Taking over Chulong City was an absolute breeze, barely even worth mentioning. Cheong Suhyeon, as always, incorporated the remaining regular people into her flock, whilst Theodore reinforced the Compound Array a few times over, just in case.
Under the lead of Vigdis, she, Navya and Satoru patrolled the surroundings, as an added security measure. Although all of this was merely a formality, they couldn't skimp on it. After all, in the extremely unlikely case that something truly dangerous was around, them serving as an early warning system would buy everyone else precious time.
As expected, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and a short while later, Chulong City had been transformed into yet another terrifying fortress under Theodore's command. Both it and Qinglong City would serve as bases for him and his people, with many more of them to be created in the future.
It was a complete waste to entirely discard a world which he had been to, as the Energy Veins that he had already harvested would eventually 'regrow'–or rather, reappear in the same general vicinity. Therefore, if he left behind places which he could safely teleport to, he could periodically return and bolster his Energy Vein reserves even further.
That aside, Cheong Suhyeon's believers would be living in these worlds, so revisiting them should always be on the table, in case she needed to directly see them–or if she had to make use of her Devout Substitute Talent. With a robust Teleportation Array network nearby, she could then far more quickly rejoin whatever battle she had just been in prior to her close brush with death and avoid being stranded for some time.
To keep the Teleportation Arrays and connected Compound Arrays running required a huge number of Energy Veins, which was why Theodore had avoided harvesting any of them around the state capitals. Instead, he had even added some more whenever he judged it to be necessary.
In the great scheme of things, this didn't cost him much and was essentially a minor investment, one that wouldn't set him back in the slightest. Rather, it would provide some much-needed convenience in the future.
Once the matters in Chulong City had been properly settled, Vigdis returned to the Qinglong World, where she would oversee the Compound Array in Theodore's absence. He had long since created dedicated cultivation grounds for his people in which even those at the Dawning Numen Stage could still progress swiftly.
For the coming cleansings in the Chulong World, having Cheong Suhyeon at his side was more than sufficient, as there were no other settlements on the same level as Chulong City anywhere around. With both of their increased strength, having Vigdis come along was simply completely unnecessary.
Here in their newly conquered territory, Satoru would be the one to man the Compound Array while they were away. He had already been instructed on how to do so over the past half a year, so some basic operations and surveillance shouldn't be an issue for him. Should anything that he couldn't handle occur, then he could immediately inform him so that he might return and take the helm.
Because the Energy required for teleportation between the two worlds was quite considerable, the Arrays couldn't be used haphazardly, else they risked having an Energy shortage that would paralyse the rest of the Compound Array. Therefore, nobody would be allowed to use the Teleportation Arrays to move to and fro in rapid succession. Still, if there were at least a few minutes between each activation, then that would be perfectly fine.
Thus, once they had been informed of everything on the other end having been settled, Xie Mei and Han Junqiao immediately went to the Chulong World. There, they used a few hours to refashion many parts of the central palace of the city into their ideal living quarters. Wherever Theodore went, there they would also go–unless he forbade them from doing so.
Meanwhile, their lover and Cheong Suhyeon had once again set out after having got a general overview of the surrounding cities. Fortunately, the Liang branch kept considerably accurate maps around, therefore it wouldn't be necessary to create one from scratch this time. With a few additions here and there whenever they acquired new information, they would be good to go.
That noon and early afternoon, dozens of cities were cleansed of all those Theodore deemed to be evildoers, and Cheong Suhyeon's flock grew a little further. This was nothing but a small prelude to what was to come–a quick welcome to this new world and its inhabitants. From today onward, the present status quo was going to be ground into dust!
Seeing the two of them return from afar, with Cheong Suhyeon clinging to her Master as if it was the most natural thing in the world, Navya felt aggrieved. She hadn't really been given much of a mission or duty, other than to keep on eye on things in Chulong City and serve as Satoru's first reinforcement. Aside from that, she could do pretty much whatever she wished.
But because no new cultivation grounds had been set up yet, she couldn't exactly make any further progress. Instead, all that she was left with was to drain the regular people around her of a bit of their life force, which didn't strengthen her much, but many a little makes a mickle.
Quite a few months ago, Cheong Suhyeon and Navya had figured out that their Talents had pretty good synergy in this regard. The fledgling goddess' believers could easily recover from life force depletion if it wasn't too severe, so as long as Navya didn't go overboard, the two women didn't have any issues with each other. The repeated recovery from a weakened state also further refined the purity of the believers' faith, as they were well aware that it was their goddess who was bestowing these miracles upon them. Therefore, Cheong Suhyeon was benefiting from this arrangement quite considerably as well.
Naturally, more powerful people would allow Navya to absorb more of their life force without a hitch, whereas they would also provide purer, stronger faith to Cheong Suhyeon. But unfortunately, compared to Qinglong City, which had almost gathered all of the powerhouses of the world in one place, Chulong City was utterly desolate! As a result, Navya had truly just got an iota more than nothing this time.
