Legend of the Heavenly Fruit
Eps. 298 — Victory and Loss
In war, often those who win will party to celebrate but in fact the sense of loss and the sound of crying is louder than the sound of joy.
Although Zhou Yuan interfered in the war and affected the situation, things would never change that there must be death between the two sides.
At least the number of casualties on the part of government forces is much less than the organizational forces that almost all killed.
The green meadow that was used as the location of the war has now changed color to red because there is a lot of blood everywhere.
After the war ended and the government forces won it, they began to clear the battle by burying the corpses.
Government troops will be separated and buried honorably compared to organizational forces. The goods owned by the criminals both in the form of heirlooms, resources, and money will be taken to serve as spoils of war.
It took at least two days for the bodies to be completely buried, and thus the great battle ended in the crushing defeat of the organization's forces.
After the affairs at the war site were over, the government troops returned to the Xiao clan, almost on the way no one spoke as they were still in a state of grief.
Zhou Yuan realized this, Xiao Fan and Jiang Long who wanted to talk to him became much silent when their brothers, friends, and relatives died in the battle.
"Since then until now, war has left only wounds and sorrow..."
Ingrid commented on the sad atmosphere while shaking his head slowly. The girl emerged from her sword that was now pinned on Zhou Yuan's waist.
"Sometimes we have to sacrifice peace to gain peace, sacrifice freedom to gain freedom. Although the world is quite funny but sometimes life can be understood in simple ways." Zhou Yuan commented on Ingrid's statement.
"That's what I don't understand from humans, their way of thinking is too complicated and sometimes... It's so silly." Ingrid shrugged his shoulders.
Zhou Yuan smiled faintly, not replying to the girl's statement further.
Soon the war entourage arrived at the Xiao clan, their arrival signifying the good outcome of the return of the many survivors.
The managers of the Xiao clan greeted the warriors who had fought the war in a friendly manner, giving them a place to rest and eat.
Although a sad atmosphere was still enveloping, Zhou Yuan was given a special room in the Xiao clan.
Although everyone did not know Zhou Yuan's identity, they had already seen the young man's abilities on the battlefield. All who saw Zhou Yuan's action agreed that the young man was much more terrifying than the criminals themselves.
Zhou Yuan did not leave his room for three days until the sad atmosphere in the Xiao Clan finally slightly disappeared, on the same side during the three days that Zhou Yuan was meditating.
"It's amazing, there's a chance I can open the ninth meridian soon..." Zhou Yuan opened his eyes after a long time and felt excited by the results of the meditation.
The battle of Zhou Yuan and Huang Zhan actually made the young man gain enlightenment in his martial arts.
"Wait what else, you have to practice now. If your strength increases then my strength will also grow stronger." Ingrid who heard the news was happy.
Zhou Yuan shook his head, it was actually easy for him to train now but there was something that made him unable to do so.
The reason Zhou Yuan went to the Xiao clan was because there were things he wanted to get.
"Senior Xiao's..." Zhou Yuan saluted him.
"Sorry Yuan'er, I just came to you today, there's a lot of work after the war is over."
Zhou Yuan smiled as he shook his head slowly, he was quite knowledgeable about the situation of the Xiao clan that was in mourning.
Moreover, Zhou Yuan heard from his room that the warriors who participated in the war had already returned to their place of origin.
Jiang Long compensated the warriors with money and resources as gifts because they had helped the government to eradicate the criminals.
Xiao Fan then expressed his intention of knocking on Zhou Yuan's room because he wanted the young man to attend the Xiao clan meeting held soon.
"The higher-ups of the Xiao clan have already seen your abilities so highly so they are thinking of involving you in the meeting, they seem to be worried that you would be offended if not invited to the meeting." Xiao Fan smiled faintly.
Zhou Yuan stroked his chin, he actually wanted to speak to Xiao Fan with four eyes but upon rethinking, he also seemed to have to follow the meeting to get the current martial world information.
Zhou Yuan finally nodded in agreement, Xiao Fan then took him to the main hall of the Xiao clan government because that was where the meeting would be held.
When the two of them arrived, all the higher-ups of the Xiao clan, the sect representatives, as well as Jiang Long were already there. There was a wide round table in the middle of the room with guests sitting on chairs lined around it.
Zhou Yuan pulled out one of the remaining seats while Xiao Fan sat beside him. As Zhou Yuan got all the attention fixed on the young man, some saw him frightened while others were disinclined and respectful.
"Because everything's been gathered, we're gonna start the meeting now..." Jiang Long who was leading the meeting, looked towards Zhou Yuan who was replied by a nod by the young man.
Throughout the meeting, Zhou Yuan remained silent and listened to the others while digesting the situation.
The meeting discussed the steps that the government would take after the war because they did not expect that in the great war, two pillars of the Sky Cloud Temple, Huang Zhang and Mou Yu, would be killed.
Unlike the high-level criminals of other empires such as the Demon Sword, Huang Zhang and Mou Yu had been extremely famous in the Moon Empire for a long time due to their crimes as well as terror.
Winning this war was another matter while killing both of them was a different story. Killing Huang Zhang and Mou Yu was much harder to do.
Countless lives had been taken by Huang Zhang as well as Mou Yu, the deaths of both of them were good news for the government because then the power of the Sky Cloud Temple would weaken.
"I don't think that's right..." In one of the discussions Xiao Fan suddenly interrupted the conversation. "The Sky Cloud Temple has indeed lost its two pillars but now they are also getting stronger."
"Chairman Fan, can you explain what you said?" An elder asked.
"You guys have seen for yourself not how the Sky Cloud Temple got the help of the high-level Light Realm criminals from other empires. There's a chance they'll still have criminals at that level or even stronger."
Light Realm Swordsman with 7 open meridians was extremely rare, in the Moon Empire alone it could only be counted on fingers.
Xiao Fan did not understand how the Sky Cloud Temple got the criminal at that level which was certain if there was no Zhou Yuan at that time then the war plot would be easy to guess with the defeated government troops.