Before Jill Young officially went into seclusion, she had a detailed talk with Wu Zhengfeng. That conversation was so top-secret, it was just the two of them—no third wheel allowed. It was basically the Freewind Sect’s highest-level meeting. If their grand plan to found a nation actually works out, some historian in the future will probably describe this chat as "earth-shattering" or "the first ray of dawn"—and go on and on about how harmonious and friendly the two were, joking, plotting, and drawing up blueprints together.
But in reality, Jill Young was anything but polite with Wu Zhengfeng—she basically said the current Freewind Sect was hopeless and needed a total makeover.
"Let’s start with people: martial artists from the rivers and lakes can’t fight proper wars, let alone conquer cities or expand territory. You saw it yourself at Frost Cave—everyone waving their skinny swords around pretending to fight, but not a single one looked like they belonged on a battlefield. If you want things to change, the bare minimum is strict discipline, then you have to overhaul their power structure." Jill Young didn’t mince words at all: "I have no idea how strong those experts with decades of internal energy are, but I’ve got a martial arts method that’s way better for war than internal energy—the Titan Spirit Method."
No question about it—the Titan Spirit Method is way more useful on the battlefield than the Freewind Mind Method. Even the nerfed version, Titan Spirit Method: Dragon Elephant, says that even the slowest learner can master the first level in a year, and the real deal is even faster and better.
Internal energy needs talent and tons of time, so it’s neither universal nor fast. Sure, internal energy gives you an edge in one-on-one duels, but on a big battlefield, if both sides have ten thousand people, the ones who spend a year training Titan Spirit Method will wipe the floor with the ones who spend a year on internal energy.
In a year, even a blockhead could reach the first level. That’s already the Human Realm, just a bit weaker than the eight who tried to set up an ambush for Jack Young in Qing Tower. But what does a year of internal energy training get you? If you’re average, you won’t even have a solid foundation yet, and you’ll still have to steer clear of seasoned street thugs. So Jill decided to promote the Titan Spirit Method among her trusted followers.
The first stop on her inspection tour: Titan Spirit Method progress.
At the foot of Misty Peak, in the Spirit Eagle Palace’s training grounds, more than two hundred women were practicing their punches in perfect unison, calling out in rhythm. Jill had rewritten this set of moves herself—simple, straightforward, and easy to pick up. The Freewind Sect’s martial arts are usually all about elegance and grace, like dancing in a fight. Jill didn’t mind that—she likes dancing and beautiful things too—but you can’t dance on a battlefield.
Battlefields are all about simplicity, directness, and brute force—crushing the enemy, that’s the real way of war.
Jill Young and Wu Zhengfeng stood by the training ground, watching with their own eyes as the two hundred women trained.
Reporting, my lord and young master! Spirit Eagle Palace and Frost Cave together have 458 people, all practicing the Titan Spirit Method. With daily training and the Sacred Water you bestowed, 88 have broken through the first level in just a month!
Laihong, you’ve reached the first level too—how does it feel?
Yes! After reaching the first level, I’m full of energy and my blood feels stronger—even practicing internal energy is smoother, with lots of benefits. (Refining Ovum into Qi means turning life force into internal energy; the stronger your life force, the easier the training.)
Good." Wu Zhengfeng waved Yan Laihong away. The first batch to train in the Titan Spirit Method were carefully selected for their loyalty, especially those who fought in the Spirit Eagle Palace defense—they got extra Sacred Water as a reward. (Of course, 'Sacred Water' is just a fancy name; it’s really a life essence soup brewed by Jill Young.) These people are the future backbone and must be specially nurtured.
Wu Zhengfeng nodded to Jill Young. Jill stepped forward and shouted loudly: “Attention, everyone! Form up!”
Everyone moved at once, gathering in the center. Thanks to their internal energy and Titan Spirit Method training, these women were faster than ordinary soldiers and lined up in neat, tight ranks in no time.
Left turn!
Swish—all turned left.
