Night fell, and all was silent.
A ghostlike figure drifted without a trace, roaming the waters several hundred li beyond Northsky Island.
A treasure ship happened to be returning through these waters, laden with goods acquired from the Red Sand Kingdom, an island nation several thousand li away.
The vast ocean stretched without end, dotted with island nations like the Bamboo Step Kingdom and the Ashili Kingdom. The larger ones spanned several thousand li, while the smaller ones measured less than a hundred. If Li Ling had no interest in establishing a sect and instead proclaimed himself king through his divine abilities and dharma power, he could also found a nation on Nine-Wan Island.
Most of these islands, however, were barren and harsh. Few possessed spiritual richness like Nine-Wan Island and could sustain themselves.
In most places, making a living was difficult. With populations numbering in the hundreds of thousands or even a million, even feeding everyone became a problem.
There were also natural disasters and demonic beasts that rampaged across the seas. Mortal people had no power to resist them and had to depend on cultivators to survive.
But cultivators styled themselves immortal masters, transcendent and unworldly. They would not rule these mortal people directly. That was too exhausting, too troublesome. Most supported secular dynasties to exercise royal authority on their behalf.
A dynasty founded by a reliable secular lineage could maintain control for hundreds or thousands of years. All the karmic entanglements could be left to it, neatly resolving many problems.
When those problems could no longer be quelled, they would simply follow heaven's will and the people's wishes, replacing the dynasty.
This time, Li Ling had learned that for the past thousand years, the Red Sand Kingdom had been a vassal of the Merchant Association, directly under