There was a lot to fix in NanLu City, but before anything else, I had to enhance the city’s defenses. If I tried to improve my citizens’ quality of life first, hungry Lords from the surrounding lands would swoop down and destroy all my hard work.


    My first impulse was to find a way to construct viable fortifications out of the area’s abundant sandstone deposits. However, after a week of experimentation, I was forced to accept that it just wasn’t going to work. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get sandstone to contain the energy of even a Rank 1 formation.


    Overall, the composition of the minerals in sandstone was not too different from granite, but the way these minerals were structured and bonded together created significant differences in the effectiveness of the final composite stones. No matter how carefully a formation was constructed, sandstone crumbled to pieces when injected with any meaningful amount of qi. It was simply ill-suited as a construction material.


    The remnants of crumbling sandstone made me think about how I had been constructing jades for memory orbs in my previous life. I could grind the stone down into a fine powder and then use the base minerals to build a perfect wall one layer at a time. A monocrystalline quartz or feldspar wall could potentially handle high levels of high-Rank energy, and it would provide an excellent base for a full defensive formation around the city.


    However, constructing something like that would require me to reach at least Martial King first, and even then, it would be the work of decades. NanLu City wasn’t huge, at least not in terms of cities on the Nine Rivers Continent, but it still held more than 100,000 people and covered an area of nearly 100 square kilometers. That meant I needed to construct over 40 kilometers of wall. It would need far more stone than I could possibly build up through such a slow, methodical process.


    Still, the concept was interesting, and it might be useful when I had the time and reason to make such a dream a reality. I made a note of the idea in my journal and then set it aside for the distant future.


    After considering a few more options, I had to concede that there was no way I would be able to make a meaningful wall with the materials I had on hand. Once I accepted this conclusion, I had to start thinking in new directions.


    Did I need a wall? When combined with formations, a wall was a valuable part of a layered defense, but unless it was made of special materials, it was nothing but a hindrance. At most, the current wall only served to control the flow of citizens in and out of the city. It did nothing to stop cultivators from attacking or sneaking in. In that case, why not just get rid of it?


    If I relied only on energy shields from formations, my defenses might be weaker than normal, but I also might be able to strike a better balance between defense and economic growth.


    There were downsides to this idea, but I wasn’t sure there was a better option. I needed solid advisors to help me understand how best to proceed.


    <hr>


    At the end of the week, I met with everyone in the main hall of the city lord’s manor for our regularly scheduled meeting. The place was still barren, but I had left the large circular conference table in the middle of the room so that we would have a place to sit and discuss the city’s affairs.


    This time, we had a new addition to the group, Ning ChenKun. He hadn’t agreed to join us, but Yan had somehow convinced him to sit in on a meeting. For the moment, he was only an observer.


    I started things off by laying out the deficiencies I had found in the town’s defenses. They had all seen it for themselves, and while they weren’t familiar with the intricacies of stones and formations, they knew the situation wasn’t good.


    Once my recap was finished, JiaQi spoke up.


    “No matter what you do, walls and formations won’t solve the real issue. We need a dedicated group of defenders to push back any attacks. Our fixed defenses just need to hold for long enough to allow our defenders to get into position.”


    I nodded in acceptance. “I can work with that. How’s your recruiting going?”


    “That…” JiaQi turned sheepish. “There aren’t any cultivators in the city. Anyone who showed even the slightest hint of talent left long ago. From what I’ve been told, even though the sect is draining this place of its essence, there are occasionally people born with nine-star affinities. That’s not great, but with enough effort and training, nine-star can be enough to reach Martial Master. Unfortunately for us, the surrounding Lords have already stripped this place clean of anyone with even a low nine-star affinity.”


    I rubbed my chin in thought. “I understand. Just do your best. If nothing else, it might be a good idea to try and draw in servant disciples from the sect.”


    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ning ChenKun wince at this comment, but he didn’t raise any objections, so I continued on to other topics.


    “LiTing, how are things progressing?”


