1453 Faction War

'Although I don't want to admit it, he's right. Because of my stubbornness, our faction has been declining for the past several months, and our overall morale has dipped. The others say that everything is fine, but they're probably doubting my ability to continue leading Eternal Lotuses effectively…' Bai Lianhua sighed inwardly as she pondered her own faults.

'I have already managed to bring my faction to the top 10 of the world through my own efforts. I wanted to reach first place, but there's only so much a single person to do, especially considering the current world's circumstances…'

She turned to look at Yu Rou, who sat there with a calm expression, and asked, "What do you think of your brother's proposal, Yu Rou?"

"I think this isn't a decision for me to make, even if it's my brother's offer," she quickly replied.

"I know; I am just asking for your input. What do you think about our faction's current standing?"

Yu Rou nodded, her face serious, and said, "Our faction is struggling, even though everything appears normal at a glance. My fellow sisters are feeling frustrated because we're being bullied without the ability to retaliate. The fact that nobody was able to bully us before makes that feeling much worse."

"I understand that Senior Sister has her own pride and ambitions, but please reconsider accepting my brother's help. I think we need it, and it'll recover our fellow sisters' morale."

Even though Bai Lianhua was already aware of everything Yu Rou had mentioned, it still felt bad to hear it coming from another person's mouth.

Bai Lianhua sighed, "You're right. I am often told that I have a stubborn personality. Sorry if I've been such a useless leader…"

"Please, Senior Sister, don't call yourself useless! You're anything but useless!"

She shook her head and said, "A leader that cannot protect their own faction is useless in my eyes."

Then, she turned to look at Yuan and said, "Okay, I will accept your generous donation, but I won't accept it for free. With that being said, I don't know how to repay you, so let's just put it on my tab for now, if you don't mind."

Yuan nodded while chuckling, "Sure, I don't mind. And since I don't know what techniques would benefit you the most, I'll bring you to the Myriad of Techniques so that you can pick them for yourself."

"Eh? But aren't you in the Fourth Heaven, brother?" Yu Rou asked.

"Yeah, so? If you think we can't meet because of that, I can simply just go back down to the Third Heaven."

"Wouldn't that cost you a tremendous amount of resources? Most people who have ascended aren't able to descend, mostly for that reason," Bai Lianhua said.

Yuan raised an eyebrow. Although he had never tried descending before, he always assumed it would be free for some reason.

'Now that I think about it, I probably thought it was free since I am the master of the Stairway to Heaven, but that might not be the case for others.'

"I have never tried descending before. How much does it typically cost to descend?" he asked a moment later.

"It all depends on how far you're traveling and your cultivation base, but it typically costs millions of spirit stones per realm." Bai Lianhua said.

"That is pretty expensive…" Yuan mumbled after learning this number.

Bai Lianhua sighed, "It's fine, Yuan. I appreciate you trying to help, but it's not worth it if you have to spend so much money."

Yuan smiled and said, "Who said I need to pay to descend? However, even if I have to spend some resources, a few million spirit stones aren't an issue for me now. I still have a lot of trash to sell, after all."

"Trash…?" Bai Lianhua and Yu Rou raised their eyebrows.

'Knowing him, even Divine-grade treasures might be considered trash in his eyes.'

"Then when do you want to do this?" Bai Lianhua said a moment later.

"We can do it right now—actually, I am currently in a weird location, and it might take me a while to return. I will contact you when I am prepared to descend." Yuan sighed.

He forgot that he was currently in the Shadow Realm, and even if he immediately left, he still needed to travel to the Stairway to Heaven, which would take a few days.

"It's okay, you can take your time. Even if the Fiery Locust Swarm challenges us to a fight tomorrow, it'll take some time to schedule it, usually one to two weeks."

"How are you going to deal with them?" Yuan then asked.

"We'll deal with them how we dealt with the others—by facing them. We won't run away even if we are destined to lose."

Yuan nodded, and he continued to ask, "I'm curious how these matches work since—you know—I have never participated in one myself. Why do you sound so certain that you'll lose to them? Do they also have Spirit Lords?"

"Official ranking matches are officially called Faction War. Because these matches require a team effort, they are not something a single individual can dominate. The content of the matches varies, as well. Some may be tournament-style, while others may be siege-style, where you defend or attack a point. They're basically settings that typically exist in video games."

"Where do these matches happen?"

"They used to be quite simple, where we pick our strongest members to fight against each other. Unfortunately, that got boring to watch really fast, so they started making it more elaborate and grander. All matches now take place on a large island called the Great Battlefield. This island has several sites built specifically for matches, and you can travel there by sea or flight. This is also why it takes so long for a match to be scheduled. Though, I must admit it's very entertaining to watch and gets a lot of viewership." Bai Lianhua explained.

"That does sound fun. Maybe we should participate every now and then to change things up so we're not always cultivating." Yuan smiled.

"T-the Demon Sealing Faction…?" Bai Lianhua swallowed nervously after hearing that they might start participating in ranking matches.