Chapter 1115: Worldwide Changes
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The war of the lands started after more than a year of ample preparations from both sides, yet lasted under two weeks. These few days were more than enough to cause a widespread change to the world.
The losses in the war were the highest on the four lands’ side, having been the one at disadvantage to begin with. They had lost close to three quarters of all their manpower to hold back the invading army. It was nothing more than a pyrrhic victory, of blood and carnage.
Nonetheless, a win was what they had achieved against a formidable foe. They had forced the central area into retreating. Yet it felt more of a defeat because when the chance presented itself to finish off the undefeated empire, they chose to let it slip away for some odd reason.
All the soldiers who risked their lives and the very few lucky ones to have outlived this war felt toyed with at the news. For what had they bled so much?
While the powers that be talked among each other, the lower rung was easily swayed and gullible. Saying something like it was for their own good, as more losses would be disastrous, or any such sanctimonious excuses, was enough.
This took their mind off the reality that the Invincible Sword was going to come back with a vengeance, possibly go berserk in his a.s.sault. While a fraction of officers were sharp enough to figure it out, the main bulk of the army was made up of lost sheep going where the wind blew. All the pain, bloodshed and suffering felt soothed with tangible gains in their hands.
After such a genocidal war, many crucial positions in the four lands became open. In the western lands’ case, the nine sects were in short supply of disciples and elders, and they started ma.s.s recruiting. In the eastern lands and southern lands’ cases, the head clans ruling them were short handed as well and needed to fill in countless spots, mostly low positions.
With brilliant prospects ripe for the taking, many scrambled to climb the social ladder. For who had the time to mind insipid stuff like the illogical decision of the leaders to negotiate a ceasefire?
The Luo Alliance had heavy losses as well and also took in crowds of people into their fold. Every time he saw the boundless greed in all their eyes, Luo Yunhai sighed, “The pigs…”
Leng Wuchang and Zhuge Changfeng were happy though, as supreme power was being dumped on their’ heads. Without these fools, who would carry out all those power plays and upstaging battles?
Such was reality. As the Luo Alliance wasn’t a selective sect that took one disciple at a time, it could gobble up whole clans by the dozens. It recruited like a ravenous whale feasting on krill. In mere months, it was halfway back to its old self. It left all the sects in the dust and in utter shock.
The Luo Alliance experienced the swiftest growth after the war. While the quality left much to be desired, it made up in quant.i.ty. It jumped right into being at a top middle-three sect level and even showed signs of catching up to a superior-three sect.
Double Dragon Manor was just as stunned. Before, the Luo Alliance was only at the top lower-three sect level. The growth was just insane.
It soon became apparent why. This was the Luo Alliance’s spoils from the war. Being an alliance, it had swift growth as its main feature. This was noted even before the war, though not at this rate since other veteran sects stood above. Now that the veteran powers were weakened, the Luo Alliance showed just how fast it could bolster their ranks.
Exalted Double Dragons sighed.
[Zhuo Fan has set up the Luo Alliance well. Luo Alliance will soon become the head of the nine sects, if not on the Double Dragon Manor’s level.]
None of them were aware that this war had stirred Luo Yunhai to reach for the top. Double Dragon Manor would have no chance to stop it by then.
Some clans cheered, others bemoaned. While the western lands were buzzing with activity and recuperation after the war, the southern lands, northern lands and eastern lands were in the pits of despair, wretched and devastated.
Their main factions were recovering, sure, but the main issue here was the lack of a most crucial figure. The three divine swords got lost when their wielders entered the Sea Demon’s black mist in a grave state, and now those three clans washed their hands of their lands’ problems, opting for seclusion.
The three lands were left dumbstruck. Without the leaders, it’d be a miracle if they could withstand the Nine Sword Kings, to say nothing of the Invincible Sword.
To get these three leaders to come back to them, the northern lands’ group kicked Ouyang Changqing’s door, the eastern lands’ blue bloods waited at Shangguan Qingyan’s house for news, while the coots in the southern lands had the Murong compound on lockdown to not let Murong Lie go, staying there until death if they had to.
They were met with a vile and most unscrupulous Ouyang Changqing. He knew they needed him so he had no qualms in asking for a bribe then and there. To make it worse, he flaunted in their face every day, acting like the king of the northern lands and getting on their nerves because he knew they couldn’t touch him. As for when his old man would come around, he made sure to be as vague as possible.
In Shangguan Qingyan’s case, there was a lady too refined and poised to fall so low. So she bolted her door to any and all solicitors. The troublemakers were easily dispatched with the help of the clan’s three venerables. They were far from helpless. After some thorough examples were made, the crowd knew when to take a hint.
