This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder

While Tianyi focused on creating a technique that could replace the Heavenly Dao essence as the foundation of immortality, the Immortal Court also became bustling. Not just the Immortal Court, but the entire Primordial Realm became bustling. This was not an uncommon scene in recent years—especially after the Immortal Court became the sole hegemon of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.

With the proliferation of believers in the Immortal Court and the Xiyi Talisman, the amount of faith the Immortal Court received snowballed. Before, the Immortal Court would need to have a true immortal stationed in the lower realms in order to convey their orders. An artifact would work too, but only specialized artifacts could communicate across worlds—meaning that it needed to be at least of true immortal rank.

That changed with the Xiyi Talisman. With it, the Immortal Court could directly send a message through the Xiyi Talisman to any priests or believers. Not only that, they could also use the Xiyi Talisman as a conduit to release their spiritual or immortal sense to survey the area around it. With it, even a mortal cultivator could take charge of a lower-rank realm.

Of course, to prevent any of the lower realm denizens from obtaining any unwanted or unnecessary information, the information passage was strictly one way. At most, the priests could contact the controller of the Xiyi Talisman. They could not use it to enter the Xiyinet.

So, the Immortal Court requested Tianyi to develop a new Xiyinet and Xiyi Talisman: the Immortal Net and Immortal Stele. The Immortal Stele, as the name suggested, was a vertical column of varying height that could access both the Xiyi Net and Immortal Net. Through it, the controller from the other end could send messages, items, and detect its surroundings.

If the Xiyinet were to ever go dormant or shut down, the Immortal Net could take its place, but its features would be limited. For one, the Immortal Court could not send items through the Immortal Net, and they couldn't use it as freely because it would consume an immense amount of energy to keep it running—especially across multiple realms. At most, they could only ration it and activate the Immortal Net at critical moments.

Thanks to the influx of faith, the Immortal Court periodically held Divine Ascension Ceremonies every hundred or thousand years. Now, over a hundred divinities of faith had appeared in the Immortal Court. This included the Cloud Duchess, who revived thanks to the torrent of faith she received. Although it would take many years to return to her peak, at least she had not fallen permanently, like the late Minister Vastlight and Grand Elder Zhang.

The loss of these two emperor-to-sovereign-level experts among tens of monarchs and countless true immortals seemed to have dealt a heavy blow to the Immortal Court, but they used their actions to tell the world that these losses did not harm the Immortal Court's foundation. Although they have not restored the loss of emperor-to-sovereign combat potential, the hundred divinities of faith were more than enough to bolster their monarch-level combat power.

In some aspects, the Immortal Court could be said to be stronger than before. That included their potential. Divinities of faith may not be the orthodox path, but so long as they accumulated faith, they could stably reach the sovereign level. This was only a matter of time since the Immortal Court became the sole hegemon of the Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.

After so many Divine Ascension Ceremonies, most of the Primordial Realm became used to it. Many of them even had the thought of creating their own divinities of faith. Naturally, it was not as simple as gathering faith into one individual.

For this, many forces even allied together in order to research a method to turn an immortal into a divinity of faith. They succeeded, but their first attempt was mediocre at best—even faulty. The true immortal who underwent the process discovered that his energy level was at the true qi level, not even immortal qi. Although his techniques and comprehension of the law remained the same, he became a full level weaker than his compatriots.

After many experiments, these forces perfected the method so that their divinities of faith could access qi at the true immortal level. Unfortunately, they could not replenish this energy through absorbing spiritual qi. Only by condensing the faith of their believers could they recoup their energy reserves. In this aspect, merit immortals exceeded them. It was difficult to become a merit immortal, but it did not need a secret method like becoming a divinity of faith, and they could simply absorb spiritual qi and transform it into merit qi.

Not only that, but to advance, they had to absorb a massive amount of faith. For context, when the Cloud Duchess was still the Cloud Goddess of the Anti-Heaven Alliance, she seemed to have subsisted on a territory equal to about two first-rate forces, but that was actually deceptive. The Buzhou Immortal Court was actually influencing many lower-rank realms to believe in her, giving her larger amounts of faith than the public thought.

Even then, the Cloud Goddess Cult had prioritized population growth. So even though the Cloud Goddess Cult's territory was twice the size of an average first-rate force, their mortal population was actually greater than ten times the average.

Most first-rate forces would not prioritize population growth of mortals because it meant guiding and shielding them from harm. To do this, they needed a large amount of human resources. The simplest method was simply to expand their territory or to wait. The more time passed, the more faith would be gathered. Of course, the more believers, the faster they could gather faith.

Although many first-rate forces saw the defects of becoming a divinity of faith, they still sought to create one. That way, the divinity of faith could act as the last guardian of their force in case of any unforeseen accidents or calamities.

So, they expanded. This did not mean they warred against each other. The first-rate forces were very clear that attacking each other for territory and population was very foolish. What they sought was mortals, and it meant that it didn't matter if resources were scarce. It just needed to be livable. So, the weaker forces suffered.

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The first-rate forces did not attack second-rate forces because they were afraid of the second-rate forces banding together. Because none of the first-rate forces wanted second-rate forces to grow stronger, their secret cooperation did not involve second-rate forces. Individually, no first-rate force would fear a second-rate force, but an alliance of second-rate forces was a different matter altogether. They didn't even attack third-rate forces but focused on the weakest unranked forces.

