It took Jack 10 years to completely read and learn the books. After finishing them, he returned them to the library.
All the books were copies; the original versions are kept in the brown city, the capital. The local libraries are connected to the central library and reprint the book for anyone who pays. However, even though they are copies, they must still be returned before 100 years. This is simply because of theft prevention; the monitoring formations in the books run out of energy after a century.
There are ways to create a self-sufficient formation that never runs out but would increase the costs and lower the performance; for low-level books, it is simply not worth it.
Books retrievable using only inferior contribution points are not very important. The only reason for the secrecy regulation regarding them is to prevent the loss of a revenue source. Otherwise, the knowledge within them is not sensitive.
After finishing his study and returning the books, Jack briefly visited Sky City again to buy materials for the creation of a formation; using those, he managed to craft a formation in only 6 months; the formation was not bad; its power was at the peak of the nascent soul; technically, it was possible to craft a divine soul level formation using the same materials, but neither jack, not his subordinate's skill was good enough for that; he also didn't have the money, nor the will to hire outsiders.
He returned to his closed-door cultivation after the formation was completed, this time to calculate the Nascent Soul chapter of Heaven's Way.
At the same time, his subordinates remained busy with the new headquarters; building a new headquarters requires the collective effort of everyone.
By now, everyone bought the breakthrough tokens and used them retroactively. They have the aura and can blend in without any issues.
Daoist Ice visited a few times and asked about them, but Faith only gave vague answers; fortunately, Daoist Ice didn't take it seriously and left.
Faith had no idea what they were thinking; she never thought they would give up this easily.
But the truth is that the Brown Dynasty's higher-ups didn't care at all about low-level cultivators; those below the Void Soul are no different from ants.
The matter with the continental formation, though, was more serious; the Ice Fall Sect notified the Brown Dynasty a while ago.
Ted Buttos, who was punished by the sect, discovered the flaw and was again appointed branch leader.
The agents of the Brown Dynasty visited. The flaw in the formation was very small and fresh, as if it had been made less than a year ago. Fixing such flaws takes very little time and resources, so they fixed it on the spot. In the Brown dynasty's calculation, Jack and his crew came from this small flaw.
The continental formation is very advanced, but it would have issues from time to time. After all, the land it covers is large beyond the imagination of ordinary mortals. It protects against outside invasions, storms, pollution, and anything else which may be harmful. Its intensity works in reverse order of ranks; it has no resistance against mortals, very little resistance against Core Formations, tiny resistance against Nascent Souls, small resistance against Divine Souls, medium resistance against Substance Souls, relatively strong resistance against Multiple Souls, strong resistance to the Void Souls, and extremely strong resistance toward Soul Transformation realm cultivators.
Because of how it works, it's far easier for low-level foreign cultivators to enter than for high-grade foreign cultivators. The discovered flaw was big enough for Nascent Soul cultivators to enter, but Divine Soul cultivators would have failed.
The formation's core is in Brown City, the capital of the Brown Dynasty. It is under the direct control of the patriarch, who is at the peak of the Soul Transformation realm. The formation core would alert any big flaw in the continental formation; however, these small flaws are not important enough to be reported to Soul Transformation-level cultivators.
Aside from the patriarch, nobody else has full access to the continental formation. The four great sects all have limited access, but full access is only in the hands of the patriarch.
The North Apple Continent is the biggest nearby continent, but that doesn't mean it is alone. There is also a South Apple Continent, a West Apple, and an East Apple. Those continents are smaller, but each still has Soul Transformation cultivators.
The migration of weaker cultivators from one continent to another is extremely rare. Even though leaving and entering the continent for low-level cultivators is not difficult, making one's way to another continent is extremely challenging. However, even though it is rare, it happens sometimes.
Oliver Buttons, the fake transmigrator, didn't know this; he had limited time in this world and was extremely ignorant of these facts. His reaction the way he did was the result of his ignorance.
As such, the matter with Jack and his group, though weird, was not unprecedented.
One strange thing, though, was the appearance of new land in the middle of the ocean out of nowhere. The forces of the Brown Dynasty soon found out that the land was controlled by Heaven's Way Sect, which became their subordinate only a while ago.
Land cannot just appear out of thin air; high-level cultivators can turn seas into fertile land, but how can Jack and his group do it? According to maps drawn 40 years ago, this place used to be only ocean; there shouldn't be any land here.
Whatever happened, it happened in the last 40 years.
This matter was reported to the headquarters; after all, the main branch of the Brown Dynasty has always dealt with anything related to continental formation and security. As the main witnesses, it was logical just to arrest the Heaven's Way Sect and question them or read their minds using mind control.
But that is the main branch's job; the Sky City side branch had nothing to do with it. They just put someone to monitor the Heaven's Way Sect just to prevent anything from happening. After all, they are witnesses to something big, so nothing should happen to them.
...
Jack wasn't worried about the Brown Dynasty because he knew how their internal system worked.
The patriarch of the Brown Dynasty is now in long-term closed-door cultivation to break through to the Perfection realm. Without his presence, the second supreme elder, Master Daoist Stormy, acts as the leader.
Master Daoist Stormy is a mild character. She would, at most, summon him for an interview, and they won't capture them for interrogation, etc. Jack might have been worried if it wasn't him who wrote all of this, but as the creator, he could predict everything to a reasonable degree of certainty.
Jack intends to take advantage of the interview for his benefit; meeting a Soul Transformation cultivator is a huge opportunity. If he can earn her favor, she may help him.
