Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1533 - 1526: The Power of Sects

Chapter 1533: Chapter 1526: The Power of Sects

Indeed, it was for this reason that as soon as the Dongsheng Empire was established, the Sects across Kyushu began to recruit a large number of external disciples en masse, as a conventional counterforce within the Sects, to deal with general conflicts.

However, this also led to a very thorny social issue, which was that with the continuous expansion of the Sects’ scales, in order to sustain their disciples, they had no choice but to annex large amounts of land and impose taxes without paying tribute to the Imperial Court.

This issue has existed since the inception of the Dongsheng Empire and can be considered a historical legacy. These colossal Sects, in the end, effectively transformed into a new class of large landlords, with all the land tax under their jurisdiction going solely to the Sects, not a penny handed over to the Imperial Court.

Although the Cabinet of the Dongsheng Court was infuriated to the point of gnashing their teeth, they were at a loss for actions against them, because, as the saying goes, the absolute power of martial force always had immediate effects, far surpassing any conspiracy or trickery.

However, not all of these Sects were fools; some shrewd ones began to proactively curry favor with the Imperial Court, giving up a part of their interests to win over people within the court. In return, the court would recruit these Sects’ disciples to serve as officials.

The Dongsheng Empire had established a military officer reserve system, dedicated to reserving military officer talents for times of war. This system was divided into two parts, one called the Military Scripture Department, and the other called the Military Armament Department.

As the name suggests, the Military Scripture Department was responsible for recruiting scholars to serve as reserves for Civil Captains. For example, the Civil Captain named Xuan that the Advance Team met earlier was a graduate from the Military Scripture Department.

Compared to the Military Scripture Department, the scale of the Military Armament Department was much larger, as it mainly recruited Cultivators to serve as Military General officers. As mentioned earlier about the concept of hundreds of captains and thousands of generals, generals were primarily responsible for leading charges, so their numbers were much larger than the marshals.

The source of generals in the Military Armament Department, besides being provided by aristocratic families, mainly came from the Sects. Every three to four years, the Imperial Court would recruit a batch of Cultivators for reserve, and that was the time for Sects to take the initiative to ingratiate themselves with the court.

As the beacon of civilization on the East Continent, Dongsheng Empire’s relatively successful political system also influenced nearby countries. Especially Fengyu, as a vassal state, almost wholly copied Dongsheng Empire’s military officer reserve system.

And Dongliang Yu, as the Sect Master of the Wuyun Sect, was once a member of the Military Armament Department, having at least been promoted to the level of Duwei, which is equivalent to a junior commissioned officer in a modern military.

However, compared to Dongsheng Empire’s mature civil and military governance system, Fengyu still held on to the very traditional concept of valuing martial prowess over literary skills. In reality, when one thinks about it, it makes sense, as Dongsheng Empire could reach such heights because it overthrew the former Dynasty and rebuilt order from scratch.

Fengyu’s political landscape had always been placid, naturally lacking the impetus for reform. After all, expecting these beneficiaries of the status quo to lead their self-reform is, of course, unrealistic.

The carriage traveled along the road, unlike the barren wastelands of West Outer Heaven; inside Fengyu, the degree of environmental development was relatively high, with large tracts of farmland visible at every distance traveled.

Influenced by Thousand Peaks Cloud Top, Fengyu’s terrain overall tends to be higher in the west and lower in the east, with the interior dominated by hilly terrain, coastal plains in the east, and more mountains in the west.

In terms of climate, every summer, the warm moist air from the sea would surge towards Fengyu, and due to the blockage from Thousand Peaks Cloud Top, it would result in large-scale rainfall, so the waterways within Fengyu were incredibly dense. In just a journey of a bit more than twenty kilometers, Cheng Ziang and his companions crossed at least over a dozen rivers.

The quality of these roads was uneven; in some places, the roads were very well made, but in others, they were simple dirt tracks. Mudslides and landslides often occurred in Fengyu, sometimes submerging roads. In these cases, few would be willing to undertake the excavation; rather, they would make do and, once the mudslides stabilized, directly carve out a dirt road.

However, since it was a road administered by the Wuyun Sect, the quality of the road that Cheng Ziang and his group were traveling on was relatively good. The road’s foundation was made of large stones, covered with a layer of crushed rock and river sand on top, the overall shape being higher in the middle and lower on both sides to facilitate drainage.

