Chapter 90
An Empty Throne
Tobias never expected they would be able to keep that contracting the plague and feeding miasma to spirit herbs improved your divinity a secret. However, he was surprised that it took over a year for the discovery to reach The Three Kingdoms. The only reason it did was that the khans' heirs showed up at the border to assassinate what they assumed would be a scattered and infected Divine Council. Instead, they found The Three Kingdoms ready to confront them.
Their assassination attempt quickly turned into a diplomatic mission, during which they handed over many of their treasures to thank The Three Kingdoms for their assistance with the plague, while making excuses for their khans' absences. Tobias learned all this after the Divine Council had investigated the matter and discovered he'd been keeping important information from them.
"1st Minister Finch, the Divine Council has voted on this matter, and you are hereby stripped of your position as 1st Minister," Patriarch Shen announced behind him.
"On what grounds am I being dismissed?" Tobias replied while facing the throne.
Patriarch Shen's aura flared with his displeasure. "You have withheld vital information from the Divine Council."
"My investigation into the nature of miasma and the plague was never part of my duties as 1st Minister. It was always an independent investigation performed as The Three Kingdoms' sage. Not once did the Divine Council refer to me as 1st Minister when I performed these duties. Only when I delivered my results was I greeted as the 1st Minister Finch. So, once again, on what grounds am I being stripped of my position as 1st Minister of The Three Kingdoms?"
Tobias wasn't trying to start a fight. He was trying to remind them of his secondary value. He still held the keys to immortality, and he didn't want their current anger to make them forget this fact.
"The Divine Council does not need a reason to remove you from your position, Sage Knowledge."
Tobias goal had been achieved, so he cupped his hands and bowed to the empty throne. "Sage Knowledge thanks the Divine Council for the opportunity to serve the people of The Three Kingdoms. May The Three Kingdoms prosper under those who take my place."
"You are dismissed."
Tobias bowed one last time and exited the Imperial Hall, heading for the Ministry Headquarters. He intended to collect his clone and head for the Three Step Hills. The less the Divine Council saw him, the sooner they would forget that he now possessed the largest collection of sage realm spirit herbs in The Three Kingdoms.
He also needed to be far enough away to contact Peace Master So to run interference. They were ready to upgrade their clan and sect realms, so they needed to capitalise on the opportunity to distract them.
Tobias stopped outside the window to his office and flared his aura without getting off his sword. His clone emptied his office of books and trinkets and leapt out the window a few moments later, landing beside him.
Tobias reached out and offered his hand.
His clone grinned back. "You sure you want a year of memories that are only meetings and paperwork?"
"Don't tempt me."
The clone chuckled as he grabbed Tobias's hand and dissolved, flowing into Tobias's mind.
Tobias experienced the memories from the moment he pulled the clone out of the mirror until the moment it grabbed his hand again. In between were a lot of meetings and paperwork, but there were also all the celebrations and parties with the other ministers that Tobias had missed.
His clone experienced everything Tobias had gone through since they parted ways as well. Tobias wasn't left with the impression that he'd experienced someone else's life. Only the impression that he had lived in two places at once.
The transition lasted only a few seconds, and then Tobias raised his shroud and headed for The Three Step Hills, feeling freer than he had in decades.
2nd Minister Yun was more than capable of taking his place, and the groundwork for the direction The Three Kingdoms would take was long since set in stone. It might take an extra century or two for Tobias's plan to come to fruition, but there was little chance of the Divine Council stopping it without tossing everything they had already achieved away.
The Divine Council's next move would indicate whether or not Tobias's plans would come to fruition or fall apart. There was nothing he could do except wait. Everything he could do had already been done. And he trusted Patriarch Lee to see the bigger picture.
Tobias was several hundred miles away before Patriarch Lee contacted him. "Fleeing the city makes you look like you are keeping other secrets from the Divine Council."
Tobias lifted the Three Pigeon treasure to his mouth as the wind howled past him. "I have no interest in investigating the plague or its benefits for dictators who are going to allow the citizens of The Three Kingdoms to be killed so they can pursue their own power."
"If one of the khans becomes a sage realm cultivator before us The Three Kingdoms is doomed."
"The Khans have no idea what they are doing. They have no idea how to optimise the outcome. You've been in the Civil Realm. You've seen Yin Hao, so you know what it looks like when it's done properly. If you had seen that when you investigated the Khan's activity, The Three Kingdoms would already be at war, but we aren't, so you know they don't have a clue about what they must do beyond needing to sit beside a sage realm spirit herb while infected."
