Chapter 274: Special Committee
Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy
The four sects never really had a fallout.
Despite the mockery and satire from Non-Phase Peak Master and disciple, which put the ten elders of the other three sects speechless on the spot, nevertheless, the atmosphere was maintained on the level of verbal rather than physical confrontation.
Spirit Sword Sect also didn’t plan to have a fall out because the next thing to do was big, that it needed support from several other sects, especially Shengjing Sect.
Everyone realized that no one could really monopolize this huge treasure, not even the four sects present. According to the map, the possible immortal treasures were in the number of thousands upon thousands. Moreover, in theory, since this place was formed through the reversal of the world’s immortal cultivation main path by the earth immortals, it meant that the immortal inheritance was inexhaustible. The so-called ‘thousands upon thousands’ was not the total amount of immortal treasures, but the amount that can be mined at the same time. In other words, if there were tens of thousands of elite adventurer comparable to Wang Lu, they would be able to mine out the thousands upon thousands of immortal treasures in one lump. However, how many Wang Lu was there in the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals?
No one could possibly possess all the immortal treasures alone. Moreover, even if one tried to, it did not have any meaning. The benefit that one could have would not change by much, instead, the world’s cultivators would lose a great change—this was simply harming others while not benefiting oneself. And once the news leaked out, it would provoke resentment from everyone.
Therefore, the solution to this was to share. Not only to share with the three sects Shengjing, Kunlun, and Ten Thousand Arts, but also with all the seven thousand three hundred sects part of the Union of Ten Thousand Immortals.
Spirit Sword Sect was going to announce this news to the whole world.
Of course, this didn’t come from the unselfish reason of serving the public interest, but rather to seek greater benefits.
The lure of immortal treasure was enough to let the whole world come in droves. And once people come in droves, it was the perfect opportunity to make a fortune. From time immemorial to modern time, the richest was never the wealth-seeker, but rather the wealth-creator. Rather than risking one’s life to diligently excavate the thousands upon thousands of tombs, it was simply better to sit idly by and let the world’s immortal cultivators to directly enter the tombs and just take commissions from the unearthed treasure.
The percentage of commission needed not be many, ten percent was enough. If accumulated, these ten percent would lead to an abnormally abundant harvest. Although this has its own problem in itself—people accepting this arrangement in the beginning but someone would eventually question their rights in taking this commission if other people were the one that made the effort.
However, this problem was not difficult to solve—the three-dimensional map that Wang Lu projected out was the perfect reason.
We have the map, do you want it? If you want it, you have to commit to giving us ten percent of the profit. You don’t want it? What a courageous person you are! Exploring this tomb is not a walk in the park, at any time you may die, so the more info you have, the more you can save your life, are you sure you don’t want it?
As for the map piracy problem, first of all, it would easily attract heavenly calamity upon the pirate. Thus, usually, no one dared to try it. Secondly, the structure of this earth immortal’s tomb was not fixed. Except for the initial sword tomb, the structure of others would appear according to the situation of the cultivators that enter them. The trial level, the guardian, as well as the final reward would be randomly generated. Thus, the content of the map was naturally not fixed, it was more like a set of exquisite mathematical formula. As long as the cultivator possessed the map when entering the grave, they could generally speculate about the situation that they may encounter inside the grave. The thousands upon thousands of graves have thousands upon thousands of different formulas. At any time, Wang Lu would only sell one, so simple copying would be meaningless.
However, these were just the technical aspects. It was absolutely impossible to rely on a single sect to legitimately unify the manpower of the entire Nine Regions and establish such a tax mechanism. Especially looking at the insufficient manpower of Spirit Sword Sect, thus, they must draw in the number one sect in the immortal cultivation world, Shengjing Sect. Of course, this would include Kunlun Sect and Ten Thousand Arts Sect, or they would obstruct the actual operation.
Of course, these were just basic ideas. To really establish such a working set of operation rule, the required work would be massive.
"In short, the first thing to do is to set up the special committee."
During the silence, Feng Yin, who has the highest status, opened his mouth.
"With our four sects as the core member, we bring in Royal Soldier Sect, as well as Million Forms Sect and other high-rank sects. Together, we will form a special committee to deal with all matters regarding this underground immortal treasures. This committee will not be under the jurisdiction of any organization, operating independently. It will have fifty members, five standing committee members, as well as one chairperson. The term of office and the manner of the election are to be determined later. However, the first chairperson would be me."
With that said, the elders of the other three sects looked at each other but did not hurry to answer.
For an important matter of this proportion, they did not have the authority to make a decision on behalf of their respective sect, thus, through various magical abilities, they immediately contacted their respective Sect Leader.
A few moments later came the reply from the Sect Leaders of the other three sects. They did not object Daoist Master Feng Yin’s proposal. After all, Feng Yin’s proposal was generally fair and just. Although directly taking the first chairperson position was somewhat imperious, after all, the core part of this entire set of game rules belonged to Spirit Sword Sect, thus, it was natural that they took some benefits. And in the future, from among the fifty members of special committee, although they would have the least amount of members, on account of their position in the standing committee member, their share of decision-making power would not be less than any other sect.
