Chapter 3: Development

Seven days later, the complex of buildings surrounding the Boundless Palace were finally finished. All that remained was to furnish the interior.

Furnishing the interior was quite a delicate responsibility. It was impossible to use Origin Skills to speed up the process, so it would take quite a bit of time.

However, that was not so important. In any case, the construction was completed, so they would have no problem in their daily living.

After completing the base of the construction, there was much more for the Boundless Sect to do.

The first was to develop a hierarchy of order.

The structure of the original Heavenly Might Battalion would obviously not be kept. After some discussion, the Boundless Sect was split into three branches: the Flowing Fire Division, the Constant Prosperity Division, and the Clear Mirror Division.

The three divisions were responsible for combat, resources, and human affairs, respectively.

The Flowing Fire Division was further split into six halls. They were responsible for combat, intelligence gathering, sect defense, and other related duties.

The Constant Prosperity Division was responsible for handling resources. It was also split into six halls, responsible primarily for agriculture, construction, livestock breeding, household affairs, markets and stores, and other related duties.

The Clear Mirror Division was responsible for human affairs and was also split into six halls, responsible primarily for upholding the law, training, supervision, distribution of missions, and other related duties.

The Heavenly Might Battalion’s members were all soldiers and were proficient in combat, so the Flowing Fire Division was not lacking in manpower. However, the Constant Prosperity and Clear Mirror divisions were responsible for resources and human affairs, so they were much more lacking in manpower in comparison.

Thankfully, the sect was only newly established, and all the sect members had been comrades on the battlefield. They were relatively unified, so there weren’t many issues in day-to-day life. As a result, even though these two divisions were undermanned, this wouldn’t be a problem for the time being, and they would receive more support as the sect gradually began to grow larger.

Li Chongshan was responsible for the Flowing Fire Division, and Lin Shaoxuan was his aide. Chu Yingwan was responsible for the Constant Prosperity Division, and Shi Kaihuang was her aide. Even though Shi Kaihuang had quite a high position in the former battalion, he was only focused on his research and his organizational capacity was far below Chu Yingwan’s. As such, he didn’t mind this downgrade; actually, he was very happy that he could finally continue his research. Guo Wenchang was responsible for the Clear Mirror Division. He was the weakest amongst the seven Heavenly Might Battalion generals, but his mind was incredibly clear. As the battalion’s think tank, no one was more suited than him to manage the sect’s human affairs regardless of which division they originated in. Tang Jie was originally planning on having him manage the Constant Prosperity Division because he was also very proficient in handling money, but since political matters were usually more complex, Guo Wenchang was eventually placed in charge of the Clear Mirror Division, with Jun Moxie as his aide.

Cheng Tianhai, who was left out, had a bold and outspoken personality and didn’t think too much, which meant that he was not particularly suitable for managing a large division. As such, he was instead commissioned as the head of the Battle Hall. Thankfully, Cheng Tianhai was quite carefree and didn’t mind at all.

The seventy-three soldiers that had followed Su Chen were organized into a sword-wielding group. Le Feng was in charge of the group, which Su Chen had direct oversight of.

After setting up this organizational hierarchy, the rules for each division were also slowly ironed out. The Boundless Sect still belonged to Long Sang Country in name, but because it was Su Chen’s personal territory, he possessed absolute authority. As such, he could set the rules for this place, including the tax rate. As long as he didn’t try to rebel or reject the Lin Clan’s control, no one would pay him any mind.

However, the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain was uninhabited. The Flat Mountain Garrison, strictly speaking, did not fall in the range of the Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, so Su Chen had no way of taxing them.

If he wanted to tax them, he could only start with these eight thousand disciples of his.

Thankfully, Su Chen didn’t really care about these things. Of course, this matter of his sect’s revenue still needed to be taken care of. However, Su Chen was not in any particular hurry to set it up.

Next, it was time for them to officially begin expanding.

