Placing a Kingdom stone was much more involved than just laying the stone on the ground. The actual ‘stone’ involved was a formation of crystals. Each crystal had been carved into an intricate design that allowed the crystals to funnel and filter Qi. I had to place the crystals in the center of a Qi-gathering array, which required my perception to be augmented by a talisman. I needed to place the crystals so that they aligned with each other and the cardinal directions of the Qi-gathering array.

The location to place the Kingdom stone was as important as the stone itself. It needed to be within a proscribed distance from a naturally occurring Qi pool. One that collected the natural ley lines of the area and could be used to siphon and condense the filtered Qi from the stone.

I also needed to place the crystals in ascending order, each crystal painstakingly attuned to a musical note. The Hindel artisans had created a series of Gongs that corresponded and represented the musical notes within an octave, one that was linked to each crystal.

As each Gong was sounded, I used a specially prepared mallet to strike the crystal that was added to the formation until the vibrations between Gong and Crystal synchronized. Once the final note on the scale was struck and the last crystal placed, I used the mallets to strike a series of crystals, the resulting melody would complete the process, and the Kingdom stone would be keyed to those notes and that melody.

It would serve as protection. Anyone attempting to claim the Kingdom stone would need to replicate the musical tone I had selected and be able to duplicate my Qi Signature. It was about as secure as possible in a world where Qi and Dharmic spells were the norm.

I hadn’t spent time learning an instrument of the notation for popular songs for this world. I’d listened to performances, and when I’d attended the banquet the Sect had hosted. I’d danced, but my dancing was more an interpretation of my martial techniques to the melodies I heard than anything else.

Without real knowledge or instruction of this world’s melodies, I decided to use something from Earth. I had carefully struck the crystals that rang out as D, G, B, G, B, A, G, E, D, setting that melody as the password that would protect the Kingdom stone. The notes were from a song popular before my death, a timeless song that had lasted for centuries ever since it was first written on Earth in 1772.

‘Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound’ may never become popular in this world, but it gave me a sense of satisfaction, a sense of rightness that was both surprising and comforting. I was happy to know that a small piece of the world I had lived in would live on as part of this new Kingdom.

A Kingdom I had decided to call Onkei.

The word meant grace, blessing, and benefit. Those qualities were traits and virtues I hoped this new Kingdom would manage to achieve and exemplify.

The world seemed to stop as the last note was struck until the sound eventually faded. I watched as the Qi within the array concentrated, taking on a liquid form. Once it reached that stage, the purified and filtered Qi began to pulse, reaching out and connecting with the adjoining array I was standing in.

The Kingdom stone was placed, the protections keyed to the musical notation I had struck, and the only thing left was to allow the gathered Qi to resonate with and attune to my Qi signature.

I sat in a lotus position and began to cultivate. My control over the [Transcend the Heavenly Footpath] cultivation technique has advanced over the years. Not so much that I didn’t have to pay exacting concentration on the energy as it followed the path I had practiced, but enough that I could use a small amount of my Dharmic mind to control the Qi that I was processing.

As the Kingdom stone liquified the Qi that it was gathering, I focused on absorbing and ‘flavoring’ that Qi with my own signature before releasing it into a third array. This third array was the trigger that would determine the land I would claim.

It had taken weeks of exacting mathematical calculations to determine the direction, diameter, and exclusions that would fall under my rule. The process would have been much harder if the Empire had ever bothered to claim the island, but they hadn’t, so what I reached for I could claim without contest.

The Empire hadn’t claimed this isolated region because they didn’t believe anyone would bother. Except for the area around Four Element Sect and the Mystic Realm, the Empire had enough territory to expand and develop without focusing on a small island days, weeks, or months away from the mainland, depending on how you traveled.

I had made sure to exclude the Sect and the mountain the Sect had been built on in my calculations, but the rest of Delph Island was fair game, and I set the boundaries of the Kingdom to include the island and a few miles of the surrounding ocean.

