Chapter 1164: Chapter 616: Four Hundred Thousand (Three Chapters in One)
If it weren’t for her, how could he have swallowed his anger like this?
And those five hundred thousand Cultivators, how innocent they were! Over the past several hundred years, most of the Soul Power of the Cultivators who died on the Northern Front had been stolen by Gongshu Zhao. After Yin Jiu You escaped from Guangcheng Palace’s Yuhu Peak, he found it hard to advance his cultivation, so he came up with this brilliant open plot—forcing Changtian to slaughter everywhere, while he hid in the shadows and stole the Soul Power from the battlefields.
That despicable bastard pushed the man she loved to the very tip of the spear, while he himself reaped all the profits from behind the scenes. How could there be such a good deal in this world? How could she possibly let him have his way!
She clenched her fists over and over before saying, "Keep talking!"
He Sect Leader gave a light cough and said, "After Lord Changtian returned from the Central Capital to the Hidden Stream, he immediately began rectifying sect affairs, and drew up a new legion structure for the Hidden Stream. Two months later, the Hidden Stream found some random pretext, split its forces into seven routes, and launched a surprise assault on the Northwest Alliance, seizing thirteen Sects within twenty days. Before the Northwest Alliance could even react, it had already collapsed; as for Guangcheng Palace, one of the leaders of the Northwest Alliance, because it was too far away in the Central region, by the time they received the news, the matter was basically settled."
This was indeed beyond her expectations; she hadn’t thought that the first thing Changtian would do after returning to the Hidden Stream would be to take a knife to the surrounding Sects. But thinking it through, she understood. Strategically, there was the so‑called "ally with the distant, attack the near," and also "to repel external enemies, one must first pacify the interior." There had always been rifts between the Hidden Stream and the Northwest Alliance; not to mention older grudges, just a few years ago the Hidden Stream’s Immortal Plant Garden had been blown up by someone. Since Changtian wanted to forge his own army into an ironclad barrel, how could he leave such a hidden danger unaddressed?
As for the agreement originally signed between the Hidden Stream and the Northwest Alliance.
Agreements are made to be torn up, aren’t they? As long as one side is strong enough, an agreement isn’t worth much more than a sheet of waste paper.
Besides, shattering the Northwest Alliance and annexing Immortal Sect power naturally came with very real benefits.
The Hidden Stream had stayed in the Bashe Forest for too long; though they lived freely, they had no Human cities as their foundation and could not enjoy mortals’ Tribute. Yet in the current Southern Continent, the prosperity of Immortal Sect and Demon Sect alike rested precisely on the most basic, lowest-level ordinary Humans! The Hidden Stream’s combat strength was extraordinary, but their wealth was far from sufficient. By taking these small Sects of the Northwest Alliance, the Hidden Stream likewise took over, as a matter of course, the Human settlements and cities under their control!
What can a Human city provide an Immortal Sect? Besides Immortal Silver, there is a huge pool of labor, local products and resources, talent, consumption and entertainment, and so on—it is vital capital with a self-renewing "blood-making" function. The Hidden Stream would not know how many more Battles it would have to fight in the future; it urgently needed a large number of cities to supply it with ample materials and funds.
Changtian’s combat experience was extraordinarily rich; he must have understood that in the final reckoning, war only consumes two things: Humans and money.
From the names He Sect Leader recited of those dozen or so Sects, she could tell they were all Immortal Sects closest to the Hidden Stream, and most importantly, each of them governed some distinctive territory—either prosperous cities, or towns with special products, and two Immortal Sects were even right next to mines. Taken as a whole, the entire Southwest Region had many trees but few mines; those two Sects had been living off the mountain, feeding off the mines, enjoying for countless years the wealth brought by mineral resources, and in the end they too brought calamity upon themselves because of those minerals.
"For the Immortal Sects that were attacked, in the early-stage surprise strikes the Hidden Stream only sought to be fast, ruthless, and precise, so..." He Sect Leader stole a glance at her expression before stammering on, "they were basically exterminated to the last Sect. Lord Changtian did not wish to leave any remnants alive, lest they come seeking trouble later."
"From top to bottom, not one left alive?" She closed her eyes for a moment, not knowing what to say. Changtian truly was ruthless.
"Yes." He Sect Leader said quietly, "The ones who infiltrated the Endless Sea Eye to attack you the other day were the remnants of the Yangming Sect. Those two weren’t in the sect at the time and escaped with their lives; they turned right around to plot against you, and almost caused a great disaster. So although Lord Divine Monarch’s methods appear vicious, they are the most effective."
Ning Xiaoxian fell silent. Everyone knew that when you cut the weeds you must pull up the roots; but how many could really bring themselves to be that ruthless?
After a while, she murmured, "If he acts like this, when it comes time to crusade against other Sects later, it will probably be very difficult."
"You even thought of that." He Sect Leader said admiringly, "Indeed, when the Hidden Stream went on to attack the later Sects, they did bite into hard bones. Since their Sects were going to fall and they themselves wouldn’t survive anyway, those people resisted desperately, and the Hidden Stream’s rate of advance immediately slowed down."