    “There’s a lot to do, but none of it seems overly difficult. If you help me with manipulating a bit of earth, we should be able to get the town into pretty good shape in only a week or two. A bit of mortal-grade work on buildings and sewage systems doesn’t take much time, after all.”


    Again, I noticed that Ning ChunKun seemed dissatisfied with this response, but I let it slide.


    “Have you talked with Jin?”


    LiTing’s face turned pensive. “Yeah… I’m not sure why, but Master Jin was a bit too excited when I mentioned the idea of us recruiting ZiHan. She really wants that to happen. She said ZiHan should be here within the week.”


    “She likely just wants a deeper connection with us, but we should still be careful.”


    I turned to Meng LuYao. “Any news on recruiting personnel to help run the city? Once LiTing and I start fixing things up, we’re going to need people to manage it.”


    Her voice was soft and lacked confidence. “I’ve run into a lot of the same problems as JiaQi. Most of the skilled administrators have left the city. There aren’t any I would trust to do more than low-level tasks. I’ve started looking for capable disciples in the sect that might be willing to join us, but it will take time to find people who would be a good fit.”


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Ning ChenKun shook his head, unable to hold back his disappointment any longer.


    I ignored him and nodded to Meng LuYao. “Just do your best.”


    Then, I looked around the table. “We’ve all got a lot to do, so I won’t keep you here any longer. But Yan and Ning ChenKun, I’d like to talk with the two of you in private.”


    LiTing, JiaQi, and Meng LuYao said quick goodbyes and left the three of us for a private conversation. When they were gone, I focused on Ning ChenKun.


    “What’s the problem?”


    He folded his hands in front of him and sat to think for several moments before responding.


    “What is your goal? What you are doing… It doesn’t make any sense. So, I want to know. What is your goal?”


    I quirked an eyebrow. “Why doesn’t it make sense? I’m trying to restore the city, generate karmic energy, and earn contribution points.”


    This answer didn’t satisfy him.


    “What is your goal? State it as simply as you can.”


    I felt the urge to answer immediately, but I took time to step back and think. What was my goal? What was I trying to accomplish in this life?


    Spend time with my friends? Yes, but I was already doing that. It wasn’t a goal.


    Repay debts? That was more of an excuse to mess with a few assholes than anything important. It wasn’t a motivating force.


    I wanted to reach the Summit and see what happened when I got there, but again, that didn’t feel like a solid goal. As long as I went through the proper motions, I would eventually be able to make it there easily.


    Reach Sovereign? It would be nice, but that wasn’t really important to me.


    I was just trying things out and living a life I wanted to live. I wasn’t pushing toward a true goal, and my actions had been somewhat scattershot. I kept telling myself I wanted to race to the Summit, but I had spent a lot of time creating a new cultivation technique, and now I was running a city without a clear understanding of what benefits I was trying to gain from doing so.


    I wanted to enjoy my time with my friends, complete anything that felt ‘unfinished,’ and learn what I could about ascending to Sovereign.


    For my friends, this was enough. JiaQi was having fun doing her own thing, LiTing and Meng LuYao were bonding over their shared memories, and Yan was spending his free time pursuing his vendetta against the Zhuge Clan in secret. They no longer cared about goals and no longer had to worry about learning the complex skills a cultivator needed to master to become successful. They had been happy to follow where I led.


    However, I knew this answer wouldn’t satisfy Ning ChenKun. Anyone I didn’t fully bring into the fold would see this as their single, precious life. I needed an answer that could satisfy them. I needed an answer that would help my actions make sense to them, even if they didn’t understand the importance of the goal itself.


    A few possibilities ran through my head, but I locked onto one that was both challenging and interesting. Our group would have to work together to accomplish it, and it would be difficult, but it was possible. It was a goal that might even hold the promise of an invaluable reward. I had considered it several times since Jin brought it up, and I had been hesitant to commit to it, but the choice felt correct.


    I looked at ChenKun with renewed confidence. “I want to reach the Summit within 13 years.”


