One mountain could not hold two tigers.
This was not the norm of the cultivation world, but a feature of the human world; in fact, it was not confined to the Northwest. The same held elsewhere on the Brocade Continent, each place with its own particular circumstances, just like the fire-and-water hostility between Shanmen and the Wu Sect in the Southwest.
This was beyond Yu Zhengxing's control, and Shanmen's reach did not extend that far.
For his grand plan, the greatest potential source of assistance was actually the Qin and Yue sects. The other powers in the Northwest had limited strength and could barely protect themselves. How much strength could they spare to help?
After word spread that Shanmen cultivators had begun planting forests in the direction of Ancient Loulan, a few cultivators from the Northwest came to join them of their own accord. They all had aspirations and visions, but their numbers were too small to amount to much-a cup of water against a cartload of burning wood.
But Yu Zhengxing's plan would not stop because of these difficulties. That was his temperament: once he set his mind on something, he would follow that road all the way into darkness.
Without waiting to see whether this batch of saplings survived, they continued laying formations to either side, starting from Dragon Whisker Ravine. With an unending supply of resources, the underground formations extended in both directions, followed by vast quantities of saplings. A forest belt hundreds of li long and ten li wide began taking shape around Dragon Whisker Ravine.
A year later, a long-absent green forest belt appeared on the edge of the Northwestern desert. Viewed from above, it looked like a young dragon, winding and twisting.
The tree species had been specially selected, not for their timber but