Chapter 93 - 92: Establishing Merit and Virtue

Chapter 93: Chapter 92: Establishing Merit and Virtue

The Peak Masters from Celestial Pine Mountain had no idea what this so-called Wenda Alliance was.

After all, Shen Weifeng and his group had only been spreading their teachings for a short time, and their activities were mostly confined to the Mortal World.

Even within the Cyan Sun Sect, few people knew about the Wenda Alliance. If Qu Hao hadn’t approached Zou Kun, even the Sect Leader of the Celestial Pine Sect would have been kept in the dark, to say nothing of the other Peak Masters.

The two Peak Masters only knew that the young man before them, a mere Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, was incredibly arrogant, and that Qu Hao, Lei Wenjie, and the others were suspected of practicing some kind of Evil Cultivation Technique...

But after they were coerced into luring a few Peak Masters out of the Wuji Sect and took two stabs to the kidney, they immediately began clamoring to join the Wenda Alliance and follow the Little Alliance Leader to conquer the world.

No one could resist the temptation of a good thrashing. The twenty percent boost to their Skill Level was just too tantalizing.

They were Cultivators; their kidneys weren’t of much use to them anyway. As long as their Skill Level could increase, it would be worth it even if they were stabbed until they looked like a hornet’s nest...

...

In just five short days, Li Ye led his army of Divinity Transformation experts across the territories of the Five Sects, and the ranks of the Wenda Alliance swelled like a snowball rolling downhill.

The Sect Leaders of the Five Sects, along with most of their Peak Masters and Elders, had all been brought under his command. The weakest among them was at the Divinity Transformation Realm.

To maximize the effect of "Beating My Teammates," Li Ye adopted a cyclical strategy. He rotated challenges among the Five Sects. Each time, members from a given Sect would lure out two or three of their own, and then Li Ye’s team would use tag-team tactics to ensure everyone got a piece of the action.

After five days, Li Ye’s cultivation had soared, pushing him all the way to the late Nascent Soul stage. Furthermore, it was a true Perfect Nascent Soul Formation.

After all, the effect of Li Ye’s "teammate beating" was calculated per person. The more teammates he had, the faster his cultivation speed.

In a single battle, each teammate boosted his progress by a third, meaning three teammates could double it. Even though it couldn’t compare to the eleven-person team from his previous world, his progress wasn’t slow. The key was the sheer number of battles he fought!

The only catch was that the further he advanced, the more Spiritual Qi each breakthrough required.

Otherwise, his cultivation realm would be even higher.

Even so, Li Ye had set a legendary record in the cultivation world for the fastest advancement: from the Foundation Establishment Stage to the late Nascent Soul stage in just five days.

It showed his Wenda Alliance followers what a true Immortal was and made them realize that simply grinding away for ages to raise one’s cultivation was indeed the wrong path.

When they first joined the Wenda Alliance, some of the Elders and Peak Masters from the various Sects had selfish motives, wanting to keep the Alliance Leader for their own.

After all, the Little Alliance Leader was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage and had the lowest Skill Level.

’If they could control him, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have him "empower" them every single day?’

For a Divinity Transformation Realm expert, controlling a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator was laughably simple.

But Qu Hao, Lei Wenjie, and the others protected Li Ye as if he were their own grandson, leaving no opportunity for anyone to make a move.

Once Li Ye had more people around him, no one entertained such thoughts any longer. It was simply impossible. No one would allow such a living, breathing treasure to be monopolized by a single person.

Anyone who dared to make a move on Li Ye would be ganged up on by everyone else in the alliance.

When Li Ye’s cultivation level rose all the way to the late Nascent Soul stage, abducting him became even more of a fantasy.

A late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator could control far more powerful Magical Treasures.

To curry favor with the Alliance Leader—and hopefully earn an extra sword strike from him in battle—the Elders and Peak Masters from every Sect competed to present their Magical Treasures and Elixir Pills to the Little Alliance Leader.

Now, Li Ye was decked out in so many Protective Treasures that a Divinity Transformation Realm expert could hack away at him for a full hour and might not even break through his defenses, to say nothing of the numerous offensive Dharma Artifacts he also possessed.

...

Qu Hao, Meng Mingzhe, Lei Wenjie, and Qiu Ming, the first four to follow Li Ye, had long since stepped into the Void Refinement Realm.

