Jiao Liqiao 3

Upon returning to the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance, Jiao Liqiao summoned all its members. Sitting on the throne where only Di Feisheng had once been entitled to sit, she announced that she was leaving the alliance and would lead those willing to submit to her, along with the Nanyin survivors, beyond the frontier to establish the Nanyin Cult.

Di Feisheng's trusted subordinate Wu Yan was the first to step forward. "Holy Maiden, while the Alliance Leader is in seclusion, you're actually planning to split our Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance. Aren't you afraid he'll settle accounts with you when he comes out?"

Jiao Liqiao idly admired her fingernails. "After the Alliance Leader was injured, the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance was able to preserve most of its strength because I worked tirelessly to turn the tide. And when the Alliance Leader disappeared, I was the one who rallied our members to search for him with all their might. Never mind how I scoured the land afterward for miraculous medicines to treat his injuries.

"Each and every one of these deeds is enough to repay him for saving my life back then. And of everyone seated here, how many would have survived the so-called righteous sects without me?

"Now, I can say with a clear conscience that I've done right by the Alliance Leader, but I owe my Nanyin people a great deal. As the Holy Maiden of Nanyin, I want to do my part for them. What's wrong with that?

"What, can people only join the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance, but never leave?"

Since Di Feisheng had gone into seclusion to recover from his injuries, Jiao Liqiao had shouldered most of the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance's affairs on her own. And just as Li Xiangyi's trusted followers had died in the explosion at the alliance's former headquarters, most of Di Feisheng's trusted followers had been killed or injured as well.

Thus, although Jiao Liqiao's actions did indeed look like an attempt to split off part of the alliance's power, apart from Wu Yan and Di Feisheng's other trusted followers, no one dared speak out, wary of the authority she still wielded.

Afterward, Medicine Demon, who had refined the Bicha poison for Jiao Liqiao, and the few people who had submitted to her long ago and blown up the headquarters' gunpowder storehouse at her orders, all left with her.

Though Di Feisheng rarely concerned himself with the alliance's affairs, he really could slap someone dead over the slightest disagreement. Those with guilty consciences had no choice but to follow Jiao Liqiao in search of a sliver of hope for survival.

And so, with the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance powerless to stop her, the Hundred Rivers Courtyard preoccupied by Yun Biqiu's death from Bicha, Wansheng Dao buying off people at court to clear the way, and Jiao Liqiao's admirers, such as Zongzheng Mingzhu, helping her in secret, Jiao Liqiao smoothly led all the Nanyin people who had gathered around him out of Great Xi. Together, they conquered several small countries in the Outer Realm and formally established the Nanyin Cult.

When the emperor of Great Xi learned of it, he was naturally furious, and even considered sending troops to attack these Nanyin survivors who had risen from the ashes.

Unfortunately, Feng Qing and Jiao Liqiao had long been prepared. Feng Qing used financial means and venomous insects to control important ministers at court, while Jiao Liqiao had used her beauty to acquire admirers. Both sides acted in concert, using excuses such as the Outer Realm's desolation, the fact that Nanyin had merely established a cult and thus reduced the likelihood of its survivors causing trouble in Great Xi, and the burden an expedition would place on the people and the treasury. For the time being, they managed to calm the emperor's anger.

Afterward, they arranged for people to bring up the emperor's lack of a son again, along with the question of whether he should adopt a member of the imperial clan, turning his attention to the struggle within the imperial family.

Jiao Liqiao also used this time to have Feng Qing gather all kinds of talented people from Great Xi. With her own profound knowledge of forging, medicine, engineering, agriculture, and other fields, she persuaded them to stay and help the Nanyin Cult survive in the Outer Realm.

Jiao Liqiao knew that only by creating and spreading techniques that improved ordinary people's chances of survival could she earn large amounts of merit. She therefore personally led some highly skilled cult members in sweeping through bandit strongholds in the Outer Realm, acquiring a great deal of money to fund those people's research.

As for grain, Jiao Liqiao traded rare ores and medicinal herbs found in the Outer Realm for it with the Central Plains.

Before long, certain byproducts of the research-luxuries such as exquisite colored glass, porcelain, and essential oils-also became a major financial pillar of the Nanyin Cult.

As a cult with formidable martial strength, it had no fear of being robbed or oppressed.

Jiao Liqiao also handed the responsibility for developing the Nanyin Cult to Feng Qing. Now, Feng Qing blamed himself for accidentally harming his master and was also controlled by Jiao Liqiao's poison, so he dared not neglect the work.

Two years passed in this fashion, and once the Nanyin Cult was more or less on the right track, Jiao Liqiao began traveling through the jianghu. This time, she was not simply following her whims, but seeking to earn more merit.

Though she had studied diligently and trained hard over the years, her cultivation method had unfortunately made no breakthrough. But asking Jiao Liqiao to help others out of kindness was a bit too much. So she decided to stick to what she did best: stop killing with killing and slay all the wicked people under heaven. Wasn't that doing good too?

Her first stop was naturally the Women's Residence on Fragrant Mountain again. By now, Jiao Liqiao was even a little grateful to Yu Lou Chun. He was like a dependable money-making machine, the best means for her to vent her anger and obtain money in every life.

In this life, he had gained another use: earning merit. Jiao Liqiao was very satisfied and decided to give Yu Lou Chun a quicker death.

Thus, years after departing for the Outer Realm, Jiao Liqiao once again shook the jianghu with her name by bathing the Women's Residence in blood. People throughout the jianghu discussed her actions, but none could fathom her reason. Only the others who possessed the Luomo Heavenly Ice felt a chill of apprehension and wondered whether Jiao Liqiao was preparing to clean house.

Others paid no attention to the Nanyin Cult Jiao Liqiao had established in the Outer Realm, but the other lineages of Nanyin survivors knew that her purpose was to unite all the Nanyin survivors under her rule. They had long grown accustomed to living freely and did not want to be controlled again, so they pretended not to know.

But now, the bloody example of Fragrant Mountain seemed like an ultimatum to them.

If Jiao Liqiao had known what they were thinking, she would probably have been even more grateful to Yu Lou Chun.

She soon learned of another benefit of killing Yu Lou Chun: many Nanyin survivors scattered across Great Xi followed Jin Mantang's lead and pledged their allegiance to her. Jin Mantang even offered up more than half his personal fortune and the Luomo Heavenly Ice.

Jiao Liqiao returned the favor by curing Jin Mantang's Tree-Man Disease. Jin Mantang, who had still been somewhat reluctant, was now overwhelmed with gratitude. He soon accepted Jiao Liqiao's orders and took the wealth he had contributed, along with the valuables obtained from the Women's Residence, to escort some of its women who had nowhere else to turn and the Nanyin people who had come to join her to the Outer Realm.

Apart from the Nanyin survivors, there was one other person who paid close attention to the news of Jiao Liqiao's return to the jianghu. That was Li Xiangyi, who had taken the name Li Lianhua. For years, he had been searching for remnants of the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance to discover the whereabouts of his senior brother's body.

Unfortunately, after Jiao Liqiao's departure a few years earlier, the Golden Mandarin Duck Alliance's remaining forces had grown even weaker. To stay alive, those people had all but ceased appearing in the jianghu.

Meanwhile, those who had followed Jiao Liqiao away had remained in the Outer Realm, rarely appearing in Great Xi. With the half-dead body Li Lianhua now had, he could no longer charge into the Nanyin Cult alone as Li Xiangyi might have done.