A World Worth Protecting

Based on what Wang Baole had learned from De Kunzi and what he had gathered on his own, he knew that the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect had thirty army fleets that were officially recognized!

Officially recognized fleets were seen as branches of the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect. They fell under the sect’s jurisdiction but were also given a great degree of autonomy. The sect provided these thirty fleets with vast resources on an annual basis but didn’t require them to hand over the entirety of their loot acquired from expeditions. The armies weren’t only self-sufficient but received additional support from the sect. Their only obligation was… to fight in the sect’s name when the sect required!

That was why they had a ranking for the armies. The resources allocated to each army and the tribute each army was required to make to the sect was determined by their position in the ranking!

For example, the first army wasn’t required to hand over any of its loot to the sect at all, yet it received great stores of resources from the sect every year. The volume was staggering. In fact, the higher one’s position in the ranking, the greater the difference between what one was required to hand over to the sect and what the sect allocated to the army. As long as an army got into the top ten armies in the ranking, it would receive more than what it gave to the sect!

As for the fleets occupying the ten positions in the middle of the ranking, they would receive as much as they gave. However, the last ten armies occupying the bottom of the ranking would end up giving more than they would receive. Nevertheless, the resources that the sect gave these last ten armies still exceeded the resources allocated to armies that were only affiliated to the sect. They were worlds apart.

Such a system resulted in a fiercely competitive climate where the thirty officially recognized armies of the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect competed against one another. This made sense when every advancement in the ranking led to greater, tangible benefits.

This was also why challenges took place occasionally. One had to pay a certain fee in order to initiate a challenge, but it was a small price to pay for these armies.

Of course… armies of lesser sects that were affiliated to the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect were given opportunities for promotion to an officially recognized army as well. They simply needed to meet certain requirements before they were eligible to challenge the official armies under the greater sect. Should they win, they would be able to rise through the rankings in a single leap and replace the existing official army!

Such battles would be skewed against them. Their victory might raise their standing in the sect immensely, but earning the right to challenge an official army in the first place was extremely difficult. One had to hand over great stores of resources as a fee for the initial application. Then, one needed anyone of the first five armies to act as a guarantor. The first requirement called for great physical wealth, while the second was attached with an equally heavy, albeit different, kind of price tag.

Should the challenger lose the challenge, the assets of the challenging army would be turned over to the victor. The losing party would also have to pay a heavy compensation fee. This fee had to be submitted to the greater sect for safekeeping prior to the actual challenge!

After tidying up the information he had gathered about the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect armies, Wang Baole concluded that the Ice Phoenix Legion was probably going to submit a challenge very soon.

Fairy Ling You had just achieved a breakthrough and attained the Spirit Immortal realm. The challenge was going to be easy for her unless she decided not to challenge the seventh army but the sixth army, which had its own Spirit Immortal realm cultivator!

Thoughts churned furiously inside Wang Baole’s head as Fairy Ling You led him swiftly along. They landed on the satellite and appeared in midair above the gigantic statue of the green bird.

The statue was spectacular, and a series of palaces were built into the statue, with many cultivators streaming in and out of them. As soon as these cultivators and the cultivators in the surrounding camps noticed Wang Baole and Fairy Ling You’s arrival, they immediately lifted their faces skyward and saluted.

“Our warmest welcome to the esteemed commander!”

Their voices reverberated in the air like thunder. Wang Baole immediately noticed the imbalance between the number of male and female cultivators in the camp. Female cultivators made up at least seventy percent of the population.

A female legion? Wang Baole blinked. He suddenly realized what a great advantage he had here, then immediately began worrying about his personal safety. While he was shamelessly fretting about imagined troubles, Fairy Ling You nodded slightly at the greeting, without any emotions revealed on her face. She yanked Wang Baole along as she took a step forward and entered the main hall, which was situated at the back of the green bird. With a single wave of her arm, she flung Wang Baole aside, then took her place in the main seat in the hall.

Wang Baole instantly unleashed his cultivation as he was flung aside, stumbling a few steps backward when his feet landed on the ground. The timely activation of his cultivation countered the force of Fairy Ling You’s throw. The expression on his face shifted slightly before returning to one of calm.

He knew that the earlier throw could have seriously injured him if his level of cultivation hadn’t been high enough. It appeared that the commander wasn’t done showing him his place.

Being good looking brings you trouble everywhere you go. Wang Baole snorted secretly. He didn’t show anything on his face, though. It was as if he wasn’t bothered by his treatment at all. Instead, he simply stood deferentially at one corner.

The icy look in Fairy Ling You’s eyes became less chilly as she observed his reaction. She then turned her attention away from him, pulled out a jade slip, and began examining it.

Three female cultivators entered the hall through the doors behind Wang Baole then. One was in purple robes, the second in a yellow skirt, and the third in battle armor.

