My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

Wang Ping's Primordial Spirit Consciousness followed Yu Lian and Yang Rong, spreading out to encompass the surroundings of Qianmu Temple.

The changes outside were immense. The first thing he saw was a massive metropolis—Hui County City. Aside from the Incense Fire Daoist Temple built by Qianmu Temple and the red boats on the city's two man-made rivers, the other buildings were completely unrecognizable to Wang Ping. The city had grown to at least three times its former size and was now divided into an inner and outer city.

The County Government Office in the Inner City looked even more magnificent than an Inspectorate. Next to it stood Zhonghui Academy, which now resembled a cultivation sect more than a school. It not only taught the doctrines of the Human Dao but also instructed disciples in the practice of magic.

Besides the County Government Office and Zhonghui Academy, the largest structure in the Inner City was the barracks for the Government Soldiers. Built against the inner city's barbican, it possessed its own drill ground and training fields, capable of housing at least three thousand troops.

The outer city was filled with markets, workshops, and homes, but its scale was so vast it could rival Shangjing City before its destruction.

The Wang Family Manor, once in the suburbs, was now enveloped by the city, forming its own distinct district. Its layout and architecture were not extravagant, but compared to the cramped conditions elsewhere, the Wang Family Manor felt exceptionally spacious.

In the suburbs near the city walls, there were temporary markets and thatched pavilions for rest. Farther out, numerous farms had sprung up along the waterways, stretching for dozens of kilometers. On the far side of the river, across from Qianmu Temple, the once-forested hills had been completely transformed into terraced fields, dotted with man-made waterwheels at regular intervals.

The former Yongshan County was gone, replaced by rows of stately manors. In the nearby mountain forests, there were over a dozen Dao Fields bearing the mark of Qianmu Temple.

South of the city ran a straight road of rammed earth. It stood out starkly to Wang Ping's Primordial Spirit Consciousness because a watchtower encampment was posted every ten *li*.

The road ended at the coastal Shang'an Prefecture City. The fields in the city's outskirts were overgrown with weeds, a clear sign they had been long abandoned. For an agrarian civilization, such a sight was unthinkable except in times of war.

A glance inside the city confirmed it: the entire Shang'an Prefecture City had been converted into a military fortress. It housed a twenty-thousand-strong elite army. The docks, in particular, bristled with fortifications, where ten thousand soldiers of the Water Race stood guard, vigilantly watching the sea for any sign of trouble.

A small fleet patrolled the distant sea, with three Entering Cultivators stationed among them. This formation was clearly meant to guard against a surprise attack from the fleets of the Southeast Islands.

Seeing these arrangements, Wang Ping's first thought was that the civil war in Lishui Prefecture had spilled over onto the Zhongzhou Continent.

In the direction of Wudao Prefecture, a hundred *li* from Zhonghui County, the landscape changed dramatically. Aside from a few small villages clustered along the rivers, there were no county cities to be found. In Xinhua County, which bordered Wudao Prefecture, all that remained was a single Daoist Temple established by Qianmu Temple. The rest of the land was dense jungle.

Upon entering Huai Fu County in Wudao Prefecture, he found a similar situation. Only a Daoist Temple from Qianmu Temple stood, with a few scattered villages along the riverbanks nearby. The rest of the region was uninhabited.

As he probed deeper into Wudao Prefecture, Wang Ping found the answer to his questions. He saw traces of battles between Entering Cultivators in several places.

This was the world after Second Realm Cultivators had been restrained. On the surface, it seemed orderly, but hidden beneath that facade was an even greater, uncontrolled chaos, which had plunged the Zhongzhou Realm into a political fragmentation similar to that of Hu Mountain Country.

Even deeper in Wudao Prefecture, he finally found signs of civilization around Baisui Lake. A city had been built there, one whose scale rivaled that of the former prefecture city!

