A stir ran through the hall.
"Master, this..." Senior Brother clenched his fists, feeling his cultivation suddenly shrink. His expression was grim.
Saint Ye waved a hand, his tone even.
"It has to be this way."
"This world is being watched from above. If your realm is too high, the Mandate of Heaven will catch a trace of you. Once we are exposed, every arrangement we made before will have been wasted."
He swept his gaze over everyone.
"From this moment on, erase every mark on your bodies connected to the Upper Realm. Seal your cultivation below the Supreme realm. Do not break through unless it is a matter of life and death."
"You are the rulers of this nation."
"But your task is not merely to rule."
Saint Ye walked down from the high platform. With every step he took, an inscription lit up on the stone tiles beneath his feet, spreading in every direction.
"Develop disciples, multiply the populace, and establish a legacy system belonging to this Small World. You must build a closed loop of fortune that can reincarnate and cycle on its own."
"The fortune of incense offerings will give rise to new life in this world. These lives will multiply generation after generation and cultivate generation after generation. Their fortune will in turn nourish the world, forming an everlasting cycle."
As he spoke, Saint Ye drew a mirror from his robes.
The mirror was neither round nor square, its edges set with nine gems of different colors.
There was nothing on its surface, but when Saint Ye poured True Yuan into it, the entire mirror abruptly erupted with a pillar of light that held up the heavens.
The beam shot into the sky, piercing through the barrier of fortune that concealed the heavens and triggering