Chapter 332. March of the Dark Army (1)

The atmosphere that seemed like it would explode at any moment was momentarily calmed by the appearance of an Absolute Master.

"Martial artists of Guizhou, no, martial artists of the Righteous and Evil Paths! For as long as we can remember, the Righteous Faction and the Evil Faction have been at odds. There’s always been a reason—differences in cultivation methods, philosophy, beliefs, or even personal grudges and favors. Any martial artist, or frankly anyone from the Central Plains, knows just how deep that history runs."

Fifty years ago, this grudge existed. Five hundred years ago, this grudge was still there.

Since the creation of martial arts generations ago, these battles had been repeated endlessly.

"I, too, know very well how deep that grudge is! How you want to kill your foes, make them submit! You want to make them admit that their claims are wrong!"

The history of the

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, the history of humanity, was a history of war.

"However, now is not the time!"

Zhou Xuchuan's voice resonated loudly.

"At the very least, not now!"

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The martial artists frowned. Before anyone could question him, Zhou Xuchuan continued.

"Because there are those who wish to take advantage of your fight, take advantage of this war to threaten and to exploit the lofty beliefs and ideals of the Righteous and Evil Paths! Everyone knows who this enemy is! Yes! It's that very same Dark Heavens Association!"

The Righteous and Evil Alliance had been formed for a reason.

It had been formed to fight against the common enemy known as the Dark Heavens Association. There was no one who didn't know their name.

"For decades, the Dark Heavens Association has been hiding behind the

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, trying to control the Righteous Path, the Evil Path, and the Demon Path through all sorts of schemes in order to conquer the

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!"

It was said that during the Three Kingdoms Era, when Liu Bei was Cao Cao's guest, he had deliberately made himself look like a fool in order to survive, so that Cao Cao would let his guard down.

No matter how great the Dark Heavens Association was, dealing with the Three Great Factions simultaneously was burdensome and the damage would be great.

That was why, despite possessing immense power, the Dark Heavens Association had hidden their power and manipulated the

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for a more perfect victory.

"The Seven Swords War, the Tomb of the Ominous Demon, the Great War of Good and Blood, the Four Gates Rebellion, the Great War of Good and Demonic.

"You must have heard that all of the big and small incidents that had caused a commotion in the

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were all secret plots of the Dark Heavens Association, and were preparatory measures for their impending conquest!

"This is the blatant truth, as announced by the Martial Alliance and Evil Valley."

He lifted his head. Everyone on the plain was looking at him.

"Righteous Faction members, and Evil Faction members! Listen up!"

Zhou Xuchuan took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Why did the Martial Alliance and Evil Valley, who were sworn enemies, put an end to their long-standing feud and join hands? It is to confront our greatest and worst threat, the Dark Heavens Association!"

"They have insulted the ideology and the beliefs of the Righteous and Evil Paths, using them as a tool for conquest. They possess the Six Great Prohibited Arts and other Demonic Arts, and not only did they destroy the peace and tranquility of the

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, but they also provoked war and took the lives of countless people!"

Zhou Xuchuan's eyes flashed fiercely.

"I will say it again! I know how deep the resentment between the Righteous Path and the Evil Path is! However, now is not the time to fight!"

He raised his voice again to gather the attention of those around him.

"We shouldn't be aiming our swords at one another, but at the enemy who watches from the side and tries to profit off our fighting, the Dark Heavens Association!"

The Merchant King had said it before—that since ancient times, words held differing power depending on who spoke them.

"Righteous and Evil Factions! Warriors of Guizhou! Please lend me your strength!"

Zhou Xuchuan bowed without the slightest hesitation.

"As the Sword God, I beg you! Please put aside your grudges for a moment and help us defeat the common enemy! Even in peace, we need the strength that we have cultivated through endless fighting!"

Everyone had seen how much influence a hero or a Demon Head could have in a time of war.

Many warriors lived and died based on a hero's words, and those words were what determined whether morale was high or low.

Although people said true heroes didn’t care about honor, Zhou Xuchuan had chosen to make full use of his reputation.

After all, people were creatures driven by the opinions of others. They craved recognition.

There was a big difference between being asked to cooperate by an unknown warrior and being asked by a hero of the Righteous Faction—one of the Six Empyrean Overlords, no less.

This was especially true for the Righteous Faction, where hierarchy was deeply valued.

We were recognized...

Finally!

To think the Sword God asked me directly!

I can't believe an Empyrean Overlord actually bowed down to us...

To us! The insignificant ones!

Guizhou was a region riddled with conflict. Death was common, and injuries even more so. It wasn’t unusual to lose one’s life here.

Despite this, the reason they remained in Guizhou or came to visit was because they could easily accumulate merit and honor here as compared to other places.

Even unknown martial artists or martial artists from small and medium-sized sects would become recognized wherever they went as long as they were able to survive in Guizhou for a year or so.

Even if they were of humble origins, if they were able to catch the eye of the leadership of the Martial Alliance, their path to success would become wide open.

Wow, impressive.

Shen Daoyun couldn't help but admire Zhou Xuchuan's attitude and speech.

