Actually, Zhao Hai didn't want to immediately take back the authority of the 33 Island Lords. This was because the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance was in a critical period. It was possible that the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance would attack them at any time. At this time, it wouldn't be good to take over the Island Lords of the South Sea. Doing so would only cause the Island Lords to feel disgusted.
Therefore, even if the Island Lords of the South Sea were merged into the Sea Exploring Sect, Zhao Hai would only set up a branch in each island. The original Island Lords of the 33 Islands would recognize the Hall Masters of each branch. Naturally, the Hall Masters of the 39 Southern Islands would no longer be Hall Masters. The Hall Masters of those islands would be sent out by the Sea Exploring Sect.
As for the Island Lords like Jie Yiming and Gui Xinyu, who sincerely wanted to merge into the Sea Exploring Sect, although they accepted this arrangement, they still put their position in the right place. They agreed to be Hall Masters, but they must ask Zhao Hai to send a few Vice Hall Masters to manage the affairs of their islands. They would even ask the Sea Exploring Sect's cultivators to settle down on their islands and transfer some of their disciples to other islands.
However, there were some island masters in the South Sea who didn't think this way. When they had been beaten by the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance, they had indeed wanted to join the Sea Exploration Sect to find a way out for themselves.
However, when Zhao Hai laid down a formation in the South Sea and eliminated more than a million Evil Ghost Sect Alliance members, they didn't think this way. Not only were they not grateful to the Sea Exploring Sect, they were even resentful. This was because in their opinion, the Sea Exploring Sect clearly had a way to deal with the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance, but they didn't help them. They waited until the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance forced them into a desperate situation before taking action. Moreover, they were merged into the Sea Exploring Sect. This clearly showed that the Sea Exploring Sect wanted to swallow them whole.
However, they didn't consider that if they didn't join the Sea Exploring Sect, why would the Sea Exploring Sect help them? The Sea Exploring Sect wasn't a government that only did good deeds. They were a cultivation sect. Expanding and strengthening themselves was what they should do.
In any case, the Island Masters resented Zhao Hai. Therefore, after Zhao Hai appointed them as Hall Masters, not only did they not want to hand over their authority, they even tightened their grip on it. First, they didn't let Zhao Hai send people to manage their islands. Second, they didn't let the people of their islands come in contact with the people of the Sea Exploring Sect. They also didn't let the people of the Sea Exploring Sect transfer their people to other islands. They also didn't let the people of the Sea Exploring Sect enter their islands. They even reduced their contact with the Sea Exploring Sect.
Their actions naturally annoyed Wen Wenhai. After asking for instructions from Zhao Hai, Wen Wenhai began to treat the people of these islands differently.
For islands like Spirit Crab Island and Divine Turtle Island, which wholeheartedly followed the Sea Exploring Sect, the Sea Exploring Sect transferred some of their disciples to other places. Of course, the Sea Exploring Sect also supplemented them with many disciples. At the same time, the Sea Exploring Sect also provided them with a lot of materials to help them rebuild their islands. As for the islands that didn't care about the Sea Exploring Sect, Wen Wenhai only had one method. He sent troops to the islands and heavily taxed them. He also sent all the resources that the islands had accumulated over the years back to the Sea Exploring Sect. If you don't hand it over, the Sea Exploring Sect would send troops to deal with you. At the same time, he stationed troops on the islands and sent people to manage the islands. He also transferred the disciples of the Sea Exploring Sect and other islands. All kinds of methods were used.
When the people on the islands saw the methods of the Sea Exploring Sect, they wanted to resist. However, before they could move, the formations on their islands began to display their might. The people on the islands felt the pressure. They felt as if they were in water. This kind of pressure made them feel very uncomfortable. They now knew how the cultivators of the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance felt when they were trapped by the formation.
Naturally, the people on the islands didn't dare to resist. Then the Island Masters were transferred to the Sea Exploring Sect's headquarters and became idle Elders. The islands were then managed by other people. At the same time, the disciples on the islands were demoted. They were still disciples of the Sea Exploring Sect, but their treatment wasn't as good as the others. Moreover, they were clearly told that they were punished because of their previous actions.
