Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 266 The Perfect Land, Alliance Leader Yi Jifeng
A few days later, in the personal space.

Zhou Ming stood in front of a piece of land.

This land is not made of soil, but is woven from countless golden rays of light.

Zhou Ming summoned a wisp of perfect energy, and with a thought, he divided it into ten parts. Each part of the perfect energy curled up and formed a small sphere, which gradually solidified as it slowly rotated.

With a wave of his hand, all the spheres disappeared into the ground in front of him.

"Next, we just need to wait three months."

Zhou Ming thought.

This land, adorned with interwoven radiance, is actually the newly awakened ability of Zhou Ming after his breakthrough in the realm of Dharma cultivation.

A perfect place.

Simply put, a peculiar piece of land appears in his personal space, and Zhou Ming can transform the decomposed perfect energy into seeds and plant them on this land.

As time passes, these seeds can take root and sprout, eventually nurturing a complete and perfect energy.

It takes one season, or three months, for the seeds to break down into one-tenth of their original size.

It takes three years to break down the seeds into one percent!
The number of perfect lands is determined by Zhou Ming's cultivation level.

He has now passed through the three realms of meditation, the three realms of divine vision, and the three realms of observing the world, totaling nine minor realms.

Therefore, eighty-one perfect places were born in the personal space.

Only one seed can be planted on every perfect piece of land.

The one-tenth of the seeds that Zhou Ming planted at this moment will yield eighty-one strands of perfect energy in three months.

"Three months and ninety days, the harvest of eighty-one perfect energies, that's roughly one per day. Plus, my perfect energies can generate one per day to begin with, which is equivalent to doubling the yield..."

Zhou Ming calculated in his mind: "But if I can break through another realm, I can obtain ten times ten, which is one hundred perfect lands. And if I can continue to break through, it will be eleven times eleven, twelve times twelve... The output can continue to double and increase!"

That being said, breaking through is not easy.

In the realm of perception, practitioners can sense the changes in heaven and earth.

Upon reaching the realm of witchcraft and ritual, this sensory ability will be greatly enhanced.

Zhou Ming can now sense the weather changes, ecosystems, earthquakes, mudslides, and other conditions within a radius of a thousand miles over the next three to four months.

Possessing this ability, in ancient times, one could command the tribe, avoid natural disasters, guide agriculture and sericulture, become the tribe's shaman, and wield the power of sacrifice.

Therefore, this realm was named 'Witchcraft and Sacrifice'.

From ancient times to the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, the vast majority of priests who served in the court were at this level.

Very few people are able to break through to the next level.

The next realm is called 'Following Heaven'.

The first realm of following the heavens is called "borrowing power". In this realm, one can borrow the power of heaven and earth to use various means and is no longer powerless.

The second realm of following the will of Heaven is called "borrowing momentum." In this realm, one masters the profound power of Heaven and Earth and uses it to perform various techniques. When the wind is strong, one borrows the wind; when the fire is intense, one borrows the fire; when escaping, one borrows the earth; when entering a river, one borrows the water.

The third realm of following the will of Heaven is called 'Spiritual Communication'. This realm allows one to communicate with the ethereal spirits between Heaven and Earth, thereby requesting their assistance.

The first three stages of the path of spiritual cultivation all involve increasing spiritual power and sensing changes in the universe.

However, from this realm onwards, cultivators are no longer bystanders or worshippers before heaven and earth, but gradually acquire their own power and begin to interfere with the changes in heaven and earth.

You could even say it's... the path to godhood!
It is precisely because of such tremendous changes that this realm is extremely difficult to break through.

However, Zhou Ming was fully confident that he could overcome this major obstacle.

It's just a matter of time.

With a flash of light and shadow, Ai appeared beside him.

Zhou Ming laughed and said, "Xiao Ai, you'd better take good care of this land. Whether you can unleash your computing power without restraint in the future depends on it."

"Ah."

Although she realized that Zhou Ming was just joking, Xiao Ai still nodded solemnly.

Currently, most of Zhou Ming's perfect energy is being supplied to Xiao Ai as the energy source for her calculations.

Apart from that, the rewards given to organization members and Zhou Ming's own expenses only accounted for a small portion.

It is foreseeable that the perfect energy cultivated on this land will mostly be used by Ai in the future.

This is all her food!
"Some things happened during your seclusion."

Ai said, "There have been new developments in the things you asked me to keep an eye on."

"Oh?"

"The news about Tianjing in the Jianghu Monthly Report has reached the Qin Kingdom in the west. The First Emperor has secretly sent people to the Western Regions to find Master Yoda."

"it is good!"

Zhou Ming's eyes lit up, and he said, "In that case, let Master Yoda make his appearance."

