After drinking a few cups of the spirit wine Wang Chen had brought, Chen Qi's tongue loosened at once.
From him, Wang Chen learned the root cause of Dongwu Stockade becoming what it was now.
It turned out that Guiyuan Sect and Five Peaks Mountain, which had carved up Yunyang's former territory, had recently been making frequent moves against the rogue cultivator strongholds under their control.
The two sects demanded that these strongholds pay grain and taxes, and forcibly conscripted large numbers of rogue cultivators to labor in mines and hunting grounds.
When Yunyang Sect had ruled before, it had basically taken a hands-off approach toward the Outer Region's strongholds. At most, it relied on the sect's resource advantages to reap the rogue cultivators.
Though the rogue cultivators' lives were far inferior to those of sect disciples, they had no trouble surviving.
When spirit fields suffered poor harvests, Yunyang Sect would even transfer grain from Great Qian and supply it to the market at relatively low prices, allowing rogue cultivators to eat their fill as well.
Now that Guiyuan Sect and Five Peaks Mountain had taken over, their methods were far more vicious than Yunyang Sect's.
Some strongholds could no longer endure the oppression and rose up in resistance.
They were met with brutal suppression!
Under such circumstances, many rogue cultivators fled their home strongholds with their families in tow.
They came to Dongwu Stockade to seek refuge.
Everyone believed that Dongwu Stockade's City Lord was a Purple Mansion master, so the two sects would have to show some degree of respect.
Meanwhile, soaring Grain Prices had also created a flood of displaced people, who came pouring into Dongwu Stockade to scrape out a living.
Together with several other factors, Dongwu Stockade had been packed to bursting!
Worst of all,