"Yes, it’s a brand-new mode of collaboration," Chu Liang said.0

"It’s certainly a novel idea, but I’ve never encountered anything like it before," Elder Yin replied with some difficulty. "If Young Hero Chu had asked us to merge into the Mount Shu Sect, that might’ve been acceptable. But this… this is an acquisition. We’re not a merchant guild—how does one even purchase a sect?"0

Chu Liang had expected this response. After all, it wasn’t the first time he had been asked this question. Back then, both Huan Leisheng and Hong Jufeng had expressed the same confusion.0

It was actually quite simple. From a profit-driven perspective, any sect—whether it was a small one like the former Talismanic Sect, a mid-sized one like the Sun and Moon Pavilion, or even a large one like Starhold Island—would gladly jump at the chance to join one of the Divine Nine.0

If they had been able to join one of the Divine Nine from the start, neither the sect leaders nor their disciples would have ended up in places like this. But from the Mount Shu Sect’s perspective, there was never any need to seek them out in the first place.0

As one of the Divine Nine, the resources the Mount...0