The School of Blue Jade's Sect Master was under pressure from Suppressing Second Hall, so it was indeed inappropriate for him to allow his subordinates to directly participate in the battle and help Yang Qing. However, the agreement that the Sect Master had made with Yang Qing when they were mobilizing their troops at Mount Shaotai was mainly about that third grade transcendent artifact. If Yang Qing were to encounter any trouble in the future, he could borrow that third grade transcendent artifact from the School of Blue Jade at any time.
The Sect Master had also agreed to Hong Changhai using the transcendent artifact to threaten Yang Qing at the crucial moment. However, the Sect Master's intention was that, before they had taken control of South Edict Manor, they could not go back on the agreement they had signed. Yang Qing still had to be protected. Otherwise, it would not be in the School of Blue Jade's interest to let someone else obtain South Edict Manor. Therefore, they only needed to trick Yang Qing a little. Perhaps Yang Qing would not be able to withstand the pressure and agree to the School of Blue Jade's terms. If Yang Qing did not agree, then they would lend the transcendent artifact to him.
However, Hong Changhai acted on his own. Seeing that Yang Qing did not agree, he even hoped that he could force Yang Qing to the edge of the cliff, and Yang Qing would naturally agree. However, who would have thought that things would go awry? Yang Qing actually had a backup plan, and took down Zhang Decheng in one go.
In this way, the School of Blue Jade was the first to tear up the agreement. Next, it would be Yang Qing's turn to break the agreement. Hong Changhai knew that he had poked a big hole in the basket.
If nothing out of the ordinary happened, the elder who lived in South Edict Manor and was in charge of coordinating between South Edict Manor and the School of Blue Jade should have been kicked out of South Edict Manor.
Without these old men overseeing things and upholding justice for the School of Blue Jade disciples who had already joined South Edict Manor, the School of Blue Jade disciples in South Edict Manor would have to bow their heads and obey orders. Otherwise, Yang Qing could kick them out at any time.
He even wanted to seize the opportunity to shove those four hundred School of Blue Jade disciples into South Edict Manor?
Now, even if the School of Blue Jade were to stuff those four hundred disciples into South Edict Manor, the School of Blue Jade wouldn't dare to do so.
The reason was very simple. Without the Elders stationed at South Edict Manor to mediate between them and impede Yang Qing, maintaining the fairness of the collaboration, and ensuring that the disciples of the School of Blue Jade would be rewarded for their contributions and not punished for their mistakes, then the disciples of the School of Blue Jade would be suppressed by Yang Qing in South Edict Manor. The chances of them being promoted would be very slim, and if they were disobedient, Yang Qing could even kick them out of the competition. Kicking them out of the competition was already a good thing. What if Yang Qing made you stay and torture you slowly? You wouldn't dare to run away.
If they were to send the School of Blue Jade's disciples into South Edict Manor now, it would be the same as gifting their manpower to Yang Qing.
Now, the disciples from the School of Blue Jade who had already joined South Edict Manor were probably the most helpless. Once they entered this circle, they couldn't just come and go as they pleased. In the future, would they listen to Yang Qing or the School of Blue Jade?
They understood this very well. Once the agreement between the two parties was broken, the School of Blue Jade's ability to restrain them would be greatly reduced. The one who would be able to control them was now Yang Qing.
Some of them pondered that they might as well serve Yang Qing in the future, but they weren't sure if their background from the School of Blue Jade would allow them to gain Yang Qing's trust and be placed in an important position.
Elder Hong, who was standing on the mountain ridge, did not know how he was going to explain this to the Sect Leader when he returned. He was certain that Yang Qing, who was facing a life and death situation, would definitely agree. Who would have thought that Yang Qing would have a backup plan?
Looking at the corpses that had been collected and buried at the side after the battle, Elder Hong felt a pang of heartache. Among them were quite a number of School of Blue Jade disciples. As for the others who were still alive, they would probably have nothing to do with the School of Blue Jade in the future.
