After leaving Tianyuan City, Lin Feng did not hurry back to the Heavenly Sword Sect. Instead, he found an inn and settled in.
He needed to think carefully about how to persuade the sects of the Central Region to join Tianyuan City. There were over a hundred sects of all sizes in the Central Region. Some were powerful, with late True God experts presiding over them; others were weak, with only a few demigods. Getting these sects to join Tianyuan City willingly was almost impossible.
But he had to try, because he had no other choice. If the negotiations failed, the Tianyuan City Lord would take action himself. When that happened, rivers of blood would flow through the Central Region, and countless cultivators would meet untimely deaths. He could not stand by and do nothing.
Sitting in his room at the inn, he spread out a map of the Central Region and carefully studied the locations and strength of each sect. The map was densely marked with the locations of over a hundred sects, some nestled in mountain ranges, others on plains, and still others beside lakes.
The Heavenly Sword Sect lay in the east, the Great Void Palace in the west, several small and medium-sized sects in the south, and Tianyuan City's territory in the north. Conflicts between the sects ran deep, and some had even been enemies for generations. How could getting them to set aside their prejudices and join Tianyuan City together possibly be easy?
As he studied the map, he recorded each sect's characteristics and demands on paper. The Heavenly Sword Sect valued the independence of its Orthodox Lineage, the Great Void Palace valued its disciples' safety, the small sects in the south cared about the allocation of resources, and the northern sects feared being swallowed