The maps of the Nine Provinces that had once been widely circulated were extremely crude and riddled with errors. People who tried to traverse the Nine Provinces with such maps often wandered into deadly lands or lost their way, a journey of nine deaths and one life.
When cultivators traveled through the Nine Provinces, they often relied not on maps, but on their cultivation. A hundred years after Jiang Li ascended to the throne of the Human Emperor, he decided to redraw the map of the Nine Provinces. This should have been a good thing, but it was obstructed by the Heavenly Mystery Tower.
The reason was simple: the Heavenly Mystery Tower possessed a detailed map of the Nine Provinces, which they sold to cultivators in fragments at high prices. In the past, great powers had also wanted to redraw the map of the Nine Provinces, but they were all stopped by the Heavenly Mystery Tower.
Although the Heavenly Mystery Tower was not one of the Six Great Sects, it held many secrets. Many cultivators were extremely wary of them. If you provoked the Heavenly Mystery Tower, they could spread some secrets about your cultivation, making it easy for your enemies to find your death acupoint and bring about a death calamity.
However, Jiang Li did not fear this. By then, he had already reached the Mahayana Stage and was invincible in the Nine Provinces. What enemy would dare to cause him trouble?
If he didn't show up at their door, they would be burning high incense and praising the "Human Emperor's great virtue." The Heavenly Mystery Tower had no means of threatening Jiang Li and could only pinch their noses and let him redraw the map of the Nine Provinces.
Jiang Li convened the Nine Great Imperial Dynasties, the Six Great Sects, the Four Seas Dragon King, and other major sects and nations to discuss the matter of the map. He set a standard for precision and had them take responsibility for the maps of their own regions. The Human Emperor Palace would complete the remaining blank areas.
In the end, under Jiang Li's coordination, a map of the Nine Provinces several times more detailed than the one from the Heavenly Mystery Tower was presented to everyone. Jiang Li was not stingy either. He had the Human Emperor Palace imprint the map onto jade slips and sell them at a price slightly higher than cost.
From then on, people no longer had to worry about the issue of maps. Afterward, the Dao Sect told Jiang Li that this act was one of great merit and that he should have received a merit baptism. But Jiang Li did not receive any merit, which was very strange.
Moreover, the successive Human Emperors who guarded the Nine Provinces should also have accumulated great merit, yet there was no trace of merit to be seen for them either. The Dao Sect speculated that merit originated from the Immortal Realm.
After the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Ladder disappeared, the Nine Provinces lost contact with the Immortal Realm, causing merit to no longer descend. If Jiang Li ascended to the Immortal Realm in the future, he might be met with a massive merit baptism.
【New Mission Issued: The once-every-five-years Heavenly Celebration Prefecture Martial Arts Tournament is about to begin. You will represent the Cloud Transformation Sect in this competition. You have been assigned to the Early Foundation Establishment Stage division.
Because the Cloud Transformation Sect has ranked last in previous tournaments and is ridiculed by other sects, please take first place in the Early Foundation Establishment Stage division in this competition】 【This mission can be abandoned】 【Mission Rewards: An opportunity to complete any incomplete manual, one Dragon Tiger Golden Core, one Death Substitution Talisman】 Jiang Li found that the rewards for this mission were also very generous.
Not to mention the suggestive opportunity to complete any incomplete manual, just the Dragon Tiger Golden Core alone could increase any cultivator's success rate of Core Formation to eighty percent, which was simply terrifying. And then there was the Death Substitution Talisman. Who could guarantee they would not be ambushed while wandering the martial world?
Having a Death Substitution Talisman was equivalent to having an extra life. Its direct value was demonstrated by the fact that it could be auctioned off at a sky-high price sufficient to make a Nascent Soul Cultivator spend half their family fortune! And the Death Substitution Talisman could only be used by cultivators below the Golden Core Stage.
The rewards were very generous, so Jiang Li chose to abandon this mission.
"Abandon this mission."
【Are you sure you want to abandon this mission?】
"Yes."
【To prevent the Host from misspeaking, this System will confirm one more time, are you sure you want to abandon this mission?】
"Yes."
【Are you sure...】
"Yes."