An organization did not expand by accepting disciples and broadening their entrance. They first needed to develop the proper ecosystem and environment for the sect.

As such, not long after the construction of the complex was completed, the Constant Prosperity Division was immediately put to work. They first focused on developing the agriculture.

If the Farming Hall had no one, that was fine. They could always draft people from the Flowing Fire Division!

There were many things waiting to be done, and the sect’s disciples all had a unified will. The Boundless Sect was at its most powerful at this moment. The disciples all viewed themselves as tools that could be used in any capacity at any moment in time.

The Heavenly Might Battalion’s soldiers were all quite exceptional. Today, they might be construction workers, but tomorrow they might turn into farmers.

They first used their swords to clear out a large swath of territory, then used their swords to create ruts in the ground. Finally, they used their Origin Skills to bring down rain, which sculpted the soil as it fell on the ground, creating soil suitable for growing Origin Energy-containing plants. Finally, seeds could be sown.

Su Chen had harvested all kinds of unique plants during his journey near the Ravager and Beast borders. There were a few that could grow again and a few that couldn’t, but Su Chen planted them regardless of whether they could grow again or not.

This was because he possessed the River Source Grass.

The River Source Grass could greatly improve the fertility of the surroundings, imbuing the soil with spiritual attributes and abundant nourishment. It could also adjust the seasons, giving each type of plant the environment it needed to grow. Most of the plants that Su Chen had planted could grow in this place because of the River Source Grass’s effects.

Even though this grass couldn’t increase Su Chen’s combat strength due to it being a strategic resource, it served as the foundation for providing the Boundless Sect with an abundance of resources.

The River Source Rass belonged to the Farming Hall. The other important treasure, the Heavenly Truth Songstone, was given to the Instruction Hall of the Clear Mirror Division - more accurately, to the Boundless Institute.

Su Chen did not selfishly keep this item to himself. Instead, he decided to allow others to use it as well.

The Boundless Institute was a place for the sect’s disciples to receive instruction. Everyone present, including the former Heavenly Might Battalion’s officials, were required to be trained here.

The person responsible for training them was Jiang Liu.

Even though he was only in the Yang Opening Realm, Jiang Liu was the person who had the best understanding of the Immaculate Cultivation Technique. Otherwise, he would not have been the person to grasp it the most quickly, nor could he have gone up two entire realms in merely fifty days, nor could he have been the first to properly control a Soul Armament.

The Boundless Institute taught nothing but the Immaculate Cultivation Technique, the only cultivation technique that had been 100% developed by Su Chen.

Jiang Liu had the best control over the Immaculate Cultivation Technique, which was why he was the instructor. He was also the first Deputy Headmaster of the Boundless Institute - the Headmaster position was occupied by Su Chen, of course.

Unfortunately, the soldiers of the Heavenly Might Battalion all had things to do, so they were only disciples in name. There was only one full-time disciple at this point - Little Sweet.

Little Sweet’s actual name was Li Tian[1. Tian (甜) being the character for sweet.]. Over time, people had begun to refer to her as Little Sweet.

After arriving at the Boundless Sect however, Little Sweet felt that her name was no longer befitting of her status as a future Origin Qi Scholar, so she reverted to her given name, Li Tian.

In theory, this girl was already an adult, and she had missed the prime window for cultivation. Her aptitude was not outstanding either, meaning that she was not actually a great disciple.

However, Su Chen believed in education without prior qualifications. He didn’t even care if his disciples were human or not, so why care about aptitude?

In his eyes, any person could cultivate.

Success in cultivation was not determined by whether or not you reached the end. As long as you embarked on this road, you would not fail no matter where you reached in the end.

If you have the ability, you can walk down this path all the way and live a carefree life. I might have a poor aptitude, and I might never go further than the Blood Boiling Realm, but I can still extend my lifespan and enjoy my long life to the fullest. Is there anything unacceptable about that?

If only dragons amongst men were allowed to cultivate, how many people would ever become an Origin Qi Scholar?

