Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 739: Three Nations

Chapter 739: Three Nations

The three kings were Nascent Soul Mercenaries that Sage had created an agreement with. They were to share the territory, which should spare the world from any massive wars, and were second to only Sages own organizations. The Lang Clan, Purple Mist Sect, and the Prosperity Company were the undisputed rulers of the world, but they had no desire to rule the people. At least the Lang Clan in general did not. As more and more descendants were born and came of age, some of them started to take an interest in gaining territory and lands of their own.

For these children with dreams of conquering, they were allowed to try to become the rulers of town or cities, but as soon as they started to get serious in these desires, the Clan would sit them down and tell them the truth of the Clans position. Sage had shared most of his secrets with his own children, save for the truth of the Inner World, but after a few generations they began to hold back more and more. Despite continuing many of the harsh traditions Sage had imposed on his children, when the young ones learned that their clan was the undisputed ruler of the world, many of them became extremely prideful and arrogant. Many of them acted properly among their equals and elders in the clan, but as soon as they went out into the world among their lessers they started acting like all those Young Masters that always annoyed Sage so much.

Along with the punishments for such behavior, they instituted a new policy and withheld the clans position as superior to the three kings. They also took care not to expose them too much to the true strength of the Purple Mist Sect while they were in training. In this way, they still knew their clan was extremely powerful, but there was still a sky for them to look up to and help to give them a bit of humility. It was only when they were getting ready to challenge the authority of the sky that they were told the truth. It would be quite embarrassing if Sages descendants decided to beat up his own subordinates inadvertently. Yet, there was the problem of removing their goal and also the danger that some of them would start harboring thoughts of taking over the Lang Clan itself. To solve this problem, they redirected the focus of those little would be dominators into conquering the martial arts world instead. Even if they became the ruler of a territory, what did that matter if there were still people much stronger than them?

To better prove this point, he would then have those children introduced to the true power of the Purple Mist Sect and its extraordinary number of Nascent Soul level members. A few of these beasts were actually more powerful than Sage was and as such they could no longer advance within the Inner World. If this world had a level cap, they had already exceeded it. The children had no way to know this, but they would be faced with a powerful example that they could set as a goal. As for these few masters, they could not increase their strength, but they could still study the laws and deepen their understanding. If they were able to undergo any breakthroughs that knowledge would not be lost to them and when they returned to the outside world, they would be able to use their greater strength immediately.

Not all the descendants that wished to be rulers were in it to pursue power. Some of them were simply altruistic and wished to improve the lives of the people. For these unusual few, Sage went out of his way to spend extra time with them and made them promise to devote a large portion of their time to training and cultivation. He greatly valued this mindset and he didnt want them to die young because they were too busy helping others to advance their cultivation. In return for making this promise with him, he then sent messages to the three kings to have them appoint his descendant in a governmental position. He even told them hed be getting regular reports on their cultivation progress to make sure they were keeping their promise.

It was also around this time that the clan grew too large that the clan head position became too troublesome. Hed appointed a few of his children and grandchildren to elder positions so they could take over much of the work, but once the clan had surpassed two hundred members it was becoming burdensome to listen to everyones demands and make decisions. It was then that he stepped down from his position as head and let the clan follow the established rules to select the next. He still retained a high position because of his seniority and strength, so he had a large part in selecting who would take over, but he allowed the other elders to select among those in the clan that fit the requirements.

Unlike elections on Earth, Sage did not make participation a voluntary affair. The ones making such important decisions should not just be those who work the hardest to get it. That encourages the creation of politicians, people that become exceptionally good at getting elected into office and maintaining their position at the expense of all other concerns. To maintain their position they have to make decisions that the greatest number of voters will approve of, so it somewhat works, but how many choices and decisions are made outside the public eye? For the Lang Clan, leaders were to be selected carefully. Everyone in the clan that met the requirements of strength and character would be carefully examined before the council of elders voted. It was actually somewhat similar to a certain religious leader in that the position required a mostly unanimous vote and did not have any set term limit.

Such a method of choice was also very vulnerable to corruption, and manipulation, but the difference was that he wasnt going anywhere. Unlike on Earth, he would be around for thousands of years to ensure those on the council were deserving of their posts. Then, if the decision is made by those who have proven to be trustworthy, the chances of a terrible leader coming into power is greatly reduced. He also wasnt the only one that would be around for a long time and he was assured the clan elders would continue to maintain the culture and tradition that he espoused. Especially at this point, when they were his own children and grandchildren.

The votes were not quite unanimous, mainly since the votes were cast for someone already on the council. Yating, Sages second son but Lings first, received all of the votes except for his own. Yating was not expecting such a strange situation, but after being coaxed for a while he finally took the position. The herbal shop hed started as a young man had already spread over the whole of the Inner World. With the help of his sister, Yaling, the Insect Tamer, they had discovered and set up plantations of many rare and unknown natural treasures. At this point, they were actually making more money every year than the Prosperity Company was.

Yating had already expanded as much as he possibly could and he was planning on having his own grandchildren compete to come up with ideas to improve their business. He had already run out of ideas and was getting ready to push it on to a later generation. The rest of the family were happy to put him in charge. The head of the clan was extremely prestigious, but it was really a test of leadership and management skills. If the clan was to be prosperous and maintain its values it needed a good leader at the helm. With this vote, they would truly take that step to propel them from just a big family to a true clan. Sage started rebuilding the clan because of a promise hed made. Over time, as he had a family of his own it turned into the role of a father and he seriously tried to create the best environment for his offspring.

The problem was that his family became too big for him to manage. The others on the council were all quite familiar with Yating and they were all happy to put him in charge. Especially since Yating merged his company into the Prosperity Company and greatly increased the clans resources.