Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Han Yuantai paused for a moment and observed, only to discover that the ‘old monster’ was deep in thought, apparently hooked by what he was talking about. Excited, he grew even more confident. “As the saying goes, if a man falls once, all will tread on him. The major sects went through all the trouble to crush the eunuch and his conspirators, but before they split the gains left by the eunuch and his conspirators, Wang Xi had packed up all the treasures, leaving absolutely nothing for them! At this moment, if they did not kill a scapegoat and enjoy its blood and meat, everybody would be starving!

“If we get to the bottom of it, it doesn’t matter whether or not the Purple Pole Sword Sect is Wang Xi’s conspirator. What matters is that it boasts astronomical resources as the best sword sect in the world. If the Purple Pole Sword Sect is defeated, its body will sustain the other major sects for quite a long while!

“It’s just like after a blizzard on the northern prairies, the cold, hungry wolves warm each other in a pack while observing their companions. If any of their companions show any weakness, they will attack them immediately and feed on their flesh and blood until the next companion shows weakness!

“However, the Purple Pole Sword Sect is the best sword sect in the world after all. It is not so easy to deal with.

“That’s why the major sects began with the Ling family, a family affiliated with the Purple Pole Sword Sect. They gave the Ling family a mission that was barely accomplishable. If the Ling family did fail and even raise a riot in the Southland of Sorcerers, it would’ve been a great excuse to attack the Purple Pole Sword Sect. They could even blame the Purple Pole Sword Sect for ‘conspiring with Wang Xi and rebelling in the Southland of Sorcerers’. In that case, the Purple Pole Sword Sect would certainly be doomed!

“The Purple Pole Sword Sect understood the situation clearly.

“However, most of the experts of the sect had to stay in the headquarters to keep an eye on the covetous sects nearby. Therefore, they could only spare two young, inexperienced Cultivators, one at the peak of the Core Formation Stage and the other in the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage, for the mission!

“Their arrangement was within my brother Han Baling’s expectations. That is why he was bold enough to ask me to infiltrate the Great Qian Dynasty’s territory and reach the Southland of Sorcerers!”

Li Yao bulged his eyes and asked in disbelief, “Even the issues of national importance can be taken advantage of for the conflicting sects?”

Han Yuantai burst into laughter. “You may not know this, Master, but what I spoke about was just the first clue of the shameless deeds of the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty. If I elaborate on them, three days and three nights will not be enough!

“Not just a tiny Southland of Sorcerers, do you think that the White Lotus Cult, the Heaven Battering Army, and even Cloud Qin are not backed by the major sects?”

“What!” Li Yao rose in utmost shock.

“What’s to be surprised at?” Han Yuantai replied matter-of-factly. “You will understand everything very quickly if you consider it carefully, Master. Assuming that the White Lotus Cult, the Heaven Battering Army, or Cloud Qin takes down a certain sect, who will get the greatest gains?

“The White Lotus Cult is made of wandering ghosts, and the Heaven Battering Army consists of homeless peasants. Cloud Qin is based on the Dark Cloud Prairies and cannot stay in the central plateaus for long. Even if we truly break into a sect, the only thing that we can do is run away after we plunder something.

“How much can we plunder in a hurry? Also, no matter how much we plunder, it is impossible to bring the sect’s natural paradise away with us!

“After we evacuate, or after we are ‘eliminated’ by the coalition army of the major sects, whom will the natural paradise and the remaining resources of the broken sect belong to?

“If you understand the question, you will understand why the White Lotus Cult, the Heaven Battering Army, and Cloud Qin have never been eliminated and are growing stronger after every elimination!

“Honestly speaking, many noble sects in the Great Qian Dynasty regard us as knives and hungry dogs. They’re worried that we are not sharp and voracious enough!

“Hehe. Last year, the light cavalry of Cloud Qin crushed the heavy cavalry of the court of three hundred thousand soldiers. We swept across the north and marched toward the capital city, trampling upon the headquarters of more than fifty Cultivation sects in the north on our way. If I tell you that certain southern sects were behind the battle and that it was an extension of the conflicts between the northern sects and the southern sects in the Great Qian Dynasty, would you believe it, Master?”

Li Yao felt chilly. He mumbled, “Are the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty not scared that the tigers will grow uncontrollable after they are fed too much?”

“Hahahaha!” Han Yuantai laughed aloud. “In the eyes of the spectacular Cultivators, people of Cloud Qin and people in the Southland of Sorcerers are just a bunch of wild dogs. They throw a few bones to us and ask us to bite someone, and we will. We are quite useful tools. Are we ‘tigers’ at all?”

Li Yao was rendered speechless.

“Master!” Seeing that the timing was appropriate, Han Yuantai beamed with sincerity and declared, “Heed my words! All the Cultivators of the Great Qian Dynasty are shameless, cunning, pretentious, and treacherous! A great expert growing up in the jungles in the southeast who has been secluded for training will absolutely be no match for them in terms of schemes and deception!

“The Great Qian Dynasty is a dirty swirl right now. Should you get involved, you will not even know how you get killed!”

