Three months later, on Nine-Dragon Island in the Endless Sea.
Apart from Heavenfall Island, which bordered various forbidden grounds, Nine-Dragon Island was the only known giant island belonging to the powers of the Heavenfall Sea that was open to outsiders.
After more than half a year of precarious stabilization, followed by three months of steady development, Nine-Dragon Island had undergone a complete transformation. Ten cities alone had been built in those brief three months, giving it the beginnings of the infrastructure befitting a giant island.
Nearly two million tribespeople nominally belonging to the Sky-Supporting Tribe, along with roughly three million cultivators from various factions and rogue cultivators, were scattered among ten settlements on Nine-Dragon Island. Walls had been erected around them to form proper residential bases, distributed across the nine dragon-shaped mountain ranges and Nine-Dragon Harbor.
This day was three days before the date the Sky-Supporting Tribe had publicly announced for founding its nation.
Most of the representatives of the various factions had already reached Nine-Dragon Island. They included the two overlords of the Endless Sea, Mysterious Emperor Island and Empress Island; the dominant powers of the Heavenfall Sea, Heavenheart Island, Blood Venerating Island, Myriad Demon Island, Myriad Buddha Island, the Five Absolutes Demon Sect, and the Barbarian Venerable Alliance; and enormous commercial powers such as the Sea-Connecting Trade Alliance, Myriad Treasures Commerce, Treasure Pavilion, Myriad Beasts Commerce, and Hundred Alliances Trading House. There were also countless large and small factions, whether unknown, first- or second-rate, or beneath notice. Almost any faction with a little reputation or ambition had sent at least a few representatives.
Naturally, so many factions were not paying their respects for the sake of the Sky-Supporting Tribe. The tribe did not yet possess the strength, influence, or prestige for that. Their main reason was the nation-founding