Chapter 57: Farewell at the Pavilion

Regardless of the expectations held by various parties, the Three-City Dao Debate had finally come to an end.

The onlookers from Fenglin City dispersed, still discussing the events with great excitement. The performance of the Fenglin City Dao Academy this time was truly not bad, and they felt a sense of shared pride.

Most ordinary people living in this city had no idea what had transpired today.

The bloody battles that occurred in secret chambers, the fighting in street corners and alleys, and the entanglements of life and death had all passed silently, like air dissolving into the air.

The waves stirred by the White Bone Dao were smoothed over in tranquility; not even a trace of blood could be seen on the streets. The few citizens who had accidentally witnessed the combat had also been issued gag orders.

To most people, today was merely the conclusion of a grand event with a very exciting program.

The transcendent is not exempt from pain, and ignorance is not necessarily bliss.

As for Wei Quji, the seventeen heads of White Bone Dao cultivators piled before him, along with the even greater number of corpses deemed unworthy of collection, washed away his humiliation.

Wei Quji said to Dong A, "Today, a great grudge has been avenged. Why don't we organize the Dao Academy disciples to recite the *Taishang Scripture of Relieving Suffering* several times to provide salvation for those who died unjustly in Xiaolin Town?"

As the lord of a city territory, he could finally perform a small memorial for Xiaolin Town under his jurisdiction.

This was, of course, no difficult task. As a commonly used scripture for salvation, almost every Daoist cultivator had memorized the *Taishang Scripture of Relieving Suffering* thoroughly.

But Dong A's attitude was cold: "Their souls have been scattered; what use is salvation?"

Wei Quji felt that this fellow was simply unreasonable; they had just finished cooperating, yet she couldn't even show a pleasant face. With such a personality, it was no wonder she had been driven out of Zhuangdu in the past.

...

When the cultivators from Sanshan City were leaving, Jiang Wang made a point to see them off.

He felt genuine admiration for Yang Xingyong and deeply respected the willpower displayed by the Sanshan City cultivators during this debate.

Compared to the massive, grand procession of Wangjiang City, the cultivators of Sanshan City appeared increasingly solitary and sparse.

Had Dong A not personally stepped in to provide medical treatment, they wouldn't even have been able to return to their city at full strength—these people had fought far too desperately.

Yang Xingyong was quite happy that Jiang Wang had come to see them off: "I accept my defeat gracefully. You are very powerful. I will come to challenge you again next year!"

After a few words of conversation, Jiang Wang hesitated but eventually asked, "The Three-City Dao Debate isn't like the County Academy Examinations; why did you all fight so desperately?"

Yang Xingyong fell silent.

"My apologies. If it is inappropriate, please disregard my question," Jiang Wang said sincerely.

"Because we... because of Sanshan City, it is very hard," said Sun Xiaoman, who had been standing nearby, looking dejected and silent.

"Sanshan City... there are many mountains, many wild beasts, and many ferocious beasts. Wild beasts are fine, they are equivalent to food, but ferocious beasts are very troublesome..."

As Sun Xiaoman spoke, Jiang Wang roughly understood the predicament of Sanshan City.

The human race rose during the ancient era, but before that rise, life had actually been quite difficult.

Although it is said today that humans are the souls of all things, in reality, most humans were born with blocked Dao meridians. Only a tiny minority of geniuses possessed externalized Dao meridians, allowing them to cultivate from birth.

In contrast, every single demon beast was born with externalized Dao meridians.

Later, a supreme human powerhouse invented a pill formula and made it public, which finally kicked off the prelude to the human race's rise.

The name of this powerhouse had been lost to the river of history, but his formula had been passed down forever.

That formula was the original Meridian-Opening Pill, whose primary ingredient was the Dao meridians of demon beasts.

From then on, humans were no longer limited by innate talent; with a Meridian-Opening Pill, one could cultivate! This also meant that an era of frenzied hunting of demon beasts had begun.

Before he started cultivating, Jiang Wang had always been puzzled by one question.

In such a surging era of cultivation, why, with the strength of the human race, had they still failed to clear the wilderness to this day? Why did the various nations of the world only maintain clear official roads, while leaving more vast regions to the whims of wild beasts and the roaming of demon beasts?