Jiang Li felt that this Broken Counterattack System was very much like the rogue software from his previous life.
【Mission successfully abandoned】 After saying this, the system went silent.
Jiang Li blinked his eyes, waiting for a long time, but no new mission came.
"System, where's the new mission?"
【Please wait patiently, Host】 Jiang Li was speechless.
So abandoning a mission didn't mean he could immediately proceed to the next one.
"Hey, hey, is Jiang Li there? I was too excited just now and forgot to tell you something."
The Remote Communication Talisman rang, and before Jiang Li could even connect, the other party's projection appeared directly. The projection of the Dao Sect Master appeared before Jiang Li. Jiang Li thought to himself that this bastard was once again taking advantage of being the creator of the Remote Communication Talisman to forcibly control his talisman.
"What is it?"
Jiang Li asked very politely.
"You're a dignified Dao Sect Walker, is that how you speak to your Sect Master?"
The Dao Sect Master feigned anger, but seeing that Jiang Li was about to lose his temper, he quickly changed the subject.
"The Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal is about to undergo another refinement. According to my observations, there's less than a year to go. At that time, our Dao Sect will hold an Immortal Artifact Appreciation Assembly. Do a brother a favor and you, the Current Human Emperor, come grace us with your presence."
Seeing that it was a serious matter, Jiang Li's attitude softened, and he responded that he could.
"Then it's settled. I'll send you an invitation then and have you sit in the special guest seats."
The Dao Sect Master briskly cut off the Remote Communication Talisman. The Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal was about to undergo another refinement. This was indeed a serious matter, and a major one at that.
The Dao Sect would be busy preparing for it for a year, and Jiang Li was likely the first person to know about it. Some people claimed that the Dao Sect's Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal was the number one supreme treasure in the Nine Provinces.
This claim was not exaggerated in the slightest; at least, Jiang Li believed the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal deserved this title. The founding ancestor of the Dao Sect was known as the Dao Ancestor. This title was extremely terrifying, sharing the same name as that figure in the Immortal Realm.
He should have suffered Heavenly Punishment, but the Dao Ancestor himself was safe and sound. Some people thus speculated that the founding ancestor of the Dao Sect was the reincarnation of the true Dao Ancestor, or perhaps a Calamity Body, one of the Three Corpses, or something similar.
In short, he had an extremely close relationship with the true Dao Ancestor. The Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal was refined by this Dao Sect's Dao Ancestor. From the moment it was forged, it was an Immortal Artifact with boundless power.
After the Dao Sect's Dao Ancestor ascended, he left the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal in the Nine Provinces as a Sect-Guarding Treasure to suppress the Dao Sect's Qi Luck. The miraculous thing about the Yin-Yang Heavenly Seal was that it could refine itself. With each refinement, its power increased by one tier.
The last time it refined itself was three thousand years ago. All the notable figures in the Nine Provinces attended that grand event, which was extraordinarily lively. After three thousand years, how could Jiang Li miss the opportunity to witness an Immortal Artifact refine itself? ...
Jiang Li did not leave Great Zhou. Instead, he entered secluded cultivation on the spot to consolidate the gains from his recent tribulation. Two months later, Jiang Li emerged from his state of Samadhi.
The system finally showed some activity.
【New Mission Issued: The Mysterious Secret Realm is about to open. Only those with a bone age under twenty-five and a cultivation at the Foundation Establishment Stage may enter. The Cloud Transformation Sect has one spot.
After defeating Yun Bo, you obtained this spot, but people from other sects, seeing that you are only at the Mid Foundation Establishment Stage, think nothing of you and even sneer at you.
Please win the championship in this Mysterious Secret Realm】 【This mission can be abandoned】 【Mission Rewards: Unlock the Spatial Transmission Function, unlock the Source Point Reading Function, one five-hundred-cubic-meter storage ring】 According to Jiang Li's estimation, two months was just enough time for "himself" to cultivate from the Early Foundation Establishment Stage to the Mid Foundation Establishment Stage.
He saw the rewards for this mission and smiled faintly. For the Spatial Transmission Function alone, he could not abandon this mission!
(End of Chapter)