All experts of the

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were basically extremely proud. It went without saying that the warriors of the Righteous Faction were even more proud. However, Zhou Xuchuan had bowed to the warriors of the Righteous and Evil Paths, including the Third Class warriors, without the slightest hesitation and asked them for help.

When else would people like us ever receive such greetings from a master as strong as the Six Empyrean Overlords? He also acknowledged the violent history of Guizhou and still said he needed our strength. He made it impossible to do anything but follow.

Shen Daoyun thought as he looked at the excited expressions of the Righteous Faction martial artists.

If I were twenty years younger, or even just ten years younger, I would have been excited to join them.

A while ago, Zhou Xuchuan had been nominated as a candidate for the new Martial Alliance Leader. However, he had been disqualified due to his lack of qualifications and experience as a leader.

But now that he looked back, Shen Daoyun thought that maybe the young man wasn't so bad.

Still...

Shen Daoyun was still worried.

"Good speech! I listened well!"

While the Martial Alliance was somehow persuaded, the Evil Valley was the problem.

"However, that alone won't make our anger go away!"

A middle-aged man in his early forties from Evil Valley stepped forward.

Guizhou's Soft Sword, Zhongli Daojun!

He was a master from Evil Valley, who was at the peak of the One Hundred Experts Under Heaven list and was Zhu Meng's disciple brother.

As he had been active in Guizhou for quite some time, he had many followers.

"While I get what you're trying to say, words alone aren't enough for us to accept this situation."

The Evil Faction members nodded their heads in agreement.

Could he be the Dark Heavens Association interfering in this situation?

Zhou Xuchuan silently committed Zhongli Daojun’s face to memory.

There's no way that they could just sit back and watch the Righteous and Evil Factions reconcile. I'm certain that one of their spies would definitely come forward.

Information manipulation, instigation, and sabotage were the specialties of the Dark Heavens Association.

Guizhou's Soft Sword, Zhongli Daojun is a master from the Evil Valley's Guizhou Branch who has been active in Guizhou for a long time. Could he be a part of the Avaricious Wolf Star?

The Avaricious Wolf Star referred to key figures who could exert a certain amount of influence in the

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Guizhou's Soft Sword was mainly active in Guizhou, but he was also a well-known expert in the

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, so it was highly likely that he was part of the Avaricious Wolf Star.

Zhou Xuchuan, you bastard, you're just a hero of the Righteous Path.

Just as Zhou Xuchuan thought, Zhongli Daojun was part of the Dark Heavens Association.

Did you really think Lord Blessed Existence didn't know your intentions? Hmph!

The Dark Heavens Association had expected that the Sword God would appear in Guizhou. They also knew that the Martial Alliance would get persuaded.

While Zhongli Daojun wanted to keep the man from talking altogether, he knew that Zhou Xuchuan was an unstoppable opponent with such great power and fame that they had no choice but to leave him alone.

Since they gave up on the Martial Alliance, the Dark Heavens Association decided to focus on Evil Valley and disrupt the reconciliation.

While things might be different if it was the Domination God Monarch, the hero of the Evil Path, with just the Righteous Faction's Hero, the Sword God, only the Righteous Faction members would be convinced.

Zhou Xuchuan might try to persuade the Evil Valley members with sweet talk, but that alone wouldn't be enough to persuade the pragmatic Evil Faction members. Especially in a place like Guizhou.

The Evil Faction pursued individual interests rather than the interests of the whole.

In the first place, the Evil Faction alliance called the Evil Valley was nothing more than a means to survive and oppose the Martial Alliance.

It was different from the Martial Alliance, which had gathered under the banner of humanity and ideals.

What they were interested in were more primitive things, like alcohol, women, money, and power.

At first glance, they may have seemed no different from the Demonic Path's Two Lineages, but they didn't do anything as outrageous as the Demonic Cult or Blood Cult.

They didn’t go mad from demonic qi. At the very least, they maintained a basic sense of human decency.

That was the difference between Evil Path and the Demonic Path.

What he said wouldn't really resonate with the Evil Faction members, who ridicule the hierarchy of the Righteous Faction as a pretense and consider freedom and being practically unbound by discipline as a virtue. No matter how eloquent his argument is, if the fundamental way of thinking is different, it's just bullshit philosophy and nothing more than nonsense.

The Evil Valley hadn't really joined hands with the Martial Alliance for the peace of the

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. If that was their real intention, the Righteous and Evil Paths would have been united as one a long time ago.

The character for person (人) wasn't two people leaning on each other, but a person standing alone on two legs. Don't you know that people can never understand each other? How stupid, Zhou Xuchuan.

Zhongli Daojun thought, holding back his laughter.

Even more importantly, the people of Guizhou, or rather, the Evil Faction members, tend to pursue practical interest. So, why would they listen to such nonsense?

The Righteous Faction members came to Guizhou because they wanted achievements and honor.

The Evil Faction members came to Guizhou because of money and alcohol.

If the Martial Alliance promised status or benefits in proportion to the achievements made in Guizhou, Evil Valley paid participants in cash.

That’s not to say the Evil Faction lacked members with conviction or belief, like those in the Righteous Faction.