    That would be one year before Emperor Li would die. This was the only solid goal I could come up with, and it achieved everything I would want from a goal. It let me work together with my friends, it pushed me to the Summit, and it did so in a way where I couldn’t waste too much time.


    ChenKun looked at Yan who just nodded, accepting this new pronouncement.


    “Fine. You want to reach the Summit. Why? What do you want when you get there?”


    I studied him carefully as I thought about my answer. “I’m… not entirely sure. A friend suggested that it was important for me to do so.”


    Ning ChenKun looked like he wanted to scoff, but he held it back. “Reaching the Summit means you will leave the sect and join one of the Sovereign clans. That’s it. If that’s all you want, I can send you to the Ning Clan right now.”


    “But—”


    He held up a hand to stop me.


    “Reaching the Summit also means that the Nine Rivers Saint will allow you to ascend to Sovereign, but it doesn’t provide you with the energy to do so. The way you reach the Summit is far more important than just getting there. All your actions will be reviewed by the clans. You must convince one of them that you are worth an investment of precious energy. Even the—”


    He flinched as his words were abruptly cut off. When he resumed, he spoke more deliberately. “Even the most powerful clans only have a limited number of Sovereigns, and they are extremely tightfisted with Sovereign-level energy, especially when it comes to outsiders. You have to use your time in the sect to prove to them that you are worth such an investment. If you are not extremely careful, your ascension to Sovereign will be forever blocked, even if you are able to reach the Summit.”


    I nodded in understanding. “Isn’t that what I’m doing by being a city lord and repairing the city?”


    “No. Your actions might make sense for an actual Lord, but this is a game. The goal isn’t to improve the city, it’s to do so in a way that will score points with the clans. Personally constructing everything, recruiting Grandmasters from the sect, paying for everything with outside resources. Doing things like this is meaningless. What are you showing the clans? Your skills with formations? Your subordinate’s skills with refining? Your ability to pay Grandmasters to help you? You can do all of this without a city. You should use the city to show off new skill sets. Raise the people here to meet the challenges around them. Don’t just pay to bring new people in. Anyone can do that.”


    “But isn’t the mission system of the sect set up to do just that? Pay outsiders to come in and fix a city.”


    “Yes. However, Lords should only use contribution points generated by their city to do so. They shouldn’t use their personal wealth. Your city doesn’t need to be able to do everything on its own, but it does need to be self-sufficient. If the city can’t survive without you injecting money into it, what have you accomplished?”


    He shook his head and looked away. “This city… It might be impossible to restore it without outside resources. The clans may make allowances for this, or they may not. No one knows. That’s part of the problem. We are all trapped in a game with unknowable rules. We can only do our best, and my best recommendation is to do everything you can to avoid relying on anything but what the city can provide you with.”


    I looked down at the table and drummed my fingers in thought. Ning ChenKun made solid points, and they were ones I had loosely considered before. Putting these ideas into practice though… It would take time. Returning this city to true self-sufficiency using only the resources of the city… It wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. I could spend an entire lifetime trying to make it happen.


    Yes, Ning ChenKun made good points, but did they matter for me in this lifetime?


    “No.”


    Resolve filled me as I looked at Yan and Ning ChenKun.


    “We are going to reach the Summit in 13 years. I’m not going to delay our ascent to play the clans’ games. From what I understand, I need to rule a city to remain a core disciple until we reach Earth City. That’s important if we’re going to purchase Emperor-level karmic energy and walk the path to Heaven City, but that’s the only hard rule I’m aware of. I can’t allow myself to constantly worry about conforming to unknowable expectations from people I’ve never met. As long as we follow the rules well enough to be allowed to continue advancing, that is enough. That is the attitude I will show the clans, and they can decide as they will after we make it to the peak of the mountain.”


    Yan smiled, satisfied with my decision.


    Ning ChenKun looked disturbed. I bowed my head slightly in his direction.


    “Thank you for your advice, but that isn’t the right path for me. I will still welcome you to join us on our journey, but our goal is to make a steep ascent. We will reach the Summit in 13 years. Then, we will find out what comes next.”