Chapter 136: When the Grand Assembly Takes Place

The Heavenly Court and Underworld of Jiuzhou are not the Heavenly Court and Underworld of a single world, but the Heavenly Court and Underworld of the Multiverse.

In a single world, the Mountain God and Water God may be different beings; in this world the Kunlun Mountain God is Xiwangmu, while in Mu Yi's world the Kunlun Mountain God is Chu Yi.

Yet the sovereign Heaven and Earth of each world is the same entity; each world's sovereign Heaven and Earth is them, but they are not the sovereign Heaven and Earth of every world.

Not only the sovereign Heaven and Earth, but also the Three Pure Ones, the Four Sovereigns, the Five Directions and Five Elders, the Eight Immortals of the Upper Cave, the Nine Luminary Star Lords, the Twenty‑Eight Mansions… any named deity with a distinct personality actually manifests ten thousand forms, receiving incense worship in every world.

Now, the Hundred Schools of each world, for the most part, operate under the leadership of the Heavenly Court and Underworld, cooperating to fill every aspect of the mortal realm.

The Heavenly Court takes one‑third, maintaining cosmic stability and handling matters such as favorable winds and rain.

The Underworld takes one‑third, used to sustain the Yin realm's reincarnation cycle, handling rebirth and related affairs.

The remaining one‑third is divided among the Hundred Schools to keep the mortal world stable; each school gets only a small share, with variations and flaws depending on the world.

In some worlds Confucianism is preeminent, so the Confucian school naturally holds the advantage, receiving more luck, treasures, and talent.

Similarly, essentially anyone who can attend the Hundred Schools Assembly now must be a school that dominates in at least one or two worlds; otherwise such a multitude of geniuses could not appear.

The assimilation of Ling Mountain Buddhism causes Ling Mountain to skim a bit of profit from the Heavenly Court, Underworld, and mortal realm—for example, Guan Sheng Dijun's Jialan Bodhisattva, the Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva stationed in the Underworld, and the Buddhist Sect rising among mortals.

Therefore the Hundred Schools, and even the Heavenly Court and Underworld, dislike the monks of Ling Mountain.

Because Buddhism encroaches on their share of benefits, yet it has indeed made many contributions and its interests are now fully tied to Jiuzhou, everyone, though they despise the monks, tacitly permits their existence and competes with them fairly.

But competition naturally has winners and losers; the bigger the fist, the larger the gain, and Ling Mountain's fist is considerable, especially now with the Buddha—Mahavairocana Buddha—steadily ranking among Jiuzhou's top ten.

Thus the talent of the Hundred Schools envies the Confucians, who, by pulling the firewood from under the pot, seize an entire Great Thousand‑World; the Heavenly Court and Underworld's share remains unchanged, but in that world the Hundred Schools are all disciples of Kongzi, giving the Confucians an exclusive one‑third, without even being skimmed by the Buddhists.

It's like everyone is a wage laborer, toiling for a salary, and then suddenly discovers a colleague has built a building to collect rent—who wouldn't be jealous?

That's a whole one‑third of a Great Thousand‑World, an unimaginably massive fortune in the true sense.

Based on a single world, the reincarnated Kongzi leaps to become comparable to the Four Sovereigns of the Heavenly Court—a literal ascent to the heavens.

But even if the Hundred Schools know Kongzi's method, no one dares to replicate it; that thing is truly life‑risking.

Even now, Sun Wu can summon a few war gods and enlist friends from other Hundred Schools, yet they still have less than a fifty percent chance of capturing a Great Thousand‑World.

That endeavor requires both luck and strength; one without the other is insufficient.

Therefore, everyone wants a Great Thousand‑World that belongs exclusively to their own school.

If one must describe the difference between a Great Thousand‑World and a Small Thousand‑World, it's like comparing a tiny village to Beijing‑Shanghai‑Guangzhou: both have population, but the scale and resources are worlds apart.

Indeed, a small village can produce outstanding talent, but the resource‑rich and opportunity‑laden megacities clearly foster talent more easily.

If the Heavenly Court and Underworld are state agencies, then the Hundred Schools are elite institutions that cultivate talent.

Mu Yi possesses the Six Paths of Reincarnation, meaning they can overtake on a shortcut; the Confucians can turn all their Hundred Schools into Kongzi's disciples, and the Military Strategist school can likewise reincarnate Hundred Schools talent into the Military Strategist.

