Chapter 647: Great Wu Nation
“What’s wrong, Commander Liu?” Jiang Li answered Commander Liu’s call.
On the screen, Commander Liu stood with his hands behind his back, admiring a robust hawthorn tree and praising its excellent growth.
“Hall Master, I heard you cultivated this hawthorn tree? You can’t just abandon it after starting—trees have feelings too.”
Commander Liu spoke seriously, reminding Jiang Li to finish what he started. “I have a copy of ‘Hawthorn Tree Cultivation Manual’ here. Would you like me to give it to you?”
“…You didn’t contact me using the Communication Talisman just to talk about hawthorn trees, did you?” Jiang Li was speechless. Although he was very interested in the book, he couldn’t get it through the Communication Talisman.
“That’s right. Under your guidance, Hall Master, Commander Mu and the Gu Clan Leader have achieved a positive outcome and are preparing to get married.”
“The original date was set for a few days ago, but then the Eight Desolations caused trouble, so it’s been delayed until now.”
“When is the wedding scheduled?”
“In three days, at the Gu Clan tribe.”
Bai Hongtu stretched his neck to appear on screen before Commander Liu: “Senior Liu, am I invited?”
Bai Hongtu put on an obedient front before Commander Liu.
Commander Liu had watched Bai Hongtu’s entire journey—from being a spirited Nascent Soul stage Human Sovereign candidate, to becoming the third strongest Human Sovereign candidate after suffering dual persecution from Jiang Li and Yu Yin, to finally being defeated by Jiang Li and reluctantly returning to the Dao Sect to become its master.
When Bai Hongtu chose to return home and become sect master, the previous Dao Sect Master was so delighted he immediately abdicated to enjoy his retirement.
History proved how wise the previous Dao Sect Master’s abdication decision was—under Bai Hongtu’s leadership, the Dao Sect grew increasingly powerful and increasingly… twisted.
Commander Liu smiled: “Of course, I just haven’t notified you yet.”
With his rich experience of being deceived, Commander Liu knew Bai Hongtu’s obedience was all an act.
“Since both of you are together, Yu Yin is probably nearby too?”
“Senior Liu, I’m here.”
Yu Yin’s expression wasn’t as icy as before. When she was a Human Sovereign candidate, Commander Liu had taken good care of her.
When the Old Human Sovereign hung Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu up for beating, Commander Liu would always step in to take Yu Yin elsewhere so she wouldn’t have to watch such bloody scenes—very considerate.
“You should come attend Commander Mu’s wedding too.”
“Alright.”
…
“Great Witch Kingdom, it’s been a long time since we’ve been here. I was just saying I wanted to visit the Gu Clan’s secret realm back then, but right as I was about to go, you two dragged me away,” Bai Hongtu said.
The Great Witch Kingdom was the gathering place of the Witch Clan. The strength of Witch Clan members could be directly seen through their tattoos. As the strongest Witch Clan member, Zhang Konghu had tattoos covering his entire back.
Showing off strength was a tradition in the Great Witch Kingdom. Walking on the streets, one could see many bare-chested men displaying tattoos on their chests, backs, arms, heads, and other places.
Ten thousand years ago, there was a dynasty called the Witch Dynasty. Later, internal conflicts split it into the Great Witch Kingdom and Small Witch Kingdom, with the Gu Clan located within Great Witch Kingdom territory.
The current ruler of the Great Witch Kingdom was Zhang Konghu’s older brother, though their relationship wasn’t very good.
The three of them truly hadn’t been here for a long time. In Bai Hongtu’s memory, the three had come to the Great Witch Kingdom together during their Nascent Soul stage to complete a mission related to a secret realm.
“Indeed, I remember you two had conflicts with the Great Witch Kingdom’s ruler. You said since the Great Witch Kingdom’s ruler called himself ‘the lonely one,’ shouldn’t the empress call herself ‘the widow’?” Yu Yin also remembered this incident.
“At that time, the Great Witch Kingdom’s crown prince monopolized the secret realm, wanting to keep it all for himself and not allowing anyone else to enter. You two couldn’t stand it and started cursing on the spot.”
