Promise!

Chapter 309, Full

At the morning assembly that day, a resolution was passed to cleanse the beast tide and open up Songling, and action was to begin immediately.

The cleansing of the beast tide came first, followed by the expansion of Songling. The machinery of the Great Qian Dynasty was in operation with terrifying speed. In particular, the five major clans reached a consensus, and the pioneering forces of the Nine Provinces families joined forces to clean up the beast tide like a whirlwind. The strange beasts outside Yong'an City were quickly wiped out, and several official roads leading to the capital Yong'an were cleared. They even quickly pushed back into Songling and gradually penetrated deeper.

With the beast tide contained, the resource supply in the capital city of Yong'an was restored, leading to a retaliatory boom. The visible changes in Yong'an brought Yuwen Shentong, who spearheaded the event, immense prestige.

The initial controversy surrounding his promotion to regent was quickly suppressed, and at the same time, various stories of his achievements circulated, like flowers on brocade, further enhancing his reputation.

These deeds include: Yuwen Shentong paying his respects to Empress Dowager Yuwen morning and evening, serving her as if she were his mother, personally serving her medicine, knowing that she loved carp, his filial piety moved Heaven, and when a carp came into his arms by the river, he cooked it himself, and all who heard of it praised him for his filial piety.
When a person of great virtue visits and exchanges ideas with you, you are deeply moved and admire him, praising him highly and calling him a sage.

If a nephew breaks the law, the emperor personally beats him to death with a cane; this is called impartiality in law enforcement.

……

All of these stories were compiled into a series of short tales. Since this was right under the emperor's nose and the people of the capital were fond of discussing politics, the stories spread very quickly, making Yuwen Shentong's reputation even greater.

Some have suggested that Yuwen Shentong was putting on an act, but in this respect, it's all thanks to the contrast provided by his peers.

—In the Great Qian Dynasty, class stratification was solidified, corruption was rampant, and the people had long been numb to all kinds of darkness. The capital city of Yong'an, as the most virtuous place and the face of the Great Qian Dynasty, was slightly better, but only to a limited extent. Compared to those powerful and noble people who committed numerous evils, whose crimes were too numerous to count and who did not even bother to pretend, Yuwen Shentong was already quite remarkable.

The most frightening thing about people and things in this world is comparison. Compared to his peers, Yuwen Shentong was simply outstanding. With all sorts of hype and adding fuel to the fire, his reputation was now rivaling that of the ancient sages in history!
The underlying motivation behind Yuwen Shentong's actions was that he was exploring and learning from experience that, after gaining power and the approval of the people, he could use secret methods to collect free spiritual energy and refine the thoughts of all living beings more quickly and efficiently.

He also discovered the loopholes: power and people's hearts, whether they are legitimate and genuinely recognized, or seized, deceived, or coerced, all have the same effect.

Just like two silver ingots placed side by side, which one is more noble? Similarly, among the combined thoughts of all sentient beings, there is no method that is more noble.

Under this guiding ideology, Yuwen Shentong believed that the common people were like straw dogs and lambs, extremely foolish, and needed him to herd and guide them.

Of course, his inner arrogance did not prevent Yuwen Shentong from putting on a show in order to break through his current realm.

What was the reaction of the royal family, as well as the three powerful clans of Shi, Mu, and Gongshu?

The Great Qian imperial family needed to win over Yuwen Shentong, balance the Shi, Mu, and Gongshu clans, and buy time. They also understood very well that only when reputation and reality are combined can one achieve earth-shattering success and be invincible. However, when considering only one, reality takes precedence over reputation.

Therefore, seeing that Yuwen Shentong was seeking fame, out of a desire to help him "put on his shoes," he not only did not stop him, but instead fueled the flames, hoping to make him morally blackmailed by his concern for his reputation and his desire for fame.

The Shi, Mu, and Gongshu clans fueled the imperial family's ambitions, using their reputations to blackmail Yuwen Shentong while remaining indifferent. If Yuwen Shentong was truly so foolish, the imperial family could exploit this, and so could they.

Against this backdrop, Yuwen Shentong's prestige in Yong'an, the capital, rose steadily with the reclamation of Songling.

Zhuang Jin knew from Yuwen Shentong's extreme behavior that he was not sincere, just like Wang Mang was humble before he usurped the throne. As the instigator of the transaction of "Nine-Nine Qiankun Gong" with him, Zhuang Jin understood the underlying logic of his behavior and guessed his intentions.

However, it was not revealed that "whom Heaven wishes to destroy, it first makes mad."

If Yuwen Shentong hadn't risen to power and become terrifyingly strong, putting pressure on, threatening, and even severely damaging the Shi, Mu, and Gongshu clans, and desperately drawing hatred towards them, how could he have remained hidden beneath the surface, developing and improving himself?
With Yuwen Shentong blocking the way, it was in Zhuang Jin's interest, so he remained silent and observed the situation.

Of course, Zhuang Jin didn't do nothing. Together with Shangguan Yunchang, he mingled among the representatives of the Nine Provinces aristocratic families, helping to cleanse the beast tide, enter Songling to reclaim wasteland, and lay the groundwork for future territories. He coasted along, earning some 'reclamation contribution'.

