aggressively in its early stages.

Over thirty "promoters," driven by their own interests and beliefs, poured all their efforts into expanding the Wenda Alliance in the surrounding nations.

Thanks to their efforts, the trickle of Demon Qi from the watch, which had started as a mere drip, gradually grew into a steady stream, ceaselessly nourishing Li Ye’s body and meridians.

His cultivation speed grew faster and faster.

The Inner Strength that should have taken him three years to refine was now more than halfway done in less than a month, pushing his realm all the way to the fourth level of Qi Refining.

’As expected, Demon Qi is the true catalyst for cultivation.’

As the Demon Qi increased, the cooldown time for the watch’s time control ability grew shorter and shorter. From needing at least an hour to cool down after one use, it was now down to just ten minutes.

The range of the Time Stop also expanded from the initial fifty meters to a radius of about eight hundred meters centered on Li Ye.

Its practical use had increased dramatically.

But for some reason, only the cooldown time had shortened; the duration of use was still just one second.

Without extending the duration of control, the watch’s combat effectiveness was still limited, and Li Ye had yet to find a way to break through this bottleneck.

Still, it wasn’t a complete dead end. As long as the cooldown was short enough, stringing together one-second intervals was equivalent to indirectly extending the duration...

...

Busy with their promotional work outside the sect, Shen Weifeng and the others never noticed the changes in Li Ye.

’I have to admit, they really are a group of good, kind-hearted people, diligently and selflessly dedicated to their cause without any complaint.’

Unlike the Team Emblem, the watches offered them no extra Demon Qi rewards.

This group was genuinely fighting for their beliefs.

Unfortunately, although the Demon Qi was gushing, there was still no sign of any Derived Skills.

Li Ye wasn’t worried.

Based on his experience with the Team Emblem, Derived Skills would likely only be triggered by special events.

However, given the Wenda Alliance’s current rate of expansion and the mixed quality of its new members, an implosion was probably not far off.

Once the world fell into chaos, there would be plenty of opportunities to activate the Derived Skills. After all, with Li Ye’s current special status, he couldn’t even leave Changding Peak. He needed a catalyst...