Right turn!
Swish—all turned right.
At ease—stand at attention!
Over two hundred women stood tall and proud in perfect sync. Their movements had a unique flavor—a mix of soldierly sharpness and the Freewind Sect’s signature elegance, blending into a new kind of feminine beauty.
"What do you think?" Wu Zhengfeng sent a voice transmission. "I don’t really get this stuff—how’s it look to you?"
"I only know a few moves, but it’s starting to look legit. Eighty-eight people reached the first level in a month—that’s pretty good talent. But I’ve tried spreading the Titan Spirit Method elsewhere and failed every time. Here it actually worked. Maybe it’s because the world’s different? Makes sense—this is where the Dragon Elephant Method was born. If people here couldn’t learn it, that’d be ridiculous…"
"What’d you say?" Wu Zhengfeng asked, not hearing her mumbling.
"Nothing." Jill shook her head, then asked Yan Laihong, "Are the other two hundred people on the south side of the mountain?"
"Reporting to the young master, another two hundred and twenty are led by Han Xue, the Frost Hollow Lord, and are currently on the south side."
"Good, prepare the horses. We leave for there immediately."
The so-called “south side of the mountain” was actually the second item from their secret meeting.
Second, territory. Any force aiming for world domination needs to hold key ground—places you can attack or defend from. Look at Spirit Eagle Palace: it takes days to get out of the mountains, tough to attack, tough to defend, no strategic depth. It’s fine as a martial arts sanctuary, but not for ruling the world." Jill Young pulled out a map of Tian Shan, circled a spot: "The southern slopes of Tian Shan overlook the Silk Road and the western kingdoms, and it’s not far from Misty Peak. We need to find a good spot here and build a new base."
After making this plan, Jill Young went into closed-door cultivation, so she didn’t know if they’d found a good spot. But when the group arrived, Jill looked around and nodded: “This really is a great place!”
Tian Shan is in the Western Regions, mostly desert and rocky wasteland, but there are lush valleys at the foot of the mountains. What Jill saw was a beautiful valley—broad, flat, with rivers, grass, trees, and lots of people busy inside.
"How’d you find such a great spot?" Jill asked Wu Zhengfeng in surprise. "And the terrain’s perfect—easy to attack and defend. Did you have a sudden stroke of genius?"
"Simple—I found a gang of desert bandits, killed a few, and the rest led me here. Simple, brutal, but effective—learned it from you."
"Promising!" Jill spurred her horse down the slope. Even from a distance, they were spotted. Twenty riders came to greet them, led by Han Xue, the Frost Hollow Lord. After the Spirit Eagle Palace defense, Frost Hollow was considered trusted and given important duties—Han Xue was the top person here.
Swish—Han Xue and her group dismounted and knelt on one knee: “Han Xue, your subordinate, greets the lord and young master!”
"No need for formalities." Wu Zhengfeng had real leadership presence before her subordinates. "We’re here to check on your progress—lead the way."
Yes! Han Xue mounted up and led everyone into the valley. At the entrance, there were wooden walls and fences built by the bandits, now upgraded with arrow towers and watchtowers, and the gate reinforced. Inside, nearly a thousand people were visible—one group of over two hundred well-dressed women, clearly Spirit Eagle Palace members; the other, ragged men doing hard labor, were the prisoners from the battle. There were also many foreign faces—probably the bandits.
Normally, rebellion means certain death. But Wu Zhengfeng didn’t want to kill so many, nor let them go—just keeping them locked up would waste space and food. Jill Young had an idea: first, identify those who tortured Spirit Eagle Palace women, then the ringleaders, punish them severely and execute them, honoring the dead. The rest were made slaves to work and reclaim land here. To put it nicely—labor reform.
From now on, anyone who breaks the law but doesn’t deserve death will go through labor reform. Only after enough work can they be pardoned.' Jill thought this was a great idea: 'By the way, we should consider a “dogleg” system.'
