12dz Chapter 49: People are saved, land is lost; people and land are both preserved.
Chapter 49: People are saved, land is lost; people and land are both preserved.
No one noticed the conversation that had just taken place in the corner, and even if they had, they would have been wise enough not to cause any trouble.
In addition, the three of them spoke in very low voices, which from a distance made it look like an elder inquiring about the well-being of a younger person.
But Shen Qing's knuckles, which were gripping the chopsticks, had turned white. He knew perfectly well why Huang Yuanji had told him all this on this particular occasion.
It's not a gesture of goodwill, it's a show of force.
Huang Yuanji was blatantly telling himself, "Your master is dead, but I have returned alive."
My luck is better than your master's, and he also indirectly told himself through the phrase "The Heavenly God Sect does not have the habit of collecting corpses" that the Heavenly God Sect is not as reliable as he imagined.
This conveys a message to him: don't take the Heavenly God Sect's rule of protecting heroic sects too seriously.
Shen Qing understood why Huang Yuanji dared to bring this matter up in public.
The dead are worthless. Huang Yuanji came back to life. Whether it was luck or strength, his value to the Heavenly God Sect was incomparable to that of the Qingyun Sect.
Moreover, he also brought back Foundation Establishment Pills, which means that if the Huang family is lucky, they can continue to provide cannon fodder for the Heavenly God Sect. As for the Azure Cloud Sect, it doesn't even have a Foundation Establishment cultivator, so what is the point of its existence?
Shen Qing put down his chopsticks. The banquet was still going on. He got up and said goodbye to Huang Dehou.
As I stepped out of the Huang residence, it was already dark. A gentle evening breeze blew by, and the distant sound of the Qingshui River could be faintly heard.
Uncle Zhou followed behind him, and the two walked in the quiet alley without saying a word.
It was late at night when they returned to Qingyun Mountain. The children in the academy's dormitories had already gone to sleep, but there was still a lamp lit in the lecture hall, where Zhong Xiu was on night duty.
The girl was sitting under the lamp flipping through a book when she heard footsteps. She looked up and saw Shen Qing walking past the window.
She had just stood up to bow when Shen Qing had already walked away.
In the Qingyun Ancestral Hall, after offering incense to the Qingyun seniors, Shen Qing sat cross-legged on the futon under the shrine, his mind in turmoil.
After what he saw today, he felt that it was probably hopeless to expect Zhao Yuanlang to protect the Qingyun Sect according to the rules of the Heavenly God Sect.
As wisps of smoke rose, Shen Qing repeatedly recalled the scenes from the Huang family banquet that day.
Shen Qing felt that an opponent like Huang Yuanji, who had survived a place like the Chuzhou battlefield, could not be dealt with by a few nice words or clever tricks.
What bothered Shen Qing even more were the words Huang Yuanji said to his face: "The Heavenly God Sect has no habit of collecting corpses" and "People like us are just cannon fodder for the Heavenly God Sect." Upon careful consideration, Shen Qing found each of these words to be profound.
Master Fushan Daoren's heroic name, earned with his life, and nominally entitled him to three years of protection from the Heavenly God Sect, were all cards he intended to use against the Huang family, but Huang Yuanji dismantled them with just a few words.
The dead have no value; only living Foundation Establishment cultivators have value.
Shen Qing took a deep breath, the incense smoke filling his lungs, which was somewhat pungent.
A sudden thought flashed through Shen Qing's mind, and he suddenly remembered what a great man from his previous life had said: "If you save people but lose land, you can save both people and land; if you save land but lose people, you can lose both people and land."
These sixteen characters encapsulate the essence of strategic advance and retreat in competition with others.
The Huang family wants Qingyun Mountain, not Shen Qing's life.
If we temporarily abandon Qingyun Mountain now and take a few core disciples to go into hiding, we can use space to buy time.
This is not an unacceptable choice for him. Right now, what Shen Qing lacks most is time. If he can use this to gain enough development period, with the power of the system, it is not impossible for him to turn the tables in the future.
But this thought only lingered in Shen Qing's mind for a moment before he dismissed it.
If Shen Qing had faced this situation nine months ago, when he first acquired the system, he would have made this choice without hesitation.
At that time, Qingyun Sect only had him and three disciples, Zhou Bohe.
It was just a dilapidated mountain; once it's gone, it's gone. There's nothing to regret.
But things are different now.
Over the past year, Shen Qing has devoted countless efforts to making the name "Qingyun" known throughout Qinghe County.
This made all the common people, from peddlers to peasants, aware that there was a Qingyun Academy on Qingyun Mountain that didn't charge money, and a Qingyun Sect that was willing to teach peasants to read, thus initially establishing the "Qingyun" brand.
He has just sown the seeds of Qingyun in the hearts of dozens of disciples, and these seeds have just begun to sprout.
Although they left Qingyun Mountain, each of them still considered themselves members of the Qingyun Sect.
If he were to hand over Qingyun Mountain to the Huang family at this moment, he would instantly lose his appeal to these people.
Why should a sect leader who can't even protect his ancestral property expect others to follow him?
The more realistic problem is that even if he wanted to compromise, the Huang family might not accept it.
Shen Qing didn't think the Huang family was an empty Qingyun Mountain, as for the secrets of Qingyun Mountain.
Shen Qing searched every inch of Qingyun Mountain but found nothing. Even if he gave up Qingyun Mountain, what would the Huang family do if they didn't find this so-called "secret"?
When that time comes, will Zizai tell the Huang family that "there are no secrets in Qingyun Mountain"? Will the Huang family believe him?
of course not.
The Huang family has waited for 130 years. Since their great-grandfather's generation, they have firmly believed that there is a great treasure in the mountains. How could they give up just because of one sentence from him?
Compromise won't give you a chance to breathe; it will only lead to more brutal coercion.
Shen Qing stood up and walked to the shrine, his gaze falling on the memorial tablet at the top.
That was the memorial tablet of Qingyun Daoren, the founder of the Qingyun Sect. Shen Qing reached out and felt around under the tablet for a moment, his fingertips touching a depression.
With the power of his fingertips, a hidden compartment popped open on the base of the shrine.
There was only one piece of paper in the hidden compartment, which Shen Qing took out.
Because the paper is specially made, it shows no signs of decay even after two hundred years, only a slight yellowing.
Shen Qing carefully unfolded it, and the ink marks on it were still clearly visible.
This is the land deed that Qingyun Daoist signed with the Qinghe County government back then. It is written in black and white on white paper, and stamped with the vermilion seal of Qinghe County. It clearly states: The area of Qingyun Mountain within a radius of thirty li belongs to the Qingyun Sect and shall be passed down through generations.
This land deed had been shown to him by the Taoist priest Fushan many years ago, but he hadn't thought much of it at the time.
Shen Qing knew the rules of the Heavenly God Sect. As long as a Foundation Establishment cultivator under the Heavenly God Sect had the qualifications to establish a sect, he could apply to the Heavenly God Sect for an unclaimed mountain as a place for inheritance.
Qingyun Mountain is not an unclaimed mountain, because it has an owner.
But what if Qingyun Sect no longer exists? If the last person who could represent Qingyun Sect dies or gives up voluntarily, then Qingyun Mountain will become an unclaimed mountain.
As long as the Huang family can prove that they have a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they are eligible to apply to the county government for allocation.
The red contract was kept in the Qinghe County government office, so Zhao Yuanlang had this red contract in his possession.
Shen Qing knelt before the shrine for a long time, then suddenly spoke, his voice very soft:
"This disciple wishes to ask the venerable masters a question. Does Qingyun Mountain truly hold any secret?"