"He continued cleansing the entire kingdom, while the rest continued warring. His actions seemed to have tipped the balance all so ever slightly toward the White Mulberry Kingdom. The Wang patriarch's actions had inadvertently provided a breathing room for the White Mulberry tree. No longer being bogged down by the corruption that had engulfed the majority of the kingdom, it had breathing space to restrain the cult leader of the Purgatory Black Tiger, making the stalemate even firmer with both sides equally locked.

The cult grew desperate when they realized the changes that had happened to the kingdom which increased the desperation in their attacks, and the kingdom responded in kind. Despite a balance being there, it rapidly devolved into a pyrrhic war with both sides no longer holding anything in reserve. At that time, the Wang Patriarch had already cleansed and purified the entire kingdom, bar the capital, which he saved for last. He bided his time and spent it in seclusion at the two statues, and he only left when he reached the middle stages of the palace realm. The war had already reached its zenith and was almost drawing its conclusion with its last participants being the cult leader, the white mulberry tree, and some old fossil of the White Mulberry Kingdom whom the Wang Patriarch didn't even recognize.

The emperor, the other nobles, and the higher-ups of the Purgatory black tiger cult had already died at that point. The Wang patriarch secretly intervened in the battle by feeding his spiritual qi into the areas the White Mulberry Tree had spread its roots. His qi seemed to boost its abilities so that it was able to contain the cult leader despite him being marginally stronger than both it and the old fossil.Eventually, the old fossil was killed but not before he triggered a sacrificial seal that amplified the abilities of the White Mulberry Tree long enough for it to fatally injure the cult leader whilst sealing him in place, which had been the cue the Wang Patriarch had been waiting for as he jumped in to deliver the finishing blow.

He would have died in the attack had the tree not sacrificed itself in the end to shield him from the dying attack of the cult leader. Even though he survived he ended up unconscious for almost three months with grievous injuries which would have ended up permanently disabling him had the tree not poured its essence into him for those months, but with the tree already injured from the war, and using its essence, it ended up dying a few days later after the Wang Patriarch had regained consciousness.

He spent the next few months treating his injuries while purging the capital of any remaining corpse energy and malevolence before he returned to the statues inscribing the twilight sanctuary array throughout the kingdom to protect it against the vultures who might try to fish in troubled waters. In his words, he didn't cleanse the kingdom just for someone else to benefit from it.

After he arrived at the statues, he ended up secluding himself for 30 years, with countless rumors spreading about the White Mulberry Kingdom on how its destruction was brought by an emissary of heaven sent to punish them. The entire land was rumored to be under the curse of the heavens.

The rumor was no doubt a ploy meant to deter others thus reducing competition for dividing it. Several parties that neighbored the kingdom tried to get in, however, the Twilight sanctuary arrays built at strategic points kept them out of the kingdom long enough till the Wang Patriarch came out of his seclusion as a fully-fledged domain expert, claiming the entirety of the White Mulberry Kingdom as his territory.He welcomed vagrants, the unwanted, and the displaced into his territory, giving them a chance for a fresh start, and slowly by slowly the Bi Xie Empire came to be, with its capital moved to where the two statues lay. He enforced a tradition on his family that is retained to date which is his descendants more so those at the top were required to clean the statues as he did.

The emperor does so now, and his brother does too as per his admission and the various princes and princesses also.

Sadly, though the real Bi Xie was not part of the empire, I did get to see the two statues briefly, and though I may never have seen one for reference, everything within me felt the two statues carried the true aura of the Pi Xiu race. If I were to guess, the materials comprising it had something that belonged to Tian Lu and Bi Xie, or the two statues had been baptized with their essence at some point, one thing was true, the statues were unique, as unique as the ten thousand dao jade leaf.

It may have not been the real thing, but the story behind it was well worth the time I spent in the Bi Xie empire. The empire seemed different in my eyes because of it, which made me wonder if our founding Emperor had such an illustrious story or if I could have such a story in my own life. I never held much ambitions other than delving into the mysteries of Dao, and while I still hold no ambitions of being someone like an emperor, heading up an academy like the one here may not be bad, the Limitless Dao Pursuit Academy. Who knows just like the Wang Patriarch, I may end up creating something special.."

Yang Qing put down the leaf scroll as he sighed to himself. It didn't matter whether it was the past or now, founders of anything were truly a special breed.

"The president must be like them.." muttered Yang Qing as he thought about the illustrious and elusive president of the Order.

"Long Wan...I don't think there is an Academy in Jade Leaf Empire going by Limitless Dao Pursuit Academy. Did he change his mind about starting one or did it end up going by another name...something like the Jade Leaf Academy.." Yang Qing mulled with his gaze shining like he discovered some huge secret.

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