Carlos was a mage of the 7th rank and the esteemed leader of Whitewood Academy, one of the top academies within the union.
The union, established millennia ago, aimed to unite mages and prevent internal conflicts. It was governed by a group of 7th rank mages chosen by their peers who held ranks above 2nd.
Currently, Carlos was observing a disturbance in the eastern sea—a massive spatial anomaly unlike anything he had ever witnessed.
Numerous individuals from various wizard academies had been sent to investigate, but none had returned.
Now, they sought Carlos, renowned for his expertise in divination among 7th rank wizards, to perform a divination.
Carlos agreed to take on the task, not only because he desired to do so but also because he was offered a substantial sum of top-level magic stones.
He meticulously prepared the spell formation using the finest materials, and entered a focused and concentrated state of mind to conduct the divination.
In his divination, he sought to uncover the cause of the disturbance.
As he delved into the depths of the divination, a vivid scene unfolded before his eyes.
He saw a young woman with beautiful features, adorned in peculiar attire, her black hair flowing. Suddenly, the woman turned her gaze toward Carlos.
"No!" he screamed.
In an instant, his eyes exploded, and he started to scream uncontrollably.
Divinations could have a severe backlash when attempting to unveil secrets associated with high-level beings.
Carlos continued to scream for several minutes, his body now covered in profuse bleeding.
Just then, another individual teleported to the scene—it was Mage Black Wind.
As Carlos's mentor, Mage Black Wind often explored other realms in search of resources.
When Mage Black Wind sensed the danger to his apprentice, he swiftly arrived, preparing a purifying spell to alleviate Carlos's condition.
Although Carlos's situation temporarily improved, it soon deteriorated once again.
Mage Black Wind cursed, realizing that this was related to a Rank 9 entity.
Acting quickly, he teleported himself and Carlos, who was still screaming in agony, to the laboratory within the mage union headquarters.
There, with the assistance of several Rank 8 mages, they began their efforts to suppress the backlash. However, even their combined power was insufficient.
Mage Black Wind turned to another Rank 8 mage named Mage Endless Sea and said, "We must summon the Venerable. This is beyond our capabilities, as it involves a Rank 9 existence."
Gritting their teeth, more than ten Rank 8 mages commenced the summoning of the Venerable, named Perfect World.
Soon, a young woman appeared in the room, her gaze fixed upon Carlos with a grave expression. She cast a purifying spell, and gradually, all traces of the backlash vanished, returning Carlos to a normal state, albeit in a coma.
Venerable Perfect World said, "I will keep a close watch over him. You may leave."
The other mages dared not defy her command and departed silently.
venerable Perfect World remained seated, patiently waiting for Carlos to awaken.
Hao harem sect
Hao Gongming sighed, deeply affected by that incident.
It served as a stark reminder that she was not invincible.
Even after a month had passed, she vividly recalled the excruciating pain of being torn apart, and begin reduced to blood mist.
Thankfully, she had created her clone, transferring both her memories and power to it. She was immensely grateful for this foresight.
Immediately after, she created nine more clones and dispatched them to various distant worlds.
As long as all ten of her clones were not simultaneously eliminated, she would survive.
It was a form of true immortality.
However, her time spent in this particular world had led her to question something: "What kind of world am I in?"
There is no trace of spiritual power in this world. Instead, she senses different sources of power that, while compatible, are distinct.
In the past month alone, several peculiar individuals have arrived here. She captured all of them, and one of them is currently being introduced by her 10th clone, who serves as her assistant.
Even more concerning, a moment ago, she was spied on by an entity stronger than Yin Yang Transformation cultivator, but much weaker than Imitating Realm.
This time, she didn't dare to recklessly go there and fight. She knew that there were people stronger than her present.
Instead, she revealed a fraction of her aura to intimidate the observer, and it worked.
The spying ceased after they witnessed her power.
While she is currently in Yin Yang Transformation, she surpasses others in terms of cultivation power. She is nearly on par with an Imitating Realm cultivator, thanks to her 20th level Qi Condensation and the consumption of countless monster cores, many of which were in Yin Yang Transformation stage.
However, now she must acclimate herself to this new world.
She called for Su, who entered with a serious expression and spoke without being prompted, "Gongming, we need more food. People are starving!"
Hao Gongming sighed.
Although she acquired numerous resources from various sects, there was a scarcity of food stockpiles. Immortals, after all, do not consume food unless it aids cultivation. Furthermore, the number of people is immense, with over ten million disciples.
Lately, Su had been using spiritual food to sustain them. This helped many break through the Qi Condensation stage, but for those lacking talent, the spiritual food merely strengthened their bodies—it did not grant them cultivation level.
