Volcanic Age

"If we miss any one of them, the Eighteen Bandit Gangs will catch wind of this. Then here's a question. If that happens, who receives damage?"

"Us… no, the sect?" Zhang Xuen asked carefully, uncertain.

Qiu Feng dismissed her answer with a shake of his head, then turned to the boatman.

"It's this elder."

"Huh?"

Zhang Hong looked flabbergasted, unable to understand.

"Unless we reach a point of no return, the Eighteen Bandit Gangs will not attack us either. Even if we kill a couple bandits, they will not try to take revenge. However, their anger would be directed at the boatman who ferried us across the Yangtze River.

"But the boatman hasn't done anything wrong, has he?" Zhang Xuen asked in disbelief.

"It's not about who has done something wrong. It's simply taking out their anger. The Nine Water Gangs, no, even the Eighteen Bandit Gangs as a whole, aren't considered a criminal group for no reason. That's their nature."

The Eighteen Bandit Gangs were not guardians, nor were they honorable martial artists. Even the Evil Faction didn't accept them.

They were simply a gang of bandits.

"Unless you are going to take responsibility for the boatman's life, it is better to let them do what they want. Also, if rumors spread of such actions, our faces will be known among the boatmen, and they will not ferry us. After all, they would have to risk being attacked by the Eighteen Bandit Gangs."

"Whoa…"

Zhang Hong and Zhang Xuen were speechless, their shoulders slumping in shock.

"I, no, everyone knows that this is unjust. However, sometimes, you're powerless. In the future, you will be experiencing all sorts of injustice in the world. Whenever that happens, remember what happened today and think about the consequences of your actions."

Huh, that's a lot of people to save.

Zhou Xuchuan was impressed after listening to Qiu Feng's teachings.

Experts were proud. Someone of the Absolute Realm would naturally be the same. Speaking such thought processes out loud without any hint of frustration wasn't that common.

Fourteenth Sword Hero, Qiu Feng, would also die in a few years, sacrificed by the world in the Era of War and Chaos. It was such a pitiful fate.

If the future were to change in this life, Zhou Xuchuan wished that Qiu Feng would be alive at the end as well.

"For something like this to stop happening, the Eighteen Bandit Gangs will have to disappear. However, their scale and size are in no way small, as you know already. Mount Hua won't be enough, and the martial alliance will have to move as well. However, that too isn't a feasible option. Do you know why that is the case?"

Zhang Hong and Zhang Xuen did not reply. Both of them looked like they knew the answer but did not want to say it.

Qiu Feng quietly waited for an answer.

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Unable to hold back any longer, Zhou Xuchuan stepped in.

"It's because it will break the balance."

"Go on, elaborate."

The Era of War and Chaos had yet to come, and the world of cultivators was still at peace. This was due to the perfect balance between factions.

The Martial Alliance of the Orthodox Faction. The Evil Valley of the Evil Faction.

The Demon Cult and the Blood Cult of the Two Demonic Factions.

The Four Factions held nearly equal power, preventing any faction from easily overpowering another.

Because of the similarity in power, even if one side did win a war, it would come at a huge cost. If the remaining two factions were to join forces at that time, they would be able to defeat the winning faction easily.

The same would happen if the Martial Alliance were to choose to fight against the Eighteen Bandit Gangs and lose their forces. The other three factions could join hands and swiftly annihilate the weakened Martial Alliance.

There was truly no helping it.

"So you know. I believe that you two know it as well. You just do not want to say it."

Qiu Feng observed, looking at Zhang Hong and Zhang Xuen. Both remained silent, seemingly in agreement.

Even if it couldn't be helped, they couldn't help but feel frustrated that they couldn't take any action despite encountering bandits.

They were at an age where they would be drunk on justice. Qiu Feng could understand them.

"It's not that I do not understand your ideals, but the reality of the world is cruel. Think carefully when you act."

Qiu Feng smiled. His smile looked somewhat bitter. It was the smile of an adult who had learned to compromise with reality.

*

The boat arrived at the boatyard. The group managed to cross the Yangtze River safely without encountering any bandits again.

Even afterward, Zhang Hong and Zhang Xuen appeared deep in thought. Seeing this, Zhou Xuchuan inwardly smiled.

'It reminds me of the old days. I was once like that too.'

There was a time when he thought that enacting justice was something he had to do. However, he received a huge shock after finding out that his act of justice caused even more harm.

The two of them were like that right now. They looked like they had complicated feelings despite having set off cheerfully from the sect cheerfully.

