The trouble was, weapons could not be forged from ordinary iron. They required experienced blacksmiths to hammer and polish them hundreds of times, so the cost naturally climbed.
Even an ordinary outer disciple's sword cost at least thirty to fifty taels of silver. That was with the sect organizing the work and supplying the manpower; buying one on your own would only cost more.
The elders demanded even more of their swords. Ordinary iron blades could not withstand the infusion of their inner force, so they usually had to be made with meteoric iron refined from meteorites or cold iron from the far north.
Considering how quickly weapons wore out, as well as the fact that they could be reforged and reused, the annual cost still came to over a hundred thousand taels of silver.
Compensation for deaths and injuries depended on luck. If a war between the righteous and demonic factions broke out, a single round of payouts could cost hundreds of thousands of taels. In ordinary years, they still had to spend around ten thousand.
You never knew until you did the math—and then the figures made your heart jump. Just from what Li Mu could confirm, the Mount Hua Sect spent eight or nine hundred thousand taels a year.
The actual figure could only be higher. The sect's businesses and territory also required upkeep, and that expense was certainly no small matter.
There were also costs he had not counted, such as social courtesies and exchanges, buildings at the mountain gate, road repairs and maintenance, recruiting new disciples, ancestor-worship ceremonies, horses for everyday travel, and so on.
With all those expenses added together, the Mount Hua Sect's annual spending was frighteningly high. Aside from lamenting that "literature is for the poor, martial arts for the rich," Li Mu could also understand why the sect was so eager to expand.
It was not that the Mount Hua Sect did not know how to manage territory. Practicing martial arts was simply too expensive. Just managing to balance its books was proof of Ning Qingyu's ability.
In a sense, finances were the fundamental factor limiting a martial arts sect's growth. The rivalries between the great powers of the jianghu were just as inseparable from them.
Looked at another way, the Mount Hua Sect's expenses were not actually that high. If its total expenditures came to over a million taels, divided among more than two thousand members, that worked out to only around five hundred taels per person each year.
The cost of training disciples was much the same for all the major sects. Southern sects might spend a little less, since food, cloth, and other supplies were cheaper there.
But the Mount Hua Sect could only envy them. The decline of Guanzhong was not merely the result of overdevelopment; climate change was the main cause. Ever since the Han River changed course, agriculture in Guanzhong had been going downhill.
If successive dynasties had been unable to solve the problem, the Mount Hua Sect certainly could not.
A dragon could not be raised in shallow water, and the impoverished land of Guanzhong could not sustain a martial arts giant. The fact that the Mount Hua Sect had managed to reach its current position was already a miracle. To advance further, it had to venture beyond its borders.
As the Mount Hua Sect poured out of the pass in force, Luoyang—the ancient capital known as "the key to heaven and earth, the throat of the Nine Provinces"—grew bustling overnight.
"To the east, it commands Hulao Pass; to the west, it guards Hangu Pass. Youyan lies to the north, and Yique to the south."
A battleground for generals was just as much a battleground for the great powers of the jianghu. For the Five Mountains Sword Sects in particular, it held unparalleled strategic value.
If the Mount Hua Sect took control of the Luoyang martial world, it would be like a trapped dragon taking to the skies.
To the east, it could support Mount Song; to the south, it could coordinate with the Mount Heng Sect. To the north, it could enter Hedong and link up with the Mount Heng Sect's sphere of influence. Together, the Mount Hua, Mount Heng, and Mount Tai Sects could open a trade route between Shanxi and Shandong.
Once the plan was complete, the Five Mountains Sword Sects' territories would form one unbroken stretch, bringing the whole board to life.
The Mount Hua Sect would gain a new source of revenue and the foundation to stand alongside Shaolin and Wudang. The Mount Tai and Mount Heng Sects would have the confidence to stand against the Demonic Cult. The Mount Song and Mount Heng Sects could use the alliance's strength to free themselves from Shaolin and Wudang's pressure.
It was their shared interests that had led the ancestors of the five sects to form their alliance. As for opposing the Demonic Cult, that was merely a respectable-sounding slogan.
Unfortunately, they had forgotten that slogans could not be thrown around carelessly in the jianghu. With the many powers of the martial world fanning the flames, the Five Mountains Sword Sects' empty slogan had suddenly turned them into the true vanguard against the Demonic Cult.
What began as a quarrel over pride and slogans turned bloodier with every fight. The hatred between the sides grew ever deeper, until things had reached their present state, where neither side would rest until the other was dead.
If the story did not change, this would be the Five Mountains Sword Sects' last attempt to carry out their grand strategy. Afterward, someone would lead them completely astray.
Inside a manor outside Luoyang, Ning Qingyu, leader of the Five Mountains Alliance, stared worriedly at a pile of pleas for aid. The plan was flawless, but it had gone off course as soon as they began to put it into action.
Apart from the Mount Hua Sect, the forces of the other four sects had all been "attacked by the Demonic Cult" along the way. He had no idea how the Demonic Cult had managed to strike in so many places, all at once, from one end of the land to the other.
The Mount Tai and Mount Heng Sects were one thing. They were close to the Demonic Cult's territory, so it was plausible that the Cult had blocked their movements.
But the Mount Heng Sect was so far away from the Demonic Cult, and this operation had been launched in secret. Even if their plans had been exposed from the outset, the Cult's people could not possibly have reached them so quickly.
The attack on the Mount Song Sect was even more absurd. A large force had run into the "Demonic Cult" halfway up the mountain. It was practically an insult to Ning Qingyu's intelligence.
What he could confirm for certain was this: the Mount Heng Sect had indeed encountered Demonic Cult fiends, but those they fought had been bandits from the Thirteen Strongholds of Taihang. The Qingliang Temple of Mount Wutai also seemed to have been involved.
The "Demonic Cult" fiends who attacked the Mount Tai Sect had been local martial artists in disguise. Yuxuzi, the Mount Tai Sect's leader, had already decided to teach them a lesson.
As for the people who attacked the Mount Heng and Mount Song Sects, neither sect mentioned them in their pleas for aid. He did not know whether they had failed to recognize them or knew who they were and did not dare say.
Either way, the result was the same: none of the four sects' reinforcements could arrive. Whether to fight the coming battle for Luoyang was now up to the Mount Hua Sect.
After a long silence, Ning Qingyu said coldly, "The plan remains unchanged. The other four sects being tied down was within our expectations. We simply did not expect them to stoop so low."
An old man in a blue robe standing nearby urged, "But, Sect Leader, the Luoyang martial forces refuse to be swayed. They are the local power, and they have a host of jianghu fighters backing them. I fear we will not be able to defeat them anytime soon.
"The Mount Heng Sect has sent word again. The Ten Elders of the Demonic Cult are leading a large force into Shangdang. We can be almost certain they are coming for us.
"Now all the sect's elites are away. If the enemy sees through our situation, the consequences could be disastrous.
"Why don't we first—"
Ning Qingyu shook his head, his resolve unwavering. "The Mount Hua Sect has no choice this time. We have already proclaimed, 'Fists come from Shaolin; swords return to Mount Hua.' We cannot back down now.
"When we came out of the pass, many martial powers remained neutral because they feared the might of the Mount Hua Sect. If we withdraw now, next time we will face more than just these enemies."
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