Chapter 710 - 710: Responsible
Mingyue's hand stopped moving.
Alex's eyes narrowed as more details appeared.
"It was not just an ordinary meeting. That place gathered imperial envoys, neutral clans, rebel representatives, and even people from factions that had secretly been helping Ghost Valley before. The empire wanted to stabilize that region first. Everyone wanted time to breathe, so they agreed to talk."
He scrolled down and read the next part.
"Ghost Valley agreed on the surface too. They even sent people to join the talks."
Mingyue's eyes turned colder. "And then?"
Alex's voice became flat.
"The formation under that planet had been prepared long before the meeting started. The ceasefire was bait. Once enough people gathered, Ghost Valley activated the formation and locked the whole world down."
Mingyue did not speak.
Alex continued.
"The souls of mortals on the planet were stripped away first. Then the formation started targeting the cultivators. The weaker ones died on the spot. The stronger ones were dragged into a soul storm created from the dead of several worlds."
His finger tapped once on the screen.
"The empire lost three envoys there. Crimson Star Court lost one of its blood princes. Nine Void Pavilion lost two elders and a route master. Black Wheel Monastery lost a corpse saint. Several neutral clans were wiped out in one night."
Mingyue sighed. "That was why everyone turned on them."
Alex nodded. "Yes. Ghost Valley crossed the line. Honestly, I think this was a ploy or trap by the empire, using Ghost Valley as the black sheep. Doing this was just suicide without any real benefit. But considering what I saw on my own homeland, there seems to be no limit to people's stupidity."
At Ghost Valley's peak, even the empire had lowered its hand and wanted to negotiate with them. On paper, this was mutual benefit. No one in their right mind would sabotage it.
Yet Ghost Valley still did it.
If this had been in the past, Alex would have already been busy thinking about who from the empire was behind this cruel plan. But after fighting against Sigma and the Mecalyte, he understood how shallow some people in power could be.
The people on Ainode sold their own people as slaves to outsiders. It was a very stupid decision without any long-term upside at all, other than being the easiest option at that moment.
"Something is really wrong with their brains then," Mingyue added.
Killing civilians was cruel. Harvesting whole worlds was vicious. But those things had happened before in chaotic times. What Ghost Valley did there was different.
They broke a ceasefire meeting that every side had accepted. They used negotiation itself as bait. Worse, they did it while targeting every faction at the same time.
That one move destroyed the last bit of trust anyone still had.
"The empire declared full extermination after that," Alex said.
He kept reading.
"The Crimson Star Court cut all ties and opened its blood arsenals to the imperial fleets. Nine Void Pavilion sold out Ghost Valley's hidden routes to save itself. Black Wheel Monastery joined the campaign and tried to seize Ghost Valley's inheritance in the middle of the war. Thousand Beast Ridge attacked their border worlds and tore through their corpse farms. Even the Heavenly Sand Alliance stopped pretending to be neutral and blocked their trade lines."
Mingyue looked at the names on the screen again.
"So they got attacked by everyone."
"Yes."
Alex let out a breath.
"The empire was weak after the Progenitor War, but Ghost Valley managed to unite all of its enemies with one move. That was their real mistake."
The records kept going.
"In the following war, three star systems became battlefields. Ghost Valley fought like madmen."
Alex's eyes moved lower.
"But in the end, they could not hold."
The empire pushed from the front. Crimson Star Court burned their blood depots. Nine Void Pavilion exposed their movement routes. Black Wheel Monastery kept stealing parts of their inheritance. Thousand Beast Ridge destroyed their outer territories.
One by one, Ghost Valley's territories fell.
"Their golden era ended there," Alex said. "What came after was just a long collapse."
Mingyue asked, "What happened to their patriarch?"
Alex shook his head. "The records are incomplete. Some say he died during the siege of the Hollow Sun System. Some say he split his soul and escaped. Some say he sealed himself together with Ghost Valley's home planet."
Mingyue went quiet for a moment.
Then she said, "If that founder is still alive, this matter will be bigger than I thought."
Alex gave a faint nod.
"Even if he is dead, the things he left behind are already dangerous enough."
He scrolled to the last surviving section of the record.
"In the end, Ghost Valley lost almost everything. Their branch worlds were burned. Their fleets were destroyed. Their elders were hunted down. All for what? Only the empire benefited from this."
Even if the empire had weakened, Alex knew for sure there was no way for Ghost Valley to win against them. And based on what was recorded, those factions should have known it too. Otherwise, why else had they never taken any main plane from the empire?
They had tried their best not to touch the empire's bottom line.
"So only one planet was left," Mingyue said.
"Yes," Alex replied.
He closed the interface halfway and looked out the window.
"All the survivors were put on one planet, then they barricaded themselves inside. Or more accurately, they were exiled there. But now they are beginning to move again..."
Mingyue's gaze remained calm, but the cold around her grew heavier.
"Since all the powerhouses are dead, those trapped there probably never even got a choice to join the war."
Alex nodded.
"Yes. Yet they are the ones taking all the responsibility."
When wars are started by the elite, they take all the benefits if they win. Yet the civilians who pay for those wars with their sweat and blood barely gain anything from it.
Then when the war is lost, they become the ones condemned and forced to bear all the responsibility.
Alex shook his head as he remembered that this had happened again and again throughout history.