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After sending off Bai Yunzi, the “Searching Immortal Envoy,” the island was once again inhabited solely by Xu Yang.

Under the heavens, all land belongs to the king!

At the edges of the land, all are the king’s subjects!

Where there are people, there will be the Martial World, and there will be governing systems in place, a matter that hasn’t changed since time immemorial.

The Cultivation World is no different, except that the rulers have shifted from secular dynasties to Cultivation Sects.

The Three Sects of Golden Core govern Liang Country and have long established a complete system, with each sect commonly appointing “Searching Immortal Envoys.”

The law of Cultivation has the Spiritual Root as the foundation and Spiritual Energy as the essence.

The so-called Searching Immortal Envoys are disciples of the Three Sects of Golden Core, representing the Three Sects within Liang Country, wandering the mortal realm from time to time, scouting for Spiritual Root seeds, exploring Spirit Lands and Spirit Veins, to be brought into their fold.

The former are talent resources; the latter, development resources—both are strategic assets that naturally must be tightly controlled.

Within Liang Country, all resources, whether in the secular world or the Cultivation realm, theoretically belong to the Three Sects of Golden Core; individuals cannot claim them as their own, especially when it comes to Spirit Lands and Spirit Veins.

Therefore, even if you discover a Spirit Land, or even after exhausting resources and much effort, you cultivate a piece of Spirit Land yourself, it doesn’t belong to you but to the Three Sects of Golden Core. You must report it, otherwise you are deemed disloyal, and they have grounds for eradication.

Of course, Cultivators are different from mortals. If you’re harsh with mortals, that’s just how it is—they don’t have the power to resist.

Cultivators are different. With powerful weapons in hand, the intent to kill arises spontaneously. Even for the Three Sects of Golden Core, it isn’t possible to oppress them to death, cutting off all avenues for advancement; otherwise, there would be a backlash that could shake the foundations of the Sect.

Therefore, compared to the mortal world, where government and factions relentlessly oppress and block paths for advancement, the governance of Sects in the Cultivation realm is somewhat more temperate—while they eat meat, others get to sip the broth.

This is where the distribution of Spirit Lands comes from.

After discovering a Spirit Land, although you cannot directly claim it, you can report it to the Three Sects of Golden Core.

If it’s a third-tier Spirit Land, there’s no need to say more—it’s certainly an asset for the Three Sects of Golden Core.

But if it’s a slightly inferior second-tier or first-tier Spirit Land, then the Three Sects of Golden Core won’t claim it for themselves. Instead, they will record it and subsequently announce it to Cultivators, especially the Foundation Establishment forces, initiating a competition for the Spirit Land.

As the discoverer of the Spirit Land, you have the right to “defend the position.” If you fend off challengers three times under the witness of the Three Sects of Golden Core, then you can secure ownership of the Spirit Land and become part of the ruling system of the Three Sects of Golden Core.

This was Xu Yang’s plan to “hide in plain sight.”

First, he gathered all kinds of extraordinary items on the island, arranging them to resemble what a “first-tier Spirit Land” should look like, and then, under the guise of “Li Jianchen,” he sought out the Green Jade Sect’s Searching Immortal Envoy in this region.

The Green Jade Sect, one of the Three Sects of Golden Core, is the actual ruler of Dongting Lake and the surrounding areas.

Xu Yang found the Green Jade Searching Immortal Envoy and reported the matter of the Dongting Spirit Land.

Spirit Lands are naturally occurring; although Dongting is mundane, the possibility of creating a Spirit Land exists and shouldn’t raise too much suspicion.

As a newly formed Spirit Land, it’s only first-tier. Xu Yang, as “Li Jianchen,” displayed the Cultivation of mid-stage Foundation Establishment and claimed a piece of the first-tier Spirit Land, which theoretically wasn’t a difficult task.

But that was only in theory.

The Cultivation World does not rely solely on fighting and killing; social niceties are also important.

Such disputes over Spirit Lands are usually dealt with by a Foundation Establishment force calling friends and forming alliances to collectively defend the position three times before they can finally secure it for themselves.

Connections are very important.

If you are at the Foundation Establishment stage and your clan also has members at this stage, or you have good relations with other Foundation Establishment forces, and everyone is willing to give you face, securing the Spirit Land would be no problem.

However, if you’re all alone without the support of allies, you would have to defend the position by yourself against three Foundation Establishment challengers, which is quite difficult.

Xu Yang was not alone. Besides himself, the island was home to the Foundation Establishment stage Spirit Beasts—a Golden Eagle and an Electric Eel. With such a lineup, ordinary Foundation Establishment forces would know better than to trouble him.

But he didn’t plan to do it this way.

Because what he truly cared about was not some Foundation Establishment force, but a Golden Core force like the Green Jade Sect.

Although Sect governance is comparatively lenient, that was merely comparative—they are still mountains pressing overhead.

For a Loose Cultivator to suddenly emerge with two Foundation Establishment Spirit Beasts and not be suspected by a Golden Core Sect—it was impossible.

Moreover, Foundation Establishment forces have duties of “taxes and labor” towards Golden Core Sects. The greater the number of Foundation Establishment members, the more taxes they pay, and if there are more than two members, they are obligated to send one Foundation Establishment member to serve the Sect periodically.

Thus, the governance of the Three Sects of Golden Core in Liang Country has formed into a perfect system.

All Cultivators, all forces, are tied to their war chariots.

To keep oneself removed from these matters and grow more powerful is an impossibility.

Therefore, Xu Yang did not intend to expose the Spirit Beasts.

Without revealing the Spirit Beasts and defending the position alone—would this work?

Of course, it could work.

With his current strength and potential, as long as he doesn’t confront a peak Foundation Establishment Cultivator or a late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator from a major sect, not to mention three positions, he could hold ten.

