Chapter 447: Chapter 432: Situation in the Land of the Far West
The Luoyun Mountain Range is the name of the lofty mountains Zhouyang had seen from a distance earlier.
This mountain range stretches over twenty thousand miles from north to south, containing two sects with Golden Core Stage Cultivators presiding: the Luoyun Sect and the Dan Yun Sect.
These two sects each occupy half of the Luoyun Mountain Range and over ten thousand miles of land extending towards the Land of the Far West. Nominally, the Rocky Wilderness also belongs to their territory.
However, the Rocky Wilderness is extremely barren, and neither the Luoyun Sect nor the Dan Yun Sect is interested in managing it. Thus, they let a deteriorated small sect named "Giant Spirit Sect," whose inheritance is incomplete, occupy the only Tier Three Spirit Mountain there, to oversee the land for them.
Both the Luoyun Sect and the Dan Yun Sect, as well as the Giant Spirit Sect, belong to the Anti-Light Alliance.
The Anti-Light Alliance was established several thousand years ago; initially, certain forces from the Land of the Far West formed it to resist the Great Brightness Immortal Palace. Later, seeing them able to rival the palace without falling, more forces joined to counter the palace’s domineering rule.
Under the pressure of the Anti-Light Alliance, the Great Brightness Immortal Palace’s internal factions had to temporarily cease internal struggles and restrain some previous domineering behaviors, focusing all vassal forces on resisting the alliance’s attacks.
Over the millennia, countless battles have ensued between the two great forces, with each experiencing victories and defeats; neither could truly annihilate the other, leading to a stalemate.
Currently, for nearly two hundred years, the two forces have not engaged in large-scale wars, with only minor conflicts at the borders involving cultivators below the Golden Core Stage.
Now, the power structure within the Anti-Light Alliance has undergone significant changes.
Currently, the top tier of the Anti-Light Alliance consists of six elite major sects: the Supreme Mysterious Sword Sect, Celestial Spirit Sect, Water Moon Valley, Haoyang Sect, Li Huo Sect, and the Golden Body Fighting Sect.
Each of these elite major sects is guarded by at least two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and protected by Tier Six arrays at their mountain gates.
The position of Alliance Leader within the Anti-Light Alliance can only be contested by cultivators from these six elite major sects, while the remaining five automatically receive Vice Alliance Leader positions.
Below the six elite major sects are thirty-six middle-ranking sects and clans, each with an elder seat eligible to participate in major decisions within the Anti-Light Alliance.
Clans like the Zhou Family wishing to join the Anti-Light Alliance must have a middle-tier sect as an introducer.
Below these thirty-six middle-tier sects and clans are numerous and basic cultivation clans and declining small sects within the Anti-Light Alliance.
The Luoyun Sect within the Luoyun Mountain Range is one of the thirty-six middle-tier sects of the Anti-Light Alliance.
The "Giant Spirit Sect" within the Rocky Wilderness was once among these, but has now fallen to the lowest tier of the forces within the alliance.
As for another sect within the Luoyun Mountain Range with Golden Core Stage Cultivators, the Dan Yun Sect, due to its relatively recent joining of the alliance, has not accrued enough merits to enter the ranks of the thirty-six middle-tier sects, thus having less influence than the Luoyun Sect and no authority to introduce other forces to the alliance.
Li Hong suggested to Zhouyang that he should navigate the Void Traveling Tower Ship and lead all Zhou Family cultivators across the Luoyun Mountain Range through its remote areas, and then find an Immortal City behind it to stay. There, they should scatter the Zhou family’s Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators and Foundation Establishment Cultivators to enter the Immortal City, first living as loose cultivators, and after familiarizing with the situation, then seek the opportunity to establish a clan.
Zhouyang adopted this suggestion and successfully led everyone through the Luoyun Mountain Range, entering the mortal nation known as Yu Country behind it.
He had already obtained the map of Yu Country from a Foundation Establishment Cultivator of the Giant Spirit Sect.
According to the information recorded on the map, throughout the territory of Yu Country, including the two sects within the Luoyun Mountain Range, there are six sects with Golden Core Stage Cultivators, eight Purple Mansion Clans, four declining small sects with only Purple Mansion Cultivators, a lone Golden Core Stage Cultivator, and two Purple Mansion loose cultivators occupying mountain residences.
These forces are all registered within the Anti-Light Alliance and have divided all the Tier Four and above Spirit Mountains and important ore veins within Yu Country.
Sects and clans like the Giant Spirit Sect, where only Foundation Establishment Cultivators preside, must attach themselves to a certain sect or clan to survive.
Take the Giant Spirit Sect as an example; as a vassal of the Luoyun Sect, they not only must pay tribute to the Luoyun Sect every ten years but also must dispatch cultivators when summoned during battles between the Anti-Light Alliance and the Great Brightness Immortal Palace.
As Li Hong mentioned, these vassal forces, whose cultivators are deployed to the frontline to participate in the wars, essentially become cannon fodder to test enemy strength; those who return to their sects alive are one in ten.
Despite this, the cultivators of vassal forces cannot refuse or evade conscription.
Forces that refuse conscription risk having their Spirit Mountains destroyed and massacred.
Cultivators who evade recruitment will be relentlessly hunted by the Anti-Light Alliance until death!
