Immortal Kingdoms



"Don't give me that look." Emily sighed and turned her back to Leonardo… After a pause, she said, "If you lose your mind and start killing your way into the Jin Dynasty this early, you'll be dragging everyone into the mess. Honestly, it is in everyone's common interest that two behemoths on this mainland keep away from each other. If anything, they would like to keep the mess between the juniors." 

"Am I not a junior?" 

"Well… You are a junior. However, according to secret intelligence, you're far too important; at least to Grandmaster Sin. If that old man moved personally, sigh…" Emily shook her head. "Let's get going, I'll keep you around in my military base for a few days to do some reading." 

Since Leonardo is now a supposed Tier 1 cultivator, Emily wrapped him up with her energy sphere like Junior Brother did on the first encounter, shooting into the clear sky with successive sonic booms. 

… 

The Seven Stars Province of the Jin Dynasty borders the stretch of uncharted wilderness that marks the buffer zone between the Luan Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. 

With a total of seven military sectors holding the line, each with their respective Tier 7 cultivator holding the fort, it is nigh impossible for ordinary rebirth realm cultivators to sneak into this mighty empire. 

Emily is one of these cultivators and her responsibility lay with the Qing Sector of the seven military sectors. This is an example of why rebirth realm cultivators are valued as strategic resources, and if any of them were to make a move, they would leave an opening to their enemies. 

Emily showed Leonardo great trust by bringing him all the way back to her home base and exposing her identity as the Commanding General to one of the Seven Stars Sectors. 

The structure of the base looked very similar to that of a sect with an outer, inner, and core area. Emily's speed was far from Leonardo's limits and thus he could easily glimpse the overall situation of the sector as the two flew in through the protective formations and headed into the deepest parts of the sector. 

There were millions upon millions of soldiers squeezed together and unlike the population of Greenheart City, there wasn't a single non-cultivator here. It could be said that the early investment of the Jin Dynasty paid off and if any secular war was to erupt, the most likely winner would be this dynasty. 

This of course would be the case if the other two dynasties didn't have their own trump cards to play. For example, the Luan Dynasty is focusing on enhancing their standard equipment with runic inscriptions and advanced research, Leonardo has no clue as to how far their research had expanded. However, if they had started this investment back in the day just like the Jin Dynasty, it should be frightening. 

What would millions of years of research give birth to? 

As he was thinking, Emily entered a secluded area in a verdant bamboo groove with small artificial mountains and a clear stream of water running between the rockeries. Passing by the small artificial mountain, Leonardo realized that every bamboo shoot, piece of stone, and stream of water passing on the ground had a specific purpose. 

He paid particular attention to these details after spending a month with Aurora in constructing his personal palaces. As expected, they soon walked through a thin layer of resistance as Emily waved a commander token with the Jin character embedded into the surface. Then, they two entered a sub-dimension obscured in winter frost. 

"Pretty cold," Leonardo spoke, even though he wasn't really affected by the cold. As he walked around, he noticed that the place was quite bleak and empty. 

"This is just a simple weather array; an indication to visitors that I am in closed-door cultivation and won't receive anyone," Emily explained after giving Leonardo a sidelong glance, holding her token in the air as she injected her ether into it to control the arrays in the sub-dimension. 

Smoothly, the gloomy clouds began to churn into a whirlpool that sucked the frost and snow from the vast land, revealing a stretch of green meadows and an elegant building in the distance. The pagoda stood seven floors tall with side courtyards each house a three-storey tall building. 

"Let's go," she said lightly, taking one step toward the pagoda. As she advanced, her pitch-black hair melted into sparkling blonde while the pale cold skin embraced a hint of warmth; a natural glow per se. 

In a flurry of colors, the indistinct silhouette shot into the first floor of the pagoda as a bronze medallion was left in the air, falling into Leonardo's hands. 

The medallion had the words 'Military Advisor Candidate' inscribed onto its surface. If anything, the purpose of this item was self-explanatory. Just as Leonardo was contemplating whether to follow Emily into the higher floors of the pagoda or enter one of the side buildings, the one to his left snapped its gates open as a young man in scholarly attire stepped out, stretching. 

This man quickly spotted Leonardo as the latter stood blankly with the medallion in hand, looking as lost as one could get. 

Whoosh! 

"Hello," said the man with a spring-warm smile as he reached out for the medallion. 

If Leonardo wished to stop this man from taking it, not a hundred of him could steal it from his palm. However, Leonardo saw that it wasn't necessary as no one would dare act rashly in the dominion of a Tier 7 cultivator. 

The man flipped the medallion in a friendly manner to spot the characters 'Ye' engraved on the backside, to which the man nodded and said, "I see, you must be Attendant Ye." 

The man tossed the medallion back to Leonardo. "You're quite lucky, to have been noticed as a talent among the millions of young blood outside… Hm, judging by your clothes, you must be new." 

This man circled Leonardo once and twice while nodding his head occasionally.