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Chapter 484: Chapter 480: Supreme Elder of Li Yang Cave Heaven
After a detailed discussion with Gu Jinlai, Liu Feiyun had already entrusted him with unconditional trust.
Or rather, she had placed all her hope for the future of the Li Yang Cave Heaven upon Gu Jinlai.
In the following time, leading the people of the Li Yang Cave Heaven, they quickly completed the integration of tens of millions of people.
This branch from the Holy Land, having fled along the way, suffered heavy casualties, and those who survived had all been tempered through severe trials without exception.
The spiritual will of many people had been sublimated through the hardships encountered along the way.
Not only them, many in the Chi Long Territory from the Human Clan had the same experience.
They were able to persist in resisting and struggle against crises in such harsh environments, with the longest fighters having continued their resistance for over a decade.
The wars had honed their spirits and tempered their wills; Gu Jinlai only needed to provide them some training and point out the path forward, and the power they could unleash would not be much less than those carefully cultivated family descendants in Wind and Rain City.
In the process of integrating these tens of millions of people, Gu Jinlai also weeded out those who had completely sided with the Devils, bringing them to justice.
However...
What Gu Jinlai found ironic was that among these tens of millions of people, the number of "Reds" he weeded out was still less than that of a single district in the Outer City.
When he initially purged the Southeast City District, he obtained dozens of Dao Artifacts in total.
This was despite many having hidden in the Inner City or having backgrounds too powerful to be easily dealt with.
Including these individuals, the number of Dao Artifacts obtained in each city district would definitely exceed fifty.
Yet, the population of a city district was similar to that of the Chi Long Territory, also around ten million people.
But in Wind and Rain City, where there were over fifty "Reds," in the Chi Long Territory, he disposed of only fourteen "Reds."
He merely obtained fourteen Dao Artifacts.
The reason!?
It was not because the members of the Human Clan empathized with each other and helped one another, but because of the Devils!
The Devils forbade the Human Clan from engaging in large-scale slaughter amongst themselves.
If anyone dared to kill innocents recklessly, it wouldn’t be the human experts who would come forward to uphold justice first, but the Devils who would descend to kill these out-of-control individuals.
After all, for them, each human was the most precious treasure, not to be allowed to die in strife and wrangling among their own kind.
This result left Gu Jinlai speechless, and even Liu Feiyun and the others were silent for a long time.
At this moment, they seemed to finally understand somewhat why many Devils could easily govern tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even billions of people and efficiently confine them.
To ordinary people, living under the rule of Sect powers and royal families meant survival, and living under the rule of Devils also meant survival.
There wasn’t much difference.
Qi Sheng and Liu Feiyun sometimes passed by these confined areas and saw plenty of cultivators capable of slaying Devils, yet they resented these individuals for not stepping forward to exterminate the Devils and lead a rebellion, disdaining their character and viewing them as traitors to the Human Clan...
This was because they themselves were part of the ruling class, the benefiting class.
They were True Disciples and protectors of the Li Yang Cave Heaven, not the ordinary people governed and ruled by the Li Yang Cave Heaven.
While they enjoyed the prestigious privileges of True Disciples of the Li Yang Cave Heaven, spending resources on cultivation that ordinary people couldn’t afford in ten lifetimes, they could not comprehend the living conditions of these ordinary people nor see their life and death struggles.
When they faced danger and the Li Yang Cave Heaven was broken, they had to call upon ordinary people to stand up, defend the Sect, and unite to resist the invasion of Devils...
Naturally, this was impossible.
This outcome greatly dampened the moods of Liu Feiyun and the others, and for the first time, they contemplated whether the governance system under the rule of the Li Yang Cave Heaven for thousands of years was correct.
...
Migrating tens of millions of people from the Chi Long Territory was no easy task.
Fortunately, the Dragon Tears Demon Emperor did not make any moves, seemingly due to currently not having enough manpower to launch a large-scale Devil war.
Or perhaps... 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓅𝓊𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
He was waiting for these tens of millions of people to enter a certain city, ready to take advantage of the situation, sweep through the border city, and plunder a huge population.
Therefore, even though the migration of tens of millions was slow, taking ten days to leave the Chi Long Territory and enter the human giant city range, they surprisingly did not encounter large-scale Devil attacks along the way.
And small-scale Devils...
Had not yet approached when they were slain by Xi Baintian and others.
After tens of millions of the Human Clan finally left the Chi Long Territory, Liu Feiyun, Qi Sheng, Qi Yunxiao, Zhuo Chunqiu, and a few high-level members of the Li Yang Cave Heaven rescued from the Chi Long Territory once again found Gu Jinlai.
In the presence of these people, Liu Feiyun handed a Storage Treasure to Gu Jinlai, "Ancient Martial Saint, this is the reward we promised you."
Gu Jinlai accepted the Storage Treasure, took a quick look, and couldn’t help but show a hint of surprise.
"It seems there’s more than four Dao Artifacts, three Great Divine Powers, and six Void Immortal Inheritances in here."
"Inside there are six Dao Artifacts and various texts. In total, there are 166 Divine Skills, 24 types of inheritances, and nine Great Divine Powers. Moreover ... there is one True Immortal Inheritance."
