Today was a very bright day on Fallon. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and oh… it seemed as if the coast of one of the top empires in the western section of the continent was being paid a visit by friends from afar.
It was a large ship that was moving without sails or masts, looking quite awkward to the eye of the sailor who used traditional ships. However, as it was powered by Spirit Energy and manned by formations, such a ship did not need to care about their opinions.
This ship was the main cross-continental vehicle used by cultivators of the Heavenly Paradigm Sect to come to Fallon for various purposes like purchasing goods and services, as well as the recruitment of new disciples.
That's right, the recruitment of disciples!
A Spirit Root was really all one needed to be initiated onto the path of cultivation along with a cultivation technique and the presence of ambient Spirit Energy. Pan had loads of the latter two, but not enough of the former, so why not seek it elsewhere?
Spirit Roots were not unique to the humans on Pan, anyone around the world on Faust could develop one. So the immortals of Pan, or specifically the sects, had long decided to occasionally travel around to the habitable continents and then recruit those who were willing to come over and had Spirit Roots.
Well, 'willing; here was used loosely. If you had Spirit Roots and did not have a background, you would be kidnapped over. Once there, you would be shackled to their whims and it wasn't like you could swim all the way back home right?
Not to mention, you would eventually become a cultivator and be stuck using their system, so where could you run to? And if you had great talent and rose, you would be treated like a god, so why would you hold any resentment or malice towards them?
Rather, they would now be your benefactors according to the rules of the Dao, so you had to kneel and greet them for kidnapping you against your will.
Don't question it, this is the way of the Dao.
In this small empire, the cultivators from the Heavenly Paradigm Sect strutted through the port like gods among the earth and ignored the stares from the natives. A few officials of the empire rushed over with bent backs to greet them, and the immortals naturally slapped them about for being slow and not being up to their standard.
The officials gritted their teeth with hatred and anger, but they could only suck it up and bear with it. This was the fate of the weak, and they wished that Safemoon could do something about it. However, after dropping the HoloBraces and building some developmental foundation, they just left.
Initially, they were happy to have little control over their activities minus the strict regulations from the HoloBraces, but now that they were faced with trouble, they resented their suzerains for not being around.
Funny how that worked.
The cultivators noticed that this city was vastly different from how it was before, with many new technological advancements and trinkets they had never seen before. When asked, they found that Safemoon had conquered this kingdom and were now the suzerains.
This caused the expressions of the immortals to change to one of horror and shock. They glared at the official as if he had killed their father, causing the fellow to be dumbfounded. What had he done this time?
One of them grabbed him by the collar and questioned him as to why he didn't tell them earlier and whether he was trying to set a trap for them.
How could the fellow comprehend what was going on? He could only sputter weakly as he explained that it was because he felt it would be offensive to them and seem like he was trying to put them down.
In the end, the cultivator dropped the fellow with a look of disgust as he realized that this was just a worm who had no real power. He feared them the same way they were wary of Safemoon, but not exactly.
They did not fear Safemoon's might, but rather the punishment of offending them and being blacklisted, because it would mean their competing sects would be able to buy better goods than them.
Suddenly, their behaviors became more docile and they didn't dare act too wantonly on Safemoon's territory.
The same thing was happening all over Fallon in different directions from the western side, since Pan was located in that direction. This was not only the day for the Heavenly Paradigm Sect to recruit, but all the powerful sects of Pan usually made a trip.
Since they needed HoloBraces to buy Safemoon things, they all received an alert on this day. The Lord of Safemoon was planning to travel to Pan to establish a branch city there for trade and integration.
Hearing this, the immortals here were stunned. In the next moment, they were swept away with excitement. This was unprecedented news, and they felt extremely flattered being chosen by Safemoon to be the first to bear this.
One should know, it was like living in a countryside town at the ass end of nowhere and hearing that Walmart was opening a mega branch there. Not only was it enrapturing, but it also meant that your quality of life would rise day by day.
Because with the establishment of that branch, other corps may send theirs over like McDonald's and the like, allowing you to have a variety of goods and services that you want but had to travel far away to get.
Immediately, these fellows informed those behind them using the special tools immortals possessed, which was what Darius was going for. And when more than one person of a huge force reported it, the news spread rapidly over Pan.
Many mortals and immortals were excited by it and began preparing to judiciously receive the Lord of Safemoon. If they could win some favor, it was not impossible to get better discounts on goods, right?!
Some others also heard this and their eyes flashed with greed and malice. As stated before, they only feared Safemoon in its own territory because of that mysterious presence that executed a demon during the Safemoon Auction. Still, they actually did not fear the city itself.
As such, they planned to keep that lord of Safemoon here! Once he left his bunker, did he think everyone was going to shit roses and piss love at his feet? Hehe!
Once they captured and controlled him, they could gain unlimited stock of his top-tier goods and empower themselves as well as their forces, and even take down the other forces and rule the world!
Just thinking about it made their faces ruddy and their bodies shake with excitement.
Of course, they did not consider things like if the Lord of Safemoon had considered what would happen to his safety or any countermeasures he took. In their minds, he had to be a rich idiot who couldn't even wipe his ass, thereby making it such that they could achieve their goals without suffering any detriment.
After all, that would mean that they, the cultivators planning this, were idiots and one thing you could be sure of was that no qualified cultivator ever blamed himself for his own flaws. It always had to be someone else.
If they tried to assail Darius and found that they were unable to and were easily defeated, they would feel rage and indignation, blaming him for playing tricks on them. How could it be because they, the idiots about to die, were simply not enough upstairs?
Anyway, with the information sent back, Pan began to move and galvanize itself, while Darius also began to prepare some things to make sure that his journey over was smooth. Currently, he planned to create a two-way portal from Safemoon to Pan when he arrived and claimed the land as his territory.
That way, moving forces and goods would be much easier for him.
On this day, Darius set out from Fallon on an airship, with Gunner, Xela, Luna, Shanks, Elijah, Nicholas, Maximo, Darla, and Kiran on board. There were also some critterbots, maidbots and bulderbots brought along to facilitate the construction of their property once gained.
When the people of Fallon heard Darius was leaving, many had different feelings. Those under him felt worry while those who were yet to be conquered sighed with relief. As for those in Safemoon, they glared at Pan with red eyes, wishing they could be just as lucky one day.
With an airship, the speed and convenience of travel could not be compared to a seafaring ship that everyone else used. Especially since this was powered with Source Energy, it had propulsors and thrusters that sent it forward rather than using wind or masts.
As such, it took them only a few days to go from Fallon to the far-off Pan, something which took those on sea almost a quarter of a year to achieve.
