World's No. 1 Swordsman-Chapter 601: The First Signs of Chaos

Not even Wang Sheng expected Lan Huilin to be able to lead the Celestial Wind Sect and Fengli Sect into just straight-up fighting each other.

After the Fengli Sect's plot against the Xinghai Sect fell through, the Xinghai Sect did not pursue the matter further. Yao Xingzi simply accepted its gifts and then ordered that the two Heavenly Immortal Realm elders be released and sent on their way.

The incident cemented Wang Sheng's reputation as "Sword Heart Pi Kachew." Not only did he make the Celestial Wind Sect's Long Aotian suffer a setback, but he also personally captured two of the Fengli Sect's Heavenly Immortals alive. This completely exceeded the understanding that the thirteen qi planets' cultivators had regarding "realm hierarchy."

The Xinghai Sect thus extricated itself from this incident. Yao Xingzi ordered sect members to post public notices, promising that the sect would focus on secluded development for the next thousand years and would not interfere in any affairs beyond Fengmo.

On the surface, this appeared to be a show of weakness toward the Celestial Wind Sect and the Fengli Sect, but in truth, it was firmness disguised as softness. Over the next thousand years, they would focus on consolidating the various immortal forces on Fengmo while advising all external forces to withdraw their influence from the planet as soon as possible.

For a time, the stronger celestial sects on Fengmo withdrew one after another. Vast territories around the Xinghai Sect were vacated, and Yao Xingzi dispatched people to swiftly take over them. Almost without bloodshed, the Xinghai Sect expanded its sphere of influence by a full third.

When a force was on the rise, its bright prospects concealed most of its internal problems. Conversely, when a force stagnated, flaws inevitably appeared on what once seemed like an ironclad defense.

The Xinghai Sect had experienced glory during the Old Man of Xinghai's lifetime. Now, it was embarking on a path of revival. Striving to avoid potential mistakes, it advanced in every aspect.

Yao Xingzi commanded the elders and other sect members, "Do not seek petty gain, exploit unaffiliated practitioners, bully the good, or drive away the destitute."

Lishang also instructed, "If you are bullied on Fengmo, hit back. If you are bullied and return to the sect crying, do not blame them for hitting you again!"

It was indeed quite down-to-earth.

Wang Sheng's seniority was still insufficient. He was merely one among the many grand elders and couldn't issue orders to everyone yet. Hence, after taking care of Lan Huilin's predicament, he instead brought his senior sister back to the Xinghai Sect's back mountain to enter seclusion.

The warmth of their reunion still lingered, but Mu Wanxuan was eager to grow stronger. She could no longer accompany Wang Sheng on daily sightseeing excursions.

Understanding and respecting his senior sister's wishes, Wang Sheng stayed by her side and focused completely on his own Dao. He comprehended it and practiced swordsmanship each day, deepening his connection and rapport with his two sword spirits.

During this time, he didn't involve himself much with external affairs. Since he poured all his attention on seclusion, Lishang, Linyuan, and the others also made sure not to disturb him with trivial matters. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The Xinghai Sect's affairs increased day by day, and the elders who had once been idle gradually assumed important responsibilities. The plan that Wang Sheng had proposed years ago to integrate his own forces into the sect was finally advancing rapidly.

During this period, they also formed an agreement with another celestial sect that was led by a Heavenly Immortal. They traded their lands on another celestial body for the other party's territory on Fengmo.

Throughout the entire process, the Xinghai Sect never used its strength to pressure the other faction. The two exchanged territories roughly equal in size, yet the Xinghai Sect still prepared many gifts, fully preserving the other party's dignity.

Through such diplomatic tactics, the Xinghai Sect rapidly doubled its territory and occupied a third of the cultivator cities on Fengmo, most of which were rich in primal qi and abundant resources.

The Xinghai Sect then stopped its expansion to start internal digestion and integration, preparing to gradually advance against surrounding areas in a hundred years. Further expansion would inevitably involve bloodshed.

