Chapter 53: Transnational Development

The Demonic Cult retreated three days later. Dugu Sheng fled far away, and Fan Jin escaped. Only Dongfang Qingyun remained in the Demonic Cult's camp. Not seeing Dugu Sheng for several days, Dongfang Qingyun understood that the Cult Leader was likely hiding somewhere to heal his wounds.

Fearing a counterattack from Shaolin, he took the remaining two thousand Demonic Cult members and returned to Black Wood Cliff.

Except for a few insiders, most people were somewhat confused by the Demonic Cult's sudden retreat.

They had just experienced a great battle, and the Demonic Cult retreated; it seemed a bit hasty.

Many martial arts forces had been struggling with whether or not to reinforce Shaolin, but now, they didn't need to struggle anymore.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

No one wanted to fight a great battle with the Demonic Cult; in the end, they would have to bear the casualties themselves. Would Shaolin compensate them?

Perhaps there would be some, but it definitely couldn't compensate for their losses.

Of course, with the Demonic Cult retreating, the Central Plains martial arts world was still a mess, because before the Demonic Cult attacked, the Central Plains martial arts world had suffered many attacks, and many local martial arts forces had been uprooted.

Now that the Demonic Cult had retreated, that place became a vacuum, so all forces began a new round of fighting.

At this time, Shaolin did not stand out.

Many people were puzzled, but facing these huge benefits, they soon forgot this doubt and entered the fight for food.

On Qipan Mountain, Su Fan received Ning Qingyu's letter half a month later.

"Dugu Sheng is severely wounded, two divine monks are on the verge of death!"

Su Fan looked at the contents of the letter and was also somewhat dumbfounded. He didn't expect the final result to be like this.

Shaolin and the Demonic Cult could be said to have both suffered losses.

Shaolin's losses were definitely greater; three top-tier divine monks died, and losing three top-tier experts caused Shaolin to change from the world's number one righteous path to the world's second or even third.

Five top-tier experts—in terms of quantity, no one in the martial arts world could compare, not even the Demonic Cult.

The Demonic Cult, including Dugu Sheng, only had four people.

However, with Dugu Sheng, the Demonic Cult's strength could be called the world's number one.

As a result, after this battle, Shaolin only had two top-tier experts left, one of whom was severely wounded. In terms of strength, it wasn't much stronger than Huashan.

If the Five Mountains were added, it might not even be a match for the Five Mountains.

Of course, perhaps Shaolin still had hidden hands; after all, before this, no one knew Shaolin had five top-tier experts.

But even so, Shaolin had suffered a great blow.

Su Fan was also very happy.

And the Demonic Cult definitely didn't have it easy, because Dugu Sheng's plan didn't succeed. Not only did it not succeed, but he was also severely wounded. As a martial artist, Su Fan knew very well that after suffering such a heavy injury, even if he recovered, given his age, his strength would definitely be discounted.

Body function was something that could not be avoided no matter what.

Internal energy was not omnipotent; it was just a kind of power refined from human essence and energy.

Dugu Sheng injured his origin, which could not be recovered no matter what.

The key was that the Demonic Cult also had internal strife; the Light Left Emissary Fan Jin actually rebelled at a critical moment. In this way, the Demonic Cult's strength was once again weakened.

The strength of both sides was greatly reduced. Although they could maintain their basic foundation, in the next few years, wanting to be like before was absolutely impossible.

This was the Huashan Sect's opportunity, and the opportunity for all ambitious people.

Su Fan thought of this at the first moment.

Ning Qingyu's letter also wrote about it, and he even proposed that he wanted Su Fan to return and preside over the Huashan Sect's exit from Guanzhong.

It was clear that Ning Qingyu was paving the way for Su Fan. Once this matter was completed, Su Fan's prestige in the Huashan Sect would greatly increase, and no one would be able to threaten his position as Sect Leader.

It was just that Su Fan was not willing in his heart. He knew that with the current strength of the Huashan Sect, exiting Guanzhong was already enough.

It was now very difficult for Shaolin to stop it.

After all, they didn't dare to fight too hard. Now Shaolin needed to lick its wounds; otherwise, I'm afraid a large group of shadows would follow to gnaw on Shaolin.

This task was definitely very simple and didn't want to be too laborious.

Instead, the harvest was still very large.

But right now, here in Liaodong, it had begun to explode in development. The potential of Liaodong was no worse than exiting Guanzhong.

Even if Shaolin's strength declined and the Huashan Sect had the opportunity to exit Guanzhong, the benefits obtained would not be too high.

Because Shaolin was still the leader of the Central Plains martial arts world. After Shaolin finished licking its wounds and recovered a certain amount of strength, it would still strike at the Huashan Sect.

Even if the Huashan Sect could stand firm in the future, it still couldn't compare to Shaolin. Even Su Fan had to admit this point.

Shaolin's foundation was indeed something Huashan couldn't compare to.

But this piece of Liaodong was where the Huashan Sect was the sole leader. In the Nine Borders, Huashan itself was involved in Datong, Shanxi, plus Liaodong; it could be said that in the Nine Borders, the Huashan Sect was the sole leader.

And Liaodong also had Liaodong Bay, which could be used as an exit to the sea. Su Fan had already joined forces with Jinzhou Wei, and there, he had begun to build a shipyard.

Han Quan had successively transported more than a dozen real shipbuilding craftsmen to him. With these people, plus his financial resources...

... he could begin to slowly build sea ships.

In this era, the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding technology was the most powerful; after all, it had only been a few decades since Zheng He's last voyage to the Western Ocean.

The Ming Dynasty's treasure ships could be said to be the most powerful.

Although Su Fan couldn't build treasure ships for the time being, he could build Fu ships, and Liaodong was really not short of wood.

Once a few large warships were built, Su Fan could begin to navigate the sea.

In fact, on the side of Jinzhou Wei, there was already a not-so-small port, and many merchants from the south also had sea transport.

Plus Su Fan's arrival, Su Fan's furs and Liaodong ginseng began to go by sea transport, becoming more and more prosperous.

Once they went to sea, then Liaodong could almost skyrocket, and wealth would pour in continuously.

Even the influence could cross over to the south.

Huashan had always been huddled in Guanzhong. Before, it had tried to go to Chuan-Shu, but Chuan-Shu had Emei, plus Shaolin's constant entanglement...

... made Huashan have power but unable to display it.

Now Shaolin's strength had declined.

It could also involve the south, and the strength suddenly expanded.

And Su Fan was prepared to let Yue Buqun join forces with the Lin family. In Fuzhou, the Lin family was definitely the local snake.

Lin Yuantu was still there; although he was not far from death, his prestige could still deter.

In this way, the two sides joined forces, and even if they couldn't resist South Shaolin, at least they could develop.

In this way, when the next generation of the Huashan Sect grew up, even if Shaolin recovered, so what? It could no longer be suppressed.

This was also Su Fan's plan. At that time, the Huashan Sect would no longer be a regional sect.

It could even achieve a transnational level. At that time, what could Shaolin do to Huashan? ===== CHAPTER 54 =====