However… this display of strength was not his goal.

This time, he needed not only to assert his Foundation Establishment power to deter all covetous parties but also to be accepted by the Green Jade Sect, lowering their suspicion and apprehension towards him.

That way, he could have some peace and time to develop.

To intimidate various Foundation Establishment parties and not arouse suspicion and wariness from the Golden Core Upper Sects…

That… poses quite a challenge.

But Xu Yang had already made preparations.

With just one performance, he could achieve his goal.

After Bai Yunzi left, Xu Yang did not idle. He immediately took out materials and started Artifact Refining once again.

This time, the artifact he was going to refine was called the Hundred Ghosts Banner, also an ancient magical artifact from the world of Dao and Law.

This banner could collect lost souls and control Underworld Ghosts; it was a must-have for cultivators who practiced “Ghost Enslaving Skills”.

It is said that on the Hundred Ghosts Banner, there is even the Spiritual Artifact level Thousand Spirits Banner, and even the Magical Treasure level Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

But Xu Yang currently lacked such capital and could only honestly refine the Hundred Ghosts Banner.

With his current artifact refining skills, refining an artifact could be said to be a feat within his grasp.

In no time, a long, eerily cold banner was refined within the thundercloud spiritual fire.

Thunder, being the vital pivot of heaven and earth, governs all things, with both Yin Yang and the Five Elements within it.

Therefore, using thunder as fire for refining a Yin-aligned artifact like the Hundred Ghosts Banner posed no problems at all.

Far from clashing, it allowed Yin and Yang to meld together, bestowing a hint of pure Yang onto the “Yin artifact,” enhancing its quality and power.

“A high-quality artifact is also not bad.”

Xu Yang smiled, stored the Hundred Ghosts Banner, and then took out the second batch of materials.

Indeed, the second batch of materials—he needed to refine multiple Hundred Ghosts Banners, as one was not enough to meet his needs.

Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. Although he was already quite strong, he didn’t mind making himself stronger, readying himself to be in the fullest state for the competition over the Spirit Land in three months’ time.

And so, three days passed.

On the third day, as the sky darkened again, the nineteenth Hundred Ghosts Banner was also refined amidst the thundercloud spiritual fire.

Xu Yang nodded in satisfaction, placed it into his storage bag, then changed his appearance and disguised himself, erasing “Li Jianchen’s” appearance to become an old Taoist man with a cold face and a sinister aura.

“I am the Yin Mountain Taoist, haha!”

Xu Yang laughed out loud, then rode on thunder clouds, heading straight out of the island.

Xu Yang traveled through the clouds, leaving Dongting Lake, speeding thousands of miles, finally arriving at a valley shrouded in dense mist.

This place was not a Spirit Land, nor did it have a Cultivation Market, but at midnight, it would become a different kind of trading place—known as the Ghost Market!

Xu Yang retracted the thunder clouds and landed in the valley, casually throwing two spirit stones to the black-clothed man at the entrance.

With such an attitude, the two guards of the Ghost Market wanted to get angry, but seeing the mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation revealed by the visitor, their anger quickly turned into smiles: “Senior, please come this way!”

Xu Yang didn’t bother with them and just walked into the valley.

Within the valley, the Ghost Market was in full swing, with numerous stalls displaying various illicit items, such as mortal and cultivator corpses and souls, as well as zombie-like creatures and related materials of the Demon Path.

Xu Yang holding the Hundred Ghosts Banner went straight to a larger stall.

The stall owner was also a Foundation Establishment cultivator with a similarly cold presence and pale face, clearly someone who practiced Yin-aligned cultivation techniques or was frequently accompanied by perverse and evil spirits.

“Fellow Daoist, what do you need?”

The stall owner looked up, saw a “peer” with mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation, and his attitude warmed slightly.

Xu Yang’s expression was icy as he got straight to the point, “Evil Ghosts, the more malignant the better.”

“Oh?”

The stall owner wasn’t surprised by the request and directly produced a bone cup: “Fellow Daoist, how about this one?”

Xu Yang took the bone cup, swept it with his divine consciousness, and then nodded: “Not bad, how much?”

The stall owner was straightforward: “There are ten extremely malignant ghosts inside the cup, collected strenuously by yours truly, at a minimum of one thousand spirit stones!”

“One thousand spirit stones?”

“That’s fair.”

Xu Yang nodded, then asked, “Only one?”

The stall owner gave him a look and then brought out three more bone cups: “Four of them, and I can give a 10% discount to fellow Daoist.”

“Don’t need your bone cups, three thousand spirit stones!”

Xu Yang didn’t say much else, directly tossing out a storage bag.

The stall owner checked the storage bag and immediately showed a bit of delight: “It’s a deal, fellow Daoist can just take them.”

“Hmm!”

Xu Yang nodded, pulled out the Hundred Ghosts Banner, and immediately collected the Evil Ghosts from within the bone cups.

“This banner…”

The stall owner looked at the Hundred Ghosts Banner in his hand, somewhat surprised: “Truly a fine piece.”

Xu Yang didn’t respond and, having collected the Evil Ghosts, turned and walked towards another Foundation Establishment cultivator’s stall.

Thus, half an hour later, having toured the entire Ghost Market, Xu Yang left the valley.

By then, inside the storage bag, the Hundred Ghosts Banner contained hundreds of Evil Ghosts.

But he was not yet satisfied. Taking advantage of the night, he rushed to another Ghost Market.

He intended to gather Evil Ghosts, to completely fill the nineteen Hundred Ghosts Banners, and with them, he aimed to refine the “Increase Life and Damage Fate” generals.

The art of Enslaving Ghosts was also a tactic, one that could effectively boost combat strength in a short period and could disguise identity—perfectly suiting his next plans and schemes.