726 Project Dark Swallow! (1/2)
On the forty-eighth year of the Spirit Inception Era, war had broken out between the Dao Palace and the Federation.
Five months later, the war had ended. The Dao Palace cultivators, led by Mie Liezi, had chosen to surrender.
It had been a brief war, but one that had been intense and with a high casualty count. Its end had been viewed as a mystery by almost everyone.
That was because no one had witnessed the most decisive battle. It had remained a mystery that had fueled many rumors regarding how the war had truly ended.
Rumors spread from person to person. During this period, the postwar cleanup and rebuilding efforts continued nonstop. The first on the agenda was what to do with the Dao Palace cultivators who had surrendered. Thirty percent of the surviving cultivators were judged to have committed grievous crimes. Their sentence was declared forcefully by Duan Muque and broadcast to the entire Federation. They were to be executed!
It was a harsh sentence, but the people of the Federation needed this. There was no way they could allow those who had invaded Federation territory to surrender without suffering any consequences. Duan Muque was willing to bear the consequence of allowing such a massacre to happen!
In addition, almost all of the Dao Palace's upper echelons were planted with a Spirit Science hex—a product of Zhao Pinfang's research. They were no longer a threat to the Federation. They were also given a five-hundred-year sentence!
They would be released from their hexes five hundred years later, once they completed their sentence. Mie Liezi's status and circumstance made him an exceptional case. While the Federation hesitated over his final sentence, he chose to make an oath and return to the Dao Palace. He would guard the Dao Palace for the rest of his life. Unless the Federation summoned him, he wouldn't take a single step out of the Dao Palace.
As part of the war reparations, the Dao Palace would grant the Federation full access to their resources. That included access to all their records and mystic techniques. The Federation would also possess unilateral rights to enter and leave the Dao Palace. Federation cultivators could now enter and leave the ancient sword freely. Of course… under Feng Qiuran's insistence, the deepest regions of the ancient sword were designated as restricted zones. Federation cultivators were forbidden from entering the area and disturbing the slumber of the Dao Palace elders.
Next… Wang Baole's proposal to form an alliance prior to the outbreak of the war was raised again. Duan Muque gave it the full attention it deserved, summoning the upper echelons of the Federation as well as Feng Qiuran to discuss the matter. Both parties made minor modifications to the original proposal and agreed to the setup of the alliance.
In the forty-ninth year of the Spirit Inception Era, the Solar System Alliance was established. Its creation heralded a new era—the Solar Era!
There were currently two members in the Solar System Alliance, the Federation civilization and the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. Alliance regulations stated that the Federation civilization was the only member to possess a longstanding, first-tier membership status in the alliance. It had the power to change or veto decisions of the alliance. The Vast Expanse Dao Palace, on the other hand, held a second-tier membership.
These rules clearly gave the Federation a great advantage over the Dao Palace. The latter would never have agreed to such terms in the past. Even though Feng Qiuran had always had the intention to build an alliance with the Federation, she would have pushed for the Dao Palace to be the leader of the alliance. However, the war and the power that the Federation had displayed during this war had changed her mind. Both Feng Qiuran and the Dao Palace began to view the Federation with greater respect, and they recognized its power. The key reason for their change was still… Wang Baole!
His power and his final mysterious battle with Daoist You Ran had resulted in Feng Qiuran's agreement to the terms of the alliance. It didn't matter that no one had witnessed the final battle.
The honeymoon period between the Dao Palace and the Federation officially began with the alliance's establishment. Communications and exchanges between the two took place with unprecedented frequency. The wealth of knowledge and mystic techniques the Dao Palace possessed were invaluable to the Federation. Spirit Science development in the Federation progressed rapidly during this period of exchange.
The Dao Palace stood to gain as well. Extension of the Federation's infrastructure, such as the Spirit Internet, as well as provisions of daily supplies, were a great help to the Dao Palace cultivators. As the immigration laws between the two grew more liberal, many Dao Palace cultivators and Federation cultivators on Earth chose to immigrate.
Rebuilding efforts in the alliance were ongoing as well. With the Dao Palace's support, rebuilding efforts on Mars progressed smoothly. Deep excavations on Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were successes with the combined efforts of the Dao Palace and the Federation. They became the first bases of the alliance. To a certain extent, they could even be considered as the first free cities of the alliance.
There was Jupiter as well… After some deliberation, the Dao Palace decided not to bring the matter of the planet up. The Federation, on the other hand, utilized their first-tier membership status to classify Jupiter and its surrounding asteroid belt as a restricted zone!