Chapter 743 Voices of the past (4)
"When I visited it, it was as prosperous and as famous as the Jade Leaf Empire. A home to countless talents and experts. The reason I chose it as one of the places to visit was because I heard a bard once sing about it during my travels. Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience
The Bi Xie Empire, the land so blessed with luck that even a beggar had a chance of leaping to the heavens as long as they walked in there, having as much wealth and fortune as a dragon emperor.
While I didn't believe the bard, I was intrigued because of their name and a few stories I had heard during my travels. My interaction and loss to the black tortoise left me intrigued about these mythical beings. Their natural aptitudes and affinity for the manipulation and application of dao stirred something within me.
At the Jade Leaf Empire, while there were some whose accumulations in the dao rivaled mine, they were far and few in between, not numbering more than four, and even then I always felt that given enough time, I would exceed them. It was a future I grew to dread when I thought I would lack equals to delve into the mysteries of the dao with.
My hubris-filled fears were dispelled when I ventured out. I met cultivators whose understanding rivaled mine, with some even exceeding mine, with the latter group being small and primarily comprised of mythical creatures.
Losing is such a novel thing. Losing to the black tortoise, and almost dying at the hands of the three-legged golden toad, ignited something within me, that I came to know as excitement. While the better part of my travels for those sixteen years was just me pursuing rumors and sudden flashes of interest, the other part I was actively seeking out these beings, and it wasn't long before my sights were on the Bi Xie Empire.
I wondered if they had some connection to the Bi Xie. Their rumored fortune and good luck seemed to suggest it.
When I saw the Empire, the rumors of its absurd luck were proven to be true. Never have I seen in my life such a huge presence of the auspicious golden dragon of luck. Its ethereal presence was dense, filling the entire Empire. Seeing such a dense amount of luck, it became clear to me why so many cultivators at the cusp of a breakthrough all clamored to have their breakthroughs within the territory of the Bi Xie Empire.
It all made sense how the Bi Xie empire had managed to amass a fortune by providing a safe ground for breakthroughs. Such a huge amount of golden luck would definitely increase a cultivator's chance of a successful breakthrough, and even if they couldn't break through successfully, it could at least guarantee their life.
While I myself have never experienced the terror of tribulations with all my breakthroughs being awfully smooth, well the domain one was slightly stifling, but I got through it easily. It wasn't nearly as terrifying as my seniors made it to be but on my travels I got a clear picture on why it was so dreaded having seen some cultivators die to it, their bodies and souls lost to it.
<nulli>A pitiful way to go, losing everything you sacrificed for
when you're just at the threshold. The Bi Xie empire made use
of that fear and made a fortune and connections out of it. I was
surprised when I saw the list of countless renowned figures
who owed them a favor because the Empire provided a spot for
one of their juniors.
<nulli>From among the names, the sect master of the Sky
Hopefully, the scroll would shed a light on it somewhat.
<nulli>"The sect master's disciple passed her tribulation, with
the empire gaining the friendship of the sect master of the Sky
rendering sword sect, and his disciple too. It was pretty
ingenious really, as certain favors no amount of wealth could
buy.
<nulli>Even without the legendary Bi Xie, with the
resourcefulness shown, I could see why the empire prospered
so.
<nulli>I grew intrigued about the Empire the more I explored it.
It had its sense of uniqueness, one of them being the absence
of sects. While the Jade Leaf Empire limited the number of
sects within its territories, there were at least a hundred or so,
with some of them even having soul formation experts.
However, they did have some ties with the royal family, but
when it came to the Bi Xie empire, there was none at all.
<nulli>At first, I had thought the lack of sects was due to some
suppression or banishment by the Empire itself, but as it turned
out, it was the empire's prosperity that denied their
existence..."<nulli>