This was partially why she felt saddened by the current state of affairs. Not only was she bored out of her mind, but Cheong Suhyeon could also enjoy a beautiful cleansing date with Theodore for so many hours! But alas, she was powerless to change a thing. Thankfully, merely seeing her Master was more than enough to cheer her up and fill her mind with pure bliss for a few days, therefore this slight dissatisfaction dissipated almost the instant that it appeared.
"Bear with it for a while, alright? This place will eventually turn just as great as Qinglong City. Oh, and wipe off that drool, will you? It's a bit... unbecoming."
Having taken note of the momentary fluctuation in her emotions, Theodore chose to cheer her up a little, but then couldn't help but point out the obvious. Despite having lived together for all of these months, there were still many instances when Navya brazenly thirsted over him in an unhealthy fangirling manner, and nothing that he had attempted to do had served to ameliorate this issue.
"My apologies!"
Swiftly using one of her sleeves to make herself a tad more presentable, Navya showed a beaming, innocent smile. She was not the slightest bit bashful about what had just happened, as it was perfectly normal. Although a part of her did yearn for her Master, she was well aware that adoring him from afar was something which she found even more charming.
"... anyway. Yeonnie, would you be so kind as to take over Satoru's post? I have a little bit more work to deal with for now. See you all later at dinner!"
After silently staring at the resident nutcase for a while, he turned to face the ever-reliable Cheong Suhyeon with a more genuine, appreciative smile.
"Don't worry about anything, and just focus on what you need to do. We've got things covered here."
Sending him on his way with some words of reassurance, Cheong Suhyeon soon dragged Navya away with her to the Compound Array's core. Meanwhile, Theodore began to teleport to various places around the city and its surroundings, expertly inserting many Energy Veins inside of the depths of the earth, which quickly were incorporated into the nearby Array. In various specified areas and future training grounds, the Energy concentration was rapidly rising.
Within a few days, the lives of Theodore and his Subordinates had returned to complete normalcy. Although some of them were now in the Chulong World, their daily routines hadn't meaningfully changed. Step by step, everyone was growing to further heights, and the Energy Vein Incorporation continued.
There was one party, though, which did not react to this change with such blatant nonchalance: This Han Empire's court!
When that Dragon Family descendant had wiped out the Gulong State, they had still been able to at least pinpoint a culprit and suitably brace themselves for what was to come. Admittedly, the main reason for them being aware of what had occurred was that the individual in question had openly challenged them, but that wasn't the point. This threat and its nature were known to them.
However, after the fall of the Qinglong State, they had started to be far more on edge. No matter how many experts they sent, none of them could even cause a single ripple. It was as if they were obliterated from existence the moment after they stepped through the Teleportation Array. Naturally, this made them treat this world as a lost cause–but it also terrified almost everyone, at least to a certain degree. After all, they had no idea what had happened!
Initially, they had still chosen to believe that this was an isolated development. Some freak occurrence had taken one of their states from them, sure, but it wouldn't easily spread and repeat itself. At least not without their knowledge! Yet...
After little more than six months, the Chulong State followed in the Qinglong State's footsteps. This time, they didn't need to sacrifice nearly as many fighters before they realized what was going on, yet that wasn't a cause for celebration.
Contrary to the places that they had lost prior to this, the Chulong World was home to at least twenty percent of the influential people that were a part of the empire's court! It was not an insignificant backwater that they could simply discard as they pleased, which was exactly why its loss hurt them far more than any that they had taken previously!
The sole development that could possibly be worse was to lose their imperial capital, which would force them to migrate to other places once more.
For weeks on end, vocal battles were fought, with many sides and factions presenting what they felt to be the optimal approach to take in the face of such an unprecedented threat. At times, they even had to rely on violent arena clashes to resolve their differences.
Eventually, it was decided that some 'Fire Seeds' would be selected and their few Voidfaring Vessels prepared, so that in case of the worst conceivable outcome, a tiny spark of hope for the time to come could be retained. Their empire would blossom once more, in a distant place, spreading the glorious light of their civilization!
Originally, the Hans here had descended from one such contingency plan as well–just like all of the Han Empires spread throughout and beyond the Heavenly Dao. Even the influence of their bloodline, which usually eradicated their ability to reason properly and warped their minds, could not erase this sort of future-preserving instinct that had been etched deep into their very genes.
Naturally, although they had made these preparations, this Han Empire's court didn't believe that they would truly have to utilize them. They also didn't realize that at some point, amidst the talented members of their younger generation that had already boarded the Voidfaring Vessels, a certain youngster from the Predizione Family had smuggled himself in.
'There is nothing amiss with the fates of these Fire Seeds. Escaping together with them will ensure that I can safely make it through the first round. Finally, I can relax a little!'
In a hidden compartment, Salvator showed a relieved smile, then leaned back against the cold, metal wall and exhaled a deep breath. Only right now did he feel the weight pressing down on his shoulders slightly lessen, letting him know that he had temporarily avoided this fatal danger.