Chapter 419 - 320: Thick Earth, Mei Susu
It was Fang Qingyuan’s first time witnessing the operation of a military formation numbering over ten thousand strong. Under the command of the Pill Alliance, disciples from hundreds of families within its domain were like countless streams converging into an ocean. Right before the Pill Alliance’s gates, they assembled into a grand military formation that radiated a murderous aura reaching for the sky.
The Pill Alliance’s power structure was originally a coalition of four or five Golden Core Clans. Each Golden Core Clan or sect, in turn, managed over a hundred Foundation Establishment Sects. This three-tiered structure was bound by contracts and blood oaths.
But ever since the Han Family produced a Nascent Soul Cultivator, Han Tianqing, the Pill Alliance’s center of power had shifted to the sect where the Han Family resided. Over the past few decades, the public’s impression of the Pill Alliance changed from an organization where several families took turns at the helm to one dominated by the Han name.
After his last secret discussion with Han Ping, Fang Qingyuan had been busy delivering War Beasts from the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect to the locations designated by the Pill Alliance. At the same time, he sent disciples to teach the Pill Alliance’s people how to control them. Now, nearly half a year later, the initial results were already showing.
Looking at the large number of War Beasts within the military formation, Fang Qingyuan felt his pockets grow heavier. This one deal was enough to keep the Qingyuan Sect well-fed for the next fifty years—provided, of course, that the sect didn’t expand too rapidly.
The Pill Alliance had either rented or purchased over a hundred War Beasts, each equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, for a total cost of over thirty thousand Top-grade Spirit Stones. This price also included more than a thousand Qi Cultivation Realm Spirit Beasts, such as Transport Beasts for logistics and insectoid beasts for scouting.
The lion’s share of the profit naturally went to the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect. However, the Qingyuan Sect’s mere ten percent commission still amounted to an income of over three thousand Top-grade Spirit Stones.
The Qingyuan Sect’s current annual income was barely over one hundred Top-grade Spirit Stones. This three thousand was pure profit, equivalent to thirty years of the Qingyuan Sect’s hard work.
This was a sudden windfall. It was the benefit of having the White Mountain Beast Taming Sect’s backing. If Fang Qingyuan hadn’t had this connection, he would never have been able to seize this opportunity.
Once the military formation was fully mustered, the Pill Alliance’s Vice Sect Leader, Elder Han Yan, led them toward the front lines. The war between the Pill Alliance and the Spirit Wood Alliance was taking place near the Lingliang Sect, which was a strange affair in itself.
This was because the lands of the Pill Alliance and the Spirit Wood Alliance didn’t share a border. Back when the Great Zhou Academy first drew the territorial lines, they had intentionally separated the two, likely hoping to prevent conflict. But a mere thirty years later, the two sides were set on fighting it out, even with the Lingliang Sect in the middle.
Fang Qingyuan blended in with a group of sect leaders and special envoys, drawing no attention to himself. After all, among the crowd were even a few Golden Core Cultivators.
Several of White Mountain’s major business houses had also sent people to observe the battle, such as the Treasure Pavilion, the Spirit Medicine Pavilion, and the Vast Collection Pavilion. These businesses had significant assets within the territories of both powers. Sending people to watch and gather firsthand information was the only way for them to prepare an effective response.
It was common sense that merchants prized information. Besides them, some rather famous White Mountain Scholars had also mingled into the crowd.
To put it nicely, these people were men of letters who made a living by recording events and publishing books and biographies. In truth, they were just information brokers. They shouldered the heavy responsibility of relaying news to those in the rear as quickly as possible, then publishing it in pamphlets to sell for Spirit Stones.
Merchants, information brokers, and representatives from other powers—this group alone made for a lively scene. But there were also observers sent by the other seven Nascent Soul Powers of White Mountain, and several among them were Golden Core Cultivators.
For instance, there was a young Female Cultivator who was petite and looked rather frail. Her beauty was absolutely stunning. Based on her appearance alone, anyone would assume she was a Low-tier Disciple brought along by an elder to gain some experience. However, using his Divine Techniques to probe, Fang Qingyuan discovered that this woman was, shockingly, a Golden Core Cultivator.
This person was a Golden Core Cultivator from the Thick Earth Alliance named Mei Susu. The Thick Earth Alliance was located on the far side of White Mountain, separated from the Spirit Wood Alliance by the mountain range itself and a great distance from their current location. ’Why would a Golden Core Cultivator from the Thick Earth Alliance come all this way in person?’ Fang Qingyuan wondered.
Furthermore, as Fang Qingyuan secretly observed Mei Susu, he noticed her intense focus on the Pill Alliance’s military formation. Observers were forbidden from interfering in the conflict, and the grand formation was wreathed in arrays and a thick fog that obscured it from ordinary sight. ’But she must have some special means to see through it all,’ Fang Qingyuan concluded.
’She’s just a woman, albeit a Golden Core, yet she’s so fervent about warfare. Could it be that the Thick Earth Alliance has no one else to send?’
Compared to Mei Susu from the Thick Earth Alliance, the other three members of the Five Elements Alliance had only sent Foundation Establishment Disciples. The Lianshui Alliance was the most perfunctory of all; a single glance at their disciples revealed they were only there to go through the motions.
Besides the Five Elements Alliance, the Hehuan Sect, the Illusion Sword Alliance, and the White Mountain Sword Sect had also sent representatives. Moreover, the most mysterious sect in White Mountain, the Star-Picking Pavilion, had sent someone for the first time, allowing Fang Qingyuan to finally see what a member of the Star-Picking Pavilion actually looked like.
Among the nine Nascent Soul Powers of White Mountain, the people of the Star-Picking Pavilion were the most aloof and transcendent. According to outside rumors, the entire sect had fewer than one hundred members. They rarely descended from their mountain home, and any disciples who did were of exceptionally high cultivation. No one had ever seen a mere Qi Cultivation Disciple from their sect traveling abroad.
Given Fang Qingyuan’s current status, he couldn’t very well mingle with the representatives from the Five Elements Alliance and the Illusion Sword Alliance. So, he found a corner for himself and followed the main procession as it moved forward.