On the Floating Cloud Platform, boys served tea and maids burned incense as two Nascent Soul Great Cultivators sat facing each other, discussing the situation in the West Sea.
Jiang Shiqun had brought Li Ling the position of the Four Seas Commerce Guild's General Association on Goldsource Island: they hoped the fighting could end as soon as possible and peace could be restored.
This did not surprise Li Ling. Even setting aside the fact that the West Sea itself was an affiliated member of the guild, its importance in production and transportation alone meant they had to ensure stability there.
Trouble in the West Sea would inevitably affect industries elsewhere, and could even have a substantial impact on the supply chain of the entire cultivation world.
But Li Ling had his own position.
"What I'm doing this time isn't aimed at the guild, but at those demon-affiliated merchants on Jade Lang Mountain."
Jiang Shiqun disagreed. "They weren't followers of the righteous path to begin with. They have no obligation to observe the strict rules and precepts of the Righteous Immortal Sect."
"That's true," Li Ling said. He acknowledged that much.
"In that case," Jiang Shiqun said, "who they choose to trade with is their own business. If they go too far and their victims come to collect, let them settle those karmic debts themselves.
"If your Incense Accumulation Sect wishes to investigate the true culprit who hired assassins to attack young friend Yao, the General Association can help as well. We'll certainly give you a satisfactory answer."
Li Ling had long anticipated this response. He smiled faintly. "Elder Jiang, you're mistaken. Everyone has the right to slay evil demons and followers of the Outer Dao. How can a word like 'freedom' wipe the slate clean?
"By that reasoning, attacking them