Hou Niao did not expect to actually encounter a fellow townsman here. Sanjiang was the prefecture capital, and Fufeng was a small city under Sanjiang Prefecture's jurisdiction, but since they had all come to the Shan Kingdom, saying they were fellow townsmen was not going too far, and their hometown accents were dear.
Gu Weixin led him into the room, brewed tea, and poured the cups. Hou Niao was somewhat puzzled. "How did Brother Gu know that little brother came from Fufeng?"
Gu Weixin smiled slightly. "You saying that just proves you apply yourself far too diligently and pay no heed to matters outside the window.
In Jincheng, within the outer courtyard, cultivators from the Anhe Kingdom wishing to join the Quanzhen Sect are by no means few in number. It is not just you and me; there is a whole large crowd of them."
Hou Niao laughed ruefully. "It is just my own shallow knowledge. So even this so-called Daoist and Demonic Sects cannot be separated so clearly. With this massive Quanzhen recruitment involving countless complexities, I must ask you, brother, to instruct me."
Gu Weixin waved his hand with a smile. "Not so fast, not so fast. Since we stem from the same prefecture, I shall share all I know and say all I have to say; but before that, I want to ask Brother Hou why you did not follow the crowd out of the city to suppress the demons?"
Hou Niao countered, "Wasn't brother the same? Little brother's cultivation realm is lowly and my abilities are limited, so I shouldn't meddle, should I? Let's not have it so that by the time demons aren't suppressed, I get eaten by the demons instead."
Gu Weixin nodded. "Brother Hou sees things thoroughly. Most of these people are renowned rogue cultivators within the Shan Kingdom; after all, they are different from us. Some things they can do and fight for, but we might not necessarily be able to.
There are over seventy Dao-seekers in the outer courtyard, and most are visitors from outer domains. Among them, quite a few have been instigated to head out. This shows an unstable stance and an unclear understanding of one's own situation, and before long they might well be used as tools."
Hou Niao sighed. "Pantry strife is everywhere. So the Demonic Sect is also like this."
Gu Weixin curled his lips. "Factions transcend immortals and mortals. Whether in the mortal officialdom or the cultivation circle, regardless of whether it is the Daoist Sect, Demonic Sect, or Buddhist Sect, it is actually all the same.
It is simply a dispute of ideals, forever impossible to eradicate, and also the driving force behind the development of immortality; otherwise, if everyone's minds were set on the same place and their strengths exerted in the same direction, wouldn't this world become the Land of Ultimate Bliss?
What demons, monsters, ghosts, and ghouls would have been thoroughly swept clean long ago."
It was not that Hou Niao was unaware of these sordid affairs; he merely felt that given his current position, these matters probably did not concern him yet. He had not expected that before even entering the sect, right and wrong had already attached themselves to him.
"Brother Gu said that most of the outer courtyard are visitors from outer domains? Why is that?"
Gu Weixin drank a sip of tea, leisurely and content. "The so-called cultivation sects all have their foundations rooted in the mortal world; the larger the country and the greater the population base, naturally the more talents there are. Therefore, what every sect and national power must do is guard their own gates tightly to prevent talent from flowing outward, and then try their best to scour for talent in other countries. The Shan Kingdom's Quanzhen Sect does this, and the Anhe Daoist Sect does the same. Throughout the continent's countries, there is no real difference."
Hou Niao nodded. "This is only right."
Gu Weixin picked up the teapot and divided the tea among the cups. "The domestic rogue cultivator forces within the Shan Kingdom have always been within the Quanzhen Sect's collection. For them, there is no such thing as a massive recruitment or not; whenever they want to enter, they can take the assessment.
The significance of this massive recruitment lies in the surrounding foreign realms, such as the Anhe Kingdom bordering the Great Wind Plains, as well as the Wei Kingdom, Huxia, Yunzhang, or even the more distant Wu Kingdom close to Shan Kingdom's other border prefectures, and so on.
During ordinary times, the vetting is quite strict, but during a massive recruitment period, it becomes much more lenient, prompting many Anhe rogue cultivators to eager test their mettle and fulfill their wishes.
Therefore, you see that in this Sword Manor's outer courtyard, a good half of the cultivators come from Anhe, along with some from other realms. Truly local Shan Kingdom cultivators are actually few in number. It is not that they are unwilling to come, but rather that they have been plowed over by the iron rake year after year countless times. How many surviving fish could possibly be left slipping through the net?
