Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 312 The Kingdom of Spirit Witches

The "Spiritual Witch Soul Condensation Technique" quickly spread among several tribes in the Kunmi River region.

It was originally obtained from two newly built temples by the Mengshe tribe.

Later, several surrounding tribes, along with the White and Black tribes, also tried to steal it and secretly practiced it.

After Princess Dong became queen, the kingdoms of Kunmi and Xichou were established one after another. Huobu Wucuo and his dozen or so tribes banded together and performed a local version of "donning the yellow robe" on Huobu Wucuo. A new kingdom appeared, called "Lingwu Kingdom".

"The Central Plains God is a good god, but the people of the Central Plains are not good people," said the chieftain of a small tribe at the "Spiritual Witch Gathering." "Since this 'Spiritual Witch Soul Condensation Technique' was bestowed upon us by the Qin King God and the White Stone God, it's one thing for them to steal it, but why should we submit to them!"

The "Spirit Witch Assembly" is a "meeting" within a system created by the Spirit Witch Kingdom itself. In terms of its format, it is more like a meeting held by the elders, chiefs, and clan elders of a tribe to discuss important matters. However, in terms of its function, it is actually the "court assembly" of the Spirit Witch Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Lingwu has no king. These natives simply attribute this tragedy to greedy people vying for the throne. Therefore, the Kingdom of Lingwu has no king, only "Lingwu".

The chieftain of each tribe is the "spirit shaman" of their respective tribe. Huobu Wucuo was elected as the "Great Spirit Shaman," which is the ruler of the entire Spirit Shaman Kingdom.

Besides the "spirit shaman," in a certain tribe, a very talented elder imitated the political system of the Central Plains dynasty and designed a unique set of "official positions." These "officials" were all called "shamans." The one in charge of cattle was called the "cattle shaman," and the one in charge of sheep was called the "sheep shaman." In the end, there were hundreds of "shamans" in total, including those above and below.

The total population of the Lingwu Kingdom is only tens of thousands.

"White Stone God said there should be no slaves in the world, so we should grant slaves freedom!"

Huobu Wucuo greatly admired Zhang Chengdao, who had saved his life, and therefore firmly demanded the abolition of slavery.

When it came to their own interests, the shamans all disagreed: "Huobu Wucuo, perhaps there are no slaves where the gods live, but if there are no slaves in Kunmi River, then who will help us herd livestock, raise cattle for us, and farm the land for us?"

Huobu Wucuo, however, was unusually persistent about this, insisting: "We have divine power bestowed by the gods, and the 'Spiritual Witch Soul Condensation Technique.' As long as we work hard, we can cultivate more land and raise more cattle and sheep than before, and we will no longer need slaves!"

"How can it be!"

"Of course it's possible! The 'Spiritual Witchcraft' describes how, as long as the witchcraft is used, the rice will grow tall and strong, the sick cattle and sheep can be easily cured, and the water and grass in our living area will be more abundant. These are all blessings from God. We must obey God's will and give up unkind behavior—keeping slaves is unkind, and unkind people will not be favored by God!"

Huobu Wucuo said, even threatening everyone with himself: "My life was a gift from the White Stone God. The Mengshe tribe is protected by the White Stone God, so they should obey the White Stone God's will. If you insist on keeping slaves, or even using slaves to sacrifice to the Three Altars God, then please go to the Kunmi Kingdom and the Xichou Kingdom! You will no longer be my brothers and sisters!"

After saying that, he glanced at the many spirit shamans who looked conflicted, and then added loudly, "However, as long as you don't covet the spirit shamans' territory, they won't harm you on their own!"

Upon hearing this, many shamans swore an oath: "With the Three Altar Gods above, with the Qin King God and the White Stone God above, we, the Yuexi tribe, will obey the will of the White Stone God and will never do anything unkind. We, the Yuexi tribe, together with the Mengshe tribe, the Midu tribe... and twenty-one other tribes, are brothers and sisters forever!"

"The Three Altars are watching us. The Midu Tribe will never bow down to the White Tribe or the Black Tribe! Our dead brothers and sisters in the Midu Tribe will not agree to this either!"

The twenty-one tribes of the Lingwu Kingdom quickly followed suit and all swore an oath to abolish the status of slaves.