Around the same time, the Celestial Wind Sect posted The Twelve Crimes of Fengli all over the cities of the thirteen qi planets, causing a major battle to erupt between the Celestial Wind Sect and the Fengli Sect.

Caiwei, one of the Fengli Sect's former Thirteen Fairies, authored the posters. She used extremely sharp wording to expose many of the Fengli Sect's shameful practices.

For one, she revealed that the Fengli Sect trained female disciples in two categories. Those with outstanding aptitude cultivated toward immortality, while those with outstanding appearance mainly focused on poetry, song, and dance. Not only was cultivation their secondary priority, but they were also required to practice "bedroom arts" to please men.

If the sect valued an external male cultivator who was above the True Immortal Realm, it would assign two to three female disciples and rapidly expand its influence over him. Even its Thirteen Fairies were merely bargaining chips used to win over experts.

The ultimate destination of those female disciples was the various Laifeng Pavilions, contributing to the large Spirit Stone income that the establishments provided the sect every day. Since not even the sect master's disciples were exempt from this practice, it was even more prevalent among the elders' female disciples. The sect essentially used them to bind down any expert who could be enticed with female beauty, Spirit Stones, or treasures.

The female cultivators of the Fengli Sect were trained to take pride in serving multiple people instead of finding it shameful. Meanwhile, its male cultivators boasted about the number and beauty of their companions. Unfortunately, this caused countless disciples to stray from the Great Dao and fall into bottlenecks.

Its internal filth aside, the Fengli Sect's tactics for external affairs were even more outrageous. The Twelve Crimes of Fengli used the Tonglin Immortal Sect, which the Fengli Sect had recently annexed, to describe in detail the process of how it swallowed sects.

First, they used beauty to bribe several of the Tonglin Immortal Sect's elders, then secretly eroded the Tonglin Immortal Sect's core disciples. It deliberately created panic within the sect by spreading fear that the Celestial Wind Sect was about to launch a major invasion, causing unrest throughout the entire sect.

Less than half a month later, the son of the Tonglin Immortal Sect's sect master went missing, and the two longest-serving elders inexplicably left the sect, only to fall into the Celestial Wind Sect's scheme. They died violent deaths in the ancient battlefield.

Afterward, the supposed "Celestial Wind Sect" experts relentlessly raided the Tonglin Immortal Sect's territory. Several elders pressured their sect master to seek aid from the Fengli Sect and then forced him to resign. Finally, they announced that the whole sect would merge with the Fengli Sect.

The Celestial Wind Sect later stated that it didn't even know the Daoist name of the Tonglin Immortal Sect's sect master.

Such cases of annexing celestial sects were far from rare in the history of the Fengli Sect's rise to power.

The Celestial Wind Sect's bloody expansion was certainly infuriating, but at least it followed the endless space's rule that the strong reigned supreme. The Fengli Sect, on the other hand, stopped at nothing. It always strove to minimize its own losses, and it would stoop as low as it had to just to accomplish that goal.

Once The Twelve Crimes of Fengli was released, disputes erupted all over the thirteen qi planets.

The Fengli Sect naturally didn't wait around like sitting ducks. Several immortal maidens long famed for their "beauty" immediately stepped forward and denounced Caiwei as a traitor. According to them, she had illicit relations with the Celestial Wind Sect's heir and even defected to his side. She then framed the Fengli Sect to curry favor with her new sect.

For a time, the two factions disputed with each other into chaos. Their sect members and disciples constantly clashed and sparked conflicts.

Caiwei's second attack was even more ruthless. She laid out everything she knew about the web of illicit affairs between her former sect's outer-circle Protectors and its inner disciples, from one-on-one entanglements to straight-up harems. The scandal caused the unaffiliated cultivators everywhere to condemn the moral decay, though many expressed their envy toward the sect's male members.

Cultivators generally cherished their reputations, and unaffiliated practitioners were no exception. Since the matter was escalating, most of the Fengli Sect's male cultivators couldn't dare go out anymore. When they did, they were inevitably pointed at and whispered about, severely unsettling their Dao Hearts.