For the first female cultivator, her purple robes wrapped around her form like a second skin, highlighting her curvaceous figure and giving her an irresistible appeal. Everyone’s gaze became uncontrollably drawn towards her, enthralled by her beauty as she sashayed her way to the front of the hall.

The second female cultivator, who wore the yellow skirt, had an air of nobility about her. Her long, silky hair cascaded down her back, and her oval-shaped face lit up with a smile even before she spoke. She was akin to a gentle spring breeze, and the aura she was exuding was drastically different from the one that the purple-robed female cultivator gave off. One was pure and saintly, the other devilish and seductive.

The final woman, who was wearing armor, gave off an entirely different vibe compared to the first two female cultivators. She was equally beautiful, but she seemed like another Fairy Ling You, cold and distant, exuding a murderous aura simply by standing there.

They were all at the perfected Soul Conduit realm, and each exuded a powerful presence. They gave Wang Baole a quick once over when they entered the hall, each reacting differently to him. The purple-robed female cultivator’s eyes were flirtatious, and the eyes of the woman in the yellow skirt were warm and friendly. As for the armored cultivator, her eyes showed condescension. All three women greeted the seated Fairy Ling You.

None of their looks escaped Wang Baole’s eyes. He stood quietly at one side and gave them a once over of his own. From a purely objective, male perspective, he admired the armored woman, would like to spend more time getting to know the woman in the yellow skirt better, and couldn’t stop his eyes from lingering on the purple-robed female cultivator.

As Wang Baole quietly conducted his own inspection, Fairy Ling You had placed the jade slip in her hands aside. She raised her head and swept her gaze across the three women, nodded slightly, then turned her eyes towards Wang Baole.

“The patriarch may have given his orders to have you join my army, but the Ice Phoenix Legion isn’t a place that takes in anyone and everyone. Your records from the Holy Crest Sect indicate that you’re skilled at artifact refinement. Let’s put that to the test and find out how good you truly are at refining artifacts before we decide what to do with you. Approach me when you’re done refining this. You may leave now.” Fairy Ling You gave her orders, then, with a wave of her arm, threw the jade slip she held in her hands earlier to the woman in the yellow skirt. She instructed the latter to input Wang Baole’s details into the army records. At the same time, she also assigned him the most basic level of access rights. Then, she threw another jade slip at Wang Baole.

“The Heaven Shaking Divine Justice Shield?” Wang Baole said, surprised. He had extended his Divine Sense and taken a quick glance at the contents of the jade slip. It contained the instructions for refining a Dharmic treasure. The name of the artifact hinted at how powerful it was.

“The Heaven Shaking Divine Justice Shield is one of the Dharmic treasures that we use to test the artifact refinement standards of disciples in the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect. It’s considered a challenging artifact to refine for our sect’s refinement masters, but with a bit of hard work, most usually manage to refine it successfully.” Such an explanation clearly couldn’t have come from Fairy Ling You. The gentle-looking woman in the yellow skirt smiled as she answered Wang Baole’s unvoiced question. She then handed a cave abode token with coordinates to his residence to him.

Wang Baole blinked as he held both token and jade slip in his hands, then took his leave. The few women likely had something they needed to discuss. He would find it challenging to eavesdrop on their conversation with a Spirit Immortal realm cultivator in their midst, so he simply left the hall, then followed the coordinates indicated on his token in search of his accommodation.

Wang Baole had guessed right. After he had left, Fairy Ling You began her meeting in earnest and delegated various army matters, making arrangements for their upcoming challenge against other armies in their bid to advance their own ranking. After that was done, the female cultivator in the yellow skirt appeared to hesitate for a moment before speaking softly.

“Commander, Long Nanzi joining us may have been the patriarch’s intentions, but is it really appropriate to let him refine the Heaven Shaking Divine Justice Shield… It’s meant for assessing our sect’s disciples and is a Spirit Immortal realm artifact. Information about the artifact is highly confidential…”

As soon as she was done speaking, the armored woman snorted. She was the one who had viewed Wang Baole with condescension.

“I heard that Long Nanzi enjoys springing sneak attacks on his enemies. Cultivators like him often don’t possess any true skill. Besides, the so-called refinement masters outside our sect typically only manage to craft a third level Heaven Shaking Divine Justice Shield. They can’t manage anything beyond that. Anything lower than the fourth level can only be considered a Soul Conduit realm artifact and not a Spirit Immortal realm artifact. As for the refinement masters in our sect, few have successfully refined a Heaven Shaking Divine Justice Shield at the fifth level or higher. Only a rare genius can craft an eighth level Heaven Shaking Divine Justice Shield, the highest level the artifact can reach. We hardly need to worry ourselves over this.”