"Elder Gu, I've only just entered the Sacred Land, and I've been somewhat rash in my actions. If there's anything I've handled improperly, I'll need your guidance going forward. The reason I've come today is to ask about contribution points. I'd appreciate it if Elder Gu could explain them to me."
When someone showed courtesy, Jiang Chen naturally returned it in kind.
"Haha, young friend Shao Yuan, I can't speak for what others think, but I was truly impressed by your conquest of the Nine-Winding Cloud Cavern. We martial cultivators — especially young people like you — should be full of vigor and ambition. There's no need to be coy. If you have ten parts of talent, why hide five or six of them? No need at all! All I want to say is: what you did at the Nine-Winding Cloud Cavern was brilliant."
Gu Yunjin chuckled. "Heh, that matter is in the past. Let's focus on the contribution points. Since the Sacred Ancestor has given his command, I must cooperate with you fully."
Within the Eternal Sacred Land, the Grand Holy Sovereign was the supreme leader, and his commands could not be defied. The Sacred Ancestor was the spiritual leader — the one and only deity — and his will was even less to be disobeyed.
Gu Yunjin was being quite generous with Jiang Chen's face by leading the tour personally, without delegating to any of his subordinates. With Ziche Min accompanying them, he began walking Jiang Chen through the details of the Merit Hall.
The Merit Hall was responsible for calculating every individual's contributions to the Sacred Land. This included accumulated contribution points as well as points that had been spent — all tallied by the Merit Hall.
The standards themselves were also set by the Merit Hall.
Everyone except the Sacred Ancestor and the three Holy Sovereigns — including all the elders in the Elder Hall — had their contribution points reviewed annually.
If any individual failed to meet the required threshold for three consecutive years, they faced the risk of demotion.
For instance, a senior elder who failed to meet the standard for three years running could be demoted to a lower elder. True inheritors could be demoted to core disciples, and core disciples could be demoted to ordinary disciples.
In short, the contribution system drove everyone forward. No one was allowed to slack off, and no freeloaders or deadbeats were tolerated.
Jiang Chen genuinely admired this system. It kept the Sacred Land vibrant and free of useless members. Who performed well and who hadn't bothered to put in effort — the contribution points reflected it all perfectly.
Moreover, the requirement was that only consecutive years of failure led to demotion. This protected those who might have simply had a stroke of bad luck in a single year.
"These are the low-grade zones. The contribution point range here is between 100 and 500 — sometimes even just a few dozen. Points in this range are quite modest, belonging only to the most ordinary disciples."
"This is the mid-grade zone. The contribution point range is roughly between 500 and 2,000, with some fluctuation up or down within this tier."
"This is the high-grade zone. Missions here are worth at least 2,000 points, up to a maximum of ten thousand."
"Above the high-grade zone is the elite zone. The elite zone starts at a baseline of ten thousand points and can reach as high as thirty thousand."
"Mm, above the elite zone, there's the crown zone. The crown zone is the elite among the elite, ranging from thirty thousand to a hundred thousand."
"As for anything exceeding a hundred thousand, that falls into the sovereign zone. Reaching that tier means you're a top-tier figure in the Sacred Land — someone who can stand on equal footing with Elder Ziche here. Fellow Daoist Ziche, you won't be offended by my explanation, will you?"
Ziche Min smiled faintly. "As long as you explain it clearly and simply, why would I be offended?"
"Haha, this explanation is indeed easier to understand." Jiang Chen had toured each zone and now had a general grasp of them.
He had to admit that the layout and structure of the Merit Hall were extremely well-organized. The contribution point ranges were reasonable, and the hierarchy was crystal clear.
Jiang Chen's footsteps came to a stop before the sovereign zone.
"The missions in the sovereign zone must be quite terrifying, I imagine?" Jiang Chen smiled slightly. "I wonder — does anyone ever apply for sovereign zone missions?"
Gu Yunjin smiled. "Not too many, generally. But it's not unheard of. The Merit Hall has strict rules. To apply for a sovereign zone mission, you must have completed a crown zone mission within the past year."
"So if you haven't completed a crown zone mission, you can't apply for a sovereign zone mission at all?" Jiang Chen felt a twinge of disappointment upon hearing this.
"It's not that it's impossible. If you've completed a crown zone mission and then apply for a sovereign zone one, you're absolutely permitted to do so. Moreover, even if you fail the sovereign zone mission, you won't face any penalty. However, if you haven't previously completed a crown zone mission and apply for a sovereign zone mission right off the bat, failure will require you to pay a corresponding price."
"What price?"
"Ten percent of the contribution points for that mission will be deducted." Gu Yunjin said with a smile.
This rule wasn't hard to understand. It served to prevent everyone from rushing to apply for sovereign zone missions all at once, which would have thrown the whole system into chaos.
Without rules and constraints, things would become far too chaotic. If everyone pursued sovereign zone missions, aiming absurdly high, how could the Sacred Land function?
So the Sacred Land encouraged people to challenge missions one tier at a time. As long as you climbed the ranks step by step, even a failure later on would carry no negative consequences.
This rule was, therefore, entirely reasonable.
Of course, Jiang Chen didn't have the luxury of applying for missions one tier at a time. If he did that, heaven only knew how long it would take to accumulate the roughly one hundred thousand contribution points he needed.
His deadline was one year.