The thought of personally mentoring a disciple named Zhongni, even knowing he's merely a similar leaf, makes Sun Wu's brain tremble with excitement!

A gentleman can wait ten years to avenge, but the Military Strategist's revenge runs from dawn to dusk!

Just as Sun Wu appears calm on the surface while secretly leaping about to contact all war gods of the Military Strategist, Mu Yi's trial has already reached a pause.

After Mu Yi resolved the spirit of the Jiao‑Snake, the tribe was essentially concluded; before they could further develop the tribe, they were teleported to a place resembling an audience stand.

"What a pity, if we had a bit more time, we could have done better!" Dong Hui sighed.

That's exactly what they had feared all along—no greeting at all, they were simply teleported away.

Mu Yi, Mingyue, Liuli and the others fell silent; indeed, they each still have a bundle of development and reinforcement plans unexecuted, having only completed the basic parts they were responsible for.

But seeing the expressions of those nearby, they realized everyone probably hadn't achieved the results they wanted.

Under an unknown great force, the tribe's development was accelerated, the time ratio becoming roughly one second to a year; after a hundred seconds, the dramatically transformed tribes were paired off and thrust into an unfamiliar world.

"A hundred years later?"

Mu Yi frowned; this meant their investments had essentially vanished, the generation that had interacted with them completely disappeared, and the competition now hinged solely on the systems and ideas they left behind.

Someone's complexion had already changed dramatically, clearly miscalculating the time shift, pouring all effort into the first‑generation tribe members and sacrificing the future for formidable combat power.

"Damn!" Mu Yi noticed Yang Tiancheng, with whom they had previously intersected, now looking quite frustrated, evidently having made the wrong choice.

At this moment on the light screen, conflicts between tribes erupted; after being placed in an unfamiliar world, they first panicked, then became wary, and finally accepted reality.

When two tribes met, contradictory conflicts inevitably arose; the villages would clash over water sources, let alone two tribes that had already established dominance encountering each other.

Even if both sides initially coexisted, no one would relinquish precious survival resources; friction would start with competition over prey, injuries would appear, and it would quickly escalate into war.

The Snake tribe held the upper hand in the outdoor skirmish, but just as they were advancing in a bold surge, organized defensive siege engines and a multitude of heavy crossbows appeared before the Snake tribe.

"The equipment gap between the sides is too great!"

Mu Yi knit his brows tightly; the tribe they cultivated faced a rather tricky opponent, which was expected, since aside from a few teams with poor decisions, most are formidable.

"It must be a tribe with Mohist disciples involved; their weaponcraft is highly refined!" Dong Hui judged, watching the hostile tribe wielding heavy crossbows repelling the Snake tribe's assault.

"Dong Hui, I never expected our two squads to meet!" Upon hearing Dong Hui's words, a man in a Mohist robe smiled brightly and greeted him.

"Mo Jia, I didn't expect it to be you! What a narrow fate for rivals!"

Dong Hui squinted at the other, responding coldly; clearly they were old acquaintances, though it was evident their relationship was strained.

But then again, the Mohist and Confucian schools having a good relationship is the odd part.

"Mohist, Mohist, Legalist, Yinyang School?" Mu Yi also saw the composition of the opposing team.

It turned out two Mohist disciples teamed up; no wonder the tribe bore such heavy Mohist traces.

It also answered his doubt; the earlier easy defeat in the wild was because no Military Strategist disciples were involved.

However, relying on Legalist rules, Mohist weaponcraft, and the Yinyang School's wandering spirits, the tribe quickly turned the tide.

"Looks like this battle is ours to win!" Mo Jia glanced at the battlefield situation and said with a smile.

The hostile tribe, now on the offensive, used the Yinyang School's dispersed wandering spirits to track all movements of the Snake tribe, leading a large force to assault the Snake tribe's headquarters.

"That's not certain!" Dong Hui sneered, looking at the Snake tribe warriors' raised snake statue and the fully armed elite squad, responding coldly.

Snake tribe warriors poured out, and under the priest's guidance the snake totem descended onto the battlefield, its massive form becoming a charging shield that drew heavy fire, granting the Snake warriors ample space to advance.

"The war's awareness is too shallow; they didn't even spot a feint, what a pity!" Dong Hui's mocking voice made Mo Jia's complexion turn terribly, yet he could do nothing to affect the battle.

