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“War gives birth to opportunities and opportunities give rise to talents.”
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When Qai arrived in the Precious Tree Sect, he truly overheard that the Patriarchs of the different clans within the region did indeed come.
But as to the reason why, nobody knew.
Apparently, all the elders of the sect also seemed to be unavailable at the moment so Qai decided to see Ji Wuheng instead, hoping that the latter knew a thing or two.
“Ai, I was in the middle of my seclusion so I really have no idea what’s going on. Look at you, dear brother, you already reached level 9 in the Qi Condensation stage. So how can this old man slack off?”
After some pleasantries, Qai gave the other his remaining medicinal pills from the regular distribution since Qai felt that he has no longer any need of them at this stage.
Qai then departed from Ji Wuheng’s place and proceeded to the Regulations Hall.
‘Official Fatty Liu must know something right.’
His thoughts that the sect elder was a natural when it came to gossips so he felt that the latter would know something.
So when Qai approached the sect official, he skipped dilly-dallying and immediately asked the latter in a soft voice but he also went straight to bribing Fatty Liu with some Spirit Stones.
“Senior, what do you make of this strange meeting with the Patriarchs?”
“Hah, junior, since you’ve been good to me, I will share you a piece of information. This one is highly classified so you better shut your mouth after this.”
True enough, official Fatty Liu energetically shared the details that he knew but when Qai heard the news, he almost fell on the ground.
He had just joined the Sect, and all of a sudden, a major catastrophe was already on the horizon.
“Senior, does this mean the sect competition is already canceled?”
“What are you talking about? Such a trifling tradition doesn’t amount to the grand scheme of things. If I were you, you better prepare and save a lot of resources. This conflict will surely hit the price in the shops.”
Apparently, one of the four large sects, the Broken Moon Sect, had broken the thousand-year long truce among the 4 overlord sects of the Crimson Edge Continent when it decided to conquer its neighboring Scarlet Feather Sect.
For whatever reason the Broken Moon Sect may have, it was definitely an unforeseen event that could lead to changes in the entire continent.
The continent was mainly a home to 4 sects with territories evenly distributed, namely, the Precious Tree Sect in Northern region, the Heavenly Sword Sect in West, the Scarlet Feather Sect in East and the Broken Moon Sect in South.
Each sect governed a region which had a number of cultivation clans and families under their jurisdiction—from which the sect ordinarily obtained resources and disciples.
For a long time—on the surface—the 4 large sects had been living peacefully with one another.
While they allow the younger generation of disciples to entangle with one another, that was just part of the disciples ‘tempering.’
And so the news that the Broken Moon Sect decided to wage war against Scarlet Feather Sect was surely unprecedented.
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In such a large scale battle, it could mean that even the elites of each sect may join the fight.
One could only imagine the level of damage a battle between Core Formation elders would bring to the lands of the continent.
The situation was indeed catastrophic!
And what was even worse was that it became a window of opportunity for the Heavenly Sword Sect to attack the Precious Tree Sect.
For a long time, the Heavenly Sword Sect had coveted the Nine Spirit Leaf Tree.
So now that there was no longer any threat from their rear, the sect had the luxury concentrate their forces to push forward to the Precious Tree Sect.
“Here’s the thing, junior. If this conflict did indeed turn into a chaotic war, everyone will have to participate. From the elites down to the very bottom of the sects and clans.”
Qai simply nodded in agreement.
But in truth, his thoughts were already spinning on what to do.
“And you better watch out. In this kind of turmoil, you will never know who’s your friend and who’s your enemy.”
Upon hearing all of official Fatty Liu’s suppositions, Qai immediately went back to his valley while thinking of a lot of things.
Qai was not scared of war.
He had been studying war strategies since young from his previous life. The only thing that was frightening was the fact that this cultivation world was filled with immortals.
And as a cultivator himself, Qai was just in the lowest realm.
Consequently, all his plans suddenly crumbled into pieces.
‘Shall I go back to Kamaria? That place was at least safe from battles for the time being. I can stay in the core ring and strengthen myself. But if the Precious Tree Sect loses, I wonder if the other sects would invade it as well.’
He was not worried about the nameless village—as said, there was a strict unwritten rule among the cultivators not to harm mortal villages, towns, and cities.
In the worst scenario, Kamaria Island would just have a new overlord and that’s all. But even that wouldn't matter much since the villagers would probably never know of it just the same.
‘Perhaps it's best to stay for a while and wait for any announcement from the Sect Master.’
He had no way to know what was the reason why Broken Moon Sect suddenly waged war against Scarlet Feather Sect. He can only wait in order to find out what really happened.
But even if he came to know of it, there was nothing really he could do to change it—he was just a tiny existence in the vast lands of this cultivation world.
At one point, while in his valley, Ji Wuheng came to him and shared the things he actually heard from official Fatty Liu.
‘Seems like things are starting to leak out.’
“Brother Ji Wuheng, what are you planning to do?”
“Is there really anything we could do? This is war. Perhaps everyone will be sent on missions in the battlefront. For some, this is an opportunity to earn Contribution Points, for others, it will be their time of meeting their harsh fate.”
“Will the entire southern territory be decimated if our Sect loses in this battle?”
“That’s hardly the case not unless that would be the true intention of the enemy.”
Qai nodded.
It made sense to him that it would be a waste to exterminate everything to the ground.
“Brother Qai, from what I understand, the Maple City and the rest of the territories of the 8 clans would probably not be harmed since they would be a good source of resources should the enemy take over. Perhaps there will just be a designated battleground for this war. But for the loser, either the surviving cultivators get absorbed or chased away to look for another place to rebuild.”
‘Makes sense. Then perhaps pushing through with the planned shop would still work. As Fatty Liu said, the prices would skyrocket during the chaos. This war, then, will be the biggest opportunity for merchants.’
After Ji Wuheng’s visit, Qai immediately went to find the Crag Brothers and relayed everything he learned and discussed their own plans.
In the end, the group decided to put up a makeshift shop near where the battleground would be.
“The two of you should focus on concocting healing pills or rejuvenating pills as well as refining escape talismans and attack talismans.”
The two grinned and nodded in anticipation of a huge income.
While both of their works were of the lower grades, they would still sell like hot potatoes since they were basic necessities in times of war.
Qai also handed the two array formation flags and instructed them to never forget to arrange the flags in their shop.
“Young Master, we’ll be needing the help of a few of your giant Ants to act as protectors of the shop.”
“There’s no need to worry. I’ll send them in secret when the time comes.”
As soon as their discussion ended, Qai went back to the sect to wait for the official announcements.