As a true Yang God, even if he merely coasted along, his contributions to the pioneering efforts were still among the top in the Kyushu aristocratic families.

More than half a month later, there was more good news: as the beast tide was cleared and the advance towards Songling progressed, the materials and rare treasures obtained from the Vajra Realm beasts were converted into pioneering contributions, and then the pioneering contributions were used to find a Yin Spirit Pearl to exchange for.

Finally, with the addition of the Yin Spirit Pearl, Zhuang Jin has now collected all ten types of spirit pearls that were missing from the Holy Spirit Pearl collection, including Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the Three Powers.

……

Yong'an, the capital city, the Third Ring Road, Zhaixing Tower.

That day, Zhuang Jin exchanged for the Yin Spirit Pearl and did not travel with Shangguan Yunchang to Songling to cultivate the land. He returned to seclusion, entered the quiet room, and isolated himself with the Yang God Void Realm. Only then did he take out the Holy Spirit Pearl and this last Yin Spirit Pearl.

"Finally collected them all! It wasn't easy!"

Zhuang Jin sighed, his gaze slightly narrowing: "The transformation of the Holy Spirit Pearl... begins today, go!"

He activated a secret technique, activating the Holy Spirit Pearl to devour the last one.

hum!
As the Yin Spirit Pearl turned to dust and dissipated, the Holy Spirit Pearl devoured the Yin Spirit Pearl and absorbed its pure Yin attribute energy. Its transformation, which was stuck in the final step, finally began.

Within it, Yin and Yang rotate, the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth generate each other, and the three powers of heaven, earth, wind, thunder, and ice collide and, as if creating heaven and earth, a tangible miniature space with a diameter of one mile appears.

There is no land here; the space is filled with a hazy white mist, and beyond the boundary is a swirling, bluish-green expanse.

"It's done!"

Zhuang Jin's mind was connected to the Holy Spirit Pearl. The pearl generated its own internal space and sensed the origin of the space. Immediately, the power of the Yang God entered and further refined it completely.

Previously, it was only a mental connection, but now that the Holy Spirit Pearl has transformed and refined the spatial origin, it can be said to have control over it at the root. Even if that immortal reappears, it is impossible to take it away.

"After this transformation of the Holy Spirit Pearl, in addition to the significant enhancement of its original effects such as concealing one's aura, accelerating cultivation, purifying energy, and improving aptitude, are there three new functions?"

Zhuang Jin sensed it carefully and murmured softly.

Firstly, storage space. Needless to say, after the Holy Spirit Orb absorbed ten Spirit Orbs, it now has a materialized space inside, no longer just for storing energy, but also capable of accommodating physical entities.

"After traveling twenty years, I finally got to use my storage treasure. With this function, everything will be much more convenient in the future."

In this world... or rather, at least in the Great Qian Dynasty, storage bags are not as common as in novels, where everyone has one.

—That makes sense, really. Treasures involving spatial attributes are of extremely high level and should be extremely rare and precious. How could they be commonplace?
At least, Zhuang Jin had never seen it before. It was only today, with the transformation of the Holy Spirit Pearl, that he saw this first storage treasure.

The internal space of the Holy Spirit Pearl is now a spherical space with a diameter of one mile, which is sufficient for his storage needs.

As for further expansion, it is necessary to continue absorbing the Yin-Yang Five Elements Three Talents set of spiritual beads to increase the spatial origin.

Secondly, it produces spiritual energy.

As mentioned before, the inner space of the Holy Spirit Pearl is spherical, filled with white mist, while the outer edge is filled with a surging azure aura. Zhuang Jin sensed that it was absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from the outside world and exhaling extremely weak spiritual energy.

The primordial energy of heaven and earth is a combination of spiritual energy and the energies of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, so it is natural to be able to extract spiritual energy from it. However, this is extremely difficult, just like some highly reactive elements in the periodic table can only appear in nature as compounds. It is extremely difficult to extract the elemental form from them.

'Is the spiritual energy produced by the Holy Spirit Pearl a concomitant ability arising from the previous clash of Yin-Yang, Five Elements, and Three Powers, which created space, similar to the creation of heaven and earth?'

Zhuang Jin secretly guessed, then shook his head slightly: "However, this ability to produce spiritual energy is extremely weak. At this rate, it will probably take several years to accumulate enough to refine a higher level of energy."

In other words, this ability to 'generate spirits' is currently more of a potential and is still far from 'spiritual freedom'.

To accelerate the process, it is necessary to devour another set of Yin Yang Five Elements Three Talents Spirit Beads to enhance the spatial origin and strengthen this ability.

Thirdly, it enhances strength.

In the realm of Yang God, Yin God transforms into Yang God. The power of Yang God merges with heaven and earth, giving birth to the Void Realm. However, the Holy Spirit Pearl currently contains a True Realm within it.

Zhuang Jin uses the power of the Holy Spirit Pearl to enhance his own illusory realm, which greatly amplifies the power of his realm, thus bringing about a significant increase in his strength.

