I let things go on for a few more minutes, letting Chin drag as many people into his chore list as he could.

Thirty minutes later, he had a collection of forces that could farm the whole region.

Most of them still didn't believe they would be farming. Murmurs of an event known as Chore Day would be tossed around among the elites of the region later that day. And few would know what it meant.

I walked back into my house, and then walked back out.

There was silence, murmurs, respectful nods, and all other types of approving looks.

A few particularly good looking men and women from each sect looked to me seductively. I ignored them.

"We are gathered here today to recognize the official existence of the Oasis Sect," I said loudly.

"Isn't it the Immortal Oasis Sect?" Chin asked.

"Are you an Immortal?" I replied.

"No."

"But you're in the sect, right?"

"Well, I-"

Medin gave him a look before he could finish that sentence.

"Yes," Chin replied.

"Well, then we're just the Oasis Sect. We can't go around calling ourselves immortal if we only have one immortal amongst us, right."

Chin looked at Rin Wi, frowned and then turned to Gai Jin.

"What about him?"

"He's got his own sect, Chin."

Chin looked at him with doubt but then nodded and sat back down.

I sighed.

"Alright, well I have nothing big to say. You know me and you know my rules. But there will be one major change, and that is trade."

The area quilted down significantly.

"As some of you might have noticed, the Great Desert Strip is no longer a desert. That is my doing. The land of the village will slowly expand and turn into fertile land. By the end of next year, I believe it will mostly be green earth."

"Is that allowed?" A voice asked. "Was this approved by the Empire?"

"The Void Blade Empire doesn't concern itself with any changes to small pieces of land like this one, but yes. I did send out an official notice to Mo Whe, the governor of this region and many others and he has no problems with it."

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Small murmurs erupted.

"As for the trade, we will be bringing many resources to the region over the coming months, and what sect we accomplish this with will be entirely decided by their behaviors and how well they hold themselves to our standards."

There was a bit of abrupt noise. Most of the time, political intrigue like this was done under the guise of kindness and reason.

But I had just spelled it out.

Do as I say and you get some benefits, oppose me and you get none.

In the world of politics, to be direct was to be rude. No one likes to be threatened and no one likes demands either. So even if you were lying, layering the truth with a respectable lie was considered respectful.

This was an open declaration.

The murmurs quieted down after a minute.

A woman stood up, pale skinned with bright red lips. She was Lai Xin of the Hidden Viper, one of the representatives I had met earlier in the year.

"And what are those standards?" She asked.

"You already know them. Avoid violence as much as you can and leave the mortals alone."

She pressed her lips together as if she had expected it, and then she nodded and bowed.

"Now," I said, raising a cup of tea. "To our future cooperation."

False applause was given in reply and everyone raised their cups to their mouth for a drink.

When I thought about the current threats I faced, there were only a few but none that really brought me much danger.

There was Barlo Hew and whatever group he was associated with, but he seemed to be alone, not that I could spot a God-King's presence, but I had asked the Tome and it had told me that there was no one watching him. That information came at a price though, it cut away at the debt the Tome owed me.

The Tome treated every bit of knowledge it had gained from me as a transaction. It currently owed me and everything I learned from it would chop down at that debt. As far as I knew, I still had some information left to gain from it.

But certain information it would refuse to give me, either due to it being too costly or the Tome believing it would harm me.

I talked some more while barely thinking about my words. Empty platitudes, congratulations to Gai Jin, a small announcement of my disciples, which now include The Maidens, Chin, Cai, Medin, and Po.

There were a lot of stares and speculations, but after that, I turned away and sat down at a table with a single chair. The smart ones understood that I wasn't in the mood to talk and the prideful ones understood that as well, but made an attempt to talk to me anyway.

I politely waved them down.

Eventually Mei Shan came in and started talking to them in my stead. She was adept at politics and verbal jousts and took them all on with a smile.

I could feel something changing.

It was small and barely noticeable, but I could feel it nonetheless.

Here were people I had helped and people I had ignored.

Sect elders, some okay, some horrendously evil. I could end them. I could spare everybody a lot of pain and rule by force.

I could take their sects and declare myself the ruler of this entire realm.

But that would be justice, not peace.

My peace wouldn't invade. It would be welcomed, it would be begged to enter.

But there was a need for force.

I looked at Yai.

Most sects were cohesive. They had one goal, a similar dao, and shared a belief system. Justice, righteousness, hatred, love. It was rarely a mix of concepts.

This one would be different.

If I could tolerate evil, I could tolerate good.

Peace wasn't an annihilation of evil, but a limiter of it. It was the end expression of the peaks and canyons of life.

It was the sunset on a hard day's worth of work.

It was the pain of losing a parent and the joy of gaining a child.

I didn't fight evil, because I knew no matter how hard I tried I could never get rid of it.

Hell was a real place after all.

A place of endless torment and pain existed out there and I couldn't quench it, not right not, maybe not ever.

But even if people had to suffer, even if life had to involve struggle, I could at least make sure that it came to an end.

Something settled within me and my dao shifted to the next rank.

An oasis was a place of water in a desert. A spot of quenching water in a dry and burning hell.

"It's a good enough name," I whispered.

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