'Dogleg system?' Wu Zhengfeng squinted. 'You always come up with the weirdest names—what’s it mean?'
'It means picking out some doglegs from the slaves. Even among slaves, there are ranks. We’ll designate a few as doglegs, toss them a few perks, and they’ll fight among themselves. Let the slaves police each other—saves us the trouble. Oh, look, the perfect dogleg just showed up!'
Speak of the devil—Wei Bo’s fawning face appeared, trying to flatter and get noticed, but was blocked by the palace maids on patrol, who sternly told him to get back to work. In the end, Wei Bo had to return to tilling the fields, looking resentful.
'If you don’t trust Wei Bo, just kill him. But I think he’s perfect for a dogleg. By the way, where’s Tie Ba?' Of the three brainstormers, Wuhuan was executed, Wei Bo is farming, but where did Tie Ba go?
Reporting to the young master: Tie Ba and all of Iron Forest Island are in the rear valley, building houses and moving the forge.' Han Xue smiled. 'Iron Forest Island disciples will handle forging armor and weapons, but for now, they can only make iron nails.'
After a round of inspection, the valley wasn’t fully built yet, but it was taking shape—archery range, training ground, stables, all clearly laid out. There weren’t many bows, arrows, or horses yet, and even Tie Ba’s iron ore was in short supply, but it was clear this valley was destined to become a major military base.
Jill Young and Wu Zhengfeng sat tall on their horses, side by side on high ground, overlooking the valley. Jill nodded: “Just east of here is the Mongolian steppe, rich in water and grass—perfect for our cavalry base. Tell the girls to get ready; we might ride out at any time.”
'What for?'
'To fight. No amount of talk beats real combat—after a real battle, people get stronger. I don’t expect the girls to win huge battles yet, but our personal guards, imperial guards, and elite troops must be made up of them.'
Even though they’d go for quality over quantity, just imagine an army of ten thousand at the fourth level of the Dragon Elephant Method—how terrifying would that be? Jill herself couldn’t even estimate that power. The Mongol Empire’s territory was vast, but if Jill’s vision came true, Mongolia would have to step aside.
So soon?' Wu Zhengfeng frowned. 'We’re still weak—we can’t reveal our true colors yet.'
Of course, that’s why we need to keep a low profile.' Jill nodded. 'There are plenty of mercenaries among the captives—let’s use them and get into the business ourselves. The Mongols rule the land, but I doubt the Western Regions are peaceful—it’s probably chaos. There are lots of small states, more money than people, and they’d rather pay than die. We’ll take jobs, clear out bandits, earn commissions, and support ourselves. We’ll gather intelligence and spread our ideas, preparing for the day we rise up.'
That makes sense. So when do we begin?'
Let’s get ready—when I’m fully awake, we’ll start. And since we’re doing this, let’s do it big.' Jill mused, 'Before Li Shimin seized power, the Heavenly Strategy House was like a mini court; only after he took the throne did things settle down. Before we openly declare ourselves, let’s set up an organization—a brand-new force, with no obvious ties to the Freewind Sect. We’ll raise funds, recruit talent, gather intelligence, collect martial arts secrets, and spread our doctrine—all paving the way for founding a nation.'
Wu Zhengfeng was moved. She was right—if you want to drive fast, you need to build roads and bridges first. If open battle is the bright line, then this is the crucial hidden line. The hidden line must be handled by someone absolutely trustworthy. She looked at Jill Young: “Are you going to take charge yourself?” Of all those around her, only Jill could handle it.
Yes, I’ll lead it myself. Jiao Niang, you’re meant to be empress—you should stick to the open path. As for me—' Jill’s eyes sparkled, and she reached out toward the vast land, a sly smile on her lips: 'I’m the Queen of Eternal Night—I know all about the shadowy path!'
You seem confident. Fine, pick whoever you need. By the way, what will you name your organization? It should be something memorable.'
Of course—call it “No One Under Heaven.”
"Of course—call it 'No One Under Heaven.'"