Upon witnessing this terrifying scene, the fleeing pirates immediately halted their steps, then turned to look towards Fang Yun with horror.
"Immortal Master, have mercy! We are willing to surrender!"
From within the crowd, one of the Innate Martial Artists, a woman dressed in brightly colored clothes, promptly laid down her weapons and kneeled in the seawater.
Following her lead, several Innate Martial Artists behind her did not hesitate and also knelt in the seawater.
The rest, exchanging glances, hesitated briefly before ultimately joining in the act of kneeling.
Under the current circumstances, they had no chance to escape.
Even if they could reach their ships, they wouldn't be able to escape the pursuit of Cultivators.
It might be better to simply surrender; perhaps their lives could be spared.
With all the Innate Martial Artists kneeling and surrendering, the remaining ordinary pirates had no choice but to lay down their arms and surrender as well.
Thus, the battle between the Fang Family and the pirates came to an end.
Other than a few casualties among the guards, none of the clan elders had been harmed.
For the Fang Family, this was a rather perfect outcome.
Now that the pirates had surrendered, there was no need for the Fang Family to continue the pursuit, so the clan elders turned their gaze to Fang Yun.
They waited to see what he would do with the pirates.
Fang Yun walked slowly onto the beach, looking at the dense group of pirates kneeling in the seawater.
He first went over to Daoist Qingmu's body and took out the items from his embrace.
He ended up with a small booklet, several Spirit Stones, a few Spirit Talismans, and some seeds that were unidentifiable.
After examining his spoils of war, Fang Yun put them away. With matters still unresolved, it was not the time to study these things.
He then looked at the clan elder beside him: "Clan Leader, what do you think should be done with these pirates?"
After pondering for a moment, Fang Lin said, "It all depends on what you think, Clan Leader.
These pirates are vicious and ruthless; even if we were to kill them all, it would not be considered evil!
If you prefer not to kill them, then keep them. Outside the islands, there are places specifically for the slave trade. Selling them all would compensate for our losses.
This is how we've always dealt with the losers of wars in the past."
Fang Yun glanced at the others and saw that they had no other opinions.
So after thinking it over, killing was out of the question. If they had died in battle, it would have been another matter.
Now that they had surrendered, it would be a violation of his conscience to execute them all.
Even in ancient times, it was considered inauspicious to kill prisoners, let alone for someone like himself who had traversed from the modern era.
Fang Yun didn't have the heart to do something so ruthless.
However, selling them all, To be honest, while that would be slightly better than just killing them, it would also be too wasteful.
These were all mortals in the end; selling them would only yield some gold and silver. Could it possibly bring Spirit Stones?
If Spirit Stones could be obtained, the slave traders probably would have already caught all the pirates around here, even the mortals from islands like Spirit Water Island.
And as for gold and silver, it was likely that the Fang Family was not in short supply.
Hence, Fang Yun looked to Fang Xue, who was responsible for the cultivation of the family's farmland, and said, "Elder Fang Xue, does our family have enough labor force for the cultivation of our fields?"
Upon hearing Fang Yun's words, the clan elders present understood his intention.
Although they couldn't help feeling that their Clan Leader was a bit too kindhearted,
considering the strength Fang Yun had just shown, they weren't in a position to object.
Fang Xue hesitated for a moment before saying, "Clan Leader, we already have enough people for planting rice in the family.
After all, the rice fields are located on both sides of the Big River, where the water supply is convenient."
"We don't usually need too many laborers!"
Fang Yun nodded after hearing this; indeed, for the Fang Family with its tens of thousands of mu of paddy fields and a population of nearly 100,000, there really was no need for additional labor.
However, Fang Yun was thinking about his own farming plans.
With the limited spirit fields, if he wanted more Life Essence Qi, the planting area for ordinary crops definitely needed to keep expanding.
Although he was unsure whether crops grown under his command by others would be recognized by his Golden Finger.
But that was a direction for the future, and it was ultimately a direction towards which he needed to develop.
And in order to expand the planting area for ordinary crops, the whole Spirit Water Island was within his scope of expansion.
The Fang Family, now with a population near 100,000, if we subtract the old and the young,
That would leave about 100,000, and then if you remove those occupied with other tasks,
The labor force that could eventually be spared might only be a few tens of thousands of people.
And these few tens of thousands of people still had to take care of the tens of thousands of mu of paddy fields.
Therefore, when expanding the farmlands in the future, Fang Yun might not be able to spare many people from within the Fang Family.
Even if he could spare some, Fang Yun was not willing to overwork the people of the Fang Family.
After all, he wasn't truly Fang Yun, where would he get the nerve to have the clansmen do so much for himself?
And these pirates at present were a good source of labor.
Each one was skilled in martial arts, with physical quality far stronger than ordinary people.
Killing them or selling them off would ultimately be too wasteful.
It would be better to let them contribute to his farming business.
Adding bricks to his path of cultivation.
Fang Yun said to Fang Ming, the Clan Elder skilled in medicine among the Fang Family elders: "Elder Fang Ming, these Heavenly Martial Artists we have now, do you have a way to come up with some poison to control them?"
Upon hearing Fang Yun's words, before Fang Ming could even speak, Fang Lin couldn't help but blurt out: "Clan Leader, you're not seriously thinking of keeping these pirates on the island, right?
These pirates have their hands stained with other people's blood, every one of them vicious to the extreme, each with their own deadly methods.
And with their numbers so great, if we keep them all on Spirit Water Island, should an accident occur, it would be a heavy blow to our Fang Family.
It might even lead to the extinction of our clan.
Clan Leader, please think it over!"
Fang Yun looked at the agitated Fang Lin and then at the other Clan Elders, who all shared the same sentiment.
Fang Yun was aware that his actions were indeed somewhat benevolent, keeping these pirates did pose a certain danger.
However, according to his plan, he really needed this batch of labor.
Thus, Fang Yun explained: "Clan Elders, I understand your concerns, but after a while, I will need a large number of laborers to help me reclaim wilderness land.
The people of our Fang Family are ultimately our own, and I too refuse to let them overwork.
These pirates at hand would be a suitable group to use for labor.
But if you feel uneasy about this, then leave these Innate Martial Artists to be dealt with by you.
If you can control them, then they can stay.
If you feel there's no assurance, then whether to kill or sell them, that's up to you.
The rest of these pirates are all Postnatal Martial Artists.
Even if they attempted to create turmoil in the future, our Fang Family should be able to handle it right?"
Hearing Fang Yun only needed those regular pirates, the Clan Elders suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
There might be thousands of these pirates, but indeed, they were not too great a threat to them.