Chapter 1060: Chess Pieces

"Sect Leader Qingsongzi, you are too kind," Qin Zhan said with a smile, shaking his head. "Your sect is willing to join our Sword Sect family; we should work together with one heart and strive for everyone's aspirations from here on out."

Qin Zhan only listened to some of Qingsongzi's polite remarks; as long as the bottom-line interests of the Qingyuan Sect were not violated, the Qingyuan Sect was willing to be with the Sword Sect, which was not a problem.

However, Qin Zhan did not believe that the other party would be willing to truly sacrifice themselves for the Qingyuan Sect.

Of course, Qin Zhan believed even more that the deterrent power of the Sword Sect would force them to submit, if the Qingyuan Sect in its peak period still had some confidence.

At this moment, facing the behemoth that was the Sword Sect, the Qingyuan Sect had no confidence at all.

As for Qingsongzi, this True Immortal, he was merely half-crippled; even some top Heavenly Immortal Sword Cultivators in the Sword Sect were likely confident they could battle him, or even defeat him.

Therefore, Qin Zhan did not care about the thoughts of the Qingyuan Sect at all.

But one does not strike a smiling face, and as a Sect Leader, he had said such grand words, and Qin Zhan could see that the other party's tone was sincere.

His heart eased a little; their choice should be correct. If they had really saved an ungrateful wretch, that would be truly vexing.

Supporting sects everywhere to counter those few large sects was the Sword Sect's subsequent policy.

Their Sword Sect was ranked first in the Jianyu; even if the five top sects of the Jianyu joined forces, they might not be the Sword Sect's match.

After all, the top sects of the Jianyu only had three to five True Immortals; the strongest currently only had seven True Immortals.

Averaged together, the five top sects only had one or two dozen True Immortals, which was not much different compared to the Sword Sect.

But the Sword Sect's True Immortals were not ordinary True Immortals; half of them were Sword Cultivators, and even if their cultivation had not reached the True Immortal Peak, their combat power was not the least bit weaker than a True Immortal Peak.

Their comprehensive strength was still stronger.

With the Sword Sect's strength, unifying the Jianyu was not a big problem, but the Sword Sect had been established for too short a time.

Its prestige here in the Jianyu was not yet sufficient; forcing a unification now would only leave certain flaws for the Sword Sect.

Therefore, the high-level members of the Sword Sect, under Zhang Liang's guidance, held back. In any case, for the Sword Sect, unifying the Jianyu was only a matter of time.

The Sword Sect's strength would only grow stronger in the future, and once a second Golden Immortal appeared, by then, let alone unifying the Jianyu, the Sword Sect could continuously expand even into neighboring regions.

The ambitions of the Sword Sect's high-level members were not small; apart from those Sword Cultivators, the other high-level figures had great ideas about expanding the Sword Sect.

After all, the stronger the Sword Sect, the greater the interests of these high-level members.

Qin Zhan was not a high-level member, but as Zhang Liang's confidant, he had a good understanding of the Sword Sect's plans.

Coming to the southwest of the Jianyu this time to support the Qingyuan Sect was precisely for this reason; the Qingyuan Sect in its peak period was at least considered a top-tier sect in the Jianyu, and it had a foundation.

Later, because of that internal strife, it suffered a great loss of vitality and never recovered, even nearly being wiped out.

How can adding flowers to a brocade compare to sending charcoal in snow? As long as the Sword Sect's helping hand this time was not met with an ungrateful wretch, they would be grateful to the Sword Sect for a lifetime.

By taking in such a southwest hegemon with a decent foundation, once the latter recovered its peak strength in the future, the Sword Sect could extend its reach into this southwest region of the Jianyu.

Not only that, it could also set an example for many sects in the Jianyu.

The Sword Sect was not the kind of insatiably greedy sect; for the Qingyuan Sect, not only did they not kick them while they were down, but they even sent charcoal in snow. Such a sect, when it unifies the Jianyu in the future, would also have the hearts of the people on its side.

When it comes to calculating the hearts of people, Zhang Liang is absolutely not lacking.

Since the Sword Sect was established, it naturally had to be carried forward and popularized.

Furthermore, by using this to have the Qingyuan Sect switch to cultivating the Earth Deity Path, they could also make the Earth Deity Path popular.

Once the outside world knew that Qingsongzi of the Qingyuan Sect had broken through because he switched to the Earth Deity Path, it would inevitably stir up a wave.

Following the trend is quite a normal thing in the cultivation world.

Learning from the strong is even more the golden rule of the cultivation world.

The Sword Sect wanted to spread the Earth Deity Path, but those sects before had many hesitations, or even resistance.

But once the Qingyuan Sect became the first beneficiary of this Earth Deity Path, the situation would instantly be different.

Even if those top sects had hesitations or resistance, other sects or Loose Cultivators would not; seeing the benefits of this Earth Deity Path, they would surely swarm in and learn it immediately.

By then, these people, because of the Earth Deity Path, would have their cultivation improve one by one, or their strength would greatly increase.

Even those top sects would inevitably be unable to sit still; after all, if you don't learn, other sects will learn, and their strength will grow stronger and stronger, slowly catching up to them.

In the cultivation world, if you don't advance, you retreat; if your strength improves slowly, you will be surpassed.

Therefore, by then, these sects would also be forced to start practicing the Earth Deity Path, and thus this Earth Deity Path would slowly spread.

This was the plan after many discussions by Zhang Liang and the others of the Sword Sect; the Qingyuan Sect was the example they brought out.

Although this effect had not yet been displayed, Zhang Liang and the others were confident that this was an open conspiracy; even those sects with resistance would have no way to resist by then, and instead would compete to learn and practice the Earth Deity Path.

By then, more and more people would come to learn the Earth Deity Path, and this would also mean they had succeeded.

Therefore, the Qingyuan Sect was their target, so they naturally had to value it, and the former had indeed not failed to live up to their efforts in supporting it.

Qingsongzi finally broke through.

A living example—although it could not be determined how much effect the Earth Deity Path played in this, they could completely attribute this point to it.

The effect would likely be very good.

Did Qin Zhan come here also for this matter, to expand the results?

Of course, and at the same time, it was also to back the Qingyuan Sect.

The situation the Qingyuan Sect faced had long been investigated by the Sword Sect; facing the Yuanba Sect and several other sects, the Sword Sect also understood the dangerous situation of the Qingyuan Sect.

If the four major sects were truly determined to take action against the Qingyuan Sect, even if Qingsongzi broke through to a True Immortal, what could he do?

Because his own origin was damaged, he was certainly a few notches worse than a normal True Immortal.

Those Heavenly Immortals joining forces still posed a huge threat to him, and even paying a certain price would be enough to wipe him out.

By then, the Qingyuan Sect would be finished.

The Qingyuan Sect was pushed out by their Sword Sect, so naturally, they could not let anything happen to it; the better the Qingyuan Sect developed, the more successful the Sword Sect's plan would be.

Therefore, Qin Zhan was sent over.

Qin Zhan's strength, not to say how strong, was at least that of a Heavenly Immortal, and not an ordinary Heavenly Immortal; at least facing the Heavenly Immortals of the Yuanba Sect and other major sects, he had no problem taking on three by himself.