"A good future has to be earned and not given. If they can't even do something as simple as this to prove their own value, do they expect others to just blindly believe in their worth?" Ren Xiexing continued.
"You!" Fei Qing could feel rage rising up from within, but his words stopped short before leaving his lips.
Theoretically, Ren Xiexing's words made sense.
Presented as an entirely voluntary matter, they could not truly be blamed if people wished to take their chances on a rare opportunity to escape their current life of slavery. After all, they would merely be providing an opportunity for these people and not forcing them into it.
At least, that would be the case on the most surface level.
However, who was to say that these slaves, who were not cultivators, would be fully aware of the dangers involved?
And even if they did, this would still be equivalent to gambling their lives on a mere chance at freedom, and an abysmal chance at that. Despite the ridiculous odds, many slaves could still end up taking the opportunity because of their situation. But even if they did, it would likely be a purely emotional decision.
Considering that, enabling such a gamble could also be considered unethical in and of itself.
In Fei Qing's eyes, this so-called golden opportunity for slaves to change their fates was nothing more than Ren Xiexing's disguised intent to abuse the vulnerability of slaves. To think that the bastard still dared to turn around and accuse him of thinking lowly of slaves – how shameless!
"Brother Fei!" Cong Liexian hurriedly held him back by the arm, afraid that he would do anything crazy.
Unlike Fei Qing, Cong Liexian had been paying attention to the reaction of the crowd and had thus realised that the majority of those present seemed to agree with Ren Xiexing's suggestion. If they were to cause a scene here, this matter could easily escalate to a point beyond their control.
Standing among the crowds, Zhao Yunxiao took a deep breath to calm the surprise in his heart.
Just like Cong Liexian, he had sensed the change in atmosphere among the crowd after Ren Xiexing gave his suggestion.
And just like Fei Qing, he understood that such a suggestion could only be made by someone who had little to no regard for the lives of ordinary mortals. Or at the very least, treated them as lesser beings as compared to cultivators.
But unlike them, while Zhao Yunxiao might be disgusted by Ren Xiexing's suggestion, he was not too shocked by it. After all, this had always been how the world worked.
Not to mention cultivators, even ordinary mortals themselves often believed that their lives were insignificant as compared to cultivators, worshipping the latter as overlords. That was why many cultivators who had only shown just a minimal level of compassion and kindness towards ordinary mortals would already be exalted as saints.
What Zhao Yunxiao was surprised by, however, was the fact that Ren Xiexing dared to openly suggest such a thing. Making such an open suggestion would certainly end up as a black mark on his record – one that other orthodox cultivators could easily make use of if they wished to deal with him in the future.
Because it was purely voluntary, this suggestion lay within the grey areas between orthodoxy or not. But with just a slight twist to the story, he could easily be painted as someone who had sent numerous ordinary mortals to their deaths.
And if Zhao Yunxiao could think of this, there was no reason why the far more experienced Ren Xiexing would not have thought of it.
So, why did Ren Xiexing do so?
Was he still very concerned about the possibility of the existence of a Midrib-ranked member of the Scarlet Leaf Sect, which was why he wanted a throwaway scouting team?
Even then, why would he not suggest this in private instead?
Did he want to use the public to pressure the city hall into agreeing? Or did he expect that the city hall would not go ahead with this plan unless Ren Xiexing was willing to publicly take the rap for them?
Regardless of the reason, it would appear that things worked out as he had wished.
"Hahaha! Fellow Cultivator Ren's suggestion is quite interesting!" General Tie Huaheng laughed. "What do the other fellow cultivators and factions think of this?"
"I agree with this suggestion."
"Sounds good."
"Perfect."
"The Mo Clan is willing to support Sir Ren's suggestion, and shall take the lead in promising to free all slaves under our employment if they volunteer to be part of the vanguard group!" Mo Lianjie said.
"We promise to free all slaves under our employment if they volunteer to be part of the vanguard group as well."
"We will as well!"
With all of them vying to leave a good impression on Ren Xiexing, the cultivators and representatives of the various factions quickly agreed. Not a single objection could be heard apart from Fei Qing's earlier complaint.
"It seems like everyone is in agreement," General Tie Huaheng nodded in satisfaction. "In that case, the city hall is willing to support this matter as well. If there are any slaves who wish to join the vanguard party for the second coalition, we would like to call upon the various factions to permanently release them from their slavery contracts!"
"On behalf of everyone here, I would like to thank General Tie for your support," Ren Xiexing clasped his fists towards General Tie Huaheng. "This would greatly increase our chances of success."
"It's nothing. We have to thank Fellow Cultivator Ren instead for being willing to take on this responsibility," General Tie Huaheng said. "Is there anything else? Otherwise, when do you think would be a good time to depart?"
"We can depart tomorrow morning," Ren Xiexing answered. "Dragging things out any longer would only allow the Scarlet Leaf Sect to make further preparations."
"Then tomorrow morning, it is," General Tie Huaheng agreed. "Send out the message – all slaves who wish to volunteer as part of the vanguard party can report to the city hall anytime between now and dawn tomorrow. Anyone who arrives before the departure of the second coalition will be accepted into the vanguard party. But on the same note, anyone who arrives after dawn will no longer be considered!"
"Yes, General Tie!" the soldiers responded immediately.