The biggest shock came in the Murong clan. Murong Lie vanished and, as it turned out, so did his sister. With the two gone, the clan had no one to turn to.
Having lost their divine swords and their leaders, the three lands were at their weakest in history. With little choice, they returned to restoring their strength. They learned from the western lands to just take in people en ma.s.se for the common ranks. This ought to patch up the most glaring vulnerability. The more the better, no?
The four lands being in such a horrid mess presented the perfect chance to the central area to take them all down. With their Nine Sword Kings, a division was more than enough to mow them down.
Baili Jingwei’s peace accord made it impossible, having pledged on his own Dao Heart from invading those lands for the century to come.
Though a man as wise as Baili Jingwei, was not so foolish to set himself up to a hundred years of stagnation. The peace came to be because he had no choice. He truly needed a century of peace.
The Sword Star Empire was the mightiest, employing the greatest army, but it had lost its cohesion, a thing of the past, replaced by bits and pieces.
With the central area’s vast swaths of lands and riches, in just a couple of weeks, a million insurrections ignited. A third of the towns fell, making it the worst civil war in the history of the central area.
Zhuo Fan made a killer move telling the Serene Sh.o.r.es Trading to rise up in time of war. Even within the relatively short time frame, the Serene Sh.o.r.es Trading had no qualms and flipped the mighty nation upside down, especially how void it was of any real military to stop them.
The entire insurrection was a chain reaction. With one taking the lead, the other local thugs followed right after. It led to the mighty nation that knew only peace for a millennia burning down to pieces faster than tinder.
Baili Jingwei, himself, was stunned to find the peace he maintained had so many dangers lurking under the surface. They hardly were worth notice, if they had been put out when they started. Now though, he had to rein it in and look after his Patriarch while pacifying the four Sword Kings.
He knew though, that the Sword Star Empire was now changed forever. The insurrection was on a ma.s.sive scale. He might force it to simmer, but the embers would still be there, losing the cohesion it enjoyed for so many years. To cull all the foreign elements from such a large territory required time and patience, a hundred years at least.
Baili Jingwei made the vow for good reason. He did not want the four lands to mess up his nation any more than it already was. Funny how the four lands’ leaders still thought they had forced Baili Jingwei into a corner to make such a proposal, enjoying their victory. They were just oblivious to the fact that Baili Jingwei played them all this time.
Time, it was something every side needed right now, Prime Minister Baili the most.
“Grandmaster, how is the Patriarch’s condition?”
In a dim hall, a wizen old man came from behind a thick drape. Baili Jingtian rushed him for answers. The emperor and the crown prince were right behind him.
The man bowed, “Your Majesty, Prime Minister, Your Highness, I have given Patriarch a 12th grade pill to stabilize. However…”
“What?” All asked in one voice, laced with concern.
The elder frowned, “The Patriarch’s wounds are beyond deep, his Yuan Qi spent, his core damaged. The Patriarch still had the strength to live for close to a thousand years more, but as he is now, he shall find his rest in a hundred years, beyond any hope…”
“You’re saying Patriarch has only a hundred years…” Baili Jingwei’s heart jumped in his throat, “Grandmaster, the nation can’t do without the Patriarch. There has to be…”
The old man sighed, “Humans have their limits, and so do I. Unless…”
“What?”
“The Patriarch advances before the end, extending his life. I’ve lived for so many years already and with the Patriarch at the very peak, there still has not been any case of there being another realm above it. Thus…”
Bam!
Baili Jingwei crushed his skull with his palm, his eyes cold.
Baili Jings.h.i.+ gasped, “H-he was an imperial 12th grade alchemist…”
“Not a word can escape the Patriarch’s condition.”
Baili Jingwei’s eyes flashed, glancing at the bleeding body, “Your Majesty, he would’ve died even if he was a miracle worker. What do you think the four Sword Kings will do the minute they know of the Patriarch’s condition?”
Baili Jings.h.i.+ nodded after a thought, “How did you handle them? Are they truly in the dark about everything?”
“I made sure no word escaped carrying the Patriarch back to the imperial capital, I even had the five Sword Kings stay silent. The five of them were wounded and I had them sent to recover. The other four were sent to quell the rebellions. In any case, with the Patriarch still reigning, they will do nothing. That’s why the Patriarch must be safe!”
With hatred in his eyes, Baili Jingwei’s voice was steel…
In a gloomy forest, Wu Randong stood before the cute Qiao’er, the young Gu Santong and Zhuo Fan between them, his eyes covered with a white ribbon.
“Begin, our way to the top!”