“Where are they taking us?”

“Where do you think? Probably right into a pill cauldron…”

“No, I don’t want to die! Let me go!”

“Hey, be quiet!”

A large group of prisoners was being transported before a large teleportation gate. All of them had one thing in common which was that they had been the residents of the demon city ruled by the Chaos Sect. Now that that faction didn’t exist anymore they were at the mercy of this United Element Sect that they knew nothing about.

It was a mix of actual demonic cultivators and people with no power that had mostly given up on their life. There were some indignant to call it quits just yet, they pushed and tried to run but the chains they were wearing didn’t allow them to gather any spiritual energy inside of their bodies. They were quickly pushed back in line and forced to go through that gate that probably led to their doom.

“So this is how it ends…”

A middle-aged man gave out a sigh while his group was the next one to step through. He had been forced to participate in the war and managed to survive. His power wasn’t small but it was not large enough to matter. His previous master had died during the battle but now he would either get a new one or be turned to cultivation resources. This was something that he had already made peace with but what lay on the other side of the gate was not something he expected.

“Hurry up, we don’t have all day, you’re part of group G.”

“What is this…”

The man called out in shock as the hell he imagined wasn’t waiting on the other side, instead, it looked like paradise. The air was filled with spiritual energy, the grass was green and full of life. In the distance, he could hear the chirping of birds and the people that were there seemed different. They were actually smiling, something rarely seen in the demonic regions.

“Group G, follow me you’ll be taken to your new home.”

“Our new home?”

People from the demon faction looked at each other with puzzled expressions. All around them there were similar groups. They were taken onto floating barges and flown out somewhere. The entire place looked like some kind of strange airfield through which they would be flown to different parts of wherever they were.

“Hurry up and be grateful to our great leader's magnanimity, if it was up to me you all would be turned to fertilizer!”

A rather scary-looking core formation cultivator was responsible for this group. There was no compassion in his eyes and this old man could feel it. There had been an order from someone over them and it seemed to be the sect leader. This man had shown himself during the large-scale battle and his tremendous power could not be denied. Even someone like the demon king was not able to stop him.

Everyone wanted to ask more questions but they were all suppressed by the guards. Time was apparently not something that these people wanted to waste. Soon around two thousand people made it onto this barge and were forced to stand shoulder to shoulder while it took off. The view wasn’t that bad and a spirit shield protected them from the wind so they had enough time to take everything in.

There didn’t seem to be anything worthwhile besides nice-looking vegetation. The beasts that were below them were of the Qi condensation variety which made this old man think that it was the empire's outer region. Even though the ship was fast it took half a day for them to arrive.

“We are here, get ready to disembark, and not a word from anyone, you will get your instructions from your group leaders down on the ground.”

No one dared to speak up or voice any complaints. They all came from the lands of demons where a person could die from looking at the wrong person. Life was cheap and everyone knew that if they actually wanted to live they needed to adhere to the ones in power. The old man could see barren fields everywhere and a lack of greenery. It didn’t take much deliberation to figure out what they were here for.

The instructor took them to a strange blocky looking building. It lacked any characteristics known to them and was quite basic. This was their new living quarters but they weren’t that bad on the inside. He expected it to just be an open space where they would be given blankets at most.

“Divide yourselves into groups of three, fighting is not allowed, the rules are written down on this board so learn to follow them or you will be punished.”

At first glance, this looked to be some type of concentration camp. However, for being one the living conditions weren’t bad. The old man got a room with two other people of a similar age. This room had a strange bed that was soft and blankets to keep him warm at night. They were given new clothes, food, and the only thing that they needed to do was work the fields.

“This isn’t that bad… it’s nothing compared to the work I needed to do at the old restaurant… they don’t even hit you even if you make some mistakes…”

“Right? We even get some free time to chat like this!”

When overhearing conversations between the others at this encampment he wasn’t sure what he felt. The working conditions were good, and even though they couldn’t leave it was better here than it was back in the demonic city where a person's life was constantly threatened.

They treated the old well, if someone couldn’t contend with the weather outside they would be given other tasks like helping around the cafeteria or cleaning. But thanks to the constant food supply even the elderly started recovering from being malnourished. Most of the time these people were discarded and deemed useless, here on the other hand they could be useful once more.

Who was this radiant Golden Dragon that made all of this possible? The man and the others kept asking themselves. At first, they believed that the orthodox sect just wanted to brainwash them over to their side but as the weeks passed nothing changed.

They continued to plant trees and grow food and apparently, if they worked for at least twenty years they would be able to leave. While their demonic cultivation would be sealed they could spend the rest of their life free. There was also a way of retaining some form of their power but no one was sure what to think about it yet…

…

“This is an unorthodox method but it seems to be working.”

“Yes, the Patriarch outdid himself again, who would have thought that we could just use these demons like this?”

“You should all stop doubting the Patriarch, his plans aren’t something that we can fathom!”

“Indeed, it might be best for relics of the past like us to just make way for the new generation…”

A group of elders was sitting around a large meeting room. With new technology available they were just looking at some still slides on a large screen. There statistics of the current demonic cultivator redevelopment plan were shown.

At first, no one knew what they should think of it. Zhang Dong, their leader decided to spare almost everyone from that cult. Only the most heinous criminals that already went too far were given a swift death. The rest was guided out of those lands filled with miasma and death.

It was a mix of commoners and cultivators. They were all taken to undeveloped regions where spirit energy was lower. There they would work the lands as farmers and produce food and herbs. A plan for new villages and cities was also being worked on. After these criminals were done with their sentence they would be given small homes and some land that would be theirs.

“Truly a marvelous idea, by giving them their own land even these hoodlums have something to strive for, and it's all produced from their labor so we don’t need to pay a single spirit stone!”

“That is true, we can use the herbs they produce for pill making and sell them for profit, even the surplus food they create can be used. Even if these people weren’t loyal to us before they will now!”

“It’s interesting, their view of our sect and Patriarch is becoming more favorable with each day. While there will be some bad apples, if we can change the minds of the majority then we can only profit.”

In the end, all of those people were war criminals that would normally die or be worked down to the bone. That was a very shortsighted way of looking at it and the elders here now believed it too.

By taking these people under their wing they would produce loyal servants to their sect. They would probably be grateful for the freedom they were given and a new chance at life. There always existed a possibility of an uprising but with the current disparity of power that wouldn’t be probable.

“Well then, I think we all agree that this has been a success but our Patriarch doesn’t seem to want to take a break.”

“Yes, he has taken an interest in the northern sea, now that we have forces in the demonic lands they can act as a base for our warships.”

The slides changed to something else; it was a new type of ship that had recently begun production. It didn’t look like much as it was shaped like a torpedo and had no sails. This was understandable as it had been created to contend with the underwater currents in the vast ocean.

“This one might be troublesome, our forces haven’t recovered from the last battle…”

The old men and women here looked troubled. They didn’t want to speak up but to them going from one battle to another wasn’t the greatest idea. In their eyes, they needed to bunker up and spread their influence in the Empire. Now was the time for growth and the continuous war would only bring more death and perhaps even weaken their standing.

“We must trust in the Patriarch, he has always been able to see through the veil, perhaps this is a chance to enrich ourselves even further!”

Some people nodded while others continued to ponder the expansion of the current sect. While they had gotten stronger they also drew in the eyes of others. Would the other powers in this empire just allow them to grow without interfering…