The Great Wind Plains is like this, and other major prefectures of the Shan Kingdom are also like this. The difference lies only in which country they come from. There are even those separated by several countries, traveling thousands of miles afar to seek entrance-heh, the Quanzhen Sect still holds some influence among the continent's Demonic Sect."
Hou Niao furrowed his brows. "And so various factions emerge from this? The Shan Kingdom native faction? The Anhe faction? The Huxia faction?"
Gu Weixin laughed heartily. "And that is not even all of it! Regional divisions are merely the most superficial distinctions, existing only in the lower and middle strata of the Quanzhen Sect. Going further up, there are also divisions in governing philosophy, such as the Moderate Faction advocating common development, the Radical Faction striving for hegemony over the continent, and the Fence-Sitting Faction leaning toward neither side.
There are further divisions in cultivation philosophy, such as the Dharma Sword Faction advocating the Dao as foundation, the Astrology Lineage exploring astral phenomena, the Orthodox Ultimate Sword Lineage pursuing slaughter...
Added to this are cultivation lineages, interest relationships, and regional concepts all mixed together. Heh, the intricacies within are hard to describe in a single word, and they are not a whit inferior to the Daoist Sect, which has historically suffered from severe internal consumption."
Hou Niao listened with his horizons greatly broadened. "Brother Gu is so familiar with these crucial nodes; this is..."
Gu Weixin made no concealment, answering with graceful candor, "I have friends who are also within the Quanzhen Sect, just not in the Great Wind Plains, so I know a bit more."
"Then what faction does Brother Gu belong to now?"
"When entering a region, follow its customs; for now, I am naturally of the Anhe faction. As for the future, it will still require several years of cultivation to determine my own direction. It is far too premature to speak of it now.
If Brother Hou enters Quanzhen, you will not be able to avoid these either. I wonder which faction you wish to belong to?"
Hou Niao sighed. "My cultivation realm is lowly, drifting like duckweed with the wind; if Brother Gu asks me, then I am of the Anhe faction; if my master asks me, then I am of the venerated master's faction; when practicing cultivation I am of the Dharma Sword Faction, when in combat I am of the Ultimate Sword Lineage, and when arguing I am of the Fence-Sitting Faction. It is roughly like that."
Gu Weixin laughed to hear it. "Brother Hou, you are actually of the Fence-Sitting Faction itself!"
Jokes are jokes, but Gu Weixin also extinguished any thoughts of dragging this fellow into his camp. Cultivators do not utter meaningless words, and it was very obvious that this Hou Niao meant by his speech that he did not wish to join anyone's camp just yet.
By laughing it off now, there remained room for maneuver in the future; once the true objective was uncovered, everyone would feel awkward. Of course, the most important point was that this person's cultivation realm was too low, making him unworthy of spending great effort to rope in-that was the stark reality. Otherwise, by scattering just a tiny bit of resources, he could not help but lower his head.
There were numerous Anhe-born cultivators, but scattering resources also depended on the person; right now it was merely beating the bushes on the off chance of hitting a date, and if one was knocked down all the better, but if none fell it mattered little.
Regardless, the conversation remained quite cordial, establishing at least the foundation for future cooperation. For cultivators, cultivation had never relied solely on an individual's efforts. In this chaotic world, one had to first find one's own belonging and one's own roots before others would think twice before bullying you.
"Traveling outside in a foreign land, we fellow provincials support one another as the foundation of survival; this massive Quanzhen recruitment is somewhat unusual. It is not solely the Quanzhen Sect; many sects are recruiting soldiers and buying horses, and one knows not what for.
Yet the consequence of drastic expansion is the mingling of the good and the bad, the jade and the dregs mixed together. Without the strict vetting and thorough management of usual times, various possibilities arise."
Hou Niao nodded. "Understood. If there is an impassable hurdle, I will come find Brother Gu. When affinity is close, townsfolk are kin; when real trouble comes down to the wire, relying on hometown people is still the most reliable."
The two linked arms in agreement, then parted ways with lingering reluctance, looking just as if they had truly reached some kind of tacit understanding, though in truth it was all put on for others to see.