Unsheathed

Chen Ping'an entered Bamboo Scroll Lake through Green Parasol City again, and just like last time, he temporarily left his horse at an inn. He then went to that same small alley and visited the same steamed bun shop, buying four cheap but delicious meat buns. However, business at the shop seemed much worse than half a year ago, with the young shopkeeper appearing listless and sighing again and again. Chen Ping'an munched on the meat buns as he went to the ferry station and found his boat, sweeping it clean before rowing it back to Cyan Gorge Island.

New Year was just around the corner, and compared to last year, the state of Bamboo Scroll Lake was even more miserable than that of the steamed bun shop. There had been three bouts of heavy snow at the end of last year, causing the spiritual energy of Bamboo Scroll Lake to increase noticeably. Because of this, even the cultivators who were extremely apathetic toward New Year celebrations were able to enjoy a delightful New Year.

However, they had never imagined that things would take a turn for the worse so quickly, with the one thousand or so islands including Cyan Gorge Island all needing to give up more than half of their wealth before the year was even over. They needed to pay tributes to the heavy cavalry commanded by Great General Su Gaoshan of the Great Li Empire. Some islands that had good relationships with the Luminous Vermilion Empire or its vassal states, such as the Stone Brush Nation and the Plum Glaze Nation, were truly suffering unspeakable pain. Not only were they dealt a severe blow, but they were also unable to please either side of the conflict.

The most terrifying thing was that Millet Grain Island's Tan Yuanyi, White Fish Island's Tian Hujun, and Guest Elder Yu Gui joined forces to bring together all of the islands that had earth immortals among their elders — for example, the earth immortal couple from Oriole Island — once again forming an alliance. There was no conflict or argument this time, and everyone worked together surprisingly well.

They voluntarily designated the four surrounding cities including Pond Water City and Green Parasol City as passes, with four people responsible for overseeing each pass. These four people would include one general from the Great Li Empire, one scholarly official, and two accompanying cultivators.

This formed a gigantic net that trapped the tens of thousands of vagrant cultivators, preventing them from leaving Bamboo Scroll Lake. As such, they had no option but to grit their teeth and part ways with their wealth, sending box after box of immortal coins to Pond Water City. Many other changes and conflicts occurred during this time, and after the death of close to one hundred vagrant cultivators including two Golden Core Tier cultivators, the chaos and commotion in Bamboo Scroll Lake finally started to die down. The vagrant cultivators finally accepted their fate and gave up on their resistance.

It was said that this was only the first round of sweeping changes.

Afterward, some of the larger islands would receive permission from the heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire to conquer and engulf the smaller islands, allowing them to wantonly increase their number of vassal islands. Of the one thousand or so islands in Bamboo Scroll Lake, it was extremely likely that approximately thirty percent of them would lose their independence within one year, with their ancestral halls being demolished as they were turned into subordinates.

During this inevitably violent and bloody change, any cultivator who dared to resist would face one and only one fate — it was rumored that Su Gaoshan was going to create a new position with no rank, Horse-Leading Cultivator. This implied that the cultivators would become horse-leading subordinates of the legitimate accompanying cultivators of the Great Li Empire's army.

Once General Su Gaoshan tore through the defences of the Plum Glaze Nation, both his army and Cao Ping's army would send their troops to five separate fronts, joining forces to create a huge encirclement around the Luminous Vermilion Empire. The only fortune enjoyed by the Horse-Leading Cultivators was that they could accumulate military merit through their battles with the army of the Luminous Vermilion Empire. Through this, they could potentially be promoted to the lowest-ranking accompanying cultivators of the Great Li Empire's army.

However, would even two or three out of every ten Horse-Leading Cultivators survive to become accompanying cultivators? Heavens knew. Even if they could, what would they do when the heavy cavalry of the Great Li Empire continued to march south?