This was not the era of the Huang Realm. Although they were called first-rate to unranked forces, their composition had changed. Many first-rate forces had emperor-level experts or even an immortal emperor in this prosperous era of cultivation. Although many were still unranked forces, a minority possessed true immortals.

These first-rate forces steered clear of these true immortals and conquered weaker, unranked forces. Many of them even expanded beyond Trinity Continent and set their sights on the countless islands in the Primordial Realm. After conquering them, they would develop a church or cult that only believed in a single being. The first-rate forces discovered that for the best conversion of faith, the believers needed a clear image and name to pray to. Aside from establishing churches or cults, they also worked to expand the population.

Many first-rate forces did this secretly, using deathsworn immortals to carry this out. Even if they were captured, they would commit suicide to prevent the Immortal Court from discovering their actions. As time passed, the first-rate forces discovered that the Immortal Court did not care, so they became bolder.

However, all of them took care not to destroy any settlements or temples that believed in the Immortal Court. As beneficiaries of faith, they knew that their prayers really could reach the object of their worship. The Immortal Court might not care for one or two temples, but if the first-rate forces destroyed the temples and cut off their source of faith, the Immortal Court would definitely retaliate.

Every time the Immortal Court performed the Divine Ascension Ceremony, many first-rate forces would come to observe, hoping to glimpse the secret method and perfect their own divine ascension method. Alas, they could not see what ritual the Immortal Court used to transform their immortals into divinities of faith, but that did not stop them from coming to every ceremony.

The Immortal Court knew about these first-rate forces' secret actions, but they didn't care. The only reason they could support so many deities was because of the lower realms. Although the Primordial Realm was the largest singular realm—especially since it was still incorporating the Numinous Realm—its population base was not even one percent of the entire Three Thousand Immortal Realms System.

To gather faith, it was naturally more suitable to do it in the lower realms—especially with the Xiyi Talisman, Xiyi Net, Immortal Net, and Immortal Stele. With the nonstop flow of faith, the Immortal Court would continue to perform the Divine Ascension Ceremony for a long time until all the immortal officials appeared.

However, this time, they sensed something different. For one, the Immortal Court sent out the invitations a full hundred years ahead of time, as if they were afraid that they would not have enough time to prepare. They didn't only send it to first-rate forces, but all forces with at least one immortal.

It was more than just that. The Primordial Realm was no longer sealed by the Immortal Court, and many immortal monarchs left to travel the Vast Void and gain knowledge of the myriad realms.

Almost all of the surrounding realms were under the Immortal Court's influence, but that didn't stop a few immortals from visiting or taking up residence. Thanks to them, the forces behind them learned that the Immortal Court had also invited forces from these lower realms—something they had never done before in the previous Divine Ascension Ceremonies.

Why did the Immortal Court invite so many people this time? Was there any need to? It was not like the divine ascension of an immortal would not produce wondrous effects in all realms.

While the Primordial Realm wondered what the Immortal Court was planning, Tianyi saw a figure he hadn't seen for years.

"Mother." After their previous meeting, Mengfei had disappeared for even longer this time.

Tianyi wanted to teleport to her, but he felt that space had become extremely stable, and he couldn't teleport even with his mastery over spacetime. He could use more energy and brute-force it, but that would cause spatial tears in the surroundings, which wasn't worth it.

He didn't think it was an enemy attack. This was in the heart of the Immortal Court, after all. Nor did he think his mother was an illusion, so he briskly walked toward her. "Mother?"

Mengfei didn't answer. Her expression was still neutral, but Tianyi felt a sense of indifference. Although she usually remained expressionless, he could usually tell how she was feeling after years of getting along and her opening up. However, it was as if all the progress had reset.

When Tianyi wanted to ask again, Mengfei lifted her hands and cupped his face with both hands. She tilted them down and stared into Tianyi's face. Their gaze only connected for a moment before Mengfei's eyes moved toward the other parts of his face, as if she wanted to imprint them into her soul.

For the third time, Tianyi repeated the same word. "Mother?"

Mengfei didn't answer. She just kept staring at Tianyi's face. Finally, she let go and turned around. "Walk with me."

Although confused, Tianyi let out a sigh of relief. She finally spoke, but he could hear a distance in her tone. It made him feel uncomfortable. 'Did I make her mad? Is it because I didn't contact her? But I asked Grand Elder Meng, and he didn't know. I even asked the Concealed Emperor, and he said that she was undergoing an important procedure, so I shouldn't bother her.'

Breaking out of his thoughts, he ran forward until he was shoulder to shoulder with Mengfei. The two of them walked into the Nine Heavens Palace and out into the garden. Because Tianyi couldn't decide on a single style for long, he erected nine floating platforms, each with a unique garden style. The two of them visited the first garden, a Zen-style one.

The next garden was styled in the way of the Greeks—or Herakleans, in this universe. The third was a Sichuanese-inspired garden with floating pavilions releasing a miniature waterfall. As they toured the gardens, neither of them spoke.

Tianyi was still worried about whether he had done anything wrong, but as time passed, he shed the anxiety. Now, he just enjoyed the moment of silence with his mother.

Finally, the two stopped inside the ninth and final garden. Mengfei spoke again. "In the future, I probably won't have time to see you."

"What do you mean? Are you leaving for somewhere?" Tianyi asked with furrowed brows.

"Leaving? I don't think I will leave or move around too much," Mengfei said. Before Tianyi could worry himself, she added, "I'm going to become the Heavenly Empress at the Divine Ascension Ceremony."