Chapter 697: In Debt

In the seventy-second year since the Qingyuan Sect’s founding, Fang Qingyuan was one hundred and fifty-one years old.

This year, the long-running White Mountain War finally came to a close. The various factions, who had once cut off all traffic and patrolled everywhere, gradually began to lift their restrictions.

Fang Qingyuan did not attend the signing of the ceasefire agreement. He only sent his Vice Sect Leader, Liu Xun, to go in his stead. According to Liu Xun, because neither side trusted the other, the signing was to be held at the Black River Daoist Palace, which was controlled by the Nangong Family.

The witness was still Nangong Meng. Ever since Nangong Zhi was trapped in that Ghost Cultivation Small World, Nangong Meng had been pulled from her secluded cultivation estate to handle all sorts of matters.

The Qingyuan Sect had little to do with this war in the first place, so no one expressed any dissatisfaction when they sent someone just to fill a spot.

According to post-war statistics—and less-than-reliable news from the Black Hand—this White Mountain War resulted in the deaths of over a dozen Golden Core Cultivators, several hundred Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and tens of thousands of Qi Cultivation Cultivators.

All the major factions suffered grievous losses, with the Pill Alliance taking the worst of it. They lost five Golden Core Cultivators, which nearly caused their high-level strength to collapse. Thus, in their desperation, they went to the Outer Sea and recruited four exceptionally powerful and ruthless Golden Core Cultivators to serve as Guest Ministers and fight for the alliance.

The Golden Core Cultivators from the Outer Sea were known for their fierce dispositions and their willingness to fight to the death. With these four joining, the Pill Alliance managed to stabilize its situation. However, it’s easier to invite a god than to send one away. Now, the Pill Alliance was split into two factions, with subtle signs of discord appearing.

It made sense. These four Golden Core Cultivators had fought for the Pill Alliance for years and shed blood for it. How could they simply be kicked out after the fact? With the Pill Alliance’s Nascent Soul Cultivator, Han Tianqing, remaining in seclusion, they still needed these four Outer Sea Cultivators to maintain their public standing.

Besides the Pill Alliance, another sect that suffered devastating losses was the White Mountain Sword Sect.

With the situation of their old ancestor currently unknown and no news from him for a long time, combined with the loss of their Sword of the Sect, the Xuanli Sword, the future of the White Mountain Sword Sect was shrouded in an indescribable shadow.

Fortunately, the Illusion Sword Alliance still staunchly supported the White Mountain Sword Sect, which prevented them from suffering a retaliatory strike from the Sharp Metal and Thick Earth Alliances. After fighting for so long, everyone did the math and realized their territories were still the same size as before.

If one had to name a winner in this war, it would have to be the Hehuan Sect. The war cemented their status: without the Hehuan Sect’s approval, White Mountain would be split into northern and southern territories, and no one could pass through on a large scale—not even the combined forces of Spirit Wood and Li Huo.

Currently, the various external factions were still haggling over the details. It looked like the ceasefire agreement wouldn’t be signed for quite some time.

But a truce was the overarching trend in White Mountain. No matter how deep the enmities ran, as long as the Nascent Soul Cultivators at the top no longer wished to fight, the leaders of the sects below had to forcibly restrain their subordinates and bring the war to a respectable conclusion.

The major trend in White Mountain right now was a gradual move toward a ceasefire, returning to the days that were chaotic on the surface but, in reality, quite orderly.

However, after a decade of slaughter, some Cultivators had grown accustomed to this way of life. Others had reaped great benefits from this environment. Now, being told to stop so abruptly, this group of people was not entirely willing.

…

At House Mountain, inside a hidden cave, a group of Cultivators was resting. Their leader was a middle-aged man at Foundation Establishment Late-Stage Perfection. His cheeks were thin and slightly sunken, and a faint green light glimmered in his eyes, making him look like a vicious wolf at first glance.

As the saying goes, the face reflects the heart. When one does too many evil deeds, it becomes difficult to perfectly conceal one’s nature. Besides, Guo Yuan needed this face to intimidate his unruly subordinates. As their leader, he had to appear the toughest and most treacherous of them all.

This was a group of powerful Cultivators; every one of them was a skilled Foundation Establishment expert. In White Mountain, each had their own deadly specialty. They had all clawed their way out of a Mountain of Corpses and a Sea of Blood, their bodies steeped in the resentful aura of the Cultivators they had slain, striking fear into all who saw them.

Guo Yuan’s group was a motley crew. Some were originally Loose Cultivators who had been scraping by in White Mountain, others were Cultivators from remote cultivation grounds outside the region, and a portion were former criminals who had been facing long prison sentences.

In the Cultivator Realm, when a Cultivator violated the laws of the Great Zhou Academy, they were punished to varying degrees depending on the severity of their crime.

It seemed to be a common belief that when a Cultivator erred, they should be executed—to cut the grass, one must pull up the roots.

But that was just a personal way of thinking. The Great Zhou Academy, as the master of this realm, still prioritized re-education. If they were to execute every Cultivator who made a mistake, the Great Zhou Academy would not have remained the Realm Master for so long.

Although the Great Zhou Academy was impartial and incorruptible, as long as a crime didn’t involve being a Demon or Ghost Cultivator, or something like stealing an infant’s body for possession, they generally avoided execution. As a result, the Great Zhou Academy’s prisons in every region held many incarcerated Cultivator criminals.

These criminals had different sentences depending on their crimes, but the Foundation Establishment Cultivators here were basically all looking at thirty to forty years.

Serving time was no small matter. It wasn’t like a secluded retreat where the Great Zhou Academy would provide you with a high-grade Spiritual Land. They only guaranteed the most basic supply of Spiritual Qi, enough to keep one’s realm from declining. As for actually cultivating, that was just a fantasy.