Li Yao glanced at him and smiled. “We are finally getting back to the main topic now, aren’t we? You are belittling the Great Qian Dynasty with all your talk about dynastical cancer, public hatred, and internal strife. Is Ghost Qin of the Dark Cloud Prairies any different? Is it able to cure the ‘cancer’?”

“Of course!” Holding his head high, Han Yuantai replied confidently, “Cloud Qin is not at all similar to Great Qian. We are unifying all the Cultivators with the ‘Eight Units System’, the most advanced system in the history of the Ancient Sages Sector!

“There were few sects in the vast northern prairies in the first place. They were never too strong.

“After my brother Han Baling unified the tribes in the prairies as per the arrangement of fate, he understood the principle that ‘Cultivation sects are the cancer of a nation’ with his unparalleled wisdom!

“Therefore, he swept across the Dark Cloud Prairies with iron and blood, uprooting the few sects. He restrained all the shamans, priests, and unaffiliated Cultivators with military rules and classified them into eight units!

“Behemothic Eagle, Black Tortoise, Blue Dragon, Crimson Phoenix… When the eight units are combined, they make a well-organized army where every order is executed without fail!

“Why do we call ourselves ‘Cloud Qin’? The ignorant folks of the Great Qian Dynasty say that we are intentionally looking for an awesome ancestor to justify ourselves.

“Hehe. They are too shortsighted to understand our ambitions!

“We are of course the descendants of the Cloud Qin Empire in the past. However, it is not their bloodline that we have inherited but their spirit!

“The Cloud Qin Empire was the first magnificent dynasty to end the chaotic battles among the thousands of sects and unify the entire Ancient Sages Sector a hundred thousand years ago. How did they achieve that?

“Through the inviolable rules that all Cultivators were bound by. All the Cultivators of Cloud Qin were taught to focus on national fights and not personal ones. They were strictly forbidden from internal fights. Once discovered, both parties involved in the fight would be punished!

“Then, all the Cloud Qin Cultivators were divided into twenty levels. Each level corresponds to a certain quantity of training resources that was larger than the last level’s. It was not one’s Cultivation but one’s military credits that mattered during the classification!

“Even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator was not entitled to any crystals if they had not earned any military credits. They would still be despised by other Cultivators!

“Even a Cultivator in the low level of the Refinement Stage would receive the most resources from the nation regardless of their aptitude as long as they made great contributions in the battles against other forces!

“As a result, the whole of Cloud Qin became a super sect and an invincible army, which was the foundation of the Cloud Qin Empire’s cause to unify the world!

“It’s a pity that…

“The Cloud Qin Empire in the past never really realized the harms of the Cultivation sects. They only discouraged the Cultivation sects from growing within the empire but never eliminated them!

“After the empire was established and the world was at peace, the leadership eased their wariness and rewarded the Cultivation sects. As a result, the Cultivation sects were rekindled, which eventually led to the doom of the empire!

“The hundred thousand years that followed were the age of Cultivation sects. The magnates in the Nascent Soul Stage decided the national affairs and manipulated the emperor. Not a single dynasty was able to eclipse the Cultivation sects!

“After a hundred thousand years, we, the younger generation of Cloud Qin, are going to finish the cause that the Cloud Qin Empire failed to accomplish in the past. We will eliminate the cancer named ‘sects’ forever and establish an everlasting, supreme nation!

“Right now, all the Cultivators of Cloud Qin know only the nation but not the sects. Or rather, the whole of Cloud Qin is a great sect and a super army!

“The Cloud Qin Cultivators live in peace against common, external foes. Private fights are strictly forbidden, but healthy competition among the eight units is encouraged!

“Also, like the ancient Cloud Qin, we have established twenty levels. The training resources are allocated according to the level that the Cultivators are in, and the level is determined based on military credits earned in battle!

“Therefore, although the Cloud Qin Cultivators are smaller in number and weaker in general, everything is clean and well-functioning. The dozens of Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators are united as one. We are not nearly as filthy and stinky as the Great Qian Dynasty, which is nothing more than an apple of Sodom!”

“That’s just your side of the story,” Li Yao said coldly. “Is the so-called ‘Eight Units System’ an elixir to all diseases? Are the lives of ordinary people in Cloud Qin any better than those in Great Qian?”

Han Yuantai put it straightforwardly. “It is the law of nature that common folk must provide resources for Cultivators. However, there is no internal strife among Cultivation sects in Cloud Qin. The valuable resources will not be wasted in vain. Also, we consider the ordinary folk to be our property, and we hardly would hardly kill the goose that lays eggs!

“When a shepherd is herding livestock on the prairies, he can only get enough food by treating the livestock well and making them gain weight, right?

“The Cultivators are wolves, and ordinary people are sheep. First of all, there can’t be too many wolves, and the pack cannot expand infinitely. The ratio of wolves to sheep to grass must be kept within an appropriate range. Secondly, the wolves cannot be too greedy. If all the fat sheep are devoured to satisfy the momentary desire, and the only things left are the lambs and the sick sheep, it won’t be long before the extinction of the entire wolf pack!

“They are the ultimate laws of nature that my brother Han Baling perceived on the vast prairies in the north!”