<h4>Chapter 743 Voices of the past (4)</h4>


    "When I visited it, it was as prosperous and as famous as the Jade Leaf Empire. A home to countless talents and experts. The reason I chose it as one of the ces to visit was because I heard a bard once sing about it during my travels.


    The Bi Xie Empire, thend so blessed with luck that even a beggar had a chance of leaping to the heavens as long as they walked in there, having as much wealth and fortune as a dragon emperor.


    While I didn''t believe the bard, I was intrigued because of their name and a few stories I had heard during my travels. My interaction and loss to the ck tortoise left me intrigued about these mythical beings. Their natural aptitudes and affinity for the maniption and application of dao stirred something within me.


    At the Jade Leaf Empire, while there were some whose umtions in the dao rivaled mine, they were far and few in between, not numbering more than four, and even then I always felt that given enough time, I would exceed them. It was a future I grew to dread when I thought I wouldck equals to delve into the mysteries of the dao with.


    My hubris-filled fears were dispelled when I ventured out. I met cultivators whose understanding rivaled mine, with some even exceeding mine, with thetter group being small and primarilyprised of mythical creatures.


    Losing is such a novel thing. Losing to the ck tortoise, and almost dying at the hands of the three-legged golden toad, ignited something within me, that I came to know as excitement. While the better part of my travels for those sixteen years was just me pursuing rumors and sudden shes of interest, the other part I was actively seeking out these beings, and it wasn''t long before my sights were on the Bi Xie Empire.


    I wondered if they had some connection to the Bi Xie. Their rumored fortune and good luck seemed to suggest it.


    When I saw the Empire, the rumors of its absurd luck were proven to be true. Never have I seen in my life such a huge presence of the auspicious golden dragon of luck. Its ethereal presence was dense, filling the entire Empire. Seeing such a dense amount of luck, it became clear to me why so many cultivators at the cusp of a breakthrough all mored to have their breakthroughs within the territory of the Bi Xie Empire.


    It all made sense how the Bi Xie empire had managed to amass a fortune by providing a safe ground for breakthroughs. Such a huge amount of golden luck would definitely increase a cultivator''s chance of a sessful breakthrough, and even if they couldn''t break through sessfully, it could at least guarantee their life.


    While I myself have never experienced the terror of tribtions with all my breakthroughs being awfully smooth, well the domain one was slightly stifling, but I got through it easily. It wasn''t nearly as terrifying as my seniors made it to be but on my travels I got a clear picture on why it was so dreaded having seen some cultivators die to it, their bodies and souls lost to it.


    <nulli>A pitiful way to go, losing everything you sacrificed for


    when you''re just at the threshold. The Bi Xie empire made use


    of that fear and made a fortune and connections out of it. I was


    surprised when I saw the list of countless renowned figures


    who owed them a favor because the Empire provided a spot for


    one of their juniors.


    <nulli>From among the names, the sect master of the Sky


    rendering sword sect was one of them. He sought a spot for his


    youngest disciple who was about to break through to the


    domain realm. At thirty she was ready for that attempt, not as


    young as I was when I made that leap, but I could see why the


    sect master didn''t want to risk it and opted to increase her


    odds by borrowing the help of the Bi Xie Empire.."


    Yang Qing paused his reading as he furrowed his brows.


    "Sky rendering sword sect? Who were they?" he wondered


    before he dived back, hopefully the scroll held the answers.


    Based on the tone of the author, Long Wan, it seemed like he


    held the Sky rendering sword sect in high esteem, so either it


    held the same power as the Jade Leaf Empire, and the Bi Xie


    Empire, or it was stronger than them, and if it was that meant


    the Sky rendering sword sect was at the level of holynd. But


    try as he may, Yang Qing had never heard of them, not even in


    rumors.


    He had to admit, that the author, Long Wan had thoroughly


    drawn his curiosity. He couldn''t help but wonder about his


    identity too. For such an illustrious figure, surely there had to


    be some mention of him in the history of the Jade Leaf Empire.


    Hopefully, the scroll would shed a light on it somewhat.


    <nulli>"The sect master''s disciple passed her tribtion, with


    the empire gaining the friendship of the sect master of the Sky


    rendering sword sect, and his disciple too. It was pretty


    ingenious really, as certain favors no amount of wealth could


    buy.


    <nulli>Even without the legendary Bi Xie, with the


    resourcefulness shown, I could see why the empire prospered


    so.


    <nulli>I grew intrigued about the Empire the more I explored it.


    It had its sense of uniqueness, one of them being the absence


    of sects. While the Jade Leaf Empire limited the number of


    sects within its territories, there were at least a hundred or so,


    with some of them even having soul formation experts.


    However, they did have some ties with the royal family, but


    when it came to the Bi Xie empire, there was none at all.


    <nulli>At first, I had thought theck of sects was due to some


    suppression or banishment by the Empire itself, but as it turned


    out, it was the empire''s prosperity that denied their


    existence..."<nulli>