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The Science of Cultivation - Chapter 265: Congregation of Intentions
🕑 Added 2025-03-21 22:30:05 +0000 UTCLi Lang’s group spent the remainder of the morning traveling from place to place, conferring with various people they had a connection with. That included parties from both the demonic and orthodox paths. With every notable group gathered on the island, Li Lang didn’t spare a single avenue of potential support.
As a morning full of backroom dealings ended, they headed toward the other side of the mountain to the venue for the Dark Sea Arena along with practically every other guest on Sword Saint Isle.
The scene of thousands of cultivators congregating in one place wasn’t that different from the previous days, but the tension in the air was worlds apart. It no longer had the carefree atmosphere of a social event. Instead, there was an unmistakable aura that indicated serious talks were about to happen, talks that could change the course of their future.
It wasn’t that being attacked by psychotic demonic cultivators who had lost their reasoning was rare, but the scale of the latest incident was just too large to ignore. Numerous factions had taken casualties the previous day, meaning they all had a stake in the matter.
Entering the scene, Li Lang quickly noticed that the nine raised platforms surrounded by four pillars had disappeared. In its place was an enormous ring-shaped table that could seat hundreds. A few dozen people already sat there, all of them being various leaders and elders of large forces. Among them, Li Lang recognized the leader of the organization he was nominally a part of, Liu Haiping, the Head Councilman of The Orchid Covenant.
Not having spotted him in the days prior, it appeared the exclusive club of elders no longer isolated themselves and rather took the central stage.
“Umm, where should we sit, Li Lang?” Long Yi’s voice rang out, breaking Li Lang from his musings. “I see a bunch of people from The Orchid Covenant in the stands to the left and the Nightmoon Valley group toward the right.”
“We sh-should probably sit away from both parties,” Wei Ping suggested.
Hearing this, Li Lang nodded.
“Hmm, yes, but still relatively close to our allies. It’d be foolish to sit among people who are likely to oppose us. It’d give the illusion that we had no support.”
With their requirements set, Li Lang glanced around for some time before deciding on a destination. In the end, they headed in the direction of Nightmoon Valley.
There were still plenty of empty seats. While they had over a dozen people, it was still a relatively small group compared to some of the other factions.
The entire stadium was filled shortly before noon, with tens of thousands of people sitting solemnly together. Their attention was focused on the elders sitting at the colossal donut-shaped table in the center. For a gathering of this size, the place was strangely quiet, with only a few whispers here and there.
When the sun reached its zenith, the conference began without any delay. A lone man slowly descended from the sky, landing in the middle of the annular table. Everyone knew it was the Sword Saint, so the entire audience stood up in respect. Li Lang noted how the man seemed to have already fully recovered, as he appeared to have a healthy complexion and an aura full of vitality. The booming voice that rang out next only served to prove this point further.
“My guests and fellow cultivators of Violet Isle, please be seated. Our meeting here today will not be short.” The man paused for a moment to allow the audience to do as he instructed. “Now then, let’s get started. First, I believe I owe you all an explanation after yesterday’s tragic events. We were attacked by a rogue demonic cultivator, commonly known as the Abductress. She—”
As the Sword Saint explained to the crowd, Li Lang directed his attention to the expressions of the cultivators in his surroundings. From the expressions of each group, he could gauge what they thought. He wouldn’t be surprised that those who looked intense or grieving likely suffered several fatalities. After all, he had struggled to take down one puppet with three-on-one odds, and there would’ve definitely been more than just that one puppet that had made it onto the island.
He noted these parties mainly consisted of groups that didn’t have the protection of a Violet Core expert. Plenty of small and mid-sized forces were part of this group. To them, they only had one to a handful of cultivators that had reached such a high realm of cultivation. Their sect elders would only be in the late stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
“—and that is all we know so far.”
“Absolutely ridiculous,” one of the old men in pale orange robes, sitting near the Sword Saint, blurted out. “We’ve known about the eccentricities of the Abductress for a long time. Which force was dumb enough to provoke that crazy old lady? They should take responsibility for this disaster!”
The man slowly swept his gaze around the table, making eye contact with each of his peers, except for the Sword Saint. His accusatory gaze earned him no favors, but he didn’t seem to care.
“Who is the haughty guy?” Li Lang leaned in and whispered to his masked friend.
