Chapter 672 - 341: Setting the Rules (Part 2)

Chapter 672: Chapter 341: Setting the Rules (Part 2)

"What if we moved into the Realm of Ten Thousand Races?" Suddenly, the Sect Leader of the Lingxi Immortal Sect posed this question out of nowhere.

This hadn’t been discussed or even considered before.

At this, the other four fell silent.

"Unwise," Xiaoyaozi said via voice transmission. "The passage was sealed once, which means there’s a high probability it could be sealed a second time. If it’s ever sealed for a long period and we lose contact with the Cultivation Immortality Realm, anyone who enters will truly have their path of retreat cut off. However, we could establish a branch sect in the Realm of Ten Thousand Races."

The five of them immediately began discussing this sudden idea.

At that moment, the twelve representatives finally put forward their thoughts. An ancestor from a Nine-Star Family stepped forward and said:

"Screening is acceptable, but we demand that the screening process be open and transparent, jointly supervised by all parties. However, we do not agree to the restrictions. As for the reason, you all understand. You gentlemen are even more aware of the resource situation inside the Realm of Ten thousand Races than we are. Without sacrificing resources to obtain what we need, how are we supposed to break through?"

This proposal resonated with the crowd, and the various influences voiced their support one after another.

They didn’t have much else, but resources were their advantage. And now that advantage was being taken away, forcing them to compete with the Sects using their weaknesses?

In that case, their coming here to negotiate would be a joke. Besides, the passage was guarded by the Five Major Sects. Who would know if they brought resources in with them?

When supervision can’t be carried out collectively and is only done by one side, it’s impossible to avoid embezzlement.

But only the ordinary people and Martial Artists didn’t pay it much mind. What they cared about was the screening method. They didn’t have the financial power or foundation to bring in large amounts of resources. Even the Loose Cultivators lacked that confidence.

Hearing this outcome, the Sect Leaders of the Five Great Immortal Sects showed no particular surprise. It seemed everything was within their expectations.

Wuwei Zi looked at the crowd and slowly shook his head. "Have any of you considered what the Cultivation Immortality Realm will become if everyone carries resources into the Realm of Ten Thousand Races to make sacrifices? In the future, without the support of resources, how will your families and factions develop? You must understand, the resources of the Ice and Fire Cultivation Immortality Realm are ultimately finite."

"We’ll just get resources from the Realm of Ten Thousand Races," one of the faction leaders replied dismissively.

In truth, all they were thinking about was their own self-interest. If they couldn’t break through their current Realm, they would die of old age in a few hundred years. Compared to such a tragic end, a short-term resource shortage was truly nothing in their eyes.

They would rather trade their resources now for a chance to break through, all in the hope of extending their own lives.

Wuwei Zi shook his head again, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. He asked, "Do you all think this way as well?"

Hearing this, the others fell into silence. How could they not know that what Wuwei Zi said was reasonable? It was just that compared to the immense temptation of their own breakthrough, this temporary resource dilemma seemed insignificant.

"Besides the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, there’s also the Land of Broken Spirits." At this point, someone else made a suggestion.

However, Wuwei Zi still shook his head in denial. "The Land of Broken Spirits... people go up to explore it every hundred years, but the result is always the same: there’s no Spiritual Qi to speak of. For us Cultivators, that place has no value for Cultivation."

At the window of the inn, Cheng Zongyang listened quietly to the discussion inside the room.

When he heard someone mention the Land of Broken Spirits, his heart couldn’t help but beat a few beats faster. ’I didn’t expect the people of this Cultivation Immortality Realm to still be thinking about the Martial Arts Realm.’ However, he didn’t pay it much mind and continued to wait for the final outcome.

After all, he still had to rely on the map he’d obtained from the bounty to enter the Realm of Ten Thousand Races and search for the Five Elements Spirit Pearl.

In the time that followed, the two sides continued to argue and discuss. The focus of the debate always revolved around the issue of resource restrictions.

But public opinion was almost unanimous, so Wuwei Zi said no more. The two sides finally reached a consensus.

The requirement for screened personnel was that their Cultivation must be orthodox; they could not be followers of heretical paths or members of the Shadow Alliance.

The number of people entering the Realm of Ten Thousand Races each year would be screened and registered according to the Grade of each influence. Candidates would include members of influences, Loose Cultivators, Martial Artists, and ordinary people.

