Today in the morning we were decided, we were moving into the Jade Snake Sect now.
I had received reports from Belle, as she had finally came back this morning.
She told me that the Jade Snake was in a similar situation than the Winter Lotus Sect, they had been attacked after their war with the Winter Lotus, and were now resting.
The Dark Shadow Sect might try to attack them at any time, so we have to go there to help them out.
And as I help them, I will become their savior and gain their trust… and resources!
Actually, I had already interrogated all the souls I caught from the Dark Shadow Sect, and learned a few things, but the most essential things I wanted to learn were clouded in black smoke, as if I wasn't allowed to learn it.
Something was clouding their very memories from revealing crucial info, what a pain.
This must be an external power because I wasn't able to dispel it.
At the end, these guy's souls were released and purified to go back to the transmigration wheel.
But this was a nice time to ask Mikohime about the Jade Snake sect and what exactly happened between the two.
I had gathered with my family and friends in a lunch with Mikohime for this very reason.
"Well, it is fair to tell you what happened… We were in harmony back then…" she sighed.
She told me that everything seemed in harmony until the Winter Lotus Sect offended the Jade Snake Sect when one of their young masters ended killing a young man from the Jade Snake Sect who resulted to be the best friend of the Sect Master's daughter and her future husband too.
"Really? Such a simple conflict…" I sighed
It really feels like those Cultivation Stories now.
"What happened raged a war right away as the sect master of the Jade Snake Sect couldn't calm the sorrow of his daughter and could only avenge her beloved childhood friend and her future husband, whose marriage he had even already arranged…" sighed Mikohime.
"Huh… I feel bad for them now." Sighed Benladann.
"Drake, can you see his soul around?" asked Miranda.
"No… Not really." I sighed.
"And the worst thing is that this spoiled brat that began it all was the grandchild of my brother." Sighed Mikohime.
The war between the two sects began rapidly and caused chaos all across their territory, the Winter Lotus Sect couldn't punish the young master that did this atrocity because it had resulted to be the grandchild of the Sect Master.
Mikohime referred as the grandchild of her older brother as her own, as most of the siblings of her brother did.
"Because of my grandchild's foolishness this entire stupid conflict began, and I couldn't possibly let the Jade Snake Sect take over my people, I had to retaliate back… this only caused the war to get even more terrible… I could have sued my own grandchild as a bargaining chip, but I simply can't let such a thing happen… I would never be able to forgive myself if I were to willing throw my own grandchild into the maw of a bear…" she sighed.
"Where is that kid now?" I asked.
"He had been confined on his house after the invasion… His father, which was going to be the future Sect Master if it wasn't because I became Rank 4 first, is gone from the sect." said Mikohime.
"He flew away, disappeared out of nowhere." She sighed.
"Oh… why?" I wondered.
"No idea… Perhaps out of anger and shame." Sighed Mikohime. She seemed to miss her brother; despite the beef they might had between the two.
The worst part of the story didn't end there, as the two Sects ended fighting their first battle, the Dark Shadow Sect used this opportunity to attack with everything they had at their disposal, annihilating a large chunk of both sect's armies, and even pushing them back to their sects in a desperate chase.
"These damn demons! To think they would do such a thing. But they were never this bold before, what exactly provoked them to get so bold? Ahh… of course, the Shadow Beasts they control, such an absurd power. Where could they had possibly gotten it? An inheritance?" she wondered, gritting her teeth as she felt utterly frustrated.
The worst thing was that even after stopping the war between the two sects and pushing both armies back to their territories, the bold army of the Dark Shadow Sect simply split in two and attacked both armies at the same time, chasing down on the winter lotus sect army and eliminating them one by one.
When the survivors reached the sect's walls, the Shadow Beasts were still relentlessly following them around, there was barely any hope now, however, the Elders offered Lady Winter Lotus the opportunity to use the hundreds of weaklings that lived around their sect as "parasites" to become "useful for once in their lifetimes"…
Ugh… This is horrendous to hear once more…
…And this ended in the great slaughter and bloodshed of 99% of all the mortals that lived around the sect, the people that actually feed the sect with their farms, vegetables, and cattle animals, all slaughtered because they were corned and had to result in such desperate and monstrous acts to buy time to gather strength and fend off the dark shadow sect members when they had spent all their energy killing weaklings…
"I am really… ashamed for this. I don't feel anything else than tremendous guilt." She admitted.
"I see. I've already heard enough… Now, we are going to the Jade Snake Sect to amend your relationship." I said.
"H-How? Even after the Dark Shadow Sect…" said Mikohime.
"How? With resources, money, and a lot of cockiness." I said.
"Eh?!" asked Mikohime. All the other Elders looked at me in shock.
"I believe you've already guessed. This Sect has probably been starving and in the verge of dying already. What we are going to do is simply help them survive, that will be more than enough to gain their trust…" I said.