The School of Blue Jade's plan to control South Edict Manor had completely collapsed today. With one wrong move, they had lost the entire game.
In this sudden battle, there could only be one victor. Zhang De, who had launched the first attack, had failed miserably, and Liu Jingtian had been used without realizing it. It would be difficult for the School of Blue Jade, who had broken their promise, to intervene in the affairs of South Edict Manor again. Only Yang Qing, who had turned the tides in the face of danger, would be the biggest winner.
Yang Qing did not pay any attention to the hundreds of School of Blue Jade disciples on the mountain ridge. After bidding farewell to Liu Jingtian, he buried all the corpses on the spot and brought away all the living captives. He did not leave a single survivor for Liu Jingtian to investigate the cause of the incident.
The snow had already stopped, and the sun was shining brightly.
The large group of troops did not linger within the borders of Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor, and set off towards South Edict Manor.
Elder Hong, on the other hand, had a dark expression on his face as he led hundreds of School of Blue Jade disciples on a side of the mountain ridge. It seemed like he still wanted to communicate with Yang Qing.
Even Miao Yi could tell that the School of Blue Jade and South Edict Manor had fallen out, but he still couldn't understand the underlying reason. It was mainly because his relationship with Mountain Chieftain Qin Weiwei had never been good, and no one had told him about this. As for the School of Blue Jade disciples under him, they were either killed by him, or brought to the Sea of Constellations to be killed by the demons.
In short, from his point of view, the men from the School of Blue Jade were nothing. It would be great if he could recruit them as his subordinates and order them around. If they were disobedient, he could just kill them.
In any case, he had always made the men from the School of Blue Jade obedient. He didn't feel any difficulty in controlling them.
Miao Yi was a little gloomy. If he didn't assign more men to himself, he would probably have to personally do odd jobs as the Cave Master of East Arrival Cave. When that time came, even if he had enough Orbs of Will, he wouldn't have the time to cultivate.
But he was embarrassed to ask Yang Qing for more men. After all, he wasn't the only one who lacked manpower. Even his own superior, Qin Weiwei, was about to become a lone wolf. What's more, the original men under him didn't die in this battle, but died because he brought them out to do some private work. He didn't have the confidence to ask for more.
The battlefield was originally between Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor and South Edict Manor. It didn't take long for the troops to return to South Edict Manor's territory. After finding an open field, they stopped and reorganized themselves.
Reorganizing naturally meant redistributing the men of each Mountain. Most of the mountains had lost their men, but Qin Weiwei's Mount Calming Sea was in an awkward position.
After replenishing the men from the other mountains, Yang Qing only assigned twenty men from his own direct subordinates to Qin Weiwei.
It didn't matter if they were father and daughter. In front of everyone, those who deserved to be punished still had to be punished. They couldn't pretend that nothing had happened after losing the battle. If that really happened, how would Yang Qing be able to command his subordinates in the future?
Qin Weiwei had been rash and taken the bait, causing the entire force of Mount Calming Sea to be almost completely annihilated. Although Yang Qing didn't reprimand Qin Weiwei to her face, everyone could tell that this was Yang Qing punishing Qin Weiwei in disguise.
After the battle, Qin Weiwei would be rewarded according to her contributions, and probably wouldn't have anything to do with Qin Weiwei anymore.
Two Mountain Chieftains from South Edict Manor had died in battle. Yang Qing reappointed two men to take over.
As for the number of Cave Masters who had died in battle, Yang Qing didn't interfere with the arrangements. He left it to each Mountain Chieftain to make their own appointments. He wouldn't deprive his subordinates of their rights.
After reorganizing the troops, Yang Qing had each Mountain Chieftain leave half of their men to guard their respective territories. The rest would follow him straight to Ever Peace Manor. He was prepared to take over Ever Peace Manor in one fell swoop while Ever Peace Manor was empty.
