A Guardian from the Earth Division had delivered the shares back to his Sect, and Yao Shen had been rather curious if there would be any untoward developments there. He had considered extending an option to defer the auction to Patriarch Kang Long, but had ultimately decided against it.

He preferred for the hubbub surrounding the bidding to peter out by the time he arrived at the Earth Division and more importantly, Yao Shen believed that his presence there would only further exacerbate tensions unnecessarily.

Ultimately though, if there was any internal turmoil within the Earth Division, he was not made aware of it. So far, he had been equitable in his treatment of the three Divisions, a point that he hoped that Patriarch Kang Long had conveyed to his Council. Delegating responsibility to Kang Long was also an extension of good faith and also a clever move on his part— powerful cultivators tended to value their prestige and Kang Long would naturally wish to maintain his pride and reputation. As long as the sect machinery continued to function smoothly, Yao Shen had no reason to interfere; in fact, he only had incentive to grant more autonomy.

If he had wanted to install a puppet regime, there were much more….efficient ways of achieving that objective. But Yao Shen carried with him the history of an entire, another world and he knew the kind of measures he would have to take to maintain and enforce his rule— it would subvert everything he had set out to achieve.

Yao Shen firmly believed that the concept of ‘freedom’, or more specifically, ‘freedom of will’ was inextricably linked with the esoteric Human Dao. Up until now, he did not have a verifiable method to prove his hypothesis, but the creation of the Mortal Capital, All Haven, would finally give him tangible proof.

Human Dao, or rather, the Dao of Sapience did not quite perceive the concept of ‘freedom’ in the same way a mortal or cultivator would, or rather, it was not aware of the concept at all. His deduction originated from a simple question, one that Yao Shen had asked himself not long after discovering his esoteric power— ‘When is sapience most exercised?’.

Sapience was not a moralistic concept, as was evidenced by the long and bloody history he’d evidenced back upon Earth. It did not possess conceptions of ‘good’ and ‘evil’, ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ and ‘moral’ or ‘immoral’. Yet, seemingly in contravention of the aforementioned observation, it required freedom of will to truly flourish.

When mortals, an entire subset of Ionea’s population that has been considered insignificant and whose opinions have been deemed insubstantial for so long that they have forgotten what it was to have a voice are given the freedom to become who they want in society, say what they wish to without fear of retribution and offered an education if they wish to chase those avenues— ideas will clash against ideas, conflicting beliefs providing the insight necessary to spark the creation of new ideas; most good, some terrible and a few perhaps, atrocious.

Ultimately though, the resultant society would allow humans to impose their will upon the fabric of the world to the fullest, to exert the potential of their sapient minds and souls to the greatest extent possible— that was why Yao Shen believed that it was only elementary for Human Dao to gravitate towards freedom.

For that same reason, Yao Shen did not wish to disturb the existing status quo of the three divisions unless they left him no choice.

To the other Elders, All Haven might seem like a vanity project, or at best a way to appease the True Elves— but not only were his intentions genuine, the Mortal Capital might serve as a way to deepen his understanding of the Human Dao.

The Internal Auctions themselves went far surpassed Yao Shen’s expectations when it came to the revenue collection— it seemed that he had still underestimated the multiplicative effect hinting at the True Elves’ possible future involvement combined with introducing the concept of long-term investments to the Azlak Plains would have. There were a few surprises, a small glimpse at the true wealth of certain legacy families’ — in the Sky Division, the Zhu Family managed to secure a whopping seven shares, leveraging their connections and calling upon old favours to raise an incredible amount of funds for a day’s time. In the Flame Division, the Xun Family, which had long thought to be declining after their most talented scion failed to inherit talent in the Dao of Fire, in an unexpected reversal, managed to secure five shares, equalling Patriarch Lei Weiyuan’s haul.

In contrast, the bidding in the Earth Division was far more subdued, the collections being approximately around what he had anticipated. There was a reason why Yao Shen was comfortable delaying his visit— for whilst fire was an element of destruction, earth was one of creation. A flame may burn brightly and boisterously for one moment of unparalleled glory, however it also fizzles out whence the mountain endures.

One’s element did not decide a cultivator’s nature, but Yao Shen would be remiss to claim that it did not influence it. The highest number of shares a legacy family had managed to secure was three, though there were two such families. The rest had a more ‘wait and see’ approach— if Yao Shen’s gambles really paid off, then there would be other opportunities in the future. Right now the potential reward was high, but the risk was equally high— they were not willing to squander resources in an atmosphere of such uncertainty, though each Family had tried to get atleast a single share.

The resources would be delivered to his residence via spatial ring and Yao Shen once again intended to invite representatives from the three divisions to create more checks and balances and to assuage any worries that he would siphon off the funds to further his own cultivation.

Of course, he hadn’t been sitting empty handed the last two days. He had spent his time further refining his designs and marking out shortcomings that he wasn’t sure how to best deal with. He had already sent the blueprints back to the Sky Division through Meili Zhu, with a message for Zhou Hui to allocate the tasks to the suitable Elders.

With the internal auctions completed, Yao Shen spent the next day conversing with a few Elders that were responsible for managing and maintaining the Flame Division’s offensive formation. Though the Elders were uncomfortable in discussing the specifics of the Formation’s inner workings, he still managed to have a very fruitful session upon Runic Formations and at by the end of it, the Elders agreed to improve upon his blueprints.

That had been the final task holding him back. Before settling on one design, Yao Shen wanted an improved version of his blueprints from all three sects, from which he could extrapolate the ideal design— cutting down on the shortcomings of each proposal and only carrying forward their strong points. Of course, getting it perfect on his first try was unrealistic, albeit this way most of the kinks in his original design would be ironed out. One had to adhere to high standards if they were seeking out the patronage of the Elves, after all.

Now, it was time to visit the Earth Division and finally see for himself what the Divine Mountain concealed.