Nan Zhi sat cross-legged before the mountain gate, holding a cinnabar brush in hand, carefully inscribing formations onto jade tokens stroke by stroke.
—It was the simplest teleportation formation, modeled after the great teleportation array she had discovered in the Locust God's secret realm.
Although it could only be used once and was essentially a single-use consumable item, it was more than sufficient.
Using the pretext of a reclusive immortal sect revealing itself to the world had finally allowed her to put on quite a magnificent show.
The Splendid Platform was still sitting safely back in the Wuwei Sect; the “immortal ship and treasure vessel” that Qin Yue and the others had seen was merely a glamour she had conjured using cloud, mist, and mirage energy, operating on the simplest principles of physics.
Pinhole imaging.
Knowledge taught back in junior high school.
Nan Zhi had always possessed an excellent memory.
All it took was using Paper Skin Art to paint a proportionally scaled-down Splendid Platform, obscuring it with clouds and mist, and turning the sky above the entire Unnamed Sect into a colossal projection screen.
Having just endured a brush with death and miraculously surviving only to behold “immortals,” the crowd had looked up at that hazy “giant ship” ten thousand meters in the air without harboring the slightest shred of doubt.
With the mirage mist drifting faintly, she then opened a small fraction of the mountain-guarding formation to reveal a single corner of the sect.
Amidst the hazy obscurity, these “spectators” naturally pieced together the grand, mysterious whole of the Three Great Sects from that fleeting glimpse.
The less they saw, the more utterly convinced they became of what their imaginations conjured.
Add to that Nan Zhi's “coincidental” appearance, which further deepened the mysterious and profound impression of the “Three Great Sects” through deliberate cues in her attire, demeanor, and speech...
Naturally, the “spectators” who witnessed all of this would never suspect that behind the mountain-guarding formation lay a ruined, dilapidated, and abandoned sect—one where she was the sole living person remaining.
As for that voice transmission echoing across the entire world—
【Global Loudspeaker: A single-use consumable item. Each character can use a limited number of Global Loudspeakers per day, capped at 10. (Reputation +1000)】
This was an item she had obtained from her sixth lottery draw. When organizing her inventory back then, Nan Zhi had wondered how to use such a thing.
She hadn't expected it to come in handy so quickly.
Although the grand spectacle had concluded, the follow-up preparations were of utmost importance.
In the Miaoling Secret Realm of the Ten Directions Mountains, the authority over the mountain-guarding formation lay in her hands, so she could forge an “Ascension Token” using only a simple teleportation formation.
Nan Zhi handed the one hundred jade tokens one by one to Fu Laogou, Qiu Jiusi, Feng Guiyuan, and the other wood puppets—ten in total—giving them earnest instructions:
“Heavenly secrets are hard to fathom, yet the legacy of the Three Great Sects remains unbroken. These hundred Ascension Tokens shall serve as the kindling for the Unnamed Sect's eventual return to the North Province. The ten of you shall each take ten Ascension Tokens and journey to the various mortal realms to seek out individuals of sound character and superior aptitude, regardless of gender, age, or background, and bestow the Ascension Tokens upon them. The trading or gifting of Ascension Tokens is not restricted, but if anyone uses their power to oppress others and seize an Ascension Token, they may be slain. Those who forcibly plunder an Ascension Token may be slain. Those who rely on an Ascension Token to commit rape, robbery, evil deeds, or violate moral precepts may be slain.”
—This Ascension Assembly marked the formal worldwide appearance of the Three Great Sects, which had once been trapped to the death in the Miaoling Secret Realm of the Ten Directions Mountains to preserve the heritage of human cultivators.
She had to demonstrate a measure of deterrence to make the world understand that what the Three Great Sects sought was not necessarily some once-in-a-generation genius, but rather someone of upright character and pure nature.
“Understood.”
“Understood.”
“Understood.”
The ten wood puppets turned into streaks of spiritual light in unison and departed at her command, each carrying a storage bag containing a quantity of spirit stones.
—There was no need to worry about the wood puppets going rogue. These wood puppets merely looked like living beings, but inside they possessed no soul; without instructions, they would remain motionless on the spot until their spiritual energy was depleted.