To find food, she ventured out and surveyed the surroundings, finding nothing but an expanse of sea. She used to catch a lot of fish, but their numbers were dwindling.
She thought to herself, "I've searched around, but I couldn't find a single monster even in the Foundation Establishment realm. It seems that the people here have killed all the strong monsters. They must be highly organized."
Now, she could only go out occasionally to catch small fish to feed her harem. But she believed it was worth it.
Having a harem of millions of people was a dream for many, and she had achieved it. At night, she slept on a bed shared with thousands of people.
She said to Su, "Alright, I will gather more food. And soon, I will introduce a new cultivation method for you to teach the disciples."
"A new method?" Su asked, deep in thought, with a serious expression.
Mage union headqyarters
Meanwhile, at the laboratory, Carlos woke up and saw Venerable Perfect World. He immediately bowed and said, "Venerable, you came for me."
Venerable smiled and reassured him, saying, "Relax, Carlos. Now, tell me what you saw."
"I saw a woman with black hair, and then nothing," Carlos replied.
Venerable's expression turned serious as she thought to herself, "This might be a world invasion. I must inform Pioneer Mage unityx21."
The mage ranks were straightforward: Ranks 1 to 8 were referred to as mages, Rank 9 as venerable, and Rank 10 as mage lord.
Rank 11 would be a pointer mage, a multidimensional existence that could hardly be considered a living being.
It's more like a virus, a gray area between life and death. A Pioneer Mage is a combination of various mages soul, forming a collective consciousness.
However, this consciousness is emotionless, akin to a robot, and thinks rationally. It resembles a corporation, devoid of emotions and solely focused on profit.
Venerable Perfect World thought to herself, "If it's an invader from another world, it should be eliminated no matter what."
Immediately after, she reached out to Pioneer Mage world unityx21.
She left a message for Pioneer Mage unityx21, thinking, "Now that I've informed them, all I can do is to wait."
the Hao Harem Sect
one year had passed since the relocation. Many disciples were tested for their mage talent, and trained in mage way, which Hao Gongming extracted from the captives.
the results were not bad.
Currently, there was one Nascent Soul cultivator in the sect, Su.
There were 305 Core Formation cultivators, 2,488 Foundation Establishment cultivators, and over 100,000 Qi Condensation cultivators.
Additionally, there were 20 Rank 3 mages, 311 Rank 2 mages, and over 100,000 Rank 1 mages.
The reason for the higher number of lower-ranked mages was the lower requirements for entry.
The rest of the disciples were considered hopeless and useless, serving as handymen until their death. Among them, Hao Gongming chose her favorites and helped them extend their lives.
To enhance her harem, Hao Gongming came up with a creative idea.
She ordered every disciple to keep her pictures and placed her images everywhere.
She also organized a lottery where people could participate and the winners would receive personal rewards from her.
The lottery became popular, and even women in the sect took part. After all, Hao Gongming's powerful protection elevated their status.
At that moment, Hao Gongming was sleeping in her bedroom, although she didn't actually require sleep. The room was filled with handsome, lazy boys.
Upon waking up, she went out and summoned Kang.
Soon he arrived, and Hao Gongming asked, "Is the dancing team ready?"
Kang replied, "Yes, they are, but they are training hard for perfection. It will just take a few more days."
Hao Gongming said, "Kang, you need to have the dancing team and stripper teams prepared by next week. I'm planning to invite a few mage organizations that I've contacted for a meeting. I want to impress them with the performance of these teams."
Kang said, "Don't worry, Gongming. They are already prepared, just training for a more perfect performance."
"Good," she replied and dismissed Kang.
Six months ago, she was contacted by a group called the Mage Planetary Association. They seemed friendly, so she invited them for a meeting. The meeting was scheduled for the following week.
A week later
five individuals with strong auras approached the gate of the Hao Harem Sect.
Four of them were Rank 10 Mage lords, and the last one was Rank 11 Pioneer Mage unityx21.
Of course, they did not come in person; they sent their clones instead. They were too busy to attend in person, and even sending their clones was a show of respect.
Soon, Hao Gongming's clone arrived and greeted them, while thinking to herself, "Four of them have the aura of Imitating Realm cultivators, while the other one can be considered at the peak of the Illusory Realm. Considering they are all clones, their true bodies should be much stronger. They cannot be underestimated at all!"
Initially, she had the idea of killing them all and gaining a lot of experience points. However, now it seemed that if she did that, they would have to flee from this world as well.
So she planned to make this world her base and go to other worlds to hunt people and gain experience points. For her, traveling between worlds was easy, and there was almost no risk of true death.
She smiled and invited them all inside.