"Secondly, the Imperial Sword Manor has already determined the succession time for the next manor lord, and the ceremony will be held in two months. Invitations have already begun to be sent out. One of them will arrive here in five days."

"The ancient Shu Kingdom is too far away, and it would be too troublesome to make the trip in person. We can just participate using a projection."

"Third, the Xingzilin incident is over..."

"Ah? When?"

"Just yesterday."

Zhou Ming was taken aback: "So, I just missed this opportunity?"

"Yes."

"Oh, okay..."

Zhou Ming shook his head and sighed helplessly, but he didn't seem too frustrated.

Although the Xingzilin incident was a very exciting part of the story, it paled in comparison to his breakthrough in cultivation.

Moreover, Zhou Ming has no intention of getting involved in this matter.

After all, this matter was highly beneficial to him.

The so-called Xingzilin Incident originated from a treacherous and vicious woman.

Kang Min.

She was the wife of Ma Dayuan, the vice leader of the Beggars' Sect. At a flower festival, she appeared with her husband, and her beauty attracted the attention of many.

Only Qiao Feng, the leader of the Beggars' Sect, remained unmoved and ignored it.

This caused Kang Min to become extremely dissatisfied. She had an affair with Bai Shijing, an elder of the Beggars' Sect, and murdered her husband, Ma Dayuan. She also used her beauty to seduce other high-ranking members of the Beggars' Sect, and together they orchestrated this incident.

Qiao Feng's background is mysterious; he was not from the Song Dynasty, but rather of Liao Dynasty blood.

The Song Dynasty was weak and was repeatedly attacked by the Yuan, Jin, Liao, and Western Xia dynasties, all of whom were its enemies. When Qiao Feng's identity was revealed, it caused controversy, so he resigned from his position as leader of the gang.

The Beggars' Sect was known as the largest sect in the Song Dynasty, but in reality, it was just a group of beggars. Although it seemed to have a large number of members, it had very few experts.

If led by a hero, the entire Beggars' Sect could gather its strength, it would naturally become a formidable force.

But if no one can do this, the Beggars' Sect is nothing but a pile of mud.

With Qiao Feng gone, the remaining bunch of worthless scoundrels were too busy fighting for power to have the mind or ability to lead the entire Beggars' Sect.

As the Beggars' Sect weakens, a large amount of profits will naturally flow out.

This was a perfect opportunity for the Sun Moon Cult to develop rapidly.

Therefore, Zhou Ming had no intention of getting involved in this matter at all.

"Where has the situation progressed now?" "After Qiao Feng left, the Xixia Yipintang appeared and used the drug 'Beisu Qingfeng' to incapacitate most of the experts present. Apart from a few who escaped, most of the others were captured by the Xixia Yipintang."

Yipintang was an organization established by the Western Xia Kingdom to recruit martial arts masters. It was led by Helian Tieshu, the King of Western Xia and the General Who Conquers the East.

On the surface, he was loyal to the King of Western Xia, but in reality, he was controlled by Li Qiushui, the Dowager Consort of Western Xia.

This time, Helian Tieshu came to the Song Kingdom under the guise of an envoy, but secretly he was gathering intelligence on various martial arts factions.

The Song Kingdom was able to avoid being defeated by other ethnic groups and countries partly because of their annual tribute and financial support, and partly because of the support from various powerful forces in the martial arts world.

On the Yuan Dynasty side, Guo Jing was stationed in Xiangyang City, using his reputation to rally martial arts forces to assist in resisting the Yuan Dynasty.

Meanwhile, in the Western Xia and Liao dynasties, the Beggars' Sect contributed greatly.

Helian Tieshu's goal this time was to find a way to eliminate the Beggars' Clan, or at the very least, severely damage it.

Unexpectedly, they found out that the Beggars' Sect leaders were going to gather in Xingzilin.

They immediately took action, leading the experts of Yipintang to attack Xingzilin and wipe out the Beggar Clan's high-ranking members.

According to the original plot, Duan Yu learns of the news and, with A'Zhu's help, rushes to save many Beggar Clan masters.

"Those high-ranking members of the Beggars' Sect cannot die."

Zhou Ming said, "As the saying goes, a bad person's cunning schemes are no match for a fool's quick thinking. Losing Qiao Feng will inevitably lead to the decline of the Beggars' Sect, but if we lose this group of high-ranking members, the Beggars' Sect may actually prosper again."

These high-ranking members of the Beggars' Sect were both stupid and wicked, each one blinded by greed.

As long as they live, they will inevitably fight for power and profit, which will only lead to the decline of the Beggars' Sect.

But if they all die, then the Beggars' Sect will naturally elect new leaders.

The newcomer might be a person who is determined to make a difference.

