Daily life of a cultivation judge-Chapter 1066: Why continue to stick with them?
Duan Ting, sensing what Yang Qing was thinking, took over from Liu Ying and explained,
"Yes, ordinarily, we'd avoid the Azure Sapphire Mountain Kingdom because of its instability. But ironically, that same chaos makes it one of the best routes for us to take.
The turmoil there acts like a controlled fire—it keeps larger, more unpredictable wildfires at bay. Because the region's disorder is so well-known, most people avoid it entirely, which means fewer unknown variables for us to deal with compared to other parts of the continent.
It also helps that we've built a long-standing relationship with one of the nobles there.
The constant wars and the precarious balance in the kingdom have forced many nobles to rely on outside assistance to sustain themselves. Most of them are struggling to keep up with the costs of the endless conflict without depleting their reserves. That particular noble uses our agency as a middleman to transport materials from his territory in exchange for resources he needs from outside.
With the fragile equilibrium in the kingdom, none of the nobles can leave their lands without risking exposure to their enemies. They're forced to rely on proxies for certain tasks. We've stepped into that role for this noble on occasion, and in return, he guarantees us safe passage through his territory whenever we require it."
"It's also how we came to know the Red Gale Fists Mercenary Group," Duan Ting added. "They were contracted by that noble to handle a few jobs for him. On one of those jobs, we had to cooperate, and from that interaction, we decided to contract their services for emergencies."
"And Buzhe Hills falls within the territory of that noble?" Yang Qing asked.
He had read a bit about the kingdom's history but only enough to form a rough outline of its current state. He hadn't delved deeply into the finer details, such as the spread of power, which nobles held sway, the alliances they'd formed with outside forces, or even the exact distribution of territories and influence.
It wasn't out of negligence or laziness; the southern continent was simply too vast to comprehend in its entirety. Take the Spiritual Temperance Sect, for example. A rank-three sect—though the Order believed it should already qualify as rank-two, given rumors of a domain expert among its ranks—their territory alone offered a daunting example of the region's complexity.
Their status in rank aside, their territory was filled with hundreds of organizations that called their territory home, and within that group of organizations, there was even an established rank four kingdom in Summerfield Kingdom and this was just the Spiritual Temperance Sect, a sect renowned for its ascetic nature.
They could care less about what happened outside their sect grounds, be it in terms of administration or even expansion, which is how the nefarious Dark Helminth Ghost Sect was able to sneak in members into their territory without their knowledge and hatch a planned-out scheme to harm the person that the Order sent to do their evaluations.
Had it not been Yang Qing on duty that day, their plan might have succeeded. The potential repercussions aside, the incident underscored how little interest the Spiritual Temperance Sect had in domination. Even so, their territory, while smaller compared to other rank-three organizations, was still vast enough to support an entire kingdom and over a hundred other groups, including sects, clans, and other entities.
How vast would the territories of other well-established organizations be, especially those that didn't share the Spiritual Temperance Sect's detached nature? Organizations that actively sought power and influence?
The sheer scale was staggering to imagine. How many countless organizations could those territories field?
The Diamond Body Sect, a rank-two sect, offered a vivid example. Their domain housed close to 4,000 subordinate sects—and that was just the sects alone. That number, while vast, wasn't even considered an outlier among organizations of their rank.
With such numbers in mind, it would be next to impossible for Yang Qing to have intimate knowledge of every organization on the continent. The landscape was ever-shifting, with some groups crumbling and others swiftly rising from the ashes to claim their place. The best he could do was gradually build his understanding of the continent, starting with a skeletal outline and adding flesh to it over time—whether deliberately or through incidents like this one.
After leaving this place, Yang Qing resolved to dig deeper into the Azure Sapphire Mountain Kingdom. Now that it had come up in conversation, it felt necessary. Fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to look far. The Order was bound to have detailed records—outlining the kingdom's power structure, both visible and hidden, as well as its geographical and resource maps.
Access to such resources was one of the reasons he begrudgingly endured the Order's poor pay and harsh working conditions. Beyond safety, the ability to easily obtain information and materials—both for cultivation and other purposes—that would otherwise be out of reach made it worthwhile.
..
"Yes, Buzhe Hills falls under his territory," Duan Ting replied, addressing Yang Qing's earlier question about the hill's location.
"Mmh... Then they shouldn't have been so cautious about going there. Not unless something has changed in that noble's territory, or..." Yang Qing trailed off, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Is this something they usually do... delay?"
"It's... something they've started doing," Duan Ting admitted with a sigh, his expression clouded by a mix of frustration and reluctance.
