Since Jing Grand Ancestor Ji Yusu established the Great Jing imperial dynasty, the ancient great sects of the realm had seen their voice diminish by the day. The world was still the same world, but the scenery was no longer the same scenery.
Yet such was the torrent of the times. Whether one accepted it or not, one could only accept it.
The era of sects had passed and was becoming history.
All the glory of the past was now only history's echo.
Any existence aspiring to eternity had to follow the times and remake itself with history. The sole end of clinging to old ways was to rot into dust.
This was true of individuals, sects, schools, and states alike.
In the Era of All Sages, a hundred schools of thought contended. How many great sects there were under heaven! A hundred sources, a thousand currents—far more than ten thousand lineages had founded their sects!
Where were they now?
How many remained?
Those that could still retain their autonomy were already the finest among sects. Within the territories of the various states, all sects were the subjects and concubines of those states. Looking across the realm, only High Heaven Pavilion could be called an exception.
But in practical terms, the reclusive High Heaven Pavilion and the Cloud Kingdom, which did business across the realm, truly posed little threat. They were generally not feared; no one regarded them as destabilizing factors.
Looking back at this stretch of time now passing, in less than ten years, the Great Void Sect had been collectively sealed into the Great Void Illusion Realm, the Blood River Sect had been struck from the rolls, and Southern Dipper Hall was about to be razed to the ground. Three great sects of the realm had been erased.