"What exactly is happening in the Cultivation Realm?"

Ever since descending from Luoyun Peak, the protagonist had remained silent.

It wasn't until they were almost leaving West Mountain that he suddenly asked the old monk.

"What?"

The old monk, apparently preoccupied with his own thoughts, didn't hear the protagonist's question.

The protagonist said, "What are the people in the Cultivation Realm plotting?"

The protagonist had grown significantly during the time he was being hunted.

From the previous conversation between Prince Zhi and the old monk, he understood that something had happened in the Cultivation Realm!

The old monk paused for a moment before falling silent.

The protagonist suddenly asked again, "Can they succeed?"

This time, the old monk was silent for even longer.

The protagonist did not rush him and patiently waited for the old monk's response.

After a long while, the old monk finally sighed.

He spoke in a low tone, "Three hundred years ago at the Cultivation Conference, the leaders of the largest cultivation sects in the realm secretly agreed to form the 'Anti-Xia and Anti-Zhao Grand Alliance' and planned to take action after three hundred years."

Pausing at this point, the old monk continued, "Now that the three hundred years have passed, the alliance may have already started to act."

Hearing this, the protagonist questioned, "Why three hundred years later?"

The old monk replied, "Because this Cultivation Conference, held three hundred years later, is hosted by the Yao clan! Back then, the Yao clan were mere lackeys for the Zhao clan in the cultivation realm. The alliance planned to eradicate the Yao clan dog while overthrowing the Great Xia and the Zhao clan!"

The protagonist's expression shifted slightly, "You mean, there's danger in this Cultivation Conference?"

The old monk fell silent again.

After a good while, he sighed deeply once more.

The old monk spoke bitterly, "In the current crisis, the Zhao clan won't be in danger; it's those cultivation sects that are at risk."

Upon hearing this, the protagonist immediately recalled Prince Zhi's previous nonchalant demeanor.

He asked the old monk, "You mean the Zhao clan was already prepared?"

The old monk directly dismissed the protagonist's assumption.

The old monk spoke pensively, "The Zhao clan isn't prepared; they simply don't regard the sects of the cultivation realm at all."

The following words from the old monk were well-reasoned, leaving the protagonist thoroughly convinced.

He spoke with a heavy tone, "The three hundred years of plotting in the Cultivation Realm, all the deeds done over the years—just how much damage did they inflict on the Great Xia Court? Yet the madmen of the Zhao clan, after seeing this, haven't gone mad! Is this normal? No, it's extremely abnormal!"

The protagonist also fell into silence.

He hadn't expected the old monk's reasoning to be so straightforward.

And yet, it was irrefutable!

After a while, the protagonist asked, "Master, did the Buddhist Sect also join the Anti-Xia Alliance?"

Raised with Buddhist teachings and having once been the Buddha's Son at West Mountain Temple, the protagonist held deep feelings for the Buddhist Sect.

If the Buddhist Sect joined the Anti-Xia Alliance, the Zhao clan's subsequent retaliation would certainly bring devastation to the Buddhist temples within Great Xia.

Hearing this, the old monk replied gravely, "The Buddhist Sect is indeed one of the major cultivation sects that initiated the Anti-Xia Alliance!"

The protagonist's expression shifted slightly, "The Buddhist Sect has always been uninvolved in the struggles of the cultivation realm, why did they initiate the Anti-Xia Alliance?"

The old monk sighed, "The Zhao clan monopolizes eighty percent of the resources in the Cultivation Realm, with many sects competing fiercely for the remaining fraction! The Buddhist Sect would never wade into these murky waters if they weren't forced, with disciples struggling to cultivate."

At this point, the old monk asked the protagonist, "Consider Zhao Yi, the current Crown Prince of the Zhao clan, most loathed by the sects in the Cultivation Realm. How do you think he amassed his tremendous wealth?"

The protagonist was momentarily stunned, "Rumors say Zhao Yi possesses the Innate Auspicious Pixiu Body, always finding money wherever he goes, and that all his wealth was found!"

"Amitabha!" the old monk intoned a Buddha's name.

Then, he angrily said, "Finding things assumes someone loses things first! Naturally, the Zhao clan wouldn't lose things. So whose things do you suppose Zhao Yi picked up?"

The protagonist was again taken aback.

He had never considered this issue.

The protagonist merely envied Zhao Yi's good fortune in constantly finding money, never pondering how those who lost the money might feel.

The protagonist widened his eyes, "Master, are you saying that the treasures Zhao Yi claimed to find were actually seized by him?"

"Not exactly," the old monk shook his head.

"Seizing and finding are different concepts. If Zhao Yi was seizing others' resources, it wouldn't elude everyone's eyes."

"Even if Zhao Yi is the Zhao clan's Crown Prince, seizing property from other sects without cause would inevitably provoke public outcry, and not even the Zhao clan could protect him."

The protagonist asked, puzzled, "Then how does he manage it?"

The old monk clearly didn't understand how Zhao Yi managed it either.

He replied confusedly, "Zhao Yi is faster than anyone else, be it in secret realms or treasure vaults. After the original owners fall, he is always the first to discover and claim them."

The protagonist still didn't understand, "Natural treasures belong to those with virtue, this suggests Zhao Yi is a person of great fortune, so why does everyone in the Cultivation Realm despise him?"

"Amitabha!"

The old monk couldn't help but intone the Buddha's name once more.

Then, he said solemnly, "Those secret realms and treasure vaults that Zhao Yi 'found' also had sects or descendants!"

"Those things originally belonged to cultivation sects, but now they've been picked up by Zhao Yi, making the already poor sects' lives even harder!"

"How do you expect them not to hate him?"

At this point, the old monk spoke with a heavy tone, "I've recently learned that Arhat Temple lost a secret realm meant for cultivating Spirit Medicine a few years ago!"

"That secret realm held a Spiritual Ox, raised from birth with Spirit Medicine, meant to replenish the blood of monks in the Body Tempering Realm. It seems Zhao Yi picked it up."

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