It's also possible that they will welcome Qiao Feng back and let him continue to lead the Beggars' Sect.

That would be the worst possible outcome.

"So..." Xiao Ai said, "Should we notify Duan Yu and ask him to go rescue them?"

Zhou Ming shook his head: "We should save him, but we can't let Duan Yu go. That would be a waste of the opportunity. How about we let Yi Jifeng go instead?"

"Yi Jifeng?"

Yi Jifeng has been living a relatively comfortable life lately.

When the six major families gathered last time to form an alliance, Yi Jifeng thought he would become the leader of the alliance and use that as a starting point to restore the prestige of Mingjian Manor.

But to his surprise, the major families didn't care about him at all and wanted to nominate Murong Fu of the Murong family as the leader of the alliance.

Yi Jifeng was thus misled by Zhou Ming and accepted the organization's secret token.

Under the influence of the Sun Moon Sect, the story of how many famous figures in the martial arts world died without cause from their own signature skills spread far and wide.

The Murong family, possessing the family's inherited "Star Shift" divine skill and renowned throughout the world for their "using the enemy's own methods against them" technique, became the prime suspects.

Murong Fu, the only current and existing heir of the Murong family, was naturally identified as the murderer.

Because of these rumors, the alliance's invitation to Murong Fu has once again become a hot topic.

However, in this Jiangnan region, the other families were ultimately no match for the local families led by the Wang family, and they eventually decided to invite Murong Fu to serve as the leader of the alliance.

Then, the most unexpected thing happened.

Murong Fu... he refused!
To be more precise, the alliance members didn't even meet Murong Fu; they only met his retainers, and then the matter was directly rejected.

The Wang family, who strongly advocated for this matter, lost face as a result.

However, they still disagreed with putting Yi Jifeng in power.

It has nothing to do with face, or even with Murong Fu; it's all about interests.

The Murong family is the leading family in Jiangnan, and other families such as the Wang family have very deep-rooted interests with the Murong family.

Their election of Murong Fu as the leader of the alliance was essentially aimed at consolidating the Murong family's position, thereby consolidating the position of their own families.

The Zhu family and other families recommended Yi Jifeng in order to weaken the Murong family's position.

Naturally, the interests of families closely connected with the Murong family, such as the Wang family, will also be weakened.

Therefore, it is not important whether Murong Fu becomes the leader of the alliance; what is important is to protect their interests.

Therefore, the Wang family and other families immediately nominated Murong Fu's subordinates to be the leader of the alliance.

This aroused strong opposition from the Zhu family and others.

Murong Fu is renowned and naturally qualified to be the leader of the alliance, but what right does a mere family retainer have to lead these major families?
Why don't you find a dog from the Murong family to be the leader of this alliance?
The Wang family was also helpless.

But this is all for their own benefit, and we must not allow it.

Therefore, they resorted to delaying tactics.

They knew that Murong Fu refused because he had other important matters to attend to and was not currently in Jiangnan.

They decided to stall for time, intending to wait until Murong Fu finished his business and returned.

Zhu Jia thought, "Fine, fine, so this is how you play it? Then I'm not going to join this alliance."

Close the door and protect your own little corner of the world.

Ignore the other families!
With Yi Jifeng present and Dongfang Bubai cooperating, the Zhu family's businesses did not suffer any damage.

Other families' businesses suffered heavy losses.

Left with no other option, many families had to compromise.

The alliance was re-established.

And the leader of this alliance is naturally Yi Jifeng.

"Young Master Yi!"

"Alliance Leader Yi!"

"Leader Yi, you are truly a promising young man."

"Alas, my unfilial son is a few years older than Alliance Leader Yi, yet he is completely incomparable to him."

"Heh, old man, you think you can compare your son to Alliance Leader Yi? He's the heir to the Famous Sword Manor, what are you?"

The surrounding compliments made Yi Jifeng walk much more lightly.

Especially as his reputation soared, the name of Mingjian Villa once again spread throughout the martial arts world.

Many elderly people reminisce about the former glory of Mingjian Villa.

The storytellers in the inns and taverns also began to tell the story of Yi Yun's battle against the great demon king of the Western Regions, Xiaoyao Wang.

This situation made Yi Jifeng even more excited.

Even after returning to my room, I couldn't calm down for a long time.

"Hey!"

"Who?!"

The sudden sound startled Yi Jifeng, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the golden figure that had abruptly appeared in the room.

"It's you... Why do you always appear and disappear so suddenly, it's scary."

Jin Jiu laughed and said, "My appearance this time was not sudden, and I have been here for three breaths. You were just out of your mind and did not notice me."

Judging from how happy you are, you must be enjoying your position as leader of the alliance quite a bit, right?

(End of this chapter)