However, these people were generally experts who required enlightenment to progress, and so it was inevitable that there would be few of them due to the nature of the Evil Faction.

In the case of Guizhou, there were especially few masters. Most of them were either Third Rate or Second Rate warriors, so there was no need to say anything about their dispositions. In fact, except for their martial arts, they were no different from those of the Black Hand.

They acted freely to satisfy their insufficient desires. And that included things like acting on their grudges and revenge.

It might have been fine for the Righteous Faction members, who needed patience because their cultivation progression was slow, but this was unbearable for the Evil Faction members.

It was more important for them to resolve the grudge and let out the anger right away than to worry about peace and crisis.

While the results might have been different if this wasn't Guizhou, you chose the wrong place. To those who pursue profit, not beliefs or their lives, it's all just empty words.

Zhongli Daojun looked at Zhou Xuchuan, anticipating victory.

Zhou Xuchuan smiled coldly as he looked at Zhongli Daojun.

"Someone else will answer that question for you."

When he had heard the news of Weng'an's battle, he had thought of several solutions.

It's hard to persuade people, especially the masses. Even if the Righteous Faction's Sword God were to personally come forward and try to persuade them, for the Evil Faction, since I'm currently in a state where the Domination God Monarch can't directly come forward, it'll be difficult.

If he could persuade them through letters alone, he wouldn't have come in person.

He had to show up and convey his message through his voice.

That’s why he had ruled out relying on the Domination God Monarch from the start.

Before leaving Kaiyang, Zhou Xuchuan asked Shen Daoyun to bring someone.

It was a merchant named Gao Hun, the head of the Guizhou branch of the Gold Will Merchants.

"It's nice to meet you! I don't think a long introduction is necessary for you martial artists of Guizhou! My name is Gao Hun!"

The merchant of Guizhou, Gao Hun, was already well known as the merchant in charge of the Gold Will Merchants' Guizhou Branch.

He was already a familiar face to most. As the head of the Gold Will Merchants in Guizhou—a region that consumed more supplies than anywhere else—martial artists here had seen him countless times.

There had even been attempts to monopolize the Gold Will Merchants to cut off supplies to enemy factions.

However, Gao Hun, or rather, the Gold Will Merchants, refused to give in to either side and sold supplies to both sides.

At first, they had only worked with the Righteous Faction, but as they expanded their business and grew larger, they even reached out to the Evil Faction.

"The reason I am here is to convey the words of the Head Merchant, the master of the company!"

"Huh!"

Zhongli Daojun let out a hollow laugh as if it was ridiculous.

"Our company, the Gold Will Merchants, also defines the Dark Heavens Association as an evil group that threatens the commercial world associated with the

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and regards it as public enemy number one. Accordingly, the Gold Will Merchants will support the Righteous and Evil Alliance and will provide support in various ways."

Zhongli Daojun’s expression twisted with disbelief.

Are you planning on using the Gold Will Merchants to carry out a foolish plan? How ridiculous. Did you really think that the resentment that had built up over time would disappear with just a few coins?

The plan was simple.

Since the Evil Faction members of Guizhou lived for immediate gain and material rewards, they were able to resolve at least their material greed.

But that didn't mean that their relationship of grudges would disappear.

A long-standing grudge couldn't be resolved overnight.

It wasn't a feeling that could be resolved with just a few coins. There are things in this world that money simply can’t fix. No matter how much Guizhou’s martial artists value material gain, even they have a line they won’t cross.

"Are you trying to insult us?!"

As expected, Zhu Meng's face turned bright red in an instant.

"With just a few coins, you expect our resentment..."

"From now on, we will maintain peace in Guizhou, and when the war with the Dark Heavens Association begins, we will pay each person five silver taels per day."

"..."

It took a thousand bronze coins to make a single silver tael.

At the current price, two shi of rice was worth one silver tael.

Considering that snacks like candies and skewers sold on the street cost only a few coins, the offered pay was a considerable amount.

Since ten taels of silver were worth one tael of gold, it would take them two days to collect a tael of gold.

"D-don't lie!" Zhongli Daojun shouted, flustered.

"There are about two thousand Evil Faction members in Guizhou alone, are you saying you're going to pay them ten thousand taels of silver as compensation every day?"

"If you report a spy from the Dark Heavens Association, we'll pay you a tael of gold. If you bring them back alive, we'll pay you three taels of gold. Moreover, the Gold Will Merchants will cover any medical expenses in case of injury, and if you bring back the head of a Dark Heavens Association expert, you'll be handsomely rewarded."

"What..."

Zhongli Daojun couldn't continue talking.

How much money would it cost if they covered the medical expenses and even the compensation? It was ridiculous even if one only simply calculated it.

"Are you planning on repaying my grudge with money?!"

Zhu Meng cried, storming up to Meng Chuhe.

"W-what do you want?!"

Meng Chuhe flinched and grabbed his sword.

The money is a bit bigger than I expected!

Zhu Meng reached out with his ears red.

"For the peace of the

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, let's forget our grudges for the time being!"

"..."

Zhongli Daojun was silent.