Five months had passed since Lux's reckless mission. Crystal Valley, once a crucible of ambition and bloodshed, had become a grim monument to stalemate. The air, once thick with the concentrated fury of Nascent Soul cultivators Spiritual Arts, now hung heavy with the scent of old iron and long settled ash.
The shattered battlefield, with its dried up craters and poisoned ground, stood as a silent witness to the far too high price paid by all sides. The war of attrition had drained not just resources, but the very will to keep fighting.
The losses were staggering and shared by all. On the side of the Burning Sky Sect and Lightning Roar Sect, several Nascent Soul Stage 1 to 3 cultivators had fallen precious souls that took centuries to train. Dozens of Core Forging experts, the operational backbone of the sects, were now just memories. Hundreds of Foundation Establishment disciples, the future of the sects, lay in unmarked graves. Resources that should have been allocated for healing, training, and development had been utterly exhausted to prolong a conflict with no clear victor.
The Shadow Viper Sect and their mercenary allies, the Hugo Clan, suffered the heaviest losses in their mid-tier level cultivators. Their networks of poison and illusion proved less effective in large scale frontal assaults against the combined might of fire and lightning. More humiliating for the Hugo Clan was their failure to assassinate a single boy under heavy escort a stain on their otherwise perfect reputation that no amount of blood could wash away.
Meanwhile, the GaleFord Clan and the Red Lotus Empire, who had acted as third parties, withdrew in disgrace. The Red Lotus's "independent" troops, secretly dispatched, returned home with tangible proof of their defeat. The GaleFord Clan, who started it all with their territorial claim, now found themselves weaker, poorer, and viewed with contempt by their own secret allies. Their fury was aimed at everyone and no one.
The bitter reality finally sank into the minds of every commander: there were no winners in the Crystal Valley. To continue the war would be collective suicide, weakening themselves to the point where any neutral faction could swoop in and wipe them all out. They had reached what strategists call a "Bloody Stalemate" a dead end where the only way forward was to step back.
In this power vacuum, the two most respected and neutral factions in the Verdant Lotus World decided to intervene. The Endless Flow Sect, with their specialty in healing arts and impenetrable area defense formations, and the Life Root Sect, who understood the flow of life and natural energy better than anyone, looked upon the widespread devastation and decided enough is enough.
They sent a mediation team of four Elders, each at the peak of Nascent Soul Stage 6 two from each sect. Their arrival in Crystal Valley wasn't announced, but their presence was immediately felt. Their calm, yet undeniable auras like a deep ocean and an ancient forest soothed the remaining turbulent energy. Their combined strength was enough to suppress any party thinking of violating the ceasefire they now enforced.
A meeting was held in a damaged headquarters within the valley, now declared a neutral zone. The atmosphere in the room was so tense it was almost physical, filled with hateful glares, stifled sneers, and clashing auras.
The negotiations were tough, dragging on for days, split into three exhausting main sessions.
The first session was filled with exaggerated claims and demands. The Shadow Viper representatives insisted that since they were "technically" the first to discover the mine, they deserved 60%. The GaleFord Clan, with their already shaky bravado, demanded 50% based on geographical proximity. The Burning Sky Sect, represented by a pale faced but still fiery eyed Grand Elder Bram, flatly refused. "We hold the mine. Our disciple was the one who pierced your defenses. And we've been mining it the longest. We deserve the largest share." The room heated up, threats were thrown, and the mediators had to release their auras to diffuse the tension before it exploded into violence once more.
The second session shifted to a colder reality and subtler threats. The mediators, with calm and logical voices, laid out in detail the losses suffered by each party. They demonstrated that no one had the strength left to win this war. Then, they presented their own threat any party that refused to negotiate in good faith would face a spiritual boycott from both neutral sects. That meant no access to the Endless Flow's healing experts, no advice on life formations from the Life Root, and effective diplomatic isolation. A more drastic option the total destruction of the mine by the mediators to deny it to all parties was also put forward, horrifying all the warring factions.
The third session finally produced an agreement. Exhausted and realizing this was the best outcome they could get, the three coalitions finally gave in. The deal was simple and, at first glance, seemed fair, The 99% Split Each of the three coalitions would receive an equal 33% share of the mine's remaining output.
The Mediation Fee (1%), The remaining 1% of the total output would be set aside as payment for the two mediator sects (0.5% each) to oversee the mining operations and guarantee security until the mine was estimated to be exhausted in two years.
The Mining Mechanism To prevent cheating, the mediators would completely control the mining operations. They would deliver each party's share of the mined resources every month, ensuring no one could smuggle or hoard extra crystals.
The document was signed with spiritual seals, binding the signatories with an oath that would cause spiritual regression if violated. As the light of the seals faded, the Nascent Souls from all parties left the room with mixed feelings relief that the bloodshed was over, bitterness that their ambitions had been cut short, and grudges postponed, hidden behind their eyes. The war for Crystal Valley was officially over.
However, behind this apparent equality lay one unspoken truth the Burning Sky Sect and Lightning Roar Sect were the true winners.
Their victory lay not in the equal share of the remaining mine, but in the massive head start they had gained. For nearly a year before the large-scale war erupted, they had been mining intensively. Calculations by Grand Elder Lina Windwhisper showed they had successfully extracted roughly 30% of the mine's total estimated reserves *before* the negotiations even began.
With the deal giving them 33% of the remaining 70%, their effective total share skyrocketed to about 53% of the Crystal Valley's total wealth. That was a dominant portion, a huge advantage that set them apart from their rivals. While Shadow Viper and GaleFord had to be content with their 33%, Burning Sky and Lightning Roar had secured more than half the pie, granting them a resource stream that would solidify their positions for decades to come.
Furthermore, they gained prestige. They were seen as the party that held a strong position, forcing the others to the negotiating table. And most importantly, they still possessed their secret asset, Lux Noctis, whose value, after his dramatic demonstration on the battlefield, might just exceed that of the entire mine.
While the Elders and Nascent Souls were busy with high level politics, life at the Burning Sky Sect Headquarters returned to a semblance of normality. For Lux, this new normality felt strange. Whenever he walked the corridors, the looks he received had changed. The usual respect was now mixed with a deeper awe, a hint of fear, and, in some cases, unconcealed jealousy. He was no longer seen just as a prodigy he was seen as a weapon tested in battle, a living legend.
He would find himself sitting in his room, gazing at the stars, pondering the weight of the reputation that now followed his name. He had achieved his goal he had helped win the war, and in doing so, helped protect his parents from afar. But the victory felt hollow, shadowed by the ghosts of the thousands of lives lost, and by the knowledge that he was now the focus of attention in a hostile world.
In Wildfire City, Noctis and Lumina, still unaware of their son's decisive role in ending the conflict, rejoiced at the end of the bloodshed and the significant contribution share they would receive. It was the key they had been waiting for the resources to attempt a breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm. In their hearts, the hope of reuniting with Lux now seemed like a real, attainable possibility for the first time.
Lux Noctis was no longer just a cultivator. His name was known by faction leaders and had become an echo that vibrated across the world's game board, and he himself was a piece that, though young, had shaken the foundations of the game. And in the world of cultivation, once a piece reaches the end of the board, the only move left is to become something more. The pressure to transform now rested on his young shoulders.