Divine Wind Continent was a massive continent. In size, the continent alone would be many times that of the earth. As such a big continent, the population was also many times that of the earth. Due to this, there were many kingdoms formed throughout the continent.
These kingdoms were rated according to stars. There are total 7 stars, with the lowest being one star. Again these empires were ranked according to their soldier count and the number of cultivators the kingdom has. But the most critical factor was the highest cultivation of the person protecting the empire.
If the person protecting the empire was only a body tempering stage cultivator, then at most it can become a two-star empire. Similarly, if the Imperial protector was a peak Soul Tempering cultivator, then it could, at most become a four-star empire. As for the five, six and seven-star empires, their empire should contain an Imperial Protector who was at least at a stage of Core Formation cultivation.
As for the people who are above Nascent Soul cultivation, their statuses were too lofty to act as an Imperial Protector.
A similar evaluation was also true for Sects that operates independently from empires.
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Jiang Family was a very well-known family in the Lyon kingdom, one of the many 3 star kingdoms in Divine Wind Continent. Not only it was one of the founding family of Lyon Kingdom, but also the family was connected to a four-star sect by marriage.
The little sister of the previous patriarch was the third concubine of one of the outer elders of the Cleansing Water sect. Due to this, the members of this family could almost walk sideways even in a four-star empire. After all, who would dare to provoke a sect that had spanned for several thousands of the years!?
But like all prominent families, the competition to the throne of patriarch was very intense in this family. In fact, it could almost be said brutal. The current patriarch had 4 wives and 12 concubines. Among them, he had sons with nearly everyone. The fight for the position of patriarch had started the day they born. These brothers were taught from an early age to treat their other brothers as enemies by their mothers.
After all, everyone knew that the status of the patriarch of the Jiang family was even higher than the emperor of Lyon Kingdom.
Among them, Jiang Chao was the son of the third wife and the one whom the current patriarch doted on the most. Needless to say that the probability of him succeeding the throne was higher than any other candidates.
The third wife had a unique status among other wives of the patriarch. She was actually the only daughter of a hidden expert whom the patriarch had saved from death. As a form of gratitude, he married his daughter to the patriarch. The daughter of that hidden expert was very beautiful and also a little arrogant. Her talent in cultivation was very high, managing to reach Nascent Soul cultivation in only 25 years. How could someone like her accept being the wife of a man so much weaker than her?
But since it was an order from her father, she complied. But only on one condition, until she bears a child for the patriarch, she would be staying with him. The old man agreed to her demands, and a wedding was held in secret, as the woman didn't want to be known that she was marrying a weaker man.
Although the patriarch was offended by this, since he was enamored by the woman, he swallowed his shame and married her. A year after they consummated their marriage, she bored a son and left her newborn son with the man and disappeared forever. Even the hidden expert was nowhere to be seen after that.
The patriarch was very saddened by this, but there was nothing he could do after all. Due to this, he loved the son very much and named him Chao, in hopes that he would one day surpass his mother and bring her back to him.
In the end, he realized that it was just a pipe dream on his part. The son only had an average talent at best, his future was as bleak as it could be.
Growing up, Chao was a very considerate young man due to the efforts of his old personal maid. Although he didn't have a talent in cultivation, when it comes to other matters, he was a genius. His behavior and temperament had made it possible for him to be liked by many elders in the family.
The probability of him becoming the next patriarch had increased even more. This made the other hires and people behind them restless. Since the young master was always surrounded by people, making a move on him had become next to impossible.
But this seemingly invincible young master had a flaw. This flaw was, of course, a girl. She was the daughter of an ordinary family who had a flower shop in the capital. These people had targetted her and made her the way to kill the young master.
They bribed and threatened the family to make the girl dupe him and had him come to the Wild Grasslands near the capital.
The Wild Grasslands was a very infamous place. Close to hundreds of adventurers die here a month. That's because this place was the den to many vicious magic beasts.
Like she was told, the girl made the guy come to this place, telling him that there was a certain flower here that she very much needed. Believing her words, the young master followed her and in the end fell spectacularly into the trap.
First, he was poisoned by the girl whom he loved, then some people came and lured a group of wolves towards him. Within a few seconds, he was slaughtered by the wolves and was on the verge of being eaten.
And this was the exact moment when Jiang Jie exited the spatial rift.
Seeing himself surrounded by so many wolves that were as big as a small car, he became very annoyed. With just a thought, he turned these wolves into a bloody mist, complete annihilation.
Then he looked towards the young man lying in the pool of his own blood. This young man resembled him a hundred percent, to the point that they could be called twins. As an ESPer, he knew about parallel world theory, so he wasn't that surprised.
Kneeling down, he placed his palm on the still warm corpse. It started to glow cyan color before a rush of memories entered his brain. These memories belonged to the body named Jiang Chao.
After he finished sorting the memories, a happy smile flashed on his face. He found an identity for himself. Since the original Chao was dead, he had no shame in pretending to be one. He knew that without status he couldn't move freely in this world, at least initially. Now all he has to do was to return to the Jiang family and pretend to be Jiang Chao until he amassed enough knowledge about this new world.
"Before that" as he spoke this, a purple light came from his hand and enveloped the dead Jiang Chao's body. Then the light along with the body vanished from the spot, including the blood. Jiang Jie took care of the proof and the body almost in an experienced manner.
Nodding his head in satisfaction, he took a deep breath as a cyan color aura enveloped his body. Then he flew towards the capital of Lyon Kingdom at speed higher than a rocket.