As soon as these words were spoken, the disciples on the island began to feel hatred towards their original Island Lord. Originally, they were just like the people on the other islands. Every month, they would receive a lot of cultivation resources. But now, the amount of resources they received was only half of what the disciples on the other islands received. They would have to wait until they perform well in the future before they could receive the same amount as the disciples on the other islands. How could their hearts be at peace with this? They were all people who surrendered to the Sea Exploring Sect, but they received double the amount of cultivation resources. How could they not be angry?
This was the purpose of Zhao Hai's group. They wanted these people to understand that they had already surrendered to them. If they don't listen, then they would have other ways to deal with them.
The people on the other islands didn't understand this at first. But now, they understood. But it was already too late. They discovered that the Sea Exploring Sect wasn't something they could contend with right now.
Although these matters were handled by Wen Wenhai, they received Zhao Hai's permission. Zhao Hai would never allow disobedient people to exist in the Sea Exploring Sect.
It has been half a month since the opening of the free trade zone. The islands in the South Sea finally calmed down. The disobedient Island Masters were transferred away. The disobedient Island Masters were also punished. However, they were quickly given some benefits. This made the last bit of resentment in the hearts of the Cultivators disappear. At this point, even if the Island Masters returned to their islands, they wouldn't be able to control them. The disciples on the islands wouldn't listen to them anymore.
In the past half a month, Zhao Hai's focus has been on the wild sea beasts in the South Sea. He has been controlling the formation to suppress the sea beasts for half a month. Some sea beasts that weren't very aggressive had already surrendered. However, there were still some sea beasts that didn't surrender. They were still resisting, but it didn't matter anymore.
At this time, Zhao Hai received news that the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance had made a move. It seems like after being silent for a long time, they were finally ready to take action.
The current situation of the Sea Exploration Sect's free trade zone wasn't any different from before. The only difference was that the number of Sea Exploration Sect's troops stationed in the free trade zone had decreased. Moreover, they weren't any experts.
The opening of the free trade zone attracted a large number of rogue cultivators. Although some time ago, the Great Sects supported some small sects and recruited a lot of rogue cultivators, there were too many rogue cultivators in the Sword Spirit Realm. Therefore, there were still a lot of rogue cultivators who didn't join the Great Sects. For these rogue cultivators, the free trade zone was like a paradise.
In the free trade zone, the fees charged were very low, but they could guarantee their safety. Naturally, as long as you have crystal stones in your hands, you can buy anything you want. Moreover, the things you can buy here were much cheaper compared to other places. Because of this, many Rogue Cultivators came to the free trade zone to make a living.
When the South Sea Alliance and the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance fought, the free trade zone was closed. This caused a lot of rogue cultivators to suffer heavy losses, causing their income to drop a lot. Now that the free trade zone was reopened, these rogue cultivators were naturally very happy.
The Evil Ghost Sect Alliance had indeed made some moves in the free trade zone this time. They had made some disciples disguise themselves as rogue cultivators and enter the free trade zone. Some of them had even left the free trade zone and entered the territory of the Sea Exploring Sect.
At the same time, the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance's army began to gather, preparing to attack the Sea Exploring Sect.
The last time the free trade zone was closed was when the two sides went to war. But this time, Zhao Hai didn't let the free trade zone close. He even announced that the free trade zone wouldn't close even if the war started.
In the eyes of many sects, such a decision was crazy. Any sect would close some places to the outside world during a war, even if this place was in the periphery of the sect and wasn't important. The free trade zone was in the core of the Sea Exploring Sect. It was near the headquarters of the Sea Exploring Sect. In this case, Zhao Hai actually didn't close the free trade zone. If this wasn't crazy, then what was? This was equivalent to leaving a door open for the enemy to enter and exit at will. This couldn't be called crazy, it could be called suicide.
However, Zhao Hai didn't care. This was his decision to keep the free trade zone open. Even if the war started, it wouldn't be closed.