Along both sides of the road were well-cultivated farmland, where not only the Shanyue people but also many of the Ghost Race were laboring. It is said that these fields were under the jurisdiction of the Wuyun Sect. As an emerging Sect, the Wuyun Sect had not yet reached the point of annexing lands, so these fields nominally still had owners, with the Wuyun Sect only collecting taxes on their behalf and providing proper protection.

The ability of the Wuyun Sect to take root and flourish in Fengyu is inseparable from the deplorable governance of the Fengyu Dynasty. Because in Kyushu, the number of Sects had already reached saturation, and the competition was fierce, small Sects would either attach themselves to others or be annihilated.

The major Sects’ dimension-reducing strikes against the smaller Sects are beyond the intervention of the Imperial Court, as often the Court is still reacting when the smaller Sects have already been completely annihilated, unable to manage the situation.

So eventually, this evolved into an unspoken rule: the Imperial Court would nominally condemn the conflicts between major and minor Sects but not interfere in practice. It was only when major Sects fought each other that the Court would pay attention, to prevent the outbreak of intense wars between inner disciples of different Sects.

In Fengyu, the lack of a mature civil official system led to extremely inefficient administrative operations, to the point where imperial decrees barely reached beyond the capital. Under these circumstances, local autonomy became the norm, and Sects like the Wuyun Sect seized the opportunity to rise to prominence by actively taking charge of local governance and paying taxes to the Court.

These Sects made a show of paying taxes to the Court not out of loyalty, but to seek legitimization. Regardless of how corrupt the Fengyu Dynasty might be, it was still the de facto ruler of this land. If the Dynasty chose to oppose these Sects, they would be seen as lacking in moral high ground, considered illegal forces.

In an increasingly civilized society, moral justification sometimes outweighs actual strength. Those who hold the moral high ground can freely accuse those at the moral base without concern and even gain widespread approval.

Although belonging to the Fengyu Dynasty, the Wuyun Sect has no objection to the Demon Clan that resides within its territory, merely prohibiting them from joining as disciples. The disciples of the Wuyun Sect are primarily comprised of the Shanyue people and Kyushu residents, with barely any members from the Demon Clan. This is understandable as the Demon Clan cannot form spirit cores.

It was precisely for this reason that the Demon Clan, who toiled in the fields, were not much intimidated upon seeing the Wuyun Sect’s delegation; they continued to work hard, ignoring their presence.

The journey of over twenty kilometers, thanks to the good roads, was finally completed by evening.

Upon dismounting from the carriage, Cheng Ziang was stunned by the massive stone archway at the entrance of the Wuyun Sect. Completely carved and assembled from giant stones, it looked exceptionally imposing. Next to the arch, stood a huge stone slab engraved vertically with large characters – according to Cheng Ziang’s understanding, they were Kyushu characters, meaning "Wuyun Sect."

This time, Dongliang Yu could be said to have emptied the nest, so only a few remained in the Sect. After the disciples of the Wuyun Sect returned, they immediately got to work without rest.

The Wuyun Sect was nestled between two mountains, with four gentle terraces leading from the main gate to the interior, flanked by dense jungles on both sides.

By the time they arrived, the sky was gradually darkening, and the disciples lit lanterns and lined up at the gate to illuminate the way for the visitors.

"Welcome to our humble abode. This way, please," Dongliang Yu said as he jumped off the carriage, running over to greet them with a clasped fist.

"Sect Master is too kind. Please lead the way," Cheng Ziang nodded, with Feng following behind Dongliang Yu towards the Sect.

Because it was already getting dark, Cheng Ziang could not observe his surroundings. He attempted to strike up a conversation intermittently with Dongliang Yu, trying to pry some valuable information from him.

"May I ask the Sect Master, why establish a Sect here?" Cheng Ziang inquired while surveying the area.

"Heh heh, without hiding anything, I have always had the intention to start my own Sect, but was constrained by family obligations and thus unable to fulfill this wish until now," Dongliang Yu replied frankly.

"Is Sect Master Dongliang... from Kyushu?" Cheng Ziang tentatively asked.

"Hmm, the Dongliang family of Qi State, indeed from the main family," Dongliang Yu nodded and responded.

"Then why come to Fengyu?" Cheng Ziang continued to inquire.

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