After the path was cut off

Chapter 13 Getting Involved Through Relatives

Li Wangxiang poured him half a cup of tea and asked casually:

"Since you've already decided to leave the sect and establish your own, which spiritual land in the Yunmeng Marsh has caught your eye?"

Gu Xiangyang thought for a moment and felt that this matter was not exactly a secret, so he answered frankly:

"Naturally, it's still those three places in the first ring: fertile fields, tranquil bay, and misty ferry."

Li Wangxiang lowered his eyes to look at the color of the tea in his cup and continued to ask:

"Why these three places in particular?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiangyang understood somewhat.

Rumors have been circulating within the sect lately that Li Wangxiang is also going to participate in the bidding for the sacred land. As for his reasons for entering the fray and which piece of land he intends to acquire, outsiders cannot understand, but one thing is clear—

This true disciple probably also had the idea of ​​"establishing an immortal sect", but he may not really understand the intricacies of it.

Thinking of this, Gu Xiangyang didn't hide anything and continued speaking:

"The reasons given are obvious to everyone. Those three spiritual sites are of high quality and have stable spiritual atmospheres, making them the most suitable for cultivation and establishing a sect."

"But these aren't the really important things."

He paused, his voice deepening slightly.

"The Immortal Sect and the War of Opening Up were originally bound together."

"The location of the chosen sacred land will determine its role in the war of conquest."

Gu Xiangyang then pointed to the outermost ring of the map on the table.

"Woye, Jingshuiwan, and Yanbodu are all located in the central area of ​​the first ring. In the future development of Yunmeng Great Marsh, such places will mostly serve as transit points, for raising people, transporting supplies, and providing support to those ahead and behind."

"In other words, it won't become a battlefield."

"Once the sect is established, there will be enough time to strengthen its foundation. Even if the disciples sent to the front lines unfortunately perish, as long as the core is not damaged, they can rise again sooner or later."

As he spoke, his tone gradually calmed down, clearly indicating that he had already considered these matters countless times in his mind.

"More importantly, these three top-grade spiritual lands, along with several surrounding high-grade and mid-grade spiritual lands, were all allocated as a whole by the sect. Now, almost all those eyeing these places are disciples of our sect."

Upon hearing this, Li Wangxiang's eyes flickered slightly.

"Is there another interpretation to this statement?"

Gu Xiangyang nodded.

"There is actually an unwritten rule in pioneering wars."

"If the surrounding affiliated immortal sects of the same sect suffer too many losses during the opening up and can no longer support the operation of their mountain gates, then the nearby immortal sects of the same sect with spare capacity can take the opportunity to absorb them."

He spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.

"Take everything you can—people, land, even the old formations of the mountain gate. After all, it's all the territory of one immortal sect, and the general affairs department is usually happy to see it happen."

Li Wangxiang paused for a moment, then asked:

"What if the surrounding sects aren't of the same lineage, but rather vassals of other immortal sects?"

Gu Xiangyang twitched the corner of his mouth.

"Then we'll have to see."

"If there are disciples within one's own immortal sect who are willing to take over and contribute, they will usually be absorbed internally first. But if no one is willing to touch it, and the position is really awkward, it will most likely be packaged up and sold to an affiliated immortal sect of another sect."

Upon hearing this, Li Wangxiang finally nodded slowly. The words, corroborated by what he had learned from the various jade slips he had recently acquired, gave him a sense of sudden enlightenment.

He said softly:

"In that case, the pioneering wars were not only about opening up new lands, but also about using these rules to constantly rearrange the subordinate immortal sects."

Gu Xiangyang gave a bitter smile.

"Those bigwigs only care about the results. As for who died, who was swallowed up, and who stood on top of whom in the process... as long as the ground keeps moving forward, no one cares too much."

Gu Xiangyang's words were hesitant:

"Junior brother, let me share another of my private speculations. The four rings of Yunmeng will inevitably lead to the establishment of the Immortal Abode in one of the four cities. The first Immortal City will be located near Woye, Jing Shui Bay, and Yanbo Ferry."

Li Wangxiang was surprised. This kind of information would never be mentioned in the jade slip.

He raised his eyes and said, "Senior brother, aren't you afraid that after hearing this news, I'll turn around and seize those three top-grade spiritual lands?"

Gu Xiangyang said frankly, "This is not a top secret. With your intelligence, it's only a matter of time before you figure it out. Since you asked, I will naturally tell you everything I know."

"As for seizing it, if Junior Brother is truly interested, I'll be relieved. Only once Junior Brother's destination is decided can our Seventh Peak confidently make its next move, right?"

Li Wangxiang felt a chill run down his spine, and his gaze toward Gu Xiangyang became more scrutinizing and wary.

If it were Li Wangxiang, he would never have thought that far ahead.

Li Wangxiang didn't dwell on it for long before turning his attention to the second ring.

"The opening up of the Yunmeng Marshland is ultimately preparation for the war to open up the East China Sea. Once the battle line advances to the East China Sea, won't the first ring be too far from the front line?"

Gu Xiangyang nodded.

"Of course."

Li Wangxiang looked at him and continued to press:

"If that's the case, why not just aim for a better position on the second ring?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiangyang smiled instead.

"Because that's not something newcomers like us can afford to play."

He reached out and lightly touched several sacred sites in the second ring.

