The "Strategy of Nine States" records the major events that have occurred in the Immortal Cultivation World.
The most significant event that took place last month was the emergence of Immortal Jiuyi, the sect leader of Misty Mountain Immortal, who engaged in a great battle at Furnace Mountain against the dual protectors of the Underworld King Sect. He directly decapitated the Silver King and caused severe injuries to the Purple Gold Marquis, forcing him to flee.
As one of the leading figures in the demonic path, the Underworld King Sect has been growing increasingly powerful in recent years and even showed intentions of emerging from the shadows. The resolute action taken by Immortal Jiuyi may be considered a significant blow against them. However, it's uncertain how the mysterious Sect Master of the Underworld King Sect will respond.
Another noteworthy event involves the emergence of a ruthless female disciple named Luo Yao from the Sanjue Valley, one of the Ten Earth Sects. Venturing across the vast Southern Land, she has already eradicated three Witch Gu Evil Sects within a month.
Interestingly, Sanjue Valley itself is a great sect known for the use of witchcraft, poison, and spying techniques, maintaining a position that straddles both righteousness and evil. Given Luo Yao's despise of evil, it's uncertain whether her fellow sect members would tremble in fear.
The Shu Mountain Sect makes an appearance in this month's Strategy of Nine States report as well, albeit a minor one. Wang Xuanling, the Jade Sword Peak Master of the Shu Mountain Sect, reportedly slew a rampaging flood dragon that had been menacing fishing boats in Eastern Sea.
Upon reading this news, Chu Liang felt a certain worry. His master has always been at odds with Wang Xuanling. Based on her temperament, if Wang Xuanling accomplishes something notable, she would feel compelled to do the same.
His concern wasn't for his master's safety, but rather for the ecology of Eastern Sea...
Just as he felt this pang of worry, he saw a column of flame burst into the sky in the distance, heading southeast. From the wind, a telepathic message floated over, "Take care of yourself, your teacher will be away for a few days!"
"..." Chu Liang was silent for a moment.
His endlessly competitive master ...
Finally, there was the section that the general public most liked to read, the "Rivers and Lakes Anecdotes".
Compared to the serious and formal "Strategy of Nine States", "Rivers and Lakes Anecdotes" leans more towards entertainment, involving more trivial gossip-like news.
For instance, the first news item was that the Emperor of Yu Dynasty had toured the Ascending Dragon Academy. During the visit, he attempted to arrange a marriage between his youngest daughter, Princess Jingyang, and Minister Zhang, the Academy Chief of Ascending Dragon Academy. However, Minister Zhang rejected the proposal.
His reason was, romantic affairs could affect one's studies.
Ascending Dragon Academy is the top academy within Confucianism, backed by the Imperial Court. It is one of the most influential among the Ten Earth Sects. As the Academy Chief, Zhang had a bright future regardless of whether he chose to devote himself fully to cultivation or join the court as an official. This rejection, however, introduces an element of unpredictability to his future prospects.
After all, an emperor isn't the only father worried about marrying off his daughter.
The master of Thunder Fortress, one of the Ten Earth Sects, also announced that he is willing to offer ten magical treasures as a dowry to recruit a worthy son-in-law for his only daughter, Huang Ling'er. Yet, no one from the heroes in the Nine States dares to accept his offer.
Of course, there are hidden circumstances behind this.
Being the son-in-law of Thunder Fortress, even as a man marrying into the bride's family... would naturally attract many talented and high-ranking young men.
The reason for the lack of willing suitors isn't any shortcoming of Huang Ling'er, but rather a threat she has made: anyone wishing to marry her had better have a higher cultivation than her. Otherwise, on their wedding day, they would become the food for her pet, the Dragon Tooth Mammoth.
Among the various anecdotes, Shu Mountain only rated a single mention.
That is, Jiang Yuebai, known as Immortal Jiang of Shu Mountain, was seen enjoying a dinner at the Drunken Moon Building in Jiangnan with Feng Chaoyang from Heavenly King Sect. The encounter aroused suspicions of a romantic involvement between them.