Bai Hongtu looked at Yu Yin: “Don’t downplay things. Clearly, we were just cursing, but you directly took action.”
Jiang Li continued recalling: “The crown prince’s guards promptly intervened, and Bai Hongtu and I promptly intervened too. Through our collective efforts, we successfully made enemies with the Great Witch Kingdom’s ruler.”
“The Great Witch Kingdom’s ruler saw that among the three of us, one was the Dao Sect Envoy, one was the Tianyuan Crown Prince’s fiancée—both untouchable—so he picked on me, the soft target.”
Yu Yin remembered how the Great Witch Kingdom’s ruler kept calling himself “the lonely one” while insulting Jiang Li as “foolish commoners,” using very offensive language.
Bai Hongtu couldn’t stand it and sarcastically remarked that if the Great Witch Kingdom’s ruler called himself “the lonely one,” shouldn’t the empress call herself “the widow”?
From the Great Witch Kingdom ruler’s expression, Yu Yin guessed he had the impulse to declare war on the Dao Sect.
Fortunately, their own weakness made the Great Witch Kingdom ruler realize they weren’t qualified to wage war against the Dao Sect, nor could they afford to offend a Dao Sect Envoy.
Seeing that both Bai Hongtu and Yu Yin were protecting Jiang Li, the Great Witch Kingdom ruler could only reluctantly let Jiang Li go.
They were all Human Sovereign candidates—he couldn’t afford to make enemies of them.
“What was the name of the Witch Dynasty’s founder, the first Witch Emperor? Was it Wu Bing or Wu Shui?”
“It was Wu Han.”
“Oh right, I remember now—Immortal Wu Han. A rare body cultivator immortal. The Witch Clan was once a powerful faction in the Immortal Realm, with a Golden Immortal overseeing them.”
“Later, after the Golden Immortals battled, the Gu Clan’s Golden Immortal fell, and the Witch Clan never recovered, never producing another Golden Immortal since.”
“Wu Han ascended from the Nine Provinces and naturally joined the Immortal Realm’s Witch Clan, then became a Celestial Immortal and the new Witch Clan leader.”
The three noticed a crowd gathering not far away, with people queuing outside.
“This is… the Great Zhou office in the Great Witch Kingdom?!”
“Are these people at the office trying to join Great Zhou?”
There was a display board at the office entrance listing the benefits and procedures for joining the Great Zhou Dynasty.
The most prominent benefit listed was the guarantee of a fair and just living environment.
Great Zhou officials shouted at the entrance: “After completing the procedures, please wait a few more days. In a few days, the Great Zhou imperial city will establish a spatial passage with this location. Then everyone can go directly to Great Zhou.”
Previously, spatial passages were limited and couldn’t cover the Great Witch Kingdom. But with technological advances, spatial passages would soon blossom throughout the Nine Provinces.
On the Nine Provinces Continent, the Great Zhou Dynasty was a place many mortals and cultivators yearned for, with its population increasing every year.
Although under Jiang Li’s guidance, the entire Nine Provinces had trended toward goodness, compared to the Great Zhou Dynasty, other dynasties and major countries still fell short.
Two constables saw the queue at the Great Zhou office and sighed inwardly. In the past, when they walked the streets, vendors would fear they might cause trouble and would proactively give them things, begging them to accept—how glorious they had been.
But not anymore.
Relocation was the freedom of mortals and cultivators—no one could stop it. The Great Witch Kingdom had tried many methods to retain people, all ineffective. Finally, they could only emulate Great Zhou by implementing laws to bring order to the country.
Officials and constables no longer dared to act tyrannically or forcibly take possessions.
Not just the Great Witch Kingdom was like this—other dynasties and major countries all showed trends of learning from Great Zhou. Now with the spread of spatial passages making transportation convenient, if no measures were taken, more and more people would choose to live in Great Zhou.
For example, in the Great Yong Dynasty, when Spiritual Treasures gained sentience, they wanted to leave Great Yong for Great Zhou, forcing the Great Yong Dynasty to change its policies.
Now the Great Yong Dynasty had also changed somewhat from before.
This was a helpless move, but for the common people of the Nine Provinces, it was a good thing.