"Be careful, all of you. Don't let anything get bumped or knocked! These are all high-grade incense materials!"
At the East Pier of Nine-Wan Island, in front of the Market Ward, a group of laborers was moving cargo under the direction of a merchant association steward.
Out on the distant sea, vessels large and small came and went in an endless stream, presenting an extraordinarily busy scene.
"Truly, hearing something a hundred times is no match for seeing it once. To think the Incense Accumulation Sect's Nine-Wan Island is this prosperous! No wonder it can gather wealth from all four seas."
A merchant association steward from the Longevity Blessed Land, one of Yuanzhou's Immortal Sects, stepped onto this unfamiliar island. Looking around, he could not help speaking to those beside him with deep feeling.
"Of course. With the Incense Accumulation Sect presiding here, none of those evil demons and outer Dao followers dare come to cause trouble. This is what an Immortal Sect's domain should truly look like."
Everyone voiced their agreement.
People could change their surroundings, and their surroundings could change them.
In the centuries since the Incense Accumulation Sect's rise, the North Sea had undergone earth-shaking changes. Many things had long since ceased to be as they once were.
The steward who had spoken sighed inwardly, inexplicably thinking of a crucial point that invited reflection.
Were renowned immortal sects and mighty experts absent from other places?
The various continents certainly had long-established Immortal Sects and Spirit Transformation powers presiding over them. In some respects, their strength was even greater than that of the present Incense Accumulation Sect, and their foundations ran deeper.
Yet these very sects and powers had begun letting things rot, one after another, neglecting governance.
They had not made their territories as prosperous and stable