The crow flew and the hare raced on:
One year...
Ruo Jinghong sent good news:
"Ten cities have agreed to open passages."
Wang Quan heard this without a ripple of surprise.
Mei Niang and the others, on the other hand, rejoiced.
Over the past year, they had repeatedly reviewed the circumstances of the Underworld and the Second- and Third-Layer Worlds, and increasingly felt that linking the cities of the Polar Lands would surely bring enormous effects and changes.
Over that year, Wang Quan had spent most of his time studying the Daoist Scriptures.
He was now just ten volumes short of sixty thousand.
Yet even with the support of his External Brain and [Inverted Wisdom], his studies still progressed at a snail's pace.
These Daoist Scriptures were growing harder and harder.
Three years...
Ruo Jinghong and the others sent good news again:
"All the cities in the Far Western Land have begun taking action."
"They're expanding in every direction, trying to link up."
That year, besides the good news, there was some news that was neither good nor bad:
Ruo Jinghong said, "In many parts of the Polar Lands, the number of New-Method Cultivators keeps increasing."
"There are more and more Golden Cores among those practicing the New Method."
"In some cities, the New Method Golden Cores have already gained some power."
"These New Method Golden Cores resist opening up new territory."
Wang Quan's brow furrowed slightly at the news.
Five years...
Ruo Jinghong's group scattered, entering the Polar Lands in other directions.
To their surprise, the cities in those Polar Lands had already begun opening up territory along the lines Wang Quan had proposed.
"I asked around and learned that they started doing this five years ago."
"They said [the All-Under-Heaven Dao Court] had instructed them to."
"And they're