"From the second ring onwards, the spiritual atmosphere has already become strange. The spiritual veins are there, but if we really want to set up the mountain gate, we will first have to spend several years, more than ten years, or even longer to sort out the earth's energy, suppress miasma, set up formations, and cleanse demons."

"Those kinds of places have always been only manageable by established affiliated immortal sects, or by several sects working together."

"My fellow disciples and I are all venturing out of the mountains for the first time. We lack manpower, experience, and resources. If we were to plunge headlong into the depths of the second ring, we would most likely die before we even managed to cultivate the land."

"Furthermore, junior brother, you really don't know that after the sudden defeat in the war to open up the Northern Plains, our Tianxuan Sect alone had more than two hundred affiliated immortal sects withdrawn from the Northern Plains. All of these people will be stuffed into Yunmeng."

"These fifty-odd spiritual sites in the second ring are not enough for these immortal sects to divide up."

Li Wangxiang pondered for a long time, then suddenly looked up, his gaze intense: "If I insist on establishing a gate in the Second Ring, what do you think, Senior Brother?"

Gu Xiangyang's hand holding the teacup suddenly paused. He stared at Li Wangxiang's face, which was not at all joking, and his brows gradually furrowed into knots.

"Junior brother, it's not that I underestimate you, but that place... you can't control it."

"The General Affairs Hall has announced that whoever wins the bid for the second ring of spiritual land must immediately accept at least three defeated immortal sects from the Northern Plains."

"Junior brother, do you know what this means?"

Li Wangxiang was taken aback. The General Affairs Department had actually made such a promise, something Shen Bai had never mentioned.

"If we really accept them, will we be sidelined?"

Gu Xiangyang nodded heavily. "Junior brother, who do you think they were putting on an act by crying and wailing outside the sect for the past two weeks? They've already secretly arranged things with the General Affairs Hall through connections. These fifty-odd spiritual lands, which one belongs to which one, have already been privately demarcated."

To put it bluntly, this is called "bringing your family to join you." No matter what the final owner of the land is, these people are determined to settle there. Once you choose that piece of land, it's like taking on a bunch of ancestors you can't shake off.

Ultimately, they were all sent out by the Tianxuan Sect as a source of patronage. Which sect doesn't have a powerful backer within its ranks? How could the sect truly bear to force them into becoming rogue cultivators or evil cultivators?

He chuckled self-deprecatingly, then said earnestly, "Junior brother, you can't have everything. The sect has already done an extremely difficult job by guarding the spiritual land of the first ring, keeping those old foxes at bay, and providing us new disciples with a safe place to settle and grow. As for the murky waters of the second ring, we really can't wade through them at this stage."

After hearing this, Li Wangxiang fell into a brief moment of contemplation.

His insistence on leaving the sect was precisely to escape the ever-present surveillance. As for taking the second ring, "The Abyss of Corrupted Water," it was entirely because the gaze of the [Passing Water] True Person had fallen upon it. The final form the spiritual land took was of little importance to him, even negligible.

However, there is one thing: you must never take your relatives to such a place and risk your lives.

Having figured this out, Li Wangxiang finally looked up at Gu Xiangyang.

"There are three days left until the bidding for the sacred site."

Gu Xiangyang nodded and was about to speak when he saw Li Wangxiang take out a jade disc of immortal skills and slowly push it over.

"I have no intention of fighting for the sacred land of the first ring."

He paused briefly, as if considering his words for a moment, before continuing:

"However, I have a personal matter to attend to, and I must shamelessly trouble you, senior brother."

Upon hearing this, Gu Xiangyang couldn't help but look up at him.

Li Wangxiang lowered his eyes to look at the map, his tone still calm, but softer than before, carrying a rare hint of weariness:

"My departure from the clan this time is motivated by a desire to protect my relatives."

"My relatives are all in Zhongzhou, and they are all ordinary people with no cultivation whatsoever."

"If I really want to go to the second ring, or even further in, there are some places that I can go to myself, but they can't."

"We can't just drag them into such dangerous places to try and survive from the very beginning."

"Therefore, I would like to trouble my senior brother to find me a sacred place in the first ring. I don't ask for anything fancy or eye-catching, just a peaceful one."

As he spoke, he pushed the jade disc closer.

Gu Xiangyang stared at the immortal jade disc and remained silent for a long time.

By this time, he understood perfectly well—

Li Wangxiang is determined to jump into the fire pit of the second ring!

Even so, before he left, this man was still thinking of his unarmed mortal relatives.

Gu Xiangyang suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

He suddenly remembered many years ago, that naive boy who would hold onto his family letters all day long and would give a cold look to anyone who touched them.

After all these years of ups and downs, this person's Achilles' heel remains unchanged.

Moreover, the fact that Li Wangxiang was willing to entrust his vital relatives to him carries immense weight.

Thinking of this, Gu Xiangyang's voice trembled:

"Junior brother..."

"If you trust me, why do you need to buy more sacred land? You can leave these relatives with me for now."

He became more and more anxious as he spoke, and his speech quickened:

"Once you purchase the sacred land, you'll be burdened with countless mundane affairs. Junior Brother, you'll be running around on both fronts, how will you manage to keep up?"

"It's not too late to bring people over after our junior brother has truly established himself over there."

Li Wangxiang's expression faltered slightly.

Gu Xiangyang had clearly already mentally reconciled the matter.

He felt much more at ease, and a perfectly timed "true meaning" appeared in his eyes.

"Senior brother, your words have truly relieved my great distress."

"Now I can finally rest easy."