'This level of improvement would probably allow me to rival the Yuwen Divine Power accumulated at the first level of the Yang God realm, reaching the level of Yuwen Power without needing to refine higher-level power with spiritual energy.'

Yes, this is similar to the previous two; it is also growth-oriented. By absorbing a set of Yin-Yang, Five Elements, and Three Talents Spirit Beads, one can enhance the origin of the Holy Spirit Bead space, which can also lead to improvement.

It can be said that the three new functions of storage, spirit generation, and amplification are all extremely powerful. The Holy Spirit Pearl now deserves to be called a 'treasure' and is no longer on the same level as the Yin Yang Soul Cleansing Jade, which comes from the same source.

Previously, the two were roughly equal in quality, but now that they resonate again, the Holy Spirit Pearl will inevitably take precedence over the Yin-Yang Soul Cleansing Jade.

Next, Zhuang Jin began experimenting, storing inanimate objects in the Holy Spirit Pearl's space with great success, and then tried to accommodate living beings.

Normally, even if the Holy Spirit Pearl devoured the Yin-Yang, Five Elements, Three Powers, and ten other spiritual pearls, it would only create a desolate space. However, by devouring that broken Void Stone, it gained the potential to accommodate living beings, and this is an experiment.

From flowers, grasses, and trees to ordinary wild beasts, and then to exotic beasts of different realms, those above the realms of the five internal organs and six viscera are hard to find in a short time, but those at the realms of skin-grinding, flesh-refining, tendon-strengthening, and bone-forging are not difficult to find.

The results were quite interesting: everything mentioned earlier could be taken in, but plants, trees, and ordinary wild animals died quickly upon entering. As for exotic beasts of different realms, the higher their realm and the stronger they were, the longer they could stay. However, if they stayed for too long, even if they didn't die, they would go berserk and cause problems.

'This isn't a problem with the air; rather, compared to the outside world of life, the Holy Spirit Pearl space seems to lack a field capable of containing living beings… No, it's not a lack; if it truly lacked one, living beings simply couldn't enter, or rather, they would die upon entering, becoming corpses.'

'Instead, the Holy Spirit Pearl has absorbed that incomplete Void Stone, giving it the potential. However, the energy field within it that can contain living beings is currently relatively incomplete and weak, leading to these various situations.'

Based on the spatial origin of the refinement, Zhuang Jin carefully sensed it and drew a conclusion.

'However, for those at the Innate Realm or even the Yin Spirit Realm, a brief entry into this state has little impact. If encountering danger outside, Yun Chang can be temporarily taken in.'

As for him going in himself, well, forget it. Just imagine him going in and manipulating the Holy Spirit Orb to rampage around – that image is truly grotesque.

More importantly, although the Holy Spirit Orb now has an internal space and is quite strong, it is not indestructible. If an enemy were to break the Holy Spirit Orb inside, who knows what would happen?

'To complete and enhance the energy field within the Holy Spirit Pearl's space that accommodates living beings, absorbing a set of Yin-Yang, Five Elements, and Three Powers spiritual pearls to improve the Holy Spirit Pearl's space's origin is insufficient, because the energy field's ability to accommodate living beings originates from that broken Void Stone; a different method is required.'

Zhuang Jin thought to himself that his mind merged with the origin of the Holy Spirit Pearl space, as if he had suddenly entered a higher dimension. The Yang God's characteristic 'Spiritual Illumination' was magnified several times over, and his own divine soul was powerful. He also absorbed the secret techniques created by the Vajra Realm Mirage Dragon regarding the concept of nightmares. All these combinations produced a change that was far greater than the sum of its parts.

At this moment, he felt his consciousness merge with the space, and he was almost like a creator in this space. He could draw his consciousness to anyone he had come into contact with within a certain range.

At the same time, Zhuang Jin gained a deeper understanding: 'The fragmented and weak energy field within the Holy Spirit Pearl, capable of containing living beings, originates from the broken Void Stone and is related to living beings. By drawing in external consciousness into this space under this mode, allowing it to merge and influence, I can gradually complete and enhance the energy field, truly laying the foundation for its potential to become a true secret realm for living beings, or even a small world for them.'

'That's right, what I want isn't a lifeless storage space, but a hidden realm of living beings, even a miniature world of living beings. To embody this hope, let's name this space the Spirit Realm Space!'

As for bringing people over…

Zhuang Jin felt a little strange: 'A mysterious gathering above the white mist? Should we create another tarot deck?'

However, despite the complaints, considering the need to complete and expand the spiritual realm's capacity to accommodate living beings, as well as the need to avoid being exposed, creating a power or platform to secretly obtain cultivation resources and various hidden information... this move is entirely worthwhile.

With this thought in mind, his original plan became clearer: 'From now on, I will openly cultivate the Pine Ridge, manage my territory, and start a farming adventure; secretly, I will rely on the Holy Spirit Pearl's 'Creator' mode to recruit people and create a mysterious organization, hiding as the mastermind behind the scenes, stirring up trouble... until I accumulate enough strength to dominate the world.'

……

(End of this chapter)