"You should have told us."
"Why? Telling you will cause unnecessary deaths. As 1st Minister, my responsibility was to the people of The Three Kingdoms, not the Divine Council. My position required me to hide the truth as long as I could."
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"When will you come back?"
"I won't be. The Civil Realm cannot be optimised for miasma consumption beyond what I've already done. Yin Hao is constantly vomiting up miasma, and there are no other sage realm spirit herbs that can be introduced. Any changes I can make will only apply to foundation realm cultivators, and I need a larger sample size to study that."
"Why did you stay then?"
It was a good question.
"One of the problems with having such a small bureaucracy is that fear can cause it to freeze and become unresponsive. The Three Kingdoms needed a 1st Minister who was present and ready to react. A change in leadership would have resulted in unnecessary deaths."
"Are we still friends?"
"Of course."
"Why?"
"Because you contacted me to check up on me the moment you thought there was reason for concern."
"I also voted to have you removed as 1st Minister."
Tobias rolled his eyes. "Only because you knew that keeping me as 1st Minister while the rest of the Divine Council wanted me gone would prevent me from being able to do anything."
Patriarch Lee chuckled. "What do you suggest I do with this discovery?"
"Nothing. Don't act on the information until after the plague has ended. Those who have been infected already will still be infected once it stops. That's the time to become infected. The risk to The Three Kingdoms will be gone, so there will be no external threats which might eventually overwhelm you."
"And by then the majority of the most powerful will have already become infected, leaving you free to use better methods without having to worry about retaliation."
"Exactly."
"Why didn't you suggest this to the Divine Council?"
"They all want to be emperor, so whoever becomes infected first has the highest chance of reaching the sage realm before the others. I'd be surprised if one of them hasn't snuck off to become infected already."
"You must be running low on chi after speaking so long. We will continue this discussion when you arrive at The Three Step Hills."
***
Tobias stepped off his sword and took a seat in the gazebo next to Patriarch Lee on the edge of the hill that overlooked his clan's cultivation realm. Peace Master So had collected the enormous sage realm spirit willow after Yin Hao told him how to reach it and dropped it off in the middle of the formation. The other spirit willows that surrounded the garden had immediately yielded to its superior cultivation, but the addition of a sage realm spirit herb had destabilised the region's chi even further.
The wood chi interacted with Patriarch Lee's cultivation, engulfing his white facial hair in flames. The flames weren't hot enough to burn the hair, but they didn't go out either.
"Did your son whine about being too busy to balance his realm so he could accept my gift?" Tobias asked.
Tobias had offered to give Peace Master So the spirit willow shortly after Yin Hao had traded it to him. It was a gift for creating his family's cultivation realm. He'd gladly accepted.
"Nearly every day," Patriarch Lee replied. "He's been wanting that tree for centuries."
Tobias chuckled. "Why have you come here?"
Patriarch Lee sighed. "I want to ask you a question."
"The answer is no."
"You don't know the question."
"You were going to ask me if I want to overthrow the Divine Council."
"You've considered the matter."
"I have, and violence is not the best way to do this."
"I'm listening."
"I would start by quietly making the knowledge that becoming infected and sitting next to a sage realm spirit herb improves your divinity public. Then I would quietly point out that the 2nd and 3rd Emperors were exactly the sort of cultivators who would have chosen to strengthen their divinity, despite it costing the lives of the people of The Three Kingdoms. I would then quietly make the comparison that anyone who has chosen to do this is no more fit to become the emperor than they were."
Patriarch Lee snarled, fighting to control his aura and killing intent. His reaction was exactly what Tobias had expected. He just had to connect the dots.
"Why didn't you say this when standing before the Divine Council?" Patriarch Lee growled.
"None of the Great Clans of sects wish to serve someone like the 2nd or 3rd Emperors. If their leaders do this, their elders will have no choice but to publicly reject their actions or see their clans and sects' reputations destroyed. Even the 2nd and 3rd Emperors could not rule without the support of their clan, so the Divine Council is going to doom itself through its actions."
"You set us up."
"I allowed you the opportunity to show The Three Kingdoms who you really are. I would have told the Divine Council exactly what I told you had they asked."
Patriarch Lee scowled as his anger receded. "I have no interest in being emperor."
