Standing amidst the ruins of the Cloud-Reach Sect, Fang Yuan didn't bother to clear the rubble. Instead, he raised his hand, and the very earth began to groan. Using his Rank 9 gravitational control, he forced the shattered mountain peaks to rise, reshaping them into a jagged, floating fortress that pierced the heavens.
"From this day forth," Fang Yuan's voice boomed, reaching every corner of the Azure Sky Continent, "the Cloud-Reach Sect is dead. In its place stands the Sect of Ancient Void. I am your Patriarch, and your lives belong to my shadow."
He didn't kill the remaining elders. Instead, he struck their foreheads with a sliver of his dark Qi, branding their souls with a Loyalty Curse. They became his "Living Archives," tasked with gathering every manual, every pill, and every talented child in the world.
Fang Yuan sat upon a throne carved from high-density obsidian. He wasn't interested in teaching them true martial arts. He gave them a corrupted technique called the "Seven-Cycle Marrow Refinement". To the students, it seemed to grant rapid strength; in reality, it was a biological siphon that refined their vital energy into "Void-Drops" which flowed directly into Fang Yuan's throne.
"Patriarch," one of the enslaved elders whispered, trembling. "The other Great Sects... the Sword Pavilion and the Thousand Buddha Temple... they are mobilizing their armies. They call you a Demon from the Stars."
Fang Yuan leaned his head on his hand, his eyes glowing with a bored, dark light. "Let them come. A sect needs 'Resource Material' to grow. Their blood will water the gardens of my new home."