"The old school..." Zhao Erhu paused thoughtfully. "Lao Jiang, you've heard expressions like shady dealings, unorthodox paths, and crooked ways, right?"
"The shady, unorthodox, and crooked paths in those expressions..."
"They actually referred to certain highly controversial cultivation schools in the Unusual Person World of old. The Nine Sects of the Long River were all once schools like that."
"It wasn't until the Late Qing, when the Mount Tai King of that era rose to prominence and purged the Nine Sects, that all that foulness was finally wiped clean."
"But afterward, that Mount Tai King could only atone with his death."
Hearing this, Jiang Chen opened his mouth, finding it rather hard to believe.
What kind of crime could force a king to his death?
"Heh, don't be surprised. Once you understand the origins and history of the Nine Sects of the Long River, you'll understand that, at the time, atoning with his death might have been his only choice," Zhao Erhu said, his tone complicated.
"You can look up the details on the Underworld App, so I won't go into them."
"Put simply, these unorthodox schools were so controversial because, on the one hand, they guarded the entire Long River basin and truly did protect countless people."
"I remember my master telling me that the Long River was the greatest river in the Nine Provinces and held countless secrets. If everything beneath it emerged, it would be scarcely less dangerous than a Living Person Forbidden Zone!"
"Without the unorthodox schools, all kinds of bizarre, terrifying things would probably have happened along its banks."
"But on the other hand, their methods were truly hard to accept."
"Take the Dredging Sect, for example. Living sacrifices were commonplace. Every festival, they would sacrifice virgin boys and girls to the River God. At