Liu Feiyun solemnly said, "This is also all the inheritances our lineage holds."
"166 Divine Skills! Nine Great Divine Powers ... and it also includes one True Immortal Inheritance!?"
Gu Jinlai, upon hearing Liu Feiyun’s words, couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
He quickly glanced at that True Immortal Inheritance.
Li Yang True Fire Technique?
The core inheritance of Li Yang Cave Heaven!?
About a dozen people bowed respectfully to Gu Jinlai, "Ancient Martial Saint, we would like to invite you to be the Supreme Elder of our Li Yang Cave Heaven."
"Supreme Elder!?"
Gu Jinlai looked at Liu Feiyun, who was leading the group.
Inviting him to be the Supreme Elder of Li Yang Cave Heaven!?
This scene ...
It seemed familiar.
"Yes."
After Liu Feiyun spoke, she immediately added, "Whether Ancient Martial Saint ultimately agrees or not, these texts, whether its Divine Skills or inheritances, we are all willing to let the Ancient Martial Saint browse."
Her expression was filled with sincerity, as if she had already entrusted all the future of Li Yang Cave Heaven on Gu Jinlai alone.
Gu Jinlai sensed the scrolls of texts inside this Storage Treasure.
Li Yang Cave Heaven ...
This was an ancient cave heaven that had been passed down for over two thousand eight hundred years.
Throughout nearly three thousand years of history, four True Immortals had been born.
Forty years ago, many Holy Lands in the Holy Region were breached, prompting numerous cultivators to flock into Li Yang Cave Heaven, using it as the last bastion against the Devil invasion. At that time, Li Yang Cave Heaven had once gathered five resident True Immortals.
These True Immortals also left behind a portion of their inheritances, blending them, thus doubling the inheritance value of Li Yang Cave Heaven.
Li Yang Cave Heaven could not possibly have just one True Immortal Inheritance.
This was merely a part of the many inheritances of Li Yang Cave Heaven.
However, because of cross-copying, even though this part does not make up half of all the precious texts in Li Yang Cave Heaven, one-third is definitely not an overstatement.
This one-third ...
If someone were to fully absorb it, opening a new cave heaven inheritance in the outside world would not be an issue.
"When dealing with those extremely malicious people in Chi Long Territory, I briefly spoke to you about my ideology. This ideology might not align with Li Yang Cave Heaven. Asking me to be the Supreme Elder might not be beneficial for you."
Gu Jinlai said.
"We know, Ancient Martial Saint, that you want to build a world that is fair and stable, with orderly inheritances, a world without an absolute privileged class, where everyone is equal in values."
Liu Feiyun nodded, "Along the way, we have thought a lot and even conjectured why the very powerful Holy Region ultimately could not withstand the Devil invasion. Ultimately ... it’s about order! The Holy Region back then simply didn’t have a complete order."
Zhuo Chunqiu also chimed in, "When the Devil first rose, the Major Sects in the Holy Region had the capability to exterminate the Devil, but no force chose to do so. Some even allowed the Devil to grow and used them to drain the Qi of rival forces. By the time the Devil became powerful, the sects in the Holy Region were not truly united."
He sighed, "In the great battle when Geng Metal Cave Heaven was destroyed, the Human Clan did not lose on the front line but to their own kin. Yuanjing True Immortal, due to a personal grudge from when Immortal Xuanlei had once led the attack that destroyed his sect, chose the critical moment when Xuanlei was battling to death with the Demon God to launch a sneak attack, leading to the death of Immortal Xuanlei and, consequently, the breach and obliteration of the Geng Metal Cave Heaven’s lineages ... and such incidents were not rare in those decades of fighting against the Devil."
Gu Jinlai had also heard that the Holy Region’s defeat was due to mistrust and concealed motives among the major forces.
He had not expected ...
that the high-and-mighty residing True Immortals would go to such lengths.
"If there truly could be a unified order, and, if this order is as fair and just as Ancient Martial Saint said, giving everyone a channel to advance and change their fate, then ... we are willing to accept it."
Liu Feiyun said solemnly, "I believe, given the abilities of the disciples of our Li Yang Cave Heaven, even in fair competition, we can still stand out, and for those without capabilities ... blending in with the masses is not necessarily a bad thing for them. At the very least under this order, they would still have the most basic life protection."
"If you are willing to accept my ideology, then ... I will take this position of Supreme Elder."
Gu Jinlai said, "But let me be upfront, if there are still people in Li Yang Cave Heaven who hold onto the old concept of being high above others, commanding and controlling the lives of those under their domain, then do not blame me for being ruthless."
"Please rest assured, Supreme Elder. As the Supreme Elder of Li Yang Cave Heaven, and now the only remaining Supreme Elder, your word is equivalent to the regulations and laws of Li Yang Cave Heaven. If anyone disobeys the regulations of Li Yang Cave Heaven, there is no need for you to act; we ourselves will take the lead to cleanse our sect."
Liu Feiyun hurriedly said.
Seeing this, Gu Jinlai turned his gaze to the crowd.
Under their somewhat hopeful and anxious gazes, he nodded.
Instantly, about a dozen people joyfully bowed deeply, "We pay our respects to the Supreme Elder."
