Chapter 499 - 57: The Stellar Sword Cultivator Path

Chapter 499: Chapter 57: The Stellar Sword Cultivator Path

Inside the large conference room of the World Tree Territory’s administrative center.

Li Hua pushed open the door to find the conference room already packed. He recognized Specter among the crowd, but the other heroes were new to him. Lin Yu was seated at the head of the table, clearly having been waiting for some time.

"My Lord, we’re here!" Yuan Xiaobo chirped, bouncing into the conference room.

After entering the territory’s inner circle, he had become exceptionally lively—a complete departure from his previous, more serious demeanor.

Seeing Yuan Xiaobo, everyone in the conference room cracked a smile. As the territory’s resident morale booster and number one tank, Yuan Xiaobo was quite popular among the heroes.

"Hey, guess what! On my way here, I ran into a Wind Leopard in the middle circle that was ascending to become a hero! Once it passes its Celestial Tribulation, we’ll have another Legendary Hero."

The moment he entered, Yuan Xiaobo was bursting to share the good news he’d stumbled upon.

Lin Yu looked past Yuan Xiaobo to the awkward Li Hua standing behind him and said, "Brother Li, welcome to my territory. Have a seat; I’ve saved one for you."

Li Hua sat down where Lin Yu indicated.

Hearing Lin Yu, the others in the room turned to look at Li Hua with curiosity.

The conference table was a large, round one, with no clear head or foot. Anyone invited to a meeting here held a more or-less equal standing within the territory.

Faced with the stares of a group composed entirely of Legendary-grade heroes, Li Hua felt immense pressure.

"Alright, stop staring," Lin Yu interjected. "Lord Li Hua’s development path can compensate for our territory’s weaknesses. That’s why I’ve invited him to this meeting!"

Lin Yu, noticing Li Hua’s discomfort, had timed his interruption perfectly to bail him out.

Li Hua took the hint and quickly declared his stance. "Boss Lin, just say the word. If it weren’t for your help, I’d have been sent packing by now."

"Don’t say that. With your prestige as the former number one Extraordinary Lord, you could have joined anyone. I should be the one thanking you for thinking my territory is worthy of your consideration."

Then, Lin Yu introduced him to the others in the room. "Lord Li Hua’s territory is focused on cultivation and has its own complete system of cultivation methods. The Star Technique we acquired previously came from him."

Upon hearing this, the way Chenxi, Specter, and the others looked at Li Hua changed, their gazes now holding a hint of fervent interest.

"Ahem."

"Behave, now. Don’t go scaring our Lord Li Hua!"

"I called you here today mainly to ask you something."

"Are you willing to have your territory absorbed into mine?"

"Absorbed?" Li Hua was baffled.

"That’s right. After my territory leveled up, I discovered a ’subordinate territory management system’ at the Territory Core."

"It allows me to manage territories that have pledged their allegiance to me. In addition to the standard options of Occupy, Assimilate, and Destroy, a new function appeared: Absorb."

"I’ve been looking into it, and your territory was the first one that came to mind, so I brought you here to discuss it."

Hearing this, Li Hua started to feel nervous. He asked apprehensively, "So... what does that entail, exactly?"

"Absorption means your territory would be fully integrated into the main territory, managed as a part of it."

"You’d enjoy all the main territory’s bonuses and benefits. The Spiritual Energy it generates would extend to your lands as well..."

...

"In other words, after being absorbed, if you want to focus on cultivation, you can dedicate yourself to managing your Sword Immortals. We’ll handle the administration of your populace."

"So? What do you say?"

Li Hua remained silent, lost in thought as he weighed the pros and cons of Lin Yu’s "absorption" proposal.

When Li Hua didn’t respond, Lin Yu dangled another lure.

"Brother Li, you’re familiar with the Technology Tree, right?"

"I am. It’s a territory ability that lets a lord guide the development of their own unique technologies."

’If I had successfully advanced, I would have gotten my own Technology Tree. Then I could have used it to advance the skills of my Sword Immortals, drastically increasing the rate at which my territory produces them. I might have even created a territory of nothing but Sword Immortals and achieved the rank of Extraordinary Territory.’ The mere mention of the Technology Tree made Li Hua curse his own failure.

Ever since learning from the chat channels that the Technology Tree was a guaranteed reward for any lord who successfully advanced, failing to obtain one had become Li Hua’s biggest regret.

"Correct. However, I should tell you that our territory’s Technology Tree is a bit more powerful than the ones you’ve heard about."

"My Technology Tree only needs sufficient data to independently extrapolate and establish a completely new, related technology branch."

"So, if your territory is absorbed into mine, it’s highly likely we could generate a new cultivation path specifically for Sword Immortals."

"You’d get to enjoy all the latest breakthroughs from our cultivation research. And of course, if you were interested, you could even have your own people participate in the research process."

Li Hua was stunned. From what he’d gathered in the chat channels, the Technology Trees most lords received were tailored to their territory’s existing tech. Most of these were electrification-based technology paths; only Yun Qihao had a faith-based Extraordinary path.

The rumor was that the only way to add a new technology branch was to attack other lords who had a Technology Tree, destroy their Territory Cores, and hope to collect enough fragments.

Li Hua had no way of knowing if this was true, as he didn’t have a Technology Tree himself. Still, he could guess from these rumors just how difficult it must be to add a new technology branch.

And now Lin Yu was claiming he could establish a corresponding technology branch just by being provided with data?