Realizing that Lan Huilin would likely leak even more solid evidence, the Fengli Sect could no longer hold back. It launched large-scale attacks on the Celestial Wind Sect's cities across the thirteen qi planets, hoping to pressure and force it into handing over Caiwei. To the Fengli Sect's surprise, however, the enemy had long been prepared and simply been calmly waiting for them.

The two factions soon spiraled into a massive battle. Except for Fengmo and the two sides' qi planets, the thirteen qi planets were turned into gigantic battlefields.

At that moment, an even more humiliating scene appeared for the Fengli Sect.

Though not part of the Thirteen Fairies, two of the sect master's female disciples found themselves unwilling to continue walking the old path arranged for them. They defected to the Celestial Wind Sect and brought with them even more scandals about their former sect.

For a time, the thirteen qi planets grew endlessly lively, and the Fengli Sect's reputation declined nonstop.

The sect master, elders, and their many disciples were the core of the Fengli Sect. Through the disciples, it bound a large number of True Immortals and Primordial Immortals to its "war chariot," creating an extremely formidable outer-circle force. However, due to its worsening reputation, many of its True Immortals quietly left, causing it to lose a great deal of combatants.

As the flames of war between the two factions grew fiercer, two letters from their sect masters were placed before Yao Xingzi.

After pondering for half a day, Yao Xingzi decided to send a voice transmission to Wang Sheng, who was next door, to discuss matters briefly. He then wrote replies to both sects.

The Celestial Wind Sect's sect master apologized for its previous offenses against the Xinghai Sect, reiterated that Tan Lang's ambush had nothing to do with them, and hinted openly and covertly that the North-River Sword Sect would soon send a large number of experts to assist them in pacifying the Fengli Sect. As long as the Xinghai Sect remained inactive, Fengmo would belong to it.

The Fengli Sect's sect master naturally invited the Xinghai Sect into forming an alliance, making all kinds of extravagant promises. In truth, she merely wanted the Xinghai Sect to lend two experts: Lishang and Wang Sheng.

Following Wang Sheng's suggestion, Yao Xingzi rejected them all, stating that the Xinghai Sect only wished for steady development and had no desire to stir up trouble. Whether the two factions believed it was out of their control.

***

"A few celestial sects crushing each other and cultivators engaging in chaotic battles is already enough to turn the thirteen qi planets into this. Just imagine what the Immortal Saint Realm was like back then."

Within layers of array light barriers, Wang Sheng stood under the trees in the small courtyard. He held Spiritless in a reverse grip behind his back and sighed softly.

"Heroes with fortune and talent are born in times of chaos." Yaoyun, in her small fairy form, flew out of Spiritless and landed on Wang Sheng's shoulder. "The situation is still developing in a direction favorable to you and Earth's cultivators. Why do you still sound so bothered?"

Wang Sheng melancholically replied, "I'm worried about the North-River Sword Sect's response. It wouldn't wish to see the Celestial Wind Sect fall, which means it would step in to help when the Celestial Wind Sect is in a crisis.

"Considering the Fengli Sect's sect master and elders established a sect here to expand their power, a major force could be backing them as well. Unlike theirs, not a single member of the force behind me can fight. Tsk."

Amused by Wang Sheng's tone, Yaoyun couldn't help but laugh. "Have you thought of how to destroy the Celestial Wind?"

"Mm." A faint killing intent appeared in Wang Sheng's eyes. "To wipe out the Celestial Wind Sect, Li Tianyao has to be eliminated first. That would sever its link with the North-River Sword Sect. After that, it would be best not to do anything else. If we do, though, we have to strike with the force of lightning."

"How will you eliminate Li Tianyao?"

"I'm still thinking about it." Wang Sheng sighed. "My mind can only handle so many problems, and I have to be extremely meticulous with each of our plans. For now, I'll just cultivate. Let's see how far those two factions would take their fight. I sure hope some Heavenly Court big shot would just pop out of nowhere and pacify the thirteen qi planets, though. That would save me all this trouble."

Yaoyun tilted her head and pondered for a while.