V2C58: The Conflict in Sanctuary

The force of Beast’s Rest and the allied factions approached Sanctuary with the continued accompaniment of Mo Liang Shen, who had explained a little more about the current situation in the city as they walked.

Originally, the entirety of the Virtuous Side had mostly avoided talking about their opinions on the Greats, the fairness of their imprisonment and other miscellaneous things that were now being contested, for, just as the Crimson Side, they had lost almost all hope of ever returning to the real world, to the Planar Continents. In their eyes, there had been no reason to bother with such things, and none of the leaders of Sanctuary had changed their minds on it for a long time.

Then, that was suddenly changed. A small group rose up, debating the true purpose of their imprisonment with surprising eagerness.

At first, no-one cared for this topic sufficiently to disagree with this group, but as their numbers rose, it became clear that they would need to contend with them fully. Thus, the Continental faction rose, forming from those that had not been persuaded to the other faction, but as it happened far too late for them to retain their dominance in the discussion, they were forced to become the so-called dissident faction while the Nobility faction took up the mantle of the primary faction of Sanctuary and Sanctums Alpha to Omega.

Due to this, the Nobility kept the standard outfits of the Virtuous Side whereas the Continental faction, inspired by the continents that they desired to return to, added the symbol of the two continents onto their robes.

The person responsible for this shift in ideology was not immediately clear, but when some of the people at the top changed, some guesses were made by the Continental faction and successfully managed to narrow the candidates down to just a few people, all of whom were capable, powerful and knowledgeable.

“Any reason why they would ever want to side with the Greats?” Wei Yi had inquired.

“It has been some time since we had any new arrivals in our side of the prison realm. Perhaps they mistook our history and decided that the Great Families had somehow been in the right in all of our previous conflicts,” Mo Liang Shen said, “With so much time passing within the prison realm, it is hardly surprising, even if entirely stupid. Originally, there wasn’t a tangible chance of breaking free from here, but with one gateway, the tensions will certainly rise…”

He did not continue, for they had finally arrived at the entrance to Sanctuary. There was no gate nor any particularly high walls obstructing passage, with only chest-height barrier surrounding it in a perfect circle, and there was only one person standing guard at the entrance.

What this suggested was obvious, but Wei Yi still decided to confirm her guess.

“Are there no creatures equivalent to the hatred automatons of the Crimson Side? Will automatons, for example?”

“No, none at all. All of the spiritual will in the world, apart from the quantity that makes up the outer storm walls, is entirely inert and has no consciousness of its own. No creatures have ever been animated by it, and there appear to be no creatures to animate in the first place,” he answered, “For whatever reason, any beasts, insects and birds ended up on your end, whether due to some design of the Greats, or due to random chance.”

“Interesting. In that case, how do you feed yourselves? Spiritual will and nothing else?”

“Yes, nothing else. Through avoiding all of the hidden toxins and dangers in food, we can survive for longer than common men, roughly between two and three hundred years in the best case scenario,” the man in white and silver said as they entered the city, “How has your side fared in this realm?”

“The hatred automatons that I mentioned are the most common sources of typical food, as their decayed bodies are kept in a semi-fresh state after their transformation, or through dried herbs and the like. These items were even put to use in the creation of basic pills not too long ago, reviving an art that was otherwise thought to be lost on our side. The rest of the dietary needs can be fulfilled via the blood of the Beast or its derivative, miracle fluid. We could share it with you via trade, if it would not affect your ability to survive for as long as you currently do.”

“That will need to be checked, but I’m sure that there will be some interest in the various items available only on your side. Perhaps we could even share our understanding of pills, which we have also been working on as of late,” he replied, “Forgive me if the reports had been incorrect in the past, but is there not a faction in your land specialising in… carnal pleasures, shall we say?”

“If you mean brothels, prostitutes and sex, then that would be my faction, the same one that occupied Beast’s Rest after defeating an otherworldly demon and a maddened killer.”

“Oh, is that so? Truth be told, that is something that is very lacking in our land, certainly not helped in the slightest by the gem-like translucence of every single structure in Sanctuary. When things are calmer, although there may be some slight protest, most of us would appreciate the opportunity to unwind.”

“That does make sense. We’ll get to it when we have the time – for now, I would prefer to concern myself with the altercation in front of us,” she nodded forwards, prompting the others to look.

During their conversation, they had gotten closer to the centre of the city, and thus they came across the central plaza that sat within the middle of the three towers, where two groups stood opposite one another generating the closest thing to killing intent that could be found within this side of the prison realm. One side wore various designs of robes with silver threads decorating them, while the other lacked such decorations, but both were equipped with spiritual concentration blades by their sides.

The two at the front of each group were speaking to one another, but their voices did not reach them.

