To found an Immortal Kingdom, you first need territory and an army. Now that the Eight Great Clans of the Purple Dragon Domain have been wiped out, the region is leaderless—if Ian Song wants to seize it, his chances of success are high.
However, doing so would likely provoke collective hostility from all the major powers in the other Immortal Domains. Not to mention, there are still ancient monsters sleeping within the Purple Dragon Domain—it's far from safe.
So, he decided to first take control of the Barbarian Wastes and use that region as his base.
The immortal essence in this region is thin, so the major powers have always looked down on it. Previously, if he had tried to claim the Barbarian Wastes, those powers would never have agreed.
But now, after he destroyed the Eight Great Clans, his deterrence is absolute. If he only claims the Barbarian Wastes, the major powers should be able to accept it.
Even if they're dissatisfied, none would dare make trouble for him—after all, his summoning of a Divine to wipe out the Eight Great Clans was simply too intimidating.
"Disciple, have you truly decided?"
asked Ancestor Martin.
Ian Song nodded solemnly. "I have no choice—I must found an Immortal Kingdom!"
"In that case, I'll risk my old life to help you!"
said Ancestor Martin.
"Count me in as well!" said Ancestor Cyrus.
"Me too!" Ancestor Grimm said with a smile.
"Thank you, Masters, and thank you, Martial Uncle!"
Ian Song quickly added.
However, he didn't need their help just yet, so he suggested they return to Snowgoose City for now. Once his power reached a certain scale, he would call on the three of them for support.
He saw the three Ancestors off.
Ian Song headed straight for Greenvine City.
He had ruled Greenvine City for several years and held considerable prestige among the citizens—especially because he once opened the Immortalization Pool for free, allowing at least ten million Immortals to condense their immortal bodies.
Thanks to this, Greenvine City now housed over five million Immortal residents, making the city feel quite crowded.
The first step in founding an Immortal Kingdom was to expand Greenvine City.
He planned to enlarge Greenvine City a hundredfold, making it big enough to hold at least three hundred million people.
So, he released Adrian Moon, Queenie Green, Piper Willow, and several hundred Profound Immortal subordinates to help.
Expanding Greenvine City a hundredfold was a massive undertaking.
To finish in a short time, he would need a lot of Immortals.
Luckily, life for Immortals in the Barbarian Wastes was tough, so as long as he paid a bit of immortal stones, they were more than happy to help Ian Song build the city.
He wasn't short on immortal stones—just the gifts from his two masters totaled over 18 quintillion, and after looting the Eight Great Clans' lairs, his haul was truly astronomical.
Within a single day, Queenie Green brought Ian Song the new city's blueprints. The plan was excellent, and Ian was satisfied, telling her to build exactly according to the designs.
He then asked, "About how long will it take to finish?"
Queenie Green was clearly prepared and replied without hesitation, "Even with a hundred thousand workers, it'll take at least a year!"
"How much are you paying the workers?"
Ian Song asked.
"On average, each Immortal laborer gets about ten immortal stones a month," Queenie Green said. "Since building the city is just hard labor and not dangerous, lots of Immortals have signed up!"
Ian Song waved his hand. "Ten immortal stones is too little. Double the pay, and recruit another nine hundred thousand workers!"
At twenty immortal stones per worker per month, the total salary for a million Immortals was just twenty million stones. Ian's storage ring was measured in the trillions, so this cost was nothing to him—he didn't care at all.
Queenie Green then reported on the material costs for building the city.
This was much pricier—at least five hundred million immortal stones—but Ian didn't mind.
Twenty immortal stones a month, with no danger involved—just physical labor. So when the City Lord's Mansion announced it was hiring another nine hundred thousand workers, Immortals flocked to apply.
It took only one day to fill all the positions.
And with that, Greenvine City erupted into a massive construction boom.
Spies from the major powers noticed Ian Song was only stirring up trouble in the Barbarian Wastes and had no intention of occupying the Purple Dragon Domain. They all breathed a sigh of relief, thinking this little thief at least knew his limits.
As for the Barbarian Wastes, the major powers never cared about such places anyway—so even if that little thief took over the whole region, it wouldn't matter to them.
On the eighth day of construction for the new city—
Kathy Wenren arrived in Greenvine City.
"Senior Sister, what brings you here?"
Ian Song greeted her happily.
"Why, aren't you happy to see me?" Kathy Wenren laughed. Compared to before, she was much more mature now.
Ian Song hurried to say, "Of course I'm happy! If Senior Sister comes, your Junior Brother couldn't be more thrilled!"
So, Kathy Wenren decided to stay in Greenvine City.
Soon, a month passed, and a vast, majestic city seemed to rise overnight. After a month of expansion, the new Greenvine City was complete.
The entire new city was built outward from the original Greenvine City as its core.
The city was up and standing.
But they still needed to lay down the formation arrays.
Knowing Ian Song was about to set up the arrays, Kathy Wenren volunteered to help. After all, she'd studied under Ancestor Cyrus for years and her formation-dao was quite advanced.
So, Ian Song and Kathy Wenren teamed up and spent over half a month inscribing a world-class grand array in and around the new city.
They activated the grand array.
Immediately, immortal essence from the surroundings began pouring into the new city.
After just one day, the immortal essence inside the new city was ten times richer—and still rising.
Five days later—
The immortal essence density in the new city now surpassed every other city in the Barbarian Wastes.
At the same time, Ian Song issued an order: anyone who settled in Yanhuang City within six months would receive free residency in a house.
That's right—Ian Song named the new city Yanhuang City.
With immortal essence far richer than anywhere else, and free housing on offer, only a fool would stay away. Immortals from nearby flocked to Yanhuang City.
Ian Song had people register and record all the new arrivals.
In just one month, Yanhuang City's population jumped from five million to over thirteen million.
But the city still felt empty, since it could hold at least three hundred million.
Ian Song wasn't worried—he had more tricks up his sleeve.
Three days later—
Yanhuang City's cultivation tower was opened to the citizens.
Any resident of Yanhuang City could enter and explore the tower for free.
But when some residents entered the cultivation tower, they were stunned.
Inside the tower were dozens of stone steles, each engraved with a cultivation method. These methods could be cultivated all the way to the Golden Immortal level, and some judged the techniques to be rare, top-grade methods.
As word spread, the residents swarmed to the cultivation tower.
Cultivation methods to reach the Golden Immortal realm were extremely rare—even most Earth Immortals couldn't afford them, let alone Human Immortals. Now, City Lord Ian Song was giving away dozens of high-grade methods for free. How could they not be excited?