Back when Sky Demons had once used wood puppets to cause chaos, the sect's puppet masters had placed restrictions upon them:
The moment a wood puppet generated emotion, birthed sentience, or harbored the thought of “defecting,” it would be strangled and destroyed instantly.
“Next, it will all depend on Fu Laogou and the others.”
After arranging everything, Nan Zhi went to the Sect Grand Hall alone. Looking at the thousands of extinguished lotus lamps, she brought out her cauldron:
“Senior masters, bless me so that my alchemy goes smoothly this time... The future of our Unnamed Sect hinges on whether this batch of ‘Detoxification Pills’ succeeds!”
Refine Detoxification Pills, take low-grade pills industrially refined by the government to Ao Mingzhu, and then trade those goods across the twelve nations of the four directions and the Rakshasa Sea Market for the cultivation resources needed in the real world.
Buy and sell between both sides, pocketing the price difference.
She refused to believe that she wouldn't be able to revitalize the Unnamed Sect!
Filled with confidence, Nan Zhi opened the cauldron.
...
“Honk, honk!”
“Beep, beep, beep!”
It was as if a massive hole had opened in the sky; rain poured down in torrents right during the evening rush hour, gridlocking the roads.
Vehicles of varying heights crowded together, and the air was thick with the damp, moldy smell of rain.
The weather in June and July was like a toddler's temper—changing in the blink of an eye.
Clear skies in the afternoon had transformed into dense dark clouds, accompanied by flashes of lightning and rumbling thunder.
“Beep, beep, beep!”
［Your order is about to exceed the time limit. Your order is about to exceed the time limit...］
［You have a new errand order. Please remember to accept it.］
［You have a new customer message...］
［Your order is about to exceed the time limit. Your order is about to exceed the time limit...］
An electric scooter wove through the heavy traffic. Draped in a raincoat, the delivery driver squinted, straining through the rainwater washing over his face to make out the road conditions. The phone in his chest pocket vibrated relentlessly, sounding like a death knell.
His name was Sun Zhi—an ordinary name, an ordinary life.
Graduating from a tier-three university, living in a tier-three city, saving money to buy a house, saving money to get married. Although only twenty-three or twenty-four years old, he could already clearly see how the next ten years of his life would play out.
The green light illuminated. A Mercedes-Benz in the motor vehicle lane surged past on the asphalt, splashing up a wave of murky, muddy water. Sun Zhi didn't even have the energy to curse, thinking only of delivering the food as quickly as possible.
The constant stream of alert notifications drained the last shred of vitality from his body, leaving him no room to think, consumed by a single thought:
Fast.
A little faster.
Even faster.
What ideals? What future?
Crushed breathless under the weight of everyday life, how could he indulge in the luxury of harboring fantasies?
Neon signs flickered atop the towering skyscrapers. On a giant screen, a well-dressed young man in a suit spoke eloquently about how his first entrepreneurial endeavor had lost a modest target of a hundred million, only to achieve resounding success in the end thanks to a capital injection from his richest-man father.
Sun Zhi rode past expressionlessly.
Waiting at a red light, he finally had thirty seconds of breathing room.
Diagonally across the street, a massive advertising billboard covering half a building played a looping commercial offering “Massive Bounties to Purchase Ascension Tokens.” Countless extravagantly dressed celebrities blew finger hearts and winked at the camera:
［Ascension Token, a miracle of the world.］
［The luxury vehicle of the same name makes its grand debut, giving you the sensation of soaring upon clouds and mist, ensuring an unobstructed path on your journey to “Ascension”...］
［Mephisto Luxury Watches: entirely handcrafted with artisan dedication, master-level aesthetic perfection, accurate to your every breath—］
［Innovation, connection—connecting the future with love, pioneering the miracle of another world!］
［Give PDD a present, and Longteng will give you a future! Hundreds of billions in investments! Tens of billions in rewards! All citizens share the quota of Ascension Token slots!］
“Immortals, huh.”
Sun Zhi gave a self-deprecating scoff, a trace of despondency involuntarily leaking into his gaze:
“It's all a lie. What does any of it have to do with people like us?”
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