Of course, the Tianshu Pavilion wouldn't make unfounded assumptions without confirming the relationship between the two. For now, they have only labelled the relationship as "suspected".
However, one can imagine that just this piece of news would be enough to break the hearts of many admirers of Immortal Jiang.
…
"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"
"My Jiangjiang would never get taken away by a bad boy from the Heavenly King Sect!"
"Immortal Jiang! I beg you! Keep your love for the Shu Mountain Sect!"
"..."
From time to time on the vast white square in front of the Unbounded Palace, one could hear desperate screams.
Occasionally, there would be retorts from female disciples.
"Just because you admire Immortal Jiang doesn't mean you have to belittle Feng Chaoyang! He is a hardworking and kind idealist in the mortal world!"
"Yes, yes! At the age of nineteen, he is the most formidable contender for the position of chief disciple of the Heavenly King Sect. When will you sour lemons catch up with him?"
"..."
People's joys and sorrows cannot be shared and Chu Liang merely found them noisy.
He calmly passed through the crowd, traversed the entire square. All four entrances of the Shu Mountain Sect were located at the edges of the square.
Among them, except for the "Law Enforcement Hall" which is in charge of sect laws, the "Chuan Jian Hall" is responsible for magical treasures and weapons, the "Law Protection Hall" for divine skills, and the "Pill Furnace Hall" for elixirs and talismans.
These three sect entrances all have many listed items for purchase by disciples of Shu Mountain Sect using Sword Coins.
Chu Liang, having completed several tasks, had collected twenty Sword Coins. While not enough to buy magical treasures or classic books, he could purchase some elixirs to aid in cultivation.
He came to the Pill Furnace Hall and bought four spirit gathering pills called "Spirit Gathering Pills", meant for those at the Divine Consciousness Realm. With these pills for assistance, he was confident that he would soon break through to the middle stage of the Divine Consciousness Realm.
Unlike other disciples, he could save all his Sword Coins to exchange for medicines, which was very beneficial.
Leaving the Pill Furnace Hall, he headed to the Sword Exchange Pavilion.
The steps to exterminate the demonic creatures in order to complete tasks must not stop. With the White Pagoda in hand, he had to make full use of it.
It was inappropriate to always ask Elder Shen for help in choosing tasks, so this time he decided to pick one out himself. In the great hall of the Sword Exchange Pavilion, there hung several slabs of jade displaying rapidly changing task signs. The Divine Consciousness Realm sign in particular had numerous tasks which were confusing to the eye.
Before he could take a closer look, he heard someone shouting from a distance: "Picking of human-faced jade essence flowers! Generous rewards, need one more at the Divine Consciousness Realm. Ready to leave immediately! Task headed by a senior brother in the Golden Core Realm. Absolutely safe!"
"Picking of human-faced jade essence flowers..." The one shouting was a young disciple in a black brocade outfit, thick eyebrows, large eyes, and full of vitality.
Behind him were three other male and female disciples, it seemed that they were a group.
Human-faced jade essence flowers...
Chu Liang pondered a bit. He was unsure where to pick these flowers. But he knew that generally, tasks requiring multiple people indicated that the tasks were much more challenging, or that there would be many demonic creatures to face off against.
The more demonic creatures there were, the better the task.
He, therefore, approached and stated with a smile: "Hi, I would like to join your group."
Although he didn't know these folks, they were all from the same sect of Shu Mountain, familiar as family, so he didn't feel any distance from them.
"Eh?" The young man in black was delighted and he immediately beamed and waved Chu Liang over. "That's excellent. Let's go claim the task quickly."
"My name is Lin Bei, what's your name?"
"Chu Liang."
"Junior brother Chu, let me tell you, this task is in high demand."
Once the team was complete, Lin Bei skillfully went up and acquired the task sign for everyone, then distributed them to the group.
After handing one to Chu Liang, he inquired enthusiastically, "Junior brother Chu, which peak are you from? We are from Jade Sword Peak."
Chu Liang answered, "I am from Silver Sword Peak."