"They weren't always like this," he added after a moment, the look on his face suggesting there was more to the story—a history between the escort agency and the mercenary group. Fortunately, Yang Qing didn't have to guess as Duan Ting began to elaborate.
"The shift in their attitude stems from the noble of Azure Sapphire Mountain Kingdom. They've known him far longer than we have, having worked together for close to 70 years before we even came into the picture. That noble was one of their biggest clients, and the jobs they did for him played a major role in their growth over the years.
"When we came into the picture, they were wary of us at first, thinking we were there to steal their golden goose. But they eased up eventually since the work we did for the noble didn't overlap with theirs.
"We handled transport, while they dealt with security and the other jobs he needed done. Our involvement was small and irregular compared to their permanent retainer status.
"However, over the past 40 years, things began to shift. We started getting more and more jobs from the noble, while the Red Gale Fists—though still on retainer—saw their workload steadily decrease. And for that, they've unjustly placed the blame squarely on us..."
"Their small-mindedness is probably one of the reasons why... With such character, they can't be relied upon," Liu Ying interjected with a scathing comment, coldly snorting as she spoke.
Of the two, it was clear she harbored the greater animosity toward the mercenary group. Yang Qing couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with their recent delay in reaching Jiang Hao's last known location. Or perhaps there was a deeper, more personal grudge—another instance when their delay had placed someone else, maybe even Liu Ying herself, in the hot seat.
He quickly pushed the thought aside as Duan Ting, after offering a bitter smile at Liu Ying's remark, moved on with the explanation.
"I'm sure the Order is aware..." Duan Ting said, leaning forward slightly. His tone dropped to a whisper, carrying a somber weight. His expression turned conspiratorial, his eyes darting around as if he feared someone might be lurking nearby, listening in.
"Many within the kingdom have long grown weary of the endless fighting and are now seeking a truce, particularly among the noble households.
The wars have inflicted extensive damage on their foundations, damage that will take centuries to repair—if not longer for some. They fear that if the conflict continues, some families will lose everything and fade into oblivion. For those who somehow manage to hold on, it will only be a matter of time before they too crumble.
Any fragile path to survival will come at a devastating cost, and with the kingdom's dire state, few if any, would likely even be able to afford such a price.
And if by some miracle they did, they would be left hanging by a thread, leaving themselves exposed—especially to the outside forces they've allied with, or to the royal family," Duan Ting explained, taking a brief pause to wet his tongue with the wine.
"Despite their isolation, the royal family remains a looming threat, a dagger still poised at the necks of the noble houses.
The nobles fear that if they weaken further, the royal family would likely strike, picking them off one by one—or collectively, if the damage inflicted is severe enough. This is a future they wish to avoid at all costs.
So, the leaders of the major factions have begun negotiating a truce. The plan is for each noble to govern their own territory as an independent ruler—whether they call themselves king or something else—and cease interfering in one another's affairs.
In essence, they aim to dissolve the Azure Sapphire Mountain Kingdom, each noble carving out their own domain, much like the royal family did when they sealed themselves off.
This approach would allow the nobles to focus on rebuilding their territories, recovering from the devastation of war, and removing one of the key elements that fueled the conflict in the first place- supremacy" Duan Ting added.
After their failure to oust the royal family and seize control of the Azure Sapphire Mountain, the nobles continued fighting amongst themselves—not just for self-preservation, but also because they stubbornly sought to crown one of their own as ruler, especially after the royal family isolated itself from the rest of the territory.
That isolation sparked the ambitions of some, but over the years, those ambitions have largely faded. Now, most of those families are focused solely on preserving what little power they have left. One such noble, with whom we have ties, chose to step back from the conflicts entirely. Instead, he shifted his attention to resource development, which is how we ended up getting more work compared to the Red Gale Fists.
Our connections with the Gold Earth Bank and other merchant firms played a role in that as well, further raising our priority in that noble's eyes.
Since then, even though the Red Gale Fists understand why he reduced his reliance on them, they still blame us for it. As a result, whenever we've called on them since, they either delay responding or put in the bare minimum effort," Duan Ting explained with a weary sigh.
"Why stick with them? If they're intentionally doing that, wouldn't it make more sense to move on to another mercenary agency?" Yang Qing asked.
"Ideally, yes, that's what should have happened…" Duan Ting trailed off with another sigh, leaving Liu Ying to finish the thought.
"Our boss is too kind-hearted. Despite everything, he decided to keep them on," she said, shaking her head.
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