"After the Chu Kingdom Court was defeated, the new Emperor, beset by troubles both at home and abroad, had no choice but to heed his ministers' advice and decentralize power to the prefectures and counties. In just two short years, he appointed dozens of Jiedu Envoys. The results were immediate. The internal rebellions were quickly suppressed, and the major families pooled their wealth to pay off the foreign debts."

Xia Wen Yi was explaining to Wang Ping the major events that had transpired in the Chu Country during his seclusion. "Things remained peaceful for over a decade after that," he continued. "The Emperor gradually consolidated his control over the Court, but his decrees were only heeded within Nanlin Road. Beyond its borders, he was ignored."

"The situation was nearly identical to how it was before you entered seclusion, Master. Daoist Zi Luan wanted to try his old tricks again. But this time, after more than a decade of recovery, and having learned from past mistakes, the major families launched a preemptive coup. They turned the Emperor into a powerless figurehead and boldly declared they would enthrone a new ruler…"

"Daoist Zi Luan, of course, refused to let it go. He secretly gathered dozens of Entering Cultivators, including several of our own disciples. But their opponents were well-prepared. The two sides fought for over a decade, destroying hundreds of sects in the process, only for hundreds more to rise in their place."

Wang Ping understood at once. "Cultivators from other regions must be secretly funding them, right?" he asked.

Xia Wen Yi affirmed, "Without a doubt. Otherwise, we would have annihilated them long ago. But it can't be helped. We also support certain sects and factions in other regions, like the neighboring Liangjiang Region, for instance."

Shen Xiaozhu picked up the story. "The conflict was an impossible deadlock, and in the end, it was the common people who suffered most. After more than twenty years of fighting, the lands of Chu were left decimated. Then, just when no one expected it, the Southeast Islands launched a sudden invasion. They even occupied Shang'an Prefecture City for a time."

Xia Wen Yi scoffed. Glancing at the silent Liu Shuang, he said, "I don't know what those people from the Southeast Sea Region were thinking, but they were foolish enough to launch landings in both the Southern and Northern Cultivation Realms simultaneously. So, we set aside our grudges for a time. After more than a decade of war, we finally drove them off the Zhongzhou Continent. And that's what led to the current state of affairs."

Wang Ping raised his teacup. "The invasion from the Southeast Sea Region must be connected to the civil war in Lishui Prefecture, I take it?" he asked.

It was Xia Wen Yi who answered. "That's right. According to intelligence from Yuan Zheng Taoist and Martial Uncle Guangxuan, this sudden invasion of the Zhongzhou Continent was instigated by the Seventh Prince of Lishui Prefecture for the sake of plunder. Every city they conquered was stripped bare, its people included."

"Combined with the years of continuous warfare, even many parts of our own Shang'an Prefecture are now deserted. What's more, some Entering Cultivators act with utter impunity. Even though the Court issues land reclamation decrees every year, encouraging people to settle the uninhabited regions, few ever respond."

Wang Ping couldn't help but lament the complexity of the situation. He had never encountered anything like it, even after scouring the thousands of years of history he had read in his previous life. 'As expected of a world of cultivation,' he thought.

'But on second thought,' he mused, 'the situation isn't actually that complex. If the powers behind the scenes could just sit down and talk, re-carve the pie that is Zhongzhou, it might only take a decade or so for the continent to be unified once again.'

'But the time for that has not yet come!'

As he pondered this, he looked up at the sky. Yang Rong and Yu Lian were returning, with Hu Qianqian right behind them.

Then, another presence made itself known from a different direction.

It was Xuanling!

Wang Ping couldn't help but ask, "And Fellow Daoist Zuo Xuan?"

The other three fell silent for a moment. Finally, Liu Shuang answered, "Senior Zuo Xuan failed in her attempt to ascend to the Third Realm twenty years ago. In the end, with the help of Fellow Daoist Ruan Chunzi, she used the last of her Life Qi Mechanism to elevate our junior sister, Zuo Liang, to the Second Realm. Shortly after, she passed away in meditation at her own Dao Field."