Outside the mountain gate of the Azure Cloud Sect, a tense standoff was brewing. Seven hundred individuals like a menacing tide, had gathered before the gates. Facing them stood the entire Azure Cloud Sect, six hundred strong, led by their sect leader, Yu Shenzi.
The atmosphere crackled with hostility; swords were drawn and tempers flared. Yet, despite the palpable tension, neither side made the first move.
"What's going on?" Fan Li wondered as he arrived. He had expected a scene of carnage, but to his relief, no blood had been spilled.
"Hey, what's the grudge between the Azure Cloud Sect and the Dark Heaven Sect?" He pulled aside a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, slipping a few high-grade spirit stones into his hand as he inquired.
Spirit stones were the common currency among cultivators, essential for crafting artifacts and refining pills, and could even be directly absorbed to replenish one's spiritual energy.
The disciple was initially startled, but his eyes widened upon seeing the quality of the spirit stones. With lightning-fast reflexes he tucked them safely into his sleeve.
"Ahem! The Dark Heaven Sect and our sect have a blood feud. They come to stir up trouble every few days. This is already the seventh time this year."
Fan Li nodded. "Good, tell me more about this feud."
To recruit these two secluded sects, he needed to understand their history. Thankfully, he had noticed the Azure Cloud Sect's financial struggles. Their disciples were clearly impoverished, so gathering information from them shouldn't be too difficult.
"The story begins with the founder of the Dark Heaven Sect," the disciple explained. "He was surnamed Jing and was the son of Jing Ke, the most renowned swordsman in the land, who attempted to assassinate Emperor Qin Shi Huang."
"Before embarking on his mission, Jing Ke had his son lead their clan into hiding to avoid retaliation from the Qin Dynasty. After Jing Ke's death, Emperor Qin Shi Huang launched a massive manhunt for the Jing clan. They suffered heavy losses, but finally escaped the Qin's pursuit after fleeing into the vast mountain ranges of the Southern Ridge."
"Many years later, Jing Ke's son achieved great success in his cultivation and established the Dark Heaven Sect, becoming its founding patriarch."
At this point, the disciple's expression grew awkward.
"The Dark Heaven Sect and the Azure Cloud Sect were separated by only a few mountain peaks, essentially neighbors. Initially, neither sect was aware of the other's origins, and they lived in harmony for over a century.
Then, the son of the Dark Heaven Sect's founding patriarch fell in love with the daughter of the Azure Cloud Sect's founding patriarch. It was a joyous occasion, and both families were delighted. However, when they sat down to discuss the marriage and inquired about each other's family histories, they discovered their blood feud."
Fan Li understood immediately.
Wow, that was a serious grudge.
The Azure Cloud Sect's founder's grandfather, the royal physician Xia Wuqie, was the one who had disrupted Jing Ke's assassination attempt by throwing his medicine pouch at him. If not for his intervention, Jing Ke might have succeeded.
"Such a deep hatred, no wonder it couldn't be resolved after a thousand years," Fan Li remarked, feeling he had fully grasped the situation.
"Actually… it's not that simple."
"Huh?"
Fan Li was taken aback. Had he guessed wrong?
Was there an even greater hatred between the Azure Cloud Sect and the Dark Heaven Sect?
"Tell me more. What other grudges do they have?"
The disciple, however, hesitated, looking embarrassed.
Fan Li sighed, growing impatient. He simply slipped two more high-grade spirit stones into the disciple's hand.
"As you know, our sect practices medical arts. To improve in the medical arts, besides diligent cultivation, we also require a significant amount of… experience."
Fan Li, initially confused, suddenly realized what the disciple was implying. He asked tentatively, "You mean… clinical experience?"
The disciple, unfamiliar with the term 'clinical,' nodded vigorously after Fan Li explained.
"Yes, yes, yes! Clinical trials!"
"To fully explore the potential of the Azure Cloud Scripture, our predecessors conducted numerous clinical trials, especially…"
He struggled to find the right words, then mimed a cutting motion across his own body with his hand.
Fan Li's jaw dropped.
"Human dissection?!"
The disciple looked at Fan Li with admiration.
"Though you are not a cultivator of the medical arts, you seem to have a natural talent! Human dissection, what an apt term!"
Uninterested in flattery, Fan Li waved his hand dismissively and asked, "For your human dissection… where did you obtain the bodies?"
This question caused the disciple to blush.
"Actually, we didn't know at first. There were a few desolate mountains between our two sects. On one of those mountains, we discovered hundreds of graves. Our founding patriarch, assuming they were abandoned, decided to… excavate them. We used the remains for our anatomical studies to improve the Azure Cloud Scripture."
Fan Li was speechless.
How should he judge this?
The Azure Cloud Sect's founder was certainly dedicated to scientific research. If he lived in Fan Li's previous world, he would have won a Nobel Prize in Medicine.
But grave robbing…
"Those graves you dug up… they belonged to the Dark Heaven Sect, didn't they?"
The disciple shrugged helplessly.
"When our families sat down to discuss the marriage, the Dark Heaven Sect's patriarch, upon discovering that our patriarch was descended from Xia Wuqie, was furious.
At that time, some of our overly enthusiastic elders were giving the Dark Heaven Sect's elders and disciples a tour of our sect. During a demonstration of our anatomical materials, a Jing clan elder recognized his own father…"
Fan Li covered his face with his hands.
This was truly a hatred that spanned heaven and earth! The Azure Cloud Sect had survived for so long only because the Dark Heaven Sect wasn't strong enough to wipe them out.
As for the system mission, recruiting both sects under his command…
'Forget it, maybe I should abandon this mission.'
He asked with a grimace, "The two sects have been at odds for a thousand years, haven't you returned the remains to them?"
"We returned them, of course we did," the disciple replied, looking wronged.
"Our ancestors felt guilty and immediately returned all the remains we could. However… some of the materials had already been… consumed. We couldn't return everything."
Fan Li's face twitched.
Consumed?
He imagined the remains being sliced, diced, and dissected.
He suddenly remembered a doctor friend from his previous life. The friend's favorite line was: "Dude, your body is so well-proportioned. Have you considered donating your body to science after you die?"
"Ugh~~~~~~~~~~~!"
Lu Fubao, who had been listening to their conversation with a growing sense of horror, could finally take it no more. She stumbled towards a nearby tree and began to vomit violently.
"Yu Shenzi!" a voice roared from across the field. "Hand over the remains of my ancestors! If you refuse, I, Jing Wudi, will strike you down with my sword!"
Fan Li glared at the Azure Cloud Sect disciple.
"Why didn't you tell me the truth? You said you had returned all the remains, but you clearly kept some!"
The disciple, however, was truly aggrieved.
"We returned all the remains we could. But the body of Jing Ke was given to our ancestor Xia Wuqie by Emperor Qin Shi Huang himself. We didn't steal it. Why should we return it?!"
Fan Li's mind reeled.
What?!
The body of Jing Ke was still in the Azure Cloud Sect?!