Now, they were the Wenda Alliance’s Four Protectors—of the East, South, West, and North. Utterly loyal to Li Ye, their primary role in every battle was to ensure his safety.

...

「Cyan Sun Sect.」

The Four Protectors of the Wenda Alliance and the Sect Leaders of the Five Sects gathered in the meeting hall.

A host of Peak Masters and Elders from the various Sects stood guard outside, a level of security that could rival the Wuji Sect itself.

"Alliance Leader, who are we fighting next?" Lei Wenjie asked. Having advanced to the Void Refinement Realm with zero side effects, he was completely devoted to Li Ye and had thrown all thought of the Demon Sect to the winds.

"We’ll steamroll ahead and fight whoever gets in our way!" Li Ye said, fiddling with the watch on his wrist as he surveyed the group. "But before that, I need you all to do something for me."

"Your orders, Alliance Leader," the crowd said in unison.

"Go to the emperors of the Mortal Realm," Li Ye said. "Have them promote the Wenda Alliance among the common folk and recognize our legitimacy. Anyone who has contributed to their nation, who holds prestige among the people, or is a wealthy merchant or powerful noble—they can all join the Wenda Alliance. They will be permitted to wear the wristwatches and enjoy numerous special privileges..."

Li Ye’s Skill Level was increasing rapidly, but he was still relying on the Derived Skills from the Team Emblem.

So far, not a single one of the wristwatch’s Derived Skills had been developed. With the Wenda Alliance now taking shape, he had to shift his focus to unlocking them.

Otherwise, if a whole year went by and he still hadn’t unlocked a single Derived Skill, it would be a colossal waste.

Compared to the Derived Skills, his cultivation level was secondary.

After all, a single Derived Skill could easily skyrocket his cultivation. With a few more, Li Ye couldn’t even imagine how absurdly powerful he would become.

Most importantly, Li Ye constantly felt a profound sense of crisis.

This sense of crisis stemmed from the person behind the Demon Suppression Tower. That being could suppress the world in a short time with just one or two demons. The master of the Demon Suppression Tower had suppressed so many wisps of Demon Qi—just how powerful were they?

’What if the person behind the Demon Suppression Tower decides to act against me?’

’I need the power to protect myself. My current strength is nowhere near enough.’

"Alliance Leader, at our current rate of growth, it won’t be long before we can sweep across the entire world. Why bother with a bunch of Mortals?" Meng Mingzhe asked with a frown.

"Indeed!" Zou Kun chimed in. "All the precious resources, famous mountains, and treasure-filled lands are controlled by the cultivator Sects. Controlling more of the Mortal Realm is of little use to us. Worse, it could easily alert our enemies, drawing the attention of the Upper Three Sects and the Three Evil Sects. That would only hinder our expansion."

After he returned from reporting to the Wuji Sect, he discovered his world had been turned upside down.

Not only had Qu Hao—the man sent to investigate the Wenda Alliance—joined the Wenda Alliance, but his entire home base had been stolen out from under him.

In that instant, Zou Kun felt as if the sky were falling. He assumed Qu Hao must have been a Wenda Alliance spy planted in the Wuji Sect all along, and that he, Zou Kun, had been an unwitting accomplice, bringing disaster upon both the Wuji Sect and his own Celestial Pine Mountain.

Then, Zou Kun was coerced into joining the Wenda Alliance. After taking a sword to the kidney, he immediately and wholeheartedly joined the ranks of the converted.

His only regret was that Li Ye had gone too easy on the Wuji Sect. He should have used a more devious scheme to trap their experts on the mountain, which would have given the Alliance plenty of time to improve their own cultivation.

Most members of the Wenda Alliance shared Zou Kun’s line of thought. If they could raise their cultivation just by fighting, why waste time getting involved with Mortals?

Wouldn’t it be better to just raise their cultivation levels quickly and ascend to the Immortal Realm together?

"Alliance Leader, Sect Leader Zou is right," Qu Hao said. "If we start preaching in the Mortal World and the other Sects find out, they’ll surely gang up on us. With our current strength, I’m afraid we won’t be able to withstand their assault. Who knows how many Void Refinement and Harmonization Realm experts the Upper Three Sects and the Three Evil Sects have accumulated over the years. The Wenda Alliance only has the four of us at the Void Refinement Realm. We’re far too weak."