"Hm, you seem unaffected." Qiu Feng looked at Zhou Xuchuan in surprise.

Zhou Xuchuan felt that he had made a mistake. He had fallen into reminiscence after seeing Zhang Hong and Zhang Xuen that he forgot to put up his pretenses.

He put up an act on the boat by thinking about other things, but stopped doing so after leaving the boat.

Zhou Xuchuan pondered momentarily before responding to Qiu Feng.

"You know that I left Mount Hua once when I was young, don't you?"

"Ah, I see. Something must've happened back then."

"Yes, I already experienced shock at that time, so it's not as bad right now."

Zhou Xuchuan smiled awkwardly and scratched his head.

*

The group went past Chongqing, entering the Guizhou province.

Finally, Guizhou.

Although they had just arrived in Guizhou, this wasn't their destination. Their destination was Kaiyang Town.

"From today onwards, we'll no longer use lightness arts."

In Guizhou, the domains of the Orthodox Faction and the Evil Faction constantly changed. It was that chaotic.

Although the Martial Alliance and the Evil Valley weren't at war, it was a different story here in the Guizhou where there were big and small battles all the time.

Using lightness arts had high internal qi consumption, which would put them in danger if they were to encounter any enemies.

That was why they stopped training lightness arts and footwork techniques and decided to go to Kaiyang Town by foot.

Guizhou!

If it weren't for his companions, Zhou Xuchuan would have shouted out loud.

He had some business, or rather, a person to find, here in the Guizhou.

He had been thinking about the Thee-Eyed Godly Thief's treasury and about how to get the treasures inside. For nearly three years, he went through his memories as much as possible to plan things out.

His plan needed the assistance of some important individuals. He was assuming that one of them was here in Guizhou right now.

'Merchant King, Li Yicai!'

Although his name wasn't known yet, Li Yicai would rise to become the greatest merchant in the central plains. Although he was a minor grains merchant, his life would undergo a drastic change at the start of the Era of War and Chaos.

Li Yicai was a very greedy man. He happened to make some connections with a cultivator in the Era of War and Chaos. From that cultivator, he acquired some trivial information and went to an isolated place to sell military provisions.

His fellow merchants criticized him for not treasuring his life, but that life-risking sale was definitely valuable.

Li Yicai managed to earn a substantial amount of money through that and started expanding his assets and his merchant group.

Li Yicai's money-making talents were on the level of being godly even before that. It was just that he lacked assets before, and had bad luck. When he grabbed onto an opportunity, he started growing rapidly.

'The Merchant King is the one person I must not make my enemy. I need that money grubber on my side.'

Li Yicai was neither affiliated with the Orthodox Faction nor the Evil Faction. He was a merchant from beginning to end, and his ideals were truly frightening in some ways.

Not to mention the Orthodox Faction and the Evil Faction, he treated everyone as a means to earn money, including the Two Demonic Factions, and even the mysterious forces that had yet to show up. He wasn't on anyone's side.

His audacity was astonishing. Who would have the guts to do business with the entirety of the world of cultivators? There was a reason he was called the Merchant King.

There's a saying that the biggest winner of the War and Chaos is the Merchant King.

Li Yicai's insignificant "Gold Will Merchants" managed to make tremendous profits in the Era of War and Chaos, and when all wars ended, people jokingly said that he must have enough money to buy the world.

His talent doesn't need to be mentioned. If I let the Merchant King handle the treasures, he'll use it to make even more money. Above all, the most important point is that I can be relaxed when I give him the money.

When giving someone else treasures for safekeeping, there was a risk of that person running away with the treasures. However, this didn't apply to Li Yicai.

Among merchants, there was a saying that "Trust is Life."

Conversely speaking, no trust would mean death.

That was how crucial trust was to merchants. If that trust were to be broken, no one would be willing to work with them.

The reason Li Yicai was able to rise to the position of the Merchant King was not just because of his talents but also because he maintained his trust.

As long as he was given money, he was the most reliable man in this world when it came to money.

However, conversely, he couldn't be trusted without money. In other words, no one was more reliable than him when it came to making profits.

In the opposite case, it was questionable whether someone without money could even talk to him.

In reality, Zhou Xuchuan had only seen Li Yicai a few times when he visited Mount Hua, but had never spoken to him. That was because Zhou Xuchuan was a cultivator that wasn't much to him.

By the time Zhou Xuchuan had become a high elder, Li Yicai had become such a bigshot that he sent his underlings to represent him, not showing up himself.

Zhou Xuchuan looked forward to meeting Li Yicai and energetically stepped forward toward Kaiyang Town.