Su Fu chuckled and set the scroll down by saying, “No way. They’re still useful.”
‘Useful?’ Chesia tilted her head in confusion, ‘Aren’t they just walking bags of resources to you? What else could they be?’
Su Fu paused, her gaze turning deep, “They have Achilles behind them. To everyone on the Immortal Ship, that’s an external enemy.”
Chesia was still puzzled, ‘….So what if there’s an external enemy?’
“Have you considered—even if I win the General Election and can use the Heavenly Mechanism Pavilion to choose our destination… will the others listen to me and go attack other maps?”
Chesia froze.
“No.” Su Fu’s voice was soft, “Unless… they feel threatened.”
“That’s why, external enemies must exist. And those enemies have to be strong—strong enough for everyone on the Immortal Ship to feel a sense of crisis, maybe even… the urge to fight back.”
Chesia suddenly understood, ‘So you need them to stir up trouble at the election meeting?’
Su Fu nodded, gathering up all the resources she said, “Exactly. Put simply, if they try to sabotage the General Election, that’s a huge deal that could destabilize the whole Immortal Ship.”
‘And then, once you reveal who they really are,’ Chesia continued, ‘everyone will see them as spies sent by external enemies!’
She finally got it, and hissed with excitement, ‘That way, everyone aboard will sense the crisis!’
“Right,” Su Fu smiled, “and then all power will truly be in my hands.”
This massive vessel drifting through the clouds—to make everyone willingly follow her, she had to give them a shared enemy and purpose.
That way, she could consolidate her power internally, and also justify her plans for expansion.
‘Wah wah wah!’ Chesia let out an exaggerated gasp, ‘So that’s the real reason you’re keeping them around?’
‘Humans really are crafty! You always have so many twists and turns in your minds!’
Su Fu left the treasure vault, tossing a Mammon Coin into the air.
The golden light traced an arc as she laughed: “Stop talking nonsense. What do you know about humans?”
Chesia: ‘Finally, I can inherit my Immortal Ship.’
Su Fu stretched lazily and said clearly in a great mood, “Let’s go.”
Chesia was too excited for words, ‘What’s yours is mine! From now on, we’re the masters of the Immortal Ship! Go where we want, take what we want—hahaha!’
***
One day later, at Tianque Square.
The grandest square aboard the Immortal Ship, now packed with a sea of people, a deafening crowd.
The square was ringed by endless flying-eaved corridors, layered like palaces in the sky, crowded with onlookers.
Small flying ships zipped through the air, bringing cultivators who couldn’t make it on foot to witness the event.
Su Fu stood in the candidate area, looking up at the section reserved for the immortals.
The so-called “immortal” finally made an appearance, seemingly a tall man in a simple white robe.
At his sides stood two men and two women in silver robes, faces solemn.
But something was off—the four were clearly shorter than the immortal in the middle, standing more neatly.
Su Fu’s mind conjured a thought:
‘They looked…more like attendants?’
Daoist Xuan Ming noticed her look and, thinking she didn’t know about the immortal, quietly stepped forward and whispered: “Pavilion Master, that is the Immortal Ship’s Xu Immortal. They say he’s always been seeking the way to immortality.”
Su Fu paused, her expression subtle, “Surname Xu? Chasing immortality?”
“Yes,” Xuan Ming explained, “Legend has it, when this Immortal Ship first appeared, Xu Immortal was already here. Who knows how many ages he’s lived.”
Su Fu’s expression grew complicated, ‘Even immortals seek immortality?’
Just then, a glittering mechanical bird soared up from the center of the square, loudly announcing: “Welcome, all Daoists, to Tianque Square for the Immortal Ship General Election!”
“And special thanks to Xu Immortal for taking time out of his busy schedule to join us today!”
A deep bell sounded, echoing through the clouds.
The ground in the center of the square slowly cracked open, and a massive spherical device rose from beneath.
Xuan Ming explained quietly, “That’s the counting device, apparently modified from a Huntian Yi.”
Su Fu paused, ‘A Huntian Yi?’
“Here are the rules!” the mechanical gold bird continued: “All candidates will step forward in turn and deposit their collected Immortal Tokens into the counting device.”
“The device will automatically count and display the result. The one with the most will become the Immortal Ship General!”
“The election begins now!”
As soon as the words fell, the crowd began to stir.
“I’ll go first!” A burly man laughed and leapt onto the platform, shook his storage pouch—
A cascade of Immortal Tokens poured into the device.
The runes spun, a spirit pearl lit up, and finally, a number appeared: [(57)]
The crowd burst out laughing.
“Old Zhao, you’re really running with that little amount?”
“Haha, it’s the spirit of participation! What if I end up with the most, eh?”
Next was a white-haired elder, leaning on a cane, carefully pouring his tokens in from a cloth pouch: [127]
He looked delighted—more than the last guy!
One after another, people stepped up: merchants, Patrol Guards, alchemists, and so on.
The highest was a young woman in a lavish gown—she had as many as 312 tokens.
“Wow!” The crowd exclaimed.
The woman raised her brow proudly, “Not much, but thank you all for your support.”
As it went, fewer and fewer people left to go up, until Su Fu finally made her move.
Hidden among the audience, Monica and her companions grew tense.