"If there's nothing else, let's adjourn for now," General Tie Huaheng said. "Fellow Cultivator Ren and other fellow cultivators, would you like to join City Lord Qiu and myself for a cup of tea in the city hall?"
"Sure," Ren Xiexing agreed, and so did most of the other cultivators on the platform.
Fei Qing could only gnash his teeth in frustration as he watched the main characters of the public discussion casually depart from the scene, essentially marking the end of the event. At this point, he could not help but feel that his decision to crash this discussion might have ended up doing more bad than good for the slaves in the city.
Yet despite his reluctance, he knew that there was no longer much that he could do to stop this from happening, especially now that almost the entire city had bought into the idea. If he wanted to salvage the situation, he would have to go about it in another manner!
With that thought in mind, he quickly left with Cong Liexian and their female companions, not even bothering to dismantle the makeshift wooden platform before doing so.
Zhao Yunxiao left silently as well.
On one hand, he was surprised that the seemingly emotional Fei Qing actually managed to hold back after his call to free the slaves had been taken advantage of in such a manner.
On the other hand, he was also relieved to know that a second coalition had not only been confirmed, but would also depart as early as the following morning. Hopefully, this second coalition would not be as disappointing as the first, and would be able to effectively take care of this matter with the Scarlet Leaf Sect once and for all!
Thanks to the diligent soldiers of Thousand Autumn City, news from the public discussion spread like wildfire, and the numerous slaves in the city were astounded by the crossroads that had suddenly fallen before them.
They could either live out their lives as slaves, or give it their all this one time to grasp at freedom.
Just listening to this was enough to reignite a fiery passion in them – something that had long since disappeared from the majority of their hearts. That was especially the case for the younger ones.
If there was a chance to live a life of freedom, who would choose to be enslaved?
Wasn't it just a scouting mission?
If they die while at it, so be it. In any case, the alternative would just be a life of slavery.
But if they managed to survive somehow, then this would truly be a life-changing moment of their life!
Almost immediately, gates of the various major factions opened wide, with slaves pouring out onto the streets as they headed towards the city hall. There were even many who rushed to be ahead of the others, afraid that they would lose the opportunity once enough people had joined.
Of course, that was an unnecessary worry on their part.
The city hall could not be happier to gather as many volunteers as possible. Soldiers were even dispatched to set up huge tents in front of the city hall to let these slaves stay the night in a comfortable manner, though it was mostly to prevent them from being too exhausted to travel tomorrow.
The faction leaders were not too concerned by this matter either. In fact, it was the complete opposite. They were happily counting the number of slaves who had left their employment to join this voluntary vanguard party. If the number was high enough, it might be worth mentioning in front of Ren Xiexing as a show of their support!
As for the job vacuum created from the slaves' departure, that was inconsequential as well. Thousand Autumn City's slave market operated all year round, so all they had to do was retrain new slaves as replacements.
Zhao Yunxiao let out a helpless sigh as he watched all of this unfold from his room window.
In the end, this was still a world where the one with the biggest fist had the loudest words. If not because Ren Xiexing was exceedingly strong, surely there would have been some cultivators to speak up against this.
If he had the power to resolve everything on his own, he, too, would have stopped Ren Xiexing.
Unfortunately, reality was not always ideal. Instead of that, everyone present could not wait to agree with Ren Xiexing, wanting to get into his good books.
Now that things had come to this, Zhao Yunxiao could only hope that these slaves would not die in vain. At the very least, it would be good if any sacrifices would help to earn the coalition some form of advantage over the Scarlet Leaf Sect!
While he was still thinking about the fate of the slaves, Zhao Yunxiao suddenly saw something that caused him to raise an eyebrow.
It was not just the slaves who were getting busy. Merchants and traders could be seen preparing their goods and pushcarts as well, obviously wanting to take advantage of this opportunity and make a killing.
That was a pretty smart decision.
Though slaves did not have much to their names, this could be considered an all-or-nothing gamble for them. This meant that whatever they had, they would likely be willing to spend it all just for a little bit more of an advantage.
Be it food or water to maintain their physical condition, shoes for running, clothes for protection, or even equipment to protect themselves with, all these items would be in high demand.
As long as they kept their distance from the actual strike location at Blueflag Mountain, these merchants could earn quite an amount without having to put their lives directly at risk. Even then, many of them would likely bring along guards of their own to protect their goods.
With the cultivators as the main force, the slaves as the vanguard party, and now these traders... it would appear that the second coalition would comprise an enormous group!
Zhao Yunxiao made his decision then – since the situation had already turned out like this, he would tag along as well.
Of course, he was intending to mix in neither with the vanguard party nor with the main force. Instead, he would join the traders in observing from a distance. This would provide the perfect cover for him, allowing him to observe the situation with rather low risks of getting involved.
And just in case of mishaps, he would also send a clone instead of going personally.
Unfortunately, even with his unusually high mental fortitude that he was so proud of, using two earthen clones at long distances would still be extremely taxing on him. Therefore, his main body would have to stay meditating in his room the entire time.
But that was an insignificant price to pay for information.
This way, even if the defeat of the Scarlet Leaf Sect ultimately proved insufficient in resolving the matter with the Untethered Sage's statue at the Hei Residence, he might just be able to uncover some key information that would prove helpful, one way or another!