Rush? Panic?0

Why should Luo Chen panic? It was obvious that the enemy had surrounded Crescent Moon Valley but hadn’t attacked, which meant they weren’t intent on slaughtering everyone inside.0

This was especially evident in how they treated the elderly, the women, and the weaker cultivators in the early and mid stages of Qi-Refining.0

In the cultivation world, there was no such thing as mercy for the weak. On the contrary, older cultivators and women were often viewed with heightened caution.0

The elderly had survived decades of bloodshed and competition, those who lived long enough to grow old in this world all had their own tricks, techniques, or backing. As for female cultivators, those who had climbed to higher realms of cultivation were often far more ruthless than their male counterparts. Without such traits, they wouldn’t have stood out from the countless others striving for survival.0

So why, then, were these hundred or so "weak" cultivators in Crescent Moon Valley being spared?0

The answer was simple—they were valuable.0

Most of them were production cultivators. Spirit botanists, alchemists, healers, as well as pill apprentices, fire handlers, and pill caretakers from the Alchemy Hall.0

Such individuals posed no threat and could generate significant value for any major faction. Not just other factions, even Luo Chen himself...0