Living miserably was not a reason to deserve sympathy.
No one in this world was born owing anyone anything. Even Ye Xiu clearly understood that one could keep a kind heart, but must not dispense it too freely.
These reclusive alchemists wanted to reopen their channels and secure a stable source of income, yet did not want to draw the attention of too many major sects. Therefore, the only thing they could do was show goodwill toward Heyang City.
They originally had no connections there, nor did they dare take the initiative and make large-scale moves.
After all, as Heyang City grew ever larger, the relationships between the Alliance and the major sects of Yu Prefecture and the surrounding prefectures had also become increasingly close.
The cultivation world was realistic. Those so-called rules from the past had never been of much use.
Looking back, when the major sects had sought to preserve their lofty, transcendent status, they had nearly written "immortals and mortals are different; major sects and wandering cultivators cannot be mentioned in the same breath" into every document that could be recorded.
To maintain stable rule below and keep drawing blood over the long term, it was all about profit. Naturally, they did not blush when doing such things.
But times had changed. After being brutally taught a lesson by rebellions from cultivators in their subordinate territories and by wandering cultivators rising up to assault their mountain gates, the major sects had all obediently lowered their heads.
A smile made one ten years younger. They were all fellow travelers on the path of cultivation; holding their noses in the air at people every day was hardly good...
More than that, those sects that had been among the first to join in founding the academy had begun straightforwardly handing