Hunters and Prey

The Liangjiang region had originally been considered part of the Three Rivers lands, including Houjiang Road, Qianjiang Road, and Yunjiang Road. Houjiang Road bordered Nanlin Road and was Thousand Wood Temple's core preaching territory, so the cultivation world had long tacitly included Houjiang Road within the Southern Cultivation World.

Now, when people spoke of the Liangjiang region, they specifically meant Qianjiang Road and Yunjiang Road. These two places were preaching territories of Thousand Wood Temple and True Sun Sect, though True Sun Sect held the upper hand. Especially near Guest Pass between Yunjiang Road and Pingzhou Road, nearly everywhere was a cultivation ground for True Sun Sect cultivators, and True Sun Sect Daoist temples could be seen throughout the mountains west of Guest Pass.

Linshui Prefecture's method of spreading its teachings through the Liangjiang region was simple. They sent disciples to remote mountain villages to treat illnesses and heal injuries for ignorant villagers. Seeing their miraculous methods, the villagers naturally became utterly convinced.

By the time True Sun Sect disciples discovered the problem, hundreds of small Daoist temples and shrines belonging to Linshui Prefecture had already been built, and they were deeply loved by the local people.

After discovering the issue, True Sun Sect immediately dispatched disciples to drive out Linshui Prefecture's cultivators, only to face obstruction from the local populace. Linshui Prefecture's cultivators would not simply surrender either. Conflict became unavoidable and even escalated into bloody incidents for a time. These matters had recently become the most discussed topic at the Liangjiang region's Fourth and Fifth Seat meetings.

To the southwest of Yunjiang Road, close to the western plains of the Liangjiang region, lay a continuous stretch of mountains. During the Xia Dynasty, this place had been dense forest. By the Datong Dynasty, however, the Imperial Court's land-reclamation decree