Among them, each Sect could dispatch two hundred people per year; Nine-Star Influences could not exceed ninety people; Eight-Star Influences could not exceed eighty people; and so on, with the number of people allowed to enter decreasing correspondingly with the influence’s Grade.

For Loose Cultivators, only those who had been registered with the Independent Cultivator Alliance for more than three years and were members of the alliance would be eligible to compete for a spot to enter the Realm of Ten Thousand Races. Furthermore, there would only be one hundred spots available each year.

Other solitary Loose Cultivators would either have to give up or join the Independent Cultivator Alliance and wait three years after registering to compete for a spot.

This rule was also to prevent certain influences from using the identity of a Loose Cultivator to sneak into the Realm of Ten Thousand Races and harm the interests of all parties.

Therefore, the Independent Cultivator Alliance would also be required to submit a list of registered members to each Sect annually, so that identities could be cross-referenced during subsequent checks at the passage.

There were no major restrictions on ordinary people and Martial Artists entering the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, but they would need to pay a certain amount of Spirit Stones upon entry.

When the One-Star Influences learned they could only send ten people into the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, they were quite dissatisfied. However, they also knew this was the result of a joint decision by the upper-echelon influences. Having a chance to enter at all was already good enough, so they could only accept it reluctantly.

As for the rules after entering the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, fighting was prohibited in the safe zones. In other areas, however, it was up to one’s own abilities, and life and death were determined by fate.

Regarding resource restrictions, the Five Major Sects ultimately decided not to impose any.

After all, the Celestial Sword Sect and the Lingxi Immortal Sect weren’t entirely in favor of it either. As for the future development of the Cultivation Immortality Realm, they could only take it one step at a time.

For many Loose Cultivators, the new entry rules were undoubtedly extremely unfriendly.

This meant that even if they joined the Independent Cultivator Alliance immediately, they would still need to wait three years to be eligible to compete.

Of course, they could also choose to join those family and factional influences, then bypass the three-year waiting period through internal competition.

However, these restrictions didn’t have much of an effect on Cheng Zongyang. He was now an Innate Martial Artist, and there weren’t many restrictions on Martial Artists entering the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, as long as they paid the corresponding Spirit Stones upon entry.

Thus, after the results of these negotiations were announced, Cheng Zongyang nodded slightly, having gained a certain understanding of why these rules were established.

After all, compared to the massive family, factional, and Sect influences, the number of Loose Cultivators was simply too large. Without certain restrictions, it would inevitably have a negative impact on the interests of the various influences.

With the final results announced, everyone was incredibly excited. They had finally obtained the opportunity to enter the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, something they had longed for.

The various influences—families, factions, Loose Cultivators, and others—sprang into action, actively preparing to select their most outstanding Qi Cultivation Practitioners for the upcoming screening and entry.

The Loose Cultivators could only begin joining the various influences or the Independent Cultivator Alliance.

The atmosphere in Ice City grew increasingly tense and fervent. A palpable sense of anticipation and restlessness filled the streets and alleys. The entire city seemed to be enveloped by an invisible force.

Cheng Zongyang stopped paying attention to the commotion outside. He gently closed the window, activated the Array in his room, then closed his eyes. His consciousness entered the Realm of Ten Thousand Races, appearing in the space of the Realm of Dominator.

After more than a month of waiting and letting things develop, the matter had finally reached a conclusion. And the result was just as he had predicted.

Although the Five Great Immortal Sects had controlled the entire Cultivation Immortality Realm for many years, with their lofty attitude deeply ingrained in people’s minds, this matter was no small affair. Even their usual tactic of divide and conquer had failed to work.

This meant that the situation could no longer be easily resolved and could only be settled through negotiation among all parties.

Going to war was absolutely not something they wished to see. After all, there were quite a few Nascent Soul Great Perfection Cultivators. Compared to the total number of Cultivators at all Cultivation Grades, the Five Great Immortal Sects were still outnumbered.

An eventual war would only result in mutual destruction.

This was not a good thing.

’Of course, in my plan, even if a war breaks out in the future, it would be best to guide it into the Realm of Ten Thousand Races. That would be of great benefit to the Realm of Ten Thousand Races.’

Next, he took out the map he had received from the bounty and began to study it carefully, marking locations based on the map.