He could only watch helplessly as a fully armed, all‑purpose warrior inscribed with Buddhist chants slipped around the front line's distraction and completed a flanking maneuver.

Siege weapons are indeed extremely strong in direct combat; even the Snake Totem was beaten to ashes under powerful fire.

But ultimately they are suited for positional warfare; overconfident and rashly attacking, they directly exposed their greatest weakness.

Elite warriors who flanked and broke into the position showed their versatile side, like tigers among sheep, directly overturning the entire enemy tribe's army.

Even the mechanical puppets made by Mohist technology quickly turned into a heap of broken scrap under the dismantling of a group of tall humanoid figures.

Mu Yi also happily discovered that over the past century, the tribe had not remained unchanged; they had completed the inheritance of Iron-blooded Slaughter.

Nowadays, the Snake Tribe's elite warriors almost all possess two Elite Talents; although their overall numbers are fewer, they evidently served as a surprise force at this moment.

"Your legal system is overly strict, inflexible, and rigid; thinking you can win a war with that is nothing short of a dream!"

Dong Hui saw Mo Jia fall silent, then directly pointed his spear at the Legalist disciple beside him—well, the relationship between Confucians and Legalists is also not good.

The Legalist disciple's face was grim, but he ultimately said nothing; victory makes a king, defeat makes a bandit—this is the acknowledged truth among the Hundred Schools, the outcome is now decided, and any excuse would just be a pretense.

After flexibly employing strategies such as feigning weakness, luring the enemy into a trap, and diverting attacks east while striking west, the Snake Tribe, having defeated the enemy tribe's main force, succeeded in wiping them out entirely.

The apothecary system left by Monk Liuli saved many wounded scholars, preserving the lives of a considerable portion of the soldiers.

Afterward, the Confucian education system left by Dong Hui began to take effect; after annexing the enemy tribe, it absorbed and assimilated all of their essence.

Following the notes left by Ming Yue, the Snake Tribe added a pair of horns to the totem and incorporated the enemy tribe's populace into the totem system.

After annexing the enemy tribe, evolution did not stop but instead underwent another time acceleration; Mu Yi and the others were startled, then realized this was not merely a contest between two teams, but a competition among all teams.

What is being compared is how far that tribe can go.

However, this time the time acceleration is not a hundred years but twenty years—exactly the growth of the next generation after the first war.

Deriving from the Confucian system's educational absorption and the apothecary system's care for newborns, the Snake Tribe's new generation is extremely numerous, and they have also absorbed parts of the essence of the Mohist, Legalist, and Yin-Yang schools into their system.

Compared to the conservative elders, young people are always full of pioneering spirit.

"In a certain sense, professionals should indeed be left to do professional work!"

Watching the Snake Tribe's elite undergo a major equipment overhaul under Mohist technology, Mu Yi wondered whether he should also go to the Mohists to mooch off them—this seems to work quite well.

Soon after, the same plot unfolded: the second war broke out, and the tribe that had prior experience quickly gathered its strength and then locked onto the opposing tribe's position.

This time the enemy is a large tribe composed of the Military, Agricultural, Medical, and Legalist schools, having also absorbed the Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and Yin-Yang schools.

This tribe, with the Agricultural School as its foundation, differs from Mu Yi's group in that they need not worry about food; their abundant grain production makes their warriors almost all tall and bulky, each as fearsome as a devilish muscleman.

Unlike Mu Yi, this tribe's soldiers are trained to have the talent of an Ironclad Body; combined with their tall, sturdy physiques, their combat power is extremely strong.

Both sides' means are extremely complex, with talismans, Yin soldiers, puppets, totems, and more constantly emerging; the fighting is fierce and intense.

In the end, the Snake Tribe relied on divination to locate the enemy's granary; after an elite squad set fire to it, they successfully cut off the enemy's logistics.

The enemy tribe, long accustomed to abundance, fell into chaos under grain shortages, revealing countless flaws; ultimately, due to problems in food distribution, they collapsed without being attacked.

The two consecutive victories excited Mu Yi and company; each victory raised their points by one, and adding Mu Yi's earlier personal battle, they already had four points.

Mu Yi learned from Ming Yue and others that these points can later be exchanged for rewards; even if they don't get first place, naturally the higher the better.