Those matters are, however, for the future.
If he guessed right, which he most certainly did, the Brown Dynasty would first try to discover the origin of the new land without any help. They would only look after him when they fail.
Jack has around one century of time.
...
Cultivating Heaven's Way was difficult; even with all that knowledge, it still took him 70 years to calculate the Nascent Soul chapter completely. When he did so, Faith, Amber, Mike, Lucy, and many others reached the Nascent Soul stage. They didn't go beyond the 1st stage, though, because they wanted to get access to a more complete version of Heaven's Way.
However, other disciples, those who were not close to Jack, did advance beyond rank 1 when they broke through. They would not be given a more complete version of Heaven's Way anyway, so why wait?
As such, some technically are stronger than Jack in his own sect. Of course, Jack's Nascent Soul is strong for his rank, so nobody can predict the result of such battles.
...
Jack looked at his panel.
"Name: Jack"
"Cultivation level: First stage of Nascent Soul realm"
"Main mission: Conquer the world"
"Side mission: Calculate the Nascent Soul chapter of Heaven's Way technique. Reward: 100 years of cultivation practice – Claim your reward"
"Short-term task: Break through the peak of Nascent Soul realm. Reward: 25 years of cultivation practice"
"Cultivation practice reserves: 199 years"
Those few extra years of cultivation practice reserves came from a few short-term tasks he did years ago. One was to "Transfer the headquarters of Heaven's Way Sect to the mainland," which he wanted to do anyway. The task system is strange; it usually gives tasks that one intends to do in any case.
Jack didn't invent the system itself; Rachel mass-produces them and sells them on the free market. She usually gives one for free to transmigrators; Jack just bought one and gave it to Oliver.
It's not that he liked Oliver; it was his plan from the beginning to steal the system for himself eventually. He couldn't directly add it to himself, as that would reduce the world's difficulty, resulting in a reduction of the Dao collection.
Rachel has been going deeper into the transmigrator business; even many mortals in modern universes are noticing. Even on a certain blue planet, many internet authors write novels about people who are transmigrated with a system. It can be said that she unintentionally promoted a certain kind of novel throughout the universe. In any case, however, she doesn't care what some mortals write and think.
"Time to break through the peak of Nascent Soul!" Jack thought.
The Nascent Soul chapter of Heaven's Way contains several special, nearly cheat-level spells.
The first is called "As Far As Heavens"; one can teleport anywhere in the heavens! For example, using it, Jack can travel to the other side of the world instantly, ignoring all obstacles. However, everything must be balanced; using the spell would anger the heavens, so it would send tribulations after him; their intensity depends on the distance he crosses using "As Far As Heavens." For example, if he crosses from one continent to another, Heaven's Way would most likely send at least a tribulation at the level of Void Soul, or even possibly at the level of Soul Transformation! That would be no different from a suicidal act.
There are other spells as well. There is one spell called "One with Heavens," which is a concealment spell. Using the spell, he can hide his appearance, cultivation base, location, voice, etc., from everyone. But again, everything is balanced. Using "One with Heavens," Jack can hide himself from everyone but the will of the heavens. The will of the heavens won't tolerate being taken advantage of, so it would no doubt send tribulations to punish him. Obviously, his concealment goes up in smoke if tribulation clouds suddenly appear and alert everyone.
There is another spell called "Heavenly Elements." Using this spell, he can cast spells of all elements. The heavenly element is the mother of all elements; it contains all. Using the heavenly element, Jack can cast fire, water, wind, metal, soil, etc., all proficiently. But again, using this enrages the heavens.
Another spell called "Hidden from Heavens" can be used to dodge weaker tribulations. However, the "Hidden from Heavens" spell of the Nascent Soul level can only hide him from a Nascent Soul level tribulation. Also, the spell would work best if he cast it on himself; if he casts it on another person or thing, the effectiveness would drop sharply.
There are several other spells as well, but as evident, these spells sound very overpowered, but in fact, most are not practical. The heavens punish him for their usage. That is because the spells are only at the level of Nascent Soul, so even though they are overpowered, they are visible to the heavens like a shining light in deep darkness. The heavens would immediately notice him taking advantage of it.
As Jack's cultivation level improves, he can use more power without being discovered. At the first stage of the nascent soul realm, he can, at most, use peak Nascent Soul spells without being discovered. If he uses the power of the heavens above Nascent Soul, it will be discovered by the will of the heavens, which would send tribulations on his way.
"I bet they put a monitor for me, most likely at Nascent Soul level, but it's also possible that they put a Divine Soul realm as a monitor!" Jack thought. He wasn't all-knowing and didn't know the details, but he could guess they put someone to watch them.
The chance of a Substance Soul cultivator as the monitor was very low. Who would be so wasteful as to put a Substance Soul to watch a sect with only a few Nascent Souls? A Divine Soul suffices.
"The formation and the 'One with Heavens' should be enough to conceal my breakthrough," Jack thought. He doesn't want to let them notice his breakthrough.
He has already created a peak Nascent Soul level formation and his own spell, it should be enough. It can conceal everything from even Divine Soul cultivators. If the Dynasty's agent is Substance Soul, that would be just too unlucky, as there is no chance that even the formation and spell together can hide anything from Substance Soul cultivators.
Opening his system panel, Jack took a deep breath and said, "Use 100 years of cultivation practice to improve my cultivation with the Heaven's Way technique!".