The other sects couldn't understand Zhao Hai's decision. However, they didn't intend to withdraw from the free trade zone. In their opinion, even if a war really broke out, they wouldn't be attacked. As long as the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance wasn't crazy, they wouldn't dare attack them. This was because the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance knew very well that they would lose if they had to face the other sects while facing the Sea Exploring Sect. Therefore, they didn't dare to touch the free trade zone.
Of course, the free trade zone was safe. However, the headquarters of the Sea Exploring Sect wasn't necessarily safe. This was because the headquarters of the Sea Exploring Sect was too close to the free trade zone. It was very easy for people to rush out of the free trade zone and attack them directly.
Naturally, the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance was the happiest about Zhao Hai's decision. Although they didn't understand why Zhao Hai did this, it was definitely a good thing for them. Therefore, after the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance assembled their army, they immediately went to the territory of the Profound Sky Sect Alliance and prepared to attack the Sea Exploring Sect.
What was interesting was that the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance's army had already arrived outside the territory of the Sea Exploring Sect. However, the shops of the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance were still open in the free trade zone. Moreover, the people of the Sea Exploring Sect didn't care about them. They didn't even make things difficult for them. The two sides even made a deal, which made everyone surprised.
This time, it wasn't just the big sects, even the people of the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance didn't know what to do. They felt that there was something fishy about this matter, but they couldn't tell what was wrong. This was because all the things that Zhao Hai had done so far were beneficial to them. This made the people of the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance happy, but they also began to mutter in their hearts. They didn't know what kind of conspiracy Zhao Hai was playing. His approach was very different from his previous performance.
Now, the entire Sword Spirit World knew that Zhao Hai was powerful, and his schemes were unparalleled. He was ruthless and merciless. One could see that he was powerful from the fact that he could kill several Supreme Elders. One could see that he was unparalleled in scheming when he faced his enemies. One could see that he was ruthless and merciless from the fact that he could swallow the Iron Buddha Temple, the Mysterious Sea Sect Alliance, and the 72 Southern Sea Islands. If he wasn't ruthless and merciless enough, how could he swallow these sects? Although on the surface, these sects were willing to submit to him. However, why did these sects immediately defend their territories when they submitted to him? But when they didn't submit to him, they were about to be destroyed. Wasn't this enough to explain the problem?
However, what Zhao Hai was doing now was really incomprehensible. Why didn't he close the free trade zone? Why did he want to trade with the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance? What was his plan?
In fact, people had this kind of mentality, a kind of habitual mentality. If a person was recognized as a fool, then even if he did something smart, everyone would think that he was doing something stupid. However, if a very smart person suddenly did something stupid, then everyone would think that he had a deeper meaning. Everyone would study it, and maybe they would be able to find something. However, what was certain was that the other party didn't have that kind of intention. Everything that one researched would be forced upon the other party.
Zhao Hai's current situation was similar. The reason why Zhao Hai kept the free trade zone open was because he wasn't worried at all. Even if the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance and the Demon Sword Sect Alliance sent all of their Supreme Elders, it wouldn't affect Zhao Hai at all. Attacking the Sea Exploring Sect's headquarters was even more impossible. Even if Zhao Hai used his formation, he wouldn't be able to kill those Supreme Elders. However, it was still possible to trap them. In the end, it might even consume their spiritual qi, just like what happened to the Demon Blood Sword.
Because Zhao Hai wasn't worried, he decided to open the free trade zone. However, he didn't think that this would make the Evil Ghost Sect even more suspicious. Because of this, the Evil Ghost Sect didn't attack the Sea Exploring Sect. They just stopped their army outside the Sea Exploring Sect and carefully observed the situation. Zhao Hai didn't think that this would be the case.
After learning about this situation, Zhao Hai couldn't help but feel helpless. He didn't want to attack the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance at this time. This was because there was no need to do so. At this time, he couldn't destroy all of the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance's sects. Therefore, he didn't think that the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance would be so cowardly that they wouldn't dare to attack. Zhao Hai didn't think that the Evil Ghost Sect Alliance would be so cowardly that they wouldn't dare to attack.
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