Xiong Xiao reminded him, "Manor Head, isn't it a little inappropriate for us to take over Ever Peace Manor? Wouldn't we incur the Hall Master's wrath? "
Yang Qing calmly replied, "How can we let others pluck the fruits that our South Edict Manor painstakingly sowed? If we don't even have this little bit of courage, we will only be looked down upon by others. The harvest of Orbs of Will is imminent. All of you, follow me to first occupy Ever Peace Manor and harvest this year's Orbs of Will. If the Hall Master insists on making us withdraw after this, then we'll just return to South Edict Manor. "
Everyone looked at each other. Since Yang Qing was insistent, they could only cup their fists and accept the order.
Seeing that everyone was still a little apprehensive, Yang Qing suddenly raised his arm and shouted, "Once we occupy Ever Peace Manor, the harvest of Ever Peace Manor's Orbs of Will this year, excluding those that have been handed over, will be everyone's reward for this battle. Depart!"
As soon as they heard this, even if the sky collapsed, there would be someone taller to hold it up. Since the Manor Head wasn't afraid, what else did they have to be afraid of? They immediately perked up, their morale soaring as they accepted the order. Half of their men were left behind, while the others followed closely behind Yang Qing like bandits as they charged straight into Ever Peace Manor.
The troops from each Mountain were almost all gone, leaving only Qin Weiwei and twenty men behind. Everyone from Mount Calming Sea was considered to be here.
Qin Weiwei didn't have a share in the matter of seizing territory and splitting the fruits of victory. Yang Qing left her behind, which could be considered a continuation of her punishment.
In reality, Mount Calming Sea couldn't spare any more men to seize territory. There were only about twenty men in total, and it was more or less enough to assign two men to guard each Cave Manor. How could they possibly have any spare men?
The men left behind by Yang Qing didn't feel wronged for not being able to share the fruits of victory with Qin Weiwei. This was because almost all of Mount Calming Sea's men were dead, and so many Cave Master positions were suddenly vacant. They would definitely have to be chosen from among them. Those who couldn't be chosen as Cave Master would still be placed in an important position. This was Yang Qing's strength.
As expected, after Qin Weiwei watched the troops depart, she turned around and confirmed the six vacant Cave Master positions.
The four Cave Masters, Gongsun Yu, Li Youqian, Zhang Yuniang, and Miao Yi, were naturally left untouched.
Out of the ten Cave Masters, nine of them were assigned one person each. Only Miao Yi's East Arrival Cave wasn't given anyone because he still had Yan Xiu alive under his command. The others were even more destitute than him. It was easy to imagine how pitiful Mount Calming Sea was.
Of the twenty men left behind by Yang Qing, six were appointed as Cave Masters. Another nine were assigned to their respective Caves, while the remaining five were all kept by Qin Weiwei's side. Mount Calming Sea was such a large place. As the Mountain Chieftain, it was impossible for her to not leave some men by her side to obey her orders. Not to mention that she wouldn't be able to distribute them evenly even if they were all assigned.
Ten Cave Masters, one destitute and one soldier. Everyone looked at each other, a little speechless.
Not far away, Hong Changhai didn't know whether he should bring his men away or stay. He really didn't know how he was going to report to the Sect Master when he returned.
Miao Yi looked at the hundreds of School of Blue Jade disciples not far away. His eyes were a little red, and he grumbled in a low voice, "I've never seen such a pitiful Cave Master. This is the first time."
Qin Weiwei tilted her head to look at him. She felt that Miao Yi was saying that she, the Mountain Chieftain, was useless. She bit her lip with her pearly white teeth, but in the end, she held it in and didn't say anything. If it were in the past, she probably would have immediately retorted, saying, 'If you don't want to be the Cave Master, you don't have to be. I'll immediately replace you.'
Gongsun Yu also knew that the Great Cave Master Miao had always been at odds with Mountain Chieftain Qin Weiwei. If it were in the past, he would definitely have stood on Qin Weiwei's side and rebuked Miao Yi. However, things were naturally different now. He still actively spoke up for Qin Weiwei, smiling as he advised, "Cave Master Miao, as long as we can endure this period of time, the Mountain Chieftain will naturally be able to find more men to replace us."
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