“I had the impression that these weapons were purely for excursions to the left of the prison realm,” Wei Yi said, glancing towards Mo Liang Shen on her side, “Furthermore, I was told that the Virtuous Side – can’t believe I’m still calling it that – is rather free of intense conflict.”

The man frowned, “The times have been changing. The Nobility faction have gotten a lot more confrontational in the past few years.”

“And the concentration blades?”

“They have become easier to produce and thus more widespread, so it had been decided that every single cultivator ought to carry their own spiritual concentration blade and take care of it themselves, so that they could be most used to it if they are ever required to travel to the Crimson Side,” Mo Liang Shen explained, “So far, it has not been abused, but…”

“The possibility is always there, is it not? Is it a good idea to get closer to them?”

“If something does occur, it will be quickly suppressed, so it ought to be safe,” said the man in white and silver, bringing them forward with a hint of caution in his voice.

‘He is not that certain of this. As expected of a place that has evaded conflict for so long – any hint of it will suddenly inspire panic…’ Wei Yi noted as she nodded to the others and followed him towards the argument.

That kind of thing was somewhat concerning to her, as she was planning to remove the necessity for random violence and combat from her new Yi City and would thus face the exact same problem as the people of Sanctuary. If she was miraculously able to eliminate all possible threats to the rebuilt Yi City once and for all, that would not be an issue, but she knew that there would be a time when she, just like the Master of Yi City, would disappear, whether due to her own will or due to some outside circumstances – at that point, if her people were completely incapable of protecting themselves, the second Yi City would split apart even more quickly than the first.

She could not allow that, as it would simply be equivalent to giving the city back to the equivalent of the Great Families, whatever name and form they choose to take then.

Things like combat training would not suffice, as the Virtuous Side had them frequently according to the memories of Hao Gang and Bai Hao, but true combat within the city would be difficult to achieve without allowing the premise of power being supreme over everything to take over.

‘I am guessing that this is why the Master of Yi City, even if he had considered this problem and how this would allow the Greats to reign supreme due to their power, had done nothing to deal with the issue before it became significant enough,’ Wei Yi theorised, although she had almost no information about the Great Families and when they came to be, meaning that they might not have even been a concern at the time.

Unfortunately, all of this was simply a set of theories composed with lacking information, so she was forced to delay this contemplation and observe the argument between the only two factions of the Virtuous Side.

“- and now, the barbarians and savages of the Crimson Side have come here and spout the same nonsense as you do. Now, perhaps, you’ll be able to understand exactly how right we are!” the man in the Nobility faction outfit stated, an obvious grin on his face as if there was no chance of him being proven wrong whatsoever.

His entire being radiated smugness, to the point that even those behind him struggled to withstand it.

The Continental faction was also rather confident, however, and their members appeared to have a more balanced quantity of smugness, making their presence significantly more bearable.

“You think so? Your sudden praise of the Greats has also been based on never meeting them before, I’m sure. I’d imagine that the moment you saw them casually disregard everything about you and do what they like to you simply because of your birth, you would change your mind quickly!” the man at the front stated with similar certainty, “Furthermore, you’ve gotten your force back, haven’t you? Ask them about the behaviour of those that you call savages and what the only person who actually knows anything about the Greats thinks!”

Before Wei Yi or Mo Liang Shen could announce their presence, the members of the Nobility faction seemed to perceive the fact that their argument was not going to succeed against such a challenge and turned around, leaving quickly while yelling the closest things to obscenities that were present within the Virtuous Side.

They travelled in the direction of one of the three primary spires, where they were greeted by another group of people in ordinary white outfits.

Meanwhile, those of the Continental faction shouted a few things back, then perceived their approach via their spiritual perception and turned towards them, with the leader saying, “Ah, Mo Liang Shen. Greetings!”

“Greetings, Ding Ju Rong,” he replied, “Have these people been causing you difficulties?”

“Not much. They do seem to be eager to get into verbal spats with us,” Ding Ju Rong said, glancing at Wei Yi and the others before looking back to him with a raised eyebrow.

Mo Liang Shen understood his question and gestured for Wei Yi to step forward.

“This is Wei Yi, the leader of Beast’s Rest, the largest faction in the entirety of the Crimson Side. She is the person you had mentioned earlier, even if you did not know her by name,” he introduced her quickly, “She has expressed a desire to trade with us and knows of the terror of the Great Families.”

“That’s right,” she confirmed.

“It is great to meet you!” Ding Ju Rong expressed, “We’ve been paying attention to the Crimson Side, and we have observed how the city you rule has grown quickly under your leadership. In fact, the design of the city expansion is inspired, to say the least. I almost believe that it could match or even exceed Sanctuary if it is completed.”

“High praise to be directed at someone with little experience in architecture and design, but I shall accept it,” Wei Yi nodded, “I would not object to having any kind of casual conversation, but could I get a better idea of the situation in Sanctuary first?”

“Certainly! What would you like to know?”