However, a clever shaman chuckled and offered, "I've heard that although the people of the Central Plains don't have slaves, they can sign contracts with each other, providing food, clothing, and lodging to those who sign contracts and work for them, and giving them corresponding compensation. As long as a contract is signed, there will be someone to do the housework, someone to cultivate the land, and someone to take care of the cattle and sheep... So it shouldn't be considered keeping slaves, right?"

As the chieftain of the Mengshe tribe, Huobu Wucuo could speak the language of the Central Plains and naturally knew a lot about the Central Plains, so he also knew what the "contract signing" mentioned by the spirit shaman meant.

However, he was quite confused.

If it were him in the past, he would never have been able to connect the so-called contract signed by the Central Plains people with the native slaves. However, at this moment, listening to these words, a deep doubt arose in his mind.

The people from the Central Plains who signed contracts didn't seem to be slaves, but it sounds no different from slaves in indigenous tribes.

The burly, bearded man who had been following Huobu Wucuo noticed his confusion and loudly reminded him, "The Great Spirit Shaman, which means the Ancient Spirit Shaman, roughly means that we cannot beat these people who are no longer slaves, just as we cannot beat our brothers and sisters. Moreover, we must pay these people to compensate for their labor... just like the people of the Central Plains!"

These words immediately enlightened Huobu Wucuo. He nodded and replied, "That's right! We should cherish those people as we cherish our brothers and sisters, because they are no longer slaves!"

The indigenous people like to use the concept of "brothers and sisters". As long as the tribes do not have any life-and-death feuds, they are all "brothers and sisters" when they communicate with each other, rather than simply referring to relatives with blood ties.

Regardless, the words of the ancient witch persuaded many tribes that were unwilling to abolish "slavery" to compromise.

Because they heard from the ancient shaman that although the "slaves" were no longer called "slaves," they could still work for them, only they would need to be paid extra.

As for acts like beating slaves, very few people would actually do that.

Slaves are valuable laborers, and the death of one is a huge loss. Unless it is a terminal illness that costs a lot of money, even if a slave is sick, the master will still support him!

This is no different from before!

Once they understood this, everyone laughed and stopped dwelling on the matter of the slaves.

In terms of systems, Lingwu Kingdom was probably the most backward.

Because it lacks a strict hierarchy and clear laws.

In fact, even the Great Changhe Kingdom didn't have any strict laws; it relied more on customary law, which only governed the areas under its own rule. The tribes in those tributary territories were managed internally by the tribes themselves.

That is, the right and wrong of the two sides in a dispute are determined entirely by the preferences of the clan chief and elders.

However, the Gao clan of the Bai tribe, being of Central Plains descent, did indeed promulgate a set of laws when they established the Kunmi Kingdom. Not to be outdone, the Xichou Kingdom, established by the neighboring Hei tribe, also imitated the Kunmi Kingdom and promulgated a similar set of laws.

On the contrary, the Great Changhe Kingdom has retained the framework of the old kingdom without any changes.

The main problem is that Dong Zhenyun didn't have time to make any big moves.

Even though she was appointed to the position in a time of crisis and barely managed to save the ancient country from destruction, it is an undeniable fact that the country shrank significantly under her leadership.

Although Dong Zhenyun quickly won several battles against the Bai tribe, the conquered areas were in ruins, and the Bai tribe had emptied them of all their food and supplies. As a result, Dong Zhenyun was unable to continue fighting and could only temporarily stop in Shanshan City, where the royal palace was located, to recuperate.

In order to save on food costs, Dong Zhenyun even had to send back the 15,000 troops stationed in Jiannan Road that Tang Zhongfu had provided—they simply couldn't afford to feed them anymore!

More importantly, whether it's the Kunmi Kingdom of the White Tribe, the Xichou Kingdom of the Black Tribe, or the Lingwu Kingdom that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, they have all started practicing the "Lingwu Soul Condensation Technique," while the Dachanghe Kingdom, which I control, hasn't had time to do these things yet!
Can't drag it any longer!
Dong Zhenyun attached great importance to this. After sending people to obtain the "Spiritual Witch Soul-Condensing Technique," he immediately disseminated it among the Imperial Guards and issued a new decree:
"Anyone who achieves success in cultivating the 'Spiritual Witch Soul Condensation Technique' will be awarded one hundred gold coins, granted the title of 'Divine Witch,' and kept in the court awaiting appointment..."