Because these demon beasts were resources! In a sense, those demon beasts were livestock being raised for harvest. The wild beasts and even the wilderness environment were merely the ecological requirements needed to maintain that grazing.

After all, demon beasts—who were favored by heaven and earth and born with externalized Dao meridians—could not be penned up.

Ferocious beasts, however, were a different kind of existence. They generally possessed extremely high combat power but lacked spirituality, and even their meat was inedible. To put it simply, the destructive power of a ferocious beast was no less than that of a demon beast, yet they possessed no inherent value.

Hunting ferocious beasts was an endeavor that yielded only loss and no profit, yet Sanshan City had no choice but to do it. This resulted in a de facto long-term deficit for Sanshan City.

All powerhouses required resources to build their strength, yet Sanshan City's expenditures always exceeded its income. More terrifyingly, there were too many ferocious beasts in the Sanshan City territory; they could never be fully eradicated.

They destroyed official roads, attacked towns, and devoured humans.

The environment of Sanshan City dictated that most food had to be transported from elsewhere, making local self-sufficiency impossible. However, the lack of smooth official roads effectively increased the risks of transportation.

Especially recently, after the Sanshan City Dao Academy suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the Heart-Swallowing Human Demon, Sanshan City was even more short-handed.

The maintenance of official roads was the responsibility of the Sanshan City territory. To request the Zhuang Court to dispatch experts for a sweep, one had to pay an equivalent amount of resources. And Sanshan City simply could not afford any surplus resources anymore.

Therefore, even with the death of the senior disciple Chu Ping, the Sanshan City Dao Academy still viewed this Three-City Dao Debate as a lifeline. They fought to the death in the martial arena not for their own honor, but for the sake of the struggling elders and children of Sanshan City behind them.

"Do you know? For every match we win, at least ten more people in Sanshan City can survive." Yang Xingyong's eyes turned visibly red as he lowered his head. "As long as we perform well..."

He felt guilty for his defeat, even though he had given his all.

Jiang Wang fell silent for a moment.

He patted Yang Xingyong on the shoulder: "I took an unfair advantage by becoming the freshman champion of this Three-City Dao Debate, and I feel a sense of guilt for it. Regarding the fifty points of Dao Merit as a reward, once I return to the Academy, I will go to the Dao Merit Hall and transfer them to you."

Fifty points of Dao Merit was not a small amount. While it could not solve Sanshan City's problems, it could at least alleviate their immediate crisis.

To put it another way, for a Dao Academy disciple whose name was recorded in the Dao Register, fifty points of Dao Merit was equivalent to half a Meridian-Opening Pill, or half a transcendent cultivator.

This was exactly the kind of strength Sanshan City needed most right now.

"How is this appropriate?" Yang Xingyong looked up in astonishment.

Sun Xiaoman had already punched Jiang Wang in the stomach. "This friend of yours—we've decided to be friends!"

She had originally intended to strike Jiang Wang's chest heroically, but unfortunately, her height would not allow it.

Jumping up to strike hard would have ruined the atmosphere, so she settled for punching his stomach.

Jiang Wang felt a mouthful of old blood blocking his throat; had it not been for the extreme toughness of the Four Spirits Body Refining Technique, he would have been finished by that blow.

This little girl's punching power was terrifying.

Of course, Jiang Wang knew it wasn't that the girl was particularly bold; he could even see the desperation and awkwardness hidden beneath her heroic smile.

She simply could not bear to let the help available to the people of Sanshan City go to waste because of her own shyness.

"Then, farewell."

"Farewell!"

To see someone off for a thousand miles is to eventually face a parting.

Jiang Wang stopped outside the city gates, watching his newly made friends depart.

...

"Sis, buy me some new clothes." The chubby Sun Xiaoyan, wrapped in that large black hooded robe, walked in a secretive, hunched manner.

His original clothes had been torn to shreds during the battle.

"No money."

"I can't just go home like this, can I? It's such a long way, so many people will see! What if I get exposed?"

"So what if they see? You're still a child."