The Immortal Sect's nine councilors gathered once more in the Central Array-Spirit Computer's highest-level conference room, setting aside all cultivation and research.
"Such vast, boundless realms..."
Myriad Mechanisms made no attempt to hide the fierce longing in his heart. "Everyone, I once proposed a plan called the Dead Star Expedition Plan: build a Dao Integration-level battle fortress the size of a planet, carry tens of billions of Immortal Sect Citizens and a fleet crewed by hundreds of millions more, and launch an expedition into the distance."
"It would be a fortress capable of fighting continuously for thousands, even tens of thousands of years. Citizens could be born, die, and cultivate within it."
"We would spend hundreds or thousands of years conquering a realm, bringing light to its myriad peoples and vastly expanding the Immortal Sect's living space."
By now, the long distances of inter-realm warfare had made it nothing like what low- and mid-level cultivators imagined. The journey alone could take every year of a Nascent Soul True Lord's life, from birth to death.
Stasis technology could be used on a few people, but it clearly could not put everyone to sleep.
Building a dead star fortress was therefore essential. Expedition citizens could live, reproduce, and cultivate inside it for dozens of generations before reaching their destination and attacking their target.
"Back then, you said this plan was too distant, too impractical."
"What about now?"
Myriad Mechanisms' eyes blazed.
"There are many problems to solve."
"First, the citizenship rights of citizens born away from the homeworld. Second, with realms so far apart and thousands of years passing, the expeditionary force might develop a strong desire for independence. Would they even still identify as citizens? Many customs and cultural habits would change drastically. Third, we can't build a dead star fortress