This shortcut to "heaven" quickly spread throughout the streets and alleys, attracting the people of the new Great Changhe Kingdom to flock to cultivate it. For a time, countless people in the Yunnan-Yunnan region practiced the "Spiritual Witch Soul Condensation Technique," but we won't go into details for now. Meanwhile, seeing that the matter in the Great Changhe Kingdom had come to an end, Tang Xiaoyu returned to White Stone Mountain with several disciples.

More than twenty Tang Clan disciples also left with her.

These Tang Clan disciples were all the best in the sect, having fought tooth and nail for their spots. They all knew in their hearts that they were here to cultivate immortality under the guidance of their ancestor.

"You don't need to be discouraged. Although you missed this opportunity to cultivate immortality, when our ancestor is free, he will naturally come back to teach the Tang Sect. When that time comes, you will all have the opportunity to cultivate immortality!"

"As for the 'Spiritual Witch Soul Condensation Technique,' there's no need to cultivate it. That's the path of soul cultivation, a lower-level method. Don't covet it!"

After Tang Xiaoyu left, Tang Chi, the leader of the Tang Clan, made a point of comforting the members of the Tang Clan, but he avoided mentioning the important issues in his words.

For example, soul cultivation is not inferior. On the contrary, many soul cultivators can walk the path of incense and deities in the later stages. However, because this path is easy to go astray, they are often looked down upon by other cultivators.

In this world, the path of immortality is still in its infancy, and there are no stereotypes about soul cultivation, let alone the concept of an "inferior path".

Tang Chi said this because he was thinking about the plans for the Tang Clan that he had discussed with his grandmaster uncle, and he wanted to pull the Tang Clan toward weapon crafting. In that case, soul cultivation would be very unsuitable.

"In the art of weapon crafting, it is often a combination of talisman cultivators and array cultivators. Soul cultivators are absolutely out of the question, because many of the magical artifacts and spiritual weapons that are crafted are designed to deal with things of the Yin element, which can be harmful to soul cultivators. How can they be crafted in the long term?" Before leaving, Tang Xiaoyu had specifically explained to Tang Chi and Tang Zhongfu: "Body cultivation is not bad, as it tempers the physical body and is very suitable for crafting some large items... However, this also depends on the wishes of the disciples in the sect. But taking the path of soul cultivation is definitely not a good choice."

Since the ancestor said so, Tang Chi naturally regarded it as the golden rule, which is why he used some subtle language when appeasing the disciples in the sect.

"Before that, you can read more of the books that have been passed down from the White Stone Immortal Sect, such as the 'White Stone Immortal Dao Book'. I have heard that many ordinary people who were not destined to become disciples of the White Stone Immortal Sect have entered the Dao and become cultivators by relying on these books. Our Tang Sect disciples are all outstanding individuals, so I suppose they are no exception."

Hearing the sect leader's enthusiastic encouragement, many Tang Sect disciples became excited. That day, all the books about immortality in the bookstores of Yuzhou City were sold out, and the "White Stone Immortal Dao Book" was long gone. It was only by Tang Chi's initiative to put a few sets in the Tang Sect's school for everyone to borrow that the excited Tang Sect disciples were finally appeased.

Meanwhile, Tang Xiaoyu, who had just returned to Baishi Mountain with a group of people, was wandering around at the foot of Baishi Mountain, looking for a suitable place for the new sect to settle down.

This matter was also reported to Zhang Chengdao, who fully supported Tang Xiaoyu's plan to establish a new sect specifically to accommodate his former disciples.

To this end, Zhang Chengdao also established a new rule, allowing everyone to establish new sects under the rule of Baishi Immortal Sect, but just like the previous requirement when Zhou Kingdom was still in power, they would be subject to the supervision of Baishi Immortal Sect.

Upon hearing this, He Yu even suggested that Zhang Chengdao establish a "Cultivation Alliance" specifically to manage cultivation sects.

"In this way, we will be able to control all the sects and forces that cultivate immortality in the future!"

He Yu was ambitious.

Zhang Chengdao, however, flatly rejected the idea.

It wasn't that he was playing hardball or thought it was unnecessary; rather, he felt it wasn't needed right now, or rather, at this moment, the importance of this matter wasn't a priority for him.

"It's too early to talk about this now. Let's consider it when transportation is more developed and travel is more convenient..."