Of course, the specific about the establishment of the special committee needed to be discussed separately. Nevertheless, since the idea has been recognized by four of the Five Uniques, it has basically passed.
The next question was: Where is the key?
No matter how cheerfully they thought about the future, the premise was that everybody must at least be able to enter the tomb first. Unfortunately, however, the key to open the door was lost, so it would be useless to dwell on something more than that.
This was the most important reason for Spirit Sword Sect to unite the various sects. After more than ten thousand years, to find the key that they didn’t even know the shape or form was simply like finding a needle in a haystack. Even Daoist Master Feng Yin’s Stellar Diffraction Technique was powerless to find any clue of it. According to Sword Demon, the key was an immortal level object, moreover, its magical ability was related to primal chaos epoch-creation energy, which meant that it was likely a space-time class immortal treasure, a very clear characteristic. However, even so, only after the various sects have joined forces that there was the possibility to find the key in a short time.
Similarly, in searching for the key, cooperation and competition coexisted simultaneously. The cooperation was not false, but the side that finally gets the key would undoubtedly grab many shares within the committee. However, this was also one of the reasons why Feng Yin demanded the chairperson position. If Spirit Sword sect already got the key, how could they be satisfied with just a limited term of office as a chairperson? And among the five standing committees, three should be theirs. However, since there was no key, that would have to be postponed until after they get it. Of course, everyone knew that in the process of finding the key, Spirit Sword Sect certainly possessed a certain clue advantage, yet the advantage was not obvious. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be better if they hide the information about the key altogether?
Since the important matter has been decided, the four sects went their separate ways while leaving some of their members to comb the sword tomb for any clue. Spirit Sword Sect also began to clean up the mess and led their disciples back to the mountain to recuperate.
—
This time’s sword tomb exploration, Spirit Sword Sect was undoubtedly the biggest winner. Except for the immortal inheritance that was yet to be explored, the several successor disciples have also benefited greatly.
It was obvious for Wang Lu and Zhu Shiyao. Although their respective injuries were not light, once healed, it could usher in a period of rapid progress.
Liu Li finally obtained a flying sword of high-rank spiritual treasure that was very suitable for her, which in terms of value, was not inferior to that of Wang Lu’s and Zhu Shiyao’s. Usually, a spiritual treasure would have their own spirit, however, the characteristics of the flying sword that was suitable for Liu Li’s Brilliant Sword Heart were extremely demanding that very few spiritual treasures could meet them. Although Spirit Sword Sect had tried to look for it in any way they can, they never found the one that was suitable for her, which was why they let her used a first rank magical treasure instead.
However, this time, Liu Li obtained her spiritual treasure on her own. After Wang Lu penetrated through the last layer of the sword tomb, she was bored and thus casually wandered within the sword tomb. If Wang Lu were still with her, he would’ve scolded her for trying to take a suicidal road. However, perhaps her luck was big enough that unexpectedly, in a lonely stone chamber, she found a seemingly-abandoned-for-a-long-time broken sword. When she picked up the sword, it burst out a dazzling brilliance, revealing the essence of a high-rank spiritual treasure, which was highly compatible with Liu Li.
Later, when the Elders appraised it, they found that it was the famous sword of Sword Demon that was used by him to break the firmament of heaven. Originally, it was an immortal treasure level sword, however, during the challenge against the four in nine divine tribulations, the sword spirit was wiped out, and the sword body was damaged. This sword was then brought by its master to the sword tomb to begin the slow repair process relying on the power of the Feng Shui line. Years later, the sword body has basically been repaired, and although the sword spirit could not be resurrected, it did not affect the grade of the flying sword, and moreover, as it turned out, this was in line with the blank space requirement of Liu Li’s flying sword.
Although its immortal sword quality has yet to restore at this time, as long as Liu Li diligently refined it, sooner or later, its glory days would return. The actual value of this sword was even far higher than the one that Zhu Shiyao obtained; this was truly a priceless treasure. Towards this, even Wang Lu was slightly envious. Although he certainly would not covet things that belonged to Liu Li, he could not help but want to borrow to play with it.
Liu Li, of course, readily agreed. "Okay, here, you can play with my Meow!"
"Wait a minute, what is Meow?"
Liu Li said, "It’s this flying sword. Master said since the original sword spirit is not in there anymore, it is equivalent to a new flying sword, so Master let me gave her a new name."
"... So you named her Meow!?" Wang Lu was speechless. He shook his head and then grasped the sword hilt offered by Liu Li.
The main reason he wanted to borrow the sword was to comprehend more about the essence of Primal Chaos Heaven Splitting Sword since this was the main sword of Sword Demon. Since the sword spirit was no longer in there, the gain might be limited, but still...
However, when his palm touched the sword hilt, he immediately felt a burst dizziness, as if he had been knocked by a heavy hammer. Any thoughts immediately escaped out of his mind; he absolutely could not think of anything.
Wang Lu hurriedly threw the sword back to Liu Li and then asked, "What’s with this sword…"
Liu Li said, "Master said this sword has already passed through refinement process and thus, already interlinked with my heart and thought, the person and the sword became one. Although I am not quite clear what it means, it should be good, right?"
No, what your Master actually means is really simple.
Except for you, if other people use this sword, their IQ would fall...