"I have no interest in you being emperor."
Patriarch Lee paused and then frowned. "You aren't setting me up to become emperor?"
"No."
"Then who do you want to become emperor?"
"No one."
"No one?"
Tobias could see that his friend didn't understand. The Three Kingdoms had always had an emperor, and he couldn't imagine a world without one. It was one of the rare weaknesses of living so long.
Tobias leaned forward. "Why did you join the Divine Council?"
"To protect my clan and their interest."
"That's a noble reason, but it's also one of the problems with having an emperor. An emperor must protect their clan and their interests, and this usually comes at the expense of others like yourself. You then need to protect your clan and your interests from the emperor, which comes at the expense of others. Eventually, this leads to a situation where everyone is just looking out for themselves, because everyone is only equal before heaven, not before the laws of the land. This structure was necessary in the past, but it isn't anymore."
"Why is it no longer necessary?"
"Because the cultivators of The Three Kingdoms are no longer ignorant of how to progress their cultivation. They do not have to stumble blindly towards the heavens, wasting resources through ignorance. With a divinity of six, you're now guaranteed to reach the core realm and form the third layer of your core. Without a divinity of eight, you know you will never reach the nascent soul realm, so once you've reached your peak, you can relax and live a fulfilling life."
Patriarch Lee frowned. "I didn't know your understanding had progressed so far."
"You didn't ask. But others did."
"Which others?"
"Anyone who knew they couldn't become emperor. A decade ago, I recreated the cultivation methods and techniques of the second- and third-tier noble clans. The rapid rise of their clan's cultivation is due to receiving proper training from the professors of the Cultivation Academy, no longer wasting resources, or practicing inferior cultivation methods and techniques. Your clan has accepted the first benefit I offered them, but ignored the second and third, which is why your youth haven't seen as much progress."
Patriarch Lee frowned.
Tobias realised his friend didn't understand. "The Three Kingdoms only needed an emperor to protect it because the cultivation world was blind to how to progress. That is no longer so. Within a century, The Three Kingdoms will have enough core realm cultivators that nascent soul realm cultivators will never be able to threaten it. A few centuries from now, there will be enough nascent soul realm cultivators that sage realm cultivators will never be a threat. An emperor is no longer necessary for our safety. We can protect ourselves by working together."
Patriarch Lee sighed. "You've expanded your understanding into the nascent soul realm."
"I can see signs of a consistent logic that will one day allow me to do so. I'm not there yet. However, my understanding of the core realm is much cleared than it was in the past. As it stands, there should be significantly more success for those on the road to becoming nascent soul realm cultivators, but it is not yet assured."
Patriarch Lee ignored Tobias's comment that he believed he could figure out what was required for a successful transition to the nascent soul realm.
"Who would lead us if not the emperor?"
"Being the 1st Minister has taught me that cultivators don't need leadership, only justice. Most are content to study cultivation and produce the resources they need to progress their cultivation. However, justice is required when someone else tries to take away what they have built. Mortals require leadership. They require direction, which is why I want The Three Kingdoms to become a republic with a senate overseeing the conduct of the ministers who manage the day-to-day affairs of The Three Kingdoms. Cultivators will vote for these senators, receiving votes proportional to their cultivation, and these senators will ensure that ministers provide leadership and justice for everyone and maintain the army. All will be equal before the law."
Patriarch Lee shook his head. "Such a situation would make it difficult to save face."
Tobias knew that and had come up with an answer that would get them through a few millennia until the world changed.
"A clan or sect could claim limited areas where the authority of their leaders would exceed the law to save face and uphold moral decency. While in their compounds or at their sects, they would be under the rules of these places. In public, they would be under the laws of The Three Kingdoms. However, crimes committed outside these territories would give The Three Kingdoms the power to enter and claim those who had committed transgressions."
"You've given this a lot of thought."
Tobias motioned his family below. "Becoming the 1st Minister seemed like an opportunity to protect those like my family. It felt like a way I could right the injustices of my youth. But you cannot merely wish something into existence. The system you create must work for all, not just some. Otherwise, those who are left out will try to tear it down. This can be prevented, but it takes time and effort. It's easier to just make a system where everyone has the same opportunity than maintain one with internal strife."
"Knowing you, you have already prepared everything I need to understand your intent."
Tobias chuckled as he removed all the necessary documentation from his storage ring and handed it over.