This was not Su Chen’s way of thinking.

Su Chen wanted every human to be able to cultivate. That was the only way that the human race’s strength would increase as a whole.

As such, he did not particularly care about how far Li Tian would go. As long as she continued walking until the very end, creating her own beautiful and storied life, that was enough.

Perhaps she would never go further than the Yang Opening Realm, but why did that matter?

As long as she was happy and advancing, that was good enough. There was no limit to how much you could learn. As long as you continued to press on, you would have no regrets if you fell on the way there.

That was Su Chen’s mindset. He had even inscribed this sentiment on the walls for every one of his disciples, both current and future, to see.

Miss Li didn’t know about Su Chen’s ambition, but she knew that Su Chen had given her an opportunity.

That was enough.

She was a girl who had grown up in a rural community and had never had an opportunity to cultivate. Her return was not due to a moment of impulsiveness or obsession.

Even she hadn’t expected to succeed.

Her success came so suddenly, yet it was also so simple.

The reason she had succeeded was because she had tried.

Deep down in her heart, she was extremely grateful to Su Chen, and this gratitude became her motivation to study diligently.

Of course, Su Chen had no idea that this was going on.

He had too many matters to take care of and couldn’t be bothered to take into consideration the thoughts of a little maiden.

He needed to expand his sect, deal with sect affairs, and continue his research.

Yes, his research!

After entering Ravager territory, most of his time was taken up by fighting and moving. For the most part, he really did not have much time to do research.

Now that he had found a place for himself, Su Chen could finally resume his experiments.

The first thing Su Chen began to analyze was the Origin Bone Scepter.

The main reason Su Chen had spent so much time and energy to think up a plan to get the Ravagers to fight the Beasts was so that he could obtain this Origin Bone Scepter.

According to Su Chen’s thought, the Origin Bone Scepter’s ability to divine the future was the next major research target after his microscopic eye and consciousness crystal.

With its help, he would hopefully be able to take less detours in his research.

However, these guesses were only guesses. The exact details still remained to be seen.

From the moment he obtained the Origin Bone Scepter until now, Su Chen had been busy taking care of all kinds of issues and never had much of an opportunity to use it. Now that things had calmed down a little, he finally had an opportunity to figure out how to use it.

Su Chen already knew from the Ravagers that he would need to make a sacrifice every time he wanted to use the Origin Bone Scepter to divine the future.

Different sacrifices would result in different answers.

The Origin Bone Scepter preferred sacrifices that contained Origin Energy. If those items also contained the power of time, the effect would be even better.

The stronger the future divined by the Origin Bone Scepter was, the more serious the outcome, and the stronger the repercussions, the more difficult it would be to see into the future, and the sacrifice would need to be even greater.

This was why the Origin Bone Scepter was unable to divine the outcome of the Three Mountains battle. It affected too many people and had too many consequences. The Origin Bone Scepter performed best under peaceful, stable conditions without too many external influences.

The scepter also had no way of divining answers too far in the future. If the Origin Bone Scepter could only see around ten years in the future, for instance, and it would take Su Chen a hundred years to achieve something from a certain path of research, then it was impossible for Su Chen to know the answer. However, if he wanted to figure out what would happen in a year, the answer would come to him quite easily. As for how far in the future the scepter could see, that similarly depended on two conditions: the target of foresight and the items being sacrificed.

Finally, the sacrificed item would be consumed regardless of whether the divination succeeded.

For instance, suppose you asked the Origin Bone Scepter a question and gave it a sacrifice. If the sacrifice was insufficient to obtain an answer, then you would receive no answer, and the sacrifice would not be returned.

On the other hand, if you offered a sacrifice that was worth far more than the simple question asked, the “leftovers” of the sacrifice would not be returned.

This was perhaps the greatest danger of sacrificing things to the Origin Bone Scepter.

You would never know if you had won or lost until the dice cover was removed.