“The split between the Continental and Nobility faction – how many are in each group? How many neutral individuals are there?”

“Few to no neutral parties, as the split was significant enough in the higher echelons that it was nigh impossible to not to side with one group or the other. There is a roughly equal number on each side, although there are also likely a few on each side that doesn’t have any particular belief in their side and would be open to switching if given a sufficient opportunity,” he explained.

‘Well… not what I would have hoped for. If a majority was prone to one side or the other, I could have slaughtered the minority and ally with that majority – although I would prefer not to do so – but if I was to kill half of people that could potentially contribute to fighting the Greats, I might as well simply let them loose once the prison realm is opened and get more out of them…’ Wei Yi frowned, glancing in the direction of the Nobility spire only to find that the group had gone up the spire and were now too obscured by countless layers of cut gems to be able to perceive their location or actions with any clarity, “I see. So, are there no other factions, or independent groups in either faction?”

“None that we know of,” Mo Liang Shen stated, with Ding Ju Rong nodding, “We are near the top of the hierarchy, after all, so we would be unlikely to hear about any groups that do not agree with ourselves.”

“Right. Just to confirm, you lot are entirely against the Greats, and in the event of freedom from the prison realm, you would be willing to fight against them?”

Both of them nodded, “That was the work of our ancestors, and the reason why we are here. The second that we had even the slightest opportunity to damage the Great Families, even if it cost us our lives, I believe that most of us would eagerly commit to it without a second thought. Some of our faction may be a little more hesitant, but it is the Nobility faction that would side with them quickest of all.”

“That is currently occurring only due to their lack of understanding of the Greats, is it not? Has a single member of the Greats ever appeared within your side of the prison realm, or have they been just as absent there as on the Crimson Side?”

“None whatsoever,” Ding Ju Rong reported, “We suspect that even they cannot evade the restriction of the prison realm.”

‘That is plausible, of course, but it does suggest something positive, for once: it may be possible to get most of the population of Sanctuary and the Sanctums onto my side, so long as I can prove that my tale is entirely accurate… I don’t think that I have collected anything that can confirm that any words or memories are true, and even after two years of examining the insides of the House of Gold, I have still not found anything of the sort…’ she remembered with a significant degree of disappointment, as anything that was able to detect lies would speed up the process immensely, ‘Even if I did have something of the sort, perhaps my slight uncertainty about the actual identity of the brother and sister that sealed me in here would cause it to perceive my words as being dubious…’

While contemplating what she should do, her mind stumbled across the memories of the planar anchor shard that she had acquired from Ding Wen’s first auction, prompting her to take it out and show it to the spiritual will cultivators, “Do either of you know anything about this?”

Due to the item’s extreme scarcity in the Crimson Side, she expected them to shrug and allow her to move on to some entirely different question, and yet both of them nodded almost right away.

“Yes, we’ve seen a large number of them. Unfortunately, we don’t understand anything about them, so if you want to take all of the shards that we have, you can do so as a sign of our future friendship,” said Mo Liang Shen, gesturing towards the spire opposite of the one occupied by the Nobility faction and bringing her towards it.

Before they came inside, Wei Yi asked those accompanying her to wait outside, or to take a look around Sanctuary, so long as they could do so without causing a mess.

She was surprised to such an extent that she couldn’t formulate a single sentence until she realised the reason why the inferior perceptive abilities of killing intent cultivators were able to understand something that spiritual perception could not – the House of Gold.

The first person to present one of the planar anchor shards was the same person that owned the spatial treasure that provided a brief description of its contents, so it was only natural that he had come to learn of the nature of the small stone and then decided to make a profit from it by selling it to a group of people who were keen to acquire some edge over one another. To her knowledge, it was the first ever item of its kind to appear in the Crimson Side of the prison realm, which would make far more sense if it was instead the only one to be discovered and accurately identified.

Thus, she was less confused when she observed that over a dozen of these planar anchor shards were stored on a random table on the fourth floor of the spire, with only one woman sitting in a corner of the room and looking closely at another collection of items with far, far less value than these anchor shards.

“Are these just free for the taking, or can they be purchased with… do you have currency of any kind here?” she asked, trying to make her interest in the shards a little less obvious than it already was.

“Some people attempted to trade with motes of spiritual will near the very beginning of Sanctuary’s construction, but we currently use a point system. Based on our contributions in the tasks given to us by the city, and in our own pursuits, we receive points that can be exchanged at fixed prices with others,” he said, grabbing one of the planar anchor shards casually, “We own these, however, so you don’t need to bother with this for now. If you do wish to contribute to Sanctuary, I can get you an identity token.”

“As I assume that this takes time, we can do so later. I’ll take these for now.”

“Here. If you find some use for this, you can submit it to the city and receive a number of contribution points based on the usefulness of your knowledge.”

“I… shall consider that,” Wei Yi said, “Now, on the topic of your two factions…”