Chapter 27: Abandoning the Mission and a New Mission
The widely circulated map of the Nine Provinces was extremely crude and full of errors. Many people relied on it to traverse the continent, only to end up in deadly places, losing their way and barely surviving. Cultivators traveling across the Nine Provinces often depended more on their cultivation than on maps.
A hundred years after Jiang Li ascended to the position of Human Sovereign, he decided to redraw the map of the Nine Provinces. While this was a beneficial endeavor, it was obstructed by Tianji Tower.
The reason was simple—Tianji Tower possessed a highly detailed map of the Nine Provinces, which they sold to cultivators at exorbitant prices.
There had been powerful individuals in the past who also wanted to redraw the map, but all of them had been stopped by Tianji Tower.
Although Tianji Tower was not one of the Six Great Sects, it controlled many secrets, making countless cultivators wary of them. If one provoked Tianji Tower, they could easily spread sensitive information about one’s cultivation, exposing weaknesses and leading to a deadly crisis.
However, Jiang Li was unafraid. By then, he had already reached the Mahayana Stage, standing invincible across the Nine Provinces. No enemies dared to trouble him—if anything, they should be offering incense in gratitude, praising the “Human Sovereign’s great virtue” just for being left alone.
With no means to threaten Jiang Li, Tianji Tower had no choice but to begrudgingly allow him to redraw the map.
Jiang Li gathered the Nine Great Imperial Dynasties, the Six Great Sects, the Four Seas Dragon Kings, and other major sects and nations to discuss the map project. He set precision standards and assigned each faction to map their respective territories, while the Human Sovereign Hall filled in the remaining blank areas.
Under Jiang Li’s coordination, a map far more detailed than Tianji Tower’s was finally unveiled to the world.
Jiang Li was not stingy—he had the Human Sovereign Hall imprint the map onto jade slips and sold them at a price slightly above cost.
From then on, people no longer had to worry about inaccurate maps.
Afterward, the Dao Sect informed Jiang Li that his actions were a great karmic merit, and he should have received a divine blessing of virtue. However, Jiang Li received none, which was odd.
Additionally, throughout history, every Human Sovereign had protected the Nine Provinces—a deed that should have accumulated immense virtue—yet none had ever received even a sliver of it.
The Dao Sect speculated that virtue originated from the Celestial Realm. Ever since the Stairway to Immortality vanished, severing the Nine Provinces’ connection to the Celestial Realm, virtue could no longer descend. If Jiang Li ascended in the future, he might receive an overwhelming baptism of virtue upon arrival.
【New Mission Released: The Tianqing Prefecture Martial Tournament, held every five years, is about to begin. You will represent Huayun Sect in this competition. You have been placed in the Early Foundation Establishment division. Due to Huayun Sect’s history of ranking at the bottom, it has been ridiculed by other sects. Please secure first place in the Early Foundation Establishment division.】
【This mission can be abandoned.】
【Mission Rewards: An opportunity to complete any incomplete scroll, one Dragon-Tiger Golden Core, and one Substitute Death Talisman.】
Jiang Li noticed that the rewards for this mission were quite generous. Not to mention the cryptic “opportunity to complete any incomplete scroll,” but just the Dragon-Tiger Golden Core alone was terrifying—it could raise a cultivator’s Core Formation success rate to 80%.
Then there was the Substitute Death Talisman. Who could guarantee they wouldn’t be ambushed while roaming the cultivation world? With this talisman, it was equivalent to having an extra life. Its market value was so high that in auctions, it could fetch a price capable of draining half the wealth of a Nascent Soul cultivator!
However, the Substitute Death Talisman could only be used by cultivators below the Golden Core Stage.
Despite the tempting rewards, Jiang Li chose to abandon the mission.
“Abandon this mission.”
【Are you sure you want to abandon this mission?】
“Yes.”
【To prevent accidental confirmation, the system will ask one more time. Do you want to abandon this mission?】
“Yes.”
【Are you sure you want to aba…】
“Yes.”