"Indeed, Alliance Leader. Please reconsider," said Qiu Ming. "If we provoke the experts from the Upper Three Sects and the Three Evil Sects, the Wenda Alliance truly won’t be able to stop them. Even if we told them about your Cultivation Method, they would never believe it. Our top priority right now should be to increase our own strength."

"Alliance Leader, please reconsider," they all said in unison.

"Is that what you all think?" Li Ye asked, looking at them with a gentle smile.

The group exchanged glances, then nodded in unison.

"Lei Wenjie, do you remember what I said when I first recruited you?" Li Ye asked, turning to him with a smile. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Lei Wenjie frowned.

"I said that I would harness the power of the entire world to help me achieve Ascension," Li Ye stated. "And what does ’the power of the entire world’ mean?"

The crowd was silent.

"The world is represented by all living things, not a mere handful of Cultivators," Li Ye said with a sigh. "Surely you don’t think that just by being strong enough, with a high enough cultivation realm, you can shatter the Celestial Sect and ascend, do you?"

The group fell silent.

"If that were the case, why is it that in the last ten thousand years, despite so many people reaching such high realms, not a single one has achieved Ascension?" Li Ye asked. "Over the millennia, the cultivation world has produced countless peerless geniuses. Do you truly believe not one of them ever broke through the Harmonization Realm?"

Silence.

"The gate to heaven is sealed. Only by gathering the Wish Power of all living beings can we break through the Celestial Sect," Li Ye said with a long sigh. "We must make all living beings believe that the Wenda Alliance can truly breach the Celestial Sect. Only then will their Wish Power shake the heavens and the earth, creating a resonance between the mortal and celestial planes. Only then can a path through the Celestial Sect be opened, and only then can the way to Ascension be restored."

This was the first time Li Ye had clearly explained the Ascension Method. The entire assembly was left dumbfounded.

"Alliance Leader, is this true?" Qu Hao pressed, his voice trembling slightly.

"This is precisely why I establish a Wenda Alliance in every world I visit," Li Ye said. "I never act without a clear purpose. Only by making the masses revere and worship the Wenda Alliance can we ultimately gather their Wish Power onto the Alliance. When that time comes, I can channel this power and achieve Ascension on the spot.

"Even a person with no Spiritual Power could become an Immortal in broad daylight by harnessing this Wish Power. The only reason I accumulate Spiritual Qi through cultivation is to ensure I can withstand the turbulent currents of spacetime during the Ascension process..."

"Alliance Leader... when the time comes, it won’t just be you ascending alone, will it?" Lei Wenjie asked, hesitating for a moment before interrupting Li Ye.

"Of course, I’ll be the only one ascending," Li Ye said, giving him a knowing smile.

Lei Wenjie and the others froze. They snapped their heads up to stare at Li Ye, none of them having expected such an answer.

"What’s there to panic about?" Li Ye chuckled. "I am the one who founded the Wenda Alliance this time. I am opening the gates of Ascension for the entire cultivation world. That is a great act of Merit. Is it not right that I should be the one to ascend?"

The group remained silent, staring at Li Ye with a whirlwind of emotions. If, in the end, they were only helping Li Ye ascend, then what was the point of all their effort?

’Why did he have to tell us the truth? He could have just lied to us!’

"The Wenda Alliance won’t just disband after I’m gone," Li Ye said, seeing right through them. He decided to do this world a favor and, at the same time, boost their morale. "Everyone, do you remember the founding principle of the Wenda Alliance?"

They raised their heads to look at Li Ye, their faces blank with confusion.

"To benefit humanity and advance civilization," Li Ye said, shaking his head. "Why do you think the Wenda Alliance recruits so many geniuses from among the common people? It’s precisely so they can enlighten the populace, change the world with their ideas, and improve the lives of the common folk. When the people’s lives get better and better, do you think you’ll have any trouble gathering Wish Power?

"I will ascend using the Merit from founding the Alliance. You all can ascend using other forms of Merit.

"Increasing crop yields, building irrigation systems...

"Make it so that whenever the common people speak of the Wenda Alliance, they do so with heartfelt admiration and trust. That will naturally bring you all the Wish Power you could ever need..."