No matter what expectations people had, the Three Cities Conference had finally ended.
The onlookers of Maple Forest City dispersed, still excitedly discussing the results of the conference. The performance of the Maple Forest City Dao Academy was not bad, and they had reason to be proud.
Most ordinary people living in this city didn't know what had happened today.
The bloody battles that took place in the dark rooms, the fights on the streets, the entanglement of life and death, all passed silently, disappearing like air.
The waves caused by the White Bone Dao were calmed, and not a drop of blood could be seen on the streets. The few citizens who witnessed the battles were silenced.
For most people, today was just a wonderful event held in Maple Forest City.
Transcendence could not avoid pain, but ignorance might be bliss.
For Wei Quji, the seventeen heads of White Bone Dao cultivators piled up in front of him, as well as the many bodies that were not qualified to be collected, washed away his shame.
Wei Quji said to Dong A, "Today, I have avenged my great hatred. Why don't we organize the disciples of the Dao Academy to recite the Tai Shang Rescue Sutra a few times to help the dead in Xiaolin Town transcend?"
As a lord of a city, he could finally give a small offering to the people of Xiaolin Town under his jurisdiction.Of course, this was not a difficult task. The Tai Shang Rescue Sutra was a commonly used transcendence scripture, and almost every Dao cultivator knew it by heart.
But Dong A's attitude was very cold, "What's the use of transcendence when the soul has already scattered?"
Wei Quji felt that this guy was simply unreasonable. They had just finished working together, and he didn't even have a good face. It was no wonder he had been driven out of Zhuangdu.
...
When the cultivators of San Shan City left, Jiang Wang specially went to see them off.
He had a great deal of respect for Yang Xingyong and also greatly admired the willpower shown by the San Shan City cultivators in this conference.
Compared to the grand procession of Wangjiang City, the cultivators of San Shan City appeared more solitary.
If it weren't for Dong A's personal intervention in their treatment, they wouldn't even have been able to return to the city at full capacity - these people fought too hard.
Jiang Wang was happy to see them off, and Yang Xingyong said to him, "I admit defeat. You're very powerful. I'll come back to challenge you next year!"
After chatting for a while, Jiang Wang hesitated but still asked, "The Three Cities Conference is not the same as the county examination. Why did you all fight so hard?"
Yang Xingyong fell silent.
"I'm sorry, if it's not appropriate, just forget I asked," Jiang Wang said sincerely.
"Because we...because San Shan City is very difficult," said Sun Xiaoman, who had been silent and downcast the whole time.
"San Shan City has many mountains and many beasts, including ferocious beasts. Wild beasts are fine, they're just food, but ferocious beasts are troublesome..."
As Sun Xiaoman spoke, Jiang Wang began to understand the difficulties of San Shan City.
Before the rise of humans in ancient times, life was not easy. Although humans are now considered the spirit of all things, the fact is that most humans are born with closed meridians, and only a few geniuses can manifest their meridians and practice from birth. On the other hand, every beast is born with manifested meridians.Later, a human supreme expert invented a pill formula and made it public, which marked the beginning of human rise.
The name of this expert has been lost in the long river of history, but his pill formula has been passed down forever.
This pill formula was the original Qi-opening Pill, with the main ingredient being the Dao meridians of demonic beasts.
From then on, humans no longer had to be limited by their innate talent and could cultivate with the Qi-opening Pill! This also meant that an era of frenzied hunting of demonic beasts had begun.
Before cultivating, Jiang Wang had always been puzzled by a question.
In such a turbulent era of cultivation, why haven't humans been able to clear the wilderness with their strength? Why do the countries of the world only maintain clear official roads, while allowing wild beasts and demonic beasts to roam freely in more areas?
Because these demonic beasts are resources! In a sense, those demonic beasts are like livestock that are being raised. And the environment of wild beasts and wilderness is only necessary to maintain the ecological balance of raising them.
After all, demonic beasts with innate Dao meridians that are favored by heaven and earth cannot be kept in captivity.
On the other hand, fierce beasts are a different kind of existence. They generally have extremely strong combat power but lack intelligence, and even their meat is inedible. In short, the destructive power of fierce beasts is not much worse than that of demonic beasts, but they are worthless.
Hunting fierce beasts is a task that only incurs losses without any benefits, but San Shan City has no choice but to do it. This has resulted in San Shan City's long-term losses.
All strong cultivators need resources to build up their strength, but San Shan City's expenses have always exceeded its income. What's even more frightening is that there are too many fierce beasts in the San Shan City area, and they cannot be killed off.
They destroy official roads, attack villages and towns, and prey on humans.
The environment of San Shan City determines that most of its food needs to be transported from outside, and the local area cannot achieve self-sufficiency. However, the poor maintenance of official roads has also raised the transportation risks.
Especially after the San Shan City Taoist Academy suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Heart-Eating Demon, the city was even more short-staffed.
Maintaining the official roads is the responsibility of the San Shan City area, and if they want to request talented cultivators to clear out the fierce beasts, they need to pay an equivalent amount of resources. But San Shan City cannot afford to give up any more resources.
So even after the death of the San Shan City Taoist Academy's eldest disciple Chu Ping, they still saw this Three-City Dao Competition as a life-saving straw. They fought to the death in the martial arts arena, not for their own honor, but for the difficult lives of the people of San Shan City behind them.
"Do you know? For every victory we win, San Shan City can at least save ten more lives." Yang Xingyong's eyes were clearly red, and he lowered his head. "As long as we perform well..."
He felt guilty for his defeat, even though he had tried his best.
Jiang Wang fell silent for a moment.
He patted Yang Xingyong's shoulder. "I took advantage of the first-year champion of this Three-City Dao Competition, and I am ashamed of it. The reward of fifty points of Dao merit, I will go to the Dao Merit Hall after this and transfer it to you."
Fifty points of Dao merit was not a small amount, although it could not solve San Shan City's problems, it could at least alleviate the urgent situation.To put it another way, for the disciples of the Daoist Academy who have their names entered into the Daoist merit register, fifty points of Daoist merit is equivalent to half a Qi Opening Pill, which is equivalent to half a transcendent cultivator.
This is exactly the kind of strength that San Shan City needs most right now.
"How is this appropriate?" Yang Xingyong looked surprised.
Sun Xiaoman had already punched Jiang Wang in the stomach, "You, my friend, we're friends now!"
She had originally wanted to smash Jiang Wang's chest with great enthusiasm, but her height didn't allow it.
Jumping up and smashing would destroy the atmosphere, so she could only hit Jiang Wang's stomach.
Jiang Wang felt a mouthful of old blood stuck in his throat. If it weren't for the strong and powerful Four Spirit Body Refining Technique, he would have been done for.
This little girl's punch was so terrifying.
Of course, Jiang Wang knew that it wasn't because this little girl was particularly kind-hearted. He could even see the tension and unnaturalness hidden behind her hearty smile.
She just didn't want to give up the help that the people of San Shan City could get because of her shyness.
"Well then, goodbye."
"Goodbye!"
Sending someone off a thousand miles away, one must eventually say goodbye.
Jiang Wang stopped outside the city gate and watched his new friends leave.
...
"Sis, can you buy me a new outfit?" Little fatty Sun Xiaoyan was wrapped in a big black robe with a hood, walking around sneakily.
His original clothes were torn to shreds in the battle.
"I don't have any money."
"I can't just go home like this, can I? So many people will see me on the way! What if I accidentally show something?"
"So what if they see? You're still a child."