The Hindel would have objected to that claim if I hadn’t agreed to accept the role of Voice. But by claiming land and water, Clement believed that we could minimize any repercussions from the Empire. They had just traded for the island from the Hindel a few years ago. To now lose it to a Voice that was a power for the Hindel. That might have been a loss of face so great that the Emperor would have had to respond.

But with both polities losing land, the balance could be maintained, and the Emperor could not claim the Hindel were re-claiming land they had already bargained away.

Becoming a Voice would be done after I completed claiming my Kingdom.

The hardest part of what I was doing should have been finding and creating the crystals I needed. The crystals were a rare treasure. A Cultivator who focused on music and had perfect pitch was needed to find them.

Most Cultivators who managed to find these types of crystals spent years searching, looking through mines, mountains, and shale formations. The crystals themselves were easy to locate once you were within range. They would react when a melody was played, somehow repeating each note.

Those deposits that were large enough to create a full octave of crystals were collected, the rest marked and left to mature. There wasn’t a large need for Kingdom formation crystals. The rarity and tonal quality of the crystal octave harvested determined the price.

The Hindel had been kind enough to gift me the set of crystals I was using. They had access to hydrothermal vents across the ocean floor. Vents that formed the crystals needed and that were easy to harvest.

The technique for finding a full octave set underwater differed. The Hindel used a version of whale song to communicate, the echo and sonar effects of that song made finding the deposits easier, and those harvested of higher quality.

Alpha, her consort, and a few of the stronger members of her Pod were waiting and watching as I founded the Kingdom. My people had carved the intricate patterns and placed the runes to use the crystals the Alpha had donated, but forming a nation was a rare event, one the Hindel was happy to observe.

Once I was finished, Alpha would initiate the process that would give me access to the Gestalt of mind that all Hindel gained at the moment of their maturity. I would become a Voice in truth, not just in name. A Voice amongst many. The first Elven Cultivator to be granted that honor.

That thought was the last I remembered clearly before the pooled Qi energy in the third array reached a tipping point. The pressure had gradually built up until it burst like a dam that could no longer hold back the flood waters.

The freed Qi was the spark that ignited a change, a reaction that changed the electrovalent bond formed between Qi, the land, and me. The energy released was enormous. Such a large-scale reaction should have left devastation in its path, but the Law of Heaven and the rule of [Dao] worked in harmony to contain and control the volatility of that reaction.

I had no idea what this change would mean for me, not until it happened. But the need to control my Cultivation, keep the liquid-Qi flowing, and contain the flashback of ionization was only possible because of the exacting requirements of [Transcend the Heavenly Footpath].

I felt my Cultivation advance as I fought to maintain control. My Dantian, meridians, and Qi channels expanded as I furiously cycled more and more energy to keep up with the demands that I was forced to channel, the demands for claiming a Kingdom greater than I had expected.

I should have failed.

I was only at the mid-tier of Qi Gathering Realm. And I would have failed if Alpha hadn't offered a lifeline. Realizing what was happening and my ability to control the energies that were released was faltering, she sent a lifeline. A tendril of mental energy that allowed me to connect to the hive mind of her people, to join the cacophony of minds that made up the Hindel gestalt.

The backlash I should have suffered, one that resulted in my death, was shared across the minds of billions. It allowed me to succeed while it triggered my advancement to the next stage of Cultivation.

The Heavens responded to my effrontery, releasing a tribulation that was tens of times more powerful than the one I had survived when I reached the Qi Gathering Realm. Lightning strikes so powerful that I worried the Kingdom stone would be destroyed.

But just as the Hindel Gestalt allowed me to survive the tremendous energies released as the ionic bonds between Qi were reformed and adapted to my Qi signature, the Gestalt shared and distributed the massive influx of tribulation’s fury the Heavens released.

I survived.

Not exactly a comedy of errors that allowed for a rare opportunity, but instead a Heaven-defying opportunity.

The result of my attempt at wielding power that was too strong for me to control was measurable. I had stepped into the Nascent Soul Realm. Not only had I survived the tribulation and advanced, but I had also reached mid-tier, advancing a full realm.