“From his at-attire, he should be from the Sunset Peak Sect. They’re kno-known as the strongest orthodox sect.”
“Hmm, explains the attitude.”
With so many prestigious forces present, the arrogant elder from Sunset Peak didn’t have to wait long before someone confronted him.
“Song Leiguang, don’t think everyone here will put up with your arrogance. I can’t believe you even dare to complain when the culprit at hand is the Abductress. You didn’t even fight during the invasion,” a short old man, in monk attire, retorted before turning his gaze toward the Sword Saint. “I propose we have Song Leiguang sit out of this meeting lest he accidentally leaks sensitive information.”
The Sword Saint chuckled at the suggestion, materializing a bottle of liquor into his hand. He took a swig from it before replying.
“Now, now. Let’s play nice for now. Your personal grievances should be set aside. While I value every representative’s opinion, at the end of the day, most of you are just that,” he said as he gave a meaningful gaze to the supposed monk. “Now, if this was your Temple Master or the ancestors’ intention, I’ll consider it then.”
The old man respectfully clasped his fist in response, despite being reprimanded, and said nothing more. In fact, everyone at the table remained quiet for some time. None of them missed the hint from the Sword Saint about wanting their respective leaders to be clued into this meeting. They remained silent because they were busy conversing with their superiors over their communication jades.
The first to break the silence was surprisingly a familiar figure to Li Lang. It was Jian Beiyun. As the head disciple of Nightmoon Valley, his position was slightly special. Despite being in the Foundation Establishment Realm, he was invited to be his organization’s representative.
The young man stood up under the gaze of hundreds of elders and thousands of other cultivators, speaking in a clear voice directed at no one in particular.
“Our Valley Master gives his condolences to all the affected parties. He would like to ask the honorable Sword Saint about his intentions.”
“That’s a polite way of saying get to the point already,” Long Yi murmured beside Li Lang with a grin.
Li Lang shook his head at his antics.
This guy, he should know better. All the experts around him have extraordinary means. I wouldn’t be surprised if they can hear him. Well, I doubt they’ll give trouble to a junior for speaking out of turn.
Li Lang quickly decided not to warn his friend as he directed his attention back to the meeting at the table below.
“Sure, I’ll cut to the chase,” the Sword Saint replied. “My main goal for setting up this meeting, besides giving an account to all the forces that suffered losses, is to set our next move together. I’d rather not have one of you go off for revenge alone, and risk provoking another incident like this.”
“I see,” Jian Beiyun replied in an official manner that Li Lang rarely heard. “Does that mean your esteemed self has no particular preference for how we respond to this incident? You simply want us all to be on the same page?”
“Correct. I am of the opinion that we should do things thoroughly. Whether it be to endure, retreat, or retaliate, we do it together. No half measures. Otherwise, things will just get chaotic, and I won’t be able to leisurely enjoy fine wine like this.” The man then took another swig as if to prove his point.
He gave some time for his guests to relay his words back home before he continued.
“Now, let’s talk about the options we have before we move on to decision making. As I mentioned, I currently see three paths. The first one is to endure, which simply means we forget about this incident and move on with our lives. The second one is to retreat, where we would investigate what provoked the Abductress, assign blame, and have the offending party compensate that old witch further. We would then even set up policies together in order to prevent such a thing from happening.”
As he explained his second option, the audience began to get worked up at such a degrading idea. Sword Saint Jun Heng understood their frustration and stopped speaking to let them vent.
“You want all the forces of Violet Isle to bow down? We might as well crown the Abductress our queen while we’re at it, then!”
“Ridiculous! I’d rather die than go with this second option! No disrespect to the Sword Saint, of course.”
Li Lang was no different, but he didn’t let his dissatisfaction be known. He simply glared at the Sword Saint while he tried his best to contain his anger. He realized this topic was too personal for him, but he couldn’t help it.
However, his heart leaped a beat when the man he had been staring at suddenly turned his gaze toward him. Despite the vast distance between them, being unable to confirm if the Spirit Divide Realm expert was actually singling him out, a chill still coursed through Li Lang’s body as he broke out into a cold sweat.
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Comments
Scrutinizer
It /was/ no longer had the carefree atmosphere of a social event.
Scrutinizer
Sword Saint: Look, it's that kid who's been playing politics all morning. I bet he wants something from me.