Jiang Li felt that this Counterattack System was acting exactly like those annoying rogue software programs from his past life.
【Mission successfully abandoned.】
After the system said this, it fell completely silent.
Jiang Li blinked, waited for a long time, and still didn’t receive a new mission.
“System, where’s my new mission?”
【Please be patient.】
Jiang Li was speechless—so abandoning a mission didn’t immediately trigger a new one?
“Hey, hey, hey! Jiang Li, are you there? I was so excited just now that I forgot to tell you something!”
The Remote Communication Talisman activated. Before Jiang Li could even respond, a projection appeared directly in front of him.
It was the Dao Sect Master. Jiang Li knew this bastard had once again forcefully hijacked his talisman’s controls, relying on the fact that he was the one who had created it.
“What do you want?” Jiang Li asked politely.
“You’re the Dao Sect Envoy! How can you speak to your Sect Master like that?” The Dao Sect Master pretended to be angry, but seeing that Jiang Li was about to lose his temper, he quickly changed the subject.
“The Yin-Yang Heaven Seal is about to refine itself again. According to my calculations, it will happen in less than a year. At that time, our Dao Sect will hold an Immortal Artifact Appreciation Assembly. Give me some face, will you? As the current Human Sovereign, come and support the event.”
Since this was official business, Jiang Li softened his attitude slightly and agreed.
“Alright, I’ll attend.”
“Great! I’ll send you an invitation later—you’ll have a seat in the VIP section.”
With that, the Dao Sect Master cheerfully disconnected the Remote Communication Talisman.
The Yin-Yang Heaven Seal was about to undergo another refinement.
This was indeed serious business—an event so significant that the Dao Sect would spend an entire year preparing for it. Jiang Li was probably the first to learn about it.
Some called the Dao Sect’s Yin-Yang Heaven Seal the greatest treasure in the Nine Provinces, and this was no exaggeration. At the very least, Jiang Li believed it deserved the title.
The Dao Sect’s founding patriarch was known as the Dao Ancestor—a title so terrifying that it shared its name with a supreme being in the Celestial Realm. Such an offense should have brought divine retribution, yet the Dao Ancestor remained unharmed. Some speculated that the Dao Sect’s founder was either the true Dao Ancestor reincarnated, a tribulation avatar, or a Three Corpses incarnation—whatever the truth, he had an intimate connection with the real Dao Ancestor.
The Yin-Yang Heaven Seal was refined by this very Dao Ancestor. Upon its completion, it was already an Immortal Artifact with boundless power.
After the Dao Ancestor ascended, he left the Yin-Yang Heaven Seal in the Nine Provinces as the Dao Sect’s supreme treasure, stabilizing the sect’s destiny.
The seal’s most miraculous feature was that it could refine itself. With each refinement, its power increased by another level.
The last time it underwent self-refinement was three thousand years ago. At that time, every prominent figure in the Nine Provinces had attended the grand occasion, making it an unprecedented spectacle.
Now, three thousand years later, how could Jiang Li miss the chance to witness an Immortal Artifact refining itself?
…
Jiang Li did not leave Great Zhou but instead entered seclusion to consolidate the results of his Heavenly Tribulation breakthrough.
Two months later, Jiang Li emerged from his meditative state, and the system finally responded.
【New Mission Released: The Mysterious Mystic Realm is about to open. Only cultivators under twenty-five years old with Foundation Establishment cultivation are allowed entry. Huayun Sect has one available slot. You must defeat Yun Bo to claim it. However, cultivators from other sects, seeing that you are only at the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage, look down on you and mock you. Please claim victory in the Mysterious Mystic Realm.】
【This mission can be abandoned.】
【Mission Rewards: Unlock the Spatial Teleportation function, activate the Source Point Reading function, and obtain a 500-cubic-meter Storage Ring.】
Based on Jiang Li’s estimate, after two months of training, he had just reached the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage.
Seeing the rewards for this mission, he smiled slightly.
Unlocking Spatial Teleportation? That alone made this mission worth taking!