Chapter 218

At this moment, Liu Ke, who had already gone to give his report, had returned to the deck; hearing Wang Ping's sigh, he laughed and said:

The region where the Hundred Nations Alliance resides is the center of the Spirit Realm; the entire Hundred Nations Alliance possesses three fifth-grade spirit veins, hundreds of fourth-grade spirit veins, tens of thousands of third-grade spirit veins, and countless second-grade spirit veins; nourished by so many spirit veins, after ten thousand years, every part of the Hundred Nations Alliance has a spirit energy concentration equivalent to that of a second-grade spirit vein!

Hearing this, Wang Ping's eyes flashed, and he said: "Fellow Daoist Liu, I'm not yet clear about the Hundred Nations Alliance; could you give me an introduction?"

Liu Ke readily agreed and said: "The Hundred Kingdoms Alliance is enormous, divided into five regions: east, west, south, north, and center! The land we are currently on is a major state in the southern region, called Bai Xiang State. In Bai Xiang State, the foremost power is the Huo Yun Sect, and its greatest strength is a true cultivator at the early Nascent Soul stage. Within the Hundred Kingdoms, it is downstream! The sect possesses a fourth‑grade low‑tier spirit vein."

Wang Ping asked, "Could it be… could it be that the Hundred Kingdoms still have a classification system?"

Liu Ke laughed and said: "Of course, the Hundred Kingdoms Alliance is divided into three grades based on the number and cultivation level of Nascent Soul true cultivators! Top grade requires at least one Nascent Soul Great Perfection cultivator and no fewer than thirty Nascent Soul true cultivators! Middle grade needs at least one late‑stage Nascent Soul true cultivator and at least fifteen Nascent Soul cultivators, while lower grade merely requires a country to possess any Nascent Soul cultivator to qualify."

"Currently, the alliance has five nations holding the top‑grade title, namely Xia, Shang, Zhou, Chu, and Qin, ordered by strength; there are twenty‑four middle‑grade nations and seventy‑eight lower‑grade nations, making a total of one hundred and seven. The remaining nations without any Nascent Soul cultivators are placed in the unranked grade. For centuries, the lower‑grade nations have been rather ordinary; at their peak, there were one hundred and eighteen qualified nations."

With the prestige of the War Lord, in the Hundred Kingdoms Alliance, even if Fellow Daoist Wang walks sideways, no one would dare to interfere.

At the end of his speech, Liu Ke still didn't forget to throw in a joke.

Regarding the Hundred Kingdoms Alliance, Wang Ping gained a preliminary understanding for the first time; although he had entered the spirit realm before, he had never set foot in a city, so upon hearing that the Hundred Kingdoms Alliance actually possessed hundreds of Nascent Soul cultivators, he could not help but feel somewhat shocked.

Suddenly thinking of something, he continued to ask: "If the Hundred Kingdoms are this strong, what is the strength of the alliance?"

Liu Ke smiled arrogantly and said: "Having a Spirit Severing Elder Ancestor is already enough for the alliance."

Wang Ping suddenly realized; indeed, having a Spirit Severing overseer is enough to suppress all opposition. Having witnessed a Spirit Severing expert's attack, Wang Ping firmly believed this.

During the conversation, the spirit vessel arrived before a huge light curtain, and Liu Ke explained:

"These are formations that envelop the entire nation; control lies in the hands of the highest‑cultivation Nascent Soul cultivators! Any cultivator wishing to enter this nation must file a report, but our spirit vessel is of high rank and holds exemption rights, allowing us to go straight to the teleportation formation!"

Wang Ping nodded, watching the spirit vessel slowly enter the light curtain; he sensed a sweep of disturbance approaching, yet when it reached the vessel it automatically avoided it.

After passing through the light curtain, the spirit vessel did not linger but flew straight toward the teleportation formation!

Curious, Wang Ping gazed down at the city below; with a sweep of his divine sense he discovered many cultivators residing in the city, and he even saw a Foundation Establishment cultivator wearing an official robe—a sight most novel!

Liu Ke also looked downward at that moment and said with a smile:

"In the Hundred Kingdoms Alliance, each city has a cultivator stationed to oversee it; official posts such as city lord are mostly held by cultivators, one of their main duties being to select, on the annual Spirit‑Testing Day, those with spiritual roots and send them to the Huo Yun Sect."

Wang Ping pondered and asked: "Could it be that a nation has only one sect?"

Liu Ke shook his head and said: "Naturally impossible; each sect possesses its own territory, possibly a single city or the population of two cities, but as the largest sect of a nation, it enjoys priority in many matters—this is an inevitable situation!"

Wang Ping certainly knew; gazing down at the land below, he fell into thoughtful contemplation—Tie Lanshan's actions on Yunluo Mountain seemed very similar to those of the Hundred Kingdoms Alliance; clearly, he too had devised a system following the rules here.

Bai Xiang State is large, roughly half the size of the western decline region, yet regardless of spiritual energy density, number of strong individuals, or population, the two are not comparable.

No wonder that in the western decline region, someone once said that the Hundred Kingdoms Alliance could overthrow the western decline region with just a casual nation; looking at it now, that is no empty boast.

The massive spirit vessel roared past the skies above Bai Xiang State, naturally drawing the attention of many cultivators, but upon seeing the alliance's spirit vessel, they all withdrew their divine sense.

Thus, the spirit vessel sped along; after a little more than an hour, a towering mountain piercing the clouds appeared before Wang Ping's eyes.

That mountain peak had been leveled directly, upon which a massive formation was laid, its surface covered with various silver symbols!

Around the formation, crowds already filled the area.

Liu Ke glanced at Wang Ping, saw his expressionless face, and directly said: "No need to stop; we'll begin the transmission right away!"

Meanwhile, the group of cultivators waiting below saw that the spirit vessel had no intention of stopping, they all frowned, and some even silently snorted: "We've been waiting here with so many people for such a long time, yet you don't even pause—truly you are a barbarian cultivator, utterly lacking any courtesy!"

Naturally, such thoughts could only be kept in his heart; he would never dare to voice them in reality.

The surrounding teleportation formations had already lit up, obviously beginning to activate.

At that very moment, a late‑stage Golden Core cultivator suddenly flew up, clasped his fists and was about to speak, but discovered that the spirit vessel showed no sign of slowing down, heading straight toward him.

Given the spirit vessel's mass and its current speed, if it struck him, the Golden Core cultivator would surely suffer internal turmoil, broken tendons and fractured bones; thus this Golden Core cultivator hastily dodged to the side.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

A tremendous buzzing sound rang out, the teleportation formation below fully lit up, and then a silver beam shot straight into the sky, directly opening a dark vortex before the spirit vessel!

Standing on the deck, Wang Ping watched this scene, thoughtful; the power that opened this spatial passage seemed somewhat similar to that of the silver stone gate, suggesting it was a kind of spatial power.

As he pondered, the spirit vessel had already entered the black vortex.

Below, those cultivators all watched as the spirit vessel gradually disappeared into the black vortex; finally, the teleportation formation began to fade, and everyone exchanged glances, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

Within the spatial passage, Liu Ke gave a wry smile and said: "Fellow Daoist Wang, this move has surely offended those cultivators greatly!"

Wang Ping naturally knew this was improper and would easily offend people, but in his heart he didn't care.