Just as Su Fu neared the counting device—
“Now!” Zhao You whispered.
Monica quietly activated Hermes’ Net.
In an instant, she felt the net grow heavier.
She glanced down—sure enough, it was crammed full of Immortal Tokens.
The corners of her mouth curled as she signaled to her team but at that moment, a voice rang out across the square—
“Who dares steal from me?”
It was Su Fu’s voice!
Monica and the others instantly froze, cold sweat soaking their backs.
“Shen Yan, exit! Exit!” Monica shrieked, she never expected Su Fu would catch on!
Shen Yan began a procedural prompt: [“Candidates Monica, Yang Lie, Zhao You, do you confirm to exit the current Stellar League?”]
“Yes! Yes! Hurry!” The three of them screamed in panic but it was already too late.
[“Confirmed. Candidates Monica, Yang Lie, Zhao You…”]
Before Shen Yan could finish, a red ribbon descended from the sky, snaking toward them like a living thing!
Monica screamed, desperately using her artifacts: “Heavenfire Pearl! Ice Mirror! Thunder Seal! Block it!”
At the same time, Yang Lie drew a massive axe from his waist, swinging it forward with a roar!
Zhao You, no longer bothering to hide, brandished an obsidian dagger and slashed at the air!
“Boom!!!”
A cacophony of attacks erupted, shockwaves blasting the seats nearby to dust, the whole square trembling!
Panicked, the crowd scattered, chaos everywhere.
But the Huntian Ling danced like a spirit snake, weaving past every attack, looping in an arc straight for them!
In a blink, the ribbon arrived, coiling around the three like a snake, binding them tightly before yanking hard!
“Ah—!” The three screamed in terror.
The Huntian Ling, like binding three little chickens, dragged them to the center of the square and slammed them to the ground, utterly disheveled.
The square fell silent.
Su Fu strolled over.
The Huntian Ling deftly raised Hermes’ Net, snatched it from Monica’s waist, and presented it to her.
“Trying to steal from me?” Su Fu smiled coldly at them, taking the item.
Monica, trussed up by the Huntian Ling, forced herself to lift her head and grit her teeth: “Who says it’s yours? Those tokens are mine! I collected them!”
Monica thought, the tokens don’t have names—who could prove otherwise?
If she could just get through this, there’d still be a way out.
“Xu Immortal!” Zhao You suddenly shouted, turning to the high platform, his voice hoarse: “Immortal, please see reason! Su Fu is disrupting the election! She’s got no tokens left, she’s not even qualified—”
Before he could finish, Su Fu suddenly laughed, “How amusing.”
She tilted her head and asked, “You don’t even know what you stole?”
Su Fu placed her hand on the net, channeled divine power, and forcibly overwrote the artifact’s ownership.
The net trembled in her hand, but finally yielded.
“Ha!”
With a twist of her wrist, the net flipped.
Rolling out was nothing but a pile of dusty stones!
“You stole the wrong thing,” she said.
Su Fu approached the counting device and produced the real Storage Pouch, giving it a shake she said, “My Immortal Tokens are here.”
She poured them in—a waterfall, an endless stream.
Monica’s pupils shrank, “No… Impossible!”
She was sure she’d felt—
“Pfft!”
Monica coughed up blood—the backlash of a failed artifact.
Zhao You and Yang Lie were in no better shape, faces ashen.
It was over.
Completely over.
“AJ! AJ! AJ!”
The number on the counting device leapt crazily—
[486 Tokens!]
[989 Tokens!]
[1032 Tokens!]
The number kept jumping, finally freezing at—
[3080 Tokens!]
The golden mechanical bird shrieked: “Candidate’s Immortal Tokens exceed two-thirds of the entire ship’s reserves!”
“According to Article 9, Section 3 of the ‘Immortal Ship General Selection Ordinance’, the election ends immediately, and the candidate is granted the position of Immortal Ship General!”
“The Immortal Ship General Election is complete! The new General and Ship Lord is—Su Fu!”
At the same time, Shen Yan’s voice rang out:
[“Ding! Immortal Ship General Election mission complete!”]
[“Congratulations, you are now the Ship Lord of Penglai Immortal Ship!”]
[“You have full control over core ship permissions (navigation/defense/resource allocation)”]
[“The Immortal Ship map is now officially linked to the World Map”]
At the same time, Shen Yan broadcast a full examination hall & full league announcement: [“World Channel Opened”]
[“Full Map Announcement: Penglai Immortal Ship Map has been conquered first!”]
[“First conqueror: Su Fu of the Chinese Pantheon (Kunlun Academy / Tianqiong Path Academy)”]
[“Repeat: Map Penglai Immortal Ship has been conquered…”]
At that moment, not only candidates on the Immortal Ship, but all candidates on the other four major maps heard the announcement.
“What?! Penglai Immortal Ship’s been conquered? It’s only been two days! I haven’t even finished exploring my map!”
“Heavens, that speed… how did she do it?”
“To conquer a map so quickly—terrifying!”
“Thank goodness she’s not on our map.”
Meanwhile, at Tianque Square, all voices joined in unison: “Salute to the General!”
“Salute to the General!”
“Salute to the General!”
Aboard the Immortal Ship, Su Fu stood with her hands behind her back.
There was only one thought in her mind—finally, she could set sail!