He Yu had only mentioned it casually, and seeing that Zhang Chengdao seemed to understand, he went back to studying the matters of the underworld.

Meanwhile, Tang Xiaoyu, on Zhang Chengdao's advice, chose Tianhe Mountain as the location for the new sect's headquarters.

Tianhe Mountain is located south of Baishi Mountain, and like Baishi Mountain, it belongs to the same large mountain range.

Unlike the rugged and precipitous peaks of Baishi Mountain, Tianhe Mountain is more like a "grassland".

Its overall altitude is not low, but it does not have very sharp or steep peaks. Most of the mountains are hilly and continuous, with very flat tops, which is very suitable for building.

Of course, there were actually two small sects in Tianhe Mountain, but the wealthy and generous Tang Xiaoyu casually gave them a few pieces of gold, which made these two small sects, whose combined number was less than thirty people, beam with joy and give up their territory. They then eagerly asked Tang Xiaoyu if he would accept new disciples who would join their entire sect.

"Don't underestimate us just because we're few in number. We know this place very well. We know exactly where the water is and where the crops are. We can also chop wood, hunt, cook, and do laundry. You see, you have to buy servants from outside when you start a new sect. Why don't you just take us in?"

The leader of the sect with the fewest members, originally called the "Tianhe Sect," fawned over Tang Xiaoyu, his face crinkling into wrinkles like chrysanthemums with a fawning smile.

In fact, many martial arts sects in the martial arts world established their sects in deep mountains and forests not for any lofty reasons such as the inheritance of martial arts, but simply because they "could not survive."

Unable to pay the heavy taxes or buy land, they had no choice but to become outlaws.

Therefore, many sects are named after a certain stronghold because they were originally bandit strongholds in the mountains, making a living by robbing, killing, and arson.

Only after the head or leader has made a name for themselves can they clear their name, become a "martial arts sect," pay their taxes, and successfully settle down.

However, many other sects were not actually recorded in the government's archives, precisely to avoid taxes.

After all, the government didn't have enough manpower to go to all sorts of remote mountain areas to verify whether there were any sects, so they turned a blind eye.

These two sects were not recorded at all in the records of martial arts sects and forces under the original Zhou Kingdom, and were considered two "illegal" minor sects.

If such a small sect could be affiliated with a proper major sect to make a living, why would it care about things like ancestors or lineage?
Besides, the two sects combined are not even fifty years old, so where would they get their lineage from!
The young sect leader in front of us, who casually threw out several gold pieces and brought so many well-dressed "disciples," was clearly very wealthy. He was probably a martial artist from a prestigious sect who wanted to start his own independent sect, hence this whole charade...

Otherwise, how could someone who looks so young have so many disciples following him, many of whom are not young at all!
If that's the case, then the techniques taught in such a sect would probably be enough to beat someone like me, a wild fox, to death. Even being a gatekeeper or handyman in such a sect would be better than the martial arts techniques and skills I learned in my original sect!

Thinking of this possibility, the people from both sects became even more enthusiastic, wishing they could kneel down on the spot and call themselves their patriarchs!
Tang Xiaoyu had no intention of taking on disciples. Before she joined the White Stone Immortal Sect, her standards for taking on disciples were already very high. After joining the White Stone Immortal Sect, she could only take on disciples who had passed the Immortal Fate Conference trials. How could she possibly take on people from these unknown small sects at will?

Moreover, these people are pale and thin, and their clothes are all patched. They look very poor, and their qualifications are probably not good at all. It would be useless to take them in!
Practicing martial arts requires a sufficiently good financial foundation; otherwise, the ever-increasing appetite alone could bankrupt an ordinary family.

But...

What these people said makes sense. When a sect is newly established, it will definitely need manpower to do things. The Tang Sect disciples they brought are usually the elite of the elite, so how could they be willing to use them to do chores?
Moreover, the sect does need some menial disciples to do things, such as guarding the gate and cleaning. Since these people are willing, why not recruit them first? If they are not suitable, we can pay them to leave!

Having made up her mind, Tang Xiaoyu nodded and agreed to let these people into the newly established sect, although their status would temporarily be that of menial disciples.

Even so, these people were extremely excited and enthusiastically led Tang Xiaoyu and her group around Tianhe Mountain, wishing they could tell them exactly how many fish they had caught from the nearby river.

(End of this chapter)