Xiaode Mountain Sect
“Do you like what you see, Young Master?”
As they arrived in an area where there were only the two of them, Millia spoke up, leaning against the stony edge overlooking a large platform of the sect, where countless disciples were bustling around. Some were simply wandering on their time off, and some on their way to a specific area… Xiaode Mountain Sect was a much more populated place than most would give it credit for.
Even if people didn’t push at the gates to get in, the sect’s ‘other methods’ were proving very effective. It wasn’t like the Valless ones could pass up an opportunity to become part of a major sect backed by a great clan.
Anoteros smiled slightly.
“I do like the view here a lot. It gives me pulsions I would have once never imagined myself capable of feeling”
The elder seemed delighted to hear this.
“Ah~ It is rare for someone to willfully admit to such desires. How refreshing… Here, we seek these kinds of appearances because we truly believe that this is the height of beauty, you know? We are of the belief that real men should actively go after Immunubils, Bloomins, and Rococolis. A real man not only spreads his seeds as he sees fit, but he also takes what he wants without caring for the opinion of others…”
“We do respect His Majesty a lot, but his views on Immunubils are of an age of weakness. After all, it is very arbitrary, don’t you think? You can never have anyone give a proper explanation on why a man or woman shouldn’t be interested in Immunubils… At best, they’ll trip over their own thoughts and offer a word salad of no substance”
Edrick felt an uncharacteristic bead of sweat slide down the side of his face as he listened to her with a small smile. This was the kind of speech that would have sent millions into a frenzy in his former world. Even in this world, it would be viewed as disgusting, but this small and cute elder was saying it with total confidence.
She certainly wholeheartedly believed in her own words, and by the logic of this world, it wasn’t devoid of sense at all. With the prevalence of several ways of power, the presence of mostly monarchistic regimes, and the existence of beasts, monsters, and all sorts of creatures that could potentially be just as smart, or even smarter than the typical sapient species… The concept that someone strong enough should just be allowed to do whatever they wanted wasn’t that strange.
In essence, ‘power’ could be defined by several traits. It could be true strength, it could be wealth, or it could be political influence… And if one followed this line of thought, Edrick’s old world had actually operated under a frighteningly similar structure.
If you had enough of a certain kind of power, what was there that you couldn’t do and get away with? It might have been harder to do so, but it was nonetheless a fact that power opened up a lot of doors. Some very dark doors in some instances...
In a world like this one where people disregard technological advancements in favour of magic and other mysterious ways of power, it wasn’t surprising that the acceptable limit was already much lower than in his former world.
After all, people of his old world would have screamed themselves to death and banged their heads against walls if something happened between a freshly graduated Bloomin and a Bloomin about to also graduate, but only in three hours.
‘I certainly prefer the unapologetic freaks and kill-happy maniacs to the lunatics of my former world’
Edrick knew firsthand of this: The people who had hated him most and who had loved him most had both belonged to basically the exact same group. They themselves had been bundles of severe contradictions… Not that introspection had ever been their forte.
This new world was certainly cosier. People were much more rational and actually had respect for the most basic and important of humanity’s rules. Well, it certainly was the case in Leynlornd, at least.
Although Journomanp might seem more rational in some sense, it was a real jungle. They behaved more like a collection of tribal societies behaving solely on the basis of fear. However, they simultaneously wanted to expand–Which was naturally doomed to fail unless a truly overwhelmingly powerful individual and group took the reins.
Humans are social animals who do better in groups, but if one wants to build a country-sized group, then they need to introduce rules to bind the common people with, and also to incentivise the commoners to not just respect these rules, but to agree with them to the point that they truly desire to work to maintain the order.
In Edrick’s eyes, an uneducated population only benefited a foolish leader. A lawful, educated population was much better. But alas, it was only better for an actually good leader. In fact, a population with these traits and the means to fight on their own was the best, but not all leaders had the means to achieve such a result.
To most, such characteristics in the people they ruled over were nothing but a threat–Of course it was, since they were a feeble ruler.
‘Oh my… A speech about letting real men bed Immunubils really got me thinking, huh?’
He looked at the elder. Millia was a short woman, but not quite as short as Yaling.
Millia was one meter and twelve centimeters tall. A height that would make most doubt that she was truly a powerful elder of a major sect–And frankly, it was unclear what kind of cultivator she actually was.
Xiaode Mountain Sect didn’t produce a mere few types of cultivators. They made dual cultivators, body cultivators, spell cultivators, and even beast taming cultivators.
It was simply hard to tell since they all transformed in the process of learning. All of their techniques came with the prerequisite of transformation to be cultivated, which was what made them so powerful in the first place. It was a rather high price to pay.
The elder showed him around to various pavilions, training grounds, and alchemy halls. They really did a bit of everything here. To the point that it was strange that Rococolis were not more commonly seen, as there had to be experts in all fields belonging to Xiaode Mountain Sect.
The answer was simple: Xiaode Mountain Sect didn’t send its talent out for long. Hidden behind the mountain, where few could see it, was the residential pavilion. Disciples who reached their limit lived there alongside the elders.
“Mmh… Did Labyrinth Palace do some work for you down there?”
“Indeed, it is large from your perspective, but down there? It is much, much larger. Spatial distortion truly is a gift from the heavens!”
She then secretly led him to two very special pavilions…