Therefore, within the Giant Spirit Sect, every time they receive orders from the Luoyun Sect to send people to participate in the war, they can only use two methods: substantial rewards and drawing lots, to encourage sect cultivators to enlist.
Cultivators who voluntarily enlist on behalf of the sect can receive various precious treasures from the sect’s rewards. Achieving merits on the battlefield can also earn rewards from the Anti-Light Alliance, which include Foundation Establishment Pills and "Purple Heart Jade Marrow" that can help Low-Tier and Middle-Tier Cultivators break through great realms.
Drawing lots occurs when the number of volunteers is insufficient, selecting from among the entire sect’s eligible cultivators. Whomever is drawn must go.
In Zhouyang’s view, the Anti-Light Alliance’s methods are identical to those of the lords in his previous life’s Western medieval times.
The great lords grant land to lesser lords, providing protection, but in return, the lesser lords must pay tribute and dispatch soldiers to fight for the great lords.
In such situations, unless facing existential wars, regardless of how the battle unfolds, the great lord’s position is rarely shaken, while the middling and lesser lords may decline and perish from excessive losses and inability to bear the tribute gold and enlistment troops required.
Giant Spirit Sect, once one of the Thirty-Six Middle Gates, declined when its Golden Core experts were slain by Great Brightness Immortal Palace Cultivators a thousand years ago, ultimately losing Elder seats and falling into disfavor.
Zhouyang does not object to the Anti-Light Alliance’s unique survival mode, as the Cultivation Realm is inherently a place where the weak are preyed upon by the strong. Although minor powers inevitably become pawns and cannon fodder for major forces in war, those who achieve merit can rapidly rise in rank and their own forces.
Such is the case within the Anti-Light Alliance’s Thirty-Six Middle Gates; if one falls, another swiftly rises.
Even for minor sects like the Giant Spirit Sect, once they can no longer provide battle-ready cultivators to the Anti-Light Alliance, the Luoyun Sect they’ve depended on will strip them of Spirit Mountains, replacing them with another clan or sect.
The pressure faced by sect cultivators and clan cultivators here is far greater than those in the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, but their opportunities for upward ascension are also significantly larger.
Within the Boundless Desert Sea Cultivation Realm, Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators from Foundation Establishment Clans find it nearly impossible to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Yet within the Anti-Light Alliance, any willing to enter the frontline battlefield and achieve merits can easily exchange their credentials for Foundation Establishment Pills, "Purple Heart Jade Marrow," and even "Jade Liquid Golden Pill."
For Zhouyang, if the Anti-Light Alliance offers a Tier Four Spirit Mountain as a clan foundation, he has no objections to Zhou Family cultivators entering the battlefield, and he himself would even be willing to fight fiercely.
However, this is difficult; Tier Four Spirit Mountains are not like cabbages to be given away easily. Even in Yu Country’s six Golden Core Sects, offering a Tier Four Spirit Mountain as a gift is not a simple matter.
Zhouyang currently lacks a good strategy; he can only follow Li Hong’s advice and first immerse himself in Yu Country’s cultivation circle, awaiting the opportunity to gather intelligence before making further decisions.
For safety’s sake, he led Zhou Family cultivators to Cangyuan Immortal City, a renowned city within Yu Country.
Cangyuan Immortal City was established by Cangyuan Wanderer, the only Golden Core Stage cultivator within Yu Country. Cangyuan Wanderer is eight hundred years old, a genuine Eighth-Layer Golden Core cultivator, whose cultivation ranks among the top of Yu Country’s dozen Golden Core Stage cultivators.
This city’s establishment is relatively recent, less than three hundred years old, yet due to Cangyuan Wanderer’s influence and powerful appeal among Yu Country’s loose cultivators, it has become the most prosperous city in Yu Country.
It’s widely known that loose cultivators dislike restrictions and control, and Cangyuan Immortal City excels in this regard, making it very satisfactory to them.
Aside from prohibiting combat within the city, any cultivator can freely enter and exit Cangyuan Immortal City without paying entry fees or establishing identity archives.
What Zhouyang values here is the relaxed atmosphere.
These outsider cultivators, regardless of disguises, initially differ somewhat from local cultivators, but the relaxed atmosphere of Cangyuan Immortal City allows them to avoid interrogation, gradually integrating through interactions with local cultivators.
"Just over three thousand miles ahead lies Cangyuan Immortal City. The rest of the journey is up to you. Remember, do not engage in conflicts or excessively converse with strangers on the road. Upon reaching the city, refrain from wandering, find an Immortal Inn to settle and await instructions."
In a mountain forest thousands of miles from Cangyuan Immortal City, Zhouyang descended from the Void Traveling Tower Ship and released numerous Zhou Family cultivators with words of caution.
These massive Flying Boat Spiritual Artifacts like the Void Traveling Tower Ship are too conspicuous, so Zhouyang dared not maneuver such an artifact too close to Cangyuan Immortal City to avoid detection by some high-tier cultivators, which could lead to unnecessary trouble.
According to his information, Yu Country is generally quite peaceful. With merely a few thousand miles to cover, even using foot travel, the Zhou Family’s Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivators can traverse it in just a few days.
Moreover, in the event they encounter any genuine danger on the road, Zhou Guangxiang and four Foundation Establishment Cultivators escorting from behind could timely act as passing cultivators and provide aid.